156: Rafe

There were moments of panic. I will admit that right now. Even prepared for it, I was somewhat incredulous. The temple is amazing. It's also different, slightly bizarre, and altogether perfect.

Things I didn't like: Being separated from Aubrey.

Things I did like: Blessings, blessings, blessings, and more blessings.

Things I didn't like: I was really hungry.

Things I did like: escorts, symbols, stairs, stained glass windows, and carved railings.

Things I didn't like: remembering everything

Things I did like: mirrors, alters, kneeling, chandeliers, never being alone, knowing I didn't have to remember everything, my dad, her dad, her brothers, now my brothers.

Things I will always remember: Kissing Aubrey over the alter. Looking into her eyes, perfectly blue and pure, and the feeling that nothing else mattered. I thought of nothing else. I felt nothing else. Love, pure, sweet, real.

Dinner. Was... surreal. I had been hungry, and then magically I wasn't.

Aubrey in her mother's dress was exquisite, later gently removing that same dress... beyond exquisite.

Now: Knowing that I will never make love to any other woman as long as I live. Knowing that I will make love to this woman every day for as long as she'll let me.

She was in the changing room. Our room at this new place was bigger, with a round bed and honeymoon plastered and textured walls, with plants hanging everywhere. I lay, half covered by a thin beige sheet, against pillows so soft they felt like clouds. My bride was taking her time.

I lifted the sheets. I am not a large man. I've never struggled with weight issues, either too much or too little, but I did struggle to achieve some muscle definition. I prided myself on being able to carry my bride over the threshold, lift significant weights in the gym, and my stamina in bed has been commented upon. Nevertheless, I had not deflowered a woman, and frankly, I was a little concerned about the upcoming change in that status.

I looked again, and as I did, the private parts in question stirred. I dropped the sheet.

It had to be like any other time. I am not ignorant.

I looked again. I'd been told I was larger than some. I'd been compared to certain large animals in fact, and when guys talk as they do in locker rooms and bus tours, because of the heady exaggerations that occurred, eventually there had been viewings. I compared favorably, if not more than favorably.

I knew I could please a woman.

But could I please this woman, on the night of her first induction into full-fledged womanhood?

I rolled to my side. What the hell am I thinking?

Concentrate. Foreplay, that wouldn't be so hard.

I shook my head, envisioning other things that would be hard. As if to add the exclamation point to that thought, the member in question began to comply on its own.

Where was Aubrey? I started to roll out of bed and heard a rustling from the other side of the room. I had the bedside lights on, but she, angel that she was, was carrying a lit candle that illuminated her face and hair like the halo she deserved.

And what she wore....

I sat up, loosely covered for her sake.

For our wedding, she had been Diana, goddess of the hunt and the moon, sleek, and lovely, the virgin. Now, I felt my mouth watering... seriously. She was Aphrodite, Botticelli's Venus born of the sea foam, rising up out of alabaster lace.

Her eyes trained on me were not darting or uneasy, she had that confident air of mystery and trust. I couldn't take my eyes off her.

In that moment these thoughts did not cross my mind, but just to clear the air on my side, I have seen women in lingerie. The sexiest, silliest, dominatrix stuff ever invented. Black and red are the hugest turn on, and revealing, but not, um hm.... Tasty.

Aubrey wore a floor-length sheath, one shoulder bare, white silk or satin, her hair down, creating shadows and more shadows. It swirled, it revealed everything, lines, curves, all of it. And none of it. Over the top she wore mist.

Okay, it had to be material, but it looked like a mist.

It made me glad I had remembered the rose petals. It made me glad I had never been married before. It made me glad no other woman in my presence had ever worn white.

She stepped toward me, revealing the floor to upper thigh slit in the gown. Her hand brushed the mist aside and then let it fall, then she did the same elegant and inviting gesture with her hair. I actually wondered if other guys drooled over their wives.

I couldn't speak initially. I tried to smile, and knew I had to look goofy and demented both at the same time.

"Rafe..." She said my name, and it was the voice of my goddess.

This was that overly dramatic moment, the one where someone breaks out in a Broadway musical song: just which one?

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers? 'Bless your beautiful hide, yes she's the gal for me!'

Sound of Music:'Somewhere in my wicked, miserable past, there must have been something good......'

Phantom of the Opera: (Oh so many good choices!)

'Say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime
Say the word and I will follow you
Share each day with me, each night, each morning...'

My mind was on fire with music. Forever this moment, she was caught in my music.

"Aubrey, who are you?" I expected her to say Christine, and I was her Raoul.

Her shoulder cocked slightly, her smile was bemused. "Am I not myself?"

I stood and reached for her, and her eyes dropped as I should have known they would. I couldn't and didn't want to cover myself. I just had to make it to her. One step-- two, and then she was in my arms and our kiss was that same kiss from that musical, that twirling passionate kiss. I lifted her clear off the floor, swung her against me. And in my mind, I was back to Venus and Adonis...

Fortunately, I hadn't started singing. Her kiss was like fire, her fingers in my hair like wind and water. I was elemental, sharing this moment with her, her last as a maiden, and where these words came from in my head—filled with words and music, was like the proverbial fireworks you saw when you first fell in love. I hadn't known these feeling were possible.

"Aubrey-- I love you. I love you."

"Rafe-- you're my forever. I love you too. I am so grateful to you for making me your wife."

"You are my wife!" I still held her off the ground, in my arms, against me, even though her mist was slippery and she was sliding. I'd had a thought. "I want to say this: you are my wife, now, right now—before I possess your body and make sweet love to you--- which I will, I promise I will--- but you are my wife now before that happens, Aubrey, sex won't make it happen. You are my wife now."

"That means a lot." She whispered against my lips.

I had said what I could before the overwhelming idea that we were free of restraints settled in. I set her down, and loosened the ties across her breasts, followed my fingers with nuzzling that glorious throat--- and believe it or not, all my worries were for nothing-- from then on--

It was perfect.

*******

Author's note:

And believe it or not---- this is just "The Beginning".