For the Love of Suzanne (30 page)

Cody felt the warmth engulfing him. Heat
and…safety. He raised his head and squinted at the bright
light. “What the…?” he trailed off in confusion.

She smiled and looked over her shoulder at him.
“Don’t question it, honey. Just go with it. God is good.
Remember?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he agreed
earnestly and moved far enough away from her and made the sign of the
cross over his chest with gratitude and reverence. “Are you
getting warm?” he asked her curiously.

“Yes. Are you?”

“Yes,” he said wondrously and wiggled
his fingers in front of his face, feeling them for the first time in
hours and surprisingly, they didn’t hurt. He wiggled his toes
in his boots and found the same thing. “I know I have frostbite
and I’m sure you do, too,” he said in amazement, easing
her chin around to look for the tell-tale frosty look on her face. He
saw nothing but radiance. Her skin wasn’t white or black to
indicate frostbite but a healthy pink over the tan. “This is
amazing,” he said slowly, looking up at the brightly lit sky.
“Thank you,” he said in earnest and crossed himself
again. “Thank you, God,” he said humbly and crossed
himself once again.

“I’m grateful, too,” she added
to Cody’s prayer of thanks. “Very grateful.”

With the new warmth and the bright light, Titan
began to move faster through the heavy snow as it was quickly
melting, no longer working so hard to carry his riders to safety.

Cody took the reins from Suzanne as the horse was
rejuvenated and moved quickly and gracefully. He didn’t guide
him at all as he held her around her waist. The horse needed no
direction or control and seemed to know where he was going. He was
following the light.

Suzanne let the warm fur drop open in front of her
and looked at Cody’s hands as one held her and the other rested
on the saddle horn. “Cody?”

“What, honey?” he asked clearly, all
signs of fatigue gone from his voice.

“Um, are we dead?” she asked
uncertainly.

He smiled a little. “I don’t think so,
but if we are, we’re dead together.”

She smiled then. “What a clever thing to
say.”

He kissed her on her warm cheek. “If I had
to die with someone, I would want it to be with you,” he
murmured as he kissed her ear.

She ran her fingers over the hand that held her
around her waist. He felt real. He was warm and his skin was just as
brown and healthy as ever. She could feel his breath on her neck and
she could smell him and smiled. They both needed a shower. “Are
we dead?” she asked again.

He could feel her tension and unease and realized
this was scaring her. “No, sweetheart. We aren’t dead.
We’re doing something most people never get a chance to do.”

“What’s that?”

“We’re running with God. Don’t
be afraid, Suzanne. This is a good thing. He’s guiding us out
of here,” he said seriously, looking at the light. “This
is very good.”

He wrapped the reins around the horn of the saddle
and sat back enough to make the sign of the cross over his chest
again, giving thanks for the salvation of his life, but mostly for
Suzanne’s life and the life of her child.

Suzanne admired Cody’s conviction and
reverence to God and had to admit she owed Him one, too, and gave a
silent prayer of thanks. She’d heard that Indians of this era
were considered heathens. She didn’t know if that was true or
not, but if it was, Cody was an exception. He gave thanks for
everything. She figured she could learn a lot from him and this
experience.

As they traveled south, the amount of snow began
to decrease and the light began to dim while Titan tirelessly kept
the brisk pace headed to a destination unknown.

She was suddenly sleepy as was Cody, and they both
fell asleep in the saddle, he holding her to his chest and resting
his cheek against hers as she nestled into him and Titan continued
their trip.

A miracle had happened this night.

Cody woke up slowly to a bright blue sky, feeling
the sun beat down on his face as he still held Suzanne to his chest
and as Titan grazed on the lush green grass contentedly.

He looked around with confusion. A quiet stream
was flowing within feet of them. There were wildflowers spread out on
the bluffs. He wasn’t sure of where they were, but was sure
they were on the right track. He eased himself out of the saddle and
caught Suzanne as she fell into his arms.

She woke with a start and met his dark eyes for a
moment, holding him around his neck. “Where are we?” she
asked in confusion.

He set her on her feet with a smile as he took off
his coat. “I don’t know, but it’s warm.”

She returned his smile and took hers off, too. “It
is,” she said with wonder as she looked around at the beauty of
her surroundings. It was breathtaking. The air was fresh and clean
and the quiet stream screamed for her to bathe in it.

“I have to clean this wound,” he
murmured more to himself than to her and unbuttoned his shirts as he
made his way to the stream.

She went with him, hoping to help and to clean up
a little herself.

He dipped a corner of the shirt into the crisp,
cool water and was about to dab away the blood that he was sure was
there when he noticed the wound was gone.

She noticed the same thing and looked at him with
questioning eyes.

He held the shirt up to look for blood and when he
found none, he began to wonder if he’d really been shot or if
he’d imagined it. “I was shot, wasn’t I?” he
asked in confusion.

She nodded. “You said it was a scratch, but
it hurt.”

“He healed me,” he said slowly with
the realization that the miracle had gone further than he thought.
“Holy Mother of God,” he said in awe.

She was speechless.

He dropped to one knee and bowed his head and made
the sign of the cross over his bare chest several times as he said
prayers of thanks. He took her hand and gently eased her to the
ground beside him and held it as he bowed his head. “Thank
you,” he murmured sincerely. “You have spared our lives
and healed me.”

Suzanne bowed her head, but had no idea which way
to cross herself and watched him out of the corner of her eye. “Thank
you,” she murmured with him, feeling now that things were going
to be okay and she would be home soon. “Thank you,” she
said again with feeling.

He looked into her eyes. “I think we’re
going to make it.”

“Yes,” she agreed breathlessly, trying
to avert her eyes from his broad chest, remembering how he’d
made such sweet love to her that one time at Boris and Marda’s.
He’d been so patient and kind and made her feel so loved and
she’d hoped she made him feel the same way.

She thought of Beau and how well he’d been
built with his muscular chest and abs and tight butt, big biceps and
handsome face. He’d gone to the gym almost every day even if it
was to pick up women more than to work out, but even if he was alive,
he wouldn’t have had held a candle to Cody.

As she looked at his body, she couldn’t help
but notice his broad chest, defined abs, bigger biceps and a great
view from the back, but she knew he’d never lifted a weight in
his life. He probably didn’t even know what one was. He was
toned naturally just from his lifestyle. He was forever on the move
and working at something.

He could feel her looking at him and met her eyes
for a moment before leaning over and kissing her softly and lovingly,
slowly exploring her mouth with his tongue as she tangled her fingers
in his long, black hair and returned the kiss.

She was being swept away. After the stress of
nearly freezing to death, going hungry, him getting shot and the
supernatural way to safety, she needed this and she wanted him to
have it, too, even if she wasn’t very good at it.

He ran his fingertips over her soft cheek as he
kissed her then made a slow trail to her neck following his fingers
with his mouth, where he kissed, licked and sucked.

She moaned softly, wanting to clean up before they
did this,
if
they did this. She gently pulled his head back by his
hair and kissed him on the lips. “I’d like to clean up a
little first,” she whispered to him.

“Me, too,” he whispered back and began
to unbutton the high collar of her dress as he kissed her lips again,
intentionally grazing her breasts through the cotton chemise with the
backs of his fingers as he pushed it open, feeling the pressure
against the buttons of his buckskins with his own desire.

“I wish we had some soap.”

He kissed her briefly. “You want soap?”
he murmured as he gazed into her eyes.

She shrugged shyly, hating to ask him for anything
after all he’d already done for her and what he’d been
through.

He stood up and went to Titan and dug in one of
the saddle bags and came back to her with a small bar of white soap.
“Will this do?”

She looked up at him with a smile of appreciation.
“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he told her
with a slight smile and sat down and took off his boots and socks as
she did hers.

“I need a razor and a real toothbrush.”

“Why do you need a razor?” he asked in
confusion. “You’re a woman and women don’t shave.”

She gave him a timid smile. “We do now.”

“What do you shave?”

“I shave my legs and underarms. Most women
do.”

“Why?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. We just
do,” she said nonchalantly. “I guess it isn’t
attractive running around with hairy legs and armpits.”

He smiled with wonder. “Well, women don’t
do it here and men don’t expect them to.”

She loved his innocence and kissed him on the
cheek. “Can I wash your clothes?”

“Do you want to stay here for a little while
to let them dry?”

She nodded. “Unless you don’t want
to.”

“I’m going to warn you. I have nothing
else to wear.”

“You won’t be needing clothes anyway,”
she said with a teasing smile and a wink.

He laughed with some shock at her outrageous
flirting, but liked it very much and watched her walk into the water
with her dress open where he’d unbuttoned it. He liked the
playful side of her and took off his buckskins and followed her,
finding the water to be rather warm for this time of the year. He
waded into the middle, knowing it wasn’t very deep, and felt
lucky that it came to his waist.

She watched him for a moment from where she was
standing in much shallower water, getting the lower quarter of the
dress wet then waded out a little farther as he dunked himself,
getting his hair completely wet as well as his entire body. She
handed him the soap when he surfaced again then began to take off the
heavy dress as she watched him bathe.

He met her steamy gaze as he washed his body with
the soap then his hair, watching her as the dress slowly came off,
followed by the dirty chemise. He could see her shyness, knew she was
forcing herself to undress in front of him and didn’t want her
to do that. He wanted her to feel comfortable around him and free to
do as she pleased.

He went under water again to rinse himself off
then resurfaced, pushing his hair out of his face and looked at her,
seeing her bite her lip with apprehension and wring her hands
nervously. He’d seen her numerous times without clothes, but
only one time intimately and it had been dark. He didn’t say
anything as he made his way to her. He handed her the bar of soap,
and kissed her softly as he pushed the dress off her shoulders. He
steadied her as he freed her from the voluminous skirt that was under
the water, leaving her in the white cotton chemise that barely
covered her belly and was held up by wide straps. Without saying
anything, he draped the heavy dress over his arm, lifting the chemise
to her chest. “Arms up,” he told her in a quiet voice,
noticing she hadn’t looked him in the eye since she’d
been here.

She reluctantly did as he’d said and turned
her face away and covered her naked breasts with her arms.

He doused the chemise in the water for a moment,
before wadding it up and throwing it on the grassy bank of the
stream, followed by the dress. All the while, watching her watch
where they’d landed. “You can’t take a bath with
your clothes on,” he told her good-naturedly, taking her hand
and leading her to the deeper part of the stream. He took the soap
from her and eased her down so she could get completely wet.

She found herself on eye-level with his belly
button and was mildly surprised when he arched her back over his arm
and got her hair wet. She became acutely aware that he could see
every part of her body and scrambled to cover herself with her arms.

He couldn’t stop her or would end up
dropping her. Holding her still, he slowly began to wash her body
with the soap, starting at her belly that was big with child and
moved to her breasts, brushing his fingers over his rosary she wore
around her neck, touched that she was wearing it. He wondered if he’d
missed it the first time they’d made love or if she recently
started wearing it. He moved to her arms as they covered her ample
breasts, slowly guiding the soap over them before lowering her into
the water to rinse her off.

He set her back on her feet in front of him and
turned her back to him and began to lather her hair, gently massaging
her scalp, moving his hands to wander to her breasts as she relaxed
enough to finally let her arms drop.

She swallowed her moan of pleasure as he kissed
her shoulder and made his way to her neck, pressing himself against
her. She trusted him and knew he wouldn’t hurt her, but she was
self-conscious about how she looked and wanted him to stop but
couldn’t say the words.

He turned her so she faced him again and took his
time in running his tongue along her lips, continuing to run his
fingers through her hair, getting them soapy again. He eased her back
down over his arm to rinse the soap from her hair, watching it splay
in the slow moving water as the suds disappeared downstream.