With the Wind | A Short Novel (10 page)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

             
They stopped at a gas station ten miles away from the winery.

             
They were soaking wet.

             
They didn’t care.

             
“I have never seen you so…so…”

             
“Happy?”

             
“Yes, happy.  And wet.”

             
They laughed.  Then they kissed.

             
People were staring at them. 

They were quite the sight.

Two young lovers making out in a Jeep in a rainstorm oblivious to the world.

“I’m going to fill up the tank.  Why don’t you put on the top?”

“Yes.  That might be best.”

Misty returned from the convenience store with a small bag of food and another bag of clothes.

“Dry shirts,” she pronounced.

Daniel looked at the sweaters.  They matched.  “I heart Oregon?”

“I love Oregon.  You read the red heart as the word love.”

“Most appropriate.”

“I brought some towels.”

             
They dried themselves and the interior of the Jeep, pausing in between for more kisses.

             
They changed into their sweaters.

             
“Now where?” Daniel asked.

             
“I know just the place.”  Misty was punching numbers into her cell phone as they headed off toward the river.

********

             
“We have been here before.”

             
“Multnomah Falls.”

             
“Yes, I remember.”

             
“This is where we first kissed.”

             
“You tricked me, as I recall.”

             
“You recall correctly.  I don’t have to trick you now, do I?”

             
“No, my love.  To kiss you is pure joy.”

             
After a brief embrace, Misty said, “Shall we go in?”

             
“What is this place?  Looks like house.  Friends of yours?”

             
“It’s called a Bed and Breakfast.  It’s kind of like an inn.”

             
“We may stay here?”

             
“Yes we may.”

             
They walked in the front door.  A pleasant looking older lady greeted them.

             
“Hi.  I’m Misty Buffett.  I just called you.”

             
“Yes, of course.  You and your fiancé need a room for the night?”

             
“We do.” 

They smiled at each other.     

They were engaged. 

             
This was really happening.

             
“I have our best suite available.  It is called ‘Grandmere’s Room’.”

             
“May we see it?” Misty asked.

             
“Follow me.”

             
The room was spacious, over five hundred square feet.  It was full of antiques.  There was a large king size bed covered with a gorgeous off white comforter.  The bathroom featured an oversized, old fashioned cast iron tub.

             
The falls were framed through the room’s main window.

             
“It’s perfect.  We’ll take it,” Misty declared.

             
“For one night?”

             
“Yes.  What time is checkout?”

             
“Eleven am.”

             
“We’ll see you then.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

             
Daniel was very nervous.

             
Should he tell her?

             
He thought he must.

             
What was taking her so long?  He was lying here naked under the covers, waiting for her.

             
He looked at the clock.

             
She had only been in the bathroom for five minutes.

             
Then the door opened.

             
Misty had fixed her hair and put on makeup.

             
She had on a robe provided by the B &B.

             
That was all she had on.

             
Misty let the robe fall off.

             
Daniel tried not to stare, but he couldn’t help himself.

             
Misty was a vision.  She looked like the women he had seen in fashion magazines.

             
No, she looked better. 

             
She was his, he was hers.

             
A wedding was only a formality, their love was about to be sealed.

             
Forever.

             
She pulled back the covers and slid into bed.

             
In bed with Daniel.  Her true love.

             
At last.

             
“Misty,” he said, after they kissed.  “I must tell you something.”

             
“You can tell me anything, my love.”

             
“It is most embarrassing.”

              “What is it?”

             
“I have never, you know.  Done this.”

             
Misty looked at Daniel tenderly.

             
“Oh Daniel.  You could not be more perfect.”

             
“This does not bother you?”

             
“Bother me?  I only wish I could say the same.”

             
“You have been with …”

             
“Not Wilson.  Ever.  Which is strange, I know.”

             
“Not strange.  Perfect.”

             
“No more words.”

             
For a while time for them had no meaning.  

They just touched each other like two puppies playing.

              They were not in a hurry.

             
Misty kissed Daniel’s face and his closed eyes.

             
Daniel kissed every part of her, not wanting to miss an inch.

             
They knew that this was not just for today, it was for all time.

             
This was the real thing, true love.

             
Passion with meaning, not lust.

             
It is what they wanted.

             
What they wanted more than anything else.

             
Daniel gently rolled Misty on to her back.

             
He was unsure exactly what to do next.

             
Misty helped him.

             
She moaned when he entered her, a sound that made him totally aware of the meaning of their act.

             
He tried to go slowly, but that was impossible.

             
His body reacted.  Now he moaned.

             
After they finished, they did not separate. 

             
They kissed and touched and Daniel did not move from his position on top of her.

             
“I am sorry, my love.  I could not wait …”

             
“Shh,” Misty said, touching his face.  “You were perfect.”

             
“But I did not wait for you.”

             
“Yes, you did.  You waited your whole life for me.”

             
For the next fourteen hours they did not leave their bed in Grandmere’s room.

             
Daniel learned how to wait, to restrain his passion.

             
Misty learned what sex really was.

It is a bond, an intimacy beyond words to describe.

              When you are with your soul mate.

             
When morning came, they did not want to go.

             
But they knew they must.

             
They had to tell her father.

             
Tell him that they were leaving that day to become husband and wife.

CHAPTER TWENTY

              “How bad is it Anthony, really,”  Wilson asked.

             
“Over forty million bad.  Without your family’s cash infusion I will lose the winery.”

             
“How in the world did you lose forty million dollars?”

             
“You’ve heard of Bernie Madoff?”

             
“You lost the money to Ma…”

             
“No, to someone just like him who lived in Portland.”

             
“Spencer Whist?  You were one of his victims?”

             
“Yes.  I’d rather not discuss it further.”

             
“Why not just go out and get a commercial loan?  The winery is easily worth twice that amount.”

             
“I mortgaged the winery to invest with Whist.”

             
“Good Lord.”

             
“So, I solve your father’s problem and he solves mine.”

             
“Please don’t refer to me as a ‘problem’, Anthony.”

             
“You know what I mean.”             

             
“Yes I know what you mean.”

             
“When are you going to tell my daughter?”

             
“I thought the wedding night might be an opportune moment.”