"I'm not too late for the meteor shower, am I?" asks Irene as she snuggles up close to me. Her touch is warm and comforting, and I wrap my arms around her to fend off the cold wind blowing in from the river.
"Nope – we're still a good twenty minutes off," I answer, and she giggles as I kiss her softly on the curve of her neck.
"Oh good—I was worried I was going to miss it!"
Irene shivers in the cold and then groans as I squeeze her tightly. I've never met a woman as beautiful as her in my entire life. She's everything I remember from back in high school—slender with piercing brown eyes and delicate, almost elflike features—but she's grown more gorgeous over the years than even my imagination could guess back when I was blind. She grew into her body once she was no longer fending off starvation, and she's beautiful beyond any comparison now. She has full, red lips, perfectly proportioned and downright tantalizing curves, and the most delightfully kissable neckline. I could go on and on, but I'd just get myself all excited and it's not time for that sort of thing. Not yet, at least.
"I have a little surprise for you tonight," I whisper in her ear.
"Didn't we agree on not getting each other presents? What happened to volunteering at the New London soup kitchen with me instead?" she asks. She raises an eyebrow disapprovingly at me, but her wide, beautiful brown eyes glow with excitement all the same.
"Don't you worry—I'm still up for it this weekend," I answer, kissing her on the cheek. The breeze catches a wisp of her long brown hair, and I watch, enthralled, as it floats along on the wind. My eyes follow the sharp contour of her hair as it flies, gleaming in the moonlight against the darkened sky. Everything feels new and amazing to me after five years of blindness. I could just stare at her all night long and be perfectly content.
"Well, what's the surprise?" she asks, leaning in closer. Her voice is low and soft, and I feel my face flush as her large, loving eyes dominate my vision and draw me into them.
"Well, it's out here... but it's not on the balcony," I answer, and then with a wink and a grin, I add, "It's at the top of the ladder right behind you, so if you want to see it, you'll have to climb up there with me."
She looks back over her shoulder at the ladder propped up against the stone façade and I take the opportunity to wrap my arms tightly around her and pepper a line of kisses along her exposed neck. She laughs and squirms out of my arms, leaping up from the bench to escape my affection. Cheeky.
"So your big surprise is up on the roof?" she asks, standing at the base of the ladder and looking up apprehensively. She's wearing black jeans and an emerald-green top tailored so perfectly to accentuate her bust that, in a backward sort of logic, it makes me want to rip the shirt off of her. It's funny how that works.
"Yep!" I answer with a grin as I join her at the base of the ladder.
"Then what are we waiting for?" she exclaims brightly, matching my lunatic grin with one of her own. "To the rooftop!"
I climb behind her up the ladder and then, hand in hand, we slowly scale the steep slate roof. We climb higher and higher, bracing ourselves against the wind as we make our way slowly up toward the ridge.
This is why we can't have kids yet—because we're not done being absolute idiots and risking our necks climbing dangerous slate roofs. No, the real reason we don't have kids is that we're simply not ready yet. We have too much lost time to make up for—too many moments missed out on while searching for each other—and there's a whole lot of 'us' left to explore before it's time for children.
As for where the rooftop comes into this... well, I still owe Irene something.
We reach the ridge and carefully make our way toward the chimney at the far end, and Irene gasps and takes a half step back as she sees my surprise. Up ahead on a ledge sheltered from the wind by the chimney, a folded checkered quilt and two cups of steaming hot cocoa wait for us. I promised her cocoa eleven years ago when we last watched the stars together—the last time we saw each other as Isaac and Nina up on my mother's roof—and I've wanted to make good on that promise ever since.
"You remembered the cocoa... you've got to be kidding me," Irene whispers in awe, and the moment we're safely nestled against the chimney, she pulls me in close and kisses me passionately.
Her kiss is soft and inviting, and I snuggle up against her and enjoy the warmth of the chimney as our lips play together. I couldn't ask for a better anniversary night than this. Cuddling beneath a quilt, sharing our love as we wait for the first shooting star of the night... it's everything I could hope for and absolutely perfect.
"So... would it make me a bad person if I cheated and got you a present anyway?" she whispers playfully is playfun my ear once we finally break free from our kiss.
"Wait, what happened to that whole soup kitchen thing you—"
"Oh shut up," she interrupts, elbowing me in the ribs. She suddenly looks ashamed of herself, and I can't help but laugh as she leans in and kisses me on the cheek as if she feels bad about elbowing me.
She pulls out a small green tin from beneath the blanket, and with a shy, excited smile, she places it on my lap. Where the hell was she hiding that thing during the climb up here? The lid resists my efforts, but after a few yanks on each side, I finally manage to pop it open. The smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies immediately hits my nose, tantalizing me with their sugary goodness.
"Do you remember bringing me cookies during lunch back at Woodbridge?" she asks softly, and a wide, delighted smile stretches across my face as I nod in reply.
"Holy shit... I did. I totally forgot about that!" I answer breathlessly as I stare down at the tin full of deliciousness on my lap. "You seriously remembered that after all these years? It was nothing, Irene."
"Nothing to you, maybe," she whispers. "To me, it was everything."
I split one cookie between the two of us and close the tin before the rest get cold. It's soft and chewy with just the slightest hint of cinnamon, and it tastes so good I could just die. It totally blows my mother's old stuff out of the water. Irene dips her half in my cocoa and winks at me before eating it, and then when we're both done, we snuggle up against the chimney again and wait for the show to start.
"Should be any minute now," I whisper, wrapping my arm around her waist and pulling her close. "Happy anniversary, babe."
"Babe? Really?" she exclaims with an incredulous laugh, and she shakes her head at me. "Happy anniversary to you too, you big old hunk of man-meat, you."
"Okay, point taken! Sorry," I apologize with a grin.
"Forgiven as always," she whispers, and she kisses me on the cheek again. "Happy anniversary, Terrence."
"You too, Irene."
She lays her head on my shoulder, and I have the sudden urge to hold her tightly against the cold wind, to kiss her and run my hands through her hair...
...so I do exactly that. Why let a magical night like this go to waste?
I lift her chin to look at me and then brush my lips softly against hers, kissing her first gently and them firmer and with greater urgency. Her lips slowly part, granting me entry, and I find her tongue with mine as the kiss runs deeper and deeper. She shivers uncontrollably as my fingertips delicately explore from the nape of her neck upward through her long hair, and that one little shiver turns me on instantly. It's all I can do to control myself now—it's far too cold and dangerous to make love to her up here on the roof, but damned if I don't want to try now. We'd probably never find our clothes again if we started, either.
When we finally break free from our heavenly kiss, Irene is glowing so warmly that she puts the chimney to shame. I have no idea what I did to deserve having her in my life, but if I ever find out... well, call me a jerk, but I'm going to keep it a secret so I can have her all for myself. When it comes to my beautiful Irene, hell no I don't share.
"Look, there it is!"
A meteor streaks across the sky and Irene py and Iroints up at it as it flies past. It looks like a little white square to me—a limitatio
n of my artificial retinas, unfortunately—but Marcus and I have already fixed the implant's resolution for future patients. Version two of our design is currently undergoing clinical trials, and we're holding our breath for good results. The implant will likely never match up to the complexity of the human eye, but it's way better than being blind.
Another star falls to earth, then a third and a fourth in close succession. Irene's smile is wide and stunningly gorgeous as she looks up at the stars, and I find myself watching her more than the meteor shower. Her eyelids flutter shut and she takes a deep breath as she leans back against the warm chimney. She looks so relaxed and serene that I have to stop myself from yawning.
"So, if we didn't make a wish on the first star of the night," she asks, opening her eyes and beaming in delight as meteors put on a dazzling display in the sky overhead, "can we make a wish on any of the others?"
"I don't know... do you still trust wishes after what happened last time?"
"Hey, everything came true, didn't it?" she says with a soft smile.
She's right... it all did. We're together, she found her future, and while there was nothing in my wish about going blind... well, after losing Irene and finding her again, I love her to death in a way I never thought possible. Every last one of our wishes came true—we just had to chase them for a while.
A shooting star so large and bright that it reminds me of a firework shoots across the horizon. If that's not a sign, nothing is.
"Remember, don't tell me what it is or it won't come true," I whisper, and then I close my eyes and clasp my hand tightly around hers.
I wish that Happily Ever After was only the beginning.
Irene and I have a whole lifetime ahead of us. This was just our first chapter, and I can't wait to see what happens next.
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-Nadia
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