A Rose in Shadow

Chapter 94

They slept in late Saturday morning, well late for the two of them, and Adam woke to Samantha's warmth surrounding him. She had gone to bed wearing shorts and a tank top but he had relieved her of those sometime in the night taking care to be quiet while he made love to her. Her parents' bedroom was down the hall at the opposite end of the house but he still didn't want them to hear anything. Neither he nor Samantha were loud when they were having sex but he could make Samantha moan softly when he kissed and licked that certain spot on her neck and behind her ear and she could definitely make him groan when she did that thing with her tongue and teeth. 

 Smiling at the memory he rolled her under him and leaned up on his elbows which he had placed on either side of her head. Running his fingers through her hair he kissed her gently on the lips. "Should we get dressed and take in this beautiful day" The sun was shining bright through the bedroom window which they had left open last night to take advantage of the fresh air.

Glancing to the bedside clock Samantha moved her hands over Adam's shoulders and down to his lower back. She lifted her head to nip his jaw before continuing to lick and suck her way down his neck. "We could" she murmured against his skin "but we could also take a few minutes to enjoy the sunshine right here first" Adam grinned and took her mouth in a hard fast kiss. "You don't have to tell me twice" Samantha chuckled and gave her sexy little moan when Adam found that spot on her neck "You'll have to be quiet though" he whispered into her ear.

Pete wanted to take Adam into the station and introduce him around to the rest of the patrol so Sharon and Samantha packed up to head to the farmer's market planning to make a few stops along the way at some yard sales. Since Adam had so nicely thought to bring his truck, sucker, Samantha had her eye out for a new table. The one in their kitchen, although it served its purpose was very small and the room could take one a bit bigger. Before, when it was just her living there it didn't matter and the odd time that she had Finn or Emma Kate over for dinner they usually just went into the living room and ate in front of the television but she and Adam used the kitchen a lot. She was teaching him to be a bit more creative with his cooking and they loved making dinner together when they could and often sat at the table together in the mornings with their coffee or after dinner with a glass of wine.

While they wandered the booths at the farmer's market Samantha offered to make dinner. "Why don't Adam and I make dinner tonight for you and dad?" She picked up some green peppers and looked them over. She looked at her mom "I'm thinking stuffed green peppers since these ones look really good".

"I would love that!" her mom beamed. "I don't remember the last time we had those".

Sharon linked her arm through Samantha's after they made their purchase and kept walking, stopping to look at the booths full of jewelry and baked goods as they went.

"Do you want to talk about Nathan Moore?" Sharon asked gently.

Samantha had been expecting to talk to her parents at some point about him this weekend so wasn't surprised that her mom brought it up. She was surprised; however, that she was okay with talking about him. He had made her life miserable for weeks but she held no ill will toward him, even though she now had a tiny scar on her temple as a reminder. It was very faint and barely a half of a centimeter long and no one, who didn't know the story would even notice but she knew that her mom saw it and had caught her looking a few times.

Taking a breath Samantha squeezed her mom's arm and shot her a reassuring smile. "He's getting help. He actually sent me a letter, did Mac tell you?" her mom shook her head before Samantha went on "He apologized for everything that he had done to me and he was most upset about learning how much he had hurt me physically – I guess, he had never been a violent person until the day that he caught his fiancée cheating on him and even then it was just 'things' that he abused, you know, breaking a lamp that sort of thing. It was apparently very out of character for him to raise a hand to anyone."

They reached the car and loaded their bags in the back before settling in and Samantha took up her story again while Sharon drove. "He told me about his treatment and about the fact that, he wanted to be able to apologize to me in person but his therapist didn't feel that it would be a good idea just yet given that it was my similar appearance to Stephanie that had set him off in the first place. She felt that he would be fine, his subconscious now understanding that Stephanie was dead, but time is going to be his friend right now and that will go the farthest toward his healing and being able to lead a normal life again."

"He's also taking some online courses and plans to complete his accounting degree by the time that his sentencing is over. Because his charges were reduced there wouldn't be anything in his record that would deter someone from hiring him once he was certified. He was very thankful to me for that" sensing that her mom might have disagreed with Samantha's approach to the charges she squeezed her mom's hand.

"I'm glad that his life wasn't ruined by this mom. He wasn't well when he hurt me and, fortunately, it all turned out for the best for all of us, so why not give him a second chance at happiness."

Sighing Sharon patted her hand before turning back to the road "You are too good for this world sweetheart. I don't know where you get it from but I admire your attitude".

They drove along a bit more, talking about some of the people that they both knew when Samantha spotted a sale sign up ahead. "How about that one?" she asked pointing and Sharon pulled in behind a row of cars parked along the side of the road. A long laneway led up to a farmhouse and barn which were both overflowing with furniture and equipment. The hand-made sign read "Estate Sale – Everything Must Go" and Samantha got that happy feeling in her tummy when she could smell a bargain. Her mom laughed at her "You've got that look on your face. Let's get up there."

They couldn't fit it all in Sharon's car so Samantha had to call Adam and give him directions to come and meet them with the truck. He was shaking his head when he pulled up behind Sharon's car on the road. Samantha and Sharon, and a couple of strong men, had carried all of their purchases out to the road. Adam and Pete jumped out to take a look.

Samantha smiled nervously at Adam before grabbing his hand and dragging him, stunned, over to the pile. "This is our table" she pointed to a filthy, cobweb covered table with a broken leg. "I can fix the leg in my dad's workshop before we head home tomorrow" he looked at her warily.

"The whole thing is walnut, can you believe it?" she ran a hand lovingly over the top. "And, the best part, check it out" she reached underneath and clicked a latch before she grabbed one end of the table and Sharon grabbed the other. They both pulled their ends and the table opened up. Samantha grabbed another piece of wood which had been leaning against Sharon's car and plopped it in. "It has a leaf extension so if we need to make it bigger we can" she leaned in to whisper, looking around as though to make sure no one could hear her "I only paid $20 bucks for it" her eyes twinkled with excitement making him grin.

"I'll take your word for it that it's good" he told her giving her a kiss before pushing the table back together and loading it into the truck with the extension. "Now what's the rest of this?"

It turned out that he and Samantha only had the table, some old grain bags and some old multi-paned windows. "You do remember that we live in an apartment right?" he teased.

"I know, I know, but I have ideas for the bags and windows so we won't have to put up with them long and they can go in the spare room until then". Smacking a kiss to his lips she jumped back in her mom's car and the two of them took off down the road. Pete scratched his head and looked after the car. "I swear she gets more like her mother everyday" and then they climbed back into Adam's truck and headed back to the house to unload.