Chapter 23: The Night Before

Eli picked the dress.

Dot laid three on her kitchen table on Friday afternoon, white, cream and a bright lake blue.

He toddled down the row with his bear under his arm, looked at all three, and sat down on the blue one.

"Well," Dot said. "That's that."

"He sat on it," I said.

"He chose it, and he stained it with a cracker, and it's yours."

I laughed so hard I had to hold the table.

That night Gage drove me out to the land.

The sun had gone down behind the pines.

The chimney stood black against the sky, and the lake was a long pale stripe with the first stars in it.

He backed the truck up to the water and let the tailgate down.

There was a quilt in the bed, and a thermos, and a lantern turned low.

"The old brother says it's bad luck to see the bride the night before," he said.

"He's a hundred years old."

"He's sixty-one."

"Then he can't see us."

I climbed into the truck bed in my jeans and his jacket, and he climbed up after me.

The quilt smelled like cedar.

He knelt in front of me and took my face in both hands.

"Tomorrow," he said.

"Tomorrow."

"I wanted one night with nobody watching."

"Then stop talking."

I kissed him, and he made that low sound in his throat that I had learned to wait for.

He eased the jacket off my shoulders.

I pulled his shirt up over his head and put my mouth on his chest, on the old ink and the long scar low on his ribs.

He sat back against the cab and pulled me astride his lap.

"Hallie."

"Hold still."

I unbuttoned his jeans and took his cock in my hand, hard and hot, already slick at the tip.

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