The Power of Love Read Online Free PDF Page A

places. It was a
place where she often dabbed perfume, but also smelled her own
womanly scent. She was warm there, even now, and welcomed him. He
kissed her nape and spoke softly in her ear, telling her one last
time how much he loved her.
    Then, “I love you, Lany. But . . .” He
halted. He could not do this. He would not. No, that was being
selfish. “But it’s time. It’s . . . it’s okay to go now, my love.
You’ll be okay. I’ll be okay.” His voice hitched. Who was he
kidding? It was tearing him in pieces. “I’ll be okay, and our son
will be okay. I’ll tell him all about you and he’ll grow to love
you as I do. But it’s time for you to let go, my love. It’s okay to
go. It’s okay, it’s okay . . .”
    As he spoke, he noticed her breaths
coming fewer and farther between.
    “It’s okay, my love. Let
go.”
    And then there was silence.
    Ethan remained in his bent over
position for a moment. The only sound in the room was his own
shallow breathing.
    He heard the last breath leave his
wife’s body and then he felt her body go limp, if such a thing were
possible in her condition. But he held her a bit longer. He knew
that once he rose, the nurse would return and he would be required
to leave while they did what needed doing with a body which no
longer carried life.
    Carried life. How ironic the phrase.
Just hours ago she had carried three lives—her own, that of their
child, and the life and soul of himself that he shared with her.
Now, the vibrant, fun-loving, amazing woman who had agreed to be
his wife just a year ago today was gone to him, in life and in
spirit, and too soon in body. At least he had that for a moment
longer. Just a moment longer.
     
    When he felt a hand on his arm, he
thought it was a nurse coming in to tell him to get off his wife’s
bed again. He had not realized it, but he had dozed. He did not
know for how long though. His wife’s body was still
warm.
    When he sat up, prepared to tell the
nurse to leave him alone, there was no one there. But the hand
remained on his arm. His gazed at the hand and followed it up an
arm. His gaze tracked the limb to Elaine’s face. He nearly leapt
off the bed when her eyes fluttered opened and focused on
him.
    “Elaine?” he gasped. “Oh,
Lany.”
    Elaine reached up and palmed his cheek.
Her hand trembled but was warm.
    Warm!
    And her cheeks were turning pink. The
circles under her eyes disappeared before his eyes.
    What was happening?
    “Lany?”
    She smiled weakly. “It’s not my time.”
She glanced to the side of the bed and whispered, “Thank you.”
Ethan did not see anyone, but he did not care. His wife was awake.
He did not know how long he had, but he had to tell her everything
he had been thinking while lying beside her on the narrow
bed.
    “Elaine, I have so much to say,” he
said, stroking his thumb across her lower lip. She liked it when he
did that. But when she reached up and pulled his hand away he was
not sure what to think.
    “Please, listen to me, Ethan. I’m going
to be all right.”
    Ethan’s heart pounded. What was she
talking about?
    Just then the door swung open and the
nurse returned. When she saw Elaine was awake, she spun around and
left the room. A moment later she returned with Doctor Gibbons in
tow.
     
     

Christmas Eve – one year
later
     
    The best feeling in the world had to be
lying in a lover’s arms, completely exhausted after a night of
lovemaking, totally and absolutely sated.
    Ethan snuggled closer to Elaine,
weaving his legs with hers and grinning at how the feel of her body
so thoroughly ignited his own.
    The warm feminine scent of her body—her
own womanly sent, sweet and exotic and only enhanced by the light
perfume she had put on earlier in the day, and her skin damp with
fine perspiration and the heady aroma of sex—permeated his
senses
    In a word, she smelled delicious. So
much so, he’d practically gobbled her up over the last several
hours. Perhaps he would again, he thought,