Page 112 of Texas Splendor
Austin jerked his head up.
“May God have mercy on your soul.” Judge Wisser slammed his gavel down. “This court is adjourned.”
The courtroom erupted with shouts and cheers. Loree looked at her lawyer. He smiled and nudged her arm. “Go on. You’re free.”
She turned and found Austin waiting for her. He spread his arms wide and she fell against him, entwining her arms around his neck. He enfolded her in his embrace.
“Ah, Loree,” he whispered near her ear. “You should hear the music.”
Exhausted, Loree sank into the steaming hot water. The day had been spent enjoying her freedom: feeling the breeze blow over her face, listening to each of the children tell her how much they’d missed her, holding Grant close, enjoying the warmth of Austin’s hand wrapped around hers.
And now they were home, and he was rubbing the soap filled cloth over her limp arm.
“You don’t have to wash me,” she said softly although she wasn’t certain she had the strength to do it herself. She hadn’t slept at all after she’d turned herself into Sheriff Larkin.
“I want to.”
He stroked the cloth slowly over the curve of her breasts.
“Dr. Freeman said if I let Grant suckle, my milk might come back.” Her eyes drifted closed. “I’d like that.”
“Then I hope it happens.”
“You … don’t … have to wash me.”
“So you said,” he reminded her and she heard the smile in his voice. “I don’thaveto love you either, but I do.”
She forced her eyes open. “How can you love me when I took so much from you?”
“How can I not love you when you gave me so much back?”
Tears welled in her eyes. “It would have killed me if they’d hanged you.”
“Well they didn’t. Cameron and Dee had a long talk with Duncan after the trial. Think he just couldn’t accept the kind of man his brother was.”
“So he’ll leave you alone?”
He combed her hair back from her face. “He’ll leave us alone.”
“What about your dream?”
“I’m gonna finish washing her up and put her to bed.”
She smiled tiredly. “I meant your music.”
“I’ll play for you. I’ll play for Grant. I’ll play for my family.”
She wondered if he would be forever content with that, knew that if she asked him, he would tell her yes whether it was the truth or not. She held her doubts and worries to herself, and relished the attention he paid her as he washed her, dried her, and carried her to bed.
He tucked the blankets around her, and as she drifted off to sleep, she heard him stroking the bow over the violin creating music that sounded very much like contentment.
***
“It was the most beautiful song I’d ever heard,” Mr. Cowan said as he reached for another cookie. “Couldn’t get it out of my mind.”
Bouncing Grant on her lap, Loree smiled. “Austin has a way of playing music that comes from his heart. I think it makes it unforgettable.”
“And if the music is unforgettable, so shall he be, my dear.” He leaned forward and winked. “And me, right along with him.”
