Thunder In Her Body (17 page)

“I’ve given you my pledge of love and commitment.  I love you Blaze.  I don’t need a piece of paper to validate that.  Let’s just take things as they come,” she said, patting his strong hand.

              “I married you last night, for the most honest of reasons, Dear One, in a way that others will not understand,” he said.  “You willingly came to me as my bride, I’m sure, knowing full well what you were doing.  You married me in the home of my mother, on the land of my ancestors.  You spoke the words of my people.  Where those words came from I don’t know.  But, you know what we did last night.  I committed myself to you then, and I commit my life to you from now until the final sleep of this life,” he vowed.

She looked past him to the little cabin and said “Thank you mother.”

Blaze drove off.  He didn’t speak; he couldn’t speak until well after they reached the main highway again.  He was so full – so full of love for this wonderful woman, who, for all intents and purposes he had taken as his wife, before God and his ancestors, in the flickering light of the wood burning stove.

CLARE AND AARON CALLED from
Las Cruces and gave an estimated time when they expected to be back in Crystal Bend on Tuesday evening.  Aaron was a bit upset because Clare was scheduled to leave on Wednesday afternoon.

“Did you know that the ladies were going back to
Austin tomorrow?” he asked Blaze over the phone.  Blaze frowned and his head turned abruptly to Lynette.

“Are you leaving tomorrow?” he asked, fear and confusion dominating his question.

“Oh, shit,” Lynette said.  “No, no, I’m going to delay my departure.  Clare has to get back to work.  I don’t have my next seminar until Monday.  Geez, I need to call Southwest Airlines,” she said nervously.  Blaze looked relieved.

“Lynette isn’t going back tomorrow,” he said, matter-of-factly.

“Let me talk to Clare,” Lynette asked as she took the phone from Blaze.

“Hey girl.  Listen, things have been moving pretty fast here, and I’m not going back tomorrow with you.  I’m gonna stay till the weekend.  I’m at the City/County complex on Monday from 8:30 to 4:30, so as long as I can get back on Saturday or Sunday, I can
get my training materials and equipment together.  Clare, we’ve gotta’ talk,” she said and handed the phone back to Blaze.

Once he finished his conversation with Aaron, he turned to Lynette.

“Well, we dodged a bullet there, didn’t we,” Blaze said, relief showing in his voice.

“Honey, I’m so sorry.  I’ve been so caught up in us…you’ve got to admit this has been a whirlwind few days.  A lot has happened since Saturday.  It’s been like a fairy tale for me.  I haven’t given a thought to the real world. If you’ve noticed I haven’t checked my schedule, emails or even listened to my cell phone in days.   Let me tell you what’s in store for me in the next several days,” she started to explain.

“If I can get back on Saturday, I can make necessary copies of  my training materials at Kinkos or Office Depot.  I don’t have a secretary or anyone yet.  I fly solo since I’m retired.  That gives me Sunday to get things together, wash clothes.  You know, all those mundane things that a working person has to do...”

“When are you going to be back?” he asked calmly.

“Let’s take this step by step,” she replied.

“I don’t know if Aaron will take Clare to the airport, or if I’ll have to.  We have to wait until they get back here,” she reckoned.  “Whichever way it goes, I’ll be here tomorrow, Thursday and Friday, but I think it best if I fly back on that 3:50 flight on Saturday.  Will this work for you?” she asked, looking at the rather troubled expression on Blaze’s face.

“It’ll have to won’t it?” he said ruefully.

He got up and walked over to Lynette and put his arms around her shoulders.

“The real world starts to intrude, huh?” he asked, but it was a rhetorical question.

“Fraid so,” she replied.  “A girl’s gotta make a living.  The good thing about it is that I don’t have another class scheduled for two weeks?” she add.  “But I’ll come back soon after the class is over.

He stepped back a step or so, holding her by the shoulders, and looked down into her face.

“
Will you come right back?” he asked seriously.

Lynette did not hesitate.

“Yes, I’ll be on that 11:20 flight on Tuesday morning,” she assured him.

“Can’t you come back on Monday night?” he asked, not wanting to be separated from her a moment longer than he had to. “I can pick you up at the airport.”

She hesitated a moment to think.

“I…I can,” she studdered.

“There’s a 5:50 non-stop back to
Albuquerque and a 6:30, but the 6:30 has a layover in Dallas, and weather makes Dallas iffy.  The answer is, barring any unforeseen difficulties, I’ll come back Monday night.”

Blaze squeezed her tightly. 
“

What do we need to do?” he asked.

“Well first of all, I need to rearrange my return flight from tomorrow to Saturday.  Then I hope I can get a seat on the 5:50 flight Monday.  Sit here with me while I call,” she said sweetly, and she began punching keys on her cell phone.

Blaze was pleased at her effort to do what she had to do and get back to him as quickly as possible.   He felt even more certain about her now.  He had gambled that she could feel toward him, what he was feeling toward her.  Four nights ago, he and Aaron had considered trying to find themselves someone just for the night.  Throwing all that out of his mind after he met Lynette, he was now, for all intents and purposes, a married man – a happily married man.  He had taken this woman into his world – into his culture - into his soul.  She was a part of him.  He’d left himself in her, something he hadn’t done with another woman, out of an abundance of caution, for several years. Every hour away from her was a waste of precious time.   She was a gift he’d been given, surely by the Creator, and he was beholden to that Entity That Measures All Things.

Aaron and Clare struggled up the condo steps.

“Hey,” Clare said.  “Whew, that was a long trip, but we had a ball,” she chirped.

“Only one?” bad Lynette, snickered.

“You are so wicked,” Clare countered, laughing at her off-color remark.

Clare pointed to Blaze and said, “I warned you.  Didn’t I warn you about her?”

Lynette hugged Clare and then Aaron.

“Glad you made it back safely,” she said.  “Anybody need anything to drink, to wash the dust out of your mouths?” Lynette asked jovially.

“Well boy, you look like you got a canary feather sticking out the side of your mouth,” Aaron teased Blaze, as he flopped down on the couch beside him.

“You could say that,” Blaze answered with a sly, contented smile on his face.

“Woman, what have you done to this man?” he asked, now teasing Lynette.

“Not a thing, just fell in love with your brother, that’s all,” she said pleasantly.

Aaron turned to Blaze, and Clare wheeled around to look at Lynette, shock covering her face.

“Woah,” Clare said, looking intently at her friend.  She knew something special had happened in her absence, because that was not a word she thought she’d ever hear come out of Lynette’s mouth again.  Not after all the heartbreak she’d suffered.

There was a pregnant silence in the room.  No one knew what to say, and neither Blaze nor Lynette was willing to divulge the special thing that had taken place at the old cabin.

After a really long and uncomfortable silence, Clare spoke.

“Well, I’m sure I’ll hear all about it in the morning, but I’ve got to get myself packed.  Oh, who’s going to take me to the airport?” she asked as an after-thought.

“Well, do you have to ask,” Aaron said.  “I’m gonna take you since Lynette isn’t going back yet.  That gives me a few more hours with you, pretty lady” he admitted cheerfully.

“Are you all going back to the ranch tonight, or what?” Clare asked trying to get her ducks in a row, and hoping Aaron would say no.

“There’s two bedrooms here in the condo, right?” Blaze asked.

“Yeah,” Clare answered.  I have the entire upper level.  Janette, Lynette’s daughter, calls it the penthouse suite.  Lynette sleeps down here in the master bedroom.”

Blaze looked over at Lynette, then Aaron.

“Then I don’t see any problem, do you Babe?” he addressed his comment to Lynette.

“Nope,” she said, “and the house is pretty well insu
lated, so sounds don’t travel,” she smirked, looking over at Aaron with a wink.

Blaze and Lynette stood out on her balcony looking at the twinkling lights of the village and the bright lights of the nearby casino.

“It’s so different here than out at the ranch,” Blaze said. “All we see is stars and the moon when the night is cloudless.  We can see some distant headlights way over on the highway sometimes.  This is kinda pretty,” he observed.

“Oh, and we get to christen
your
bed tonight, don’t we?” he chuckled, pinching her on her voluptuous behind.

“You bet we do mister, and it’s got a new sturdy mattress and box springs on it, too,” she laughed in her earthy way.

C
HAPTER 11

¤

        Getting to Know You

“
L
ynn, under the circumstances now, why don’t you throw all your things in your suitcase and just stay out at the ranch for the rest of the week,” Blaze urged.  “It doesn’t make a lot of sense to run back and forth here, now that Clare is gone.  Besides, I wanna be with you every minute that I can,” he admitted, looking up at her from his spot on the couch.

“You’re right.  I’d thought about that,” she agreed.  Then she stopped for an instant.  “What about Aaron?  Will he mind me under foot for a couple days?” she asked out of deference to him.

“Mind, hell, he’ll be delighted to have a woman around the house.  Somebody besides me to talk to.  But, I’m warning you, he’ll talk your ear off,” he laughed.

“Not to worry, not to worry.  I’ve been accused a time or two in my life of being pretty wordy myself,” she countered.  “Have you forgotten my rambling on and on about the mountain at dinner the other night?” she chuckled.

“No Babe,” he responded, “I haven’t forgotten a minute of that night.  I keep playing it over and over in my head, trying to figure out how the hell I got so lucky; what I’ve done to deserve you,” he said with a contented smile.

Lynette left a check for the cleaning lady, locked up the condo, and hopped joyfully into her rent car.  She dropped it off at the Enterprise office on Main Road and climbed into Blaze’s truck.  As they drove back out to the ranch, Blaze heard her tell the property management secretary that she was ending her stay for this visit, and the $95 for the housekeeping service was on the bar in the kitchen.  “No,” she assured the voice on the other end of the phone, “everything was perfect,” she just decided to leave early and go some place really special.  And, she was in too much of a hurry to clean the unit herself, thus the check.

Blaze was curious and waited till she shut off her cell phone.

“I don’t understand what you meant,” he said.

“Sweetie, I have the condo in the rental pool.  When I’m not there, or my daughter or some of our friends aren’t using it, we let the unit out for rent.  It helps me pay the mortgage each month.  I don’t always get to come out here as often as I’d like, so it frequently sits empty.  I’d rather someone use it, and of course pay to use it,” she smiled, “and it cuts down on the expense.  The condo is my vacation home, but it’s also an investment for the future,” she explained.  “Remember, Clare told you all that I’ve given some real thought to retirement up here at some point.”

“I see,” Blaze nodded with a slight smile.  She was a practical woman.  It made sense to him.  But now, she had a real reason to make the Crystal Bend area her retirement home.  Him!

For the next few days, they talked a lot.  There was so much to know about one another.  People of their age come with baggage, Lynette once said to him.  Certainly, he couldn’t disagree with her.  He wondered if she was strong enough to handle all his.

They talked sitting out on the deck overlooking the grand valley.  They talked with Aaron in their presence.  Aaron knew most of Blaze’s secrets and Lynette wasn’t timid about sharing her education in the
life school of hard knocks.
  In fact, Aaron threw his life into the pot and they laughed a lot at what fools they’d made of themselves over the years and the hard lessons life had taught each of them.  Lynette shared her beliefs about being on this plain to learn lessons from others, and to teach lessons to others.  She and Blaze talked about the interconnection between everything – how there seems to be a plan about all of this.  They discussed the fact that all this so-called randomness in life is not random at all, but it leads to other things, other lessons.  She continued to be astonished at the almost identical views Blaze held.  Where had he learned about the Universe?  Did the ancient wisdom of the Apache teach him about the Universe?