I.

Ricky stood out on the back porch, enjoying the last sunlight of the day and taking long, slow drags on his cigarette. It had seemed that something was on Lucy's mind in the days since her cousin's anniversary party. He had asked her what was wrong several times, but she would smile and say it was nothing. Tonight, she seemed even more lost in her thoughts than normal and she sat in their bedroom with a book. It wasn't unusual for her to spend time reading, but Ricky had observed that she had been looking at the same page for quite a while.

He snuffed out the cigarette under his shoe and turned to go back through the kitchen. The apartment was silent and he frowned. It was his only night off that week and he wanted to enjoy it. And it wasn't like Lucy not to badger him to take her out for the evening.

Ricky walked to the bedroom and stood in the doorway. Lucy lounged on the bed, but the book lay open on her lap. She was staring out the window. When she saw Ricky from the corner of her eye, she turned to him and smiled. "Hi, honey."

He smiled and approached her, sitting near her on the bed. "Are you feelin' alright?"

Lucy tilted her head. "Yes, why?"

"It's my night off and you din't ask me to take you anywhere! Wanna go to a movie?"

She smiled, but there was something forced about it. "Oh! Sure, honey."

Ricky folded his arms. "Alright, what's the matter? I dun't understand what's been wrong with you this week!"

Lucy sighed, realizing that she'd been distant and feeling bad for it. "I'm sorry. I've just had a lot on my mind."

Ricky's looked into her eyes. "Like what?"

She hesitated. "I've been thinking about something my mother said to me at the party the other night." She paused again. "Do you remember that story my aunt told us about the Latin boyfriend she had when she was a young girl?"

Ricky thought a moment, remembering. "Yeah."

"Well…according to mother, he…took advantage of her and every other girl in town and then he was gone. It doesn't make it right, but I guess I can understand why she was so unhappy about our marriage. But that isn't what's bothering me."

He looked expectantly at her. "What then?"

"When that happened, she decided that she was going to marry a man who had money and status. I guess that was my father. But she didn't love him."

Ricky's eyes softened. "Aw, honey…"

Lucy's eyes drifted to look out the window again. "I'll never know if maybe he loved her…even just a little bit. If he didn't, then I'm just here because of some social obligation to have children. And if THAT'S true, then maybe he didn't love me, either."

Ricky reached over and rested his hand on hers, prompting her to return her gaze to him. "Lucy…there's no way I could've known your father, but I know what you've told me. I'm sure he loved you."

Lucy nodded. "I need to believe that."

"What can I do for you?" He felt helpless.

She looked at him warmly. "Just love me."

Ricky chuckled and scooted up next to her, drawing her closer to him as she rested her head on his shoulder. "Honey, you know I do." She didn't respond and he left a kiss on the curls at the top of her head. He always thought himself to be attentive to her and romantic with her. He always told her he loved her. He knew she believed it, but then there were moments like this which shook her into a state of insecurity and uncertainty. "C'mon," he stated after a few moments, shaking her gently. "Get dressed, let's go out to a movie."

Lucy smiled and raised her head to look at him. "Ok. What do you want to see?"

He narrowed his eyes and smirked. "Does it matter?"

She rolled her eyes and walked into the closet to pick an outfit.

II.

It was a nice, early September evening and all of New York seemed to be out walking somewhere. Ricky was going to hail a taxi as he usually did, but Lucy stopped him, commenting that the night air was too nice not to walk.

They made their way in silence at first, holding hands. After a while, Lucy spoke softly. "We haven't REALLY talked about this before, Ricky, but do you want children?"

Ricky smiled to himself. On their first anniversary about a month prior, Lucy had told him that she wanted to have a baby, but that was the extent of their discussion of the subject. "Yes, I do."

Lucy nodded. "So do I." She glanced at him. "Why do you want them?"

He raised his eyebrows, taken aback by the question. He didn't quite know how to express the answer. "Uh…well…I dunno, I just…do."

Lucy stopped walking and they faced each other. Ricky looked at her. Clearly, she wasn't pleased with his answer, but he didn't know what she was getting at with the question. She looked back at him in frustration. "Yes, but WHY? Do you want them just because that's what we're supposed to do?"

Ricky sighed. This wasn't really about them and their children, he thought; this was about her and her parents. "No, Lucy, that isn't why I want children." He turned and looked around, suddenly remembering that they were having this conversation in the middle of a crowd of pedestrians. "C'mere." He pulled Lucy into a little book store nearby. There were small areas around the store where customers would sit and look at the books and Ricky walked her over to a corner where there was a very small loveseat. It was in view of the large window overlooking the street and Lucy's eyes drifted outside when they sat. She was on the verge of tears.

He took her hands, talking to her in a hushed tone. "Lucy, look at me." She turned to face him again and he reached up and cleared the tears that were forming in the corners of her eyes. "Honey, I'll get to me in a minute, but I want you to think about somethin'."

Lucy searched his face. "What?"

"I know you were little, but do you remember doin' thins with your father?"

She nodded and after remembering for a moment, a smile crept across her face. "Yes. He took me to the zoo and the circus and he used to take me to his office and show me off to his employees." She giggled. "When I turned five, he took me to a toy store and told the clerk to wrap up anything I wanted. I picked up a doll and he laughed and picked out one of those red wagons. He told me to fill it up. And then he bought everything in it, including the wagon." Her smile faded. "He got sick and died a couple of months later."

Ricky touched her cheek. "Honey, does that sound like a man who din't love you? If a man had you just because it looked good in the newspaper, would he really do all of that with you and for you?"

Lucy chuckled to herself. "No. No, I guess not."

"I dun't know anythin' about why he married your mother. Like you said, we'll never know. But however it got started, it ended with him lovin' his daughter."

She smiled. "You're right, Ricky."

He moved closer to her on the seat, resting his hand on her knee. "Now. Tell me, why do I make love to you?"

Lucy drew in a breath, switching the gears of thought in her mind. "You mean aside from the fact that it's amazing," she teased.

Ricky rolled his eyes playfully. "Yes, it is, but more important than that. I'm serious."

She softened, answering him sincerely. "Because you love me."

"That's right, sweetheart. And each time I make love to you, I know that you could come to me one day and tell me that we're havin' a baby."

"I hope so," Lucy whispered.

"So dun't you see, Lucy, I make love to you, knowin' that we could have a baby. I want both of those thins because I love you."

She took his face in her hands. "Aw, Ricky, I love you, too."

Their lips met softly, their tongues brushing gently together before they pulled slowly away. "Forget the movie," Ricky said quietly.

III.

Ricky closed the door firmly behind them and in one sweeping motion, picked his wife up and carried her down the hall as she laughed. He lowered her onto their bed and hovered over her, meticulously removing the clothes from her body. Instinctively, Lucy lifted her knees around him as he shimmied free from his pants and began to gently kiss the silken skin of her neck.

His eyes grazed over her body below him, admiring her alabaster skin with its blush undertone. He remembered the first time he'd seen her fully nude figure and he remembered thinking how glorious she was. His gaze made its way back up to her beautiful face, her piercing blue eyes seeming to have a direct line of sight to his soul. He remembered the first time he'd looked deeply into them and he remembered how his stomach had felt like it was flipping in circles. He remembered how those delicious red lips had felt against his for the first time and how her kiss had seemed to take the air from his lungs and the ground from beneath his feet. "Lucy," he finally said, "I married you because I adore you."

She held her breath as she slipped the crisp white shirt from around Ricky's shoulders, revealing the smooth tan skin which covered his strong arms. She remembered the first time they'd encircled her, how they had made her feel that she'd been created to fit within them. As he moved between her thighs, she remembered the first time she'd seem him dance and how she'd been stunned by the flash of desire she felt while watching him. And as she began to feel his manhood grow before her, she remembered the first time it had claimed her and how the long, beautiful thickness of it had seemed almost too much for the young virgin to take in. Her response floated out from her lips on exhaled breath. "Oh, darling, I love you."

As his lips left gentle kisses on the swell of her breasts, Ricky entered her slowly. Lucy gasped, feeling every detail of his velvet shaft fill her sweet, warm center. Her gasps turned to pleasured cries as she ran her delicate fingers along his back, his muscles flexing with each slow, deliberate movement.

Ricky bit his lip, looking down at her body as it accepted all of him and strained for more. He again lowered his lips to her and kissed her, their tongues immediately meeting and moving to the rhythm of his controlled thrusts. Their kiss broke with a scream of ecstasy from Lucy's throat as he brought her to climax. Ricky's body stiffened and he erupted inside of her as she panted hungrily, the hot rush of his orgasm coursing through her like a swollen river. "Aye, mi preciosa, te amo con mi corazon y mi cuerpo y mi alma…"

"Kiss me," came Lucy's breathless reply.

Eagerly obliging her wish, Ricky's lips came upon hers, warm and wonderfully in love.