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ALEXANDRIA
MORNING AFTER WE MARRIED - JULY 8TH, 2004
For hours I drifted in and out of sleep in that weird place where I was exhausted mentally and physically but also excited. I was skin to skin with Torin, and it was electriceverywhere.I was three quarters on my stomach, hands under my pillow, one knee cocked, the bottom leg stretched long, and it was my comfortable usual position, but this time it was also new and different. Torin had snuggled up behind me, his face pressed against the small of my back, his arm thrown across my hips.
He said that he’d had, “enough of yer face,” meaning it sweetly, that “I ken it well enough,” and now he needed “tae get tae ken the parts of ye that are usually hidden by yer garments.”
He had kissed my back and embraced me closely and then slowly had fallen asleep, down at the bottom of the bed. I wondered if I ought to tell him to come back to the head of the bed, but he seemed so content...
I looked down at Torin and then over at Dude, sleeping in Torin’s place, his paws twitching as if he were having a dream adventure. I pulled my grandmother’s quilt over my shoulder, faded patchwork squares stitched by hands I could still remember. Somehow it still smelled faintly of lavender andold cotton, and even after all this time, it reminded me of the winter nights when my mother would tuck it around me...
I slowly fell asleep.
Now I was comfortably embraced,enjoying the moment when I felt him shift, his arm tightened around my hips, his hand moved down to my knee and caressed the skin.
He pulled my hips close.
I sighed.
He crawled higher and pressed his mouth to my neck, pulling me closer, spooning me, fully awake now. He shoved me over onto my stomach, rolled on me, rubbed his hands up my side, all rough and tumble and hot,oh my,my arms over my head, he grasped my wrists, his mouth drew up my skin and settled in that place right behind my ear. His breath warm, his heartbeat strong, his excitement built, “Ye awake, wife?”
I said, “Aye,” as he used his knees to push my legs apart and entered me in a rush. He ran his hands down my body and pulled my hips up for a better ride and then oh how he did. My knees went weak, his arms held me up against him as he plowed into me, the intensity building and building, until we both hit the peak. Finally, my moans meeting his groan, we spilled over the other side.
He collapsed onto my back, pressing me into the soft mattress, his weight heavy in the best of ways. He kissed my ear and my hair, and my cheek and with a big warm calloused hand pulled my chin up to give me an awkward twisted kiss on the edge of my lips.
I dropped my head back to the pillow.
He rested his head beside mine for some long minutes, him on me, then asked, “Am I too heavy?”
“You’re the right kind of heavy.”
He kissed me again, then rolled off to the side and gathered me up beside him, my head on his chest.
“Ye hae allowed me tae take ye in different ways, tis excitin’ for me.”
“All in one night, we’re going to be exhausted in the morning.” I pulled my head up to look at the clock. “Itismorning.”
The light was dim, just before sunrise.
His eyes followed mine to the glowing digital clock. Then I saw him look away.
I said, “Are you surprised I allowed you to take me in different ways?”
“Aye, I dinna ken twas a thing wives would allow.”
“Your wife will. Mostly.”
“Will my wife allow it whenever I want?”
“Do you mean literally or just figuratively?”
He raised his head and looked down. “What dost ye mean?”
“I mean I want to say yes, because it’s our first night together and this has been really fun. I want to say it will always be like this because I really like you, but I will have my period?—”
“Tis what?”
