Runaway Love (11 page)

Chapter Twenty

Lorenzo's day passed too slowly.

Not for some time, had Lorenzo approached his tasks with such subdued enthusiasm.  Not since Anna...  He had plenty to do - the usual chores and some odd repairs to the barn and the fence.  It kept him occupied all day.  He looked in on Genie occasionally, only to find her continuing to sleep away her exhaustion.

No doubt the food in her stomach added to her sleepiness.

His only consolation was that by keeping himself busy he was eating up the time.  Then he could pay more attention to getting Genie back on her feet.  But time appeared to mock him.  It stretched out, before him, always giving him the perception that more time loomed ahead than he'd used up.

Nevertheless, his thoughts veer never very far from Genie. 

She had destroyed her breakfast of two boiled eggs, four slices of home-made bread, and a couple of litres of coffee.

“I'll be as fat as a pig after this,” she observed.

Lorenzo had enjoyed watching her, sipping his own espresso - double, to make it last a little bit longer - “just to join her”.  At the end of the repast, he stayed for a while and watched her succumb to the combined effects of her ordeal and the meal.  She switched off wakefulness almost instantly and dropped into a deep sleep. 

Reluctantly, he backed out of the room and closed the door quietly behind him.

Domino refused to join him.

Throughout the day, the image of Genie trapped under an avalanche persistently hijacked his Genie-asleep thoughts.  The first sight of her partially revealed by Domino's excavation efforts horrified him.  He was sure she was dead.  

But Domino knew better.  He went to work on her and, it was only a matter of seconds before Genie started to murmur complaints about the “snuffling” and the “gooey tongue”.  

If Lorenzo was the jumping-for-joy type, he would have jumped for joy.   She was still alive - just.  What he did instead, was send heartfelt thanks heavenward, pull her out and
cradle her in his arms.  He tried to convince himself that the cradling had to do with reviving her with body-warmth but, the closeness of her body had a different effect on him. 

She felt good in his arms even though she was virtually unconscious, wet and suffering from hypothermia.  His relief at finding her alive gave him the strength he needed.  In his arms, Genie felt no heavier than a sodden feather.

He knew at that moment, how it felt to lose her.

And yet, in the same moment, he knew he would.

It was clear that she was trying to leave - and, one day she would succeed.  One day he'll have to watch her walk away.

Until then, at this moment, with her cradled in his arms...this moment - this 'now' - was all that mattered.

Nevertheless, two days later, with Genie still fast asleep in bed, he could not stop nagging himself with questions.  “What am I doing mooning over a near stranger?” he asked Beatrice and Gloria as he finished milking them.

Gloria uttered a small “Moo”.

“Probably been alone too long.” He patted Gloria's neck. “Got set in my ways.  Now...”  He shook his head, trying to reconcile himself to his new predicament.

He recognized that this Genie Hamilton was a bright light where there had only been dusk for the last twenty-four months and eighteen days.  He hadn't realized how much he needed that light.

Anna had warned him.  “Don't stay too long on your own,” she'd told him.  “Find someone and live.” 

He hadn't. 

He hadn't wanted to.

He hadn't allowed such thoughts to invade his mind.  Anna was sufficient for a lifetime.  Who could fill his life in the way she did, anyway?  No one else.

Then Genie happened.

Now, with the memory of her in his arms, he recognized all this rationalizing about “living for Anna” had been an illusion.  It was nothing more than his way of managing his grief, and mind-numbing loneliness. 

But, when he thought Genie was dead - the real truth about himself tore down his already weakened bastion against reality.

So, now what?  Adore Genie from afar and wave her farewell when the thaw comes?  Go back to life before Genie?

“Find someone and live,” Anna had said.

“Love to Anna,” he said, patting Gloria's neck distractedly.  “But fate has tricked me.  It has delivered me a transient someone.”  He lurched to his feet and hefted the bucket of milk.  “How am I supposed to live after fate's gift has gone?”

Genie snapped awake, shutting off a dream about drowning in snow. 

She sucked in life-giving air and almost reached the point of hyperventilating when a nudge on her arm brought her back to reality.  

“Hello Clever Clogs,” she said, rolling onto her side to face Domino.   She reached out and stroked at the top of his head.  “So you think that because you saved my life, you have the right to bully me, do you?”

He didn't answer.   He was totally absorbed in the pleasure of the touch of her hand.

Genie's thoughts turned to Lorenzo.  The idea that he'd carried her all that way quickened her pulse and ignited a gentle heat in her chest.  “Cut it out, Hamilton.  He's touched you before.” She patted Domino's head distractedly, recalling all the 'touching' moments.  This one was different.  This one was total body contact. 

“Will I ever get over it?”

Faint kitchen sounds reached her ears and shifted the focus of her attention from Lorenzo to her stomach.

Her stomach told her it was ready.  

She glanced towards the window.  It was shaded, but the absence of the full glow of sunshine told her that it was either the beginning of a day, or the end.  She made an arbitrary decision.  “It must be dinner time,” she told Domino.  “No wonder I'm hungry.  I must've been asleep all day.”

His tail wagged in response.

“In that case, it's dinner time,” she said.  “Vero, Dom?”

Domino raised himself from his haunches momentarily and then sat down again.

“Shall we two go down and surprise your Dad?” she said.

Domino woofed.

“I'm glad you approve.”

The will was strong but the body lagged some way behind.  Only her innate stubbornness got her up onto her feet - albeit unsteadily.  “My legs feel like butter melting in a hot oven, Domino,” she said through gritted teeth.  “But we won't let a little thing like that defeat us, will we?”

She concentrated on the wardrobe.  “Now, what shall I wear for dinner?”

She picked at the hem of her jacket.  The material sent a signal from her hands, along her arm and up into her brain.  She was wearing an unfamiliar garment.  Steadying herself by pressing the backs of her legs against the bed, she studied her nightwear.

Men's pyjamas.

Lorenzo's pyjamas.

Must be.

Genie's heart flipped at the thought.  He had been in these pyjamas sometime too?  She ran her hands down the sides of the jacket and imagined him in them.  “I wonder what this qualifies as - contact of the third kind, or is it the fourth. 

“Either way, it's enough to set my hormones dancing.”

Domino nudged her.

“You wouldn't understand that stuff, Dom You're not old enough.”

Then, a further revelation. 

She pulled out the pyjama front and peered into the gloom to confirm.

She wasn't wearing a stitch underneath.

Interesting.

Lorenzo must have...

Pictures of Lorenzo holding her, pulling off her clothes, touching her naked body, flashed through her mind.  A burning sensation erupted in her face. Her heart jumped through multiple somersaults.  

He'd seen her naked body.

He'd touched her.

She enjoyed the prospect in her mind that it somehow connected her even closer to him.

She patted Domino's head.  “Best forget that kind of stuff, eh Dom?” she said, filled with a mixture of disappointment and relief.  “I don't belong here and your Dad doesn't belong in my world.  Wouldn't work.”  She bent down and hefted Domino's head from under his chin.  “Shame, isn't it, you big old softy, you.”

She stood up and stared into the middle distance.  “A real shame.”

Domino snuffled and nudged her.

  Genie extracted herself from her reverie. “Ah, you smell food, I'll bet.”            

She examined Lorenzo's pyjamas once again.  “Should I put on something different, Dom?  What d'you think?”

The St. Bernard remained silent.  With his head cocked to one side, he simply sat close to Genie and watched her intently.

  “Not much point really, is there?  He's seen all there is to see anyway.  In that case, in this get-up, I'm positively overdressed for dinner.  Right Dom?”

Domino appeared to nod and pad his forepaws twice, one after the other.

“Bene.  Andiamo, then.”

She took a step away from the bed and almost immediately, her leg gave way. 

Domino trundled alongside her, his expression full of concern.

“No need to worry, Dom.  I'll be okay.”

“She willed her legs to work and almost made it to the door.  The effort proved to be a little too much, however.  She started to buckle at the knees.  Stretching out, she grasped the doorknob for support.  It wasn't enough to hold her and she continued her downward progress for her appointment with the floor.

Appearing to sense he was needed, Domino moved in close and pressed his body against her leg, directly beneath her unoccupied hand.

Despite her worsening condition, Genie laughed and took up Domino's offer.  Her hand rested on his ample back.  She straightened her arm, and brought herself back to an upright position - more or less. 

“You clever boy,” she said.  “If you keep on saving my bacon, I'm going to have to steal you away from Lorenzo and take you to home with me.”

With Domino's continuing solicitous attention, and occasional physical help, she managed to struggle down the stairs.  True, she achieved this arduous journey by sitting down and shuffling over one stair at a time on her bottom.  In a respectfully short time, she finally flopped down at the dining room table. 

From her vantage point, she could see glimpses of Lorenzo through the kitchen doorway.  He was obviously unaware of her presence.  Just the fleeting sightings of him crossing from one side of the kitchen to the other disorganised her breathing.   It was a delicious feeling - not just because she could see Lorenzo, but because she still had a working pulse.  

The snow nearly took that away from her.

But the sight of Lorenzo gave it a thoroughly good workout.

“What's cooking, Lorenzo?” she called.                                                        

Chapter Twenty-One

“I hope you didn't mind my coming down in these elegant pyjamas,” she'd said, as he arranged the plates bearing her evening meal in front of her.

“Of course not.”  He settled his plate on the table opposite Genie and sat down.  “I'm glad to find a use for them.”

“You...don't use pyjamas?”

“No.  I find them uncomfortable.”

“Really?” She didn't intend to sound so excited by this new knowledge about what Lorenzo might, or might not, wear in bed.

He seemed not to notice and nodded at her food.  “Eat.  Get your strength back.” 

Genie obeyed, lowering her head to study her meal, hoping the images filling her mind of Lorenzo's bed time, sans pyjamas, didn't show in her face. 

However, once she had focused on her plate of roast pork, her usual single potato and a side plate of salad, she didn't need any second bidding.  Her stomach gurgled enthusiastically.

“This is great, Lorenzo.  Thank you.”

“Niente.”

After she had applied some emergency first aid to her stomach, Genie felt ready to explore a little. “Lorenzo,” she said, “I must have been a mess when you brought me back.”

“Si. All your clothes were soaking wet and you had hypothermia.” His face failed to retain a neutral expression.  Instead his mouth showed traces of turning up at the corners, and his eyes sparkled.

Genie surmised his memory must be at work. “I'm sorry to have caused you so much trouble.”

“It was nothing.” His grin broke out.  “Only a little trouble to lift you out of the bath--”

“Bath?” Genie almost dropped her fork.

“You were slippery from the water.” 

“You gave me a bath?” 

He nodded. “To make your body warm.”

Genie started to burn up with an odd mixture of embarrassment and excitement.  She tried to joke her way out of it.  “I didn't think we knew each other that well, Lorenzo.”

“I think we do now.”

“You gave me a bath.”  Genie repeated, slowly lowering her fork.

“It worked.”  Lorenzo shifted his gaze to his meal and began to slice off a piece of meat.  “It made your body very warm.” He looked up briefly.  “Mine too.”

Genie examined Lorenzo's hand as he forked a small cut of pork into his mouth.  It had touched her naked body.  Her skin rippled in response to the image.  His eyes, they'd seen...everything.  “And you dried me off afterwards?” 

Of course he had, stupid.

He swallowed the food he had been chewing. “I think the English expression is, every nook and--”

“I get the picture.” 

“...cranny,” Lorenzo completed.  “That is the correct saying, isn't it?”

“You know full well it is, Lorenzo Calderone.”

He remoulded his expression back to somewhere close to normal.  “It was nothing really,” he said, returning his attention to his meal. 

Genie bristled at his matter-of-fact response.  Is that all my
naked
body meant to him - nothing?  All that drying every nook and...was nothing, was it?

“You need not worry,” Lorenzo said, without looking up, “You had a chaperone to watch over you in the bath.”

Genie frowned in confusion. “Chaperone?  Who, in heaven's name?”

He glanced up at her, smiled and then nodded down towards her feet.

“Domino?”  Genie leaned back and looked under the table.  The St. Bernard was curled up fast asleep, totally oblivious to the fact that he was the subject of conversation.  “So, he's seen me starkers as well.”

“Starkers?”

“In my altogether.  You know, without clothes.”

“Oh nudo – eme- naked. Yes.  He saw you - but he promised not to tell a soul.”

“I hope you've made the same promise.”

“Well, no.” He adopted a serious face. “I hoped, because of all the trouble--”

“Hope again,” Genie narrowed her eyes.  “You tell anyone and...and--”

“And?”

“And...I'll refuse to ever milk Gloria again - ever.”

“You said 'ever' twice.”

“I know.  It was to make a point.”

“Poor Gloria.”

For the balance of the evening, Genie's mind was filled with images of bath time with Lorenzo.  The new revelations were beginning to mark a deepening change in their relationship - increasingly more intimate. 

During their subsequent conversations, Genie found herself trying to read the sub-text.  Words, alone, were not enough.  She felt impelled to wrestle with the myriad of potential meanings lurking beneath.

What was clear, they could never view each other in the same light they did before the snow drift - no, before the bath.

Genie's recovery from her ordeal was slower than she expected.  She thought she would be up and around the day after she woke up.  While she did manage to get 'up and around', her energy resources were so low that she was forced to rest frequently in front of the fire, nursing her impatience, with an attendant Domino.

It was all the more frustrating because she was bubbling with a new, stimulating perception of life.  Everything seemed brighter, even exciting.  She didn't fully understand it.  Nevertheless, she wallowed in it, determined to enjoy this new brighter world as long as it lasted.

“Now, if I can get the rest of my body to catch up,” she told Lorenzo.  “I'll be able to leap over an avalanche in a single bound.”

Her enforced inactivity did, however, give her time to reflect on her near-death experience.  She'd heard that when you're about to die, your whole life passes before your eyes. 
Genie spent many hours wondering why it never happened to her.  Although she was sure there was a point where she was about to “toss off this mortal coil”, all she got was a few scattered memories.  That could hardly be construed as her whole life.  

She leaned forward to rub behind Domino's ear. “I think you messed up my personal history movie, Dom.  If you'd been a little later in nosing me out, I may have learned a few lessons from my dissolute past.”

She straightened up and passed a few stimulating moments wallowing in the images of Lorenzo, her and the bath. “Actually, it's my potentially dissolute future I ought to be worried about,” she said after she had managed to bring herself back to the present.

On her third convalescent day, Genie decided that she'd had enough of playing the role of a couch potato.  She missed being outside with Lorenzo but she knew she wasn't strong enough just yet. 

Was it through her lack of strength, she wondered, or was it the thought of going out in the snow?  Perhaps she was getting a snow-phobia - if there was such a thing. 
“What do they call a snow phobia, I wonder?  I must look it up sometime.”

The third day was the first day without Domino.

“He's getting too lazy,” Lorenzo said.  “He's going to walk with me to inspect the fence today whether he likes it or not.”

Domino made it clear he didn't like it - but he went.

After they had left, Genie pushed herself up from the couch.  “Enough of this,” she said.  “I'm in danger of vegging out stuck in here.”  She smiled at that thought.  “I wonder what sort of vegetable I'd become?  Hey, perhaps Lorenzo would nurture me in his greenhouse.  That'll be almost as good as having him bath me.”

She smiled as she reflected on another thought.  “Perhaps he would keep her in a vase in his bedroom.”

His bedroom. 

“Now there's an idea.”

Since she could no longer trust herself to get too close to the real Lorenzo, perhaps 'contact by bedroom' would compensate.  Definitely safer.

It occurred to her, as she began to mount the stairs that, all the time she'd been here, she'd never really taken the time to explore inside the house.  Her daily objective had been to get outside with Lorenzo as much as possible.  Her indoor activities tended to be restricted to sharing the dining room, the kitchen, the lounge with Lorenzo.  And then to bed - on her own - except for the times Domino managed to negotiate his way in.

She paused before his closed bedroom door.  Behind it was Lorenzo's most intimate side. 

Doubts invaded and eroded the edge of her enthusiasm. “This isn't right,” she said.  “It's private in there.” 

Almost instantly, her little devil - never far from her at times of doubt - leapt up onto her shoulder.  She wanted to throw him off, but his voice was too enticing - almost hypnotic.  “Your Lorenzo wouldn't know.”

“My Lorenzo?” 

“You don't have to touch anything.”

She didn't remember opening the door. 

Perhaps her little devil did it. 

Whatever happened she found herself peering through the open portal into Lorenzo's bedroom with an odd tingling sensation at the back of her neck.  

This was the heart of Lorenzo.

The faint aroma of his cologne lingered.  She flared her nostrils and breathed it in, closing her eyes to better imagine he was there.

Opening her eyes, she stepped in and concentrated on the room itself.  The walls were a striking warm orange, setting off the light wood cupboards, chests of drawers, and dressing table.  The two high-backed chairs and the ends of his king-sized bed were of the same material.

Her gaze lingered on the bed.

He slept in there last night - without pyjamas.  

Bathed in stimulating hot flushes, Genie allowed the thought to linger as she stepped closer to the bed.  The touch of the quilt brushing against her knees was so intoxicating that she had a struggle to turn away from the bed and her fantasy.

She backed out of the room, grappling with a dizzy spell, and closed the door.  For a few moments, she stood still, regaining her equilibrium and calming down her heart beat.  “Idiot,” she said, trying to pass off her imaginations as nothing worth getting so excited about. 

It didn't work.  The effects refused to go away.

“All this over a guy's bedroom,” she said to the door. “You are in a mess.”

Perhaps if she went back downstairs, she'd be okay.

As she was about to leave, the door at the end of the landing reached out and grabbed her attention.  She'd seen it before, of course.  Even wondered what was behind it.  But each day, she'd been too anxious to get to Lorenzo that it had been way down the scale of her priorities.  Now, with adventure and exploration on her mind, well...its turn had come.

She imagined it to be Lorenzo's secret room - where he kept all his secrets. 

Genie tutted.  “What else would you do with a secret room?”

She stared at it for several seconds. 

Should she? 

Her feet decided for her.  They marched her straight to the door.  Genie was certain she could hear her little devil cheering in the distance.

She tried the door.  

Locked.

Somehow, she knew it would be. 

“Now this is mysterious,” she said.  “Lorenzo never locks anything, not even the gate to the farm.

So, why lock this door?   “What's behind here that so precious, Lorenzo?

She brushed her fingertips gently down the door.  “Perhaps it's too personal.  Something he didn't want anyone to know about.” 

Thoughts of Jane Eyre's Mr. Rochester and his demented attic-imprisoned wife sprang to mind.

“Nah.  Lorenzo'd never do that.”  He'd never hide Anna up there, even if she was demented.  He's not like that.

But, if he did, and she was...well...” The thought of battling with a mad woman began to dampen Genie's curiosity.  She patted the door.  “I think I'll leave it for now.  It might be better to leave Lorenzo with his secrets.” 

But her curiosity was in high-gear.  It was too juicy to let go of the locked room - notwithstanding mad wives.  She stretched up and ran her hand along the top of the door frame. 

No key. 

Genie's obstinacy reinforced her curiosity.  “No you don't Lorenzo Calderone,” she said.  “We Hamiltons don't take defeat that easily.  No locked door is going to stop me.”

“I'd hate to be the one to defeat a Hamilton,” Lorenzo said from behind her, “So, perhaps you'd better have the key.”

“Oh...Lorenzo,” Genie said, spinning around to face him.   Her cheeks flared up instantly.  She imagined she could see the glow reflected in his face.  “I didn't hear you.  I was just--”

“You don't have to explain.  It's all right.” He backed up his assurance with a winning smile.  “I thought today was a good day for you to see what's up there anyway.  That's why I came back.”

"How exciting.  What naughty things are you hiding up there, Lorenzo?”

He flicked his eyebrows.  “I'm not hiding anything...exactly,”  he said, disappearing into his bedroom.

Genie scuttled after him, curiosity on red alert.  “What do you mean -
exactly
?”