STAY TUNED.
Hope all is well with everyone and that you are all still here.

               Chris's head snapped up from my shoulder and gave a menacing stare to his younger brother.  Mike was a majorly spazzish kid with a hatred of gays, bis, and for some reason Jewish people.  He was also afraid of the Chinese.  He's a weird kid, but he's family. 
             So he was standing there the entire time we had our intimate moment, staring in horror and not blinking.  He made the motion to scuttle away, but Chris shifted a bit in a ready to sprint position. 
   "You."  he growled, and Mikey's eyes got wide.  "Um... Well, I best be off..." Mikey started, but Chris started running at him already.  Mikey's screams rang down the hallway as he sprinted for the back bedroom door, opened it, and closed it swiftly behind him while Chris nearly got to it.  Unfortunately, Chris couldn't get to him before he locked the door.  I ran down the hallway following Chris.  Mike had a phone, and he decided he would call my mom and tell her all about what was going on. 
   "Hello, Mike?"
   "INCESTUOUS FLAMES ARE BURNING IN THE HOUSE!!"  Mikey screamed into the phone.  Chris hit the door at full speed with his shoulder, weakening the hinges but injuring himself.  I coughed and cleared my throat, motioning for him to step aside.  Gladly, and rubbing his injured shoulder, he let me stand in front of the door.  I took a few steps back and roundhouse kicked the door inwards, hearing the hinges break as they swung open.  Mikey screamed in fear and flung the phone, hiding himself behind the bed.  Chris picked up the phone and cleared his throat, stalling until I could talk to my mom.  I caught Mike by the ankle and dragged him out from underneath the bed, fearful noises coming from him while he struggled. 
   "You sit... nice and... tight." I growled, tying him to the bed with the sheets.  His muffled voice came from beneath the thinnest sheet.  I got the phone from Chris and put on my best 'nothing is wrong mother' voice. 
  "Hello?  Mike?  what about incestuous flames?!" my mom yelled from the other end.
"Nothing mom, Mike is being a spaz." I said calmly, Chris was tackling Mike behind me. 
"Well... Alright.  Mike was always a bit off in his head." mom said back, and I laughed a little.  "Just, behave yourselves over there.  No friendly cousin kissing, okay?  I don't care if Elvis said it's okay."

I made a small gagging noise and shuddered.  "Mom, me and Mike are strictly platonic, I can assure you.  Alright.  Bye, mom."  I said softly, and hung up the phone.  I turned to Mike, my facial expression may have rivaled the Devil's.  His eyes got wide, and I think Chris's might have too.  I ripped the sheet off of his mouth and took his hand in mine, holding it gently and inspecting his fingers. 
  "Mikey, I swear, if you EVER, do anything like that EVER again, I will not hesitate in breaking every... last... one of these." I warned, smiling sweetly.  Chris backed up a little bit.  He whimpered and held out a cross in my face.  To be honest it was quite pretty and I nearly was tempted to borrow it from him for my school pictures. 
  "At least I'm not the one playing 'temptress tonsil hockey' with my cousin!" he said coldly, shivering a little.  Chris rolled his eyes.  "Jesus, Mikey,it's not how it looks." he said angrliy, shaking his head. 
  "Then clear my vision, because I can't see anything but incest." Mike countered, holding the cross out in front of both of us again.  Chris looked him in the eye angrily. 

   "Because, Douchey McNitpick, I'm freaking adopted."  he said, and banged his head on the doorframe in frustration.  Mikey raised and eyebrow in skepticism.  "Really Chris?  I'm not an idiot." he sid, scoffing.  I let out a little laugh of exasperation.  Chris turned again and looked at Mike in the eyes again.  "Honestly.  I'm not kidding, I'm adopted Mike."  Mike looked between me and Chris, eyes scrunching in confusion. 
"...That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.  I've known you since I was born."  Mike siad, staring Chris down.  Chris slumped to the floor and threw a yellow piece of notebook paper at Mike.  I saw a lighter peeking out from Chris's pocket.   

  "Okay.  Start of the story, twenty-three years ago.  Jane, or "mom", was expecting her first child.  She didn't have a lot of money, she went to a cheap-o hospital in the slums of town.  October third she had a stillborn son.  Distraught, she decided to claim that another motherless and fatherless child as her own.  The doctors didn't care, they couldn;t take care of it any better than she'd be able to.  The mom of this kid was most likely a prostitute.  No family, no friends, no father for the child.  So Jane decided to take hom ethe boy and name his Christopher.  And here we are, nearly twenty-four years later." he explained. 
Mike stared him down hard, taking in every inch of his facial expressions. 

  "Chris I swear to God if you are lying I will not hesitate in killing you." he said.  Chris motioned to the letter he had given Mikey.
   "It's a letter from Jane to Adam telling him that I'm not his son.  And she isn't my mom.  Enjoy the read."

Yeah, the movie is a remake and I bet the original is about a million times better.  But it didn't have Amber.  I've become convinced that she makes everything better. 

Definitely. Shes the best actress ever!

http://community.livejournal.com/alexan … /3749.html

(talking about silly ...)

Seeing his reaction to the phone call from her father, Joan giggled.  She bent down and gave him a soft kiss.  "Don't go anywhere!  I'm not finished with you, yet."  Running her fingertips over Mr. Lovejoy, she murmured softly, "You, either!"

"Don't answer it.  Please," Adam begged.

"Baby, we have to answer it.  You know how he worries!  If he doesn't get a response, he'll send in the Marines!"

"Well, hurry.  I miss you already!"

She jumped up and ran to the phone, in Adam's coat pocket on the rack by the door.  "I won't be a second longer than I have to.  But the only way to get rid of him is to talk to him…"  She quickly grabbed it and pressed answer.  "Hey, Dad," she said, walking back toward the fire, sounding as enthusiastic as she was able.

"Hi, honey," Adam could hear Will's hearty greeting from several feet away.  He noticed that, talking to her father, his wife suddenly looked self-conscious and naked.  Which she was. 

Adam stood and, wrapping Joan's towel around his own waist, walked over to the sofa.  He grabbed the soft afghan and wrapped it around her shoulders and led her back to their little pallet in front of the fire.  She smiled gratefully and leaned back against him.

"Yeah, the power went out up here, too.  How is everything down there?  Are you calling from home?"

She listened to Will for a few moments.  She covered the mouthpiece and murmured to Adam, "He's offering to come up and get us in one of the county's four-wheel drive vehicles...", Then, into the phone, she said, "Oh, no!  We're fine up here, Dad.  This cabin is super cozy.  It has two fireplaces, so we're staying warm."  She listened some more.  "No, really.  We're fine.  Better off than if we were at home.  Our stove is electric and we've got gas up here.  We wouldn't be able to cook at home."

He supposed it really was sweet of Will to worry, but why would he call after bedtime on their Valentine's Day weekend?  He couldn't be that clueless.  Could he?  Adam pulled up behind Joan and wrapped his legs around her.  Pulling her hair back he began placing small, wet kisses on the side and back of her neck.  She began to shiver, and not from the cold.  She reluctantly pulled slightly away from Adam so she could say goodbye to her dad without revealing her distraction.  "Come up and join us?"  She laughed at Will, outright.  "No!  You guys have already got two fireplaces.  Besides, we can't drag you away from your work when you're so needed.  And even the four wheel drive might not make it on these steep, icy roads."

She rolled her eyes at Adam's shocked and appalled expression.  "Yeah, it's great up here.  You and Mom should come up here some weekend.  It's definitely the best bargain in Maryland.  But this one only has one bed.  So…"  She listened to Will's advice about driving home, explained that they might have to stay a few extra days, until the park officials told them it was safe to get back on the highways.  "Okay.  Yeah… yeah.  Thanks so much for calling.  We'll talk to you in a couple of days.  Love you too.  Okay, Dad.  Bye."

Finally relaxing from the interruption, they both dissolved into giggles.  Adam held her closely from behind.  He sighed as she softly collapsed against him.  "No way he was he seriously gonna bring your mom up here and join us, right?"

"I couldn't tell.  I mean it's nice that he's worried and all.  When there's any kind of a crisis, he likes knowing where all his babies are.  If I'd thought about it, I'd have called him," she mumbled.  "But I guess I got a little bit distracted."

"Yeah, you did.  I did, too.  I love your folks, but I'm glad they're not coming up…"

"Oh, there was no danger of that.  Even if we'd said sure, come on up, Mom would've set him straight."

"Yeah?"

"Oh, yeah," here Joan went into an almost pitch-perfect imitation of her mother's soft, southern drawl.  "Will, we are NOT barging in on the kids' Valentine's weekend!  Have you lost your mind?  If it was up to you, I'd never get any grandbabies!"

Adam laughed.  "I love your mother!"

"Me, too.  But let's don't talk about her anymore."

Leaning in for a kiss, Adam agreed.  "Yeah, let's... not talk.  Where were we?"

"Well," Joan smiled, "I think you were right here…" and she gently pushed him onto his back.  She placed a soft row of little butterfly kisses up over his belly and chest.  Then she threw one leg over him and said, "…and I was here…"

Before she knew what was happening he pushed into her, but only partially.  She pushed back desperately against him, but he held onto her legs, held her back so that he only partially penetrated her.  He kept his thrusts light and quick, his upward curve stroking her G-spot till it drove her to madness.

"Jesus-Jesus-Jesus!"  It didn't take long.  She squeaked as the first wave hit her and knocked her sideways.  They both felt the rush as she pushed down on him with all her might, taking every inch of him in, pulling him off the floor with her over and over again with the intensity of her orgasm.

The ripples and undulations surged through him as well.  Gripping her hips as she rode it out, he bit his lip till it hurt but he could not stifle himself. "Ja-aaaaaahhh!" he cried.

She collapsed on his chest and he just held her.

"Mmmmmmmmnnnnnnhhhhhhh..." she intoned, completely comfortable as she settled in beside him again with her leg thrown over his.  "That was amazing."

"Yeah..."

Before long, they drifted off into a blissful sleep.  It lasted for four hours.  They awoke just after midnight, not that time mattered.  Adam opened his eyes first, lifting his head off the pillow to see that there was no more fire.  In fact, it was long gone.  That's when he noticed that the room was freezing.  When he shivered, she stirred and her eyes slowly opened too.

"Man, it's cold," he whispered.

"Mmmhmmm," she murmured against his chest, snuggling in tighter.

"You know, I heard someplace that the best way to get warm is to crawl inside a sleeping bag naked with someone who's already naked."

"Well, if it starts raining sleeping bags, maybe you'll get lucky."

Adam laughed.  He was quoting one of their favorite X Files episodes.  It tickled him that Joan got the joke and quoted Scully's reply.

Suddenly, her tummy growled.  Loudly.  "Are you hungry?  We never did have dinner."

"I could eat.  Want me to heat up the chili?  We could have a bowl, maybe a glass of wine and then crash."

"Sounds great.  I'll restart the fire and bring the candles in here."

He kissed her. "Perfect."

Twenty minutes later, they sat on opposite ends of the sofa again, with hearty bowls of Texas red.  He topped it with shredded co-jack cheese, sour cream and chopped scallions.  They each had a large glass of wine on their end of the coffee table, and there was a big bag of tortilla chips open between them.

"Mmmmmmm," she moaned.  "This is amazing.  Best batch you've ever made.  Did you put steak in here?"

"Mmmmhmmm.  I used the ground beef for body and then added a couple pounds of sirloin chunks for texture," he smiled at her.  "I was hoping we'd need the extra protein."

"And we did," she exclaimed.  "I love our place, but there's just something about being away from home.  So relaxing…"

"Happy Valentine's day, Baby," he grinned at her, utterly content.

Her own expression matched his as she took a bite of the food he had so thoughtfully prepared.   "This is so good.  All of it.  You outdid yourself, Sweetie."

Without even thinking about it, they entwined their legs as they relaxed back against the sofa cushions.

"You're worth it," he winked, taking a huge bite of his chili.

"Even when I'm a being bitch on wheels?"

"Jane..."

"Don't say one of your perfect things.  It's OK for us to tell each other when we're acting like jerks, you know?"

"Yeah, I know.  You've just been under a lot of pressure lately."

"So have you."

He nodded, so hungry he couldn't stop eating.  They were both pretty much famished, so they ate in silence for a while and polished off most of their wine.

Finally, she said, "I just think we should be able to call a time-out, take a breath and see if we can talk like grown-ups.  I wanna try anyway.  I hate it when we don't connect, Adam.  It just sucks the life right out of me."

He felt tears sting his eyes, but he smiled at her.  It felt good to hear her say that.  "Me, too."

She returned his smile.  "So does this amazing night count as make-up sex, or Valentine's sex, or what?"

"Doesn't matter."

"No, I guess not."

"What matters is that I feel closer to you tonight than I can remember feeling for a long time.  Being out here in the middle of nowhere, just us... it's like I get that you're my life, you're my future."

She stopped and watched his face as he spoke.

"You know, whatever happens out there in the world; jobs, homes, cities, money, friends.  Whatever changes we might go through… this is about us.  Together."

Tears filled her eyes too.  She heard only truth in those words.  And the strength of his love.  "Didn't I just tell you not to say one of your perfect things?"

He laughed.

One by one, the candles he'd lit earlier that evening, now all in the middle of the coffee table began to go out.

"What the…?  Is there a draft?"  He looked around, wondering if the door had swung open somehow.  Nope.

"Maybe Somebody's trying to tell us something."

"Like what?"

"Like it's time to go to bed," she whispered.

He carefully extinguished the living room fire while she started a fire in the small bedroom fireplace.  He brought the glasses and the rest of the wine to the room, but she wasn't interested.  She took his hand and led him to the bed.  They drew back the heavy quilt, blankets and flannel top sheet and curled up together, him spooning her from behind.

They settled into the warmth of the covers and each others' embrace and the world fell away again.  No discussion was needed, they were simply one.

When he was fully inside her, he reached around and pressed the heel of his hand against the flesh of her lower abdomen, reaching down into her damp curls with his long, lithe middle finger to find her clit.  He matched the stroke of his finger and the pressure of his hand with his thrusts.  And that sent her flying.

She pressed back against him, "Ahhhh! Ahhhh! Ahhhhh!  Aaaaaaaadaaaaaaammmm!"  It felt so amazing she could've let go right then and there.  But it was so delicious she wanted it to go on and on.  So she slowed herself to a smooth, steady pace.  She felt him relax across her back as he kissed her shoulder and matched her rhythm.  A soft, low moan escaped him and it made her smile.

"I love you so much, Jane," he breathed against her ear and she couldn't hold on any longer.  She grabbed a handful of bedclothes as they both gave themselves fully to their ecstasy.  It always devastated her when she could feel the power of his love for her in his every touch.  Her happiness threatened to overwhelm her.

When they finally lay together, spent but still holding on tight, she sighed very deeply, "Don't move Baby, please don't move yet.  Just for a minute."

She held him inside and he happily remained wrapped around her.  He wished it could last forever.  His heart swelled in his chest at the joy of melding with her and he felt a tear break loose and trail across the bridge of his nose to blend with a tear from his other eye.  It cooled his temple as it disappeared into his hair.

He kissed the back of her hair, his lips lingering there long enough to enjoy the aroma of the bath soap.  "I'm not going anywhere.  Ever."

Holding her closely, they both slipped off into a deep, relaxed sleep.

Though the icy sleet had turned into snow during the night, it was still bitterly cold.  Adam had listened to the radio weather report predict at least 8 more inches over the next 24 hours, though right now the sun was shining brightly.

When Joan finally opened her eyes the following afternoon, it was because she sensed a bright light in the bedroom.  Squinting from the too-bright glare, she peeped out the curtains to see where all that brightness was coming from.  The whole world was white!  So much snow!  These kinds of winters were really rare in  Arcadia.  They got snow, but it was seldom enough to immobilize the city.  Of course Chicago had really fierce winters, but they weren't white like this.  It always seemed like Chicago snow got sooty and dirty as soon as it started to accumulate.  This was beautiful, even magical.  All of the trees were encased in ice.  It looked like they were smack in the middle of a silver and crystal forest.

She hadn't noticed until she sat up that Adam had tucked the soft flannel sheet, blanket, and luxurious eiderdown comforter snugly around her bare shoulders.  As the bedding slipped off body, she realized how cold the cabin had become during the night.  Hurriedly she pulled on her long johns and then her flannel pajamas to go and find Adam.  Despite the freezing cold that continued inside their cabin, she was excited to see what the new day would bring.  After donning two pairs of cotton socks under a pair of heavy woolen ones and sliding into her bedroom slippers, she went out to the kitchen.

On her way, she noticed that he'd built an enormous fire in the living room fireplace.  The temperatures out here were almost comfortable. She found her husband putting together those pancakes he'd promised her yesterday.  Sliding up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist, she bit his earlobe lightly.

"Mmmm," he sighed.  "Morning, honey.  How did you sleep?"

"I'm not sure I've woken up.  What time is it?  I'm glad it's not too late for breakfast.  I had my mouth all ready for a stack of your blueberry pancakes."

Turning to her, he pulled her tightly into his arms.  "It's like one-something, but who cares, right?  There's no law that says we can't have pancakes for lunch, is there?"

"Nope," she smiled, pulling him closer for a brief kiss that turned out to not be so brief at all.  It was light to begin with, but they sank into it until it was deep, languorous and completely breath-taking.

"Whew," Adam chuckled.  "What got into you?"

She grinned wickedly at him, her eyes dancing.  "Uhh, that would be you," she giggled.  "Last night was amazing, baby!  A three-fer!"

"It kinda was, wasn't it?  I don't think we've had a three-fer in ages," his smile was almost shy.  "Since I can't remember when.  But it's not about quantity."

"Of course not!  And it's always quality with us, sweetie.  Always," she sighed and he could feel her warm breath against the side of his neck. 

"I never wanna take that quality for granted, you know?"

"Yeah, me neither," she murmured happily.  "So, what can I do to help you?"

"Nothing.  Batter's all ready.  We just need to let it sit for about 10 minutes."

She pulled back from him and took a small saucepan from the cabinet.  "I know something I can do!  I like maple syrup better when it's heated."  She poured a deep puddle of Vermont's Finest Pure, Grade A, Medium Amber into the pan.  "It'll make it thicker, too."

Laughing he said, "Put the can outside.  That'll thicken it up!"

"Yeah, but I don't want ice pancakes, do you?"

"No, hot syrup sounds amazing.  But don't you think that's too much?  There's over a cup and a half there."

"Actually, it'll reduce quite a bit, or we can use it tomorr…---hey," suddenly she got an idea, and poured even more syrup into the pan.  "Have you ever made snow candy?"

"Snow candy?  What's that?"

"I'll show you later.  You'll love it!"  She put the pan over low heat and they went out to enjoy the fire.

"Sorry the bedroom was so cold when you woke up," he said.  "I would've gotten the fire going in there, too, but I didn't wanna wake you before you were ready."

"You're so sweet.  I'm just glad we packed our winter underwear and pajamas.  Even though I wasn't planning on needing pajamas," she told him, with a little wink.

"Me neither," he said in a voice still deliciously thick with sleep.  "You know, you'd think as much as the local stations brag about their high-tech meteorology they'd be on top of this stuff, but it looks like this one was a total freak thing."

"Yeah, we haven't had this much snow since the endless blizzard of '09."

"That was horrible."

"Yeah, it was.  I don't mind snow so much, but ice is scary.  It does so much damage if it's really heavy like this.  We had really bad ones in Chicago a bunch of times when I was growing up.  But there hasn't been an ice storm in Arcadia since we moved here.  Do you remember there being one before?"

He gave it some thought and then remembered the only other ice storm in Arcadia's recently history.  "Years ago," he said.  "Mid-90s.  I was seven.  It only lasted a couple of hours, not like this one.  I remember my mom had the hardest time trying to scrape the ice off our car windshield with a credit card, just so she could get to the store for supplies before the roads were impassable.  We lost power by mid-afternoon.  But Dad came home from work early and we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows in the fireplace.  They read books to me.  Where The Wild Things Are, I remember...  The next morning, we all built a snowman together in the front yard.  My mom dressed him up and everything.  In an old Hawaiian shirt of dad's, and sun glasses.  It was hysterical.  Her tropical snowman."

She watched her husband's face as he enjoyed this rare happy memory of his family.  "Maybe after lunch, we'll build one, too.  God only knows when we'll have this much snow again and the free time to enjoy it."

"That'll be fun."  He pulled her close for a soft kiss. 

They were startled by a loud knock on the cabin door.  "Hello," said the Voice outside the door.  "Anybody home?"

"Uhhhhhhhhgggg!"  Adam groaned at yet another interruption.  Joan giggled a little as he broke reluctantly from her to go answer the door.

It was the Ranger.  The One who was there that night, years before, when Adam got lost up on Mount Nashman.  Adam didn't recognize him but, of course, Joan did.  It was Ranger God.

"Everybody okay?" He asked.  "We're going around making sure everyone got through the storm okay last night."

"Oh, yeah.  Everything's fine,"  Adam sighed, comforted by the Ranger's presence.  He drew the drapes open and invited Him in to sit on the sofa.  "How are things in town?"

The Ranger gave a little wave to indicate he was good where he stood.  "They're without power down there, too, I'm afraid," He replied.  "There was just one fender-bender last night that might've happened anyway.  No casualties at all.  It was," and He appeared to grope for words, so Joan helped Him.

"Miraculous," she said, staring at Him.

"Exactly," He smiled serenely.

Turning to her husband, she said, "Do you remember the Ranger, Adam?  He was one of the crew up there the night you got lost on Mount Nashman."

"Oh, wow!  Yeah, I'm sure you don't remember.  It was years ago.  I'd gone hiking up there, and a huge rainstorm came up…"

"Actually I do remember," He said.

Joan rolled her eyes.  Of course He remembered!

"In this business," He explained, "we tend cling to the stories with happy endings.  Glad you made it through okay."

"Yeah," Adam said, with a slight shiver at the memory of that long-ago night.  "Uhhhh. So, uh, any word on when the power will come back on?  We've got plenty of firewood, but it'd be nice to have the heater and lights back."

"Yeah," said the Ranger.  "That's one of the things I came up to tell you.  Mayor Roebuck had a press conference a little while ago.  He's leaned pretty heavily on the electric company to get it restored.  They started out saying a few days.  But the mayor, with the governor's backup, has gotten their assurance that it'll only be a few hours more."

"That's wonderful," Joan said.  "We wanted to get outside and play in the snow a little later.  It'll be nice to come back into a warm cabin."

Adam got a whiff of the warming syrup coming from the kitchen. He turned glance in that direction and then turned to the Ranger.  "Excuse me for a second.  We've got breakfast on the stove.  You want some?"

"No," He said, "I really oughta get going."

"Thanks so much for making sure we're all right," Adam said, extending a hand to the Ranger.

"You're very welcome," He said and for the second time in his young life, Adam Rove unwittingly shook hands with God.

When Adam left to go check on their food, Joan turned toward Ranger God with a grin.  "Um, this big, freaky, outta-nowhere ice storm.  Was that You?"

"Now, why would I do something like this?"

"Always with the questions."

"That's right," He laughed a little, clearly enjoying Himself.  "Freak storms happen all the time, Joan.  What makes you think it's anything more than a natural occurrence?"

She shrugged, still eyeing Him skeptically.  "I'm just glad no one was hurt, much.  Adam got a bruised knee, but I guess we were pretty lucky.  Will the power really be back on in a few hours?"

"Maybe…," and Joan heard the whirring of the heater and light filled the room as the electricity came back on, "…even sooner," Ranger God replied. "You weren't wrong thinking this place is magical." 

"Hey," Adam exclaimed joyfully from the kitchen. 

Ranger God stood staring into Joan's eyes, but He made no move to leave. "So... it'll be okay for us to play outside?  Adam hasn't built a snowman since he was a little boy."

"Sure," He smiled, almost smirking.  "Just don't go near the creek.  There's a thin layer of ice, but it won't hold anyone's weight.  But yes, you two go ahead and have some fun out there!  You'll be fine," He said looking at her meaningfully.  "You'll ALL be fine," and His fingertips touched Joan's right hand where it rested against her belly.

It took Joan a second or two to grasp his meaning and when she did she would have fainted if He hadn't caught her by her elbow.  She couldn't hear anything but white noise in her ears, though she did see that Adam had entered the room and picked up her cell phone.  She hadn't even heard it ring.

She looked up at Adam as he walked toward her, holding out the cell phone to her.  She could read his lips as he said, "Jane? Jane," quizzically.  Then she thought she heard him say, "You're gonna be a Mother!"

Slowly she shook the remaining fog from her head.  "I'm sorry," she said softly.  "What?"

Adam repeated, "It's your mother.  She wants to make sure we're okay up here, and she also said something about this dream she had about a Boy in a corduroy jacket…"

She turned with a start to Ranger God, Who was still smiling, unperturbed.  Suddenly, she broke into a truly radiant smile as she realized that she finally had an answer to her biggest hope and prayer for the last year.  They were finally going to have their baby, and he or she was, in the words of God, Himself, going to be fine.  "Thank You," she whispered to the Ranger, taking the phone from her husband.

"You're welcome, Joan," He smiled as Adam walked him to the door.

"Thanks for everything," Adam told the Ranger with gratitude.

"You're welcome.  The snowplows probably won't get up here till about Tuesday morning.  We're a low priority, I'm afraid. They're predicting more snow tonight.  But they say the ice is over," He said.  "So you folks just relax and enjoy your time together up here."

"Sure," Adam grinned, "I can't think of a better place to ride out the snow.  You have a good day.  Stay warm!"

"You, too.  Bye, now," and He turned away, wiggling His fingers over His shoulder in a little backward wave as He descended steps.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey, Mom!  What's up?" Joan said cheerfully.

"I dreamed about that boy in the tan jacket.  You remember…"

"The one you think is God?  You still have those dreams?" Joan could barely suppress a giggle.

"Don't laugh at your poor, old, senile mother," Helen warned.

"Oh, I'm not.  Believe me, I take your dreams very seriously."

"You'd better," she said.  "Because they usually come true.  And this was a good one.  Honey, could you be…," and here Helen lowered her voice to a whisper.  "…pregnant?"

"Actually, Mom…" Joan said, also in a very quiet voice since neither woman wanted to be overheard, "try not to freak, OK?  I have a feeling I just might be."

An excited squeal escaped Helen entirely against her will.  "Sorry, but yay!  How far along are you?  I mean if you are, and I just know you are!  Oh honey, I'm so excited."

"IF I am, I'm only like 10 or 12 hours along."

"What?  Then how can you possibly know?"

"I can't really explain it… I just have a feeling…"

"Well, I don't just have a feeling," her mother stated positively.  "God couldn't have made it more obvious if He dropped a Holy Anvil on my head."  Helen's words came out in an excited rush.  "How are you?  How do you feel?  Have you told Adam?  Are you gonna tell Adam?"

"I feel fine, Mom!  Really great, actually.  We're gonna build a snowman after breakfast.  Adam is making me a stack of blueberry pancakes."  She felt her belly rumble, as she was suddenly ravenous.

"So you did tell him?"

"No.  I don't think I should until I'm absolutely 100% sure.  We tried so hard there for a while.  He's been through enough.  I just couldn't stand to disappoint him if it's not real, you know?  I mean, what am I supposed to say anyway?  Honey, I'm pretty sure we conceived last night because I have a feeling and Mom dreamed about God?"

"No, you're right.  It makes more sense to wait till you've turned at least three sticks pink.  Let's see, it's mid-February…  I predict you'll be best friends with the toilet bowl by tax day…  And I'll bet you'll have something to announce by family night next month.  It's on the 28th, don't forget to put it on your calendar, " Helen's voice again betrayed her extreme excitement.

"I won't, don't worry.  I'm so glad you called, Mom!  I was just about to burst, wanting to tell someone," she sighed.  Then, changing the subject, she said, "Did Dad tell you he wanted y'all to drive up last night and join us?"

Helen groaned.  "Dear Lord!  For such a smart man, I swear sometimes your father has absolutely no sense!  I know he can't accept that you kids have grown up, but come on!  Mom and Dad sharing a cabin with you and your husband on Valentine's Day?  What was he thinking?  If it was up to him, I'd never get any grandchildren."

Whoa.  Joan giggled as she realized she'd absolutely nailed what her mom would say about her Dad when she joked earlier with Adam.  "Poor Dad.  I hope his feelings weren't hurt when I gave him the brush off."

"If they were he'll get over it."

They laughed together before Joan heard a clang from the kitchen.  "Listen, Mom, I think Adam has breakfast done.  I'll talk to you later."

"Okay.  Bye, Honey.  Love you!  You've made me very happy!"

"I love you, too!  Take care, Mom.  I'll call you in a day or two."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My baby outdid himself again with this breakfast, Joan thought to herself.  In addition to the blueberry pancakes, he made them both orange/pineapple/banana smoothies, and he'd cooked up the last of that pound of the bacon they'd started the previous morning.  He also made a huge pot of fresh ground coffee from that bag of gourmet beans that had come in the gift basket.  Joan looked longingly at the cup of steaming aromatic yumminess on the table in front of her.  He'd fixed it up just the way she liked it with Sugar In The Raw and lots of French Vanilla creamer.

She was just about to pick it up and take a sip when she remembered…  Caffeine.  A definite no-no if she was indeed pregnant.  "Damn," she sighed softly.

"What's wrong?" Adam asked as he brought the last of the goodies to the table.

"I, uh, I was thinking I'd forego the coffee today and just have juice and milk, both of which you have lovingly provided in delicious smoothie form," she grinned, reaching for the tall, frosty beverage.  She took a big swig.  "MmmmMmmm.  See?  Just what I was craving today."

"But, you love the fancy, fresh ground coffee." He was really surprised by this.  He'd never known her to skip her morning coffee in all the time he'd lived with her.

She sighed.  He was right, she did love it.  This was not going to be easy.  "Maybe I'll have a little sip of yours later, but I think I'll stick with this right now."  She took another swallow of her excellent smoothie and surveyed the spread he'd put out on the table.  "Honey!  This looks amazing!  Thank you so much."  She leaned in and gave him a quick kiss before she began filling her plate.  "Aren't you gonna join me?"

"Oh, you bet I am.  I'm starving."  He sat down in the chair next to her and offered her the small pitcher of warmed syrup.  After he took the first bite, he gazed mournfully out the large windows to the back porch and the creek beyond.  "You know what else sucks about this weather?  I was planning on grilling up a couple of ribeyes tonight," he sighed.

"Awww, that's okay.  We can save the steaks for Valentine's Day, when we haven't had such a ginormous breakfast.  I love it when you work the grill, but we can broil them if we have to.  They'll still be good."

"No!  Grilled is way better.  If the ice hasn't melted off tomorrow, I'll see if I can somehow defrost the grill.  We'll have our steaks.  But for tonight, what'll we have instead?"

"Adam, you brought plenty of food.  We'll find something."

"Yeah.  I just, I had the steaks half-way defrosted already.  Or the lack of electricity did…"

"Really?"

"Well, OK," he laughed, "I'm exaggerating a little.  I'm just kinda bummed that not much on this trip has gone as planned."

"Is that so bad?  I think we've had a pretty good time so far."  And then some! she thought.

He smiled at the wry look in her eyes.  "Touché."

"Honey, relax, everything is working out just fine.  I'm supposed to be the control-freaky one in this family, not you.  Let's just go with it."

He nodded and took a few bites of food.  "Oh, you know, I noticed that there's three steaks in the package instead of two, so we get one and a half apiece!  We'll have to make sure we work up an appetite tomorrow," he grinned.

"Wait, we have an extra steak?"

He nodded, chewing on a slice of bacon.

"Then I know what we're having for dinner tonight.  I've got that package of raw veggies to snack on.  I can chop them up with the extra steak and make a stir fry."

"Awesome.  Oh, I brought up that box of frozen egg rolls, too," he told her.

She smiled.  "Perfect!  So, it'll be healthy but not too healthy.  I saw some brown rice in the pantry and some soy sauce in the fridge.  We'll have to make do with ground ginger instead of fresh, since we're roughing it," she joked.

"I think we'll survive!  Now aren't you sorry you teased me about packing too much food?" he laughed.

"You have my sincerest apology," she said leaning over to give him a quick peck on his maple-syrup-sweetened lips.

"So, tell me more about this snow candy…"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Come on, Lazy!" Joan laughed at Adam, playfully tugging at his arm, trying to pull him off the couch.  Breakfast was so huge it made them both pretty sluggish for a while, and she recovered first.  "If we're gonna get a snowman finished and make snow candy, we need to get a move on!  We're burning daylight."

"Hey," he mock-complained, "I was perfectly happy just snuggling with my wife and enjoying the fire.  Do I really have to get up?"

"Honey, come on.  This'll be fun.  We can be lazy when we're not on a special Valentine's vacation."

"All right," he sighed, relenting and letting her drag him to his feet.  They helped each other bundle up.  And then Adam produced a couple of pairs of hip boots he'd found along with the fly-fishing gear in the cabin's provisions.  They pulled them on over their own boots for extra protection and went out to the front yard.

Within an hour, they had a pretty good-sized snowman built, with a bottom, middle and a head.  It was a few inches taller than Adam.  They used charcoal briquettes to make buttons for him.  Joan ran inside and pulled some raw veggies out of her baggie in the refrigerator.  They used broccoli florets for his eyes and cherry tomatoes to make a smiling mouth.

Adam remembered an old beanie he never wore anymore that was in the trunk of his car in a box where he kept extra warm clothes in case of emergency.  "Good," Joan laughed.  "I never did like that one much.  It's kinda fugly."  It was light brown with beige lines and knots all over it.  Since it was old and all stretched out, it fit pretty well on the bulbous snow head.  Then Joan remembered she had an old scarf in the same box and pulled it out too.

"That's great," Adam said, admiring their work.  "But is he me, or is she you?"

Then Joan remembered something else in Adam's car.  He usually kept something in the glove compartment to snack on when he had to drive long distances on business.  Joan remembered that he had a large bag of Red Vines.  She opened the bag and began pulling the licorice strings apart and stuffing them up under the beanie to make hair.  "I think he or she is US," she grinned.

"Hey," he laughed.  "You're using up all my Red Vines!  You know that's like a crime in some states."

"Relax!  Once you've had maple snow candy, you'll never go back to this stuff."

After making adjustments and admiring their handiwork for a few minutes, Joan ran back inside and re-warmed the syrup they planned to use for the snow candy.  Adam got out his digital camera and took lots of pictures of the cabin and their snowman and just the lovely winter wonderland in which they were so comfortably stranded.

Soon she re-emerged with the hot syrup in a Pyrex measuring cup.  He watched as she poured it out onto the snow in the middle of the yard.  He put an arm around her, so completely content as they watched the combination of hot syrup and cold snow form brown, lacy patterns in the clean, stark whiteness.

"Since you've never had it before, you get the first bite," she said reaching down and breaking him off a piece.

To his surprise it was crunchy, a bit like peanut brittle.  And really delicious.  He rolled it around in his mouth, savoring the buttery goodness of that one-of-a-kind maple.

"You like?" she asked popping a small piece into her own mouth.

"It's pure genius," he laughed, grabbing another little piece.

"So are you for bringing me up here to this magical place."

"Yeah?" he grinned turning to face her.

"You done good, Mr. Rove," she teased as their lips met for a lingering kiss.  "You done real good."

THE END

*huggles*

~Moon~