The Truth About Love Read Online Free PDF Page A

I’ll always love you.  I can’t do this without you.”
    Frowning, I stared at him.  He seemed frightened, even as he tried to act confident.  I clasped my arms around his neck.  This man.  I had to love him.  There was no other explanation.  “Promise,” I urged.
    “Promise.”  He echoed.  The words were whispered in my ear, sending chills up and down my spine.  Tingles of longing began in dormant places.  He pressed his groin against me.  “Feel that,” he demanded.
    For the first time in such a long time, Shane had an erection.  It seemed too much to hope for.  Slowly, he began to undress me, yanking my shirt up over my head.  He smiled as he reached behind me to unhook my bra.  As it slid down my shoulders, exposing my already hard nipples, he grinned. 
    “Hello, girls,” he murmured as he dropped to his knees before me.  Seconds later, he had them in his mouth, lavishing attention on first one, then the other. 
    My insides quivered in anticipation.  It had been so long, I’d be lucky to last three minutes with him inside me.  Eagerly, I undressed him, pulling his polo shirt over his head, then fumbling with his belt. 
    “I got it.”  Shane seemed as impatient as me.
    Soon, we were naked and rolling around passionately on the floor.  As I felt him press against my wet opening, I pushed on his chest.  “Condom.”  I reminded him gently.
    Shaking his head, he frowned.  “We’re getting married soon.  It doesn’t matter.”  Then he turned his attention back to pleasuring me.
    Four weeks later, a test confirmed I was pregnant.  Six weeks later, I was walking down a dock on a mountain lake to meet him under the gazebo and say our vows.  We had chosen an Irish handfasting ceremony.  It seemed even deeper and more meaningful than for better or for worse, even though it was implied. 
    A mere four months later we had our daughter, Kylie, sixteen weeks early.  For the next six months, she lived in the hospital, fighting for her life while Shane struggled to keep his promise.  The struggle continued even after she came home. 
    I had married my prince.  We had our princess.  We lived in a really nice house.  On paper, everything looked perfect.  In reality, my happily ever after had never seemed so far away.

 

Chapter Three
     
     
    In the fourteen months since Kylie had come home, we’d had few ordinary days.  During the week there was always some kind of therapy or doctor appointment.  This Monday, however, we had nothing scheduled other than meeting up with a friend.  When Shane wandered out from our bedroom around nine in the morning, I was on the phone with Julia.  We had been long time virtual friends brought together by similar circumstances.  Like us, Julia and her husband had special needs children, and like me, she was a freelance writer.  After ten months of daily conversations and frequent messaging on Facebook, they were coming to Charlotte from Atlanta for a doctor appointment and we were all supposed to meet for lunch.
    Shane smiled when he walked out, which was encouraging.  Since we were in the middle of joking and making plans, I decided to incorporate him into the conversation.   “ Hey, babe, which restaurant did you want to meet at?”
    “Don’t start with me, Nina.”   He had snarled at me before heading out to the garage for his morning smoke, and though I tried to cover it up, I was already hurt and licking my wounds.  Ending the conversation, I convinced Julia to meet at Taco Bell.  It was right across the road from the doctor and even though Shane was a picky eater, he loved tacos.  I figured since we weren’t meeting until almost two in the afternoon, I had plenty of time to finalize the plans with my grumpy husband.
    When he hadn’t come back into the house nearly an hour later, I checked and found him asleep on the couch in the garage.  I suppose I imagined this would be like the last few days of constant sleeping where he