Eddie’s Prize

by Maddy Barone

  To his horror, her face twisted in agony. “Oh, God, I’ve waited all my life to hear that!” She wiped her dripping nose on the back of her hand, forgetting her stack of handkerchiefs. “I hate crying. It makes me look awful.”

  “You look beautiful,” he said honestly. “Lisa, I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but will you come back to me so we can try again?”

  As she opened her mouth to answer, the door on the far end of the stable opened. “Hey, Madison,” one of Taye’s men shouted. “Your mother’s here. She wants to see you. And Lisa too,” he added.

  “What?” he and Lisa said in unison.

  “Lisa, you come out first so Madison doesn’t bump into you. We’ve cleared a path to the gate, Madison, so you can talk to your mother.”

  As soon as Lisa had stuffed her afghan in her bag and gotten clear of the stable, Eddie hurried out into the yard. As promised, the wolves in the yard had cleared a wide alley for him to pass through. One of Taye’s men had the gate open to set a chair for his mother to sit in. When she was settled, he came back in and closed the gate behind him. Eddie lunged for the fence, scanning the road for her escort. Standing several yards back were Steve Herrick and four other armed men holding horses.

  “Are you out of your minds?” Eddie yelled at them. “What’s my mother doing out during quarantine?”

  Steve raised a pale, sardonic brow. “Have you ever managed to talk her out of something she was dead set on?”

  Eddie swallowed his retort. Steve had a good point. “Mom, what are you doing here?”

  “I need to talk to you, and especially to Lisa.” She waved a mittened hand behind her. “Steve and you boys, you go back along the road a ways. This is a private conversation.”

  Eddie waited while Steve and his men led the horses away and Taye motioned his men to step back. It would require far more distance than they had for the wolves to not hear what was going to be said, but the illusion of privacy was appreciated. While he waited, he examined his mother. She looked younger. Younger? Maybe just better. The sick, gray cast to her skin was nearly gone. Her cheeks were flushed, but that could have been the cold air. “Mom,” he began.

  “Hush, Edward.” She craned her head and beckoned to someone behind him. Lisa joined him at the fence, maintaining a careful distance from him. “Lisa, I have to apologize to you.” She cleared her throat. “There was something that Eddie wanted to tell you, but I forbade it. I was wrong. You have a right to know. I’m sorry.”

  Lisa smiled, with her always generous heart making it a warm and true smile. A fierce rush of love rolled over him as he watched his wife smile at his mother. “Darlene, I understand. Eddie and I have talked about it, and I really do understand why you feel the way you do.”

  His mom’s gaze cut to him. He swallowed. Even sitting, with her big belly in her lap, her gaze was formidable. “Mom, I love you, but I decided that Lisa had to know, or our marriage would never work.” He tried to control the note of pleading that shaded his voice. “I’m sorry if that hurts you.”

  “No, it doesn’t hurt me. You did the right thing.” She looked down, folding her hands over her belly. “I told your father this morning.”

  “Mom!” Eddie’s heart gave a sick leap. “What did he say?”

  His mother laughed. It wasn’t amusement that shook her head, but more like wonder. “Not very much. He said he had known for years, but he never mentioned it because he figured that if I didn’t want to talk about it, he wouldn’t push.” She looked up at him. “He’s known all these years. I can hardly believe it! I’ve loved your father for twenty-seven years, but never more than I did this morning. I don’t think we need to spread our secret around, but I’ll let your father decide who should know.”

  A strangely light feeling came over Eddie. All his life he’d had to hide his secret. Having that weight lifted from his shoulders made him feel like he was floating. “He never said a word.”

  “No. Your father has his faults, but he is utterly steadfast in his love for his family.” His mother stood very carefully. “Lisa, I’ve been so focused on protecting myself and my family that I’ve ignored how you must feel. In some ways, my son has treated you shamefully, but most of the blame for that can be laid at my door. Please, forgive me for being so stupid. Forgive Eddie and come home. Our family isn’t the same without you.”

  He turned his head to see more tears sliding down Lisa’s cheeks. “I’ve already forgiven him and you,” she said. “As soon as the quarantine is lifted, we’ll be home.”

  Eddie’s heart bounded into his throat. “You’ll return to me?”

  “Yes, Eddie, I un-repudiate you.” A giggle shimmered through her tears. “Or whatever the word is. I accept you. Both of you.”

  His mother looked at the careful distance between them. “If you’ve forgiven him, why are you standing so far apart?”

  Lisa’s eyes were big when she stared at him. “The quarantine. We’re all staying away from Eddie in case he’s infected.”

  His mother snorted. “About the only good thing about our curse is he can’t get the Plague, or carry it to others.”

  “Really?” squeaked Lisa, hopefully.

  “Really.” His mother smiled fondly when he locked gazes with Lisa. “It won’t be too long before the quarantine is lifted, I’m sure. So we’ll see you soon.”

  Lisa had said she would return to him! Eddie wanted to crush her to his chest and scream in ecstasy, but she hadn’t moved toward him. Eddie reluctantly looked away from Lisa’s shining eyes to watch his mother heave her pregnant body into the saddle. “Mom!” he called. When she gathered her reins and looked back at him he smiled. “I love you.”

  She smiled and raised a hand before nudging her horse into a walk.

  He was watching his mother’s back, so he didn’t see Lisa launch herself at him. The force of her body colliding with his knocked him back a step, but the feel of her in his arms, so familiar and so longed-for, brought hot tears crowding his closed eyes. The scent of her hair against his nose carried the finest perfume to the cat purring inside him. Lisa, beloved wife. Mate. His.

  Lisa buried her face in his shirt. “Oh, God,” she murmured over and over, like a prayer. “Eddie, you must be cold. Let’s go inside so you can warm up.”

  The wolves parted to let them through to the den’s front door. One of them helpfully handed Lisa the bag of crocheting she had set down to talk to his mom. Lisa took it and tugged him past the welcoming warmth of the rec room and down a hall. As they passed Jelly and Jay, the boy sighed glumly.

  “Rats,” the young wolf said obscurely. “It’s going to get loud this afternoon.”

  Jay laughed. “Then go outside and play while the grownups play inside.”

  “Maybe she’ll stop crying now,” Jelly suggested, hope in his voice.

  Eddie’s cock warmed and thickened when Lisa pulled him through the door of a room that held her wonderful scent. She set the canvas bag on the floor and took out the afghan, holding it out for him to see the riot of color in graduated squares radiating from the center. “Eddie, it’s not big enough yet, but someday I want us to snuggle together under this afghan. I imagined that with every stitch I made.”

  He put his hands on her shoulders to look at her. Her eyes were still tear-wet and her smile trembled. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. “You’re not going to make me wait that long to snuggle with you, are you?”

  She shook her head. “I’m not that fast at crocheting yet. I can’t wait that long.”

  They were alone in a room with a bed that smelled of her. She was his wife again. He wanted her with his whole body, but also his whole heart.

  “I love you, Lisa. Will you make love with me?”

  Her smile firmed and grew. “That’s why I brought you here.”

  He unbuttoned her coat with eager fingers and threw it on the floor. He wanted her naked, but he would strip her gradually, lavishing his kisses on each section of skin he revealed.
He wanted this lovemaking to be perfect for her.

  “Lisa,” he groaned against her throat. “Kiss me. I’m going to spend all afternoon loving you. I want to touch every inch of you so I can re-acquaint myself with your beautiful body. Your breasts are so perfect. I love to kiss them.” He trailed a hand down her back to her rear end. “I can’t imagine a more lovely line than the long curve of your spine or the luscious curve of your ass. Let me taste you everywhere.”

  *

  Lisa felt a giggle bubble up in her. On their wedding night, he had gotten right down to business. That night she had wanted leisurely foreplay. This afternoon it was the opposite. She wanted him to claim her like a caveman marking his woman. Or a cat marking his mate? She pulled away and took off her boots and clothes as quickly as she could. Her heart pounded with excitement when she saw the way he looked at her naked body. She put her arms around his neck.

  “Eddie,” she breathed into his ear. “Later. I don’t need foreplay. I need you inside me now.” She grabbed one of his hands and pulled it between her legs. “See? I want you.”

  His finger speared into her wet heat. She arched her back with a cry of delight. “Yes,” she gasped. She unfastened his belt buckle by feel and yanked his pants open. He fell into her hands, stiff and swollen and hot. “Eddie,” she moaned, lifting a leg to open herself for him. “Please.”

  “My wife never needs to beg me for anything,” he whispered.

  His cock slid through her hands like a velvet-wrapped iron bar, parting her in a hard, fast slide until they were one flesh. She remembered a Sunday school lesson about marriage when she was in school. The Bible said something about a man and wife being one flesh. This must be what it was talking about. Right now, holding her husband both within her arms and within her body, she felt truly married. She kissed his lips tenderly.

  “I love you,” she breathed. Their standing position didn‘t give her the angle she needed to move. “The bed. I want…”

  He picked her up without removing himself and moved them to the bed. “Hold on tight, Lisa-love. I don’t want to lose this connection.”

  With her arms and legs wrapped around him, she didn’t let his body slip from hers as he settled her down on her back and lay on her. “Now, Eddie,” she ordered. “Move inside me. Hard. Fast. I want you.”

  He teased her for a minute with leisurely play, but soon his movements became wild and needy. Lisa met every thrust joyously. A drop of sweat rolled down his face and plopped on her pillow by her ear.

  “Lisa,” he panted. “Are you close?”

  As if his words had triggered it, she exploded into a shrieking, shuddering orgasm. He roared back, the screaming howl of a mountain lion, jerking inside her as his own orgasm hit. Gasping, he fell over her.

  He’d never made that sound before. It was definitely not human. Did that mean he was no longer hiding himself from her? This was her husband, her not perfect, yet perfect, husband. At this moment, there were no secrets between them. She knew his darkest secret, and he knew the truth about her insecurities.

  He lifted his golden head. “I love you,” he whispered.

  Weak with spent pleasure, she smiled into his shoulder. His shoulder was still in his shirt since all she’d done was open his pants. She had wanted him, raw and untamed, and he had given her all he had, even his mountain cat self. She wanted to give him everything of herself.

  “I love you too.” She framed his face in her hands and looked up at him with sober eyes. “What we did just now? That was making love. I’ve had sex before, with other men.” She tightened her hold on his face when he flinched ever so slightly. “But making love doesn’t make love. That’s not what creates love.” She was desperate for him to understand what she had learned in the last few months. “Love is more than sex, more than lusting for a perfect body and handsome face. It’s getting up to make breakfast when you’d rather stay in bed. It’s thinking of how the other person feels even when you’re so hurt and angry that you’d rather just scream. It’s knowing you’re okay by yourself, but you’re better with the other person. Eddie, I wasn’t better with those other men, but I’m much better with you.”

  Tears shimmered in the turquoise of his eyes. “For the first time, the thought of you with other men doesn’t hurt.” His voice was thick. “I think even the cat is reassured.”

  “Good. Because I want both of you to know if either of you hurt me like that again, I’ll leave again.”

  His gaze went to the ugly marks on her arm. “Oh, God,” he choked. He bent to touch his lips to the bruise. “If I ever hurt you again, I’ll help you pack. You’ll need to tell me when I’m being stupid. I promise I’ll never run out again when you want to talk.”

  Tears made his eyes glow more brightly blue. She touched a finger to his cheek. “That’s a deal.”

  Eddie moved to her side and put an arm around her. “No more secrets. From now on, we’ll be truthful with each other.” He sat up to shimmy out of his clothes and then lay his perfect body over her. “It’s time to make love my way this time.”

  Her body warming again, Lisa wrapped her arms around her husband. “Slow, with lots of foreplay? I can handle that. Just how long do you plan to make love to me?”

  “Forever.”

  His voice was fervent and final.

  Lisa laughed and arched to offer herself to him. “That sounds just about right.”

  The End

  Publisher’s Note

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  About Maddy Barone

  Maddy Barone has a B.A. in History, which is probably why she works in the financial department at Medicare. She enjoys reading, creating historical costumes, knitting, and spinning—yarn, that is. Not the exercise kind of spinning. That makes her break out in hives. Literally. To learn more about Maddy, visit her at www.MaddyBarone.com.