Page 31 of Through the Dark Night
Maybe it was the dark, maybe it was the cozy feeling inside of the cab, but Shannon felt more secure than she had in the daylight. And she wanted to explain, to let him know why she had been so skittish the other night on the porch.
But for her, it started well before that night.
“After my husband cheated on me and left me, he made it clear that he was choosing her over me. It was hard to believe that he would leave a three-decade marriage and our two children in favor of some woman he had just met, who he didn’t have any history with, didn’t have any kids with. And it made me feel…like I wasn’t enough.”
“You’re more than enough,” Lance said softly but fiercely.
She ignored him. “I felt like I was lost. Because my kids were done with college. They were going on to find jobs of their own, start their own lives, and here I was selling everything and having to start over again. I just felt like I didn’t have anything to hold onto. And I hated that feeling. That feeling of losing my identity now that I was no longer a wife and no longer a mother.” She’d felt terrible. Like if she were skinnier or prettier or had been a better wife, somehow, although she really didn’t know how she could have done that, but if she had, her husband would have loved her enough to stay.
“I just questioned a lot of things. One of the things I questioned was the choice that I made all those years ago to take your promise ring off and put it in my pocket and walk away from you. If I’m being honest, that was the worst decision of my life.”
“Shannon,” Lance said, his voice tender. His arm came up and lay across the back of the seat, his fingers just touching the hair on her ear, pushing it back.
She wanted to lean into his hand, to borrow from his strength. “Lance, there’s something about why I left town, about what happened. Something I should have told you.”
Just then, a flash of lightning hit, and it had to have hit something in the yard, because there was a huge crack and immediately thunder crashed, shaking the pickup as they sat.
Shannon almost thought that the inn would becatching on fire and burning up before their very eyes, and she knew they would have to go in and get Marina. Hopefully that terrible crash didn’t awaken her.
Somehow she had jumped when the lightning flashed, and she was closer to Lance than she had been, almost cradled in his arm.
“Shannon,” he said, his voice a caress that wrapped around her, making her feel warm and happy and so totally cared for. He had left his warm, safe, comfortable house, and the sister that he loved, to come work in the rain with her and to make sure that she was safe. She couldn’t imagine James leaving anything that was comfortable to do anything kind for her. And she appreciated it so much. She put a hand on his cheek, feeling the roughness of his day’s worth of beard under her fingers.
“Lance,” she said softly.
Just then, another flash of lightning lit up the truck, and she saw the look in his eyes, which could only be labeled as absolute adoration, before thunder crashed, and it sounded like something exploded. When they looked over, the tree that had been in the front yard toppled to the ground, crashing with a loud sound that left no mistake that it was completely done for.
The moment was gone, and now Shannon had to deal with the fact that a lot of their hard work would probably be destroyed by the storm. Maybe people would lose interest and not be interested in rebuilding. She would have to discuss that with Dominic in the morning after they assessed the damages.
Twelve
The next morning, Shannon arrived in the kitchen, blurry-eyed and with the knowledge that there was a lot of work to be done that day, only to see Marina standing in the middle of the room, a thoughtful look on her face.
“Good morning,” she said wearily, wondering if Marina had realized how bad the storm was. As far as Shannon knew, the other woman had never even woken up.
“That was quite a storm that went through last night. I slept through it all, but I saw the damage this morning when I got up.”
Marina was always up before she was, and sometimes she was already cooking in the kitchen when Shannon walked in. It was early this morning, though.
“It was quite a storm. Thankfully, Lance came and helped me get everything tied down, although once the tree branch broke the dining room window, we retreated to his truck, and then that big old tree in the front yard fell, and I’m not sure what we’re going to do.”
“You could have gotten me up. I would have helped.”
“I know. I hated to wake you, then Lance was here and I didn’t need to.”
Marina nodded. “I was wondering if you’d like me to whip up some breakfast for everyone.”
“We don’t have any electricity,” Shannon said, wishing there was some way Marina could do it.
“There’s a camp stove in the shed. I saw it the other day when I was looking through trying to find a Dutch oven. If it’s okay with you, I can make a fire outside and get something mixed up. I’m guessing that the crew is going to be pretty hungry. Most of them might not have electricity, and they might be coming to work without anything to eat.”
“Good thinking. If you don’t mind, I would love it. Actually, we might be able to use some of the wood from the tree to make the fire.” It would be soaked, but they could figure something out.
“You let me worry with that. If I can’t find enough broken sticks, maybe someone will come with a chainsaw and give me a hand. You just get on with the things that you need to do. Okay?” Marina looked at Shannon with a smile.
Shannon had to thank God once more for Marina. She’d been a blessing more than once. “All right. Thank you.”
They smiled at each other, and Shannon figured that maybe she ought to make sure that she allowed people to know how much she appreciated them.
