“No, no sorries. I love when you kiss me. The things it does to me just make me speechless. You can kiss me any time you want to.”
Angelle blushed as she tried to contain her smile.
“Tempest put our things in here,” he said, leading her to the first bedroom off the family room. “Take your time, get whatever you need for your shower and relax in the hot water if you want to. I’ll grab one after you.”
“Thank you.”
Angelle gathered a pair of shorts, clean undies and an over-sized teeshirt. She went straight to the bathroom and almost groaned with pleasure when she turned on the faucet, gave it a few seconds and the water started steaming up the bathroom. “I love hot, hot, hot showers,” she whispered. She stepped into the tub, her lips pressed into a straight line as she considered her options. Resigning herself to rushing through her shower rather than taking her time luxuriating under the spray of hot water, she quickly washed her hair and her body. She got out only a few minutes after she’d gotten in. “Almost done!” she called out as she dried off and ran a towel across her hair a few times. She took the time to brush her teeth before she dressed and stepped out of the bathroom and into the hall. “Your turn,” she called out.
“Already?” he asked.
“I didn’t want you to have to wait.”
“I appreciate that, but you can take a long shower if you want to. If I need another bathroom, there’s another right beside it.”
“I know. But, I didn’t want to… I just felt like…” She sighed, giving up trying to explain what it was that she was feeling.
“You don’t feel at ease yet.”
“I do, more so than I thought I would. I just didn’t want you to have to wait.”
He smiled, knowing full well she still felt like a guest. While he understood it, it was still frustrating to him — he had after all had the home built for her. “It’s okay. You’ll relax eventually.”
“I’m relaxed!” she exclaimed as he moved past her to get his own night clothes out of the dresser in the bedroom their things had been placed in. He came out of the bedroom a few minutes later and went right into the bathroom.
Angelle wandered through the family room, touching all the little knick-knacks and browsing through the books scatteredthroughout the shelving on either side of the large windows. A very, very old book caught her attention and she carefully took it down from the shelf. She ran her fingers reverently over the outside cover that had been faded and yellowed with age. Moving subconsciously toward the nearest chair, she curled herself into it, pulling her legs up to tuck beneath her as she opened the book and began to read. She smiled to herself as her eyes skimmed over the words — some olde English, and some Latin. The pictures were so highly detailed that even with the effect the years had had on the linen pages, every little vein of every leaf, every little pointed edge, or furred stem was clear to see. Someone had taken a lot of time to very painstakingly, very lovingly almost, document every plant, every tree — she turned a page and found a sketch of a small gray bird with yellow on its wings — and animal they’d observed.
“I see you’ve found Terrus’ book.”
Angelle looked up to find Boon standing just inside the family room watching her.
“I’m sorry. I should have asked,” she said apologetically as her legs unfolded and she hurriedly made to stand up.
“No, don’t stop. Go ahead and read it. He’ll be happy to know that someone is reading his book.”
Angelle looked down at the book cradled with utmost care in her hands. “It’s beautiful. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a book so exquisitely illustrated.”
Boon smiled and moved closer to her, his gaze focused on the book she held. “Terrus made it. It identifies most of the plants and wildlife, insects included, in Whispers. He gave it to me when I was little boy. I only flipped through it partially a long, long time ago.”
Angelle extended her hands offering him the book. “I’m sure it’s special to you,” she said as he took it from her hands and flipped the pages roughly.
Angelle’s whole face contorted as he handled it like he would any book he’d just brought home from a book store, instead of the very old, very fragile piece of art that it actually was.
“Not really,” Boon said with a shrug. “I mean, it’s nice that he gave it to me, but I really never took much time to look at it. Glanced at it when he gave it to me, but I already knew the things that are in it, so I never picked it up again.” He smiled at her and handed it back to her. “Here. It’s for you.”
“Oh, no! I can’t take it. It’s invaluable! And it was a gift. But I’d really feel better if you’d let me put it back on the shelf,” she said, taking it from him like it was a newborn baby.
Boon laughed. “It’s killing you that I wasn’t more careful with it.”
“It really is,” she admitted.
“It’s yours now. You can read it or protect it as much as you like.”
Angelle considered refusing the gift, but when Boon reached for it again she quickly decided she had no choice but to accept it. “Thank you!” she exclaimed, clasping the book to her chest to prevent him from flipping it open and thumbing through its pages again. “It’s very special to me and I’ll protect it always.”
He laughed when he realized she was intentionally keeping it away from his grasp. “I hope you’ll read it, too. You’ll learn about all the things native to our area.”
“I will. Carefully.”
