Feeling sexually drained but emotionally alive, I readily agreed when he suggested a shower underneath the falls.
Stepping into a heavy spray just off to the side of the falls, I gasped as the cold water drenched me. Goosebumps flowered across my skin and Con wrapped his arms around me to keep me warm.
He looked deeply into my eyes, and said, “You were amazing.”
Offering a loving smile, I replied, “Haven’t you heard—you’re only as good as the one you’re with.”
He returned the smile before running his hands down to the small of my back, letting them rest there. I tipped my head back and my lips parted slightly as he lowered his mouth to mine. His kisses were as intoxicating as they had been the previous night and before long, we were lying in a grassy spot next to the falls, enjoying each other again.
It was late morning and the sun was high when, with reluctance, we finally made our way back to the city. Barely more than an hour since the last time we made love and already I yearned to feel his body pressed into mine, his lips sending me over the edge and his hands causing me to stir with desire. On the heels of the most incredible night of my life, I was looking for another. I had to find something else to occupy my mind or we would never get back to the city.
After making a call to Marco to check on things, I brought up something that had suddenly become very important to me.
“I’d like to plan a get-together for our families soon, if you’re okay with it.”
He looked at me skeptically, and said, “Now that should prove interesting.”
“I think they’ll be fine.”
“They can spend the rest of their lives fighting like little boys, but promise me, it won’t affect us,” he said.
“Agreed.”
There was one more thing I felt I had to do before we could embark on a life together. I asked him to turn off the northeast extension and head toward Brickway.
Con knew of my mother but we had never discussed her in any detail. It was only recently that I began to feel any connection to her myself. I didn’t want there to be any secrets between us. I wanted to share every aspect of myself with him—the good, the bad and even the hard to explain.
I gave him the condensed version of her past and told him how his grandfather paid the bills at Cherry Hall in return for my grandfather confessing to Wesley’s death.
He shook his head in disbelief. “Your grandfather is an amazing man. I’ve never seen such selflessness.”
Nodding with pride, I said, “Yes, he is. I just wish I had seen that a long time ago instead of wasting so many years being confused about him.”
“Well, it may have been a sad story, but at least it had a happy ending.”
I took hold of his hand and leaned back in the seat until we pulled up in front of Cherry Hall.
He held the heavy door open while I passed through. I was beginning to make a habit of coming on non-visitation days, so I stopped at the lobby desk to clear it with Norma.
“Ms. Embry...” Norma greeted me with surprise in her voice. “Nobody informed me that we were having an Embry reunion today,” she said teasingly.
“Reunion ?”
“Why yes. Your grandparent’s are in with your aunt... I’m sorry; they’re in with your mother as we speak.” Giving Con an admiring once over, she added, “And who would this be?”
Turning my attention to Con and then back to Norma, I said, “I’m sorry, Con, this is Norma. She’s been the desk nurse in my mother’s wing for as long as my mother’s been here, Norma, this is Con Ellis, my special someone.”
Norma gave me an approving nod, and said, “Nice to meet you, Con. Now why don’t the two of you go down and join the party.”
As we made our way down the long hall, I whispered, “It takes a little getting used to,” when I caught the sympathetic look he offered to some of the patients that lined the walls.
I knocked once and turned the doorknob to my mother’s room, but before I could take my first step in, Gram met me at the door and pushed me back out.
“What’s wrong? Is she alright?”
Gram dismissed Con’s presence, looked directly at me and said, “She’s fine, child, but I don’t want you making him feel uncomfortable. It took a lot to get him here and I don’t want anything scaring him off.”
I shook my head in confusion.
“By the good grace of God, for the first time in over twenty years, your grandfather is in that room visiting with his little girl.”
“How did you get him to agree to come here?”
“We traded off.” Turning her attention to Con as if she just spotted him behind me, she said, “It would take a special kind of man to accompany my granddaughter to a place like this. Thank you.”