a good opportunity to see if we could get by with no words between us. I liked his optimism.
Denice and Amanda were happy to see us but they were more animated about the trips they would be leaving on at the end of the week. I understood their need to get away and spend some quality time with their men. I forced them to get to the agenda at hand. It only took about 30 minutes once I got them to stop talking about what was happening at the end of the week and got them into the ‘Three Women’ work.
Charlie went to another part of the office to see about the project that would revolutionize our office in the way we presented our fashions to those who visit the store front and the office. He’d made it easy for Millie or anyone really to handle the camera equipment and the projector. He made the equipment ‘idiot proof’ as Millie put it.
Amanda was nearly sick from her excitement. All she knew was that they were going to Rick’s favorite place in the whole world. We each guessed where that might be.
“I know how much he likes baseball; maybe you’re going to Cooperstown to the Baseball Hall of Fame.” I suggested.
“I saw him watching ‘Ice Road Truckers’, when we were working on the ideas about the fall line. I bet he’s taking you to Canada and the Northwest Territories.”
The look on Denice’s face was pure animation and she pretended to drive a truck and then slide around on the ice. She made us laugh.
All the talk of being alone with their men made me want to find Charlie and work on our own plans to get away; so I steered the focus of the meeting back to the business at hand.
With our calendars set we hugged and parted ways. They promised to spend a bit of time with me before they left for ‘outer-Mongolia’ or wherever and I made them include the time with me, lunch on Thursday on their calendars. It wasn’t a lot of time but that was ok.
Back in the servant’s quarters, I began again the business of dispatching with Miles’ belongings. The work in the office took the longest but the other stuff felt more like labor. There were three bedrooms to go through which meant that there were three closets worth of work. I’d already emptied the closet in the master bedroom and was just about half done with the second bedroom closet when I heard Charlie’s thoughts.
‘Oh there you are Woman, my woman. God you’re sexy.’
Charlie came to me for our hello and a proper greeting. His thoughts while we were embraced were discernable because they mirrored mine. Well, except for the peppermint thing. We wanted each other; we were happy to be together; our bodies tingled with anticipation. Charlie was a master at foreplay and he gripped my fanny with his big hands and squeezed me and pulled me into him while kissing me deeply. He laughed when he knew I wanted to be naked. He said that he had a plan for dinner and I could continue what I was doing while he prepared it, not revealing in his thoughts what the ‘idea’ for dinner was.
“Screw dinner.” I moaned out loud.
Charlie laughed, kissed my neck, and whispered.
“I love you, Woman.”
He headed off to the kitchen to prepare our meal and I went back to the closet I was packing up.
It took me a minute to get back into the project but when I did, the time seemed to fly. I was surprised to see women’s clothing hanging in the closet and a small three-drawer dresser with women’s undergarments set far back into the recess of the closet. Careful not to hurt my back, I moved the little dresser out into the room for closer examination. It was the dresser that caught my interest because it looked so old but well preserved. It was the contents on the inside that proved to be most interesting.
All of the undergarments were the same size, small. They had a risqué feel to them like they were costumes and really old fashioned. Each item I looked at felt familiar to me, like I knew it all as well as if I’d designed it.
When Charlie came for me, the contents of the little dresser had been gone through a couple of times and the decision to keep all of it was made.
Dinner was lovely and delicious. Charlie’d set the table and lit a candle. The house smelled like back home. The pork chops were lean and well seasoned. Charlie had prepared some small new potatoes but longed to use some from our garden. His thoughts had me thinking of that garden and home and, of course, Tut.
Charlie wrestled with the thought of calling Tut before dessert but thought, ‘After.’
I was dessert. To hear Charlie’s thoughts while we made love was impossible because he didn’t think. Just like me, he was in the present and feeling the experience.
While we were still wrapped up in each other’s arms we put a call through to Tut. Our timing was off for our first call as Margaret informed us that he was asleep but would wake at any time.
We just stayed in bed playing with each other for about 30 minutes and then placed another call to Tut. He was, at that time, well rested and funny and seemed happy that we called and still loved him like crazy. I sent him words of love and told him how beautiful he was and made him a promise to return in a few weeks.
We spent the rest of the evening searching the Internet for the perfect place to honeymoon. We looked at secluded islands and found so many that making a choice, if we went that way, would be too difficult. We also looked at famous honeymoon spots, ‘adventure honeymoons’, honeymoon cruises.
After the ‘free for all’ on the Internet we got smart and decided what was important for our honeymoon. Charlie said that as long as we’re together he’d be fine. Well, I wanted a little more than that: great weather, no interruptions, privacy, a private pool would be perfect, a California King sized bed, a packed refrigerator and freezer, a gas stove, good cooking pots and pans, elegant dinner ware.
As I was compiling my preferences for that perfect honeymoon, an idea was taking hold in my brain and I changed my search just a bit; ‘Housing for sale’ on Maui.
Charlie and I looked at estate after estate and each of them looked like a tropical paradise but each of them was not right for us – they were too big. We continued looking until we found the perfect place for us to hide away for a couple of weeks.
The place that we discovered wasn’t as grandiose as the other’s we’d looked at but we weren’t looking for size. The pictures showed the place to be absolutely beautiful, lush with fabulous tropical flowers, well secluded with a swimming pool and a very short path to a private beach. The next morning I reserved the small estate for our honeymoon. During the rest of the time we were in London I corresponded with a woman named Patsy with our needs for our 14 day stay.
Carrying around the idea that we were going on a honeymoon helped to create a sort of buoyancy in me and I felt joyful.
We got an early start on our walk to Michael and Lu’s for the planned ‘travel’ so that we could visit with the gardens along the way. Taking our time to appreciate all of the greenery that made up the plant life on the two estates, Charlie and I held hands and strolled without regard to time. Even so, when we rounded the final bend and saw the two of them standing in the doorway waiting for us; we were right on time.
Our hug-up and reconnect was a rush of warmth and wonderful soft feelings. We delighted each other with the near musical sounds of pleasure expressed by each of us.
In the guest room each with a mug of hot coffee, we sat with the air undisturbed by our voices and a conversation
