Lindsay awoke to find her husband’s side of the bed empty.

"Connor! CONNOR!"

The slender figure turned away from the window and slipped in beside his wife. "Sorry, honey. I was just watching the sunrise and wondering how long it had been since I had seen one."

"I’m sorry, darling. Guess I’m just not quite recovered from yesterday."

He held her close to comfort her until she stopped trembling. "It’s all right, darling. I guess we’re both still a little shaky."

She reached up to give him a proper kiss. "Umm. Good morning, husband. I love you."

"Good morning, wife. I love you," and kissed her back. "An awful lot has happened in the last 24 hours."

She snuggled down into his shoulder. "Yeah," she said meaningfully.

"Minx!" He laughed. "That’s not what I meant."

"It’s what I meant," she giggled.

"When’s the last time I told you I loved you?"

"Before just now? Mmm. About one o’clock this morning, I believe."

"Well, then. I’m behind schedule. I intend to tell you that every hour we’re together from now on, to make up for all the times I wanted to tell you and couldn’t."

She sat up beside him, her grey-green eyes serious. "That should be my line. For me, you were missing for three years, and I missed you every day of it. I have loved you for so long."

"For me those three years are a total blank. All I do remember is that I loved you, and that you were my hope"--he picked up her palm and kissed it-"and that you were my lifeline. How I came to be in that desert place two days ago, I have no idea."

"Anton says you probably never will remember. And I’m just as glad. Whatever it was, it must have been awful. I’m just glad that now you’re here with me, forever."

"Forever and ever, Amen," he smiled, as he quoted the last line of their wedding vows the previous evening.

They touched rings, and Lindsay looked down at hers, remembering when Megan had given them to her.

"These are Hopi wedding rings," she had told her. "My late husband was a Hopi anthropologist, and in all the time we were married, we were extremely happy. Hopefully, I am passing on that happiness to you and Connor."

"But Megan-"

"I know what you’re going to say, and I want to do this."

Lindsay had hugged her. "Thank you. We’ll treasure them always."

They were beautiful gold bands, carved with the Hopi figures of man, woman and child in gold on a black background.

All of a sudden her stomach growled, and she laughed. "Time, tide and hunger wait for no man, or something."

Connor laughed. "Yeah. There are practicalities." He picked up the phone. "What do you want for breakfast, darling?"

"Mmm. A two-egg mushroom omelet, two pieces of raisin bread with a thin layer of peanut butter, grape juice, and a big pot of coffee."

"Sounds good." He placed two orders, then slipped out of bed and headed for the bathroom. "Good thing this place has robes. One thing I have to do today is get some more clothes," he said. "That one suit Peter got for me is all I have between myself and indecent exposure."

He heard Lindsay laugh. "Nothing indecent about your exposure," she quipped.

He peered around the edge of the bathroom door. "Lind-say!" he laughed.

Connor had just stepped out of the shower when their breakfast came, and they settled in the living room of their suite to eat.

"Wasn’t this a wonderful gift from Anton, Peter, and Dr. Royce? The best suite in the best hotel in Carson City for three nights and two days."

Connor nodded, and added, "And our wedding dinner from the girls, too." Then he dug in and soon had his omelet half finished.

Abruptly he stopped and looked at his wife. "I didn’t get a chance last night to tell you how beautiful you looked." He almost seemed to be talking to himself. "You looked as if you had a light on inside of you. I swear if there had been a power failure, you could have lit up the whole state of Nevada, all by yourself." He leaned over to kiss her and offered her a bite of his omelet.

She took it, and reciprocated. "You were the source of that light, my love." Then she added: "This is one idea of heaven, you know. Feeding each other."

He smiled and for a while they ate in silence. At last he looked up at her.

"One thing I’ve been wondering about is--what's next?"

"Didn’t you say you were going back into teaching?"

"Yes, but where? We have a pretty wide territory to choose from, and the school year will be starting soon. So where do we start?"

A little ripple went through her at the word "we" as she considered the question.

"Do you have any preferences?"

"Well-I’ve always liked New England."

"Oh, so have I! Maybe some small college town in Connecticut--or--New Hampshire! I’ve always loved the autumn! Oh! And it has to have a covered bridge," she finished, laughing.

"Fine. We’ll start in that area, and maybe we’ll get lucky."

"We already are, my darling," she smiled.

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