Page 49 of After The Storm

The first episode involved an ungrateful niece who had slowly poisoned her uncle in order to receive his estate worth nearly half a million dollars and a life insurance policy of over two hundred thousand dollars. After almost an hour of wishing the awful woman dead for her horrid behavior, Kate sat back on the pillows and watched as they sent her to prison for the rest of her life.

Not exactly cheery nighttime TV but at least she could be sure others in the world were going through worse than her.

The next episode focused on that famous child who had gone missing in Portugal a few years back. Still to that day, no one had ever found her body or any trace of her anywhere on Earth. After fifteen minutes of that, Kate changed the channel. An hour of that story would make her want to throw herself into Lake Pontchartrain.

Glancing over at the clock on the nightstand, she saw in big red numbers it was way too early to go to bed. Nine o’clock was a fine time for farmers to go to sleep but not her, especially since she didn’t feel tired.

But what else could she do? She had no idea where Roman had hidden himself, and leaving the house didn’t seem like a good idea since she had no idea if the people who may be after her had figured out where she was yet.

Resigned to an early night, she slid under the covers and pulled them up over her head as she mumbled, “Guess it’s time for sleep, Farmer Kate.”

“Let go ofme! Let go!” she screamed, desperately trying to pry her arm free from the man’s hold.

She sat bolt upright in bed and searched the dimly lit room for anyone near her. She saw no one. The sound of her heartbeat pounded in her ears, making it impossible to hear anything else. Her mouth was parched, so dry that she couldn’t imagine how she screamed at all. Licking her lips, she tried to moisten them, but nearly panting in terror didn’t help much to fix the problem.

Had she screamed? Or was that all just a nightmare?

A very vivid nightmare of a man grabbing her while she slept in that very bed she sat in now.

As she struggled to separate reality from her dreams, Roman flung open the door and ran in, stopping dead right in front of the bed. His head swiveled left and then right as if he was searching for something, and Kate noticed he wore a different pair of pants and a shirt she hadn’t seen on him before that moment.

Had he gone out shopping when he disappeared from the kitchen?

Finally, he said, “I heard you scream. What happened?”

“I don’t know,” she said shaking her head in disbelief. It had all felt so real. “I guess I had a nightmare.”

At hearing there wasn’t some murderous killer there in her bedroom, Roman’s shoulders sagged. If she didn’t know better, she would have said he looked disappointed.

“I thought something happened to you,” he said, taking a step back toward the door.

“No. Sorry. I guess it was just a nightmare.”

He stood there staring at her for a few moments before turning toward the door. “Okay, good night,” he mumbled gruffly.

But she didn’t want to be by herself in that room for the rest of the night. She wanted someone next to her so if she had another nightmare she wouldn’t wake up terrified and alone.

Just as he opened the door, she said, “Don’t go. Stay with me?”

It came out as a question because she truly didn’t know if he’d say yes. For as much as he said it was his job to protect her, he seemed to only want to do it from a distance. Staying with her all night would shrink that distance he kept between them to almost nothing.

Although Kate had a feeling if Roman could find a way of putting space between them as they spent the night together in that room, he would.

Slowly, he turned around and without saying a word, nodded as he closed the door behind him. That he agreed to stay surprised her. She’d expected him to find some way to do his duty while putting himself anywhere but in that room with her.

Roman looked around for someplace to sit, but other than the bed, the only other place to sit was on the floor. She had a sense that he considered that choice as he looked down once and then a second time toward his feet before taking a step toward the bed.

“You can sit here with me, Roman. The bed is actually pretty comfortable,” Kate said with a smile.

A few seconds passed by as he thought about her offer, and then he sat down next to her on the other side of the bed. He still didn’t say anything, which only encouraged her to fill the empty space with more words.

Looking down at his long legs stretched out in front of him, she said, “Those clothes look new. Where did you get them?”

“I ran out after dinner and found a store. I got you some things too. I took a guess at the size, but if anything, they’ll be too big, not too small.”

She had a feeling she should be insulted, but the way he said that with sincerity made her not want to argue with him now. Turning to face him, she said, “Thanks. I’m sure they’ll be fine. I guess you figured after a few days we either needed to wash our clothes or find new ones.”

Roman grimaced and shook his head. “No. I got us clothes so if anyone has seen us and described us to the police by describing our clothes, then we won’t look the way they think we should.”

---