Page 204 of The Woman By the Lake

They came and met Riggs, who they obviously liked, and Ledger, who cut them to the quick, but they loved.

Then they left.

And after that, I never got more than birthday or Christmas cards from them.

That hurt.

But I loved them, and I got it.

So I gave it to them.

A month after I moved in officially with Riggs and Ledger, we closed on buying the cabin.

Dave drove a hard bargain, and we paid four times what he bought it for four years previously.

I didn’t care.

I had my she shed.

And my family owned our whole lake.

Epilogue

FALLING PETALS

Nadia

After I watered the pots of flowers all around, I wound the garden hose around its holder on the side of the cabin, then walked in my now not-as-velvety-gorgeous Birks to the trail.

I wasn’t even close to the big house when I saw all the activity.

The white chairs being set out in rows. The thick swags made of deep red and orange roses being hung from the railings of our deck. More being draped around the large white tent that had been erected on the other side of the drive.

I was glad I didn’t have to do all that work.

And I was thrilled the weather was going to cooperate.

I walked under the arbor, which, with Brenda’s assistance, since they were planted last year, I had managed to coax the peach roses to grow, and we trained them around Rigg’s delicate scrollwork, so now they were nearly up to the curves of the arch.

And they were blooming profusely.

I was inside, had flipped off my Birks, and was at the kitchen sink washing my hands when Riggs walked in.

I dried my hands and called, “Hey, baby.”

He didn’t respond, unless coming to me, fitting himself to my back and shuffling me out of the kitchen, murmuring in my ear, “Time to get ready,” could be considered a response to a greeting.

It actually wasn’t time. It was early.

But today was a day of romance.

So I allowed my man to take me to our bed. I also allowed him to take off my sundress and panties. And I watched as he lifted both arms to put his hands between his shoulder blades to tug off his tee.

But I helped him with his jeans.

We had time, so we took our time going over old ground that somehow always seemed new.

Riggs had a thing for getting his mouth between my legs (truth told, I had a thing for it too, and mine was a bigger one than his, I was sure).

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