Chapter 17: Revealing Questions 2
In his contemplative thoughts, Nathan felt deeply humbled. Wrapped in the warmth of this natural wonder, with Elizabeth looking like heaven itself in his intimate gift, Nathan found himself wondering how they'd ever manage to part that night—how they'd return to their own cold beds, sleeping alone. Even just the thought of his lonely night ahead led him to pull her in closer, savoring every second of this breathtaking experience.
Realizing with reluctance that they'd soon have to move on if they wanted to reach their final destination, Nathan knew they'd better finish up their homework. They'd reached the last of their inconsequential questions—one that for the last six months had been on his mind far more often than he cared to admit. But first, he planned to consult with the teacher to make certain she approved of his intention to proceed.
"Before continuing on, Mrs. Thornton," Nathan asked, his voice soft and low beside her ear. "I thought I'd check first—have I answered the Allie question to your satisfaction?"
Elizabeth giggled at his faux formality. The kind but firm teacher, who was also known to be a reflective author in addition to a magnetic, adventurous person, someone who never gave up on people, readily answered in the affirmative.
"Nathan, you've covered everything I hoped you would…and quite a bit more," she smiled, his earlier words of praise filling her mind and expanding her heart. "And in case I forgot, I'm adding a gold star for your verbal essay earlier on the undeniable benefits of coffee."
Nathan laughed, a feeling Elizabeth loved when nestled close, the way each chuckle rumbled through him, sending a warm vibration that seemed to spread through her own chest.
"I think we both deserved that gold star," Nathan said, though he definitely remembered how they'd cut their verbal essay short when the heat became too enticing. Maybe soon they'd have a chance to revisit that last claim about coffee being extra hot. As the man in his mind began to wander in that direction, his unflappable Mountie composure took over and brought him back to the distraction of homework he'd wisely put in place to keep them from jumping too near or too often to the edge of their boundaries.
"Well…" Nathan started, flipping through his memory to recall just now what Elizabeth spoke of before the mention of coffee. Ah yes, he thought. Of course I remember. Allie. Nathan interlaced his fingers with Elizabeth's and settled their linked arms at her waist.
"I think your inconsequential question became quite consequential," Nathan noted, his Mountie mode in peak performance, having recently been summoned. "I guess we'll see if the same happens to mine. I'm noticing a pattern here, aren't you?"
Happily curled within his embrace, Elizabeth slipped into her practiced teacher voice, "Excellent observation, Nathan. Now, moving right along, what did you prepare for the class today?"
Nathan laughed softly, always appreciating the levity Elizabeth brought to his life.
"So, I'll admit," Nathan confessed with a guilty grin. "I've wondered quite a few times what you did with your chocolate egg—the one I gave to you. Do you still have it?"
"I do," was all Elizabeth offered at first. She was unsure of how much she cared to divulge about the candy that had in some form or another become her daily companion the last six months.
But, with Nathan's expectant eyes searching hers, she figured he deserved to know, even if it was a little bit embarrassing. After all, he'd gone to great lengths with the egg she hadn't even known he'd kept—leaving two halves beautifully packaged as rewards atop the cliff.
"Okay, I'll tell you more," Elizabeth said with resignation. "But you have to promise not to laugh."
Intrigued, Nathan's lips curved only to a half smile, at which point he met her request with understanding. "I promise," he assured her, immediately forcing his lips to behave.
Elizabeth lowered her eyes and momentarily tucked in her lips before beginning. To warrant her diverted gaze, she focused her attention on tracing Nathan's fingers beneath the water's surface, softly stroking down each one until she gently pressed her loving imprint into his neatly trimmed fingernails before moving onto the next.
"I felt so hopeful for us, Nathan," she recalled of that night. "I'll admit to lingering there at the door for a time, looking at that little egg." With the rush of memories from that day, Elizabeth sighed, as if in a dream. The feel of Nathan's strong arms supporting her after she slipped, the electricity between them as their fingers touched the moment Nathan transferred the symbolic piece of chocolate to her hand.
"With all that had gone on between us," she explained, "I wanted to keep that feeling close, so I…" Elizabeth paused, glancing up at Nathan to read his expression. Seeing only the one she'd come to know best—his look of deep, committed love—she continued. "So, for a time I left the chocolate egg near the wash basin in the bathroom."
Instantly, Nathan's eyebrows raised, and a small hint of a smile played at his lips. Not what I expected, he thought.
Elizabeth giggled in response. "I know it seems silly," she acknowledged. "But it was the perfect way to start and end my day." All in all, she felt her reasoning was sound.
"It doesn't seem silly at all, 'Lizabeth," Nathan assured her, thoroughly warmed by how that little egg had come to mean so much to both of them. "I was just surprised by the location is all."
Always the Mountie, Nathan mentally noted her choice of words earlier, now questioning her with another round of raised brows. "You said 'for a time'—that the egg was in the bathroom. Dare I ask where it is now?" he teased, his voice lighthearted but still tinged with immeasurable care.
For a long moment, Nathan's question hung in the encompassing mist of the hot springs. Just when he was about to ask again, figuring she might not have registered the question, Elizabeth confessed the intimate location of their beloved chocolate egg. "It's now on a pillow, next to mine."
Nathan didn't intend to, but he noticeably gasped, touched by the physical place she'd already created for him in her life. It didn't take Mountie intuition to guess her reference to a pillow meant the ones on her bed.
"Really?" he whispered, his eyes twinkling with delight.
A smile filled Elizabeth's flushed face as she nodded in response. "Really," she admitted.
Although kisses were often where this couple ended up, the tenderness in Elizabeth's confession called for something different. Nathan's hand gently cradled her neck as he leaned in and rested his head against hers, whispering softly, "That's sweet, 'Lizbeth."
He thought of his own memento that had filled varying spots in his rowhouse—the "Keeper" photo. Drawing back slightly, he brushed a kiss across the side of her forehead, lingering as he left his lips in place.
"It so happens, I've done something similar," he offered in return, his lips lightly caressing her skin as he spoke.
Elizabeth couldn't help but shift, turning her head to meet Nathan's gaze. Curious about what he might share, her heart fluttered at the unexpected glimpse of this sentimental side of Nathan.
"Remember that photo Carson took of the two of us, the one at Clara and Jesse's wedding?"
As Elizabeth's eyes widened in surprise, Nathan, his blue eyes lighting up with warmth, smiled softly, the familiar smile lines at the corners of his eyes deepening in a way that always made her heart skip, a notable jump from the more subtle flutter.
"I'll take that as a 'yes,'" Nathan answered, followed by an amused chuckle.
Elizabeth settled back comfortably against him as he further explained, speaking now only into the steam swirling around them. "Carson saw right through me, as it turned out, and without much explanation passed the photo on once he got the wedding pictures developed."
Nathan's gaze now fell to their interlaced hands, as he thought of how to express his emotions without much fanfare around that treasured snapshot of the two of them. "Anyway, it's been in different positions in my house, too, before making it to my work desk this last week."
Again, Elizabeth turned slightly, just in time to catch Nathan's characteristic half smile at the latter admission, her eyes lovingly accusing him of not mentioning the photo's re-appearance, especially now that it rested on his desk for all to see.
"Nathan!" Elizabeth exclaimed, her heart bursting. "All these years you've had that photo?" She had nothing on him with her little Easter egg companion of just six months. How had she not noticed the photo in his office?
Unexpectedly a rush of self consciousness swept over her. Having never personally seen the photo, she dearly hoped that she looked like herself, that she wasn't caught mid-smile or what not.
Pushing past concerns over her own appearance, Elizabeth returned to the picture's placement on Nathan's desk and conducted a quick memory check. She realized that in the few times she'd been in his office over the past week, she'd never actually crossed to the other side of his desk to notice the new addition. But now, thinking of it, her heart melted on the spot. He'd finally been able to publicly display a photo he'd secretly held onto for... what, five years now?
At Elizabeth's empathetic expression, read even without the full details of her face in view, Nathan felt driven to share more. "There were a few times I thought about tossing it out," he admitted, referring to her time with Lucas. "It was just too painful to think of what could've been, you know?
In response to the helplessness in Nathan's voice, Elizabeth lifted their joined hands from beneath the water and cradled them against her cheek.
"But, when it came down to it…" Nathan continued, soaking in the love he read in every unspoken word shared through her body. "I could never bring myself to throw it away."
Elizabeth's expression said it all, though Nathan felt her reaction more than he saw it, the depth of her love pressing into his chest, like a promise of what she knew of their future. It wasn't just in the softness of the way she settled against him. It was in the comforting way she held his hands against her cheek. Then, when she shifted them to her lips, her breath was warm against the skin of their joined hands. She tenderly pressed a kiss to the back of his hand, and held her lips in place—one second for every year of his pain, as if her kiss could somehow bridge the gaps to where they were now.
So much for trying to keep it simple, Nathan thought. Having now introduced to Elizabeth the weight that photo carried for him, he decided he might as well share the entirety of what it represented. "I actually even fell asleep with the photo once…not long after I gave you the chocolate egg."
"Nathan," Elizabeth breathed, the rising emotion evident in her voice. No longer was a handhold enough or even a lingering kiss attempting to heal past hurts. She scooted easily onto his lap and wrapped this giant of a man into her arms, holding him tighter than tight. As the warmth of the moment filled every undiscovered place in their hearts, they felt seamlessly connected and eternally bound.
But after a time, the stillness pressed at Nathan until he couldn't help revisiting the small semblance of himself resting on a pillow in Elizabeth's bedroom. With a mischievous glint in his eye, he waited for her gaze to find his before announcing a verdict Elizabeth hadn't even realized he was formulating. "So, the chocolate egg is your new potato, I see."
Elizabeth's mouth shot open in surprise, thinking up until then that she'd actually managed to escape her story without Nathan's fun-loving teasing. Little did she know, he was just getting started.
Once Nathan spotted her amusement at his reference by the sparkle in her eyes, he quickly jumped on a couple of follow up questions.
"Do you kiss me before going to sleep?" he whispered, breaking through the symbolism of the egg, while at the same time referencing the infamous potato.
As Elizabeth's attempt at an icy glare failed, Nathan's lips felt inspired by his own question and took hers in a passionate kiss that ended far too briefly when he unfortunately started to laugh mid-kiss.
Now, deep within the humor, Elizabeth figured she might as well divulge all. While feeling justified at how much love she harbored for Nathan's small blue gift, she responded to his question with a teasing tone of her own.
"I know it might seem silly to you, Nathan Grant," Elizabeth said, her eyes twinkling with mischief. "But, in answer to your question, I have indeed given that chocolate egg a little kiss each night before bed. And why not?" She raised an eyebrow, a knowing smile playing on her lips. "It just so happens that I've had much better dreams since." She revealed nothing more, leaving the interpretation to Nathan's imagination.
"Hmmmm," Nathan replied in a contemplative tone, considering if his own chocolate egg, now symbolically cut in half, might have the same effect.
"I made the mistake of telling Rosemary once," Elizabeth confided, giving Nathan a knowing glance. "You know, her 'gift' and all."
Oh, Nathan knew. In fact, before the night was over, what he really knew was that he needed to make sure he and Elizabeth were very clear on what Rosemary could ever pull out of Elizabeth about this date, gift or not. But, before he could think on it more, Nathan was drawn from his thoughts as Elizabeth added new light to the consequence of her mistake.
"So, if you remember, which I'm sure you do," Elizabeth laughed, remembering Nathan's embarrassed look, standing at her door. "When Rosemary talked about giving Goldie a 'little kiss,' that was more than just an announcement that she knew we'd finally kissed—it was a playful poke at me as well…about the chocolate egg. Elizabeth rolled her eyes up in her head and sighed in loving exasperation at her best friend's antics.
"That Rosemary," Nathan said, shaking his head as the only way to express his range of emotions—surprise, concern, and admiration. "Another Mountie's daughter," is all he added, as if that said it all…because, frankly, they both knew it did. She was unsuspectedly clever and unexpectedly sneaky.
As Nathan's active mind meandered back to his question about the chocolate egg kiss, he remembered his other follow up question regarding his symbolic placement on the pillow. "There's something else I'm wondering about, 'Lizbeth, about that little chocolate egg."
Elizabeth eyed him warily, sensing they were still solidly settled in the depths of their playful banter.
With neither an invitation nor an objection, Nathan decidedly took the lead and leaned in closer until his and Elizabeth's breaths mingled, their eyes dancing a teasing tango. Influenced by the recent mention of Rosemary's name, he paused for dramatic effect. Then, in a low voice hinting at both humor and romance, Nathan asked, "Do you tuck me in?"
Despite the seductive undertones, Nathan couldn't help the rumbling laugh that escaped once the question had left his lips, thoroughly amused by his own line of interrogation.
"Nathan Grant," Elizabeth scolded, though she was hard pressed to keep her giggles restrained. Where she'd typically slap at his arm or his chest in added flirty measure, the water dynamic posed a momentum problem. Instead, she pressed playfully against his chest beneath the water. But as her fingers touched his bare skin, reminded of that glorious scooped neck, her hand, like a magnet, was drawn to stay.
As their eyes met with a growing passion, the couple continued the familiar trajectory they so often followed. In just minutes, they'd jumped from a heartfelt conversation to a heated interchange bridged in between by a round of their flirty banter.
Feeling perhaps a little too relaxed from their time in the hot springs, Nathan plunged forward with what he otherwise may have thought, but in another situation might've chosen not to voice. Gently stroking down Elizabeth's arm, Nathan wore a pouty look Elizabeth had only seen on rare occasions.
"You know, I might be feeling a bit jealous now of that chocolate egg," Nathan admitted.
"Care to elaborate, Constable?" Elizabeth grinned, leaning in, loving where she thought this might be going.
"It just so happens that I'm looking forward to me being the last thing your lips touch before bed."
Elizabeth eyes darted to Nathan's surprised by his growing candor. Although there was that mischievous twinkle she knew well, it was unusually paired with evident passion as he said with an open heart, "No more potatoes, no more chocolate eggs, just me."
Nothing else needed to be said because, for Elizabeth, there couldn't possibly be a more enticing invitation to kiss her favorite constable, a Mountie who also happened to be her chosen sweetheart. Red or blue, she loved him completely.
Already positioned on Nathan's lap, every part of him was perfectly within her reach. Gently at first, she ran one hand through his hair, his words "just me" still echoing through her mind. Compelled to answer, she smiled and told Nathan, "That will happen, soon enough."
Her words, a seeming promise, ignited them both, anticipating the time when Nathan himself, instead of the chocolate egg, could rest in bed beside Elizabeth. Between a series of kisses that were rapidly deep diving in desire, Nathan managed to mutter a few words. "The consequential questions…"
"We'll get there, Constable," Elizabeth promised with a smile that suggested a new agenda. "Consider this recess," she added, her voice seductively low, as she pulled him into a deluge of steamy kisses.
Nathan's mind, trained by years of duty and protocol, instinctively understood the value of following rules and orders. So, he willingly and wholeheartedly accepted this teacher's direction.
With Elizabeth's matched intensity, the boundaries he'd firmly held in place out of respect began to fade as she, herself, welcomed him to give her more. Not even a minute passed before both were dizzy, deprived of the usual amount of oxygen and impacted by the steam rising from the hot springs, not only mentioned in the context of water vapor.
Once Nathan and Elizabeth's lips reluctantly parted, they knowingly separated physically to some degree as well. After a few recovery breaths, followed by an exchange of affected smiles and glances, Elizabeth circled back to the revised agenda and asked, "Will we be moving on to the 'consequential' questions now, Mr. Grant?"
With the thinking part of his brain active again, Nathan looked up at the sky, noting the time, and lifted his hands, turning them back and forth. "I think we might be prunes if we stay much longer in here. How about we cover those over dinner?"
Elizabeth had been so fed by Nathan's kisses, she hadn't even thought about food. Judging the sun's position, she realized it was probably already nearing four. "Are we trying to get back before dark?" she asked, letting Nathan now take the lead, her heart fluttering at the thought of what else might lay ahead.
"Maybe," Nathan said evasively. "But, on a need to know basis, I'll at least tell you we have one more stop, if you feel up to it."
"Well, let's make a deal, Constable," Elizabeth said, readying to reveal her terms. "I'm only willing to leave this heavenly place if you promise to bring me back."
Nathan grinned, equally pleased with what they'd shared in this intimately remote setting.
"Done," he said decidedly, giving her a series of three brief kisses, each one lingering longer as if hinting of the romantic night to come. Starting to rise, Nathan announced, "I'll get our towels."
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Author's Notes:
In relation to Elizabeth's chocolate egg and Nathan's memento–check out SimplyStories' "The Keeper," as a first-time read or a re-read. It's one of my favorite fanfic stories of all time!
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this set of chapters! I'd love to hear your thoughts if you have a minute to comment!
