Walking with Alex and his blood relative & blood relative's wife on the trail that led from the parking lot down to the beach was very pleasant. Norma felt increasing excitement at the taking a boat around the island. The weather was perfect (lots of sun, gentle breeze) and made Norma wonder why the heck they stubbornly stayed in Oregon instead of moving here. Oh, right. Too far from sons and pending grandchild. If only she could convince Dylan and Emma to relocate here... Surely there was a Pineview equivalent in Honolulu?
Norma had been in a boat with Alex recently, a few times, his fishing boat. Other than that, there was the horrible time she and Norman took a boat out on the bay to dump the body of Keith Summers. Those were fishing boats in a bay. This time, it was a speedboat in the ocean itself. She started a little at the vastness of the Pacific Ocean before her.
Nester and Vera got in the boat first, then Alex helped Norma, and finally Alex climbed in. Although Norma had wished for this excursion to involve just her and Alex, the final decision to bring Nester and Vera came down to a matter of practicality. Someone needed to drive the boat and Alex wanted to be free to attend to Norma in the emotional event. Nester and Vera settled in the cockpit. Alex and Norma settled in the bow.
They didn't say a lot as the boat bumped up and down on the waves. Norma clung to him, her head resting against his neck, and he held her like she was the most precious thing in the universe. Which, to him, she absolutely was. Not a thing, of course, but absolutely the most precious.
"Is this ok?" he asked, his lips pressed close to her ear.
"What do you mean?"
"Is this how you want to do it? If it's not, we can turn back. We'll do whatever you want."
"No, Alex, this is great."
He leaned back slightly to gaze into her eyes, to be sure she meant what she said. He marveled at how Norma's eyes reflected the water. The same color blue. Exactly. And how the green covered cliffs to his right complimented that blue.
Seeing that she did mean what she said, he smiled. "I love you."
"I love you too, Alex. I love that you had this idea. I think it's perfect. And I think you're perfect. And I want to start my life with you."
Alex arched one of his eyebrows. "Start?"
Norma nodded. "A new life. Without the ghosts. No more shadows. No more secrets."
As he stared into those mesmerizing blue pools, he began to see their future together. He saw them living in a strange house. Not the one that loomed over the motel in White Pine Bay, but a new, brighter, and happier one. He saw lots of sunlight pouring through its windows, almost blinding it was so bright, and he heard the sound of children laughing. He saw Norma, radiant and laughing, playing "Tonight you belong to me" on the piano. "Daddy!" he heard a child call out to him. "Daddy!"
"Alex?"
"Daddy, where are you going?"
"Alex?"
Alex was pulled back to reality by the concerned touch and voice of his wife. The speedboat was slowing down. The motor could be heard winding down.
"Where did you go just now?" Norma asked him.
He hesitated. "I don't know. Somewhere really nice, but... not real." He stared at her in amazement.
"Will you tell me about it?"
Alex didn't know how to tell her or how she might react. Would she feel pressured, like he expected that reality from their new life together or else? At long last, he began with: "It was just this... great life we're going to make together."
A lovely smile slowly spread across Norma's face. "You think it will be great? That everything will be ok?"
He cocked his head to one side and gave her one of his cutest crooked smiles. "Kind of. Yeah. It's gonna be great, Mrs. Sheriff."
Alex was merciless later when they took a bath together. The villa had a massive sunken bathtub, more than half the size of the one Bob Paris had installed at the motel. It also had several faucets, some shot out water, others shot up soap to make bubbles. He leaned against the wall of the tub, Norma leaned against him, and he rubbed bubbles over her body with his calloused hands while they watched the sunset through the floor-to-ceiling window. She giggled as he played with her breasts and kissed her neck. She could feel his excitement against her lower back.
"Do we need to take this to the bedroom?" she asked, laughing.
"I don't think I can wait for that," he replied, bringing his hand to her thigh.
She turned over and straddled him, kissing him and loving the feel of his hands on her hips. Those hands made their way onto her ass, one of his favorite things about her. It was a joke between them that he equally favored her eyes and her ass.
They climaxed and then she fell onto him, feeling exhausted and energized at the same time.
They just savored the feeling of each other, the warmth of each other's embrace and lips... His lips to her forehead, nose, neck. Her lips to his wonderfully manly chest. The was sun had set and now the only light came from the candlelight.
"I don't wanna go back."
"Neither do I, baby. Let's stay."
She lifted her head and smiled at him. "We have to go back, silly."
"Why?"
"Because... It's our home."
"We can make a new home," he suggested.
"Really?" she was pretending to be skeptical, but really she was delighted by the idea.
"Yeah. Why not? New life, new home."
"What about Dylan and Norman?"
"What about them?"
"When would I see them, Alex?"
"Norma, you hardly see them as it is. Besides, there are these things called airplanes and you can travel in them anytime, anywhere."
Norma made her adorable pouting face that never failed to melt Alex's heart. "But my grandchild, Alex..."
"Even in White Pine Bay, you'll have to rely on long distance travel to visit your grandchild, Norma."
"Well, see, that's the thing... I was kind of hoping maybe we'd move to Seattle."
Alex frowned. "Seattle's expensive, Norma."
"Well... Hawaii's expensive too, right? I mean, anywhere we go, we'll have to get jobs. Even right now, in our paid-for house, your pension only stretches so far."
He sighed as her head came to rest under his chin. "I have been thinking about going back to work."
Her head popped up. "Yeah?"
"Well, you know, being retired isn't what I thought it would be. It's boring."
She raised her eyebrows. "Tired of fishing, Sheriff?"
He grinned. "Never. You're what's exhausting."
Her offended look made him burst out laughing. "What? You are exhausting, Mrs. Romero!" He laughed until he realized that she was genuinely hurt. "Baby, I was kidding."
She still looked sad. "I know my life is complicated. You have to deal with a lot. Too much."
He hated himself for saying something that made her feel guilty about nonsense. "Norma..."
"If it wasn't for me, you'd still be the sheriff."
"And I would be alone as fuck and hate my life. Norma, my life was shit before you came along. You brought me back to life, which is something I gave up on after my mother's suicide."
Norma longed to tell him that, far from her saving him, it was he who made her life beyond anything she ever dreamed possible, at least for her. "Oh, Alex..." She could hardly get the words out. "You have no idea. It's funny, you and I, being here and happy..."
She sat up. He tried to pull her back to him, but she firmly stayed back, imploring him to listen to her while she played with the hair on his chest. "In spite of everything, we made it. And you're... you're making love to me in this bathtub... in this amazing place I never thought someone like me got to visit. And it's like I'm watching a movie. But it's not a movie."
He reached for her and pulled her back into his arms and kissed her with tenderness but firmness too. Confidence. Assurance. He poured assurance into her with this kiss. Pulling his lips apart from hers, his hands cupped around her face, he said: "It's not a movie. Don't screw it up!"
Norma laughed. "I'm serious, Alex."
"Me too. I married you, didn't I?"
"To give me insurance!"
Alex mocked being offended. "Mrs. Romero! How dare you!"
"Well, it's true!"
He relented. "OK, maybe. The timing was opportunistic, but I would have married you anyway."
"So sure of yourself, Mr. Romero!"
His smile said it all. "I'd have gotten to you eventually. I was very determined."
"When did you know?"
"Know what?"
"That you wanted to... spend your life with me?"
He had to think about it, but only for a minute. He looked away in some embarrassment.
Her curiosity was driven over the edge. "What? When, Alex? When did you know?"
Still avoiding her eyes, he began with, "You know... when we found Keith's truck? That day that... they day after we met on the porch of the motel."Her eyes widened. She was speechless. He continued: "You were such a pain in the ass. I knew you were lying to me. And just before you walked away, you said, 'well, good luck with everything.'"
"No, I didn't."
He lifted his eyes finally to meet hers. "You did. You looked at me and you lied to me and that was the first of many more lies to come and I was lost right then and there."
He was smiling but she wasn't. She wasn't meeting him in his glee over the fact that he was in love with her almost from the first time he laid eyes on her.
"I wasn't nice to you."
"No you weren't," he said, not meaning to make her feel bad, but rather to lift her spirits. He did not understand how badly she felt about the dismissive way she treated him on many occasions.
"I'm sorry, Alex."
"Norma..."
"No, Alex, really. I was awful to you. Like that time you got shot and I was awful to you. I treated you like you didn't matter and the truth is, you mattered so much it scared me." She couldn't say anymore because of the tears. He reached out for her and held her while she sobbed. He soothed her with whisperings and kisses. He lifted her out of the tub and towel dried her, then helped her put on her half of the his&her company-monogrammed bathrobes that came with the villa. Wearing their bathrobes, they made their way to the living area. Here they opened a bottle of wine and settled on the couch to enjoy it ... and each other, of course.
"So you feel bad about being a jerk to me, huh?" he teased.
"I am a jerk, Alex," she said, smiling her sad-eyes smile, the one that she did when she was trying to 'fake it 'til she made it.' "It's how I was raised. No one showed me how to do anything but be a jerk. You know, some parents teach their kids the golden rule. Mine, they showed me how to treat people like shit."
He took her feet in his hands and placed them on his lap so he could rub them. "You were afraid to trust me."
"I didn't trust myself, Alex. I didn't trust my own instincts when it came to men. I mean, think about it. One of the first things I did after going up to White Pine Bay was date that scumbag Shelby. How could I trust myself, trust that I was right about you, when I had this inner voice telling me you would end up just like the others?"
"When did you know?"
She just looked the question.
"That I wasn't like the others?"
She thought back. When did she know? Was it as far back as when he took the blame for the deaths of Keith and Zack? Was it when he took care of Jake Abernathy for her? Was it when he and Dylan saved Norman from the box? Was it when he made her feel so safe just by staying at the motel? And then he gave her that overly generous personal check in payment, even after she had refused to run his credit card through the payment process because, as she always said, he was "family friend"? Was it when he comforted her that night when her sons told her Caleb was still in town, living at Dylan's farm? Was it the night of their date at the Castle Rock when he fed her soup, and still, she lost her temper and said horrid things to him, and then he got shot?
She wiped the tears on her face. "I always knew, Alex. I always knew you were different."
He gazed at her in wonder. "Norma?"
This time when she smiled it reached her eyes. "Hmm?"
"Would you... I mean what do you think about... do you want..."
She sensed the fear behind the words he could barely utter and that made her afraid. That horrible inner voice reared its ugly head and threatened to enforce her worst fears. "What is it, Alex?" she asked, bracing herself for the worst: his giving up on her.
"Do you want to have a baby with me?"