The priest knew everyone who came into the old church at the
edge of the trendy community on the border of the
As he entered the sanctuary, he genuflected in front of the
great bronze representation of the risen Christ ascending to Heaven through a
circular ring-of-fire suspended from the ceiling. One of the local artisans had donated the
sculptures to St. Mary’s back in the seventies and the old man had appreciated
its beauty to this day.
He silently said a prayer of Thanksgiving to himself and his
Lord as he turned to make his way to the confessional for morning
reconciliation. Sitting in the very
first pew was a massive bedraggled-looking man.
He didn’t recognize this stranger.
An array of reddish-golden curls fell in a deluge around his face, which
rested in the cradle of his hands. Fr.
Bill had seen his share of bereavement in his fifty some-odd years. He had been a quiet, resolute man all of his
life and was someone many people in his parish and even outside of it, came to
trust and depend on. His talent for
passively listening as someone spilled their inner most soul to him and then
keeping it to himself, marked him as an ally to some and an enemy to others.
So as not to disturb the man, he paddled down the carpeted steps
with care. Resting his hand on the pew
in front of him he spoke in his normally soft baritone voice.
“Can I help you son?” The old priest had
many good qualities and his compassion and love of humanity were the best of
all of them. He had come to the rescue
of many a weary traveler on their journey to redemption or even just to
acceptance of themselves. He never
judged them; for he felt that only God was allowed to judge his creations and
that decisions regarding guilt or innocence were futile in his efforts to
restore joy to the human soul.
The man was obviously distraught and Fr. Bill could hear him
rasping in soft sobs under the curtain of his hair. He waited patiently for
this troubled man to speak to him.
“I’m sorry Father, I’m not even Catholic.” The man’s hoarse voice confirmed for him that
he was it the throes of some deep despair.
Fr. Bill rounded the corner of the pew and sat next to the
harried looking vagabond. “My son, God
does not judge you based on what faith you practice and neither do I. If it’s comfort you seek, then you’ve come to
the right place.” The man peaked at him through the veil of curly reddish
locks.
“Father, does God judge you if you have completely screwed up
your life and have so many sins that you can’t count them?” The priest took the man’s hand and spoke the
tried and true words he depended on to help people to first find forgiveness in
their own hearts.
“God; my son, forgives anyone who wants
with their whole heart to be forgiven. As long as you have the desire to be
forgiven and the intention not to sin again, then yes you can be forgiven
anything.”
The man shuttered visibly.
“Even being gay, Father?”
“Oh, not this again?” The old man thought to himself. “The mother Church and
their ancient wisdom! Damn them
anyway, he had counseled enough boys (and girls) questioning their sexuality in
his long career to know the answer to this one by heart.”
“Son, let
me tell you something, God created us, the Bible says, to be in his image. He
sent his only living son to die for our sins on the cross. He loves us ALL, I repeat all of us with his
entire being or he would not have given us the beauty and love and joy that
this planet certainly has to offer.
Human beings are born to have companions. We function best in this world when we have
another soul to share our joys and our sorrows with. We find happiness in camaraderie and
family. Even a celibate old man like me
knows that love is the reason that we are here.
To share love, to spread love, to love God and to love each other.”
He took a long deep breath and continued, “Even though the church itself says
that it does not condone homosexual relationships, my personal belief is that
if your live as a generous, giving human being; God will reward you; gay or
straight, fat or thin, man or woman, black or white, Muslim or Christian, just
the same.”
The man’s head rose from its stooped stance and met the old
priest’s eyes.
“What if I told you that I’ve tried to kill myself twice in the
past year?”
The priest’s heart trembled in his chest for the poor young man
seated next to him.
“Well, I would have to say that God did not intend for you to
leave this life yet, if you were not able to accomplish your goal at the
time. Apparently there is something in
this life that He wants you to stick around for.” Father Bill never looked away. The storm in the young man’s eyes seemed to
settle a bit.
“I think I may know what that something might be, Father. Would you be willing to make a phone call for
me?”
***
Amy puttered around the house waiting for Jeremy to bring Shaun
back from his baseball game. Things
seemed to be getting harder around here instead of easier. She worried about Archer and where he could
possibly be. The call from Jim Finklin
yesterday had been a shock all in itself.
The fact that Cathy could possibly be dead at such a young age was unnerving
to her. After all, Cathy was younger
than Amy herself by almost ten years.
The hard work Cathy had put into becoming a doctor was rewarded with a
thriving practice and along with her husband’s law firm, the Finklin’s never wanted for much in recent years. They had spent the last five years traveling
around
Sad and worried was what she was. Jim had given her a number in
Gianna told her she was pretty sure that Archer was heading for
The dusting rag skimmed the surface of each piece of furniture
she shifted to. When she was nervous,
she always cleaned the house. If Jeremy
caught her in one of her whirlwinds, he would certainly know that something was
wrong. The two of them had always
managed to read each other’s thoughts and mannerisms like a comfortable old
paperback. As she picked up her polish
and cloth to go and store it in the laundry room, the phone rang. She sprang for the one in the kitchen and
dropped the contents of her hands on the old dinette table. The voice she heard was rather unexpected.
“Amy? This is Father Bill at St. Mary’s.” The soft baritone of his voice had always
been a huge source of comfort to her, even though she had stopped going to
church when it became apparent that the Catholic Church didn’t have its heart
in the right place on the issues of homosexuality and equality for ALL of God’s
creatures.
“Oh, hello Father.
What can I do for you?” She
couldn’t imagine that he would be hitting her up for a charity drive since she
hadn’t been inside the church in over nine years.
“I have someone here that would like to talk to you.” He said and she heard the phone shuffling
between hands.
“Amy?” Her tears welled
up instantly. The voice could only
belong to one person.
She choked them back the best she could and sputtered in the
phone. “Archer, honey, are you okay?”
“Yeah, I think I will be now.
Can you come and get me,
“I’ll be right there sweetheart.” She said goodbye and grabbed her purse. She didn’t have time to write a note to
Jeremy and knew that she couldn’t explain even if she did.
Amy ran to her old Buick and started it. She knew that she had to calm down or the
winding road to town could be treacherous.
She slowly backed the car out of the driveway and made herself observe
the thirty-five mile an hour speed limit, even though she wanted to fly to the
church. Luckily after years of attending
services there she knew the quickest shortcuts to take. It took her at least fifteen minutes to get
there and the whole time she thanked God for helping to bring Archer home to
them safely.
The parking lot to the old church looked mostly the same after
all these years. She pulled up to the
side entrance and careened off of the door as she entered the vestibule. She quickly dipped her fingers and crossed
herself out of habit and looked around the interior of the dimly lit church to
find her long-lost lamb.
They sat in the back near the confessionals. Father Bill was talking quietly to him as she
approached them. Archer was so much
taller than the priest that Father Bill resembled a small boy when Amy first
saw them. She rounded the back of the
pews and ran the last few steps to her self-proclaimed son. He stood, towering over her and pulled her
into his arms. Her feet left the floor
and her heart pounded with relief. She was scared at how scruffy he looked and
thought that his face looked as though he had been in a fight. They both were weeping furiously and couldn’t
vocalize anything past their pure joy at seeing each other again.
Father Bill cleared his throat and excused himself. He told them that the church doors were
locked from the outside, but when they were ready to leave, they could go out
the side door without any trouble.
Archer finally let go of her and they sat down in the
weathered-looking, oak pew.
She realized she had left her purse in the car and didn’t have
any tissues to wipe her nose. She
started to lift her sleeve to her nose and Archer stopped her and reached into
his shirt pocket. He handed her the
tissue and she wiped her eyes and blew her nose.
“Oh baby, I am so glad that you’re okay. I was so worried about you. “
His eyes were extremely blood-shot and he looked like he hadn’t
slept in days; which in fact he hadn’t.
“I know mom, I’ve been worried about me too.”
She held his hand and squeezed.
“Archer, what happened to your face honey?”
“It’s a long story… I think better left for another time.” He
didn’t want to put her off really, but the urgency to find out about Jeremy
wasn’t going to last through the long explanation of his recent tribulations.
“I need to know,” he started searching her eyes for some kind of
comfort and the answers to the questions that burned in his soul.
“Where is he? Does he
know I’m here?”
She didn’t know where to start. “He came home from Seattle the
other day. He doesn’t know you’re here
and he’s worried sick about you. Your
dad called yesterday and told us about you mom. I’m so sorry sweetheart! I
think he also thought you would be there, but I said I hadn’t heard from
you.” She squeezed him into another hug.
Archer’s thoughts swirled around and the tension was almost
palpable. Amy could see how upset and
confused he was.
“Why did he come home in the first place?” And then he finally
choked out the one question that scared him the most. “Is he with anybody?”
“No honey, he’s not with anybody else. Jeremy hasn’t been home in almost ten years
Arch, ever since you split up. He
couldn’t handle the memories.”
He sniffed, “or the guilt.”
She smiled her comforting, forgiving smile at him, “or the guilt.”
She wasn’t going to apologize for her son, she would let him
take care of that part, but at least she could tell him that there was remorse
as well as love in Jeremy’s heart.
“Honey, look; I know that he hurt you and I know that you have
been having a really rough time this past year.
You two have a lot of old baggage to clean up. You have ten years worth of silence and
misunderstandings to deal with, but there is one thing that I think you ought
to know; that you have the right to know.
Jeremy loves you Archer, with all of his heart. He never stopped loving you and he has taken
his share of lumps lately for the mistakes he made when he was still a very
young man.”
Archer was shaking. His
hands were sweating in Amy’s light grasp and his brain was coming to terms with
the reality of actually being so close to Jeremy after all this time. He had to stop himself. Wasn’t she was saying
what he wanted to hear? He told Anne less than a week ago, that he wanted to
tell Jeremy that above all, if he still felt anything for him that he would
forgive him and try to make things work.
Now though, with the man he loved for most of his life, less than
fifteen minutes drive from here, he was scared.
What if it happened again? What
if they got back together and Jeremy got scared or bored or even fell out of
love with him? Archer knew
psychologically that he couldn’t handle that.
But he also knew he couldn’t go on living with the knowledge that he had
the chance to make amends with Jeremy and didn’t. And he had a promise to keep. He had to be true to himself and that meant
admitting that he wanted Jeremy back, no matter what the terms were.
What had Father Bill said? “God forgives anyone who truly wants
to be forgiven in his heart.”
Archer knew that he had to tell Jeremy first that he forgave him
and then they could work on the next step.
He looked into Amy’s eyes and implored without the use of words.
“Yes honey, I’ll take you to him.”
***
Shaun had begged Jeremy to bring Justin back to Grams with them
after the game. The boys had been a
bundle of nervous energy all the way home.
They sat in the back of Jeremy’s Honda, fidgeting, squirming and
laughing the entire way. He marveled at how similar they were to him and Archer
when they first found each other. Shaun
had made his uncle promise that he wouldn’t tell anyone about his secret. The boy knew that he needed to tell his
parents, but he wanted to do it on his own terms, so Jeremy kept quiet. He needed to reinforce Shaun’s trust in him
and outing him to his parents certainly wouldn’t accomplish that. Having lived through exactly what Shaun was
feeling and exhibiting though, Jeremy thought privately that if his sister saw
the two of them like this, she would figure it out in a flash. After all, she
had grown up watching two boys falling in love with each other; she would most
certainly be able to recognize it in her own son.
They pulled into the driveway of his parent’s old
farmhouse. His mom’s car was gone and he
wondered where she might have gone? It
was close to dinnertime and she was notorious for wanting to eat on time when
they all gathered together. He started to
worry almost immediately when they got inside the house. Her dusting rag and furniture polish lay
askew on the kitchen table. The back
door had been unlocked and there was no note and there were no lights on
anywhere in the house. Of course, Jeremy
couldn’t let on that he was worried. He
turned on the lights and sent the boys upstairs to play on the computer in his
room. He was getting ready to call his
sister to see if she knew where mom had gone, when he heard a car in the
driveway. He peaked out the wide kitchen
window above the sink into the darkening grey winter dusk and saw her car pull
up next to his.
Everything seemed to slow to a crawl at that moment. As he looked from her side of the car to the
passenger side, he saw a tall redheaded man step from her fading burgundy
Buick. He knew in his heart who it had to be, but his brain refused to register the
facts. He saw the gait, which was unmistakable.
His eyes scanned the length of the body and recognized the lines and
curves much the same as they had always been.
It was too good to be true though, so he turned away from the window as
if to say that no; it was only his imagination… a mirage.
Time finally returned to normal, as the kitchen door opened
slightly. He could hear his mom’s soft
soothing voice coaxing the visitor inside.
Reassuring him that everything would be okay. She came in and stood there with the door
open, her hand on the doorknob. Jeremy
noticed that she was wearing house slippers and his brain silently acknowledged
that she must have left in quite a hurry.
His gaze wandered up toward her face, searching for her smile, to
reassure him that it was truly whom he thought it was and found her beaming at
him. Her eyes told him everything he
needed to know. What he had been
searching for the last ten years was standing outside his parent’s kitchen on
the first step, the first step to the rest of his life.
Archer crested the doorframe and barely made it inside without
hitting his head. As his eyes adjusted
to the light and he saw Jeremy standing in front of the sink, his chest
quivered. Jeremy crossed the five or so steps to where they were standing in an
instant. He took his mom’s right hand and bent to whisper that Shaun and Justin
were upstairs in his room. She kissed her son’s cheek and reached for Archer’s
hand. He grabbed it in return and squeezed in acknowledgment of her unspoken
well wishes.
Their eyes met at last when she left the kitchen and headed for
the second level. The turmoil behind
them was enough to scare each of them into utter silence, but Jeremy was
determined to get this over with. His
guilt and shame had tortured him for too long to let this wait one more moment.
He opened his arms and waited.
Archer suddenly had the debate of the ages playing at
hyper-speed in his mind. His head was
saying wait, hold back, be sure, but his heart was screaming let go, go to him,
complete it, find the love he had been so desperate to reclaim.
It didn’t last long, Archer took a small step and Jeremy’s arms
were around him. Archer flinched and
Jeremy pulled back to look into his eyes.
Jeremy’s senses picked up that Archer was indeed completely
distraught.
But nothing could stop him from finally getting to say the words
he had run over in his mind a hundred times since yesterday.
“Arch, I have waited so long to tell you how sorry I am for what
I did to you.” Jeremy could feel the tremors of pain coursing through his body.
“I lied to myself when I said that I couldn’t build a life with
you. I was scared and childish and spoiled and I know that I hurt you beyond
words.”
He tried to get closer again.
He almost whispered into his old lover’s ear, not wanting the sound to
upset him. “I know that I can’t expect you to trust me again, but I want you to
know that I love you. I never stopped
loving you. I want us to be together and
I will do whatever it takes to prove that to you, if you’ll let me?”
Archer sniffled softly and Jeremy saw tears tracking down his
haggard face. He reached up and brushed
one away. Arch caught his hand and held it there
His words rasped against Jeremy’s ear. “I love you too.” Was all
Archer could manage to say before Jeremy saw his knees giving way.
Jeremy backed across the kitchen and managed to pull a chair out
from the table and help Archer into it.
He kneeled down in front of him and held Archer’s strong hands in his
own, but Archer was shaking as he tried to talk.
“I want us to try again too, but I’m scared Jeremy.” Arch choked
out as Jeremy wiped the tears from his beautifully freckled cheeks. “It hurts….everything hurts so much.”
Archer was so bedraggled looking. His hair was filled with what
looked like dirt and leaves, it was flat from days of traveling without a
shower, but Jeremy didn’t care. He was
touching Archer again and nothing could take the pleasure away from the single
most wonderful sensation that he had felt in a long, long time.
“It’s no good without you Jem, I tried. I tried everything and I just can’t do it
without you.” Jeremy slipped his hand
around the back of Archer’s neck behind his hair and carefully touched his
forehead to Arch’s. “Thank you God, thank you screamed through his brain.”
“You don’t have to baby, I’m right here. I’m not ever going anywhere ever again. I’m right here and I’ll always be right
here.” He leaned up and kissed Archer’s cheek and held his hand there to
preserve the kiss.
“I’m gonna go get mom and we’ll get
you cleaned up and you can rest, okay?”
“Jem, wait.” Archer’s
eyes were a dust storm of turmoil. “I
need to tell you things first.”
Jeremy sat down in the kitchen chair, his eyes sullen with
resignation. “I know…there’s
lots to say, on both our parts, but don’t you think that you want to
have some time to clean up and compose yourself before we talk?”
“I guess you’re right.” Archer sighed. He’d waited this long and Jeremy wasn’t going
anywhere and he supposed that there wasn’t anybody else in his life if Amy said
that there wasn’t so, what was another hour or so going to hurt?
“I’ll be right back, okay?”
Jeremy waited for an acknowledgement and got a slight head nod from Archer.
He rushed the stairs three at a time and called out to his mom
before he hit the second floor landing.
He didn’t want to leave Archer alone for very long, he was afraid he’d
get back down there and he would find the kitchen empty. Shaun rushed out of Jeremy’s room with Justin
on his tail. They both looked a little
tousled and Jeremy shook his head at his nephew, smiling to himself. Amy swung her bedroom door open, prepared for
an emergency.
“Archer wants to get cleaned up, okay?” His mom agreed and steered the younger boys
downstairs to the study. She didn’t want Archer and Jeremy to have to answer
any questions from giggly teenagers at this point.
Shaun protested most of the way and demanded to be told what was
going on. Amy managed to subdue him long
enough to get the door to the study closed so that Jeremy could help Archer
upstairs.
As they climbed the stairs, Jeremy stayed behind him all the
way, making sure that he was safe. The last few, Archer began to regain his
strength and getting into the bathroom was less difficult. Jeremy went to get towels and turn on the
water to warm it for him. He planned to
get him situated and then leave to let him clean himself up, but as soon as he
headed for the door, Archer asked him to stay.
“Stay here Jem, don’t leave me alone.” Jeremy’s heart swelled as
Archer asked for his company.
Jeremy hopped up on the white tile counter and watched as Archer
slowly undressed. As his tattered shirt slid from his torso Jeremy became
horrified. Not only was Archer hurting inside, physically he was battered and
bruised as well.
“Archer baby what happened to you?”
“I got mugged at a rest
stop somewhere on the Oregon border.”
He was still shaking. Even though the
steam from the shower had begun to heat the room considerably, Archer’s body
reacted as though he was standing in the snow.
Jeremy so wanted to go to him, but after the way he had pulled away in
the kitchen, he was afraid. Afraid of the ultimate pain of
rejection that played in his sub-conscious ever since he had seen Archer’s
frame crest the doorway of his parent’s country style kitchen. Archer slipped the button on the once beige
khakis and let them slip to the floor and then he did something Jeremy thought
would never happen again in his lifetime. Archer held out his hand inviting his old
lover to his side, an invitation back into his life.
Jeremy took a few tentative steps, not wanting Arch to freak out
for any reason. Finally touching
Archer’s fingertips, his skin felt energized, almost electric with the heat of
the contact. Jeremy reached up and
stroked Archer’s strong cheekbones and whispered his apologizes and endearments
again that he had already given to him in the kitchen. With their eyes locked Archer’s lips softly
pressed themselves to Jeremy’s. It
wasn’t passion, it was a kiss of recognition; recognition of their mistakes and
both of their desires to start again.
Arch kissed Jeremy’s ear with stealth and whispered. “Will you
get in with me?”
“Oh god yes Archer, please. I want to be
with you, next to you so much…for so long.” Now tears were Jeremy’s
friend. Archer began to see into his
soul and just how much this affected Jeremy.
Slow and deliberate each button on Jeremy’s shirt was undone and as his
chest was revealed Archer worshiped each spot with his eyes, although he kept
hands tangled in Jeremy’s hair. He
pushed out of his sneakers and started to unbutton his own pants, but Archer
put his hand there to stop his progress.
Archer’s palm smoothed down over the button and the zipper,
automatically feeling Jeremy’s trapped cock.
He fondled him for a few moments and then deftly made short work
of Jeremy’s straining pants and boxers all in one. Standing there in their
socks, Archer and Jeremy kissed passionately.
Archer held Jeremy’s head in both of his hands, his long fingers
caressing Jeremy’s scalp, ears and neck as their tongues searched for each
others’ souls.
Jeremy suddenly pulled away and looked at Archer and said, “The
water!”
Jeremy turned off the water and got out to grab the towels he
had left on the white tile counter. He
dried Archer off and they both wrapped their towels around their waists. They walked to his bedroom and Arch sat down
on the end of the bed. He closed his door
and grabbed his overnight bad at the edge of the chest of drawers near the
bed. He shuffled through the odd
conglomeration of items he had thrown in there a few days earlier when he had
been hell bent on finding his one true love.
He smiled to himself as he glanced over and saw the man he had dreamed
of over and over, sitting not two feet from him. He found an extra pair of
boxers, socks and sweats then moved over to help Archer climb into them and
under the thick flannel covers of the bed.
Jeremy found a neatly folded pile of his clothes on the dresser that his
mom had laundered that morning. She was still taking care of him. He slipped into his own briefs, t-shirt and
sweats and moved back to the bed with a fresh towel and a brush.
Jeremy moved behind Archer on the bed. He lay far enough away so that he had the
leverage he needed to brush through the torrent of auburn locks he had
treasured for years. He softly stroked
the clean towel down Archer’s mane and then steady and sure, with love in every
stroke, ran the brush through the maze of curls. Jeremy had always loved Archer’s hair. He was secretly so glad that Archer had never
cut it that he shuddered as he finished detangling the last few bits. He carefully rolled to his other side and set
the brush on the bedside table. Then he
lifted the covers and crawled into the nest of warmth beneath, steadily moving
up to spoon his love and enfold him in his arms.
Amy knocked softly on the door and opened it just an inch to
check and see if it was safe to come in.
Jeremy told her everything was fine and she tiptoed slow and soft on the
hardwood until she reached her son’s side of the bed. She whispered in his ear.
“Is he okay?”
Jeremy whispered as well, thinking that Arch was sleeping. He told her that he didn’t know, but he would
do everything he could to make sure that Archer knew he was safe and
loved. Whatever he had been through to
get here and whatever was going to happen tomorrow, Jeremy confirmed that he
would be right by his side to weather whatever storm they confronted, together.
Amy smiled at her boys.
She kissed Jeremy’s forehead and ruffled his wet hair. Old habits die hard with moms, even when
their sons are fast approaching middle age.
She apologized about the size of the bed, telling him they looked like a
couple of sardines. Jeremy quickly dismissed it and told her, the closer they
were, hopefully the easier it would be for them to come to terms with what they
had to talk about when Archer woke up.
He knew that it wouldn’t be simple.
They couldn’t just fall back into the relationship they had ten years
ago, but he hoped that after some time and a lot of forgiveness, they would
someday have the stability of a loving, committed relationship again.
She slipped out of the room and murmured goodnight and closed
the door behind her.
“Jem?” Archer whispered
“What baby?” Jeremy had
thought that he was asleep.
“Is it really forever this time?” He was fading in and out and
Jeremy knew that he probably wouldn’t even remember the conversation in the
morning, but all the same he reaffirmed his love for the man lying long and
lean, snuggled in front of him.
“Yes Arch… forever.”
***
Archer woke from the best sleep he remembered in years. His body was a little cramped but after
clearing the cobwebs from his head, he knew Jeremy was in bed with him for real
this time. He turned his head a
fraction of an inch and spied Jeremy’s ruddy brown hair nestled behind his
head. He could feel his breath on his
ear and the rise and fall of his chest against his back. Maybe he had died out there on that highway
and he was in Heaven now? He
rationalized that if he truly had been dead, that he probably wouldn’t be
sleeping in the childhood bedroom of his first lover.
He could see the sun straining to get through the mist that he
knew settled on the ground in the Northwest every morning at this time of
year. He could tell it was probably
close to freezing outside by the moisture in the window and he relished the
warmth surrounding him. As he lay there
contemplating what was going to happen today and tomorrow and for the rest of
their lives, Jeremy stretched and ground his hips forward into Archer’s butt. A completely sub-conscious reaction, but the
suggestive movement suddenly ignited Archer’s dormant libido. Logically, he knew that they needed to
talk. To hash through the pain and guilt
and blame that had swirled around them last night, but his body wasn’t exactly
cooperating. It had been too long. He
turned to face his lover and with his large fine-boned hand he stroked Jeremy’s
cheek and plunged it into his hair. He
pulled him closer and softly kissed him.
Jeremy moaned and returned the kiss.
Archer opened his eyes from the kiss to see Jeremy’s green-gray eyes
misted over.
“I am so sorry Arch. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to say it
enough.”
“Jem, we both have a lot to be sorry for, but it’s going to take
a while for us to find the right words to really express it all, don’t you
think?” Archer had smoothed away a
couple of tears that pooled next the Jeremy’s left ear.
“Yeah, I guess so. I just
want you to know how much I want you back in my life and don’t want anything to
stand in the way of that. I’ll never be able to live with myself if you don’t
think you can forgive me.” Jeremy sucked
in his breath and fought back more tears, trying not to be so mushy.
“I already have babe! Now
we just have to get on with our lives and rebuild the trust and love that we
know we once had.” Archer leaned in for
a real kiss this time and in no time they were entwined in a passionate
embrace. Searching,
diving, grappling to reclaim the fire of a long extinguished blaze.
Their bodies responded to memories of bygone gatherings of
soul-racking sensations. Their mouths
were fused as one, sharing a measure of delight that neither had given to
anyone since their parting. Strong arms
embraced, muscled thighs meshed as they ground together and finally luxuriated
in the molten lava of each other’s release. Descending from the mountain of
their love, they smiled endlessly at each other. Soft whispers and gentle touches returned to
their repertoire of post lovemaking bliss.
“Do we defer to separate
showers this morning to escape the glorious look on
Archer laughed hearty.
“You mean as opposed to the look of utter horror she gave us the first
time she caught us in there together?”
Jeremy reveled in his lover’s smile and laugh, and found himself
hoping above all hope, that this was the beginning of their “forever.”