Chapter 45 - Memory lane.

The next morning, Louisa woke up first. This happened rarely, Martin or James usually were up and around much earlier than she was. Sometimes she just pretended to be still sleeping, because she loved hearing her two men in their morning rituals. She loved James' happy babbles, answered by Martin either by an explanation about the developping of bone structure in an infant or by his semi-angry remark to his son not to wake his mummy. All of it, half whispered, with his velvetty soft voice, full of love.

Today, everybody else was still sound asleep. Louisa carefully turned around to look at her husband. Martin looked so relaxed, no scowl to be seen. He even seemed to smile in his sleep. Her heart swell with love for this exceptional man. She hoped that he was dreaming about the more than pleasant night before.

Ever since the very first time their first night together, Martin kept surprising her, which was a secret she kept preciously. Nobody ever seemed to understand what she saw in this intelligent but ever so rude and grumpy man. It was an unspoken deal between them, never to talk about their private intimate live with anyone. As nobody would believe her anyway and probably would make fun of her, it was an easy task.

Her thoughts brought her back to that very first evening after Holly's unfortunate fall on a bottle of milk. The thought that Holly could have died at that very moment, still made her shiver. It was at that moment, when Martin saved Holly's life, that she realized that however they tried to split up, she would never be able to bear to live without Martin. Much to her surprise, it was Martin, who had actually said that. When he was about to leave, he had put down his bag and the defibrilator and blurted 'Marry me! Please Louisa, I can't bear to live without you!' She remembered running towards him. She had literally jumped into his strong arms and they had been in that firm embrace for a long time. But Martin hadn't kissed her properly then, he had only kissed her on top of her head, murmuring 'Oh Louisa'... after a while, she broke loose from the embrace and she had looked at him quizically.

'Louisa..' he stammered, 'Uhm.. I'd kiss you, but the vomiting... I don't want to spoil the evening due to bad breath... My bad breath', he hurried to specify.

Relieved, Louisa smiled to him and said, 'well I think we both smell a bit of stress, to put it mildly. Why don't you go back to the surgery and freshen up? I will get rid of the smell of blood here and do just the same.. freshen up that is.' 'Thank you', he said and he just took her in his arms again for a short moment before heading to the door. 'You will come back, won't you? You won't let me down?' She called after him, anxiously. 'Of course I will come back, I never break a promise! See you in an hour' , he shouted and the door slammed in its locks.

After he left, she stood mesmerized in the middle of the kitchen for a moment. She needed some time to let sink in what just happened. But then she pulled herself together and cleaned the kitchen floor wit lots of water and soap. Then she checked the fridge. It was usually very empty, but with Holly's visit, she had plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as some fine cheeses. No meat, but that wouldn't bother Martin probably. Anyway, she wasn't hungry at all..

Her watch told her that she had still 30 minutes before he'd be back, so she ran upstairs to change the sheets of the bed. She didn't really know what to expect from the evening, but 'Better be prepared, Miss Glasson!', she said to herself. Even if nothing would happen, she'd have nice and crispy clean sheets to dream of him.

Now the only thing to do was to freshen up herself. She got rid of her blood stained striped cardigan, her jeans and underwear, decent cotton panties from Tesco and an old bra. She took a cream coloured set of lace underwear from her drawer. 'Better be prepared', she repeated to herself. From her wardrobe, she chose one of her favourite dresses, a classic styled dark blue silk dress witha white collar and white buttons at the front. It would match perfectly with any of the suits Martin most certainly would wear. She hoped he'd wear her favourite one, which was a dark blue one! She wondered if he would ever notice what she was wearing. To be honest with herself, she hoped not, she hoped that he would focus on quite other things.. She blushed at the thought of those big hands roaming over her body..

'Come on girl, better not loose time with daydreaming", she hurried herself up., Martin being a man of the clock, she didn't want to be late, so she took a quick shower, buttoned up her dress and tied her long brown hair in a pony tail. She thought that was the way he liked her best. Exactly one hour after he left, she came down the stairs and at the exact moment, Martin opened the door after a short knock. Closing the door behind him, he also locked it. No undesired disturbing visitors this time!

Martin was wearing the dark blue suit she loved so much, he was just so gorgous! Although It was against her urges to just jump into his arms again, Louisa decided to give him the time to make the first move, so she stood still at the entrance of the kitchen, at the exact place where he had saved Holly's life that afternoon. For a second, he hesitated, but then, with two big steps, he closed the gap between himself and Louisa.

"Louisa", he sighed, encercling her once again in a firm embrace and pulling her close to him. She looked up at him and smiled invitingly. He bent his head and kissed her softly on her mouth. His mouth felt so soft! Such a contrast to the sharp and unkind words that so often came out of it! Louisa wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned into him to answer his kiss.

He cupped her face with one hand and stroke her cheek with his thumb, looking straight into her eyes, without even blinking. As if he was afraid she'd be gone when he reopened his eyes. 'Don't spoil it, Ellingham', he warned himself silently. It made him a bit tense, but feeling Louisa's wonderful body pressing against his, gave him the courage he needed.

He took off his suit jacket and hung it at the back of a chair. Then he swept her off her feet and carried her to the sofa. She squealed briefly when he did that, but she didn't protest any further, she just seemed surprised. He sat down on the sofa and assured that she was comfortable in his arms and on his lap.

Louisa snuggled close to him and put her arms around his waist. 'Oh this feels so good!', she thought by herself, 'I hope he doesn't spoil it..' And he didn't.. he kissed her again, this time carefully exploring her lips with the tip of his tongue. He soon found the magic code, she opened her mouth for a deeper kiss. The deepest and longest and most magic kiss she ever experienced made her forget everything around her. 'I knew it, I knew it! He is an exceptional man!', flashed through her mind when they had to come up to breathe. They looked into each other's eyes, there was no need to speak, their gaze said more than a thousand words.

They sat on the sofa for a long time, kissing endlessly, touching and stroking each other's arms and back through the fabric of their clothes. Martin kissed her neck and face and left a trail of sweet kisses along the collar of the dress, until he reached the top button. He looked up into her eyes and saw in them how much she longed for him to go on. Martin held his breath, but soon, he became a bit more couragous and he carefully opened the top buttons of her dress, making it possible for him to slide his hand under the silk top of the dress. He cupped one of her breasts in his hand and stroked it through the lacy bra. Both of them moaned. 'You're so beautiful, Louisa, so very beautiful..' , was all he kept saying. 'You're gorgous too, my exceptional man', Louisa smiled. She was still sitting on his lap and could feel that she wasn't the only one who felt more and more overdressed for the occasion.

"Are you still comfortable on this small sofa, Martin?", was all she asked. Normally, he would frown and stare at her, not knowing what she meant, but this time he got her drift immediately. He stood up from the sofa, with her still in his arms. 'Boy you are strong!', Louisa complimented him. He ignored it and carried her upstairs...

What happened then and there confirmed the love they had both waited for since a very very long time. The night would change their life forever. Neither of them ever regretted that. Despite the difficult life experiences they would have to overcome in the near future, they both knew subcontiously that the bond knotted that night would never be destroyed.

The back of Martin's fingers on her cheek brought her back to the hotel room in Dokkum.

"Happy memories?", he asked softly.

"Yes, Martin, old ones and new ones", Louisa answered with a smile. She rolled on top of him, to kiss him good morning. Pressing her naked body against his had the desired effect on him. He deepened the kiss and let his magic hands roam all over her body. It didn't take long before their bodies united once more for slow and tender lovemaking, the perfect way to start the new day together.

To be continued

Dear readers, thanks again for your patience! During my holidays, I finally found some tine again to continue the story. I somehow wanted to integrate my view on what happened the very first evening they had together. I hope you enjoyed it. Next time they will explore the universum in Franeker.