After the Storm (Chambers of the Heart Book 3)

by C D Cain

  Sam didn’t jump up, flinch, or make any sudden movement. Rather, she bent her leg up into the chair against her chest and placed her forehead on her exposed knee from the hole in her jeans. The skin over it was cool from the chill in the air. Hadn’t she known it would come to this when she said they needed to move on even after Rayne so desperately tried for another chance? Didn’t something within her know she was leaving Rayne to Mo’s ways the moment she walked away from her? She felt the tightness in her throat threatening the tears to form. She released her grip and left her drink to sit on the widened armrest of her chair as she wrapped her arms tightly around her bent leg. She felt herself rocking in the stationary chair.

  Violet could do nothing more than watch the pain she had given her friend. Watch and curse herself for the inconsiderate witch she felt she was at that moment. She looked out at the bay and watched the daunting lull of a sailboat rocking in the waves that sloshed against it. She had brought this turmoil to Sam’s peace. She noted the decorations adorning her patio of a ship’s wheel hung in the center of the wall with old lobster buoys tied with rope on each of its sides. “I’m so sorry I said anything at all. I’m such an idiot,” she said as she rubbed Sam’s back.

  Sam raised her head to place her chin on her knee. “You’re not an idiot. I mean, I knew, right? It’s not like she wouldn’t have gotten with her. I left her there. I walked away.”

  “This is not on you.”

  “I love her, Vi. I’ll always love her, but I played my part in it.” She turned her head to the side to see her friend and shrugged her shoulders “Plus, it’s not exactly like I’ve not moved on too.”

  “Have you?”

  “What are you talking about? You just said you were worried about me with Gentry. Isn’t that because you see us together?”

  Violet slid out of the chair to sit on her knees at the bottom of Sam’s chair. “No.” She wrapped her arm around Sam’s leg and laid her head against it. “I see you with Gentry. I don’t see the same in her. My dearest friend, when are you going to find someone who can love you the way you love them?”

  A wave crashed over the rocks at the base of the cliff, sending its spray into the beam of the lighthouse. Sam listened for the bell of the buoy with its cadence.

  Chapter 22

  “Hey.”

  “Hey,” Sam answered and turned down the volume on her radio.

  “Are you still coming over?”

  “Shit, Gentry. I’m sorry,” Sam said remorsefully when she noted the time. “I lost track of time.”

  “What’re you doing?”

  “Just riding around.” She felt the sting of her newly sunburned arm as it laid across the door of her Xterra. “It’s a beautiful day out.”

  “It is. I’ve just come in to get cleaned up.”

  “Yeah?”

  Gentry studied the outfits laid across her bed. It seemed she found herself here too many times with her expanding belly. Nothing at all seemed to fit any longer. Even the outfits she had specifically bought for this stage of her pregnancy. It was one of those days where she didn’t want anything too tight. “Hey, if you want to cancel today, we can. I don’t want you coming over if you’d rather be doing something else.”

  Sam pressed her palms into the steering wheel. “No, I’m sorry. It’s not that at all. I want to see you. I need to see you.”

  “But?” Gentry slipped the black and white patterned dress over her head.

  “I don’t know. I dropped Vi and Jaz off about an hour ago and thought maybe I would drive around for a little while. Guess I lost track of time.”

  “Are you missing them or home? Sad they left?”

  “Well, yes, but it’s not really that.” Sam tasted the salt in the air as it blew through the open windows when she rounded the cliff. Rayne’s face from her dreams the night before unfolded as one of the reminders as to why she had avoided going straight to Gentry’s bus. She was not ready to discuss that topic. “Vi just said some stuff that I can’t stop thinking about.”

  “She’s worried about you.” Gentry shoved her foot into her boot. “Especially where I’m concerned.”

  “How can you possibly know that?”

  “It wasn’t so hard to read. It was written all over her face and only got worse after we danced. She hardly said another word to me after that.”

  “I’m so sorry. I didn’t notice.”

  “First,” she put on her other boot, “stop apologizing so much. Second, it’s totally fine and I would expect nothing else with the way you’ve talked about her. She’s your best friend, Sam. She should have your back.”

  “Somehow, I always seem to forget how much you amaze me. I should’ve known by now that would’ve been your perception.”

  “Exactly, so why don’t you tell me the real reason why you’re dodging me.”

  Dreams of Rayne filled her thoughts again. Along the drive, she had forced every thought of Rayne to be thrown from her mind the moment it occurred. Instead of harboring on those thoughts, she would picture Gentry and all of the happiness she had brought her. However, she knew trying to hide the force it was taking to keep Rayne from her thoughts would be painfully evident with one look from Gentry. She caught the reflection of her dark circles under her eyes in the rearview mirror as she looked for cars behind her. Sam clicked on her blinker to make a U-turn in the store’s parking lot to head back toward Gentry’s campground. “It’s Rayne.”

  “I thought maybe that was the case. Do you want to tell me about it?”

  “She’s moved on,” Sam said without an attempt to disguise the sadness in her words. “She’s moved on with Mo. They’re dating.”

  “Ah.” Gentry held the tip of her mascara in her hand. She saw the void in the green of her eyes. She had given Sam all she could give her. She had not hidden how much she had come to enjoy her company and the times with her. Regardless, love was the one thing she could not give her. She stepped back from the floor-length mirror. Perhaps it wasn’t the pregnant belly lifting the dress from her body that had of recent kept Sam from making advances to the physical side of their friendship. Maybe it was the lack of the ability to be more of what Rayne had apparently found. “And you haven’t? Is that it? She’s found someone to move on with but you haven’t.”

  “I have you.”

  “True. You have a friend in me.”

  “I have far more than that.”

  “Again, true. But do you feel like you’re missing something because you know we won’t be more than this. Sam, if you have the longing to find a girlfriend…”

  “I don’t,” Sam interrupted. Throughout her drive, she had wrestled with the questions Violet had posed. With the tone in Gentry’s voice, she immediately realized she didn’t care much for the answers those questions seem to want. Spending time with Gentry had made her happy. What Rayne was or was not doing had no effect on that. Searching for definitive answers had in fact driven her and Rayne apart. This time, she had no plans to push envelopes never meant to open. She depressed the gas pedal further down. “Okay? I don’t. You make me happy. I’m happy when I’m with you. All of the shit that was brought up while they were here. All of the doubts and unknowns I used to feel aren’t worth losing that. I’m on my way. Fuck all of that other stuff. I want to see you because it’s what I want, not for any other reason.”

  Gentry brushed some blush across the cheekbones of the smile Sam had created. “Well, alright then. I’ll see you soon.”

  The gravel spun from her back tires as she skidded to a stop next to Gentry’s bus. Music streaming from the windows only further affirmed Sam’s feelings of wanting need to see Gentry. Her feet danced across the pebbles as she reached the open doors. The singer was unknown to her but her voice was a silky falsetto against a piano and single snare drum. Her breath became thick and caught in her throat with the first sight of Gentry’s back
to her. Apparently, she had not heard her drive up or come to stand behind her. She was lost somewhere in the soft, breathy voice as it sang in a low range. Her cowboy boots shuffled across the wooden floor. The hem of her free-flowing dress rose and fell below the bend of her knee with each sway of her hip.

  Gentry hips dipped even lower as she sang with the music, “Like the desert waiting for the rain. Like a school kid waiting for the spring.” And lower still before she rose back up. “I’m just sitting here waiting for you to come on home and turn me on.”

  Even if she had not meant the song for Sam, it was accomplishing the very thing the chorus sang of. Slowly, she slipped up behind Gentry and wrapped her arms around her. She felt Gentry’s chest expand as it lay against her.

  “Mmmmmm. You smell so good,” she hummed as she moved her hips with Sam’s.

  Sam molded her body against Gentry’s and purred in her ear, “Not nearly as good as you feel.”

  The warmth of Sam’s words raised the hairs along the back of Gentry’s neck. She started to turn around but was stopped by Sam.

  “No, don’t turn around.” Sam kissed the back of her neck. “Great song.”

  Gentry grunted with pleasure when she felt the pressure of Sam’s teeth against her skin. “I like it.” Her words were as labored as her breath.

  Sam dropped low behind her and let her nails dig into the skin along the sides of her legs as she trailed her hands up them. She felt the goose pimples along the back of Gentry’s thighs as she lifted the material of her dress up. She ran her hands along the satin underwear she found beneath it and slipped her finger inside the waistband as she reached her inner thigh. The groan of feeling Gentry against her skin escaped her lips before she could stop it. She felt Gentry’s weight shift to widen her stance. Not that Sam wasn’t feeling an emotional connection to Gentry. Not that she was back to the mere act of passion their previous interludes held. It wasn’t any of that. It was more the connection she felt was completely overpowered by the heat of Gentry’s appeal. Sam circled her faster with every vision of Gentry’s dress swaying against her smooth legs clad in cowboy boots. She felt the dress crumbled against her stomach as she stretched to reach her deeper. Gentry bowed over and held firmly onto the sides of the counter. Sam buried her nose into the cloth of her dress to breathe in her scent as she followed her. The muscles of Gentry’s forearms were contracted tightly as she gripped the sides of the countertop. She exploded her release to Sam the moment she entered her with her other hand.

  “If I would’ve known this could happen, I can assure you I would’ve worn cowboy boots like every single day,” Gentry said with a lowness to her tone as she was still reeling from the effect caused by Sam’s touch.

  “Is that a fact?”

  Gentry ran her tongue over her bottom lip as she hummed. “Mmmm hmmm. That’s a fact. Let me catch my breath and it’s your turn.”

  Sam chuckled a throaty laugh, her pulse not yet slowed from feeling the contractions and release of Gentry’s climax on her fingertips. “You’re on.” She pulled Gentry’s leg up over hers to let her stretch out across the couch. She trickled her fingers along the inside of her thigh. “The way your body responds to me feels completely incredible.”

  Gentry opened one eye to Sam. “Feels pretty fucking incredible to me too.”

  Sam’s eyebrows raised quickly and her mouth opened. “Listen to you with your naughty language.” She lightly pinched the skin of her thigh.

  Gentry closed her eye and relaxed into the couch. She felt the stirrings of arousal with Sam’s feathery touch slowly trailing further up her thigh. “If you keep that up, Missy, you may get skipped again.”

  “Keep what up?” Sam traced an imaginary line down Gentry’s leg with her middle finger. She cupped the back of her boot, pulled it loose and let it drop to the floor.

  Gentry put her hand over her forehead and eyes. “It’s been so long and I’ve gotten so big. I didn’t think you wanted this anymore with me.”

  Sam tugged Gentry’s sock free from her foot. “Wanted to what?” she asked with a sly smile.

  “Don’t encourage me to use language again,” Gentry joked. “Look at me.” She pointed blindly to her belly. “Look at me. I’m as big as a house. Who would want this?”

  Sam brought her fingers back to Gentry’s leg to run them along the inside. “Oh, I’m looking, alright, and I see a woman who excites me every time I’m around her. It’s all I can do not to touch you when I’m around you.”

  “Then why haven’t you?”

  Sam felt the dips of Gentry’s knee. “I don’t want you to think I’m some sex-crazed addict who only wants you for that purpose.”

  Gentry smiled. “I could handle it.”

  “I thought you didn’t want a relationship or commitment to anyone.”

  “Sex is sex. The amount you have it…how much you have it, doesn’t ensure a relationship. It’s just sex.”

  Sam huffed a snort of a laugh.

  “What?”

  “Seems I’ve heard that phrase somewhere before.”

  “Well, whomever said it was spot on.”

  Sam lifted Gentry’s leg higher onto her lap to expose a better pathway. She continued her trajectory toward the top of her inner thigh. “I’m glad you feel that way.” She lifted the lining of her underwear up to uncover Gentry to her. She ran her finger slowly up and down the revealed essence of her.

  Gentry’s jaw clinched at the sensation it sent soaring through her.

  “Are these your favorites?” Sam gently popped the waistband of her underwear.

  “Not particularly.”

  “Good.” Sam reached up to grab the scissors off of the counter next to her and gingerly cut a line through the material. The flap fell free to expose Gentry fully. Sam didn’t take her eyes from the explorations of her hand as she manipulated the effects it had on Gentry. She marveled in the moans that escaped her lips and the uninhibited way she let her back arch to reveal even more of herself to Sam. Sam felt her own hips begin to rock as she watched her finger disappear and then reappear from inside of Gentry. She tightly gripped the back of the couch until she felt Gentry’s hand within hers, their grip as tight as the one she had held upon the cushion. The clasp of their hands strengthened and released with each entrance of Sam’s fingers. Not once did she take her eyes from the sight of Gentry. She was mesmerized from beginning to the glorious end. The thud of Gentry’s other boot was nearly as loud as her scream when it came down hard against the wooden floor as her leg contracted with the final arch of her back.

  Chapter 23

  Timber walked into the room with Gentry’s chart tucked under her arm. “It was high,” she said to Sam more than Gentry. She walked to stand next to Gentry. “If you remember, we talked about your blood pressure being high the last time I saw you. It was high again today.”

  “Yeah, but it wasn’t crazy high,” Gentry said as she gauged the unspoken words being exchanged between Dr. Waggoner and Sam. “I mean, it wasn’t that much higher than normal was it?”

  “It’s not really about how high it is but that it’s consistently been elevated.” Timber put her hand on Gentry’s shoulder. “Have you had any symptoms such as a headache, changes to your vision, or pain in your belly?”

  “My vision has been fine, but I’ve had a few headaches here and there.”

  “What?” Sam asked startled. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Gentry’s hair crinkled the paper covering the pillow as she turned to look at Sam. “Ummm, because it was only a headache.”

  “Any abdominal pain at all?” Timber asked.

  Gentry held her finger up to Sam in the form of no input needed from her. “Not too much.”

  “But some? Can you show me where?”

  Gentry rubbed her hand on her upper stomach slightly below her chest bone. “Usually right here.”
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  Sam held her hand out for the chart. “How high was the protein in her urinalysis?”

  “Greater than two.” Timber positioned the ultrasound cart next to the exam table. “Let’s take a look to see how the baby is doing, okay?”

  Gentry leaned up on her elbows. “For a minute, can we pretend I’m not a doctor and don’t actually understand any of what you two are saying.”

  Sam brushed the bangs back straight across Gentry’s brow. “There’s something called preeclampsia where the moth…where the woman’s blood pressure elevates due to possible changes going on with the baby. Most times, these are easily monitored, but there are cases where other things are affected, such as the kidneys and liver. With your urine showing evidence of increased protein, there’s some concern your preeclampsia needs to be followed more closely.”

  Gentry flinched at the cold gel as Dr. Waggoner squirted it onto her abdomen. “First,” she said, “let’s see how the baby looks.” She and Sam were quiet as she maneuvered the wand over her belly. Occasionally, she would roll the ball of the keyboard to mark small measurement marks on the screen. “The amniotic fluid looks good and the baby is growing well. So, that’s a very good thing.” She depressed the nurse call button on the wall above the sink.

  Sam gently wiped the remaining gel from Gentry’s belly and pulled her shirt back down. “It’s going to be okay. You’re in my wheelhouse now. This time, I’ve got you.”

  Dr. Waggoner’s nurse entered the room after two solid knocks on the door. “Yes, Dr. Waggoner? Did you need something?”

  “Yes,” Timber said as she steadily kept writing on the sheet of her clipboard. “I’ve got admission orders here for Ms. Bell. Could you please call the OB floor at MDI for a direct admit? Let them know I’ll want a first a.m. complete blood count, creatinine level, and liver chemistries.”

  “Wait. What?” Gentry’s eyes held fear for the first time since Sam had met her. “I have to go into the hospital?”