TO SIT IN THE SHADE OF YOU

By Jo

It was dawn by the time Robin and Julie dropped Cort off at the Meridius house. The rain had finally stopped and Cort paused, his hand on the gate, watching Robin drive away. It wasn't until he was ready to turn back toward the walk to the house that he noticed Claire's car coming up the long drive. He waited, leaning on the fence.

"Cort!" Claire cried, getting out of her car and running to him.

He saw that she was going to hug him and shifted his position, putting his arm in the way.

"You're hurt?"

"Some broken ribs, bruisin', not mor'n that." He managed a small smile.

"I heard that a car hit you. Oh, Cort!"

"It was Maximus', Claire. Nobody was in it. The SUV just rammed it and it got pushed into me."  He reached out, touching her tousled blonde hair with his left hand. "But I'm home now."

She stood on tiptoes to kiss him lightly without leaning against his body. "Have you slept?"

"Dozed some at the hospital, a bit more on the way back here. Robin drove me."

"What about food? Have you eaten?"

"Not really. Bag of chips from a machine. Amazin' things those food machines."

"Is...is it...do you think...all right if I come in and make you some breakfast?"

"I'd be mighty beholdin', Claire, if you'd do that."  He hadn't really eaten since lunch yesterday.

He held the gate open for her then walked beside her down the brick path to the door of the big rust-colored house. "I doubt Joimus will come back, not until Maximus can come, too."

"I'll manage the greenhouse for her until she does," Claire stated. "How are they? I was so worried when I heard the news this morning."

"I saw her briefly before we left Coffs. Can hardly recognize her face it's so swelled up 'n all. General's doin' some better. Needs a lot of blood replaced and he's still mighty weak."

"Well, you come on in here," she said, heading into the big kitchen, "and sit yourself down while I see what I can whip up."

He lowered himself gently into a chair at the table, watching her buzz around opening cabinets and drawers. She made him coffee first and he used it to down a couple of pain pills. Despite how he was feeling, he liked watching what she was doing. Half closing his eyes, he let himself begin to imagine that the two of them did this every morning. He'd been taking things really slow with Claire since he'd met her. First there'd been the small matter of his not having his memory of who he was, then he'd spent most of his time trying to help Maximus with the huge spread while Claire worked busily in the greenhouse then drove back to the little town she lived in each evening. They'd talked some, had a couple of picnics, taken a good number of walks. He liked her. He liked her a lot, in fact.

She was easy to talk to, easy to tell things to about how he felt about where he'd come from. Nothing he told her seemed to bother her all that much. She smiled at him a lot, seemed to like being with him about as much as he liked being with her. Why had he never moved on beyond that? Watching her now, he could find no reason for his holding back the way he had.

"Claire," he said, his voice low, soft.

She turned, egg carton in hand, looking at him with a little shining light in her eyes. It hit him how she almost always had that little light there when she looked at him. "Claire," he repeated, "I...I just want to...thank you...for what you're doin' for me. You," he looked away then looked back, "you make life easier...better...for me, you do."

She smiled, showing her pretty, even teeth. "I can't begin, Cort, to tell you what you do for my life."

He rubbed his hand along his jaw. "What?"

"What?"

"Yes, tell me what."  Last night Joimus had come close to losing her General, Ahnna to losing the reverend. He was tired of holding back, tired of being alone.

Claire set the carton down on the table and sat across from him, reaching to take his hand in hers. "It's hard, like I said, to put it into words. It's...it's like I have this big field...wide and flat and green...and that's where I walk in my life, in that field. Then you were there carrying that tree and, ever since, you've planted yourself right there in the middle. Sometimes I walk around you and I see how graceful you are, how you bend in the strong winds and don't break...and...and I want that. I want to sit in the shade of you and have you spread yourself above me, between me and the heat of all the day."

Suddenly she was embarrassed and stood, gathering up the carton and hurrying to the counter by the stove, her back to him. Very slowly he stood, kind of supporting himself, and crossed the room, stopping right behind her. She was busily cracking eggs into a bowl, keeping her head averted, and he used his fingers to move the hair away from the back of her neck, letting his lips then find her skin, warm, soft, and very alive. With one hand he reached around her, moving hers away from the eggs, turning her, gazing into her eyes a long, long moment before his mouth covered hers.