Roses in Autumn by Donna Fletcher Crow Page A

jacket blinked at her. “Oh, sorry to bother you. Housekeeping. Didn’t realize you were in.”
    “But the room’s been made up.”
    “OK. Just checking.” He began to back away.
    Laura frowned. Strange; housekeeping staff was usually female. She turned back to her reading, but the spell was broken. The spices and flowers were gone. Thorns and bare streambeds remained. And the serpent. There. That was the answer. She had been so seduced by the beauty of the language; she hadn’t seen the serpent waiting for her. She would tell that Kyle Larsen a thing or two. Think he could deceive her, did he?

Chapter 8
    “Yes, I read it just like you told me to.” Laura sat in the doctor’s office the next morning, her white linen blouse freshly pressed, her feet tucked carefully under her chair. “And I saw the truth you seem to have missed. Of course the garden was beautiful. But you ignored the forbidden fruit. Everyone knows the—er, the act was the forbidden fruit. That was what caused the Fall. You’re telling me to enjoy the very act that brought sin into the world.”
    Kyle shook his head. “Theologically unsound. God commanded Adam and Even to be fruitful and multiply before the Fall.”
    Laura shrugged. “That’s different. Even Augustine said having children was all right, remember?”
    “Why is it different? Did God create all of the human body?”
    “Yes. Of course.”
    “Well, then, did He create some parts good and some evil?”
    Laura nibbled a fingernail. Maybe she shouldn’t have come after all. She wouldn’t have if she hadn’t been so sure she was right on philosophical grounds. And if the all-toofamiliar scenario of frustration and hostility hadn’t repeated itself with Tom last night.
    “You’re telling me to unlearn things I’ve believed since I was an infant.” And even as she argued, part of Laura’s mind hoped he was right. How simple it would be if coming together with Tom could be in a spice-laden garden without the serpent. Simple and beautiful. And sinful.
    As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
    Simple and beautiful. And sinful.
    Oops. The doctor was talking. And she did want to hear him. But she’d always been like this—her mind absorbed poetry like a sponge, and it was likely to wring out at odd times.
    “I’m not a priest. It’s not my place to tell you what to believe. But I do want you to think very carefully about some things that can make a great difference in your life. After all, it’s the job of the Holy Spirit to lead us into truth—not the role of some shrink with a framed piece of paper on his wall.”
    He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.
    “All right, Dr. Shrink. What do you want me to think about?” Obediently, the notebook opened to receive her lists.
    “Consider the fact that God created male and female. Love—the act of love in marriage—is sacred. You and your husband were created for that relationship.”
    He paused until she had finished writing. “Remember that Christ pronounced the married couple to be one flesh. Sexuality is one way for a married couple to celebrate life together.”
    Laura drew back at the thought, but persisted, taking his words down as dictation. She numbered point three:
    “The husband-wife relationship is even compared to the union between Christ and the Church. Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled.”
    Laura, writing fast, flipped up another sheet, ruffling the paper. Kyle suddenly broke into laughter. “Whoa. And here I just said I wasn’t a priest. Sorry about dumping all that theory on you. Tear all that up if you want to. Let’s keep this simple. Write one sentence at the top of your page: Sex is a gift of God. Just that.”
    Laura shrank into the corner of her chair, her pen not moving.
    Kyle held up a hand soothingly. “Just write it down