Then his left hand touched her breast through the soft cotton blouse. Dina responding by pulling his head closer. She felt the heat of his hand through the thin fabric, and then she knew at that moment she needed more from this man she loved. She knew she could not stop, that this was what she had been waiting for, and at this moment it was all that mattered.
Her heart thudded so violently within her chest, she thought it was going to give out. She was clinging to Drew as desperately as a drowning victim clings to his rescuer.
“Dina, I want to touch you, love you, caress every inch of your lovely body.”
She whimpered, a surge of heat flooding her body, and she held on to him tightly. She shivered as tension mounted. She leaned more closely, and without saying a word Drew scooped her up into his arms and carried her upstairs.
Tenderly, gently, he laid her on the bed. He unbuttoned her blouse and with her eyes wide with emotion, he stripped her blouse and bra from her body.
“My God, you are so beautiful!”
Her exposed breasts made him almost choke with desire.
She shivered uncontrollably as he leaned over to kiss the twin beauties.
Dina could not control herself. She ached for the sweet release that she knew only Drew could give her.
Reaching up, she pulled his shirt over his head, threw it on the floor.
His body was strong, bronze, his arms rippled with sculpted muscles. She gasped at the sight. Then she knew all of this was hers, and she wanted it…this man, this moment. This life-changing event was hers and hers only.
Drew struggled out of his clothing and lay down beside her.
“Touch me, Drew. Take me.” Her voice was whispery soft, and she pleaded with her eyes. Her heart was beating so fast, and the passionate heat she was feeling from her body made her feel she might die if the deep need she was feeling was not met…and soon.
Determined to be patient and gentle with his bride, Drew began by placing soft kisses all over her body, from her neck to her toes.
She responded by squirming with delight as his touch traveled over her body, moaning as if she were in pain.
“Shh, shh,” he spoke softly. “It’s okay, it’s okay.”
She surrendered, allowing erotic feelings to take over.
Drew recognized the moment and as their bodies joined, the passion that rose between them carried them to immeasurable heights. It left them breathless, sated, and spent.
“My God!” Drew whispered into Dina’s soft mouth “I love you so much!”
Stroking his face gently, she answered, “My husband, I love you.”
However, words were not necessary. The sensations each felt at that moment reinforced their need to be loved, secure in one another’s embrace, to savor the long awaited feelings of oneness, being attached by love to one’s life partner.
Drew was aware that mere words could never express the feelings he had for this woman, only that without her he would have no reason to live. Fame, money, of which he had both, meant nothing. It was Dina, his wife, his partner for life, that made life worthwhile.
Wiping tears from Dina’s eyes, he said, “Don’t cry, honey. I will love you until the day I die. I promise to make you happy each day I’m on this earth.”
“Promise?”
“Promise. Today and forever.”
For Dina, his words reassured her. This was the man who had fallen in love with her at first sight without even knowing her name, had persisted, determined to find her, had supported her through her bleakest hours.
His strength, determination, single-mindedness gave her the stability she needed to love and be loved. No longer did she feel like a lost soul.
She sought his lips again, savoring the manly strength she felt when their lips met. He was hers, belonged to her and her only. An overwhelming need for him encompassed her whole body. She ached for the love and peace only Drew could give her.
Wordlessly, he moved over her body to begin testing and tasting.
She pulled his head closer to her own, engaging in tantalizing movements that stimulated them.
“Drew?”
He breathed into her neck, “Yes?”
“Are you as happy as I am?”
Looking into her face, he saw frank desire in her eyes.
“Happy is not the word to describe how I feel with you in my arms.”
“No dictionary ever printed can describe how I feel. But I can show you.”
For the second time that night their lovemaking carried them to the heights of ecstasy.
Drew began with his fingers, as if memorizing every seductive inch of her glorious body. She reacted by moving even closer to him, as if to absorb the warmth and strength of his masculinity. She longed so much to have their bodies touch, she was almost shocked by her urgent need.
Again, pulling his head toward her breasts, she gasped as his mouth flamed over the rounded orb, causing her to toss her hair in frantic waves all over the pillow. She felt as if she would melt into nothingness, the power of Drew’s mouth was so great.
Then his fingers traced the core of her body and she felt she would burn alive if she did not receive some relief.
Drew did not want to overwhelm her, but continued to stroke her with delicate movements, light touches of his hands. He wanted her to experience all the depths and heights of this momentous encounter.
Her body was beginning to react to the stimuli she was experiencing.
Clinging to her husband, she raised her hips. His entry was urgent and strong, and as Dina cried out, Drew pulled her close to his heart. Their hearts soared as the moment of magic overcame them. “Love you, Dina,” Drew whispered in her ear.
* * *
The summer moon rode silently in the night sky, its moonbeams gleaming through the open window. A lonely owl in a nearby tree hooted. A loving couple, spent by the culmination of their ardor, slept serenely in each other’s arms.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
They flew back on the borrowed plane with the same pilot. He asked about their vacation. “Have a good time?”
“It was a wonderful time, thank you,” Drew told him.
Now settled in for the flight back to the airport in Massachusetts, Drew held his wife’s hand.
“Honey, I’m so glad you decided to sell your condo and move in with me.”
“Made sense to me, since your place is larger….”
“Well, I have another surprise for you. Something I want you to see.”
“Is it large? Bigger than a breadbasket?” she teased.
“Much, much bigger.”
“Bigger than a car?”
“Oh my, yes! Much bigger.”
She scratched her head, giving him a sly glance.
Thinking of Drew’s attraction to the many boats he’d seen this past week, she asked him, “Is it a boat?”
“No, not a boat.”
Now she was curious.
“Hmm, bigger than a car, but not a boat.” She sat silent for a moment, then she said, checking the huge grin on his face, “It’s a house! You bought a house!”
He kissed her, and laughing at her excitement, told her, “You’re not quite right, my dear. I bought the land five or six years ago, so now we can build our house, wife-mine, just the way we want it.”
“Tell me, where is the land? When can I see it?”
“It’s a small town on the upper Cape, just a few miles from the bridge that crosses over the Cape Cod Canal. It’s the town of Mashpee. Was once an Indian reservation…”
“I’ve heard of it. Is it near the water?”
“It’s right on the water.”
“I can’t wait to see it! Oh, Drew, you are so wonderful to me.”
“You ain’t seen nothing yet!” he teased her.
* * *
After landing at the airport, Drew located his car and they drove to his apartment not far from the stadium.
“Drew, I’ve been thinking about something….”
“
What is it? Not a problem, is it?”
“No, not really, but I’ve decided that now that we’re married, I’m going to change my focus for my professional life.”
“What do you mean?” he asked as he slowed for a red light.
“Well, it seems to me that now is not the right time to be pursuing a full-time university position….”
“Beginning to look that way. You don’t need to work, you know. But I know how much your career means to you….”
“Yes, it means a great deal to me. I’ve worked and sacrificed so much.”
“And I’m so proud of you! Want the whole world to know about my wonderful, brilliant wife!” He touched her hand.
“My idea, Drew, is to offer workshop seminars during which I will teach nurses how to educate patients. I will offer practical goals to the attendees and certificates after a satisfactory session with each participant. I know that my program will have to be approved by various boards of nursing in order for me to be able to do this, but I want to try. My grandmother always said, ‘Nothing beats a trial except a failure,’ so I have to try.”
“Wise woman, your grandmother.”
“And I know it will be slow going, getting approval from all the governing boards of the American Nurses’ Association, as well as state certification.”
“You’ll have time to do that. Besides, we have a house to build.”
“And,” she interrupted him, “a wedding to plan. Haven’t forgotten that, have you?” she teased.
“Like I would forget that!”
“Don’t worry, I’ll keep reminding you!”
Drew laughed out loud, delighted with the relaxed, lighthearted, happy young woman she had become. She was so changed from the somber, serious, driven, lonely person who had endeavored to make her way in the world, basically without help.
His admiration and love for her was boundless, and he hoped and prayed that he could always keep her happy.
God willing, he’d do just that.
“Honey, before we get to the apartment, I think we should go by the post office to pick up our mail they’ve been holding.”
“I think we should, although it’s just probably a bunch of junk mail, flyers, and ads, you know.”
A few minutes later he pulled up in front of the post office, ran inside to come out with a plastic bag.
Laughing, he told her, “So much stuff we needed a plastic bag!” He threw it into the back seat. “Next stop, home sweet home, my lady!”
His apartment was a short distance away. Hawthorne Gardens, it was called, seven groups of six apartments each.
A paved driveway led to a large green lawn area, around which the buildings were arranged. Each apartment had two parking spaces. Dina’s Toyota already occupied one space.
“Here we are!” Drew said to Dina. “Wait here ’til I come around to help you out.”
“Oh, I can get out by myself!”
“No, you are not to move until I let you out!”
“Yes, sir, sir!” Dina waved her hands in surrender.
He helped her unbuckle her seatbelt, then helped her out of the car. They walked side by side to the front door of the condominium and Drew inserted his key in the lock. Pocketing the key, he opened the door, picked his wife up in his arms to carry her over the threshold.
Then he kissed her, a long, satisfactory signal of their commitment to their love.
* * *
Changed into more comfortable clothing, shorts and cotton tops, they sat at the kitchen table to sort out the mail, a wastebasket between them for the unwanted mail.
“Basket’s filling up,” Drew observed.
Dina glanced at the pile. “It surely is,” she said as she picked up another envelope.
She looked at it for a long time.
Drew noticed. “What is it? What’s the matter, honey?”
“It…it’s a letter from Henry Lawrence.”
“Well, open it!”
“I can’t.” Her hands were shaking and she thrust it at him as if she would be contaminated if she held it any longer. “Drew, please, you read it and tell me…what he says.”
“Okay, here goes….”
He read the letter and said to Dina, “It’s a nice letter.”
“What does he say?”
“Here, read it for yourself.”
“You think I should?”
“I do.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
My dear daughter, Dina read, You will never know how much it meant to me to receive your letter. And the photograph of you nearly took my breath away You look so much like your mother. It was like seeing her again. I do hope you will write me again so I can try to erase those lost years. Sincerely, Henry Lawrence.
“You will notice, Drew,” she said with some bitterness in her voice as she handed him the letter. “He doesn’t say, Your father.”
“Dina, sweetheart, look at this letter as an overture, a reaching out. He is open to a relationship, and, really, he can’t call himself your father until you acknowledge that relationship. Never turn your back when a hand is extended. I know that the wonderful woman I married, who would give up a year of her life to bring another life into the world, is a woman who can recognize reconciliation. It’s one of the reasons that I love you so, and will take my last breath loving you.”
By this time Dina was crying, sobbing as if her heart were breaking. Her husband recognized the pain she was experiencing.
He held her as she wept, began to rub her back, and wiped away her tears with his fingers. She reached into the pocket of her shorts to retrieve a tissue to blow her nose.
“I’m sorry, Drew,” she whispered into his chest, clinging to him desperately.
“Don’t be sorry. I’m a big boy, and I can handle a few tears.”
She looked up into his face.
“What…what would I do without you?”
“Now that’s one thing you will never have to worry about. I’m in this for the duration, and don’t you forget it!”
“I…I don’t deserve…”
“Tut, tut, not another word!”
“But what should I do? I don’t even know the man!” she insisted.
“One step at a time. Every journey in life starts with one step. And I’m right here. You are not in this alone, remember that!”
She hiccupped with sobs, her hands clenched to her mouth. “You’re so good to me.”
“ ’Sposed to be. Now, why don’t you relax and take it easy? It’s almost six and we haven’t eaten since breakfast on the island. What’s your pleasure?”
“Pepperoni pizza and a garden salad?”
“Drink?”
“Iced tea?”
“Coming right up!”
She went upstairs to shower, shampooed and dried her shoulder-length hair. Drew liked it long, and she tied it back with a wide blue silk ribbon.
She put on a pair of blue silk slacks, a blue and white short sleeved cotton blouse, slipped her feet into a pair of navy leather sandals.
When she went into the kitchen where Drew was preparing the slices of pizza on dinner plates, she saw the salad already in two glass crystal bowls. She could smell the heady fragrance of garlic bread.
“What can I do?”
“Just take your lovely self into the dining room and have a seat. I swear, Dina, you look more beautiful to me every single day!”
She accepted his kiss. “Thank you, kind sir.”
She took a seat at the table, thinking as she did so how fortunate she was to be married to Drew. He was kind, warm, and dedicated to those he loved. He was wise, strong in his convictions, and she was incredibly lucky that he was the man in her life.
Drew had a wide grin on his face when he served the food.
“Looks great!” she said.
“Drinks coming…one moment.”
He returned with two tall glasses of iced tea.
“Enjoy! Dig in, there’s more.”
* * *
W
hen they went to bed that night, Dina’s mind was still on the letter and her estranged father.
True, he was the only living biological relative she had. He did seem to regret their lost years, had indicated he wanted to see her.
Drew’s opinion that she should be more open, forgiving, and understanding was beginning to make sense. She could not change the past. Only the future mattered, as Drew had reminded her. She would have to make a decision. As her husband had said to her, “It’s your decision and yours only.”
* * *
Their lovemaking that night placed the seal of commitment on their relationship. With tender strokes from his strong but gentle fingers, Drew caressed her body with such loving, feathery light contact that Dina was brought nearly to tears as her whole being longed for relief from the urgency she felt.
He paced himself, as it was his desire to bring her to the peak of sexual fulfillment so she could experience the true essence of his love for her.
He delighted in the fact that she was keeping up with his pace, stroke for stroke. Murmurs of endearment were whispered between them that caused their bodies, heated to a fever pitch, to ultimately reach the soaring moment each welcomed.
Spent, they clung together, their breathing harsh and erratic as they struggled back to earth and reality.
* * *
The next morning, right after breakfast, they were on their way for the one-hour trip to the Cape to see their property and start planning their house.
“This is a good time to go. This a weekday, traffic is light,” Drew said.
“I can’t wait to see the property.”
“Hope you’ll like it. I’ve arranged for an architect to meet us at the site. He lives on the Cape, is a gifted man of color, Harvard-educated, well-respected for his work out here.”
“I can hardly wait. Never thought that little old me would be living on the Cape! It’s almost too much to believe….”
“Believe it! Making you happy is what I want for you, my beautiful wife.”
Soon they were crossing the Bourne Bridge over the Cape Cod Canal. As they reached the end of the bridge, on a grassy knoll in front of them sculpted dark green hedges proclaimed CAPE COD.
Her husband rounded the traffic circle, heading toward Route 28.
A First Class Act Page 13
