BooksBarbecue
Back When She Returned Save as PDF
Chapters (48)
  1. TITLE PAGE
  2. COPYRIGHT
  3. CONTENTS
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. ONE
  6. TWO
  7. THREE
  8. FOUR
  9. FIVE
  10. SIX
  11. SEVEN
  12. EIGHT
  13. NINE
  14. TEN
  15. ELEVEN
  16. TWELVE
  17. THIRTEEN
  18. FOURTEEN
  19. FIFTEEN
  20. SIXTEEN
  21. SEVENTEEN
  22. EIGHTEEN
  23. NINETEEN
  24. TWENTY
  25. TWENTY-ONE
  26. TWENTY-TWO
  27. TWENTY-THREE
  28. TWENTY-FOUR
  29. TWENTY-FIVE
  30. TWENTY-SIX
  31. TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. TWENTY-NINE
  34. THIRTY
  35. THIRTY-ONE
  36. THIRTY-TWO
  37. THIRTY-THREE
  38. THIRTY-FOUR
  39. THIRTY-FIVE
  40. THIRTY-SIX
  41. THIRTY-SEVEN
  42. THIRTY-EIGHT
  43. THIRTY-NINE
  44. FORTY
  45. FORTY-ONE
  46. FORTY-TWO
  47. FORTY-THREE
  48. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

His voice was kind and gentle. We sat almost knee to knee, like we’d done in one of our first meetings together, slipping between silence and conversation. He never even tried to touch me, and there was a tiny part of me slightly insulted by it and wondering if there was something wrong with me. I was surprised when he kept calling my name, and then a few nights ago he asked if I wanted a massage, and I gave in despite myself. His touch was so tender I almost cried. I couldn’t remember the last time anyone had touched me in a way that wasn’t clinical or part of an exercise. The same thing happened the following night, but his touch changed at the end of the massage, and my pulse dropped in a way it hadn’t in a long time. I’d forgotten what it felt like to feel like a woman.

And I hated myself for liking it, but my body had been awakened, and I had to have more. He was a different man in the tent at night. It was like nothing else existed. Not time. Not space. Just the two of us joined together as one in a celestial space unlike any I’d ever experienced.

But today was different. It wasn’t nighttime. We weren’t going to bed. It was two in the afternoon. That changed everything.

I tried to keep a straight face as I came out of the bathroom, but I had just thrown up all my oatmeal from breakfast, and the only other time I’d thrown up in the morning had been when I was pregnant with my daughter from my previous life. My body recognized the feelings immediately. I couldn’t believe I was the first one.

I had no idea what year it was, so many years since we’d recognized time, but late forties and pregnant? How was that possible? You were supposed to be less fertile the older you were. I’d secretly wondered if Abner’s fertility might be responsible for how long it was taking him to get anyone pregnant, but everything must have still worked fine.

I refused to make eye contact with Margo as I filed in to help clear away breakfast dishes with the others. She’d take one look at me and know something was going on. I had to tell Abner first. He had left before dawn with a few of the guys to clear a field over on the north side of the property, and they probably wouldn’t be back until after it was dark. How was I going to keep something like this a secret all day?