Free A Healing Heart by Melissa A. Hanson Page B

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    Suddenly Collin pulled me into the shadows at the back of the mountain where we were slightly shielded from those walking past. I caught the intense smoldering of his eyes as he leaned down, ever so gently, and completely took control of my lips in a breath-taking kiss. I was overwhelmed by the intensity as it burned through my body, feeling it all the way to the tips of my toes. My body felt like it would melt into a puddle on the ground. My arms took on a life of their own as they reached up behind his head and my hands twisted in his hair.
    Slowly Collin pulled away, but with my arms still linked around his neck, he didn’t go far.
    “ I’ve been wanting to do that from the moment I saw you today.”
    “ You can do that anytime. I’m not complaining.”
    Smiling, he pulled me next to him, and we started walking again, his arm slung around my lower back and settled comfortably at my waist. “We need to get back to Eileen before she wonders what happened to us.”
    Eileen saw us approaching and got up to move the strollers. “Well, did you guys have fun?”
    Damn, my body was so traitorous! As I felt the blood rush to my face, I knew Eileen would see through the blush for what it was. “Yes, but I forgot about the Abominable Snowman and practically shattered Collin’s eardrums screaming.”
    She chuckled, “Don’t worry, that thing gets me every time. So, where to next? The kids will probably be out for a while longer. Do you want to ride Space Mountain? They will probably be up by the time you’re done, and we can eat at the pizza place that’s right there.”
    Collin let go of my waist as he reached for Lacey’s stroller. “Sounds like a plan to me.”
    “ Eileen, are you sure you want to sit and wait? Collin and I can always come back another day.”
    “ You guys are going. There’s no reason not to.”
    It didn’t take long to get over to Tomorrowland. Collin and I left Eileen with the strollers and walked toward the entrance for Space Mountain. We passed by a huge polished concrete ball, or maybe it was some type of stone. It was huge, probably close to five feet in diameter. It was nestled in a well of water with water pouring over it. Kids were running around it laughing as they pushed it. The massive sphere would spin in all directions almost as though it were weightless. I knew Riley and Lacey would get a kick out of playing with it.
    Entering the line for Space Mountain, I remembered being terrified of the ride as a child, crying all the way through the line, begging my parents not to make me go on it. Most times I would get worked up into such hysteria that, by the time we got to the loading area, one of them would walk me through and wait for everyone else to ride. To this day, I don’t know why it frightened me so badly. Maybe it was the dark. I always had to have a night light on in my room when I was little. I pushed those memories aside. I didn’t want to think about my family or the past. I wanted to focus on today, now, this time with Collin.
    As we weaved through the chains that outlined our path, working our way through the line, Collin stole kisses here and there. Standing on the bridge area, we looked down, watching as the shuttles were taking off. Collin had his arms around me, his chin nestled on the top of my head. I pulled out my camera and snapped a picture of us. Flipping the camera around, I checked the image on the back to make sure I didn’t cut our heads off in the picture as I so often did. It was perfect. The shot captured the smiles on both of our faces; the blue lights of the ride as our backdrop made the intensity of Collin’s eyes stand out even more vividly than usual. It was a keeper and would go into my scrapbook that I was beginning to put together.
    We crept down the stairs until it was finally our turn to enter into the rocket ships and blast off into the darkness of the ride. The blackness was broken only by tiny sparkles of light as the ride sped along