GABRIEL'S GIFT: A Lost Hearts Christmas Story by Christina Dodd Read Free Book Online

no memory of the killing. Now, two decades later, Elizabeth is back, her ex-husband, Garik has followed her, and trouble is about to find them…
     
    Elizabeth looked into his face. She pushed his hair off his forehead, and whispered, “Garik.” She wanted to say more: take me, love me, need me . And she knew he would do all those things. But talk to me? Not so much.
    “In my truck,” he murmured, “there’s a blanket. We could put it on the seat, and I could take off your clothes and kiss you here” — he touched her mouth — “and here” — he touched her breast — “and…here.” He slid his index finger between her legs and put slow, hot pressure on her clit.
    She tilted her head back, seduced, tempted, on the verge of coming, shuddering with … No. Wait. She opened her eyes, saw the green pines trembling against the blue sky — and realized that wasn’t the earth moving for her.
    It was moving .
    “Earthquake,” he said hoarsely. “Earthquake!”
    She jumped up, scrambled away from him, gave him room to stand.
    He vaulted to his feet, too, his mouth tight with tension, his hands held at ready for battle. But what would he battle here and now? If the walls of the canyon came down, he could do nothing about it.
    The walls did fail: plumes of dirt rose up and down the river as landslides bore witness to the instability of the region.
    The shaking increased.
    Roughly he pulled her close, watching, prepared to move on a moment’s notice.
    Two great boulders ripped off the canyon rim and plummeted down the slope. One boulder missed them by twenty feet. The other, smaller boulder bounced into a nearby massive pile of brush. Dust rose. Twigs and branches clattered and broke. The boulder hung there like a bird’s egg in the middle of a nest, then subsided, sliding out of sight and all the way to the ground.
    The shaking became trembling, then ceased altogether.
    She clung to him anyway, and she remembered the other thing she had so loved about him — when he held her in his arms, she felt safe and cherished.
    Then he pushed her back, and looked down at her accusingly, no doubt remembering her assurances about the aftershocks and how she was safe here.
    She glanced around, prepared to defend herself … when she saw it. Sprawled on the pile of brush, revealed by the broken branches.
    She freed herself, and walked closer, hypnotized by the sight of … bones.
    Bones … shattered secrets revealed by this day’s disaster. Bits of flesh clung to these bones, and clothing … a flowered dress, marked by mud and a dark, ominous stain.
    Elizabeth knelt by the outstretched, skeletal hand.
    The ring was gone from the finger, but she recognized the material of the dress. She recognized the body.
    In a calm voice that seemed to come from a great distance, she said, “This is my mother.”
     
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