Disclaimer:
Characters and situations from Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years belong to Hallmark Entertainment and are used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended. This story or the new characters created by the author are not to be published on any ftp site, newsgroup, mailing list, fanzine or elsewhere without the express permission of the author.
Supper could wait. True, she had made her husband's favorite meal complete with chocolate cake for dessert, but supper could wait. She finished the last of the dishes and threw out the dirty water. The kitchen was tidy. Now it was time to see to her own ablutions. She took as long in the bath as she dared; she'd have to hurry if she wanted to be ready when he got home. It wouldn't be too much longer. Climbing out of the tub, she slipped on her wrapper and brushed her thick hair until it gleamed.
Next she went to her trunk and rifled through the top layers. Ah, there it was. Drawing forth her wedding veil, she shook it out and laid it across the bed, smoothing the wrinkles as best she could. She turned down the lamps and went to stand at the window, waiting and watching. She'd have to time this just right. She shivered in her thin wrapper as she watched the cold autumn breeze wrest a few more leaves from the aspen trees, and these fluttered across the yard
and out of sight just as he came into view. Now! Running to the bed, she snatched up the veil, positioning it
carefully on her head. Then she slipped out of her wrapper and kicked it out of sight under the bed. The sheets were freezing, but she scarcely noticed as she arranged the veil's gauzy folds about her. She pulled the covers up to her chin and waited. She heard him clomp up the steps and the telltale creak of the door as he entered. A few more steps brought him into the kitchen. "I'm home. Hannah? Where are you?"
"In here, Newt." She couldn't help giggling to herself.
The steps came closer. She shivered with anticipation. Then her husband's form appeared in the doorway. She waited only a second before flinging back the covers. "Happy Anniversary, darling!"
~~
The End
6/05
