Free Love After Snowfall by Suzanne D. Williams

As much as she’d loved Nathan, he’d taken that from her.
    A cricket beneath the window sill creaked loudly in the room.
    “So?” Ezekiel asked. “What’s this confession?”
    “We made a bet.” A girlish giggle rose in her chest and escaped.
    His hand sought her face and traced itself down her neck. “Does it involve me?” he asked.
    “ Mmm, yes. Us.”
    “Let me guess,” he said. “We’re going hunting together.”
    She curved her face into his chest, muffling her laughter. “That depends on the game.”
    “Deer? You shot a moose once.”
    “Twice. I shot two moose.” She spoke frank.
    “Okay, so two moose.”
    “And not a deer,” she added.
    He grabbed hold of her and lifted her atop him. “Turkeys?”
    “No, though I’d like to go in the fall.”
    “Then we will,” he said. “Will you miss it?”
    Her hair did pirouettes around his face. “Alaska?” she asked. “Will you?”
    “I will always miss it in some f ashion, but anywhere you are is home for me,” he replied. “Except we have to visit Minnesota or my family will explode. They can’t believe I married and never told them. Now …” He curved his hands in the small of her back. “Answer my question, then tell me what you and your sister have cooked up.”
    Her laughter returned. She fell against him. “I will miss it some, like you said. I’d like to go back one day, to visit, but … and this involves what happens next …”
    He nuzzled at her neck, and she stretched her hands out on the bed.
    “But I want to take our children.”
    His hand on her face, he turned her gaze to his. “Did you just say children ?”
    She bobbed her head. “That’s the bet. Whoever gets pregnant first.”
    His laughter joined hers and reformed itself in her gasp, as he laid his mouth to her throat.
    “We’d better keep trying then,” he said, his lips wandering along her skin. “If you want to win …”
     

    FROM THE AUTHOR
     
    This story was birthed out of my watching way too many shows about Alaska. I have trapped, hunted, fished, chased criminals and wild game, rode snowmobiles, gotten stuck in the ice, had to start fires, and slept under the stars. Realizing all the research I’d been doing without any use for it, I simply had to write a story.
    Clementine Button was a fun character, but a troubled one, to create. That she would stick it out after the death of her husband to appease some ideal he had for her soon wove itself onto every page. Ezekiel Knapp was meant to be her opposite in many ways, the antithesis to Nathan Button, but more of what she needed than Nathan had ever been.
    I threw in the suspense for good measure. After all, what’s a story about Alaska without mention of gold? I wasn’t sure Ezekiel had found it until I reached the end, however. But I did know she’d go home.
    Yet home is really, as the trite saying goes, where your heart is, and for Clementine, that’s with Ezekiel, and I’m thinking two beautiful little redheaded girls.
     
    Suzanne D. Williams

    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
     
    Best-selling author, Suzanne D. Williams, is a native Floridian, wife, mother, and photographer. She is the author of both nonfiction and fiction books. She writes a monthly column for Steves-Digicams.com on the subject of digital photography, as well as devotionals and instructional articles for various blogs. She also does graphic design for self-publishing authors.
     
    To learn more about what she’s doing visit http://suzanne-williams-photography.blogspot.com/ or link with her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/suzannedwilliamsauthor .
    Also by Suzanne D. Williams:             
    Nonfiction:
    Fearless
     
    Short Stories:
    The Amanda Series
    Christmas Angel
    Me & Timothy Cooper
    I Kissed The Boy Next Door
    The Best Week of My Life
    Of All The Ways He Loves Me
    The Life And Times Of Lucas McGilley
    Flight Risk (The Italian Series #1)
    Italian With A Side Of Pasta (The Italian Series #2)
    Something Italian (The