Free Wolfe's Lady by Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy

happened, she would want to die too but it wouldn’t because she could not bear it.
    “If you will, I will. So, when are we going to do this?”
    “It must be done on the evening before the full moon; that is the sole way to determine if the effort succeeds.”
    “We do it next month.”
    “If that is what you wish, we shall, my darling Stella.”
    He sealed the promise with a kiss, one that scorched all the way to her toes. That combustion fueled to an inferno as Stella, hands gentle as if he were fragile, made love to his damaged body until they both forgot all pain and all obstacles.

Chapter Seven
    The next full moon, the full Harvest Moon in late September, would rise on a Sunday evening. In that month, Stella helped Darien find a place that would work for their attempt. She also made an effort to teach him to swim or failing that, to at least get over his fear of water and heights. First, she coaxed him to climb to the top of the bluffs at the park in town and though his knees trembled, he made it to the top with her where he managed to look over the view below without total panic. Then they climbed, at her insistence, out onto the roof of the high school which he managed with great difficulty.
    After that, she drove him out to one of the few remaining forestry fire towers, an old wooden structure that stretched high into the sky.
    Rangers once used the towers to watch for fires but they hadn’t been used in decades. She hoped to talk Darien into mounting all the steps to the top but he would go no further than the first three flights. Even that height made him pale and perspire. Stella doubted he would ever banish his fear of heights but she hoped that her efforts tempered it.
    After heights, she addressed his inability to swim. She tried to coax him into some adult swimming lessons at the local health club but he refused. However, after heavy persuasion, he did get into the pool with her. She taught him how to hold his breath under water and tried to give him pointers on staying afloat. In their pool sessions, his fear threatened to bloom into a full-blown panic attack but she thought that a little preparation was better than none at all. At least, by the time that the full moon was almost at hand, he could put his face down into the water without flinching.
    Just five days before full moon, as the orb waxed, they discovered the perfect location. Grand Falls, the state’s largest natural and free flowing waterfall, was about fifteen miles north of Riverville. In an isolated location, the falls descended twenty-five feet when the river ran high.
    Although Grand Falls and the river below attracted swimmers, anglers, picnickers, and nature lovers, they both thought that on a Sunday evening, the visitors would be few.
    “Are you ready to do this?” Stella asked, as they sat outside in the late afternoon, admiring the remaining blooms in his garden and the first hints of autumn color in the foliage.

    Darien, relaxed in a dark blue shirt, unbuttoned at his throat and jeans, grinned.
    “I am as ready as I can be. I look forward to a successful outcome but—"
    “But what?” she asked, his fear spreading to her like an epidemic.
    “I hope that I don’t die. If I survive the fall, the water at the bottom is dangerous with strong undercurrents.”
    She stroked the back of his hand. “I won’t let you drown.”
    Stella would not; she had a plan. Just before he jumped, she would dial 911 on her cell phone, summoning help to fish him from the rolling waters before he could get into trouble.
    “I shall count on that. Shall we go, then?”
    At Grand Falls, the sheer beauty of the falls filled her with awe each time she saw them. Rugged rock formations lined the riverbank on this side and made walking more difficult. There was just one other vehicle, a beat-up old pickup truck, when they arrived and as they walked along the rocks, hand in hand, the driver left.
    They were alone in the wild place and so, without