Page 31 of Once Upon a Midnight Dreary
Suddenly, he was there.Resting on the narrow edge of the sofa cushion.He grasped her hands in his, holding her steady.A crack of thunder made her jerk.He wrapped her in his arms, holding her tight against him.Against his warmth.
“It’s all right.”
Her ear was pressed against his chest, listening to the steady rhythm of his heart.First instinct was to shove out of his arms, but he felt so nice.So warm.So safe.Her eyes were drowsy again.Her head still pounding.
Across from her, a warm cheerful fire.
She whimpered again, still trying to right her senses.
His arms tightened around her as he gently rocked her, to comfort her.“You’re safe now, Victoria.I’m here.”
He said her name.
Something about the way he uttered her name sent a shiver of familiarity through her.As though she’d heard him say her name before.
“Y-you said my name.”Her teeth chattered, despite his warmth.
She didn’t know why.
“I’ve thought it a thousand times.”His voice was quiet in the solitude of the room.
He had?
Her breath pooled in her throat as they clung to each other.
There was something haunting about the way he said her name, the way it lilted off his tongue as though he had not only contemplated it countless times, but said it.With reverence.With a deep-seated need that stirred the dust in the corners of her memory.
A long-forgotten childhood memory surfaced.When she wandered through the misty halls of the west wing, knowing she was not supposed to be there.When she stood in the corridor, holding her favorite doll, staring into the gloom.
Her doll.The gloom.The dark-eyed man who stood still as stone with eyes full of sorrow and despair.Helping her find her way back to her room through the drafty corridors while her parents slept.
He was kind.He was gentle.
He was…Gabriel.
Warmth bloomed in her chest, chasing away the last vestiges of fear.She lifted her gaze to his, searching his unyielding face for signs he was the man in the shadows, the man she had seen lurking in shadows long ago.And she knew he was.
He looked down at her, meeting her gaze.His eyes, usually so guarded, were soft now.Honest.
Lonely.
And that loosed something deep within her.Something she hadn’t even known was there.A deep ache pounded through her.
She was lonely, too.
Yet, here they were.Together.Holding on to each other while the storm continued above their heads.Here, in the hush between thunderclaps, they hovered in a fragile peace.
“You’ve never said it before.”Her voice was a cautious whisper, as though saying those words aloud would break whatever spell surrounded them.
“Perhaps I shouldn’t have.”He looked away toward the fire.The light flickered in the depths of his onyx eyes.“You deserve a better man than me.”
His arms dropped away.He shifted to the far end of the settee, leaving her adrift in a sea of emotion.
A thousand questions danced on her tongue, but none of them mattered.Not now.
What mattered was the truth in his voice.The quiet almost-confession in the middle of a storm.The way he had held her like she was precious.
Her hand trembled as she reached for his.He didn’t pull away.Their eyes met, but she said nothing as they gazed at each other for a long, intense moment.Gabriel looked away, but he allowed her to hold his hand.He stared at their joined hands as though unsure what to do with the contact.As if the warmth of another person was something he’d long forgotten.
