“Annalisa, what’s wrong?”
“I-I don’t know,” I answered as he tried to wipe away my tears, “all of a sudden, I’m afraid.”
“Of me?” he said, clearly shocked.
“No-of course not,” I sobbed. “It’s just my nightmare-”
“You’re still having that? I thought it was over when I moved into your mom’s house.”
“It’s come back lately and I’m just afraid that something is going to ruin what we have.”
He pulled me against his chest, “God, Leese, you’re about to shake apart. You really are scared, aren’t you? Baby, I won’t let
He was trying to assure me he could keep us together by his own strength, but what he must have forgotten was that it was me in the dream that ran away. I pressed my face against his crisp cotton dress shirt, inhaling his Polo Double-Black cologne and relaxing in his grip.
“I know how you feel, though,” he admitted, as he held me. “It so perfect between us, and I’ve done so much wrong in my life that I can’t believe I deserve to have you. But the hard part is over with; you are my wife and I’m not letting go of you.” He reached under my chin and placed a slow, sweet kiss on my mouth, “Are you ready to go back inside?”
“Yes.”
It was a long night spent in his arms. The love was so gentle and I was so emotional that I must have pulled him into the emotions as well; several times he was overcome. It was the most sensual night we shared yet, touching, stroking, kissing, and needing each other on a level so deep it went beyond the physical and moved into a realm of spiritual. The sky was just beginning to show signs of dawn when we finally fell asleep in each other’s arms.
It was two in the afternoon, before I felt him stir beside me. He rolled out and went to the bathroom as I pulled the sheets tightly around myself and wiggled into the warm place he’d left in the bed. He returned and placed a kiss on my bare shoulder, sending goose bumps down my arm.
I tried to get up, but he grabbed me before I could escape, “Micah, I’ve got to go pee-let me go, baby.”
He laughed, but obeyed my request.
“How about break-I mean, how about lunch?” he called out to me. “I’ll have it sent up to our room.”
I was absolutely starving, but (apparently just like him) I didn’t want to dress and leave the room.
Lunch was ordered and we enjoyed our meal in privacy until our room phone rang; it was his family. They were leaving to fly back to Louisiana within the hour and wanted a chance to say goodbye. We dressed and tidied up the room for their visit. We only spoke briefly, and Giorgio confirmed Micah would be joining him the week after we returned from Hawaii to go inspect some prospective businesses. Celeste and Gwen each gave me a teary hug goodbye, but I assured them we would be coming to New Orleans in the next few months to look for a house. Celeste said she would start the search and let us know if she found something suitable.
David pulled me in for a firm embrace and whispered in my ear that he would be returning in a week, and then he kissed my cheek. With the exception of Micah, the whole family looked at him rather oddly. Evidently David wasn’t the sweet, touchy-feely kind of person and they were all surprised. I knew, in that moment, he had been very discreet with keeping his relationship with my mother from his family.
Micah went downstairs to see them to their taxi as I stayed behind and called Mom. I wanted to see if she and Kimmy might like to have dinner with us tonight, but I also wanted to see how she was doing now that David was stepping out of the picture for a short span of time. She said they’d love to have dinner with us, especially Kimmy who hadn’t seen either one of us since the wedding. I asked about David, and she sighed, admitting she couldn’t wait for the week to pass. I was just hanging up when Micah returned. I hate to admit it, but I think the fact that I stopped talking and put down the receiver just as he came into the room, caused him a moment of jealous suspicion.
“Mom,” I said, pointing at the phone, “I just called to see if she and Kimmy would have dinner with us tonight.”
“Oh,” he said, clearly relieved, “so are we having dinner with them?”
“Yes, down in Il Mileno at 7:00 p.m.” There was no reason to ask if he liked Italian food; I already knew the answer.
Dinner was enjoyable as we discussed our pending flight to Maui the following evening. Then Kimmy began to tell us about how much fun she’d had last night during the movie. I could see Micah tensing as she went on and on about how nice Ryan was to her and how much he talked about me.
“You were right,” she said, smiling up at him as she placed a forkful of pasta in her mouth, “he really does like Leese as much as you do.”
I know a little blush of embarrassment hit my cheeks, but then I remembered Micah’s explanation of who Ryan was to Kimmy the morning I made the pancake breakfast.
“Can’t you have two husbands?” she questioned me innocently.
“Kimberly Margaret!” Mom snapped. “No. Women don’t have two husbands and men don’t have two wives. Ryan is only Leese’s friend.”
I could see a moment of curiosity hit Micah as he leaned toward Kimmy, “Do you think your sister made the right choice?”
Mom froze, never expecting him to ask her such a question.
My mouth had gone dry and all I could think was Micah would be crushed if my sweet little sister preferred Ryan to him.
Kimmy smiled and then hugged his neck, “You’re my favorite, and Leese loves you best, anyway.”
He was smiling, completely happy with her response, but I couldn’t help but think he opened himself up for a crushing blow had her answer been different.
“We’re checking out in the morning and heading home. Do you need any help packing things up for the trip?” Mom offered.
I nibbled off the end of a bread stick knowing there was something I had wanted to ask her, but it had been forgotten, “No, I’m okay with that, but I keep feeling like I’m forgetting something.”
“Well, don’t stress over whatever it is because you aren’t on a budget.” Then she shook her head and laughed, “Matter of fact, if I were you, I wouldn’t pack a thing. I’d just buy whatever I needed when I got to Maui.”
“Mom, I can think of a lot better things we can be doing when we get their other than shopping.” My original thought was hiking, snorkeling, and luaus.
She looked at us and flushed with color. “I can understand that,” she laughed with a faraway look in her eyes.
I had a feeling it was a ‘David’ memory causing the look.
We finished dinner, then said our goodbyes and headed up to our room. We were both yawning by the time we closed the door to the rest of the world. Even though we’d slept six or seven hours after the sun came up this morning, it didn’t take place of missing the entire night before. We crawled into the bed exhausted and knowing tomorrow wouldn’t offer too many opportunities for rest either. Tonight was our chance to behave ourselves and get some actual sleep. We snuggled into our favorite position, which was me facing away and Micah pressed behind me with his arm around my waist, when I sat up quickly.
“That’s it.”
“What’s it?”
“What I couldn’t think of at dinner,” I stated. “I never got the house key from Mom.”
“You won’t need it until we get back, baby,” he said trying to pull me down into the covers.
“No-to the house in Maui-I forgot to get the key and I don’t want to travel 5000 miles only to have to wait hours for a locksmith to open up the house.”
“It’s too late tonight. You can call your mom in the morning, baby. Come back to bed; we need some sleep.”
I landed back amongst the pillows and sheets, but I didn’t roll my back to him, I rolled toward him as I twined my leg over his and let my hand trail down his hot body, “You know we’ll sleep better if we…”
He ran his fingers through my hair, sweeping it back away from my face, and then dove growling and snapping for my neck. I squealed far too loudly, and the new experience was on as we began to literally play with each other, until need overwhelmed us. We did get some sleep, and I was right about it being a better kind of sleep as we curled around each other and drifted off.
