Day One: Time

Wrapped up in a fluffy wine-coloured bathrobe, russet hair still damp from his shower, and smelling faintly of Irish Spring soap, Seth is a sight to behold on this glorious, sunny morning, as we sit amidst our throughly crumpled sheets, eating breakfast in bed.

It was fairly late when the reception ended and we finally got up to our hotel suite. And of course we stayed up quite a while after that. A wonderfully long while. And then to sleep in... Ah! Heaven! Our flight doesn't leave until late this afternoon. We planned it this way so we'd have time to relax this morning and I'm glad we did. It feels decadent to be eating bacon and eggs and syrup-laden pancakes at a quarter to eleven in the morning.

"Have some of this," I say, holding out a bit of pancake skewered on my fork. "It's real maple syrup, not that fake stuff." I feed it to him and giggle as some of the syrup drips off at the last second onto his chin. Before he can wipe it away I lean in and kiss the sticky syrup off his skin.

As I brush a kiss over his lips, I feel his hand against my cheek. My heart skips a beat at the smooth touch of his wedding ring. Drawing back, I take his hand and for a moment I stare at it, the shiny gold band on the fourth finger of his left hand.

When I look up, he's smiling. "Come here," he says, opening his arms to me.

I almost knock over my plate of pancakes as I move towards him, but the sticky disaster is narrowly averted and then I'm lying back against his chest. He takes my left hand in his and intertwines our fingers so that gold meets gold.

Sitting here with him on our first morning as husband and wife... it means more than I'd expected, and I wish– like every cliche in every love story– that we could stay like this forever. I suppose in the romances Tana reads, though, no one's stomach ever starts to rumble in a moment of such touching intimacy.

I was hoping he hadn't heard, but he chuckles. "You should finish your pancakes before they get cold." And then he reaches for a piece of bacon. Sitting as close as I am to him, I can hear him chewing it.

So I set my plate of pancakes on my lap and finish our eleven o'clock feast, our left hands clasped all the while.