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I want lots of them!"
"I've always wanted a child. I want him to be named Martin, after my dad."
Just like a man. It never even occurred to him that he might have
a daughter. She didn't care, though not now, not about such details. She
hugged him to her. "I'll marry you, Jonathan. Oh, yes, yes, I
will!"
"I want it so badly, darling. Soon. How soon can it be?"
"Next week, if we can get a dispensation on the banns. We can ask Father."
From sheer delight in each other they laughed softly, in the twilight of the
woods. When he began to lift her skirt, she stopped him. "Wait. I have to say
something."
"No more delays. I won't stand for it." He kept at it.
"I have to say yes! Yes, yes, yes!" In moments she was naked, her clothes
beneath her body. He lay beside her running his hands over her. "You have
goosebumps."
"It's cold."
"Am I cold?"
His hands were like fire where they touched her. He seemed wire-tense.
"The ground is cold. You're warm." She arched her back. "Touch me more,"
she whispered, feeling her cheeks go livid. She presented her breasts to him;
the grass beneath her whispered when she opened her legs. "Touch me all you
want."
He laid a hand on her midriff, so roughly that she gasped. "I wish I hadn't
dreamed you could walk."
Oh, God, don't let him start worrying about that the second he asks me to
marry him.
"Forget it, it's no big deal. I dreamed the same thing." The water had
bellowed and foamed up out of the ground, a fantastic living organism, as far
from normal water as a demon is from some placid human soul.
I
will kill or I will heal, the water had said.
It is all the same to me.
"In my dream they called the river "
"Alpheus. The river of death."
His hand froze on her thigh, clutching. They looked into one another's eyes.
She moved slightly. He was hurting her just a little. "After I could walk,
they rang the bells."
"I remember the bells." He fell silent. When he spoke again his voice was
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almost sullen. "What in the name of God is happening? We had exactly the
same dream."
Words, thoughts, questions crowded through her mind. "But Jonathan, I
can't walk! So nothing's happening except that we're getting, very, very
close to one another."
"You haven't tried to walk." He pinched her hard just above her knee. It hurt;
she jerked away.
"You have sensation!"
He stood up, held his hands down to her. She grasped his strong fingers and
pulled herself to her feet. For an instant her legs were stiff and she
thought she was going to totter. His face reflected awe and utter
amazement. "As crazy as it sounds, we dreamed this together. And you really
can walk. You can!"
"Don't let go!" She lifted her left foot, put it down in front of her.
He backed up, released her hands.
"Don't do that!" But he backed away farther and farther, until at last
just their fingertips were touching.
Then she was grasping air.
And walking. She had the delicate, unsteady gait of a new foal, but
she was walking. She could feel everything from her toes to her thighs,
just as she always had before the incident.
Jonathan rushed up to her and embraced her and covered her face with kisses.
"Patricia, my darling, God bless what-ever happened last night, God
bless it!" He held her at arm's length. "You are so incredibly
beautiful. Oh, you are so, so wonderful!" He hugged her; he was laughing and
crying at the same time. His hands ran up and down her back and he kept
kissing her. Finally he went down on his knees and embraced her around the
waist. She stroked his head, then knelt down with him. Their bodies made a
little warm tent in the forest cool. He drew off his T-shirt and unbuckled his
belt. "Shall I?"
In answer she unzipped him and drew his pants down around his knees. She laid
her hands on him. He closed his eyes, sank back on his haunches. Around
them the forest sighed with morning wind. Sunlight filtered through the
trees. From far away came the sound of a multitude singing. It was the Lourdes
hymn;
people were gathering at the basilica.' [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]