Annie's Song

Annie giggled again. She couldn’t seem to stop herself. And when she did, the most incredible thing happened. Alex’s grin vanished, and after gazing down at her for what seemed to her several endless seconds, he got tears in his eyes. “Thank you,” he said. Only that, just a simple “thank you.” But to Annie, those were the two most wonderful words she’d ever seen spoken, and they meant more to her than a thousand others might have. With them, he told her a wealth of things, namely that he had meant everything he’d said to her in the attic, that he not only wouldn’t punish her for making noise, but that he wanted her to.

When God saw fit to bestow such a gift, a man with any sense didn’t ask questions.

Prisjetio se događaja koji su ih spojili i cijelim srcem je vjerovao kako ih neka nevidljiva ruka pokreće,i nju i njega,kao malene komade drveta,namještajući njihov položaj,manipulira događajima dovodeći ih do trenutka kada će se upoznati.Sudbina?Svevišnji?Alex nije znao, i nije se trudio pogađati.Sve što je bilo važno u ovom trenutku je osjećaj koji se činio predivno i savršeno ispravan.

Alex held her gaze. “I love you, Annie,” he whispered hoarsely, and then he opened his arms to her. For a moment that seemed to last an eternity, Alex waited, silently praying for a miracle as he hadn’t since childhood. Just one little miracle. “Please ...” he whispered raggedly. “Come here, Annie love.

Sometimes it was lonely, living in silence.

She had made no objection when he told her the baby was his, that she was his. He prayed to God she had no objections. He was in too deep to turn back now. Head over heels in love. Irrevocably so. She had brought joy into his life beyond his wildest dreams, a sweet, wondrous joy that made every breath he took seem worthwhile. Seeing the world through her eyes had given him a new appreciation of it. Newborn foals. Mice in the attic. Waltzing to silent melodies. Drinking tea that didn’t exist. She was both child and woman, wrapped up in one, a delightful blend, and he loved both. To lose her now ... Just the thought made Alex ache, so he pushed it from his mind. She belonged to him in the eyes of God and man. The child she carried was his. Nothing was ever going to change that. He wouldn’t allow it to, because to lose her, now that he had found her, would be to die inside.

Forgetting about everything—Annie, propriety, decency—he dropped his pants. Its tiny claws hooked to his drawers, the mouse was hanging on for dear life. Seizing it by the tail, Alex jerked it loose and held it at arm’s length. A squirming little body. Shrill squeaking. God, it was his worst nightmare. Not sure what to do with the creature, he glanced at Annie only to discover she had clamped a hand over her mouth and looked as if she were about to burst with laughter. It struck Alex then how ridiculous he must look. A grown man, dancing around on his tiptoes like a hysterical woman.

In retrospect, he looked back on the events that had drawn them together and believed with all his heart that an invisible hand had moved him and her about like pieces on a chessboard, aligning their positions, manipulating incidents, bringing them inexorably to a collision point. Fate? The Almighty? Alex didn’t know, nor did he care to guess. All that mattered was this moment and the feeling that it was wonderfully and perfectly right.

Though smal and delicately made, she fitted to his body as though she’d been fashioned for him. Against the side of his hand, he could feel her hip moving. Beneath his thumb, he detected the swel ing due to her pregnancy. He yearned to draw her closer, to press his cheek to the curls atop her head, to drown in the clean smel of rose-and-glycerin soap that Maddy used to bathe her. Unable to resist, he did exactly that. Momentarily startled by the sudden closeness, Annie stiffened. But when he continued to dance, she final y gave in to the strength of his arm and let her body mold to his. He pressed his face against her hair and let his eyes fal closed. Precious. It was the only word he could think of to describe her. God help him, he never wanted to let her go.

A baby ... Annie hugged her waist, so happy that it was difficult to contain herself. Someone of her very own to love. It was the nicest thing that had ever happened to her, barring none.

Once, years ago, Alex had been kicked in the gut by a full-grown stallion. The blow had staggered him. For several endless seconds, he hadn’t been able to breathe. His vision had blurred. For a crazy instant, he’d even felt as though his heart had stopped beating. That was how he felt now. As if, for a suspended moment, everything inside him lurched to a stop. As feeling slowly began to return to his body, pain accompanied it—a relentless, mind-numbing pain centered in his chest. He’d heard people say their hearts were broken. A few times in his life, he had even used the expression himself. But until now, the saying hadn’t really had meaning. The human heart didn’t actually break, after all. It didn’t come apart, piece by piece, and drop, along with a man’s stomach, to the region of his boots. Like hell, it didn’t. Annie Trimble, the town moron. Only she wasn’t a moron at all. She was deaf. Stone-deaf. And, God forgive him, he had been stone-blind.