It Burns a Lovely Light Read Online Free PDF Page A

"Maybe not where you come from."
    She raised herself up on one elbow. "Farley thinks
    Bridge Manor is a dark and lonely house."
    "Isn't it?"
    "Wise guy." She poked him with her finger. "It wasn't always dark and lonely, you know. For a while there, it was really something."
    Jack had seen photographs of the magnificent three-story Victorian before it went to seed. In its day, Bridge Manor had held its own against the mansions of Highland Avenue.
    "And yet, you still couldn't wait to get the hell out
    of there," said Jack. "How many times have you told me Bridge Manor was just another sorry - albeit grander than most - ashtray, filled with the smoke and soot and grime of the city?"
    "Too many, apparently." Pauline made a face.
    "Do you have to remember everything I say?"
    He kissed the top of her head. "Only the juicy stuff."
    "Such as?"
    "Such as...that the rivers back then were black as coal. Sometimes the downtown streetlamps stayed on all day because the pollution blocked out the sunlight. And those 'goddamn white lace curtains.'"
    Pauline shivered, despite the warm night. Every Sunday of
    her childhood, women up and down the hillside would hang their hand-scrubbed white lace curtains out on the clothesline to dry. By the following week those curtains were black again; ripe and ready for another Sunday scrubbing. Back on
    the line they went.
    "God, I hated those women." She propped herself up on one elbow. "Out there week after week, clothespins in their mouths while they fought the wind to hang their precious curtains. It was like
    watching Sisyphus push that goddamn rock up the hill just to watch it roll down the other side. I used to wonder what the hell they were waiting for. Why didn't they get out? They could start over somewhere else. Somewhere clean."
    Jack smiled. How lucky he was to have found a woman with a soul as restless as his. Like him, she thrived on constant change. Each new move was an adventure; a challenge to conquer.
    Pauline ran her fingers through his chest hair. "But
    that's just it...Claire never minded the sooty air or the black water or the pathetic curtain hangers. She never wanted to leave Bridge Manor. She even tried to convince Paddy to live there, after they were married."
    "The cost of restoring an old place can get pretty steep, Pauline. Not to mention keeping it up."
    "Claire is smart. She'll find a way."
    Jack traced his hand down the curve of his wife's face.
    "I suppose if things got too bad, she could sell The Hobbit ."
    "Yea, right." She chuckled. "You know Claire would live in the poorhouse before she'd sell her precious books."
    "Especially that one."
    The extremely rare first edition of JRR Tolkien's book was part of a large collection of rare books the twins' father had left to Claire. The two of them had always shared a love of books; scouring bookstores together
    and searching for treasures among the dusty shelves.
    "I can't help but feel bad for Paddy," said Jack. "I don't know what I'd do if you left me."
    Spreading her legs, Pauline straddled her husband. Jack inhaled the citrus smell of her shampoo as she leaned down to whisper in his ear.
    "I'm not going anywhere, lover boy. You're stuck with me..." She nibbled his earlobe as her hips ground into him in a slow,
    circular movement. "...forever and ever, amen."
    He groaned. Wrapping her hair around his fist, he gently pulled her toward him. He sucked and gently bit her nipples until her body
    began to tremble.
    "Promise you'll never leave me," he said, firmer than he meant to.
    "I could never leave you, Jack." She moaned, arching her head back. "I'd rather die."
     

     

Chapter 4
    "Paddy, is that you?" The heavy oak door creaked in protest as Claire pulled it open. "Since when do you come to the front
    door?"
    In all the years he'd been coming to Bridge Manor, Paddy Sullivan had never used the front door. Nobody did. The Justus family had always preferred to use the mudroom entrance around back, which opened into