A Few Days Continued, Time in the Triangle Chapter 13
From the porch, the view was one of brilliant blue sky and crashing ocean waves along an isolated sandy beach. The waves were no more than four feet high but moved furiously against the shore driven by wind gusts that created more rough surf away from the coastline. Sara looked up and down the beach seeing no one and only a few houses in the distance. They had driven through a small town, many shops closed for the season, yet the grocery store had been busy with locals.
Grissom appeared taking the grocery bag from her hand. "It's beautiful! Come in, Annie—run upstairs and pick out your bed with the others."
She shook her head.
"Ghosts," Sara mouthed, then said aloud. "We'll go up and pick out beds together—see the porch." She turned in a wide circle. "It is beautiful! And it's new—it looks old!"
The kitchen was placed in the center of the house with open space around it—sofas and rocking chairs, recliners, tables and chairs of various sizes were grouped around the room. From every place, one could see the ocean. Grissom was already opening windows and doors.
"Isn't it great?" He asked. "I'll bring in bags." He pointed his finger at Sara. "Claim one of the bedrooms—big bed," and grinned.
She headed up the stairs, carrying Annie who continued to refuse to walk. Running feet, a babble of voices, and four excited kids met her on the second floor. There were two bunk beds, and trundle beds, 'boat' beds, and two small 'fish' beds to choose from, and one completely white room with a king-size bed covered in white.
Sara pointed to the big bed, saying "That's mine—has everyone else picked a place to sleep?" Finally, Annie joined the others as they ran from room to room, trying to decide where to sleep, jumping on beds, shrieking and giggling with every motion. Bags were carried into various rooms and the once quiet, neat beach cottage was transformed into a noisy, boisterous place as warm air filled the house.
While the sun was still high in the sky, the wind died and stilled the water to a lulling rhythm changing the crashing of waves to gentle rolls of water and creating an almost glassy surface to the ocean. By then, everyone was on the beach where the adults found a piece of driftwood arched over the sand to serve as a sort of beach resting place. Shrimp boats appeared in the far distance bobbing on heavy, green waves. Pelicans were diving, splashing into the water, scooping up fish.
The children played near their parents; the emptiness of the beach kept them from wandering more than a few yards. Eli and Bizzy dared the other to wade into tide pools warmed by the sun and filled with tiny minnows swimming as a dark shadow. They found small nets underneath the house and worked to catch and release the finger long fish. Ava, Annie, and Will found amusement in the sand—rolling in it, digging holes, filling plastic buckets with water or sand.
For hours, Sara lay watching her children, a hat shading her eyes, as they ran back and forth. Grissom slept a short while, joined the kids in catching minnows and building a lopsided sand castle before returning to his place beside Sara.
"Everyone loves the beach," he said, smiling in the same captivating way he had of being sexy and pleased at the same time. He rolled toward Sara, coming up on his elbow to kiss her. "I think everyone will sleep well tonight," he whispered.
She grinned and crossed her legs as his arms circled her shoulders. A little voice behind Grissom asked, "Is it time to eat?"
Putting away play things, dinner—preparing and eating, baths and showers, climbing the circular stairway to the rooftop porch to see stars, a made-up game of exchanging beds, and the general upheaval of a new and strange house finally quieted as five children went to sleep. Grissom showered and crawled into bed, thinking of one thing with his brain, yet his body overruled his thoughts and, like his children, he was asleep before Sara walked out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel. He barely stirred as she tucked the comforter over him and slipped into bed.
…The brush of something against his face—a sensation of feathers tickled his ear, something warm against his cheek brought his eyes wide open, taking a few seconds for him to realize he had been asleep; the house was dark except for the moonlight's shadows on the floor, the wind moving thin curtains in wispy floating clouds. He focused on the form standing beside the bed, the curls on her head not much taller than the bed.
"I'm scared, Daddy." The child's voice was blurry with sleep as Annie stood near the bed, her wide eyes level with his.
"Sweetheart, why are you scared? Everyone's asleep." He said as he reached to touch her. "Crawl up here and we can sleep together."
She backed away, rubbing her eyes. "I wanna sleep in the fish bed."
By now he was fully awake. "Okay. You want me to put you back in bed?" He asked.
Annie nodded. "Will you sleep with me? I hear the ghost."
His feet touched the floor and he picked her up. "There are no ghosts, Annie. You hear the ocean and the wind."
"Eli said there's ghosts."
"Eli was teasing you, Sweetie. He was making a joke." He carried her back to the room with the fish beds—child sized beds shaped like a flipping fish, the head and tail making a canopy over the mattress.
"Will you sleep with me, Daddy?"
Grissom looked at the single bed, barely five feet long.
"Please," his daughter whispered as she put her head on his shoulder.
The two lay together in the tiny bed. Grissom bent his knees and cuddled his daughter to his chest. He would move when she fell asleep, he thought.
"I love you, Daddy," she whispered as her breath warmed his chest.
"I love you, Annie."
Sara woke to a quiet house, an empty bed, and the early morning sun warming the floor. She stretched, surprised to find she was alone. Her first action was to look outside, thinking Grissom would be on the porch or on the beach. But finding his sandals, his hat, and the doors locked, she searched inside the house. She found Eli and Bizzy sleeping on the two top bunk beds, Will was buried in covers in one of the boat beds. In the fish beds, she found the others—Annie and Ava tightly bundled against Grissom—like mismatched sardines in a can—curled into a space meant for one small body.
Sara tip-toed from the room; she knew his back would ache for hours, but his daughters had gotten to sleep in the fish bed.
The first afternoon established a pattern for days that followed. The sun, sand and water beckoned to children and adults. In a closet they found a beach cabana, chairs, balls, buckets, and shovels and all of it was hauled to the beach. It amazed Grissom how children found entertainment and joy in sand and water, moving buckets of sand to the water's edge or water to a hole in sand, finding shells and attempting to catch baby crabs and small fish. Exhaustion rotated among the children as one would lay in the shade of the cabana to be joined by another and sleep slipped up in quiet moments.
Sara watched the children, sitting cross-legged in the sand, or in one of the sagging beach chairs in the cabana or stretched on the sand. On a warm day when the ocean's surface was rough and rolling with ragged waves, she pulled a faded red sea kayak from underneath the house. The last tide had left a long isolated pool of water several yards from the surf's edge. She slid the plastic boat into the water as her children watched.
"Who's first?" She asked as she held one end and Grissom held the other.
The boat wobbled as Eli was the first to wade into the shallow water. After he floated to the end of the pool, a parent on each end of the narrow boat, the others were eager for a turn. By the time each child had sat on top of the boat, floated the length of the tide pool, and realized the water was no more than a foot deep, they considered themselves sailors of vast experience. For hours, the five children found a dozen ways to paddle and play with the boat.
By noon, tiredness had overtaken fun and everyone climbed the dune path to the house for a quick lunch before a group rest on the porch which turned into extended naps. Sleeping children appearing as dolls forgotten in the midst of play were scattered among cushions and old quilts.
"If we move them upstairs would we be able to sleep?" Grissom was on his back, somehow arranging to have his head in Sara's lap; his hand brought hers to his lips. She smiled.
"Gilbert, is it really a nap you want?" She teased.
"I want to be in bed with you without interruptions—without another little warm body between us."
She snickered. Already three nights had passed and they had not had leisurely sex—yes, a quick, early morning act the day before—but that did not really count, not what either wanted or desired. She nodded.
"I'll take Annie; you take Bizzy." These two were the ones most likely to wake; the others would sleep for hours. They carried sleeping children up stairs and tucked each into a bed; Will was the last one and Sara covered him with a light weight blanket in the boat bed. He had babbled with excitement at sleeping in a 'big boy' bed instead of a crib and the first morning had learned how to crawl out of the bed.
Grissom had closed the safety gate at the top of the stairs, opened windows in the white bedroom, pushed the comforter to the foot of the bed, and switched on the ceiling fan. He dropped his sandy clothes in a heap and stepped into the shower. Sara would know where to find him. He leaned against the tiles as water showered his skin with drops as soft as a spring rain. Several minutes passed before he saw a shadow cross the opaque door, long fingers closed around the edge.
"Hey," he said as he took her hand. "Everyone asleep?"
She had shed her clothes and smelled of sun and salt and lotion. He could see golden grains of sand along her shoulder, down her arm. "Yeah, for hours, I hope." Quiet laughter followed as she felt his hand move across her shoulder, his fingertips tracing along her back.
"We should have hired a baby sitter," were the last words he said as Sara turned and met his lips with hers. He touched her chin, her jaw before burrowing his face into her neck, breathing deeply.
For much of his adult life, he had missed moments like this until, very quickly, his life had erupted, become more vivid and radiant, more real. He realized how perishable all life's moments really were, how life had come to him begging to be lived, to be cherished, and the impassive way he had treated life—his and others.
He moved a finger along the flat valley between her breasts; their hips touched. Their bodies came together in the first flush of passion. Their foreheads touched before their lips met as water splashed around their shoulders.
At the same instant, they heard a sound and eyes locked in a split second. One, or both, looked down to see a small plump hand pressed against the glass. Sara looked at Grissom; he was smiling a tight lipped grin. He pulled the door open enough to see a small boy standing naked, giving a gaped tooth smile at his parents.
"Book," Will said, holding up a child's story book.
Sara began to snicker trying to keep her giggles silent as her body shook. Grissom shot her a glance before shrugging his shoulders. He reached to turn off the water as Sara bent to pick up Will. She tossed the book aside.
"Now we know why we love to have you in a crib, don't we?" Sara laughed as she brought the baby into the shower.
Will reached for his father, babbling a few incomprehensible words, as his hands played on Grissom's face.
"Hey, little boy! We thought you would sleep a long time." He tickled Will's tummy. "And where are your clothes?" Sara's hands went around Grissom's waist with a towel. He heard her quiet laughter as her hand gave an affectionate pat against a certain part of his anatomy.
Minutes later, all three were on the big bed, the plans for other activity gone for now. Will crawled from mother to father, pleased to have their undivided attention, and content to play between them.
Sara had rolled to place her head against Grissom's shoulder when Will showed no inclination for continuing his nap. "Did you ever think your life would be like this?" Will had crawled to straddle her chest placing wet kisses on her face as she spoke.
She heard a low rumble in his chest and at the sound, Will tumbled, crawled over her to his dad where he put his mouth against Grissom's stomach and proceeded to blow against his skin in slobbery bubbles, laughing at his own sounds.
Grissom and Sara had not kept secrets from each other in years yet both had incidents and memories that were untold, by choice or by forgetfulness or by simple lapse in memory. At times, one would remember and relate a story of some event recalled because of what was happening around them. Sometimes, these remembrances came in quiet times, with the unexpected question that stirred a memory, a spilling of words that came as water from a broken dam.
His hand found Sara's and he laced his fingers with hers. "Until I met you, I never realized how much of a crater my heart had been." His voice was deep, husky with emotions but very strong, vital as he spoke. "I had not been touched in so long—years, I think—when I met you. It was such a jolt to meet a person—to have feelings that I couldn't quite decipher. It was strange and only accessible when I was with you." His hand caressed hers. "After we made love the first time, I didn't know if I could go about life again in the same careless way. I had been in denial for years—and I continued that way except for the times with you." He paused for a minute, and Sara heard a deep chuckle before he sighed. "I guess I was in denial and stubborn for years, wasn't I? I deeply regret waiting so long—waiting for the right time, or until I figured things out."
His son had wiggled from his side to Sara and back again. He picked Will up and placed him on his chest, as he continued making baby noises of play.
Grissom continued speaking. "I wish we had married years before we did. I wish my mother could have known our kids—that would have made her enormously happy." Will had moved to his mother and Grissom pulled both close to him. "Your question—did I ever think my life would be like this?" He chuckled. "No, never. It's something I could not have imagined! And there's nothing I would change." He kissed her. "Do you think this little guy is going to sleep?"
A/N: Enjoy! We appreciate your comments, your encouragement, your reviews! Next chapter--rated "M"! These two have to have a little sweet fun before leaving the beach!