Chapter 34

ELLE

After our little photo viewing session, Blythe said she was tired and ready for bed. Greg and I walked her across the hall and helped her get settled in. Our cell phone numbers were next to the phone so she could reach us and Greg gave her a set of keys to both apartments. I told her the coffee would be ready at my place by 7AM and she could just come over and help herself to coffee and anything in the refrigerator.

"Elle, dear, you are such a wonderful hostess. You have made me feel so welcome. You shouldn't have gone to so much trouble."

I protested: "Oh, no, it hasn't been any trouble at all. It's really nice having you here."

I realized I wasn't just being polite; it was really nice having her here. I liked hearing the stories about Greg's childhood and he seemed rather happy that she was here despite his protests about the embarrassing stories. She gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. I tentatively hugged her back. She was so motherly and I wasn't used to that.

As I watched Greg hug her goodnight, I actually felt a pang of jealousy. He was 12 years older than me, and he still had his Mom. I wonder if he knew how lucky he was. He hardly ever saw his parents and only spoke to them on the phone once or twice a month. Seeing how he was with his Mom, I knew that the distance he kept between them was because of his Dad. My parents had both been so loving that it was hard for me to imagine that a parent could be so cruel to their child, yet Greg's dad had punished him harshly. Knowing Greg, I was sure that he did a lot of things in his youth that warranted some kind of punishment, but not to the extent that his Dad had laid it out on him.

I turned away to give them some privacy, but I was more afraid that my emotions would show on my face and that wasn't fair to either of them.

We walked back to my apartment and got ready for bed. It was just after 10 and I was tired. Greg was quiet and I remembered that he had gotten up early again today. Between the early rising, work and the round-trip drive to Newark, I assumed he was just tired and ready for some shut-eye.

We crawled into bed and lay on our sides facing each other, my head on his shoulder. He tucked a wayward strand of my hair behind my ear and then stroked my cheek with his thumb.

"I think Mom likes you."

"Oh, yeah? She just met me. What makes you say that?"

"She showed you my baby pictures."

"Yeah? Is there a big significance to that?"

"I would say so. She schlepped a photo album in her suitcase. You've must have impressed her over the phone for her to do that. And she never showed my baby pictures to Stacy and we were together for 5 years. Mom never liked Stacy. Thought she was stuck-up and considered herself better than most people."

"You think you're better than most people."

He smirked: "Yeah, but in my case it's true."

I smiled at him. He was certainly smarter and had a bigger ego than most people.

"I think your Mom is really sweet and nice. I was really surprised that she wanted to see my photo album. I've never had anyone request to see my family pictures before."

"Seeing pictures of you with your family gives her a better idea of who you are. And I agree with her. You were a cute baby, and you do look just like your Mom."

We lay together quietly for a few minutes and I found myself starting to doze off. I started to reach over him to turn off the lamp but he grabbed my hand and pulled me closer to him.

In a quiet voice, he asked: "So, what you told my Mom about your Mom, that's the 'family history' as to why you think you can't have kids?"

Holy Crap! He remembered that conversation from a few weeks back.

I nodded: "Yeah, although I didn't mention that my Aunt Dani must have had the same problem as my Mom, cuz she had multiple miscarriages too."

He frowned: "How many did she have?"

I shrugged: "I don't know. She was pregnant at the time of the accident. She had a baby bump so she must have been 4 or 5 months along. And I overheard a conversation between my parents that this was the furthest along Aunt Dani ever got in a pregnancy."

"So it looks like the two sisters had a similar problem sustaining a pregnancy?"

"It would seem."

"And you have no idea what was the cause of the problem?"

"Nope."

"And you think you have inherited this problem? Is that what you meant by 'personal history'? Why would you suspect you have this problem unless you have had a miscarriage?"

Images flashed through my head. I felt a shiver course through my body as I remembered everything that had happened during those 4 weeks. I closed my eyes so that he couldn't read them. I wasn't sure I was ready to tell him about this yet. But I knew it was a puzzle to him, and he wouldn't rest until he solved it.

His hand cupped my cheek. I felt his lips brush against my forehead and he said in a low voice: "You had one, didn't you?"

In the softest of whispers, I replied: "Yes."

His thumb gently caressed my cheek. He kissed my forehead again and then pulled back a little so he could look in my eyes.

Very softly, he said: "Tell me what happened."

"It's ancient history. Boring. You don't want to know."

He continued to stare at me with those gorgeous blue eyes. "Yes, I do."

Why did he want to know? Was it just the puzzle or was it something more? I wasn't sure that I wanted the answer to that. I burrowed my face into his chest and tried to get my emotions under control. It was just as hard for me to talk about this, as it was to talk about my parents' death. It hurt; I had no family and I had lost a baby, perhaps my only chance to have one.

"It was Tony, wasn't it?"

Well, he figured that part out. It was late, we both needed to sleep, but I knew he would not rest until I told him about it, so I decided to just get it over with.

"Yes, it was Tony. We used condoms, but as you know, they are only 85 effective. It was November, during our last year of pharmacy school. When the test came up positive, I was upset and scared, but he was really calm about it. The baby wouldn't be born until summer; I'd be able to finish school and graduate with our class. He told me that he loved me and wanted to marry me. He said he hadn't asked me yet cuz he thought we should finish school first. Now that I was pregnant, he wanted to push it up. We decided that we would come to New Jersey over Christmas break, tell his family and have a quiet wedding. Four weeks later, during finals, I miscarried."

"So because you had one first trimester miscarriage, you think you've inherited whatever problem your Mom and your aunt had."

"OK. I don't know for sure, but I have to wonder." My voice trailed off at the end.

"Lots and lots of women have first trimester miscarriages and go on to have successful pregnancies. So you miscarried and then what? You weren't pregnant so he didn't want to marry you anymore."

"It wasn't like that. We came up to New Jersey and I met his family over Christmas break. He has 6 older sisters, by the way. For an orphaned only child, that was a bit overwhelming. We just decided to finish school first before we get married. I went on the pill, so we wouldn't have a repeat issue until we were ready."

"But you never did get married."

"No, we didn't."

"Why did you break up with him?"

"I told you before, it was a mutual decision."

"No, it wasn't. Tony didn't want to end it. It was you. So I'm asking you again: why did you break up with him?"

I rolled over onto my back and draped my arm over my eyes. "Why do you need to know? Again, this is ancient history between me and another man. You have a lot of nerve questioning me endlessly about this, when you haven't told me anything about Stacy."

I knew that stung him, but I was tired and getting pissed off. I told him about the miscarriage. Wasn't that enough? How the hell did he pick up on my falsehood that the break-up wasn't mutual? I'm sure Tony didn't say anything to him, and no one else knows the truth.

"You won't tell me about this, cuz I haven't told you about Stacy?"

"Yeah, that's right. I've told you a lot of personal stuff and you haven't shared with me. I only know the details about the infarction cuz you told Chris about it in front of me. You could share a little bit, ya know."

Reluctantly he said: "It's hard for me to talk about it."

"OH, and you think this is easy for me?"

He gently stroked my belly. "No, I don't."

Then his hand stopped moving and just lay flat on my belly. I looked over at him. His eyes were closed and his face was contorted in pain.

"I want to tell you, but I can't make the words come out. If I speak them, I have to live through it all over again. It was hard enough the first time."

"Sometimes speaking the words makes the pain ease off."

"If you believe that, why won't you tell me the real reason that you broke up with Tony?"

Greg truly has a twisted sense of logic. It's OK for me to talk and ease my pain, but not for him. I sighed loudly. Should I continue this fight and try to convince him to open up to me or just give it up for now, so we can get some sleep? I thought for a few minutes and then decided that since his Mom was here, I didn't really want to fight. It was so rare for him to see her without his Dad and I really wanted him to have a nice time. I decided to bury the hatchet, for now.

"We moved up here after graduation. Tony became more and more enmeshed with his family. Things that we never talked about before suddenly became important. He had said it was OK if I didn't convert to Catholicism, but his spoken words didn't match what his eyes said. And his mother kept dropping hints about wanting her only son to have a church wedding. I didn't want a big fancy Italian wedding; I actually thought it would be cool to get married on the beach, barefoot, at sunset. That comment caused a lot of raised eyebrows."

"I met the boys and wanted to sing in the band, but I ran into resistance. Tony didn't come out and forbid me from doing it, but he discouraged it. His mother was much more open about her feelings that a 'good woman' would not ever sing in a bar. His family had definite ideas about what a wife should and should not do, and I don't think that I would have been able to toe the line. I had been on my own for too long and I wasn't at all used to having parental figures telling me what to do."

I took a deep breath and scrubbed my hands over my face. This was hard to say, but I needed to get this last part out.

"But the real reason that I broke up with him is that I didn't want to disappoint him."

Greg frowned: "Why did you think that you would disappoint him?"

I sighed and continued: "Tony is the only son of an only son. Having kids is really important to him. He wanted to pass on the family name. He felt an obligation to do so. I was afraid that if I married him and couldn't produce the son he wanted, that he would regret marrying me. And I didn't think I could live with that. I didn't want him to look at me 10 years down the road and be sorry that he married me."

"So you sacrificed your love for him so that he could find someone else who would definitely give him a heir?"

I nodded.

"And I guess it had to be a biological heir; adoption would not have been good enough for his family, huh?"

I shook my head: "No, not good enough."

A tear leaked out of my eye; I couldn't help it. I had never told anyone about this and it was hard to talk about. I had truly loved Tony and I left him because I couldn't bear to be a disappointment to him. Greg and I had not known each other long enough to discuss marriage and kids, but I thought maybe now is the time to throw this out there. If, in the future, he wanted to have kids, he should know his chances are slim with me.

I rolled over on my side and looked in his eyes. "Greg, if you eventually want to have kids, you probably need to find yourself another girlfriend."

He snorted: "I don't want another girlfriend. And I certainly don't want kids. I'd be a terrible dad."

"Why would you say that? I think you would be a great dad."

He smirked: "Why? Cuz I like to go to toy stores? It takes more than that."

"Duh, I know that. And I think you have it. I think you would be a good dad."

He snorted. "No way. C'mon, I've told you some stuff about my old man. That was my example of being a dad. There is no way I'm going to subject a kid to the chance that I might perpetuate the pattern."

I stroked his cheek: "You would never do that. You would never hit your kid or do those other things."

His facial expression was so sad. "You don't know that. Who knows what I would do if I became angry with the kid? I can't take that chance. I don't know what it's like to have a loving dad, so how could I be one?"

"I think you would treat the kid the way you wished your dad had treated you. The way your Mom loved and cared for you. You would give the child love and guidance, not harsh discipline."

He shook his head: "You don't know that."

"Well, I think you could do it, but you don't seem to think so. I guess we will disagree on this matter. Selfishly, it's better for me if you don't, cuz then you would be looking for a new girlfriend."

"Do you want to have kids?"

"I try not to want what I believe I can't have."

"That's not an answer. A person can still want something, like winning the lottery, even though logically they know it will never happen."

"I don't buy lottery tickets. And I'm on the pill for a reason. I don't think I'm as strong as my mother was and I don't think I could handle multiple disappointments."

"So basically you don't want to try, cuz you're afraid of failure."

I nodded: "Yes."

"And that's why you were getting cold feet with David before the assault happened. He wanted kids, didn't he?"

"Yeah, he did and I was nervous about that. But I also thought that if I failed to sustain a pregnancy, he might be more accepting of adoption than Tony. I had planned to talk about it before we got married, but I was nervous and kept putting it off. Then I got raped and it didn't matter any more."

He pulled me close and I snuggled into his chest. He kissed the top of my head and said: "I think we've talked about this enough for one night. You need to get some sleep."

"Yeah, I've talked enough for one night. You're the one who needed to know about my history. Next time, it's your turn to tell me about yours."

Greg reached over and turned out the light. We huddled together as if we needed the warmth. I was upset with him, but his touch and his smell were so comforting to me that I felt my annoyance with him fading away. I knew the parts about Stacy that Wilson had told me, but I hoped that one day Greg would let down his walls and tell me himself. His walls had been built to protect his heart and he wasn't going to let them down until he was sure he could trust the other person. I could only hope, that over time, he would learn to trust me.

I kissed his chest, right over his heart, and whispered: "Good night, cowboy."

He squeezed me tighter, bussed the top of my head and whispered back: "Good night, sweetheart."

I was just about to doze off when I heard him softly say: "I know that was hard for you. Thanks for telling me."

I kissed his chest again in reply and fell asleep.

House

She dozed off in my arms. I lay there, holding her, thinking about everything that she had just told me. Now I understood the deep connection between her and Tony. They had lost a baby together. He had loved her deeply enough to want to marry her, but she had pushed him away assuming his family issues were more important to him than their love. She had loved Tony enough to sacrifice her happiness for his. And he had moved on and married someone else, but I felt sure that he still loved her.

What a wuss. If he really loved her, he should have stood his ground, told his family off and married her anyway. If they had kids, great. If they didn't, so what? What was the big deal about continuing the family name anyway? I have male cousins with the House name, so I guess the name was continuing on through them, but it certainly wasn't going to from me. And if the name fell off the face of the earth, what difference would it make anyway? It's just a name.

Ah well, much better for me that Tony was a wuss. If he hadn't been, Elle wouldn't be sleeping in my arms right now. I looked down at her beautiful face. Elle thinks that she can't have kids and I don't want any. This is truly the perfect relationship. She won't be hounding me in a year or so to get married and reproduce. She seems happy with me at the moment. Maybe this would last longer than I thought. I wonder how long I can get away with not telling her about Stacy. I don't want to drag all that to the surface after I spent so much time stuffing it down and walling it off in the bottom of my heart. I know most of Elle's mysteries now; we don't need to have any more of these tit-for-tat exchanges. There was only one more thing that I was curious about and I would definitely have to cough up my own personal crap to find that out. How the hell did she get those cuts on her otherwise perfect ass?

(Friday morning)

I heard the alarm clock go off, but I couldn't move fast enough to capture Elle before she got out of bed. I heard the squeak of the faucet as she turned on the shower and imagined her wet and naked in there. That woke up Mt. Gregory rather quickly. The rest of my body was slow to respond. I just don't move fast in the morning. Despite the new pain meds, my leg always ached in the mornings and generally felt better once I was up and moving around. I managed to throw back the sheet and sit on the edge of the bed, but I wasn't quite ready to stand up yet. As I sat there, willing my leg to cooperate, I heard the water shut off and knew I'd missed my opportunity for shower fun.

Elle walked back into the bedroom wearing just a towel. By the look on her face she seemed rather surprised to see me awake.

"Wow, you're,"

I waggled Mt. Gregory at her.

She grinned and cocked one eyebrow: "UP early."

I held out my hand and beckoned her: "Lose the towel and c'mere."

"Greg, I can't, I gotta go to work."

"Just for a minute. He didn't have any playtime last night, and he needs a kiss to make up for it."

"Does he now?"

To my utter surprise, she dropped the towel on the edge of the bed and walked over to me. She bent down, planted a soft gentle kiss on my lips and then dropped to her knees between my spread legs.

I hissed as she wrapped her small hand around my shaft. Her thumb started rubbing the underside with a nice rhythm.

She planted a small kiss right on the head and then asked: "Does he need a little kiss or a big kiss?"

She took the entire head in her mouth and swirled her tongue around the opening.

I groaned: "Big kiss. He needs a big kiss."

She chuckled and the vibration felt exquisite against my hardened member. She gradually took more and more of me into her mouth as her tongue danced around the underside of my cock. My hand fisted in her soft hair. My original intention had been to get her naked and in bed where we could have a little playtime before she scooted off to work. But this felt so good I didn't want her to stop.

Her lips were tightly clamped around me as she moved up and down on my shaft. Watching the action was extremely erotic and I felt that familiar tingling in my balls that indicated that I was getting close.

"Elle, if you keep that up, I'm gonna,"

The look she gave me was pure sex kitten. It was such a turn-on watching my cock move in and out of her mouth. Elle hummed and the vibrations felt so incredible. I reached down and squeezed her breast. Her lips gripped tighter as she slid up and down my cock. When she cupped my balls, I fell over the edge. She deep throated me as I came and swallowed all of it.

I fell back onto the bed, my breathing labored. As I recovered, Elle gently licked and kissed my softening member.

She stood up and leaned over to kiss my lips. "Big enough kiss for you?"

I groaned: "Yes."

My hands moved down her body as we kissed until I reached her most sensitive spot. I smiled against her mouth as I felt how wet she was.

"Someone's ready to go."

"Yeah, me. I gotta go to work."

"Hey, what about your turn?"

"I gotta take my turn tonight. I really have to get to work. You owe me one, cowboy."

One last kiss and she moved away from me. I watched, as she got dressed.

"You're going to have wet panties all day."

She smiled seductively at me. "I know. I'll be thinking of you all day and what you're going to do to me tonight."

"We have a dinner party tonight."

"I know. Afterwards. I'm willing to wait for the good stuff."

I chuckled: "Am I the good stuff?"

She bent down and kissed me again: "Oh, yes. And you're worth waiting for."

One last kiss and she walked out of the room.

MDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMD

I crawled back under the covers and went back to sleep. It was 9:30AM when some noises in the kitchen woke me up. I figured Mom was getting some coffee, so I pulled on my jeans and went out to join her.

"Good morning, dear. I hope I didn't wake you up."

"Naw, this is my normal wake-up time. Sleep OK?"

"Yes, I did. Thank you. Your bed is very comfortable."

I smirked: "We like it."

She gave me a knowing smile: "Are you sure I'm not inconveniencing you by staying here? You know I can go to a hotel."

"Absolutely not. You're staying put. Elle's bed is fine as long as she's in it with me."

I poured myself a cup of coffee, added the sugar and we sat down at the table.

We sat in silence for a while. Mom was just looking at me with a little smile on her face. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore.

"What is it? You have this silly smile on your face."

"Do I? I was just thinking how well you are looking. The last time I saw you, it was November. We were on our way back from Europe. Your face looked so thin and you seemed so tired and worn out. You were working so hard that you didn't have time to eat dinner with us, remember?"

I nodded, remembering that day. I had a complicated case. The boy ended up dying and there was nothing we could do to save him. My leg had been giving me a lot of pain. But of course, the main reason I didn't want to spend much time with them was because Dad was there.

I teased Mom: "So I'm not too thin anymore? I've pudged up?"

"No, you're not pudgy. You're perfect. And you look relaxed and happy."

I smiled, but didn't say anything.

Mom continued: "Having a lovely woman like Elle around could do that."

"If you wanted to fish, you could have gone on the trip with Dad."

"Blah, I hate fishing."

"Then why do I feel like I have a hook in my mouth now?"

She made a little pout with her mouth and didn't say anything else.

After a few minutes, I caved. "What do you want to know? Where this relationship is going? I don't know. We haven't known each other very long. Don't start dropping any hints about weddings and such."

"You seem happy together, much happier than you were with Stacy. And so much happier than you have been for the last 6 years."

"Stacy and I had our good moments, Mom, otherwise we wouldn't have lasted for 5 years. It's just the end was pretty bad. And you're right; the last 6 years have mostly sucked."

"Things are better now." It was question, not a statement.

I rubbed my thumb against the coffee mug. Life was better. My pain was much more tolerable. Elle was amazing. And I was exercising again, hoping to build up my leg strength so that I could golf again. Happiness always seemed so fleeting, here one moment and gone the next. But there had been some great moments in the last 6 weeks, and I wanted more of them.

I finally answered: "Yeah, Mom. It's better now. In fact, it ain't half bad."

Mom smiled: "I'm glad. I just want you to be happy, son."

"I don't want to aim that high, Mom. I'll settle for sucking less."

After I showered and got dressed, we went to the Yankee Doodle Tap Room for breakfast. It's a nice place to eat at any time of the day and it has a great bar. The atmosphere is cozy; there are dark paneled walls and a large brick fireplace, which naturally was not burning in August. It was mostly empty when we got there. It was kind of in between breakfast and lunch, but we decided on the breakfast menu. I had the Benedictine Eggs, with a side order of breakfast potatoes and silver dollar pancakes. Mom had an omelet with mushrooms, peppers and tomatoes with breakfast potatoes and whole-wheat toast. The food was excellent and we were tucking in nicely when my cell phone beeped. I had a new text message.

It was from Chase, informing me that the wife was negative for brucellosis. Too bad, it would have been more interesting if she had been positive. It was so rare to contact the disease through sexual contact. This last test tied up all of our loose ends so I sent a return message telling him to finish the charting and do his clinic hours.

After an enjoyable breakfast, Mom and I headed off to the Morven Museum. It was a pretty spiffy mansion and the art collection was decent enough. After wandering around the galleries for a while, we headed out to the gardens. Mom was definitely enthralled with this part of our visit. She kept pointing out all the different flowers to me. I recognized the dahlias and phlox, but there were lots of others that I didn't recognize. Mom explained that they were heirloom annuals from the 18th and 19th centuries. Apparently heirloom varieties were becoming quite popular and Mom had really gotten into planting some heirloom roses recently. I chuckled: it sounded like the antiques of the plant world and Mom said that was exactly right. I just smiled and walked around with her, letting her point out all the plants to me. It was like being a kid again, wandering around museums and zoos with Mom.

They kicked us out at 3:00. Mom didn't mind; she was pleased with our day and thanked me for bringing her here. I didn't realize that they closed early on Fridays and I was at a loss of what to do next. I longed for a nap, but I didn't want to leave Mom alone. Elle wouldn't be home until around 5 and then she needed to finish preparing dinner. I knew Mom would help her and I figured I would grab a nap then. So I just needed to fill the time until Elle got home.

As we walked towards the car, Mom asked me if there was a plant shop on the way home.

"I'm sure we can find one, but why? You don't want to schlep a plant all the way home on the plane, do you?"

"No, dear. I wanted to get a little something for Elle. She's so sweet and going to so much trouble to throw this dinner party for me. I saw her little violets on the windowsill and just wanted to get her a little plant."

I smiled: "That's nice of you, Mom. Sure, we'll find a plant shop on the way home."

It wasn't quite on the way home, but we did find one. Mom wandered around talking to the saleswoman about the best type of plant for a window with northern exposure. I leaned against the counter, waiting for her. She finally decided on something called a peace lily. It had a bunch of green leaves and some white oval-shaped flowers. The saleswoman said it would grow well in low-light areas. Mom seemed pleased with it. As Mom was paying for the plant, I noticed another saleswoman placing some more flower vases in the cooler behind the counter. One of them caught my eye. It was a square-shaped glass vase with sunflowers and some kind of purple flowers in it. I knew Elle would love it. I pointed it out to the saleswoman and she brought it over to the counter. Mom tried to pay for it too, but I gallantly refused. I wanted to buy them for my girl. I did, however, let Mom hold the vase on the way home so it wouldn't topple over.

We set the plant and the flowers on the coffee table when we got back to Elle's place. The brisket smelled delicious and I started to lift the lid on the crockpot to nab a bite, but Mom slapped my hand away.

"Stop that. It's not ready yet. I'm sure there is some leftover spaghetti if you're hungry."

I foraged in the refrigerator until I found it. The dish went into the microwave for a few minutes and then I plopped on Elle's futon to eat and watch General Hospital. Mom sat and watched with me. We were deeply engrossed in the show when Elle walked in.

I glanced at my watch; it was only 4:30. I shot a questioningly look at her.

"It was quiet, so I snuck out early."

"Excellent. Sit. General Hospital is on."

"Just for a minute. I need to start on dinner. These flowers are beautiful. Where did they come from?"

I set the plate on the coffee table, grabbed Elle's arm and pulled her down next to me. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and pressed her up close to me.

"Shh, I'll tell you at the commercial."

Mom interjected: "Greg! Tell her now. Don't make her wait for the commercial."

"It's OK, Blythe. I can wait."

Elle pressed her cheek against mine. My hand casually stroked her shoulder as I stared at the TV. Sonny had agreed to let Carly take the boys to Africa and that was quite a shocker. Elle rubbed her cheek against mine and then started planting little kisses all over my cheek. She licked the shell of my ear and then nipped my earlobe. I stifled a groan. The little minx, trying to get me turned on with Mom sitting right next to me.

Fortunately the commercial came on just then. I turned, cupped her cheek and kissed her full on the mouth. Her lips parted for me and my tongue dominated her mouth into submission. She was rather flushed when we came up for air.

I whispered to her in French: "Naughty girl. Doing that in front of my Mom."

Innocently she said: "Moi?" Her eyes shone with mischief and desire. "I just gave you little pecks on the cheek. You were the one using your tongue."

"You'll be punished later. All through dinner, you'll be thinking about what I am going to do to punish you."

The desire in her eyes kicked up a few notches. If Mom wasn't here, we would have been naked in 10 seconds flat.

Just then, Mom cleared her throat to remind us that she was right there on the futon next to us. What incredible timing.

Elle gave me a very sexy smile and then said: "So who are the flowers from?"

"The flowers are from moi and the plant is a little gift from Mom."

Elle pulled me into a hug. Over my shoulder, she thanked Mom for the plant. "It's a peace lily, right?"

"Yes, it is. The saleswoman said it would do well in low light like your front window where the violets are."

Elle squeezed me as she said: "Thanks, Blythe. You didn't have to do that."

I just wanted to get you a little something, dear. The gardens were lovely. You'll have to get Greg to take you there."

Elle nodded at Mom and then pulled back to look at me. "The flowers are exquisite. You remembered what I like. I'm impressed. Thank you."

She gave me a gentle kiss on the lips and then stood up. "I'm going to start getting ready. You finish your soap."

I nodded. The commercial was over now. Patrick was telling Robin that he was going to remain celibate until his next HIV test because he didn't want to put her at risk. Elle grabbed my empty plate and took it to the kitchen. Mom got up and followed her.

When GH was over, I went into the kitchen to check on them. They were busy with the preparations, so I went to take a short nap. I kicked off my shoes, dropped my jeans and crawled under the sheets for a little shut-eye.

Elle kissed me awake. Softly she said: "Hey, it's 6:30. Thought you might want to wake up and get dressed."

I frowned: "Can't we just stay in bed? Mom could entertain them."

Elle giggled: "No, that would be rude. Come on, you'll like the food."

I grumbled: "OK, but they are not drinking my liquor."

"I don't think you have to worry about them drinking your liquor. Wilson's bringing some wine and I have some scotch and Grand Marnier for after dinner."

Elle kissed me again and then walked over to the closet. She changed into a pair of black jeans and a blue blouse, which was the same shade as her eyes.

She slipped some black flats on her feet and walked over to the dresser. She brushed her hair and secured the front locks at the back of her head with a silver barrette.

"You look beautiful."

The smile she gave me only made her more beautiful.

Softly, she said: "Thank you."

Elle walked back to the bed, and squeezed my foot through the sheet. "Your Mom went across the hall to freshen up. She'll be right back. I need to get back in the kitchen."

I nodded and Elle walked out of the room.

I climbed out of bed and stripped off my shirt. I pulled out a clean button-down from the pile on the dresser and put it on. I even tucked it in. I put my sneakers on, ran my fingers through my hair to smooth it down a bit and headed out to the kitchen to join Elle.