Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 140965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 705(@200wpm)___ 564(@250wpm)___ 470(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 705(@200wpm)___ 564(@250wpm)___ 470(@300wpm)
“What religion are you, Draden?”
She was looking down at her soup, cooling off a spoonful by blowing on it. She still had an appetite and he was grateful for that. Still, he had a sense of urgency. Now, it was important to him that they marry, that she carried his name when she went. That he was there with her to the very end. He liked being her man. No. It was much more than that.
He had always shied away from feelings, preferring to keep himself closed off rather than put himself out there where he could be destroyed emotionally. With Shylah, everything was so different. He could say anything to her. She understood and accepted him even when he told her the worst of himself. He was comfortable with her. She could take care of herself, but he felt protective of her.
“Draden?”
He sent her a grin and then took a bite of the soup to keep from having to answer her question.
She made a face at him. “Seriously? Whitney conducts illegal and immoral experiments every single day. He uses children for those experiments. He doesn’t believe in a hereafter. He certainly didn’t want us to believe we were worth anything to anyone. He had us study religion, but only as a means to understand the anger and fanaticism that brought nations to the brink of war, or war itself.”
“I can see that.”
She played with the soup in her bowl, swirling the liquid around with her spoon. “I leaned toward the simplicity of Buddhism. The teachings made sense to me, but I certainly didn’t have the opportunity to explore the teachings with anyone who was in the religion. What about you?” she challenged again.
“I never got involved in any religion,” he admitted. “Living on the street, I certainly went to my share of churches, but it was because they fed the homeless or allowed us to sleep in their churches during storms or on extremely cold nights.”
He shrugged and took another bite, this time the taste getting through to him. “This is good, woman. I might have to let you do all the cooking.”
“I only know how to cook a couple of things, other than the rations, but I’m certain Whitney would send them to us if we wanted them. It might be better than killing and skinning an animal. What kind of animal, by the way, and don’t you dare say a rabbit.”
He couldn’t help laughing. “You sound so belligerent, like you’re going to get a gun and shoot and skin me just for even suggesting hunting. Who knew you were so squeamish?”
Her head went up and her eyes blazed fire at him. “I am not squeamish. It isn’t that. If I had to hunt for food for you, me or our children, trust me, honey, that animal would have to go down. My point is, it isn’t my thing and I don’t need to do it.”
“No hunting. I’m on board with that. Are you the same about fishing?”
“How long does it take to catch a fish?”
“You had to have laid hours in the grass watching that village.”
The soup was delicious, and he was making headway on it. She hadn’t eaten that much. She took small spoonsful. She hadn’t yet eaten any of the vegetables out of the bowl that he could see.
“It isn’t the same thing. That was work. Isn’t fishing considered recreation?”
“It’s work. It’s manly fishing, bringing home dinner.”
“I’ll try it, but only because it matters to you.”
“Damn straight it does. Our daughters have to see their mom is tough. It’s not like you can take them on a hunt with you for your job.” He hit his forehead with his hand and the action, while supposed to be funny, sent pain jangling through his body.
“What was that for?”
“I forgot. What are we going to do when our kids have parents’ day at the school?”
“What’s that?”
“They take their parents and proudly tell the rest of the class what their jobs are. Can you imagine? This is my mother. She kills people. This is my dad. He’s a doctor, but mostly he blows things up and silently creeps up on guards and slits their throats.”
She laughed. “I guess we’ll have to work on that one.”
“Buddhism it is,” Draden said decisively, ignoring the fact that Buddhism was synonymous with peace and their professions were the exact opposite. “We’ll study that religion quickly tonight and then have the ceremony tomorrow. We can put that together while we’re in bed and send for whatever we need in the morning. Joe can bring it to us.”
“You really are serious. You want to get married.”
“Don’t you?” He leaned across the table, capturing her gaze. “I want to marry you more than anything. Do you feel the same way?”
“I don’t know the first thing about it, but I know I love you and if this is what you want, then we’ll do it.”