Chapter 97- Every Moment of Every Day
*Well… I had planned on this being my last chapter for the "Christmas/Wedding/Honeymoon Special", but these two and their *steamy* bath got away from me as I was typing up that scene. Because of that… we will get one more Honeymoon chapter after this one before jumping into the next "season" of 'So This Is Love'.
This chapter is filled with more moments of discovering and learning from one another. I hope you're having as much fun with Honeymoon Nate and Charlie as I have had in creating them. The FLIRT is strong with these two.
A heady vapor of amber and sandalwood soap settled around the pair in the tub. Nathan rested against the porcelain side as Charlotte sat between his slightly bent legs, her back against his chest, encircled in his arms. Steam rising from the warm water.
"What's this scar from?" Charlotte asked, her hand brushing over an area on his thigh. Water ran in thin rivets from her fingertips, along Nathan's knee, and back into the bath.
Charlotte could feel Nathan grin against her hair at the memory. "When I was young, maybe four or five years old, Colleen and I were playing out on the farm. She had recently learned how to climb trees at school and when she wanted to get away from her pesky younger brother, she would scamper up this old oak we had in the backyard. Well, one day, I was tired of Colleen running away from me, so I decided to climb up after her."
"Let me guess, you didn't know how to climb a tree."
"I figured out how to climb a tree," Nathan tucked a stray strand of Charlotte's hair behind her ear, pressing a kiss to her temple. "I just didn't know how to get down. Except to fall out. Ended up hitting a few large branches on the way back to the ground. Thought I broke the bone in my leg there, but it ended up just being a deep bruise and needing several stitches where I had cut open the skin."
"Did you climb any more trees after that?"
"I did. Colleen felt so bad about the accident, after my leg healed, she spent the rest of the summer teaching me the proper way to climb up a tree and how to get back down," Nathan chuckled. "That big oak tree became like our sanctuary. Where we would go when things would get bad between mom and dad before we moved to the city."
Charlotte ran her hand over the scar on Nathan's thigh in a reassuring and comforting manner. She always appreciated when he shared his past with her. Trusting her with the good and the bad of his life.
Nathan's touch trailed up Charlotte's forearm. "While we are talking about each other's scars, what's this one on your arm from?"
"I told you about my horse, Mac, right? The one I had on the ranch."
"Mmmmhmmm," Nathan answered as he leaned forward and pressed his lips along the back of Charlotte's neck down to her shoulder blade. Her body shivered at the sensation.
"Mac was a little green when he first came to the ranch and Dad thought he would be a good project for me. I had watched Dad and the other cowboys train horses for years and he thought it was time I learned. Turns out I should have spent a little more time on groundwork and getting Mac used to the saddle before I decided to swing on and go for a bronc ride. The other ranch hands said I stuck him pretty good, until one particular buck from Mac flew me over his neck. My arm took the weight of the fall and snapped. Compound fracture right there."
"Did you end up finishing Mac's training or did one of the other cowboys?"
"I did. Dad and I both had the attitude if you get bucked off ya gotta get right back on. Not that Mom would let me get right back on until my arm completely healed, but when it did, I found myself out in the round pen again. With a little more patience this time. Mac and I ended up becoming a great team through the years."
Charlotte shifted, turning around to face Nathan in the tub. The tiled room echoed with the slosh of the water moving about them. She ran her right hand up Nathan's ribs, causing his breath to catch at her action and the seductive look upon her face. "And what about this scar that I've noticed on your side here?"
"My first solo posting with the Mounties just after I completed training was in a small town north of Drumheller. There was a barroom brawl one Saturday night and when I went in to break it up, I was on the losing end of a broken bottle."
"They stabbed you?" Charlotte's voice rose in concern.
"More like a deep cut," Nathan answered. "Still made the arrests and even filed the reports before getting stitched up by the local barber. Though, as you can tell, he didn't do as nice of a job as Carson."
"Is that the only… other… time you've been hurt on the job?"
"Other than a few minor bumps here and cuts there, yes." Nathan's hand caught hers at his side and brought it up out of the water, kissing her knuckles before guiding Charlotte's hand to encircle his neck.
"Are you ever worried that something…" Charlotte worked to swallow the lump that grew in her throat. "More will happen?"
"Every day," Nathan reached forward to push Charlotte's thick braid behind her shoulder. "I can't stand the thought of leaving Allie and now you, but I know that no matter what my profession is, or even yours, things can happen, and we just need to cherish each moment we spend together like it could be our last. I learned a long time ago we have little control in this world. It doesn't belong to us. It's out of our hands. All we can do is change the way we think and the way we live."
He ran a hand through his wet hair, raining droplets onto his eyelashes.
"I was thinking that exact same thing earlier when I was watching you work in the shop," Charlotte's fingers played through the waves at the nape of his neck. "If being married has taught me one thing in these short few days, it is that I want to wring the life out of each moment I spend with you. You're so incredibly special to me, Nathan. You fill my life with such new and wonderful things, and I strongly believe that will be how I feel every day I'm with you, not just now in this newlywed bliss, but also into the future. Working beside you. Raising our family together. Just being with you. I don't know if I will ever get enough of it. Every moment of every day with you is so incredibly precious to me. You fill so much of my mind and life."
"And my heart." She brought her lips to his in an endearing love filled kiss, before pulling back slightly. Their eyes met. Heavy with emotion. "You have become so deeply woven into every fiber of my being, there is no way we can ever be parted. In this life or the next. You and me, remember?"
Nathan reached out and touched her cheek. Charlotte put her hand over his. His smile made her heart twist.
"Always," he breathed against her lips. "Always."
After the water of the bathtub had become tepid, they toweled off and dressed in clean clothes before heading to the kitchen. Tonight, they had decided to begin Nathan's cooking lessons.
"Look what I found!" Charlotte's gleeful voice called out, causing Nathan to turn towards where she was digging through a drawer in the kitchen.
"No," he said sternly. "I'm not wearing that."
"Doesn't Bill wear an apron sometimes when he's working at the café?"
"That doesn't help your case, Charlie."
She tossed her head back and laughed but continued her pursuit with two aprons in hand. Making her way closer to where Nathan stood at the kitchen island. "Come on, Nate. Humor me. It could be the key ingredient you've been missing all along. Wear this and I'm guessing your inner chef is bound to come out."
"What happened to that whole speech about 'the uniform doesn't define who you are to me'?"
"You have a point," she smiled and laid the second apron on the counter as she looped her own over her head and tied it about her waist. "But remember, we're sharing laundry duties, so if you get something on that white Henley shirt, you're cleaning it. Not me." She winked, her eyes sparkling with humor.
"Fine," Nathan gave in, holding his hand out to Charlotte. "Give me the apron."
"I'd hoped you'd see it my way." Charlotte took the apron and stood on her tiptoes, extending the loop over Nathan's head. His hands came to rest on her hips, steadying her against him as she moved to tie the straps around his waist.
"There," Charlotte's hand's skimmed across Nathan's torso. "That isn't so bad, is it?"
When Charlotte looked up, she caught his blue eyes studying her with warm intensity. A crooked smile spread across his face. "No. It's not so bad."
Charlotte felt her pulse quicken. How did this man have such an effect on her? One glance and her thoughts scrambled. She felt as if she would melt into a puddle on the floor at any second.
"What are you teaching me to cook tonight, Mrs. Grant?" Nathan reached forward and tugged gently on her braid. "I promise to be a very attentive student."
His eyebrow wiggled suggestively, earning a giggle from Charlotte's lips.
"That depends," she stated. "Do you want to ease into it? Or jump off the cliff into the deep?"
"I'm a Mountie, remember?" Nathan tucked a piece of Charlotte's wild escaped tresses behind her ear before his fingers trailed along her elegant neck. His lips followed the path he ignited. Smiling as he heard Charlotte's sharp intake of breath and felt her fingers curl into his sides as she tried to steady her swaying body against his. "I'm up for the challenge."
"Nathan," her voice rasped. "Dinner tonight is just going to turn into pancakes again if you don't stop touching and kissing me like that."
His warm laugh dancing across her skin was like a drug, but Nathan pulled back slightly. Admiring the effect he had on his wife. "I'll try to behave myself, teacher."
"Good," she took a step out of Nathan's embrace, turning away to try and regulate her breathing. "Since you are up for the challenge, Constable. I was thinking of my favorite beef tenderloin, with roasted carrots and parsnips, and maybe for dessert, I'll have you try your hand at butterscotch pudding."
Charlotte returned her gaze in time to see Nathan's skin pale as he worked to swallow. She giggled at his response. "I promise, it sounds much harder than it is. All it needs is a few simple ingredients and a couple steps to remember. We'll take it slow."
"Where do I start?"
Charlotte grabbed a few carrots and parsnips from a storage basket and tossed them to Nathan at the kitchen island. "We'll start with peeling these. Simple enough."
As Nathan promised, he was a very attentive student. Charlotte worked beside him through every step of their meal. Peeling and cutting the carrots and parsnips. Trimming the tenderloin and then showing him how to tie it up with twine so that it would cook evenly. Then, she taught him what herbs and seasonings to use for the vegetables as well as the beef. Charlotte directed Nathan on how to work the stove so that it had the perfect heat for searing the meat and then for setting the temperature to roast both the vegetables and the tenderloin.
While their dinner finished in the oven, Charlotte gave Nathan directions on how to make the pudding. Whisking the milk and egg yolks into the brown sugar and cornstarch on the stove. She watched Nathan as he stirred and pointed out when the pudding had reached the perfect consistency to remove from the stove and pour into the small bowls she had washed up from her mother's collection. They placed the pudding in the icebox to chill at the same time, the beef was ready to be removed from the oven to rest.
Nathan and Charlotte decided their makeshift dining room table, of the cedar chest in the living room, would again work for their evening meal in front of the fireplace. They set the dinnerware and glasses about and then brought in the platter of sliced beef and roasted vegetables. Entwining hands, Nathan led the prayer over their meal. Thanking God for the food, their home, their family and friends, and most of all their time together.
"Sooooo," Charlotte drawled, watching Nathan take his first bites of the meal he had prepared. "How'd you do?"
Nathan was pensive for a moment and then a slow smile spread across his face.
"See… I knew you were holding out on me," Charlotte joked. "Your not as bad in the kitchen as you thought."
"Just needed the right teacher."
After dinner, and their dessert of butterscotch pudding, Nathan and Charlotte retreated again to the warm comfort of the living room. As Nathan added another log to the fire, building the flames, Charlotte went to the opposite corner of the room. Instead of starting the record player, as Nathan had assumed she would, Charlotte picked up her father's guitar and carried it over to the hearth.
"You want me to play something?" Nathan asked.
"No," Charlotte shook her head. "I want you to teach me how to play something."
"Really? I'm not sure how good I'll be. I've only been playing for a few months myself. If you want to learn, I'm sure Carson would be a much better teacher…"
"I want you… Nathan."
His mouth went dry.
"Where do I start?" Charlotte coaxed, taking his hand, and guiding him to sit on the couch. She sat in front of him, and then curled back against his chest with the guitar in her lap.
Nathan let out a shaky breath and then took Charlotte's left hand into his.
"Your hands are so small." He commented bringing her knuckles to his mouth to place a gentle kiss across them. "Some of these chords may be a little difficult for your short fingers to reach, but we'll give it a try."
"Let's start with a C chord. It's one that's used quite often," Nathan guided Charlotte's left hand to the neck of the guitar, he adjusted her fingers to the correct strings and placement on the frets. Once he was satisfied, he took her right hand and showed her how to strum the chord.
"There," he proudly stated. "That doesn't sound too bad, does it? Let's try a G chord next."
They spent the rest of the evening, curled together, learning, and creating beautiful music. Sometimes Nathan would teach, sometimes he would play, and other times they just got lost in the sweet intimacy of the moment. Touching, holding, and kissing one another.
As the fire burned low, Charlotte took the guitar and put it back in the corner of the room. Nathan was transfixed; watching her every move until she returned to his side.
"Love me," she said, taking his hand. And Nathan could do nothing else.