WOULD THEY…?

They slept, wrapped in each other, the rest of the night and well into the afternoon of the next day. "You are better, my love?" he asked, watching as her eyes fluttered open.

"Much...I think," she smiled. "Let me sit up and I'll know more surely."

Her side ached as she pulled her body up, but it wasn't too bad. The covers dropped down to her waist and he leaned over her. "Let me see."  He wanted to examine the bruise over her ribs.

She turned enough to make that easier for him. "I don't think they're broken, really I don't. Doesn't hurt quite like that."

"Still...," he said, frowning, "an x-ray might be a good idea."

"Perhaps...perhaps not."

"You are a stubborn woman," he smiled. "Make me happy. Do it."

She giggled. "I know ways to make you happy that have nothing, not one thing, to do with x-rays."

"Now?" he replied, truly worried she might have broken bones.

But she giggled again, pushing his shoulders back onto the bed, and beginning to kiss his bare chest. "I am," he sighed, "helpless before your onslaught."

"Good," she grinned, lifting her head enough to grin widely at him. "Even Generals should be helpless from time to time."

He folded his arms under his head. "I promise not to put up a fight."

"Not even when I tell you that I plan to ravish you completely?"

"Not even then," he said, his eyes sliding down to her breasts as she leaned above him.

"You surrender?"

"My flag is already raised."

She pushed the covers down some more. "So I see."

"What do you intend to do about that?"

"This," she smiled...and showed him.

Later as they lay entwined again, he whispered, "Surrendering is not always so bad a thing."

"Not when you surrender to me. Only then."

"Only then," he repeated.

They slept another fifteen minutes or so and when he woke again, his eyes sought the window. "Sun is out," he said.

She turned, following his glance. "I wasn't sure the thing still existed."

"We might possibly be able to get you into Coffs," he suggested hopefully. "I imagine the water has gone down considerably by now."

"Or...," she countered, "we might check and see how Bridgid and Jack managed the storm."

"Are you concerned?"

"I just don't like being out of communication with them, you know. I'd like to give her a call."

She reached for the phone on the bedside table, glad for the dial tone, and punched in her cousin's number. It rang and rang. "No answer," she frowned. "Maybe they went into Coffs to check on the condition of their boat."

"That is possible," he nodded. "Do you want to go over to their house? They might just be outside, or checking on the Glen itself."

"You up for that, General?"

"I believe I may be."  He swung his legs over the side of the bed, standing to head for the bathroom. "Aah!" he cried softly, when putting weight on his leg hurt.

"I could go alone," she said quickly. "I'm quite all right."

"You will not go alone," he replied, straightening, his eyes firm.

"Yes, my Lord," she smiled.

They dressed, each ate a muffin, then they were out the door and into the station wagon, heading for Jack and Bridgid's. Maximus drove slowly, shaking his head at the damage they passed by. The road itself was mud-coated with debris scattered here and there that caused him to have to guide the car carefully, but at least there was no longer water atop it. He parked near their house, but no one answered their knock, not even Jason. A quick circuit around their land didn't turn them up, either, so he drove into the Glen itself, asking several people if they'd seen either Jack or Bridgid. No one had.

"Well, I guess they did go into Coffs," Joimus said. "You know what that boat means to them."

"That leaves a big question hanging," he sighed. "Did they go to the boat during or after the storm?"

"Oh, gosh," she replied. "I hadn't thought of that. Surely they wouldn't....would they?" But she knew them well enough to know they would.