After the Sun Sets (18+)

CHAPTER 25 - Rapture

Lora's eyebrows shot straight up into her messy hair. "Jess is cooking? I'll be right down. Go tell her, Krista, before she burns us all."

Krista let out a great sigh of relief and nodded frantically before disappearing down the stairs. Lora shut the door gently before releasing a heavy breath and turning towards the seemingly empty room. She looked around, eyes narrowed as they landed on a pair of bare feet peeking from behind the curtains.

She held back a chuckle and called out, "Nice hiding place, Waldo."

Dr Owen Shaw peered slowly from behind the drapes before coming out completely. Lora couldn't ignore her disappointment at seeing he was back in his suit pants and unbuttoned crisp, white shirt. 

"There was no space under the bed, you know since it's a storage bed and whatnot," he countered with a grin.

Lora's cheeks glowed red. "I panicked," she confessed, hiding her face in her hands. She waited for him to laugh at her but he merely walked towards her and pried her palms from her face. He kissed the centre of each one and drew her arms around his waist, finally encompassing her in the most wholesome hug.

"Is it time to talk about what happened yet?" he murmured gently, the chocolate in his voice melting her soul.

It was. Of course, it was. They slept together on the night of her husband's funeral with her children just two rooms away. And it was wild. Wilder than anything she could have imagined. She felt insatiable, ablaze with unquenchable fire. She acted irrationally, irresponsibly, like a raging teenager, completely out of control. And then, they did it all over again.

He stayed the night, in her marital bed, holding her as though she belonged to him. As though she had always belonged to him. And she revelled in the safety and warmth of his arms. They were two children in Candyland with no care of what the repercussions could be. 

But now, the sun had risen, her children were up and she could hear the rooster crowing in the distance.

She looked into Owen's sweet, misty eyes, the rosy light reflected so beautifully in them that his irises were almost purple.

"No," she answered. "It's time for pancakes."

#

A month had passed from the morning Owen taught Jess how to make pancakes and convinced them all, including a very sceptical Siena, that the best pancakes were made with cinnamon and honey and tasted like Christmas, even in June.

A month had passed and no one asked any questions. Nobody asked why he was at their house at seven fifteen in the morning, still in the same clothes as the previous day. Nobody asked why he stayed around till after dinnertime, not even Carmen who paid them a surprise visit and brought over a dish of baked rice, just in case Lora wasn't in the mood to cook. 

Nobody asked why he visited every day after that, and why he spent hours after work going through Krista's assignments and quizzing her before her finals. Wayne didn't question why he offered to help him and Lora clear out Jona's antique shop so that she could sell it and settle their bills. Cara and Mike did not raise a brow when Owen took her C.V. and asked them if there was any chance Lora could have her old job back, which, of course, there was.  All she had to do was renew her licence and the job was hers.

No. It was all very smooth, very unremarkable, the way Owen fit into their lives as though there'd always been an Owen-shaped hole. It was so very natural, that they didn't need to talk about it all. They simply... happened.

He could communicate with Aiden in a way nobody else could. Lora stared in wonder, one particularly fine summer night, as her usually squeamish son listened with keen interest while Owen explained to him what a discectomy was and how it was performed.