Forget Me Never by Sable Hunter (spicy books to read .TXT) 📕

“Patrick was right. Lucas is a Major Asshole.”

Hawke agreed with Jayco.

*****

He was gone.  Her world was empty.  The house that had been full of love and laughter was now silent as a tomb.   Savannah had checked her computer hourly, walked around with the cellphone in her hand – but there had been no word.

Patrick had not given her any indication as to this mission or his destination- he couldn’t – it wasn’t allowed.  But there had been something in his eyes that told her that this time was different.  Danger was a given.  The reality that her beloved was in harm’s way just ate at her heart and lungs like a cancer.  Savannah found it hard to breathe without him.

Ciara paced the floor.  She wasn’t satisfied.  The dog’s restlessness made Savannah nervous.  Neither one of them had any appetite, but to keep their strength up, she had boiled Ciara a chicken breast and made herself a salad.  Taking it to the couch, Savannah curled up in the corner next to her laptop and phone – the only tenuous connection she had with Patrick.

Evening fell slowly and Savannah just sat there dwelling on the happiness she had enjoyed while Patrick had been home.  How amazing it was to be loved!  As she prayed for his safety, she thanked God for the blessing of Patrick.  No one had ever loved her before.  Oh her mother might have loved her – or her father – but she had been torn from their lives before a memory could take root.  So only Patrick – only Patrick had ever seen anything in her worth loving. And Savannah loved him back – beyond reason.

Finally, Savannah realized her food was gone and darkness had settled on the land.  She was about to get up and put away her dish and walk Ciara when a knock sounded on the door.  For a moment joy flared – Patrick!  But that was impossible.  He was in Afghanistan righting some wrong or battling some faceless enemy.

Setting down her plate, she went to the door.  Who could it be?  Remembering March, she thought to look through the peep hole.  It was Revel Lee.  With a smile she opened the door.  “Well hello, Revel.”

But the moment she looked in his face, she knew something was wrong.  Anguish was written on every feature.  “Revel, what’s wrong?”

“Savannah. . .” His voice broke.

“No, please, no.”

“Savannah, Sweetheart. . .”

Her world began to crumble.  “Revel?  Patrick?”  Oh, God. . . Savannah felt the life drain from her limbs.  She grew weak with fear.

“I’m sorry, Savannah.  I just got word.  Patrick was killed. . .”

Patrick was killed.

Patrick was killed.

The words exploded in her heart and mind.  ‘NOOOOOO!” she screamed as she went to her knees.  “No, please God, not my Patrick.”

Revel caught her, then blackness engulfed her, and blessedly, she knew no more.

*****

“I can’t do this,” she told Revel as if she had a choice.  “How do you expect me to say goodbye?”

One moment she had everything.  The next moment she had nothing.  Sitting down in a corner of the couch, Savannah curled herself into a tight ball.  She wanted to make herself small, so small that she just disappeared.  That’s what she wanted – to not be here at the funeral home.  Savannah wanted to not be anywhere.  She wanted to not be.

Revel knelt in front of her.  “I know.  I’m hurting, too.  But we’ve got to get through this for Patrick.  I want you to help me plan the service.”

one end of the big viewing room, the flag draped casket already stood.  Four honor guards stood at attention, two on each side.  “They won’t let me see him?”

“No,” Revel shook his head.  How did he tell her that there was nothing to see?  The report he had been given said that Patrick had been incinerated in the blast.

“How do I know that it’s him, if I don’t see him?  How can I say goodbye?”  Her voice broke.  Savannah didn’t know if she could go on – or if she wanted to go on.

Revel didn’t know what to say.

Her throat hurt.  Her mouth was dry.  She had cried so much that there was no moisture left in her body.  Trying to stand up, she swayed.

“What do you need?  Are you hungry?”

Hungry?  No.  “I couldn’t eat.  Where’s the water fountain, I’m thirsty, though.”

Revel helped her sit back down.  “I’ll go get you some water.”  He hurried from the room.

Savannah couldn’t sit still.  Pushing up, she stood for a moment, gathering strength, then walked over to where Patrick lay in a closed box.  All of her dreams were in that box.  She had been loved.  For a few precious months, she had known what it was like to be important to someone, to be cherished.  With a shaking, trembling hand, she touched the casket.  “What now, my Love?  Why did you leave me?  I can’t go on without you.  I don’t want to live one day on this earth without you.”

The men standing near weren’t supposed to move, but hearing her pain caused them to shift in sympathy.

“It’s over.  You are everything I ever wanted.  What reason do I have to go on?”

“What would Patrick want you to do?” Revel asked her softly as he handed her the water.  Savannah sipped it gratefully and returned the empty paper cup to him like a child.

His words reverberated through Savannah’s mind.  “Patrick didn’t want to be forgotten.  But I would never do that.”

“Live for him, that’s what he would have wanted.  Come on now, we have some work to do.  Flowers to order and we need to go tell Paddy.”

“I want to bring Ciara back here.  Will that be okay?  And I want to stay here with him tonight.  I’ll sit here beside him.  I want to be with him every second that I can.”

Her simple little requests just broke Revel’s heart.  “I’ll make it happen, don’t worry.⶝

Savannah walked through