Morning Glory

'You look like somebody who’d guard a door at the White House.'

He chuckled and she requested, 'Let me see that hair they cut off.'

'Aww, you don’t wanna see that.'

'Yes, I do, Private First Class Parker.' She playfully flicked the single gold chevron on his sleeve.

'All right-you asked for it.'

He removed the garrison cap and she couldn’t withhold a gulp of regret at the sight of his skull showing through the mere sprinkling of hair remaining on his head. Gone was the thick pelt she’d often washed and cut and combed. The Marines ought to hire a new barber, she thought. Why, she could do better with her plain kitchen scissors. But she searched for something heartening to say.

'I don’t think I ever saw your ears before, Will. You got fine ears, and even without no hair you’re still pretty to me.'

'And you’re a pretty li’l liar, Mrs. Parker.' Laughing, he replaced the hat, stole another kiss, picked up her suitcase and his duffel in a single hand. 'Hang on,' he ordered. 'I don’t want to lose you in this mob. Lizzy P. is a surprise. How you doin’, Lizzy-girl? You tired, babe?' He kissed her forehead while she whimpered softly and rubbed her eyes. 'How was she on the train?'

'Terrible.'

'Sorry for the quick orders. But on a forty-eightI didn’t have time to think about arrangements for the kids. To tell you the truth, I wouldn’t have cared if you had to bring ’em all, as long as I got to see you. Where are the boys?'

'At Lydia Marsh’s. They kicked up a fuss when they found out I was comin’to see you, but it was bad enough havin’ to bring this one. I had to though, ’cause she’s still nursing.'

'I realized that after I’d hung up. I made it awful hard for you, didn’t I? How long ago did she eat?'

'Around three.'

'And how ’bout you-are you hungry?'

'No. Yes.' She glanced at the neon light over the door of the coffee shop as they passed it. 'Well, sort of.' She hugged his arm. 'I mean, I don’t want to waste time in any restaurant and I don’t know how much longer Lizzy will hold out.'

He led her outside into the humid summer late-afternoon. 'I got us a room at the Oglethorpe. What do you say we pick up some hamburgers and take ’em back there?' They stood at the curb, their eyes exchanging mixed messages of hunger and impatience.

'Fine,' she forced herself to answer.

'It’s eight blocks or so. You think you can walk it in those shoes?'

'A real hotel?'

'That’s right, green eyes. For tonight, a real hotel.'

Privacy.

They stood gazing at each other while a taxi honked and car doors slammed. His heart leaped. Hers answered. They wanted to kiss but refrained, postponing any further intimacies until time and place allowed them full savor.

'On second thought,' she murmured, 'I wouldn’t mind forgetting about the hamburgers.'

'You should eat something, and drink some milk, too-for Lizzy.'

'Do I have to?'

'It won’t take long.' He smiled and led the way along the sidewalk.

Twenty-five minutes later they entered their room behind a 'bellgirl' instead of a 'bellboy.' The young woman was friendly, hospitable and wore a red pillbox hat. While Will set their brown paper sack of hamburgers on the dresser, Elly stood by the door, taking in her surroundings. The bellgirl laid their suitcases on the bed, opened a window and pointed out the adjoining bath with its black and white hexagonal marble tile, claw-foot tub and pedestal lavatory. The bedroom itself was small, done in deep green with touches of maroon and peach. The floor was lined with a bound rug, the windows decorated with frond-patterned drapes, fronted by two overstuffed chairs and a table. The focal point of the room was a wooden bed covered with a peach chenille spread and a bedside stand bearing a lamp shaped like a maroon ocean wave.

Will politely allowed the bellgirl to do her job and show it all, suppressing the urge to shove her out the door and lock it behind her.

Finally he tipped her and the moment the door closed he turned to Elly for a kiss. Scarcely had their lips touched when Lizzy complained, forcing them to consider her first.

'Will she settle down?'

'I hope so. She’s dead tired.'

Their gazes met. How long? A half hour? An hour? I want you now.

'What’re we gonna do with her, Will? I mean, where will she sleep?'

He scanned the room and suggested, 'How about the chairs?' In four long strides he reached the pair of overstuffed armchairs and turned them seat-to-seat, creating a perfect crib, soft and safe with the arms and seats butted.

'This would work, wouldn’t it?'

She was so relieved her smile broke easily. 'It’ll be perfect.'

He flashed her a return smile and moved toward the suitcase. 'You get her wet stuff off and I’ll find her clean clothes.'

While Will dug through the suitcase, Elly laid the baby on the bed and began changing her clothes for nighttime. Lizzy rubbed her eyes and whimpered.

'She’s beat, poor thing,' Will said, sitting down beside Lizzy, bracing on an elbow, watching, enjoying. In minutes she was changed into clean diapers and a lightweight kimono.

'Keep your eye on her a minute, okay?' Elly plunked Lizzy on Will’s arm and turned away. Talking sweet nothings to the baby, he watched Elly remove her yellow dress, hang it in the closet, then turn, barefoot, dressed in a white half-slip and bra.

For a moment their gazes locked and all was still but for Lizzy’s soft whimpering and the clamoring of their two hearts. Will’s eyes dropped, lingered on the bare band of skin between the two white garments while Elly’s traced the length of his dark, flattering uniform. When their eyes met again his breathing had accelerated and her cheeks had taken on an added glow.

'God, you look good,' he breathed in a tight, reedy voice.

'So do you,' she whispered.

She reached behind herself, released the hook on her bra and removed it, all the while holding him captive with her eyes. Her breasts were heavy, the nipples wide and florid, radiating faint blue lines. She stood unmoving, framed by the bathroom doorway, learning the exquisite pleasure of letting another study her body through the eyes of love. How different she felt about herself now than in the days after she’d first met him. Love, she had discovered, left her with no desire to hide.

She watched Will swallow. His nostrils dilated and his breathing grew noticeably rushed. Though Lizzy still fretted, Elly crossed the room slowly and rested a knee on the mattress, bending over Will for one lingering kiss. He reached up and brushed her pendulous breast with a knuckle, nudged her lips away and whispered, 'Hurry.'

She sat on one of the overstuffed chairs with Lizzy in the crook of her arm. Will rolled onto his belly, crossed his wrists beneath his chin and observed as his wife looked down, took a nipple between two fingers and guided it to the baby’s open mouth. His eyes became dark as onyx, his body aroused as he imbibed the image, both maternal and sexual. When he could bear it no longer he rose to prowl the room, striving to keep his eyes off her. He laid his hat upside down on the dresser, removed his wool blouse and hung it in the closet, opened the bag of food, peered inside and took out one hamburger wrapped in waxed paper. 'You want one while you feed her?'

She accepted the hamburger and began eating it while he found the glass bottle of milk, removed the cardboard stopper, searched out a glass in the bathroom, filled it and set it on the table beside her. When he neared, her head swiveled, following his every movement. Her eyes lifted and lingered on his face, allowing him to witness how her impatience had grown to the same gnawing insistence as his own.

But the baby had to come first. Reluctantly he turned away.

She watched minutely, becoming aroused by the nuances of motion peculiar to him and no other man. He