Breaking the Rules

chapter 11





“Get a job Susana, are you nuts?” Her aunt Leticia crossed her plump arms over her ample bosom. Her heavily made-up eyes blinked frantically beneath her mane of flame-orange hair. Don’t henna your hair once it’s turned grey, Susana thought, trying to take her mind off her predicament.

“No woman in my family will work for the gadje.” Her husband, Anton, buttoned the jacket of his suit, getting ready to leave the house for a meeting. Their three daughters played noisily about them in the big untidy living room of the Brooklyn house.

“But, Uncle, I’ll need to make more money to pay the rent on my apartment. I’ll lose Granna’s rent control if I put my own name on the lease. The storefront too. I’ve been writing checks on Granna’s old account for six months—forging her signature, for crying out loud. It’s not legal.”

“Gadjo laws, pah! You’re paying their rent. It’s all fair and square.”

Susana let out a snort of dismay. “I’m paying a hundred and twenty-five dollars a month. The market rate is well over a thousand these days, even on my place. They’d love to get me out and fix the place up for some yuppies.”

“So move in with us, sweetie.” Leticia moved forward and rested her hands on Susana’s shoulders. Susana suppressed a shudder as the soft fingers pressed into her flesh. “We’ve got plenty of room, and you could help me out with the girls. You know how they’d love to have you around.”

Susana sighed. Is this what the future held? To become a slave at the beck and call of her domineering aunt and her three spoiled and demanding girls. To hole up in a room in their attic, hiding her school books under the mattress and sneaking off to class on a raft of excuses. At least she wouldn’t be struggling to keep a roof she couldn’t afford over her head. And however horrible, it would only be temporary.

“And, sweetheart. No more talk about getting a job.” A huge Cheshire cat grin spread over Aunt Leticia’s round red cheeks. “Because boy, do we have a husband for you. Anton and I have been up late nights talking about how to get you nicely settled now your Granna’s gone. I know she had some crazy ideas about marriage, but every woman needs a good man to look after her.”

Susana’s heart squeezed uncomfortably.

A good man.

No. Don’t think about him.

“I don’t want to marry.”

“Nonsense, sweetie. Every woman needs a husband and the joy of children.” She cracked a smile, and gestured to her three little angels, who were busy pulling the heads off several naked Barbie dolls.

“A very good man he is. Good family. From Cincinnati, you know. Francis Melisto. Frankie, they call him.”

At least she hadn’t heard of him. That was probably a good thing. But she had a feeling he’d be pretty easy to dismiss. “How old is he?”

“Well…” Aunt Letica forced her huge fake smile again. “He’s been married before, I won’t deny that, but then you’re not young, Susana. Most girls your age have a family already.”

“How old?” She raised an eyebrow, ready to laugh.

“Under fifty.”

“How reassuring. But like I said, I’m not getting married. I’m going to try and find a job, and if that doesn’t work out right away, I—”

“You’ll be more than welcome here. But listen to me, Susana.” She leaned into Susana until garlicky breath stung her nostrils. “Marriage should be your first priority. While the old lady was alive people accepted her eccentricities—your eccentricities—but now she’s gone, frankly, people are talking.” She fixed Susana with a beady black stare that made her throat constrict.

Cold prickles of fear stung her fingers. Had Janus or Roman said something? No, she couldn’t believe they would. People are talking. And why wouldn’t they? A Rom woman of twenty-three, never married and living alone? It was unheard of, literally.

“Anyway, sweetie, Frankie’s coming here tonight. We’ll get you nicely settled, don’t you worry.” Her aunt patted her arm. “A good dinner, we’ll have tonight. And tie your hair up, it doesn’t look nice hanging all over like that.”

“Got to go. Appointment.” Susana blew a kiss and hurried out, before the walls of the house closed in on her and crushed her as they always threatened to when she spent too much time there. She’d be back for dinner. She was nothing if not reliable. She’d be polite to “Frankie.” She’d be a good girl, heck, maybe she’d even marry one day if the right eligible Rom widower showed up…

She shuddered, unable to think any touch but Joe’s on her skin.

You can’t have everything, Granna had intoned with monotonous regularity. Sometimes you have nothing. But you have your people. And coming from Granna, who’d lost her entire family, those words rang deep in her soul.



Against all the odds, Frankie was a nice guy. Early forties, decent looking. Married once to a woman who died in a car crash. He had four teenage sons who he wanted to keep in school and out of trouble. His used computer game business sounded pretty modest, which probably meant he was honest.

When Uncle Anton left them alone together, she’d brought up her plan to study psychology as a sort of test. Not only had he not looked shocked and disgusted, but he’d actually been interested and encouraging. Uncle Anton and Aunt Letty beamed with delight as they wished him good night. Everyone could see it was a match made in…wherever those kinds of things were made. She could find absolutely nothing wrong with him.

Except that she didn’t love him.

And he wasn’t Joe.

Susana sat cross-legged on the table in the back room of the ofisa. The air still seemed to hum with the energy they’d created there, to smell of sex. Her thighs tingled as she remembered the feel of his tongue on her skin…

Stop it, Susana! She growled with frustration. She’d been so cranky lately. Every single person in the family was getting on her nerves. Grating them raw. She found herself holing up in her apartment, avoiding them. Was it for this she’d sent Joe packing? If she married Frankie she’d have to move to Cincinnati anyway. She wouldn’t see even those family members she could stand the sight of.

Sure, she’d be living the life of a dutiful Rom woman, but was that enough?

On the other hand, what did she have with Joe anyway? They’d spent a little time together. Enjoyed each other’s company. Her body had opened like a night-blooming orchid under his gentle touch.

Love, huh?

Sure felt like it. Especially the part that hurt like poison in her system.

Would it be so wrong to see him one more time? Just to see. To see what? If it was real?

The chemistry between them was so powerful that good sense—any kind of sense—flew out the window when they were together. If she went to see him they’d be tugging each other’s clothes off and she wouldn’t be any wiser, only in deeper.

But what if she really was meant to spend her life with Joe? Should she throw away her true destiny for the sake of dusty “tradition”?

Could any harm come of doing a quick reading on the seeing globe? She’d never deliberately attempted to see into her own future. But would one little peek be so wrong?

She jumped down from the table and pushed out into the front room. The globe shone, filled with promise. Such a precious thing, bought by her grandmother with money she’d scraped together cleaning houses when she first came to New York. It was over a hundred years old and wrapped in legends.

Susana touched the smooth glass and felt the buzz of energy that hummed about its reflective surface. Her powers were still there, weaker, diminished by distraction, but thrumming at the core of her consciousness. They weren’t much consolation though, for the loss of Joe’s warm, strong arms around her.

She sat in her chair and arranged her skirt comfortably around her legs. Apprehension tightened her stomach muscles and pricked her fingertips as she moved them toward the glass again, ready to begin.

She looked past the reflection of her own face, distorted by the curve of the orb, into the inner core where the visions appeared. For a moment she didn’t see anything at all, and she prepared to turn away in relief, then an image flickered to life, like the ghosting on an old television set. She found herself looking at a man.

At Joe.

He was alone. Sitting on a bed. He wore a suit, maybe the same gray suit he’d worn when he last came to visit her. He held his head in his hands so she couldn’t see his face, but she’d know him anywhere.

Cold fingers of sadness clasped around her heart. He looked so alone. She gasped as he moved, sitting up and leaning backward to stretch out on the bed.

You’re not seeing the future, Susana. This is the present.

She knew it with sudden certainty. Joe sat alone in his apartment. Her feet itched to run there and see him.

Would it be so wrong?

Yes. It would be. To go visit him and then leave to marry Frankie?

The image faded. Concentrate! She didn’t want to lose sight of him, even though the vision told her nothing about her own future or anyone else’s.

The picture sharpened and she watched him lift his head and stare at the ceiling. Even though the image was tiny, the colors muted, she could see his eyes. Black and empty. Her belly quivered, and she felt like an intruder, stealing into his room.

Go to him. Be with him. Adrenaline sizzled in her muscles, goading her.

Don’t do it, Susana! An opposing plea buzzed in her head. A thousand ancestral whispers begging her.

She rose from her chair and locked up the ofisa. Sunset drenched the city in syrupy golden light as she strode along the sidewalk, down Second Avenue, along Houston Street, and south to Tribeca.

To Joe’s apartment.

A young couple were going into the building as she arrived so she didn’t have to ring the buzzer. She avoided the elevator, needing the slower journey of the stairwell to collect herself. She climbed, each step weighed down by a growing sense of unease and an opposing jingle of mad anticipation.

By the time she reached his apartment on the fifth floor, her stomach churned and her breath came in irregular bursts, despite her efforts to be calm.

She could turn around and leave and no one would be any the wiser.

She put her finger on the doorbell and pushed. As she heard the chime sound through the apartment, her insides curled up into a knot and she gripped her arms.

No sound came from inside. Not even the scurry of a visiting mouse. Was she wrong? Maybe her “vision” was a delusion? Maybe he was out on the town with a beautiful woman? Or just busy working. Maybe it was only wishful thinking that he’d be lying on the bed, missing her.

That’s what she’d thought all those years ago. It’s just wishful thinking, the vision of you and that handsome young sailor walking arm in arm.

She pressed the doorbell, and again the chime rang through the apartment, the sound reflecting off bare walls and floor. But this time something stirred. She heard footsteps on the wood. Her ribcage tightened like steel bands around her heart and lungs, squeezing her breath out as she waited, eyes fixed on the gray paint of the door.

A surge of adrenaline shook her as she heard the bolt pulled back. As the massive door slid aside, she caught her breath and held it.

“Susana.”

She’d been wrong about the clothes because he wasn’t wearing a suit. Or maybe he’d just taken it off. His crumpled white shirt hung unbuttoned over faded jeans, revealing a shadowed glimpse of the eagle on his chest.

But she’d been right about the eyes. Not bright and lively as they’d been when she last saw him, they were black and lightless, hollow and empty. A muscle ticked in his cheek.

“I had to see you.” Her words bounced off the hard surfaces around them, hushing her to a whisper. “I missed you.” Her voice cracked, the words loaded with emotion she hadn’t allowed herself to feel. She’d missed him so much it ached in her bones.

“Come in.” He stepped aside to let her pass through the doorway. As she walked by him her nerves screamed at her to touch him, but she held her fists tight, pressed against her skirt. He pushed the heavy door closed, and it thudded into place.

For a moment she hoped he’d say something, give her some direction to head in, but he didn’t. He stood watching her, his expression unreadable.

She realized her arms had wrapped themselves around her waist, hugging her, perhaps giving her the comfort she wanted from Joe. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”

He didn’t reply.

Had she hoped he’d run to her and say, “I love you. Will you marry me?” The squeeze in her stomach told her she had, even though she didn’t know what her answer would be. For a girl who used to be able to see the future, she couldn’t even handle the present too well any more.

That’s what happens when you try to give up your powers. And find yourself in the grip of something far more powerful.

“I had to come.” She whispered it, afraid anything louder would come out like a shout.

The muscle ticked in Joe’s cheek again, and he ran a hand through his hair, tugging at it. “You shouldn’t be here. If your family finds out…”

“I know.” She lifted an arm and held it out, palm up. Joe hesitated for a moment before raising his own arm very slowly and extending his hand toward hers.

Her palm buzzed with the expectation of his touch, but instead she found herself enveloped in his embrace. His arms wrapped around her waist as hers flew to his neck, eagerly gripping him and holding him to her. His big hands, flat on her back, hugged her to him. As she clung to him, a swell of emotion emerged as a choking sob, muffled in the collar of his shirt.

The scent of his warm skin filled her nostrils, soothing her like precious incense. Lifting her lips she kissed the bare skin at his neck.

“Don’t…” he rasped. She felt a shudder ripple through the hard muscles of his torso. He pulled back, seizing her waist in his hands and tugging her away from him. “We can’t. It doesn’t make sense.”

“Nothing makes sense any more,” she murmured, trying to keep back the tears burning her throat. His fingers dug into her waist as he held her at bay. She wanted so badly to sink back into his embrace. Her fingers had been pulled from his back as he pushed her away, and she gripped his arms, feeling the thick muscle though the stiff cotton of his shirt. Feeling his strength and wanting to rest in it.

“My uncle has found a husband for me.” She couldn’t look at him while she said it. He stiffened, and his fingers dug a little deeper into the flesh at her waist.

He was silent for a moment, then his voice emerged in a snarl. “And you came here to get my blessing?”

“No.”

“Are you going to marry him?”

Her gut clenched. “I don’t know.”

She glanced up at his face, afraid of what she’d see there. His eyes black and fierce, his whole face taut. He lifted a brow. “I see. You came here to see if maybe you want me instead.”

Susana swallowed but held her tongue.

“Well, you don’t. I can’t do this any more. There isn’t enough of me left to play games. I’m just trying to keep my head above water here…”

“And I sucked you under.” The first words she said in a normal voice surprised them both.

“Yes.” A hollow laugh shook his muscles. “Yes, you sucked me under and carried me far out to sea on the undertow. I’m just trying to swim my way back, so don’t…” His voice cracked, and he looked away to the window.

“You never did tell me what happened to you.”

“There’s no need for you to know about that. Let’s part with some of my dignity still intact.”

“No.” She shook her head, staring hard into his eyes. “If we part, I want it to be because we stared all the facts in the face and made a decision about the future. Together. No more gazing into crystal balls or cards looking for answers. And no more secrets.”

“Bold, aren’t you? What makes you think I want you in my future?”

She didn’t answer. But she saw something flickering in his eyes. Almost as if a flame had popped to life like the pilot light in her old gas heater.

“Come, Joe.” She took his hand, trying to ignore the swirls of energy that stung her fingers as they wrapped around his. And she led him toward the bedroom.

“No,” he blew out a snort. “No way. I don’t know what you’re planning, but we’re not…”

“We’re not going to do anything but talk. No naked fortune telling today.” The cool, almost amused sound of her voice amazed her.

“That’s a relief.”

“We need somewhere to sit down, and I notice you haven’t been spending your time furniture shopping.” The only additions to the apartment were piles of papers spread out over the floor.

“I’ve been busy working.”

“Good. How’s your business going?” Cool, calm and collected. She sounded like a grown up.

“It’s all right. I’ve got three contracts and hired a couple of software developers. Things are looking good.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” She sat down on the bed and patted it, inviting him to sit next to her. The conflicted expression on his face revealed his doubts, but he sat anyway.

She shifted herself to the middle of the mattress, crossed her legs and arranged her skirt over them. Joe hesitated, perched on the edge of the mattress.

“Come on, get comfortable.”

She watched the muscles bunch below his rolled up shirtsleeves as he clenched his fists. “I can’t.”

“Don’t then. But talk to me.”

“Why?”

“It helps. Trust me, it’s my business. My real business. People think they want to see into the future, but that’s not important. What is important is to make sense of what you’ve been through so you don’t make the same mistakes again. Have you ever talked to anyone about it?”

“Nope.” He looked almost surprised by the realization. She knew from her work that people rarely spoke about the stuff that was eating them alive. Just kept it all buried inside them like a tumor.

“How long were you married?”

“Eight years.”

“That’s a long time. And were you ever happy?”

“Sure. I was gone a lot, though. At sea.” He rubbed his temple. “I guess that helped. We were never really together all the time until I left the Navy. And by then I’d let her down. I let everybody down.” His fingers moved to the scar at his waist, rubbing the raised line of pale tissue.

“And one day I came home from work and found her in bed with another man.” He closed his eyes and clenched his fists. “I want a divorce, she said. Right there in front of him. And he was my business partner. An old Navy buddy I’d trusted and loved like a brother. I want a divorce. I’ll never forget those words as long as I live. Our marriage had been struggling, we both knew it wasn’t perfect, but marriage is a commitment.” He turned to Susana, eyes hollow with pain. “You know? A lifetime commitment. You have trouble, and you work through it together. It’s something you can count on…”

His fists clenched and unclenched as he stared at them. Then he shook his head slowly. “But you can’t count on anything. I learned that the hard way.”

She wanted to touch him, but she knew better. She didn’t dare offer more half-hearted comfort that could only hurt him more. He needed someone who could give him their whole heart. Their whole life.

She wanted him to be loved. Ain’t that cute, Susana. Maybe you can get married to Frankie and set about finding a loving wife to look after Joe. A practical arrangement for all concerned.

The thought of another woman in Joe’s arms stole her breath and made her muscles seize. She could handle hearing about his ex-wife, because that was over and done with. But the future?

The future. Always there like an apparition, hovering just out of reach. She’d tried to see into it and ended up right here in the present—with Joe. Was this where she was meant to be?

Joe lowered himself slowly back down to the mattress. “You know, it does feel good to talk about it.” He turned his head to her. “You’re not as crazy as you look.”

“I look crazy?”

“You look like you’ve stepped out of a Dickens novel with your long skirt and blouse, today even more so with that scarf over your hair. I think it’s cute.”

Her hands flew to her hair and pulled out the scarf. She’d forgotten all about it. It was part of the “gypsy fortune-teller” costume Granna had favored, and it did keep her hair out of her eyes. She clutched the piece of colorful fabric between her palms, which were starting to sweat.

“Don’t be embarrassed.” A smile crept across his mouth. “It’s good to be different.”

“I’ve been different all my life, and it’s getting old.” She twisted the scarf in her fingers.

“We’re all getting old, but with age comes wisdom.”

“Does it? Sometimes it feels like it’s the other way around.”

“Ain’t that the truth?” He turned onto his side, facing her. Sudden energy roared between them, and a surge of anticipation heated her blood. But he rolled back and snapped his glance up to the ceiling. She struggled to keep her breathing silent.

Joe’s shirt had fallen to either side of his chest, revealing the tattooed eagle, which shifted as he took a deep breath. “When you’re young, you don’t have any idea of the many ways you can screw up your life. Ignorance is bliss.”

“I don’t know much about ignorant bliss. Too much rigid tradition and too many bitter old women in my upbringing.”

“I think we enjoyed a little ignorant bliss together.” He inclined his head slightly and smiled. Her heart squeezed.

“Tell me about the scar.” She nodded toward the white curving line that slashed across his belly.

“She’s so romantic,” he said to the ceiling. A smile tugged at her lips. “You try to tell her you…”

What?

“Oh, never mind. I’ll tell you about my scar. My scars.” He lifted an arm from behind his head and ran a finger over the scar on his face. “I’m not as pretty as I used to be.”

Susana had a flash of memory of Joe as she’d first seen him ten years ago. She suppressed a laugh because he had been pretty. Big brown eyes, clear shiny skin, features so breathtakingly handsome it had made her all hot under her preteen collar. And best of all he’d been totally unaware of his own appeal.

“It was an explosion.” He sat up like a shot. “Oh, shit. I can’t sit while I talk about this.” He stood, and started pacing about the bedroom. “I’ve talked about this before. A lot.” He glanced at her. “I had to, there were a lot of legal hearings. I narrowly escaped getting a dishonorable discharge.”

Her face must have betrayed some surprise because he nodded. “Yup, ugly as all get out. You’ll see me in a different light after I tell you the story of my scars. But I’ll tell you.”

He turned and continued pacing. “We were patrolling waters off South America, keeping an eye out for drug traffic. I was in naval security, not the computer kind at that time, the ‘always carry a weapon,’ kind. We heard there was a boat with suspicious cargo and I was ordered to board it and investigate.

“I’ll be honest and tell you that kind of thing scared the hell out of me. I don’t think too many’ll tell you different. But I got in the dinghy and went over with…” He paused and drew in a slow breath. “With Jamie Andrews, a good friend.”

He’d stopped pacing and stared hard at the blank wall. Susana couldn’t see the ugly images in his mind, but his agonized expression played out their reflection. She realized she was digging her nails into her palms, and she tried to unclench her fists and breathe.

“I was about to board when I got a radio call that there were hostages on board. A woman and three children, who’d been snatched at the port. I was ordered to retreat. But I could hear the children screaming…”

He swallowed hard. “They were speaking Spanish, which I knew from my Dad…” He wiped a wrist across his face, which was sweating. “Screaming–‘save us!’ and I… I knew I’d been ordered to turn back, but I couldn’t just leave them…”

He turned and strode in the other direction. “Jamie tried to convince me to retreat to our boat, but I ordered him to come with me… I was his superior…” He glanced at Susana, pinning her with a fierce stare. “He came.”

He turned and walked along the wall furthest from her. “There was all kinds of screaming and yelling when we got on board. I didn’t think about anything but getting those kids off the boat. It was a small boat and they were all cowering under a table in the galley downstairs. Jamie held a gun on two men while I grabbed two of the children, both girls, about six years old, and told the mother to bring the third, a toddler. We scrambled up on deck and the mother was just climbing into the dinghy with the youngest child when…” He sucked in a harsh breath and his shoulders heaved. Then he turned and stared at her.

“I don’t know what happened next. I woke up in hospital. Someone fired, I don’t know if it was Jamie or one of the kidnappers, but the whole boat blew. The fuel tank ignited.” He paused and Susana held her breath.

“Jamie died, and the kidnappers. The two children I was carrying drowned when the blast blew me overboard and knocked me unconscious. I’d worn a floatation device so I was rescued and stitched up and lived to tell the tale to a court martial hearing.”

His pacing slowed and he turned to look at her. The regret etched on his face made her heart ache.

“I’m so sorry, Joe. You were doing what you thought was best.”

“The mother and her youngest child lived. That’s what got me off the hook, that I’d saved them. I was in jail, for chrissakes.” He looked at her, his eyes hollow with pain. “I always prided myself so much on being a good Navy man, but in one split second I made the wrong decision and five lives were snuffed out. I can’t ever forgive myself, and the Navy wasn’t too keen to forgive me either. My career was over after that, as well it should be.”

He looked at her, his hands hanging by his sides, “I don’t deserve to be alive. And frankly, I’ve wished I wasn’t.”

“You tried to save the children.”

“I disobeyed a direct order. I trusted my gut. And got seventy-eight stitches in it as a reward. See what happens when I follow my instincts?”

Susana climbed off the bed. Pins and needles pricked her flesh as she moved slowly toward Joe. “You trusted your gut when you kissed me. And I trusted mine when I invited you back to my apartment, even though we’d just met.” She stood in front of him, absorbing the heat and tension coming off his body in waves.

“See what a mistake you made?” His low voice echoed around her, and he looked right into her eyes, defying her to disagree.

“I don’t think it was a mistake.” She held his gaze, while her heart thumped painfully against her ribs. “You’re a good man, Joe.”

“Yeah, a good man responsible for the death of two innocent children and a close friend. And two total strangers who should have had a fair trial, no matter what they did.”

“We all make mistakes.”

“A cliché, but true. And you made one the day you took me in and got me all stirred up about you. Now your cousins know you’ve been a bad girl, and others will find out too if you don’t stay away. Don’t mess up your life, Susana. There’s no going back. I learned that the hard way.”

Her fingers itched to touch him, to absorb some of the pain she could see tormenting him. Every muscle in him was tight. She wanted to release the tension and let him rest. To make everything better. She’d promised she could lift a curse on him but that was just talk. Talk was her only true magic and she knew words had the power to heal, but right now her well was dry.

She didn’t know what to say so she said the first thing that came to mind. “I love you, Joe.”

The muscle ticked in his cheek. “I think you said that before, and you still kicked me out. Love doesn’t count for too much in the real world.”

“Maybe it could.” She licked her dry lips as a whole host of frightening possibilities crowded her mind. Marriage to Joe and exile from her family. Marriage to Frankie and a lifetime without Joe. No matter how she looked at it things weren’t pretty or easy or…

Joe looked right at her, his eyes black and unreadable. “You already made your choice. You know what you need. You’ll build a career for yourself, and you’ll have your family. It’s a good choice, a practical choice. No one can have everything.”

“But you’re my destiny, Joe.” The words rose to her lips along with sudden conviction that they were true. She spoke them very deliberately, meaning every word. “You’re my fate. The reason I never married.” Her palms were hot and she wiped them on her skirt. “I’m meant to be with you. We’re meant to be together. It’s my destiny, as a woman… As a Rom woman.”

“You told me Rom couldn’t marry outsiders. Your family will throw you out. That’s the end of being Rom for you.”

“No. I’ll be Rom until I die.” She paused. They still hadn’t touched, but energy buzzed and hummed between them.

Until Joe came along she’d been drifting along on a predetermined course. She’d made choices based on what she knew others wanted for her. But Joe had showed her she could make her own choices. Just as she’d chosen to ignore her vision of the two of them back when she was young, now she could choose to seize that future with both hands.

“I don’t want any other man but you, Joe.”

“You hardly know me.”

“I know you as if we were born together. You’re in my soul and I’m in yours. I wouldn’t be a good gypsy if I turned away from my true destiny.” A smile pushed its way to her lips. Suddenly everything seemed so simple and obvious she couldn’t imagine why she’d fought so hard against her fate.

“But I’m damaged goods, Susana. You can do better.”

“You’re seasoned, matured…”

A hollow laugh rocked him, “Weathered, like a tough piece of wood.”

His mocking analogy broadened her smile. “You’ve acquired some checks and cracks, the way any broad beam will, but you’re solid. I’d stake my life on you. And I’d like to, if you’ll give me the chance.”

Joe blew out a blast of air. Susana held her breath. She’d asked him to spend his life with her. And now she wanted that future with all the power she possessed.

“You gave me hope, Susana.” He looked at her steadily. His face bore no expression, but his eyes burned through her, heating her blood and quickening her pulse.

“And then I took it away.” Cold seized her fingers and toes. She’d betrayed him once, betrayed herself. Could he trust her now? “I promise you on my life I’ll never do that again.”

“You’d have to give up so much, and I have to give up nothing. It doesn’t seem fair.”

“Ah, but you’re wrong. You have to give up your anger, your sorrow. You’d have to trust in me.”

“I trust your word.” His voice was gruff.

“You shouldn’t. Words are just noise. Trust my body.”

Her fingers shook as she unbuttoned the front of her blouse and parted it. She heard Joe’s breath hitch. She unbuttoned the back of her skirt and let it fall to the floor. Her blouse slid over her shoulders and joined it. Awkwardly she climbed out of her underwear until she was stark naked. The room blazed dark orange in the fading sunset.

“I give you my flesh, my heart.” She’d kept her eyes lowered, but as she looked up they locked onto Joe’s. “To be yours for the rest of my life.”

She heard a strange sound in Joe’s throat. He blinked, his eyes blazing.

She took a step forward. Her skin tingled, stirred by his body heat. She raised her hand and pushed his shirt back over his left shoulder. He shrugged it off and pushed down his jeans until they both stood naked, bathed in amber by the last rays of the setting sun.

Joe stood with his hands by his sides, coiled strength waiting. “You’ve breathed life back into me, Susana. I was dead inside, like a statue…” He paused, staring at her, his eyes suddenly soft, lively, shining with new hope.

“And now you can feel again.”

He nodded and raised a hand to cup her cheek. And the sweet sensation of his skin touching hers sent a ripple of almost agonizing pleasure shivering to her toes.

“I trust you, Susana. You’ve never lied to me.”

“I’ll never lie to you. I’ll never cheat on you.” She spoke with assurance born of total confidence in her own loyalty.

“I know. You’re like me, I can see that now. When you pledge yourself, it’s for life. No matter what.”

She nodded, her heart so filled with love for him that it squeezed painfully.

He lifted his other hand until he cupped her face in his palms, the heat from his hands scorching cheeks that blazed hot with emotion.

“I love you, Susana. Will you be my wife?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “I’ll be your wife. From now on we’ll live the same life, share the same destiny. Make our own family.” She looked into his eyes, meeting the intensity of his gaze, and matching it. “My troubles will be your troubles and your troubles will be mine.”

A sweeter burden she couldn’t imagine.

He took her hand tight in his, and for a moment she felt the lines on their palms—head, heart, fate—shift and adapt to each other, their lives taking the same path.

She stepped forward and Joe’s arms wrapped around her shoulders, hugging her tight. His chest heaved as emotion racked his strong body. “I pledge myself to you, Susana.” His breath was hot on her ear. “I’ll love you and cherish you and take care of you until the end of my life.”

She believed him with every atom of her being. “I know you will, Joe. And I promise the same to you. We’ve waited a long time for each other, and we deserve to love each other for a long time.”

“Is that a prediction?”

She leaned close, so she could whisper in his ear. Her heart swelled with joy as she held him tight. “It’s a promise.”

THE END