Disclaimer: Don't own, but goodness we let them have fun!
Author's note: Well here it is, the final chapter. Of course it's had to be cut forhere -ha ha ha - so the full uncensored version is available on my C&J website. Thank you for sticking with us, hope you've enjoyed the bumpy ride over the past 15 months... yes 15 months! And we'll probably be back with another story, we shall see.
Mixed Signals - Part 35 – the FINAL chapter
The night was still, so silent, as if nothing existed but he.
Taking the last few steps down the open wooden staircase Joseph let go of the handrail and glanced into the lounge, the moonlight streamed in through the bay windows, casting discreet shadows along the polished wooden floor.
The air almost seemed magical; he could see the dust particles swaying in the light, yet he knew if he reached out to touch them they would be gone.
Instead he dug his hands into his dressing-gown pockets and headed around the bottom of the stairs and along the short hall into the farmhouse style kitchen.
The clock on the wall said 3:15, certainly no time to be up and about, and certainly no time for eating. Yet he couldn't sleep, and the honest truth was he was peckish.
Smirking to himself he swung open the fridge door, Clarisse always planned everything down to the final dot on the final i. The refrigerator was stacked with everything they could possibly need. He considered snacking on the deep purple grapes that looked so fresh and ripe, but his sweet tooth took over. Taking out a selection of cheeses he placed them on the table and searched in one of the cupboards until he found what he was looking for, Dundee cake. Mrs. Webber always made the best and he just knew she would have included his favourite afternoon treat in the food hamper.
Slicing himself a piece of the cake he sat down and mulled over which cheese to open first. Settling on a particularly ripe looking Brie he peeled back the paper and cut himself a chunk off. A glass of ice cold Beer would do just the trick as an accompaniment but he couldn't find any in the fridge so he made do with a simple glass of water.
The clock behind him struck 3:30 and he settled back in his chair, the sweetness of the fruitcake splintered in his mouth by the cheese. A delicious gooey mess, a rare delicacy that he'd discovered was just gorgeous as a child. His grandmother's version of Dundee cake and the cheese the local farmer produced. It was one of those matches he found and instantly loved, cheese on toast with mustard, prunes and bitter chocolate, oranges in the morning with coffee.
Clarisse always screwed her nose up at his "rare delicacies"; well he figured at least he didn't have to share.
Satisfied Joseph pushed his plate away and closed his eyes. He couldn't sleep. It was insane. There he was lying in bed with the most beautiful woman he'd ever met wrapped in his arms. The sound of the ocean waves lapping against the shore, nobody there but the two of them, nothing there to take the moment from him.
It had been an unbelievable day; he still couldn't quite get his mind around it. The fact she'd gone to so much trouble to organise it all without him knowing, the fact she'd said those words… those amazing, heart stopping words there in front of all those people. In front of all her friends and family as well as his. That she'd made that pledge. Her vows were now complete.
Still he couldn't sleep, his mind was a whirl with all those emotions, all those memories. Watching her walk down the aisle, dancing with her, that extravagant dinner with his entire family there, sharing in the moment. They'd danced until the early evening, until the light started to fade and the sprinklers were turned on the lawn. Politely they'd made their goodbyes and gone to change, for over an hour they'd lay together on their bed kissing and holding each other and whispering of their love.
Until finally she'd revealed they were heading to the cottage, a second honeymoon! His things had been packed as she requested, the car was waiting for them and they were driven out here.
After carrying her over the threshold, again, and more kissing. They'd taken a bottle of champagne down to the private beach and drank it together as the ocean crept in. Until they'd taken their shoes off and walked through the surf and finally back up to the cottage.
Clarisse watched him from the door, leant back in the chair with his eyes half closed, the moonlight reflecting off the water and casting strange shadows across the room.
She shivered in the early morning air; the warmth of the bed she had just lain in was fast disappearing. Grasping her upper arms in her hands she advanced towards him.
He looked up startled by her presence, smiling at her with his eyes from beneath his half open eyelids.
"What are you doing out of bed?"
"I might ask you the same thing?" She moved between him and the table and perched herself on the edge of it. "It's dark and cold down here."
He placed a hand on her knee. "Not terribly so."
She grinned and leant forward slightly. "Perhaps not for you but I'm not wearing underwear."
His eyebrows rose instinctively. "Mrs. Romerro! Really!" He shook his head in mock disapproval.
"Well there seemed little call for it, this is our honeymoon… kind of." She toyed with his fingers, playing with them in her hands.
"You are, as always, entirely correct."
He rested back in the chair again watching her watch him, enjoying the sensation of her tickling his skin.
"What are you thinking about?" She whispered lowly.
He shrugged. "What a day… what a year. Being old and sentimental."
"Ahh, I see." She pouted. "Not sad thoughts though?"
"Oh no, blissful ones. Lucky ones." His other hand rested on her knee. "I'm not sure what I did to ever end up this way, you know there was so much more I wanted to say to you, more to my vows."
"I know, some words are better left for times like this. Besides," she leant forward again, "I like hearing you say those words when we're alone."
He lifted his hands up to her waist and guided her down onto his lap.
"Have you been eating cake?" She brushed the crumbs from his dressing gown.
"Just a little."
"And cheese as well no doubt, you shouldn't eat that so late you know."
"Shh, sometimes you talk too much."
"You might be right about this, but I have come to realize that for most of the time I talk too little. I share too little. I have resolved to change that. Especially with you." She leaned forward and brushed a not so innocent kiss over his lips, accentuating it with a swift sweep of her tongue over his goatee.
Joseph groaned in the back of his throat. That she could do that to him. So enticing, so passionate and so his.
"So," he managed to grunt out, "what do you want to talk about then?"
Clarisse's smiled was teasing and very self-assured. "Nothing at the moment. Right now, I have much less vocal things in mind."
Underneath the sheets it was cool, the satin cooled by the wind drifting in through the open window. Smooth and soft, they moulded over their heated bodies, warming and cooling at the same time.
They were almost one being, locked in their embrace, their legs tangling, their arms embracing. His chest against her back was like a solid wall of warmth and comfort and Clarisse revelled in it.
With Joseph's arms locked around her, their bodies still trembling from their intense lovemaking on the kitchen table – God, they had made love on a kitchen table – Clarisse felt the safest she had ever felt. Even with Joseph.
Playing idly with his hand, twisting his wedding band around his finger, she sighed happily. "This is even better than my teenage dreams."
"Teenage dreams?" Joseph grinned. He wiggled closer to her and tightened his hold on her. "And what, pray tell, was included in your teenage dreams?"
"Oh you know, things I wasn't supposed to dream about, things a girl in my position should never dwell on." She craned her neck to look over her shoulder at him. "I'd forgotten how that felt, how those dreams felt, until we started this year together."
Tenderly, he stroked her cheek, turning her face a bit to his. He kissed her cheek, traced from her cheek to her ear with a breathy brush of his lips. Grinning slightly he asked: "Did you dream of a mysterious, bald stranger ravishing you on your kitchen table?"
She chuckled lightly, though it had to be said there was a hint of the naughty girl about it. "Certainly not, in some princess like way I dreamt that sex was all magical and spiritual. And it is, sometimes. I never counted on the heat and sweatiness of it all…" she tapped his chin with her index finger, "and I'll let you in on a secret, that's the bit I like the best."
He caught her finger with his hand and kissed the tip of it. "My darling, sex with you is magical. Magically perfect. And I'd say, quite often it is also a very spiritual experience. I never thought I could connect with anybody the way we connect." He released her finger to brush his hand over her side, down to her thigh and back. Kissing the side of her neck, he breathed, "Though I certainly don't mind when you are hot and your skin is moist underneath mine. It's very arousing."
She giggled again twisting around to press herself up against him, her arms around the back of his neck. "I should think so."
Now he laughed openly. "I'll take that as a compliment, Madame. But in all actuality, I'd love to dance with you now. I love how you move against me, when we dance, how I can hold you close and feel as if we are floating somewhere high above." Gently, he kissed her forehead. "Dancing with you is like making love to you, my darling, magical."
She stroked his cheek, lifted her leg up over his. "When I think back to dancing with you in America, that dance." She pressed herself against him. "Our dance, how nervous I was back then, how absolutely clueless about this. How it could be. How I could be." She kissed him very gently, very tenderly. "Yes, let's dance in the moonlight."
Smiling broadly, Joseph leaned down to press another quick kiss to her temple, then pushed himself up. Half kneeling on the bed, half standing already, he extended his hand and pulled Clarisse upright as well. He led her over the window, left of the fireplace. Looking around, Joseph searched for the small stereo, but Clarisse's hand on his arm stopped him. She shook her head gently and took him in her arms. They didn't need any music. The exotic strains of their dance, when Joseph had destroyed her wall of grief, was in their hearts. They didn't need to hear it.
Joseph held her close to his, one hand drew gentle patterns on her naked back, the other firmly enclosed her fingers. Brushing a kiss against her temple, he slowly swayed them to the sensual rhythm only they could hear.
"Do you think," she whispered, "there's the slightest possibility that somebody is on that beach down there catching a glimpse of their monarch's naked behind?"
"I certainly couldn't blame them." He put on his best 'cocky, but adorable' grin, then kissed her again "Don't worry, my darling. Nobody can see, not your lovely naked behind and not, how far down your freckles go. That's reserved for me only." For emphasis, his hands wandered down to squeeze her butt.
Clarisse blushed and lowered her head bashfully. When she looked up again, he saw something in her eyes that surprised him. Tears. "What is it, my darling?"
"Happiness," she smiled tearfully. "Of course happiness. Always with you." She lifted her mouth to him and kissed his soft warm mouth, rubbing her chin against his beard. "I never dreamt I'd ever be this intimate with somebody, never even hoped." With her arms looped around his neck she gazed into his eyes. "You make me think…" she drifted off momentarily then re-started a little more certain of her words. "You make me think of things I wanted to do, things I wanted to experience. Things, teenage girls dream of, when they hope that the world is theirs for the taking."
Joseph could feel that this wasn't exactly what Clarisse had intended on talking about. Her body was tense in his arms, more stiff than she had been for weeks. Tenderly, he stroked her cheek, turning her face a little to his. He kissed her cheek, traced from her cheek to her ear with a breathy brush of his lips. "And tell me, did you dream of a mysterious, bald stranger ravishing you on your kitchen table?"
Clarisse bit her lip as he breathed against her skin; a lovely tingling was spreading again over her body. At his words, she sucked in a breath, shocked for a second and then…she laughed. "You already asked me that, my darling. You want we to bolster your ego?"
"One can but try." Joseph grinned and pressed her closer. In a swift move he twirled them around. "So, did you?"
Again, Clarisse laughed. "I'm afraid not." Cupping his cheek, she smiled tenderly. "I could not have dreamt of this. Never imagined how happy I could be. Some things are too good. You can not envision them."
Joseph stopped their swaying. His eyes were serious, despite his smile. "I know. I never believed, we could happen. And yet, here we are. After one year of marriage, we are here and I seem to love you even more than I did a year ago."
Without volition, he raised his hand, just as Clarisse did the same. Simultaneously they folded their fingers together.
"I do love you." He whispered.
The smile on her face was tremulous, tears hanging heavily in her lashes. Looking into his eyes, she could see that he was fighting just as valiantly.
"Oh Joseph…"
His thumb gently traced the contours of her eyes, catching the tears that threatened to fall.
"I don't know sweetheart, look what you do to me, turn me into a gibbering mushy wreck…" he shook his head trying to shake off the heaviness of the moment.
"I'm sorry," she smiled nobly, "I'm sorry, I won't do it again." Trembling she stood on her tiptoes and kissed his mouth. "Let's go back to bed, oh my dear, sweet, perfect husband."
"You think I'll ever get used to hearing you say that to me?"
"Perhaps, in another twenty years." She stroked down his bare arms delighting in the feel of his muscles underneath her palm.
"You think we'll still be doing this?"
Cocking her head curiously to one side she blinked up at him. "Dancing?"
"No…" with a sudden movement he scooped her up and carried her back to their bed, lying her down gently on the still warm sheets. "This."
As he rested next to her, half leaning over her body she delicately rested her arms over his shoulders. "I think if you're still doing that you're back will be as bad as your knees."
"Ha, very funny madam!"
"Aren't I, I hardly ever get to show it." She giggled and he laughed with her bending his head to rub his chin against hers. Her arms tightened over his shoulders and she held him closely to her. "You know I once caught Mia eating ice cream in the kitchen in the dark, middle of the night."
"And what were you doing awake may I ask?"
"Ohh difficult times, but that's not the point. I chastised the girl for it."
"And?"
"And right now I can think of nothing better."
"Than eating ice-cream in the kitchen?"
"No," she playfully tapped the back of his neck. "In bed, sharing ice-cream in bed. Do you think its possible…"
"I think it's highly possible there is some very expensive ice cream down there in that freezer, are you asking me to go get it?"
"No." she shook her head fiercely. "I can go, I'm not incompetent."
"Who ever would dare suggest such a thing?"
Rolling onto his back she moved with him and lay across his chest staring at him, a pout upon her face.
"You are incredibly regal even when naked on kitchen tables."
"Ohh don't tease me."
"I thought you liked it."
At this she smirked and rested her head down on his chest. "Ohh I'm sleepy, suddenly."
He reached to stroke down her spine. "A moment ago you wanted ice cream."
"I want everything, all of it right now, to share everything with you that I've always wanted and never got or done or been brave enough…"
"We have the time my darling, as much time as we want. It doesn't have to be part of an itinerary, things will just happen. Our life will just happen."
"I know. I'm just so very afraid that somehow I'll miss something."
"No you won't, I won't let you. And if ever we get to a point where we're feeling distant or frustrated or giving each other these crossed wires and mixed signals we come out here and spend some quality time together. Agreed?"
She slowly lifted her head up and smiled tenderly at him. "Agreed."
"Quality time on kitchen tables."
Again she giggled. "With cake and cheese?"
"And ice cream."
"Hmm, good." Happily she moved and kissed him, deeply, slowly. A kiss full of warmth and hope and commitment, it reminded him so much of their first kiss in that church, at their impromptu wedding.
"Goodnight my darling Clarisse."
"Goodnight Joseph." Again she rested on top of him, feeling him pull the sheets up over their bodies. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"Waiting, being patient. Oh just your love." She sighed. "Just love."
"Thank you for returning it."
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