Excerpt: Storm Front

Storm Front

Pain fuzzed the edges of my vision, and I fell forward.

His worried voice nabbed at me. "Steady, Rach. I got you."

It was feeling Seth's strong hands wrap around me that I knew then that I would be all right. I allowed my eyes to close with the knowledge that this weekend was finally all over.

One Month later--

I had let myself into my house just as the phone was ringing. With some maneuvering around my piles of papers, I managed picked up the phone just seconds before the answering machine. A quick check of the caller ID verified the worst. "Hello mother."

My mother's over excited voice pounced on me before I could say much else. "Rachel Josephine Adams, you know full well that you are famous now that mess in Charleston is cleared up, so how come you haven't been in touch with Sean since then? I only talked with him last week, and he asked how you were."

"Well-" I hedged.

It had been close to a month since I last saw Sean and truth be told, I had wondered if I would ever see him again. After the big raid had gone down at the mansion, he drove me to the emergency room.

Seth then left soon afterwards, leaving me to fend for myself as they took out one bullet, put five stitches in my shoulder and pumped me full of pain meds, along with a two day stay in the hospital. All I had heard from my hero was a bunch of daisys in a plastic vase with a card that simply read "Get Well" and his classic autograph style signature.

Mom helped me get back home and back into the thick of things. I had been allowed to work half days at the library while I was recuperating. At home, I had to have a way to take my mind off of the fact that Seth still hadn't come to see me.

So, I gave in and started a mystery novel. It had been an interesting month typing one-handed, but it beat sitting on the couch with my arm in a sling watching what passed for TV morning entertainment.

As to the typing, I had finally given in to my curiousities and put pen to paper, or in this
case, fingers to keyboard. Mom had always claimed the family talent for writing had been passed down, and this adventure was going to put it truly to the test.

Frankly, I was beginning to wonder if Karma was coming around for another smack down.

Then came a knock on my door, and I was thankful for the reprieve from another lecture on the lack of love in my life. "Mom, can you hold on a moment for me? Someone's at the door."

Before my mom could get a word in edgewise, I put the phone down on the coffee table and went to open the door.

"Sean!"

Sean stood in the doorway, grinning like an idiot. In one hand he held a small box, and in the other he held flowers.

It must have been my dumbstruck expression, for Sean got the ball rolling by stepping inside.

"Well, aren't you going to let me in?"

It was all I could do to nod. He couldn't be doing what he was about to do. It broke every romantic notion I knew. Hell, he left me sitting in the Emergency Room for crying out loud. "What are you doing here?"

Sean countered my question for another. "Why do you think I am here?"

The tone of his voice, the look in his eyes, it was all too much. "Open the box and let me see."

Sean opened the box to reveal a slender golden band, with a shiny little diamond at the center. "So did I get it right?"

“You forgot the question, silly. No good proposal is set with out the question- hey!”

Putting the flowers on my coffee table, Sean then leaned over and swept me up into his arms. “How about we improvise?”

I thought for a moment before whispering my answer into his ear, and the response I got was totally unexpected. The tips of his ears turned red and the grin on his face widened even more.

“Your wish is my command, milady.”

Sean walked me past the coffee table, and that’s when I realized I had left my mom on hold.

"Sean, let me get the phone."

As I picked it back up I heard joyful squealing on the other end. “Rachel, I heard every word. I’ll start planning the wedding for you two right away.”

That's my mom for you. Groaning, I decided to give in. “Just do me one favor, no mansions with crazy people, okay?”

Laughter greeted my ears as I shut off the phone and tossed it towards my couch where it had landed neatly against the cushions. I then looked into the depths of Sean’s brown eyes and dropped my voice to a low growl. “Now, where were we?”

As to what happened later - well let's just say I showed him what I thought of his proposal. This was one old flame that was rekindled quite easily, and let's just say I was looking forward to the lifetime relationship forecast.

Hey, a gal in love has gotta start somewhere, right?

The End