39

“I envisioned all sorts of scenarios but I never pictured this happening,” I told Noah. It was a beautiful mid-morning and it was scorching outside but we were doing well in the safety of our suite with air conditioning. Noah’s left arm was looped around my waist, his body pressing against mine from behind. “I never dreamed that I’d be lying in your arms, both of us happy. I never thought that one day everything would feel okay. That my problems would all seem like a nightmare that ends when one wakes up. That one day I wouldn’t have to worry about a lot of things.” Tears were now cascading down my cheeks.

“My love, forget all the bad things because your pain will stay in the past,” his hand moved upward and I ached my back as my whole body tingled. We had made love a number of times already but not enough to satiate our bodies. At that time, we couldn’t keep our hands off each other and that’s why we had abandoned a bird watching sessi