Eternity's Mark Read Online Free

that front porch swing making up stories about magical places.
    She propped her bare feet on the waist-high rail of the weathered veranda, cradling the steaming cup against her chest. The broad covered porch ran the circumference of the house providing the perfect morning oasis. The third-generation home screamed for want of a few replaced boards and a fresh coat of paint, but she just couldn’t seem to find the time or the inclination. With a sigh, she flicked at a bubbled-up paint chip with her big toe. A ruby-throated hummingbird buzzed in from the cluster of cedars bunched at the corner of the house. The iridescent flash of green hovered a brief moment in front of her face, dipped closed enough for her to feel the brush of the wind from its whirring wings, then dashed to alight on the feeder hanging from the roof’s edge.
    Watching the bird dip its needle-like beak into the trumpet-shaped feeder, Hannah inhaled a heavy sigh. Today, she would go to the cemetery. It was their anniversary. She and Jake would’ve been married six years today. If only. Hannah drew another deep breath and curled her feet beneath her. She hated the if-only game. It had eaten away at her heart and churned at her gut ever since Jake had died.
    The wind lofted the faintest scent of sweetness across her face. She closed her eyes against the honey-sweet fragrance and forced down the knot of emotions swelling in her throat. That reminded her: she needed to gather an armload of honeysuckles. She couldn’t let their anniversary pass without covering Jake’s marker with their favorite flower. A bittersweet ache shuddered through her body with a hiccupping breath as she remembered the first time she and Jake had discovered the sweet-smelling vines. Hannah had just turned six years old and faithfully followed every step seven-year-old Jake took through the woods of their mountain.
    Young Jake had sworn they followed the trail of the elusive Big Foot. He’d seen it on television the night before and he’d recognized the massive, old oak of the woods in one of the scenes right before the last commercial. Devoted Hannah had no doubt he must be right. After all, Jake knew everything. Didn’t he tell her that often enough?
    They’d discovered the opening of a deserted cave hidden behind a tangled abundance of flowering honeysuckle vines. Much to the avid trackers’ disappointment, Big Foot escaped them, but the enticing, honey-laced aroma of the flowers caught their immediate attention. Inquisitive Jake discovered if he took the trumpet-shaped flower and pulled the stamen backward out through the stem, they could catch the sweet, sticky nectar on their tongues and rob the local hummingbirds of their syrupy treat. The children forgot Big Foot and spent the afternoon pillaging the tasty flowers.
    Hannah swallowed hard again. The memories ached in her throat as she forced herself back to the present. Damn that stupid war, and damn Jake and his need to be everyone’s hero. He’d always needed the excitement of any kind of adventure more then he’d ever needed her. Hannah closed her mind against the darkest thoughts that often plagued her ever since she’d known Jake. What other adventure would’ve robbed her of Jake even if he’d survived that infernal war? It didn’t matter now. The hair-trigger bomb wired to that hospital jeep had sent him home to her and she’d laid him to rest on their mountain.
    As the liquid met her lips, she realized her coffee had grown cold. Glancing down at her pajamas, she rose from the glider, tossed the bitter liquid over the railing, and padded her way across the porch. Time to get dressed and get the ATV loaded up. Hannah looked forward to the thirty-minute ride up the primitive trail to the gravesite. The peace of the forest would ease her mind. Plus, she needed to get back down the mountain in time to talk to Mrs. Newell’s third-grade class about the local