Terror in the Snowstorm Ch. 04

Tara and I spent the next few days together, visiting old high school friends. The guys were all impressed by my new truck, but much more impressed with my new girlfriend. Tara, too, showed me off to a few of her old girlfriends. We spent a few nights at her house, keeping up the charade of going to our separate bedrooms, followed by me sneaking over to her room. Each night was both passionate and tender. Although we were constantly in heat, we were beginning to realize how deep our love for each other was becoming. Every moment we had to spend apart was agony.

Tara drove me to my interview in her car. She had decided to drop me off at the race shop and then head over to campus to look for an apartment. She was going to move out of the sorority house when we got back to school. I was going to keep my dorm room, since it was already under contract. Besides, we thought it would be wise to make everything look good to our folks.

I got the job with the race team. I spent my weekends at the shop, learning the operation. During Spring Break, Tara and I traveled with the team to a race, watching the events from the pits. Our car qualified well, but retired about halfway through the event with engine problems. The "post-mortem" on the motor revealed some of the same problems that the team owner had been frustrated with. We knew we had our work cut out for us, but my rapport with some of the shop crew had me hopeful that we could find solutions.

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Tara's family and mine grew closer. We spent some summer weekends on the yacht, not as two families and their kids, but more as three couples very much in love. By the time Tara and I returned to school that fall, we had dropped all pretenses, and took an apartment together.

Tara and I both graduated with top honors from our college and got accepted to the same university, near the race team's main shop in North Carolina. She enrolled in their medical school, and I began work on my two master's degrees. We were both insanely busy with our studies, she spent a lot of time at the hospital, and I worked long hours at the race shop, but we spent every free moment together. Sometimes we were able to fly home on the team jet to spend time with our families. On one of those visits, Tara's Mom pulled me aside.

"Seth, I know that you and Tara are thinking about getting married. Josh and I have talked about it a lot, and we think it would be the most wonderful thing. When we visit with your Mom and Dad, we talk about it too, and we know that they would be thrilled to have Tara as their daughter-in-law. I also know that you haven't actually proposed to Tara.

"Mom," I said (I'd been calling her and Joshua 'Mom' and 'Dad' for a couple of years at this point), "I'm sort of waiting for the right moment. I'm also saving money for a nice ring. I think I'd like to propose to Tara at our family Christmas dinner this year. But please, don't let Tara know. I really want it to be a surprise."

"Your secret's safe with me, Seth. And I think I know how to really surprise her. Wait here."

She came back in a moment, holding her one hand behind her. "Josh's grandmother gave something to me after his grandfather died. She wanted Tara to have it if she ever met the right man. I think she'll like it." She held out her hand and handed me an obviously old ring box. I opened it. Inside it was the most beautiful diamond ring I had ever seen. The large center stone was surrounded by a ring of tiny, brilliant diamonds, all in an intricate antique setting of yellow gold.

"Mom, it's beautiful. The gold reminds me of the shine of Tara's hair, and the diamonds sparkle like her eyes when I tell her how much I love her. It's perfect. It's just like her. Mom, it's just like you."

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We had our traditional Christmas morning together in the Hawthorne's great room. Both our parents were there. We all emptied our stockings and had a great time examining each other's gifts. When the last stocking had been emptied, I excused myself as though I had to go to the bathroom. When I came back, Joshua winked at me. He knew what I was up to.

"Tara, I said, Santa left another stocking. It had a note in it that said, 'For Seth from Santa. Share this with someone you love.' Why don't you open it, honey?"

Tara took the tiny stocking and shook out a small package, not much larger than a pack of chewing gum. She looked at it, puzzled.

"Open it, honey. I really want you to have it."

She peeled off the wrapping paper, revealing a small white cardboard box. She opened the box and shook out a tightly wrapped piece of red tissue paper. When she unfolded the paper, her hand flew to her mouth as she gasped. "Oh Seth!" she cried.

"Will you marry me, Tara?" I asked, having gotten down on one knee in front of her.

With tears running down her cheeks, Tara lifted her eyes from the ring to gaze at me. "Yes," she whispered.

I took the ring and placed in on her finger. "I love you. I want to be with you forever. I want you to be my wife."

Tara and I were married the following summer. It was a fairly simple and small ceremony. Her father gave her away. Amanda was her matron of honor and my Mom was her bridesmaid. My Dad was my best man. Our honeymoon was really only a long weekend, because of our work, but we were ecstatic. We spent the entire time in bed, fucking our brains out!

A few days before Christmas that year, we realized that it was the five-year anniversary of the horrible night we had spent in the cabin with the sadistic rapist and murderer, Zeke, and his kind-hearted, gentle giant of a brother, Merle. The weather was clear that day, so we drove along the road until we found the site of their cabin. The dirt road to it was very overgrown, so we parked on the edge of the hard road and hiked through the brush to the ruins of the cabin. It appeared as though the burned-out cabin was undisturbed. Brush and small saplings were growing through the rubble of charred timbers. We said a prayer for poor Merle, and held each other and cried.

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Five more years passed. I had earned my master's degrees in both electronics engineering and business management and was now running the engine shop of the race team, which we had moved to North Carolina into a new facility next to the main race shop. Our new driver had just won Rookie-of-the-Year honors, having finished third in season points. Several other teams were now buying their engines from us.

Tara was taking a break from her residency in pediatric oncology, awaiting the birth of our first child. Her pregnancy had been fairly uneventful. If possible, she was now even more beautiful than she had been when I first met her. The sight of her swollen belly, carrying my son, filled me with more love for her than I could comprehend. The only problem was that we could not decide on a name for the baby. When Tara's water broke one night, we were so busy getting her to the hospital, that we didn't even discuss the name then. Her labor was long and painful, but the delivery went well. When the baby was born, we were both impressed by his size. He cried lustily at first, but calmed down immediately when he was placed in Tara's arms.

"What's his name?" the doctor asked.

Tara and I both looked at our precious son. Then we gazed at each other with love.

"Look at him, honey," I said. "He's so big, and yet so gentle. He already looks like he loves you. Only one name will do for him."

"I know, Seth. You're right. I'm surprised we didn't realize this before." Turning to look at the doctor, she said, "His name is Merle."

The End