Page 2 of A Groom for Lauren
“No, please, don’t do it!” A male voice cried out.
For a moment, she thought she had died as she’d planned, plunged into an icy baptism that would numb her from the pain forever.
It wasn’t true, though.
She hadn’t died, and she wasn’t numb as evidenced by the hard, piercing grip biting into her flesh.
The man who had stopped her from taking that last step wore a taut expression. He wasn’t an angel. No angel had angular features as he did, with a firm jaw, turbulent blue eyes, and long blondish hair whipping in the wind.
Maybe he was an angel’s cousin.What were they called?
The thought made her laugh deliriously; the sound getting more fractured and maniacal even, screeching and wailing until she seemed to scream across the world.
If he would just let her go, she wouldn’t feel the pain. That’s what she wanted to be—numb and never feel again.
“It’s all right, miss,” the man soothed, his blue eyes softening from the hue of a storm-tossed sea to a brisk rain. “Scream. Don’t be silent.”
Her eyes watered. How could she still have tears when she’d cried her final one last night? “Please let me go, whoever you are.”
“I can’t. I won’t let you go. What about your baby? Your daughter?”
Esther.
The wails ceased.
She finally looked away from the man to see the tiny basket resting under a nearby tree. Her breath hitched in her throat. Esther was asleep for once in the short time she’d been alive, giving her mother peace right before she—
“Is Esther… all right?” she choked out the words.
The man’s face had changed again, the tautness melting away into one of hopefulness. “Is that her name? Esther?”
“Yes. That’s her name.”
Why was it so hard to speak?
“Yes, she’s fine. How old is she?”
Part of her knew the man was trying to distract her, to keep her from gaining strength to push him away and finish what she set out to do.
Find oblivion.
“She’s five months old,” she told him.
A knife stabbed the middle of her chest and she bent over, tears eking out of her eyes. “Why did Jonah have to die?”
“Who’s Jonah?”
She shook her head, not wanting to answer it. It hurt too much, so much!
“Please, Miss. Tell me who Jonah is.”
The man’s voice had a desperate edge to it, filled with concern and anguish. His eyes had changed once more, the blue turning stormy. Why should he be looking at her like that? She didn’t deserve his solicitude. It was Jonah who needed it.
But he wasn’t there anymore.
“Jonah is… was… my husband. And Esther’s father.”
A look of understanding appeared in his eyes. “He’s one of the men that perished, isn’t he? From the blizzards last year.”
