The Sibylline Oracle (22 page)

“Tell Alex what you thought about Tavish,” Camille whispered with a gleam in her eye.

Valeria laughed, and then explained, “Well…” She bit her lip, embarrassed. “I thought you were setting me up with Tavish, at first.”

Alex’s head rolled back in a hearty, rollicking laugh. He shook his head and kissed Valeria’s hair. “Don’t tell Tav! I don’t want him getting any ideas!”

When Valeria looked back down, Camille had placed a wrapped gift in front of her.

“A gift? What was this afternoon?” Valeria objected. Camille shrugged as Valeria opened it and saw a framed picture of her and Alex at the restaurant, earlier that day. “How did you get a picture of us without me even knowing?”

“You didn’t even notice me once you saw Alex!” She hugged Valeria. “Imagine! After all of my
work
on you this afternoon,” Camille teased.

Valeria had always tried to avoid anyone taking pictures of her. She felt that she looked like a cut-out stuck in the middle of a crowd of people. But not in this picture. Valeria was struck by the expression on her own face,
she was happy!
Both Alex and Valeria looked head over heels in love.

The old, Italian woman who had carried the flower baskets up to the cottage only a few days before approached Valeria and
handed her something wrapped in tissue paper. Ava gave Valeria a look of amused caution. “Brace yourself.”

It was a blue marble charm with an eyeball painted on it. Valeria was taken aback. The old woman said, “Matiasma!” Then she pointed to her own eye with a wicked look and then to Daphne, who was busy flirting with one of the young waiters.

Ava smiled. “Knew that one was coming! It’s to protect you from the evil eye of jealousy.”

The Mandolin and guitar began playing their familiar tune slowly. Alex rolled up his sleeves and looked seductively at Valeria. “Come on, we’re dancing.”

She pulled back. “No. Alex, I can’t dance.”

The whole group surrounded them and pulled Valeria into the sirtaki dance from
Zorba the Greek
. The musical energy built and Valeria danced and laughed as she clung to Alex. When the song finished, the music became softer. Alex spun Valeria around to face him, wrapping his arms around the small of her waist.

The waiters began throwing the plates down on the ground yelling, “Opa!”

Through her laughter, Valeria whispered to Alex, “Please don’t let them find the Limoges!”
This is what happiness feels like
, she thought.

As Alex and Valeria danced, first Ava and Lars came by to say good night. They hugged and kissed Valeria. One by one, the others came by and then they went back to dancing. Valeria thanked them but her attention was on Alex.

Drunk with love, celebration, and the full moon, Alex stared down at Valeria with the glow of love and she took the opportunity and wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed into him with a passionate kiss that was far more seductive than she would have ever intended before—particularly with other’s watching! But here at Morgana it was a different world and love and passion blended easily with the hills and history. She heard Ava and Tavish applauding their kiss and then Alex took her hand as they started down the path towards the cottage, playfully running and dancing and kissing.

Valeria stumbled trying to walk backwards in Alex’s arms, so he lifted her, as if she weighed nothing, and carried her back to the cottage. He closed the door with his foot and placed her square on her feet in front of him. The fire had mysteriously been lit while they were gone.

They stood for a moment, their heartbeats pounding at a marvelously fast pace. Alex forgot all of his carefully constructed rules. The love in his eyes was replaced with so much longing that it erased the nightmares they had faced and would face, leaving only them.

Reaching for her hands, Alex stepped toward her, staring down into her eyes. His voice was soft and husky as he whispered in wonder, “Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?”

His hand touched the edge of her face and then circled to the nape of her neck. His fingers moved into her hair and gently tugged to pull her face up toward his. He trailed his other hand down her spine and to her waist. She reveled in the feel of his touch as each movement of his fingers released a new tingling sensation all its own. She heard a cross between a sigh and a moan and realized that it came from her. In response, Alex pulled her in closer.

The shadows of the firelight danced gently upon them as his mouth brushed over hers with a teasing taste that became a hunger; his soft kisses growing longer and deeper. Her body became alive with the taste of him. Alex’s hand brushed along her neck and trailed down the front of her dress, as his mouth caressed her jaw line. Without allowing time to evaluate his decisions, Alex unfastened the top button of her dress. Suddenly
concerned with her response, he glanced down. When he saw the raw need of desire, he quickly unbuttoned the rest. She pulled his shirt off and felt that luxurious ache in her belly. Staring at his well-muscled chest with a smattering of hair, she ran both of her hands down his neck, feeling him shudder as she did. When she placed her mouth over his heart, she heard him murmur her name softly, almost as a prayer. She could feel his heart slamming against his chest and it thrilled her, causing her to spiral deliciously out of control as she pressed herself against him.

Alex’s mouth trailed along the curve of her shoulder causing an intense flash of heat that moved through her entire body. Her arms hungrily reached around his back pulling him even closer. Then his mouth moved back to hers as his hands pushed her dress back, revealing her new silk lingerie. Valeria’s breath hitched, relishing in the feel of his skin against hers with only the silk as a barrier. While caressing her neck with his mouth, his hands ran down the side of the lingerie. “Oh…my beautiful…love,” he whispered.

But a moment later, Valeria sensed his hesitancy. She opened her eyes as Alex sighed and started to pull back from her.

“What am I doing?” he asked, shaking his head as if that would cease his longing.

Valeria clung to him. He smiled and brushed her face with his fingers and then without moving his eyes from hers, he forced himself to pull her dress back together, covering her. He rolled his eyes and whispered, “Oh, boy!” Then he pressed his mouth to hers in a chaste kiss before forcing himself to step away. Alex headed to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of cold water, his voice still soft and husky. “Do you want some?”

When he turned back toward her, she was standing only a few feet from him in the kitchen. Shyly, she pulled her dress back off her shoulders, but left it hanging from her arms and her waist. Her eyes glistened with desire. “Alex?”

Stunned into inaction, he just stared for a beat. He dropped the bottles on the counter and, with a single step, pulled her back into his arms and kissed her with an intensity of mouths and tongue that melted them both. As her dress fell to the floor, she wrapped herself in his arms. Finally he lifted her and carried her to their bed.

Their limbs became tangled as she wrapped her arms and legs around him, needing to feel him even closer. When she felt his hesitancy creep in again, she breathlessly fought the losing battle. Finally, he found the strength to push away and he sat up. She lay on the bed for a moment, crushed. He pulled the sheet around her and sat her up so that she was leaning against him.

“Val, I want you to understand something,” he said breathlessly.

She looked down trying to hide her disappointment. Alex continued, “Tomorrow’s a big day. I think we both need to get some rest.”

A tear slipped from her eye. “Alex, I know what may happen tomorrow. I wouldn’t regret anything...” She leaned into him and closed her eyes. “Except if I was never with you.”

He kissed the top of her head and erased her tear with his finger. He turned her to face him. “Val—”

She interrupted him. “Alex, I’ve waited almost thirty years to feel like this about someone. And I want to spend whatever time I have left with you,” she said as the intensity in her eyes increased. “And I mean…
with you
.”

He stroked her face. “Do you know how very long I have waited to be with you?”

“Then, please?” Gulping back her nerve, she crawled out from under the sheet and onto his lap, kissing his neck. “Please…”

Feeling the temptation Alex brushed his hands over her shoulders while working to cool things down. Then he rolled his
eyes with a sigh and lifted Valeria next to him as he again covered her with the sheet.

“Beautiful, it has to do with a vision I had,” he said, concentrating on his discipline and trying to push back the desire that engulfed him.

“Was it bad?” She grasped Alex’s hands, while still feeling defeated. “I don’t think I want to know.”

Chuckling softly, he said, “No, it’s,” he whispered as tears rimmed his eyes, “it’s…beautiful!”

“Then tell me,” she said as she brushed her lips along his neck.

Alex crinkled his nose and shook his head.

“Then why—” she began her protest.

Placing his fingers over her mouth, he said softly, “That vision is…very personal.” He looked into her eyes filled with a mix of hurt and desire. “How do I explain this?” He knew she needed an explanation for his reluctance.

“When I was young, I had a vision of you and me. We were together as husband and wife…” Alex looked into her eyes. “It was…well, it was our wedding night.” He looked down, a touch embarrassed, and then back into her eyes. “While that vision has and does add passion to my time with you, it’s not something I can share with you. It feels very...private. Besides, I don’t believe it would be very gentlemanly of me to discuss it—”

Noticing that Valeria’s imagination had taken over, Alex’s face reddened. He quickly added, “Oh, no! No, beautiful, let me assure you that there is nothing that…violates your modesty! But to share the vision would feel like I was, I don’t know, in some ways choreographing…
things
.” Alex stroked her face. “I hope you understand. I hope you know how much I want you.” His face glistened his love. “But I want you alive more! And…I just can’t
sacrifice
that possibility.” She buried her head in his chest.

Lifting her face so that he could see her, Alex continued,
“And there’s something else. As long as that vision hasn’t occurred, it’s still possible! It is the dream that has carried me through thousands of years.” Alex looked down. “Val, if I make love to you tonight, it will be like I’ve given up hope that we can ever have more. And I want more than just tonight! I want you as my wife…I want you for eternity.”

Tears rolled down her face as she kissed him lightly. She understood that this wasn’t just about her. Alex had far more invested than she did.

Slowly finding her voice, she looked up at him and asked, “Um, Alex? I guess I was just wondering…”

He nodded.

“Alex, was that a proposal?”

His mouth turned slowly into a grin and then he patted her leg, rose from the bed, and left the room, returning a moment later with a small ring box. Valeria stared in disbelief. Could this really be happening?

“This isn’t exactly how I pictured this. But what could be better than here and now?”

He crawled onto the bed facing her as the moonlight cast a romantic glow across the room. “Val, although I am an avid reader, I’m not much of a writer. I want to share something with you that I borrowed from Gretchen Kemp.” He cleared his throat. “‘There’s this place in me where your fingerprints still rest, your kisses still linger, and your whispers softly echo. It’s the place where a part of you will forever be a part of me.’” Then he pressed her hand to his heart.

Tears rimmed her eyes as she said softly, “It’s…beautiful, Alex!”

He pulled up onto one knee in front of her. “My,
oh so
beautiful,
Valeria...I have come to know over the eons that I am here for
only
one purpose—and that is to love you. Your beauty has bewitched me...but more the beauty of your soul thrills me. Will you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?”

He opened the box, and Valeria gasped. The ring was a three-carat blue stone, wrapped in an intricate, platinum grapevine. “Oh, my God, Alex!”

He slipped the ring from the box and slid it onto her finger. She tried to find something to say, but no words could express the depth of what was in her heart.

The stone seemed to capture a bit of light from the moon. “I found this stone 1,800 years ago in Southern Africa and it reminded me of you—breathtaking and one of a kind. I call it the Cassandra Crystal.”

Still speechless, her eyes filled with wonder as she stared at Alex and then the ring and then back to Alex. Her voice was raw, and it faltered. “Alex, the color, it’s…extraordinary. It’s the color of your eyes.”

“We call it oracle blue.” He placed his fingers gently on her chin and tilted up her face. “So, you haven’t answered my question.”

Through her tears, she blushed. “Well…is there anyone up at the house tonight who might be a pastor?”

“I’m afraid not,” he responded. “But if you say yes, I will find a pastor as soon as you’re ready!”