Haunted Love

Chapter 11 Part 13

Chapter 11

"I'll think about it?"

Lindsey's words raced through Thane's mind over and over and over! She had looked like she wanted to say yes, but for some reason her mouth wouldn't form the words. What was holding her back?

He had been wallowing in self-pity for days, telling himself that she would come around and eventually say yes. But as he hammered nails into boards in the backyard, he was beginning to wonder if he was only kidding himself. Maybe she was crazy! Maybe he was crazy! Maybe they were crazy in love and she just wasn't ready to admit it.

Thane hefted another board onto his shoulders and walked over the pergola he was busy constructing. His skin was glistening with sweat, his muscles were bunched and hard, and his hair was plastered to his head from heat and a few glasses of water he had dumped on himself.

Summer was a few weeks away, but the Alabama heat already felt deadly. He pushed himself, pouring out his frustration into the beautiful spot he had almost completed. He carefully climbed a ladder, still holding the long board on the back of his shoulders, and slapped it into place. He surveyed the land and the wonderful things that made the yard seem inviting, yet whimsical.

Lindsey and Luke had helped him plant flowers, paint chairs, and stain the gazebo. She had hung up wind-chimes as Luke had helped him move stones and place large pots with flowering trees throughout the yard. It felt as if the small place was just as much theirs as it was his.

Thane pulled out his drill that was attached to the work-belt that sat low on his hips. He liked the way building things made him feel. He was creating something special with his bare hands. The sound of hammers pounding and the scent of fresh cut cedar was a balm to his soul.

Once the last piece of wood was in place, Thane took a view from the top and liked what he saw. The pergola had a slanted roof that would look lovely when roses grew along the top. The stone base had been carefully placed, making swirly shapes along the ground.

This was the place he wanted to marry Lindsey! This was the place he wanted to hold her close and kiss her senseless. He wanted children and picnics in the grass. He wanted to watch meteor showers and fly kites and climb trees. He wanted all of those things...and he wanted them now.

When had he grown so antsy?

He was a patent man, always had been, but he found that he had grown a sudden desire to race into the happiness that wedded bliss with Lindsey would bring him. Maybe it was the fact that his sister had died before she had gotten the chance to really live, but he needed to make things permanent because he realized that life was short and he needed to enjoy every minute of it.

Thane slapped the top of the pergola and smiled at how sturdy it felt. He took one step down from the ladder when a clap of thunder had him looking up. The clouds overhead seemed to boil, threatening to bring damnation down on anyone beneath them.

When the first fat drop of rain hit his head, he spread his arms and let it wash him clean of the dirt and grime of a hard day's work. It was refreshing and warm and he closed his eyes against the stinging pelts. Satisfied that he had finally relaxed enough to call it a day, Thane made his way down the ladder.

He would have been fine had he remembered the wobbly rung, but he had been distracted by a grumbling stomach and the satisfaction of finishing the remodel of the backyard. He slipped and couldn't control the sway of the ladder.

He felt himself falling from seven feet in the air. He twisted, hoping to land on his back. The drill flew from its home in his tool belt and landed on the ground before Thane. The slap of the concrete against the back of his head was sickening, but the feel of the drill bit biting into his flesh and sawing through his shoulder was maddening.