I jumped slightly as I felt additional weight on my bed and a pair of arms slip around my waist.

"Charlie...is that you?" I murmured sleepily.

"Damn well better be", my boyfriend of less than a year joked.

"Baby, I'm so glad you're home."

"Me too, Mary-Courtney", he sighed, hugging me. "Me too."

I sat up and turned the bedside lamp on. The clock on the nightstand read 2:27 a.m. It was late and I was dead tired after a long day with an equally longer day fast approaching. I knew all too soon there would be the familiar annoying buzz of my alarm clock sounding off at an all too bright and early 6:00 a.m., a necessary evil if I wanted to make it to job on time. After graduating high school at T.C. Williams in Alexandria, Virginia, I had attended Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York. New York was such a huge change from Virginia but all my life, as much as I loved my home, I had always wanted to get out and travel the world meeting new people and seeing new things. College and being on my own for the first time was a whole new exciting world. I graduated with a degree in general business management and not long after was recruited for a job in Public Relations for an advertising agency in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I enjoyed my new life and my new job and my new but tiny apartment in the city. I had new friends and even made enough cash to buy myself my first car...a brand spanking new silver 1978 Pontiac Trans Am. Life was sweet and I was happy and things couldn't have been better. Then I met Charles Foreman. As long as I live I'd never forget the day the handsome sales representative walked into one of our office meetings. His face was strong and striking and handsome, his brown hair slightly shaggy and his blue suit a little rumpled. But he was smart as a whip and just as friendly and kind as he was good looking. He was a good boy, as my mama would say, and soon he became my boy. After all the pretty girls in short skirts swooning and carrying on over Charlie, he asked me out. On our first we saw a movie and then he took me dancing. Charlie was...fun. A little too fun maybe. I'd never quite met anybody like him. He was wild and crazy and spontaneous. After just a few months, he suggested we move in together. For a small town, proper, Christian girl, the whole idea seemed ridiculous to me. Everyone knew you were supposed to be married to a man before you lived with him, my God, what would my mother say? She'd have a conniption fit for sure and for that very reason alone is probably why I went along with Charlie's idea. The fact that we were so opposite was a good thing and really endeared me to Charlie but sometimes I felt like I was someone else, living another person's life almost. Here I was on my own, living my life, taking care of myself as a young professional woman but deep inside I never lost sight of the shy Southern belle from Virginia who would always remain inside me.

"How was your trip, sweetie?" I asked as I yawned and stretched my arms.

One of the perks of the company was that Charlie and I both often got to travel the country.

"Same old, same old", he shrugged. "Miami's always fun but it wasn't the same without you. I know I would have had tons more fun if you were there."

I smiled and stroked his face. I did miss him when he was gone for days, sometimes weeks at a time but another part of me secretly enjoyed the alone time. But I was happy. Day to day I was never quite sure where the relationship was going with Charlie and that was the fun part. He brought out a whole new side of me, one that I hadn't known existed.

"I bought you a present though", he said, reaching for a small white shopping bag.

"Charles David Foreman! What did you go and do that for? You didn't have to get me anything."

"Now I couldn't come home without something for my favorite girl. Here baby. Open it up."

I looked in the bag to find a beautiful blue scarf.

"Oh Charlie! Oh honey, it's absolutely gorgeous! Thank you. I love it."

"And I love you", he grinned. "Listen Mary-Courtney, I've been thinking...you and I both have been so busy with work and all. I was thinking maybe we could take off a week and go on a vacation or something."

"A vacation? Where would we go?"

"Virginia", he answered with a twinkled of mischief in those baby brown eyes.

"Virginia, huh? And why would we go there. What are you up to Charlie?"

"I don't know", he shrugged. "It's just that I really love you and we've been together for a while and things are going great now but...I don't know. You never talk about home or your past or anything. I just want to see what your life used to be like. I want to meet your friends and your folks, baby. What do you think about that?"

I honestly didn't know what to say. Charlie and I never had talked much about my life before him and before Milwaukee. Not that I was ashamed of anything. I loved my parents, even though they annoyed the hell out of me for the most part and my friends meant the world to me. I could close my eyes and in a second sweet memories would take me back to the days of hanging with Gerry, Emma, Rev, Petey, Alan, Louie, Julius and the gang. Although time and circumstances didn't allow us to get together frequently, we'd all managed to stay in touch somehow the years since school.

"I don't know, Charlie. I guess that would be okay. I mean, if you really want to..."

"Baby, don't sound so excited", he laughed sarcastically.

"No it's not that, it's just...I don't know. It's weird sometimes with Mama and Daddy. Weird and complicated. I haven't been home in a while. Sometimes they can be total nut jobs, if you know what I mean."

"All parents are. I think that's their job", Charlie laughed. "I don't care about that. Besides, they can't be that bad being how they raised such a beautiful and wonderful girl. But I really want to meet them. I think we'd have a nice time."

"Okay", I finally agreed.

After all, just how bad could it be? It had been over a year since I last saw my parents and just the thought of seeing my old high school chums brought a smile a mile wide to my lips.

"Okay?"

"Okay", I grinned.

"That's more like it. That's the smile I love to see. What do you think about the end of next week?"

"Sounds good. We'll just have to put in for a few days off."

"No problem. Oh baby I can't wait. This is gonna be a great time, I can tell it already."

Charlie's enthusiasm was contagious. It made excited.

"Yeah it'll be fun. I must warn you though, Virginia winters can be brutal. We get a lot of snow sometimes around this time."

"Baby, I grew up in Chicago. Trust me, you don't have to tell me twice about brutal winters."

I looked up at him and smiled.

"Okay. Virginia it is then. Next week we'll be there with bells on, rain, shine, snow or sleet."

"Hell or high water", he grinned.

"It's getting late, sweetie. We both have long days tomorrow that start way too early. That clock is gonna be buzzing before we know it. Let's go to bed."

"Let's...", he agreed, taking off his shirt and snuggling next to me.

In less than a minute I felt his hands under my shirt tickling the underside of my belly.

"Hey", I laughed. "I thought we were going to sleep."

"You said bed. I didn't hear a thing about sleep."

I laughed as he pulled me towards him.

"Mary-Courtney, I love you", he said in a serious tone. "I really do love you."

I ran my fingers through the tussled mop on his head. Charlie was my man and I loved him and I loved being intimate with him. Still sex was a very touchy issue for me, dating all the way back to my unfortunate loss of virginity to Ray Budds. In all aspects Charlie was twice the man Ray could ever hope to be but still I could never let myself go and be completely comfortable in his arms, even in the most private and intimate of situations.

"Is everything okay, babe?" he breathed. "Are you alright? I mean, if you don't feel like it or whatever..."

"No it's okay", I quickly said, putting a finger to his lips. "Of course I want to."

He smiled again and placed a lingering kiss on my lips.

"I love you."

"I love you too, Charlie."