Free Wayward Wind by Dorothy Garlock

Light that she was his woman. Lorna had known Cooper Parnell before. She didn’t know when or where, but
     they were together, just the two of them. The thought was not startling and it hung stubbornly in her mind. She made no effort
     to shut it out. It didn’t matter, she told herself. Only this life mattered, and she would know if he was the one.
    Cooper saw the shirt in Lorna’s hand and knew she was going to bathe. He also knew her reason for coming toward him when she
     could have saved steps by going directly to the creek; she wanted him to know that it was her out there in the darkness and
     not someone trying to sneak up on the cabin. Good thinking, Cooper thought, but how could she have known that he’d not follow
     her and have his way with her? She was the most disturbing, baffling, exciting woman he’d ever met.
    He sat on the rock and time passed slowly. He drew a deep breath and tried to calm the unease that had been fermenting in
     his breast. Down the valley he heard a coyote call to his mate and her answer echoed in the stillness. The soft music of the
     cicadas and crickets mingled with the sound of the rippling water along with the faint hoot of an owl and the twit of a scrappy
     nightbird. He strained his ears for the sound of Lorna coming back.
    Suddenly, drifting gently on the night breeze, he heard the sweetest sound he’d ever heard. It was as if the wind were singing.
     He felt a tingling start low at the base of his spine and travel upward to the nape of his neck where his hair tingled. His
     face felt as if it was being pricked by a thousand needles. He found himself on his feet, straining his ears, listening with
     awe and wonder. He’d never heard anything like it before. The voice had a wild, unearthly quality, like the wind. It was full
     of love and pain, joy and sorrow, yet strong, sweet and powerful. He couldn’t distinguish the faint words, but he was sure
     Lorna was praying in song. It didn’t occur to him to wonder how he knew. He could scarcely keep his feet from moving toward
     her as he listened to the music that seemed to be spun from the air. When it stopped he could feel the thud of his heart beating
     against his chest, and he let his breath out slowly.
    After a few long moments of quiet, he moved a dozen yards in the direction she had gone and stepped up into the dark shadow
     of the trees, making himself invisible if she should pass. She shouldn’t have come out here alone, he told himself, needing
     an excuse for being there. There could be a cougar, or a two-legged varmint prowling around. He leaned against the trunk of
     a tree and watched for her to come around the bend in the creek.
    She began to sing very softly again and Cooper felt once more the tingling thrill he’d felt before. He was closer to her,
     and could hear the words clearly.
    “When my hair has turned to silver,
    and my eyes shall dimmer grow.
    I will lean upon some loved one,
    through my twilight years I go.
    I will ask of you a promise,
    worth to me a world of gold;
    It is only this, my darling:
    that you’ll love me when I’m old.”
    Cooper listened while she sang verse after verse of the haunting little song, and then another. She was singing for the pure
     pleasure of it now, comforting herself in song. Although he felt like an intruder, his feet were leaden and he stood beside
     the tree as if planted there.
    There was a long moment of utter stillness when she stopped singing. Then he saw movement coming along the creek bank. She
     walked slowly, confidently. She wasn’t tall, but looked taller because of her carriage, her shoulders squared, her chin tilted.
     His eyes clung to the slim figure that moved so lightly along the rough path. When she neared the place where he was standing
     in the shadows, she paused.
    “Good night, Mr. Parnell,” she called softly with a trace of laughter in her voice.
    Cooper was so surprised he couldn’t answer. How could she have possibly known he was