At a natural spring after a nine-mile hike.

She palmed the warm spring water onto her face again and again, rinsing the dirt of the trail from her cheeks. She knelt in such a way that he almost mistook her for a landed angel.

She stood slowly at the bank of the spring and as she rose he noticed that the heat of the water had placed a pinkish-red sunset hugh on her skin. he has always thought her to be beautiful but at that moment the sight of her made all of the thoughts fall out of his head.

With eyes closed she stepped a few un-balanced paces from the shore with water dripping off of her chin. For a towel she lifted her tee shirt to wipe the mineral rich water from her brow and temples.

He stared at the skin of her pale, soft stomach and, even with the past seven months being what they were, thought to himself,

"What a wife I have."