Something Borrowed

Chapter 54

Amelia

She woke to sunshine and unusual warmth. Usually her sheets in the morning were cold and empty, so it was strange to rise to consciousness with the feel of her husband's leg pressed to hers and his heavy arm resting across her belly.

Yawning, she blinked open her eyes, the events of the previous night rushing back to her. The fire, the long, cold ride home. The warmth of her bed, snug beneath the covers with all that was dear to her close by. With a groggy smile, she turned her head on the pillow.

Rebecca was gone, and she heard the distant sound of her daughter's voice, mingling with Melissa's in the kitchen. Content that her daughter was cared for, she stretched, pointing her toes toward the headboard. In as long as she could remember, she'd never woken with Josh still asleep beside her. Even on their lazy Thursdays, his inner clock roused him well before dawn and he was generally awake and refreshed and chipper by the time she dragged herself to the land of the living.

She ought to keep him up late more often, because she liked the way it felt to drift into wakefulness with him beside her. He was sprawled on his stomach, one hand shoved beneath his pillow and the other tossed over her body, pinning her to the mattress. His breath mirrored the dry soreness of her own throat-- raspy and rough, and there were still smudges of soot beneath his jaw and caked near his hairline.

She rolled up onto her elbow, holding his arm in place as she shifted so as not to lose the contact. He grimaced at the disturbance, but subsided back into slumber when she stroked his hair and pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek. How had she ever gotten so lucky? All her life she had been searching so desperately, scrambling for somewhere to belong. And here she'd gone and just happened into home.

She never got to watch him sleep, and she lay there for a while with her head propped on her elbow, her fingers ghosting over his face. Her heart was torn in two directions, relief and dread. They had survived the night, yes, but what was in store when they went back out into the world? She had punched his father in the face. The preacher was clearly after them. The whole world seemed liable to burn right to the ground. And yet...

Josh shifted uneasily in his sleep, as if sensing her fears. His brow wrinkled and his arm tightened around her, fingers splaying over her back, tugging her closer with a huff of distress. Smiling, she pressed another kiss to his brow and forced herself to relax into the pillow. Maybe war was on the horizon, but for now it was Christmas and they were safe and together.

Closing her eyes, she snuggled closer into the hollow of his chest, tugging the blankets up to her neck and enclosing them both in a bubble of warmth. She'd just lay here for a few minutes and cherish the peace, because who knew how many more moments like this they would have?

Just a few more minutes..

Josh

He woke to bright sunshine against his eyelids and the smell of fresh bread. As pleasant as it ought to have been, it brought him out of sleep with a start because he had never, in what he remembered of his life, slept so late as to wake up to sunshine...

His alarm offset by intense, dragging grogginess, he rolled onto his back and blinked open gritty eyes. The sheets beside him were rumpled but cool, and the little clock on the mantle read just past noon. In a rush, the previous night's events slammed back into him and he jerked upright, scrambling to extricate himself from the blankets and go in search of his family.

He was saved from his frantic search by Amelia's sudden appearance in the doorway. She looked awfully fresh, considering all she'd been through the night before and how stale and sluggish he himself was feeling. She wore a pretty green dress, with her clean hair wound into a braid and a healthy flush riding high in her cheeks. Her eyes, although framed with shadows, sparkled joyfully.