Arrow Lake men crawled through deserts

it didn't matter to ingram that no one had ever said these three words to him. what mattered most was that he felt them, earnestly, every time he gazed upon blodreina. every time he looked to her, his heart started a light song, his pulse quickened. he had expected these feelings to fade, or the honeymoon period to undo them -- but if anything as the days blurred together, this overwhelming and warming feeling of love only entrenched itself deeper within him.

he had been holding his breath, afraid he was too forward -- yet blodreina returned to him those trembling words, in a language he found coarse and beautiful at once. he would never forget those words, never forget the glint in her eyes, or the way the sun slanted in that moment; nuzzling blodreina profoundly, ingram breathed in and exhaled out nothing but indefatigable and unassailable contentment.