Thunder In Her Body (57 page)

On the third night of her stay in the hospital, an exhausted Blaze asked everyone to go home and get some rest.  He and Lynette needed some quiet time together.  After the evening nurse came in one time very late, to check her vitals, he pulled the curtains together, turned out the lights and lowered the railing on the one side of her bed. Only the glow from the machines cast a light into the darkened room.  Slowly, laboriously, he took off his shoes and socks, folded his socks and placed them, with his shoes, neatly under her bed.  He pulled off his belt with the big silver and turquoise buckle that Lynette loved, and folded it carefully - ceremoniously.  He laid it on the chair by her bed.  Unbuttoning his shirt, which she had lovingly ironed the week before, he removed it, folding it as though participating in a ritual, and he laid it on the chair next to his belt.  He pulled the clasp from his pony tail and let his silver-grey hair fall past his shoulders.  He placed the clasp next to his belt.  Then he climbed into the bed with his wife, nestling himself in beside her.  He laid his arm over her chest and pulled her close to himself.  He placed a leg over her legs.  And he buried his face in the bend of her neck.

He could hear his heart beating.  He could hear the staccato beep of the machine monitoring his wife’s life.  Beep……..Beep…….Beep……..Beep

His heart hurt so badly.  It was breaking.

His heart was breaking.

It was breaking.  He could feel it breaking.

He could hear his heart beating.  It was slower now.

He could hear his heart beating.  It was slower.

He could hear his heart.

Then he couldn’t hear his heart anymore.

It was dark, and he was gone.

The beeps of the machine quickened for an instant.

The green lines on the monitoring machine, peaked – once - then twice.

The first green line went flat.

The second wavy line went flat.

The last line went flat.  There was a terrible, eerie hum.

She kept her promise. She didn’t leave him.  She had waited for him.

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What Do You Think? 
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1.
      
When Blaze was out on the evening that he met Lynette, was he just on the “hunt” and did he find what he was looking for?

2.
     
Is it possible to fall in love with a person in less than 24 hours?

3.
     
What was it about Lynette that almost immediately endeared her to Blaze?

4.
    
What was it about Blaze that allowed Lynette to trust him and commit herself to the relationship after only a couple of days?

5.
     
What do you think about the first visit to the little cabin in the woods?

6.
     
Was Lynette overly impressed with Blaze’s wealth?

7.
     
What are the characteristics that are most outstanding about both Blaze and Lynette?

8.
     
Is there an “other-worldly” connection between Lynette and Blaze?

9.
     
How does Lynette’s treatment of her ethnicity affect you?

10.
 
What is your opinion of Blaze as he pays for the services of the private investigator who finds Aaron’s murderer?

11.
  
How did the final chapter affect your opinion of the book?

Ms. Stanton retired in 1999 and has spent many months enjoying travel and doing genealogical research.  Divorced and a mother of two, she has always wanted to write, and now with time to do it, she has embarked on a writing career.  A romantic, she believes in
the existence of deep and abiding love and wanted to write about people who embodied that kind of devoted partnership; the kind of love and unfettered passion that rises to the spiritual.