Free Under the Same Sun (Stone Trilogy) by Mariam Kobras Page A

face, brushed over his lips with her fingertips. “I know, my love. That’s why I’m here; that’s why I came to you now. I took all the loneliness I could bear, and for as long as I could. A moment longer would have been terrible torture.” A small shrug. “It was torture from the moment the car pulled out of the gate and onto the road, when I could still see you standing in the doorway.”
    “Ah, you stupid chick,” Jon breathed. “Why, then? Three weeks, Naomi, and I nearly died. I was in that house all by myself, and it felt just like it did back when you walked out on me, pregnant with Joshua. It was like a tomb, no life, no light, no love. Everything left with you.”
“Jon.”
    And with that small word, his name, softly spoken in her gentle voice, something seemed to shift, the universe realigning itself into order.
    “Please don’t talk of dying or being in a different world anymore, Naomi. I know the burden is mine; my misspent life is the reason for what happened. If I…” He was still holding her hand, and now he pressed it in his anguish. “If I had kept my mind after you left me, when I thought everything had ended, if I hadn’t wasted myself on senseless affairs, no love, no feelings…”
    “Stop.”
    “Everything is different now. We’re married; you can’t just run away every time things get difficult. We have to stick it out together, Naomi; we really do. You allowed me back into your life. You took me back, so many years later. You, Joshua, and I—we’re a family. There is no running, and there is no cheating. I’m laying down my soul for you, and in return I want you to come to me and lean on me when life gets hard for you, and not walk away. If this is going to work then that’s how it has to be.” Jon realized he was on his knees, pleading, but this time she didn’t pull away. Her hand was warm, her fingers tightly around his, holding on.
    “Jon, I lied to you,” Naomi said.
    “What?”
    The silk of her dress rustled like a brook when she leaned forward to be closer to him. “I lied. I told you I hadn’t met that reporter, Parker, before. But I did.”
    “Yeah, I know you did, at the lounge. That’s where all the grief originated, Sal leaving you up there. It’s not important.” The skin of her throat and cleavage was as pure as a pearl, and he wanted to reach out and touch it; but she was looking at him so earnestly that he resisted.
    “Yes, but before that. He was on my plane, and he tried to charm me with champagne. He tried very hard.” She touched his face again to make him listen.
    Jon shrugged. “So he wanted to wheedle an interview out of you even then. Doesn’t surprise me. You didn’t have to keep that a secret, darling. That was to be expected.”
    “No.” For an instant she hesitated. “That wasn’t it.”
    “Not it?” A cup of coffee, Jon wanted coffee badly, and he deplored that he had passed on the assortment of sandwiches on the terrace. They had looked very inviting indeed. Wincing a little he got up and brushed off his trousers. Room service it would have to be; at this time of day there could be no idea of walking down the street.
There was no answer from her, so he turned around, phone in hand, to see her blush. Naomi was sitting on her hands awkwardly, almost like a schoolgirl, and for a moment he wanted to grin at her until he saw the contrition on her face.
    “Not an interview, Naomi?”
    “No. He wanted to…chat. He didn’t know who I was.”
    “Are you saying he was making a pass at you?” It was so funny he had to bite his tongue when she nodded reluctantly.
    “And you thought you wouldn’t tell me. Seriously, what did you think would happen? I’d have him arrested, gone after him and shot him? So someone has a crush on my wife? Yeah, I can see that happening. I have a crush on you too. It only proves he has good taste.” Now he did laugh.
    “He invited me to have champagne with him,” she said sullenly, the corners of her