Calling for a Miracle [The Order of Vampyres 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) by Lydia Michaels Page A

incredibly private man and she found his presence in their life somewhat irritating. At the same time, she felt as if Annalise had been her daughter for years and she had only met the girl a couple of months ago.
    Yes, Abilene always held a bit of pity for Larissa’s lot in life. She could not deny the spark of satisfaction she felt at knowing Larissa had finally made her objection loud and clear. While Abilene had raised her children to be obedient in all that was right in the eyes of God, she had also raised them to be shepherds rather than sheep. It pleased some indispensable feminine part of her to know that Larissa was perhaps finding her own way now.
    The sound of the front door clicking shut had Abilene’s thoughts of her children scattering. Jonas was home. Would he come to her? Finally sleep in their bed beside her again? She turned as his shadow filled the door to their bedroom.
    “You are awake.”
    Abilene looked to her husband, still taken aback by his handsomeness at times. He was a large man, bold and strong, yet kind and always gentle. Like his father, he had long, dark hair, blacker than pitch, that managed to make his ice-blue eyes appear all the more piercing. His shoulders were broad and his muscled body was trim. She found his hands one of his most attractive traits. They showed his strength and stature, yet she had seen those hands cradle their children. Those hands held her through times of sadness, caressed her through moments of great passion, and supported her when she did not know how to move on. He was her everything.
    “Yes, I waited for you. How was the meeting?”
    He did not move to join her, only stood watching her from the door. Distance. “It was fine.” Silence. She made to sit up, but he halted her movements by saying, “Do not get up. I have other business to tend to.”
    “Jonas?” She could not let him leave so quickly. Her marriage was becoming a scattered line of disjointed dismissals. He waited patiently for what she needed to ask him. What could she say? Why don’t you touch me anymore? Why does it seem to pain you to even look into my eyes? How are you surviving this ache between us? “I…I need to feed.”
    “Did you not finish your glass at supper?”
    She wanted to scream at him. She had finished her cup, but she ached for the intimacy of sharing her husband’s blood. She was growing starved for the warmth, the contact, the evidence that she still owned some part of him. In sixty years of marriage, never had he put her in the position to ask for his affection. It had always been freely given, yet now she feared she would have to beg for him to even hold her hand. “I feel my appetite is more than it usually is. I…I think I would sleep better if my belly was full.”
    He hesitated on saying the words that caused his mouth to open slightly. He seemed to not even breathe as whatever argument he was having in his mind played with his emotions. “I…I will fetch you another glass,” he said and turned to leave before she could argue.
    Abilene felt a tightness seize her chest that was becoming more and more familiar. Dismissed again. The unbearable pain of feeling unnecessary to her husband was becoming too much to bear in silence. Her fist clenched in the bedding as she fought a rage building inside of her. She wanted to pierce the silence with her own cries of injustice. This never-ending silence was suffocating her! She felt trapped in her head, screaming in the silence, yet her lips remained obediently closed. Perhaps Larissa was more like her mother than Abilene realized.
    The sound of Jonas returning caused Abilene to shut her eyes. She would not turn to face him. Let him see her displeasure in his solution to her hunger, let him know that his disregard for her has gone too far, force him to face what his neglect has wrought and step past more than just their doorway, she thought angrily! He would see he had hurt her. Her Jonas would never abide her heartache.