He took her in his arms and held her so that he could look down into her eyes.
“I want to be everything to you; I want to fill your heart so that you will turn to me in every need. I want you, all or nothing!”
Her lips parted tremulously, inviting his kiss. She felt singularly secure and content in his arms.
“All or nothing?” she repeated in a low whisper.
“Yes! There was no escape for us from the beginning,” he said slowly. “It’s been like a drawing of the tide that no man’s hand could stay.”
They walked slowly to the hearth, his hands thrust deep into his coat pockets. He eyed the fire critically and rearranged the half-burnt logs.
“Guess I’d better put this up as a precaution,” he remarked lifting the wire screen that stood against the wall and laying it against the arch under the mantel. “Run along, dear. I’ll see to the locking up.”
He went into the hall and snapped on the lights and kissed his hand to her as she started up the steep, old-fashioned stair. The lights were turned on in all the rooms and humming softly she wandered through them, pausing finally in one in which a suitcase lay open on a chair, evidently placed there by Jerry. She recognized it as Irene’s, kept at The Shack for occasions when she spent the night there.
Below, Trenton was testing the fastening of the doors. She lifted her head, listening intently as she heard his step.