Love at Last. Irene Brand
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my mail. When I didn’t hear from you, I thought what we’d done had turned you against me—that you didn’t love me any longer.”
“I gave you no reason to think that,” he said sharply.
She steeled herself against the deep emotion in his voice. “I just can’t believe my parents treated me that way.”
“You don’t believe me?”
“Of course I believe you. But they’d have saved me a lot of heartache if they’d stayed out of our private affairs.”
“I finished the job training in time to start my senior year at college. I came to your home, intending to force my way in to see you, only to learn your family had moved. If your neighbors knew where you’d gone, they wouldn’t tell me.”
Lorene unconsciously twisted her slender hands together and leaned her head against the window. She held back tears of rage and disappointment. She remembered vividly the despair of the months following her separation from Perry. Though her parents told her persistently that he’d deceived her, only pretending to love her until he’d violated her purity, Lorene continued to believe they were wrong. She pored over each day’s mail, looking for a letter. Finally the day came when she no longer wanted to see Perry and lived in dread that he would come back to her. But she’d never forgotten how much she loved him, and her parents had never completely convinced Lorene that he hadn’t loved her.
He tenderly caressed her cheek with a knuckle and stroked the long hair on her shoulder.
“I’m sorry I’ve distressed you. It’s my fault. I should have known you wouldn’t walk out on me. It’s all right. Don’t let it ruin your evening.”
Chapter Three
Reluctant to part with Lorene for the night, Perry drove westward along the Ohio River. He stopped the car at a small park, took Lorene’s hand and they strolled to a shaded wooden bench facing the river and the setting sun.
They sat, bodies touching, and Perry put his arm over her shoulder. She didn’t push him away, and his arm tightened slightly into an impersonal hug. His touch radiated an affection that drew her like a magnet, and it eased the pain in her heart, but she refrained from turning to him to experience again the comfort of his strong embrace.
A cool breeze wafted from the river. Dark clouds hovered in the west, creating a sunset of vivid purple, red and yellow hues. They didn’t speak for a long while, content to bask in closeness, overcome with memories. Words couldn’t have expressed the comfort, the completeness, the rightness of the moment.
Sighing deeply, Perry brushed windblown strands of hair from Lorene’s forehead. His fingers wended their way down the right side of her face as skillfully as a musician would tinkle the keys of a piano. He cupped her chin and slowly turned her face toward his.
“Do you remember the day we met?” he asked, his mouth curved with gentleness.
A hint of moisture lurked in Lorene’s eyes and her intimate smile set his pulse racing. “You always could read my mind. I’ve been thinking about our first meeting all evening.”
“I can still see you,” he reminisced, “running out of the engineering building, with your book bag hanging open, scattering papers all over the steps.”
“I was crying so hard I couldn’t see, missed the last step and tumbled into your arms. You picked up my things, helped me to my car and invited me to join you for a sandwich. If I hadn’t met you that day, I’d have dropped out of college. I’d just come from my adviser, who’d told me I wasn’t going to make it in engineering school.”
Perry pulled her into a closer embrace while she wrestled with that terrible blow to her ego. “I didn’t know how I could possibly tell Dad. Since he didn’t have a son, he’d insisted that I was the one to follow in his steps as an engineer. With your help, I did pass that semester, but by then I knew the adviser was right. Engineering wasn’t for me.”
“But you did great when you enrolled in a media-related curriculum. See where you are today!”
“I couldn’t have done it without your help. You went home with me for moral support when I finally got the courage to tell my parents I’d changed my course of study. Just by being there, you kept Dad from bullying me into doing what he wanted.”
“Your father blamed me for your change of plans, but I didn’t mind. I’m happy I was there to help you. What are friends for, anyway?”
In the silence that followed, Lorene thought it might have been better if they’d continued as friends. But she couldn’t be sorry for those weeks after she and Perry had known it was love rather than friendship that had created the infinite bond between them. His expression grew serious, his eyes wistful, and she wondered if he, too, remembered that evening when one intense kiss had suddenly changed their friendship to love.
It was the night before Easter break, and Perry had walked with her to the apartment. Her roommate had already left for the holidays, and Perry came inside with her. They’d often studied together in the apartment, but while she heated milk for hot chocolate, Perry roamed restlessly around the room picking up items and looking at them as if he hadn’t seen them before.
He leaned against the table where they’d worked, and their eyes met across the snack bar when she poured the steaming cups of chocolate. An undeniable magnetism flared between them, and as Perry’s eyes searched her face and captured her eyes, for the first time she was conscious of Perry as a man. An electric spark couldn’t have startled her more.
Their gazes held as he slowly circled the divider and reached hungry arms for her. His eagerness excited her and she cuddled into the circle of his arms. His mouth caressed hers, gentle as a raindrop, before she sensed the strength of his lips. When Perry released her, his black eyes brightened with pleasure.
“How long has this been here and we’ve overlooked it? How many weeks have we wasted being friends?”
Lorene had rested her head on his shoulder, knowing that they’d just taken a giant leap in their relationship. Even as she’d welcomed the change, she’d slowly mourned the days when they’d been best friends. If she recalled correctly, they never did drink the chocolate.
Pushing memories aside, Lorene wondered if they were embarking now on a third phase of their relationship. Was it possible to go from friends to lovers and back to friends again? After they’d experienced a satisfying, comfortable love, could they ever be content with anything less?
They returned to Riverview Ridge in silence, reliving the emotional toll the years of separation had brought. She invited him to come in, but he refused. He shook hands with her at the door, promising to contact her the next day. Lorene entered the apartment feeling strangely bereft. She consoled herself with the fact that he’d loved her once with all the vigor of youth. She was almost forty, and Perry was two years older, so was it reasonable to expect him to feel the same as he once had?
Still, when she lay down for the night, unbidden memories entered her mind as she recalled the contentment of being held against his strong body. That’s all over, she told herself as she fluffed the pillows and tried to go to sleep. It’s all over! You came here on business, and you’ll have less to regret if you don’t expect too much. Concentrate on your assigned duties, then cut your ties with Woodston and Perry Saunders.
Perry wasn’t as indifferent to Lorene’s physical allure as he seemed. He’d settled for a warm handshake when he’d wanted to gather her in his arms and bury his face in the soft curve of her shoulder. For more than a year they’d been inseparable, except on the few occasions when they’d gone to visit their parents. After twenty years it was inconceivable that he still remembered so much about Lorene.
Why hadn’t she married? His tumultuous thoughts kept him awake most of the night.
In spite of her lack of sleep, Lorene awakened at six o’clock as usual. She pulled back the curtain beside her bed and peered out. Fog hovered