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ahead of me. At 6’4” he towered over most people and living things, noxious weeds included.
    I grunted a reply, not wanting to take in any more air than I had to. The walk through the tunnel of broom wouldn’t kill me—it wasn’t that bad an allergy—but hell, it wasn’t something I was enjoying either. Breaking out in a rash and blowing my nose continually for the next few hours would be what I had to look forward to after this little excursion. But the bottom line was, and even I could admit it, I needed to get out of the house and get some fresh air. I’d been holed up for far too long grieving, and this little hike and visit with the neighbours would get me moving. God love the man, Sebastian knew me better than I knew myself sometimes and this excursion had been his idea.
    “Mara?”
    “I’m coming Bastian, don’t expect me to run through this crap,” I said, shifting sideways to slip between two overhanging branches.
    A stick jabbed me in the belly and I snapped it off with a quick twist. “Stupid plant,” I muttered thinking of all the things that had been jabbed into me of late; it was the least painful, both to my body and my heart.
    I blinked away tears that threatened, and wiped my hands across my eyes to my immediate regret: they were covered in pollen from pushing the broom out of my way.
    “Son of a bitch I’m an idiot,” I muttered, blinking furiously, trying to keep the tears flowing to rinse my eyes out.
    The doctors didn’t know why we were having such a hard time getting pregnant, and the miscarriage only confirmed that it was something wrong with me. I sneezed and rubbed my nose with the back of my hand, the minor explosion jarring me out of my depressing thoughts.
    “Hurry up woman, I told Dan we’d be there ten minutes ago. Last thing I want to do is upset the new neighbours.” Sebastian’s voice was even further ahead of me now.
    “Yeah, I’m coming O white knight of mine who considers a walk in the broom a nice time out for his highly allergic wife!” I yelled back. I wasn’t angry with him; this was part of the way he dealt with his grief. It was the same when his father and brother died in the boating accident; at least, that was what his mother had shared with me. His motto was buckle down and move on; push forward and don’t look back. Although even with that attitude he sweated the whole way across the Georgia Strait, despite the fact that the ferry we were on was the size of a cruise liner.
    A rustle in the bush stopped my feet before I thought about what I was doing. “Sebastian?” He had a nasty habit of scaring me; jumping out from the place I least expected him. The rustling drew closer and I pulled away, pressing my back against a wall of yellow and green, my heart picking up speed. I didn’t think it was Sebastian. A musky odour floated past my nose, and whatever was making the noise, it was an animal. A flash of black in the bush across from me and I nearly wet my pants. Bears were more than common on this part of Vancouver Island; they were considered pretty much part of the neighbourhood and one of the few things I was truly terrified of.
    Crap. Mouth dry, I tried again, whispering as loud as I dared. “Sebastian!”
    The black thing in the bush that I was sure was a bear, grunted and shuffled closer and I slid my way towards the spot where I’d last seen my husband. Maybe the bear wouldn’t attack us if we were together? Sweat popped out on my forehead and I no longer cared how much the broom brushed against me, I just didn’t want to be eaten. I pushed my back against the wall of plants, not caring as they scratched across my bare skin as I slid sideways up the trail keeping my eyes trained on the rustling behind me.
    One step forward and something grabbed me from behind sending me into a flailing mass of arms, legs, and grunts as my heart threatened to burst out of my throat.
    “Whoa, whoa babe, settle down,” Sebastian said, laughing at me, his