CHAPTER 8

The house was immaculate when they returned from Mexico. Liz had stocked the fridge for them with two bottles of champagne, some cheese, two thick sirloin steaks, and the fixings for salad. Beau took their luggage to the bedroom as Cass got out one of the bottles of champagne. The cork popped off the bottle and almost hit Beau on the side of the head as he walked into the kitchen. He ducked just in time and Cass began to laugh.

“Guess the honeymoon’s over.” She was still laughing at how fast he reacted.

“Sure, sure. Now that we’re married, you think you can abuse me, huh?” He said as he went to the cupboard to get two glasses.

“Just enough to keep you in line, that’s all,” she said shoving him out the back door. They sat down on the chairs and drank. “Welcome to paradise.”

“And to think this is where it all begins, in our garden of delight. No past, no future, just this moment.” They clinked their glasses together in a toast. “To the moment.”

“How did I get this lucky, all in one lifetime?” He said reaching over and pulling her chair closer to him.

“Thank God for mutual friends, that’s all I can say.”

They sat and watched the sun go down. When the chill of the fresh night air hit them, they moved back inside. Beau lit the fireplace and grabbed a comfy throw from the couch and spread it out on the floor in front of the fire.

“Dare we?” Beau turned and saw her standing provocatively in the doorway.

“We dare,” he said patting the spot next to him on the floor. She walked over and plopped down beside him. Beau took the bottle from her.

“I’ll do the honors this time if you don’t mind.”

“Such a coward,” she said poking him in the side. She watched as he opened the bottle and poured them each a glass.

“To us,” he said handing her a glass.

“To us.”

When the phone rang the next morning, Cass pushed back the throw and sat up. Her head was throbbing and she was sore from sleeping on the floor, but last night had been so romantic and sexy and fun that neither of them felt like getting up and going to bed. Beau had thrown a few more logs on the fire to keep them warm and they fell asleep in one another’s arms. She grabbed the phone on the fourth ring.

“Good morning.” She said stretching like a cat. “I thought it might be you. How is that baby feeling?”

“Well, I’m feeling that perhaps I might explode at any moment. Does that answer your question?” Liz said rubbing her belly as she spoke.

“Thank you for taking such good care of the house, and thank you for putting that food in the fridge. You just seem to think of everything.” Cass got up quietly and went to get her housecoat.

“I’ve got more time on my hands than I know what to do with. Waiting for this baby is driving me crazy.” She laughed.

“Don’t try to blame crazy on the baby, you were there a long time ago.”

“Thanks. Listen, I’ve got a couple of roses for your garden so I’ll stop by a little while later to drop them off if that’s okay?”

“Great, the more the merrier! So I’ll just see you later. Bye.”

Cass hung up the phone and went to the kitchen to make coffee. It seemed impossible to feel this good, when she was this achy and headachy. She stood there watching the birds play outside the window. The morning dew glistened in the sun and she saw two rabbits run into the woods. What a beautiful view it was from the kitchen window. Beau snuck up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She turned to face him. His lips were on hers before she had the chance to say anything.

“Good morning to you to,” she said pulling back to see that he was wrapped up in a blanket.

“Care to join me,” he said opening the blanket and exposing his nakedness. “That is unless you have something better to do.”

“I could make you breakfast, or…I could be breakfast. Hmmm. What’s it gonna be?” She snuggled up to him kissing him and felt his hardness against her leg. “I had a dream last night that we were making love on the kitchen floor.”

“Oh you did, huh?”

“Or was it just a premonition?”

“Does that mean the honeymoon’s not over?” He held her closer.

“If it always starts like this, then if won’t be over until forever has passed.” She let her robe slip from her shoulders, down her back, to the floor.

Beau released the blanket and it too fell to the floor. He took a step back and looked at her as the sun surrounded her in its glorious light. “You are an angel. I know you came down from the heavens to save my soul from a dull, lonely life.” He took her by the shoulders and turned her around.

“What are you doing?” She tried to turn her head to see what he was doing.

“I’m looking for your wings.” He ran his fingers gently down her back to her buttocks.

“You’ll have to look deeper than that to see my wings.”

She pressed her lips to his as she pulled him down to the floor. Nothing else existed. There was just the two of them, twisting and touching with the early morning sun to light their way.
Afterwards, they lay spent on the cool tile surrounded by sunlight. It seemed as if they were never going to make it up off the floor today.

“Think we should wait for Liz here?” Cass said as she brushed a stray hair from Beau’s forehead.

“Not unless we invite her to join the party.” He stifled a yawn. “She might think it’s a wonderful idea.”

“It might be a little hard for her at the moment.” Cass turned and glanced out the window where she could see the treetops swaying gently in the wind. She was so happy for her friend, yet somewhere deep inside; a pang of jealousy pulsed through her. Beau watched the changing expression on her face.

“Penny for your thoughts?”

“Oh, just daydreaming. I was thinking how exciting it must be for them with the baby coming.”

“And a little scary don’t you think?” he asked raising himself up on one elbow and leaned over to kiss her ear. “There is a solution to your thoughts?”

Cassie turned to him and looked deep into his eyes. She saw the tenderness she had been draw to in the beginning, and the gentle way he had that made her feel like she was the only other person in the world that existed.

“I’ve only been waiting thirty years for someone to come along and want exactly what you want right now.” He moved his hand to press against her belly.

“It’ll be so exciting and wonderful when it happens. I think I want a boy first. One that looks a lot like you. We can name him, oh, I don’t know. Maybe Beau Jr.” She smiled. Beau rolled over on top of her and held her arms gently above her head.

“No time like the present.” He pressed his lips to hers at the same moment the doorbell rang, and they heard Liz call out.

“Oh my God! She must have been calling from the car. I didn’t think she was coming till later.” They both scrambled to their feet. Cass slipped her housecoat on and Beau wrapped himself back up in the blanket as Liz casually entered the room. Cass tried to smooth her hair back nonchalantly and Beau went to the cupboard to get mugs.

“I didn’t interrupt anything, did I?” She smiled mischievously.

“Not at all. We were just making…coffee,” Beau said setting the cups down beside the coffee maker. “Coffee?”

“Not for me. “ Liz answered. “Love the blanket though.” She sat at the table. “Just getting from the car up those steps is exhausting these days. I’ll have a cup of tea, herbal. I know you have some because I bought it for you.”

“I’m sure we’ve got some somewhere.” Cass searched through the cupboards and found the tea. She was quite enthralled with the protrusion of Liz’s belly, and it did not slip by Liz’s notice.

“Come here.” Cass moved over to her friend and took her hand laying it gently across her belly. The baby was moving inside her and Cassie felt it. Her face lit up like a candle. “Pretty incredible huh? You should feel it from my perspective. It’s like I swallowed a scuba diver and he’s trying to find his way out.”

“I think it’s fantastic.” She smiled at Beau as he set the tea down in front of Liz. “We were just talking about this ourselves this morning.”

“Talking, huh? From the look of you two, I’d say you’ve been doing more than talking.”

“Well…” Cass smiled at her, “maybe a little more than idle chat, okay?”

“You both look so wonderful and tanned and healthy. The honeymoon was wonderful I take it.”

“It was more than that. It was like being in heaven. The hotel, the water, the food…”

“Hotel sex!” Liz added for all of them.

“Liz, you…yeah, hotel sex.” Cass tugged on Beau’s blanket.

“Can’t get enough of me,” Beau said shaking his head and tightening the blanket around himself. He made breakfast for the three of them and they sat out in the garden to eat.