Chapter 39 : Together

Claire and Neil spent another 5 days in Erawan National park to enjoy the nature and the calm before going back to their crazy life in San José.

This day, when they came back from the heart-shaped rock, they both had this idiotic smile on their lips. Hand in hand. Not a word. They made their way to their bedroom and made love. It was sweet. Claire loved when Neil stroked her breast, her stomach, her legs. It was so soft and so hot at the same time. She could feel her internal temperature getting so hot, she was sweating. He knew she liked when he did this so he kept skimming her so soft skin. He could feel her shivering under his fingers. Her body was contracting.

She could not stop kissing his chest, his neck. She let her hands running through his hair, his torso, his muscled bottom. Oh God she liked to touch his body, to feel him close, to feel him inside her and making her feel sensations like no one before. He helped to reach an orgasm, she was like on a cloud, surrounded by Neil's arms. He was good, he was really good. She could do anything else than moaning of pleasure.

Neil was glad he had had one day the courage to tell to this little tiny woman he loved her. When he was with her, in her, it was like nothing else mattered. She was pretty gifted in many fields. She was full of surprises. Never a woman had made him so satisfied. As she was on him, he couldn't restrain a deep sigh of pleasure. Touching her breast, her legs, her whole body was so mesmerizing, so intoxicating. He will never get rid of it. As they got tired of exploring their bodies, they lay against each other. They were naked, they were free, they were happy.

"Have sweet dreams, future husband."

"You too, future wife."

Neil kissed her forehead. She fell asleep quickly, her head on Neil's chest. He could listen to her breath. Sometimes, she sighed, sometimes, she snored a little. She was adorable. She was perfect. She was his. And he could never thank the heaven enough for this gift. He fell asleep looking at Claire and thinking about the last present he could give her here in Thailand before going back to reality.

When she woke up, he was still asleep. She looked at him, skimming his skin, just to check everything was real. As she was contemplating her man, she noticed a new tattoo on the inside of his left arm. She never saw it before. And if she remembered well, until a few days ago, he had a dressing at this place. Had he gotten a new tattoo recently? She should have noticed! She looked closely. It was a little angel. It was nice but definitively not coherent with all the other antler tattoos across his chest and on his right forearm!

A few minutes later, Neil woke up too. He turned his head to see Claire's face. "Good morning, pretty face." She smiled and giggled. "Good morning, handsome man." He laughed, not expecting this answer. Then, they remained some minutes silent, looking at each other. The idiotic happiness from yesterday was still there, it ran all over their bodies, making them feel all over the place.

"I found out about your new tattoo."

"Oh this one?" he showed the little angel inside his left arm. She nodded. "I made it in Khao Luang Cave. When I left you for a while… In fact, I saw the monks of the place were making special tattoos and I wanted to do one just to celebrate the two of us, here, together, alone…in love…."

She dropped a kiss on his chest and locked her eyes in his. She didn't know what to say. It was the nicest thing someone had done for her. She pressed herself closer to Neil. She was not good with words to show her emotions. To be fair, she too often stumbled on them trying to express how she felt. He dropped a kiss on her hair and stayed a while to smell her perfume.

"Why an angel? Is there a figurative meaning? I mean… As much as I like it, it has nothing to see with your antler collection…"

She let her fingers run over the so-called tattoos while talking with him. He reached her hand and took it in his.

"I made it because you're my angel… Without you, I'll be six feet under. You force me to fight, to believe in life again and to forget all about my demons…"

This afternoon, they didn't leave their bed, enjoying each other's bodies again and again.

As the days rose, Claire was up. The entire last day had been so deliciously good, she still smiled thinking about it. Making love with Neil was one of the sweetest things in her world. He could be so soft and passionate in the same time. She loved this mix, revealing her own wilderness. She got up early to make her baggage. Their trip in Thailand was coming to an end. Bittersweet day. Tomorrow at the same time, they'll be in a plane for San José.

Of course, she was glad to see her friends again and to practice medicine. But she was sad not to be only with Neil. She really enjoyed those last 6 months away from any negativity, any judgement. She just missed being a doctor, it was written in her DNA.

"Already up?"

"Yes, I wanted to prepare my suitcase for tomorrow. You know…"

Neil woke up. He came closer to Claire, put his arms around her waist and placed his head in her neck. He loved being there, just kissing her and smelling her hair, her perfume. "About this… We're not leaving tomorrow finally… I have one last place to show you before we get back to San Jose. It was not planned but it means a lot to me and I wanted you to see it…"

Claire turned to see his face. "What? I thought…" She looked puzzled. She didn't see this coming.

"Oh but if you like I can call the airplane company and ask them if there's still…"

She put her forefinger on his mouth. "I just want to be with you. Any more moment spends with only you is the best thing I could ever have ask for. But how do you convince Mrs. Lynch to give us more days off, I think 6 months was the maximum we could take without risking our positions in Bonaventure…"

"What can I say? Mrs. Lynch adores me!" He kissed her on the mouth. She kissed him back.

A few hours later, they were in the car, ready to go on the road again. "Where are we going?" Neil stayed silent, smiling. "You won't tell me, right?"

"Guess you're right! Even if you look at me with your puppy eyes."

He drove for hours before stopping the car in front of a large lake. The view was amazing. Lotus everywhere, this was unbelievable! "Neil, this is beautiful!"

"Welcome to Talay Bua Daeng. It's even better when we get out of the car!"

They got out and enjoyed the view for several minutes. The panorama was stunning. Claire remained voiceless for a while. Neil enjoyed the landscape too, then gathered all the strength he had left to ask Claire if she'll be too crazy to agree to the idea he had two days ago. He took a deep breath.

"Claire, I'd like to talk to you about something…"

"Yeah… What is it? You seem so mysterious. It scares me, Neil…"

He reached her hand. "No need to worry… It's more like a proposition, an offer, an idea I've got two days ago…" She looked at him with questioning eyes. He continued. "As we are engaged then, I was thinking about getting married here… Only the two of them…"

She was surprised. She was delighted. She was… She had no words. On the contrary, Neil was stressed, anxious. "So would you agree to marry me here? I know it may sound crazy but I want to do it when we're only the two of us. Of course, we could host a little ceremony at home with our closest friends. But first, I would like just to be with you… What do you think of this? "

For any answer, she kissed him deeply, made his tongue turn upside down before totally connecting with hers. Then, she put her head on his chest, listening to her favorite sound in this world. She pressed her body against his and finally looked at him in the eyes.

"No one has ever asked me to do such crazy things. I don't know why but when I'm with you, I feel like I can do anything and it'll be an honor to become your wife here… If you do accept to marry me in shorts and flip flop because it's all classy I have in my backpack!"

"I think we can figure it out this last point."

He drove up to the hotel on the coast of the lake. As they arrived, a man waved at them. "Hey Neil, how are you?"

"Hey Ben. Glad to see you! It's been so long. How are you?"

"I'm fine. Happy to have never come home to be fair. I'm so glad to see you! How life is going? And most important, who's this beautiful woman with you?"

"Ben, meet Claire, my fiancée." Claire literally shivered when she heard Neil telling these words. "Claire, this is Ben, my childhood's friend who made me jump into the waterfalls."

Claire couldn't restrain a laugh. "Nice to meet you."

"Let me just a few minutes and I show you your room!"

Ben left them. "So this is the man who almost killed you?"

"Yes! This misfortune both taught us so many things: for me, it was my faith in medicine, for him, it was that he never wanted to go back to the States."

"Glad you chose medicine then." She winked at him.

"And I'm back if you want to follow me." Ben led them to a stunning room which overlooked the lake. Both were in awe. "This is beautiful…"

"And it's all yours for the week to come!"

"We can't accept, this is too much."

"Anything for you my friend! Speaking of anything, I found a priest who's ready to officiate on Thursday…"

Neil went to him and shook his hand. "Perfect!"

"And Claire, I think you should talk to my wife, Hansa. She may have something to help you! You can meet her tomorrow, if you like. Tonight, she had to pick our sons to their drawing lesson."

Claire nodded. This last escape was full of surprises. Even Neil seemed to know nothing about what was going on then. "See you tomorrow!" And Ben closed the door, leaving Neil and Claire alone in this amazing suite. They spent some more minutes to explore the room. It was so huge and the nature surrounding them was absolutely stunning.

"I've the impression of being in a dream… except it's real. But I can't believe it. Is this crazy?"

He looked at her and smiled. They were at the place they needed to be. "Not crazy, just perfect…." She smiled back at him. "Yes, perfect." The evening went well, maybe too short. They had dinned in their suite. Ben ordered them two menus and made them deliver in their room. The food was delicious. After dinner, they sat in the sofa right in front of the patio door. Nature was amazing during the day. But in the night, it was more mysterious, more impenetrable. They could hear the noise and the yelling of the animals living in the jungle under their eyes. They tried to guess for hours what kind of animals it could: Monkeys? Lemurs? Varans? Elephants for sure!

"I'm gonna miss this when we get home."

"Yeah, me too."

She cuddled along Neil and put her head on his shoulder. He placed his arm around her to keep her even closer than she was. "Forever in our heads, forever in our hearts."

"Always."

They stayed like this for hours. They didn't want to move, they didn't want to go anywhere. They just wanted to be next to each other and enjoy the view. The definition of a perfect evening for the both of them.