with a coating of ice.
“I dan ear duh faws,” Eric said.
“What?”
He braved a few seconds of frigid temperatures to tug his scarf down. “I can hear the falls.”
She stopped and tugged her earmuff from her head to listen. Frozen branches creaked overhead, Eric’s boots scraped along the sidewalk several steps, and a truck beeped rhythmically as it backed up somewhere in the distance, but over it all she heard the thunderous roar of thousands of gallons of water tumbling over the falls. The sound felt out of place among the slumber of the ice-coated trees and the peacefully floating snowflakes, but as they walked past the bluff and she could see the river gushing over the edge and crashing against the rocks below, her breath caught. Along the edges where the water flowed less chaotically, long icicles had formed to frame the waterfall with cascades of water frozen in time.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered, her words lost in the thunder of the falls.
“Wreftakeh,” Eric said.
She glanced up into a familiar pair of eyes. The rest of him was unrecognizable. “What?”
He jerked his scarf down around his neck and left it there. “Breathtaking,” he repeated.
She cuddled against him, her cheeks freezing, her eyes stinging from the cold, her breath hot and moist in her scarf. But on the inside she was warm just because Eric was near.
“I’m glad we came in winter,” he said close to her covered ear.
“Even at risk of freezing your ass off?”
“Yep. It’s enchanting.”
She had to agree. She was sure the falls were beautiful year round, but she couldn’t imagine anything more beautiful than the ice formations along the edges. At least she thought that until Canada turned on the colored lights across the way and the water and ice and freezing mist took on a hued glow.
“Wow.”
Eventually they returned to their room. Except for parts of his face, Eric was toasty warm. Rebekah, on the other hand, was completely frozen.
“That’s the last time you make fun of my snow pants and parka,” Eric said as Rebekah shed her clothes and climbed between the covers, her teeth chattering.
“Come warm me up,” she said, stretching out beckoning arms in his direction.
“No way in hell, woman.” He dropped his coat on top of her.
It was still warm from his body heat, and she burrowed into it gratefully.
“Order some soup,” she said. “And hot chocolate and coffee and tea and anything else that’s warm.”
“So bossy,” he said as he picked up the phone.
“Please,” she added, curling into a small ball as she tried to fit her entire body into his coat. Tahiti was sounding pretty nice at the moment. If they got an early start, they’d reach Bangor late the next day and then they could head off to those warm sand beaches Eric had wanted from the start.
The storm blew over during the night, dumping several inches of snow first. The locals assured them that they’d gotten off easy. This time of year, lake-effect conditions could drop several feet of snow from one storm. Rebekah couldn’t even wrap her head around that amount of snow on the ground. The minivan protested mightily when Eric started her, but he let her run while he used his new ice scraper to clear the windshield. The Volkswagen was used to mild Californian temperatures as well. It obviously didn’t appreciate being forced to run on a cold December morning. Rebekah wasn’t running so well herself. The only thing that had managed to warm her the night before was Eric’s hot, lean body, but she doubted he’d be willing to strip off his clothes to make love to her in the back of the van just then.
The city streets were treacherous, but the highways were clear. She marveled at how quickly the roadways had been made passable. There were a few slick spots, and Eric took it slower than he normally would—he was a bit of a lead foot—but Rebekah’s anxiety was soon replaced with wonder as she watched the stark white scenery slip by her window.
“Have you decided if you’re going to meet your grandparents yet?” she asked as nonchalantly as possible. She was curious how he truly felt about this idea of hers. The closer they got to their destination, the more she worried that coercing Eric to meet these people was a terrible mistake. But these people were his grandparents. Grandparents were always wonderful, loving individuals. What could possibly go wrong?
“I’ll decide when we get there,” he said, never taking his eyes off the road.
Her heart ached for him. She could only imagine the thoughts tumbling through his mind. How hurt would he be if they didn’t accept him? And if they did, would it make him truly happy? That was all she wanted for him, his happiness. But now she wasn’t so sure she’d forced him down the right path.
Please, God, let them love him as much as I do, she prayed silently.
Chapter Nine
When Eric’s stomach rumbled its desire for lunch, he realized Rebekah’s plan to get to Bangor that night just wasn’t going to happen. They’d just entered Vermont and it was already after noon. Eric knew she wanted him to have enough time for a long, happy visit the next day before they caught their plane to Tahiti, but winter driving was stressful for seasoned Northerners. Eric was so tense by noon that he felt like he might snap in half. He tried to convince himself that his granny-on-Sunday driving was due to the road conditions, not the idea that when they reached Bangor, he’d be forced into a very uncomfortable situation. He knew well what kind of person his mother had been. She wasn’t the first woman to choose drugs over providing a loving, stable home for her child. More than likely, she’d come from a similar home and didn’t know how to break the cycle of drug abuse and child neglect.
He was probably lucky he’d never met his so-called grandparents.
Yeah. Lucky.
Eric rubbed at the tension in his face with one hand, and tilted his head side to side to relieve the drum-head tight muscles in his neck.
“Why don’t we stop somewhere for the night?” Rebekah asked.
Eric took his eyes off the road just long enough to gape at her. “This early?” He knew how much she liked that schedule she’d pretended to abandon days ago.
“We can make a snowman.” She smiled. The concern in her pretty blue eyes ate at his gut. He needed to do a better job at pretending he wasn’t freaking out about what lay ahead in Bangor.
“I can go a bit farther,” Eric said.
Rebekah perked up and offered him a cheery smile. “Does that mean you’re excited to meet your grandparents?”
He’d promised not to lie to her. “Not in the least.”
Rebekah’s shoulders slumped and she turned her attention back to the snowy landscape outside her steamed-over window.
Maybe it was a good time to stop. He began to scan the sides of the road for accommodations.
“That looks quaint,” Eric said as they zoomed past an ancient roadside motel. If quaint actually meant cheap and sleazy. “Let’s check it out.”
Rebekah opened her mouth and he thought she would protest his idea, but after she scanned his face, she nodded. “I’m in.”
Damn, he must look as shitty as he felt. A nap would do him good. He found a place to turn around and headed back to the inn.
Their room was clean, but dismal. Eric groaned at the uninviting bed. “I was considering a nap, but…” He wrapped his arms around Rebekah’s shoulders and gave her a reassuring squeeze. “I think we’ve finally found it.”
“What?”
“The opposite of paradise.” He’d meant it as a joke, but she stiffened.
“We’ll be in your beloved Tahiti in less than two days,” she said. “I think you’ll survive.” She shrugged out of his grasp and yanked the worn, floral-patterned bedspread from the nearest full-sized bed before wadding it into a ball and tossing it on the floor. “There. Is that a little closer to paradise for you?”