Chapter Text
- Goodness, Audrey thought to herself as she came out gasping for air after their first kiss. This is something different.
The chaste kisses she had shared with Gerald had been nice. Warm and sweet. But nothing happened. Perhaps a slight tingling, but that was it. The earth didn’t move. That would be the difference between kissing when you’re twenty and when you’re forty-six, she had told herself.
Apparently she was wrong. She was now forty-eight and her mind should be set on grandchildren. But her skin was full of fluttering butterflies, her head was spinning and her legs almost buckled under her.
Siegfried’s firm grip around her waist and his hazel eyes, looking deeply into hers with an earnest, passionate expression. She ran her fingers through his curls and locked lips with him again, repeating the comparative experiment with great intensity. This second kiss was even deeper, more demanding. Flashes of fire ran through her body, making the blood in her veins boil and her heart race into a crazy frenzy. Her weak limbs couldn’t move in any other direction but closer to him and the white sparkles that emerged from her lips travelled at high speed down to her nipples and between her legs. She could feel his arousal too, as their bodies pressed against each other. A silent groan from his throat as he pushed himself even closer and deeper into her mouth. Into the core of who she was.
After an eternity their lips parted and her head fell onto his shoulder, she had to rest for a moment, couldn’t bare his eyes. His deep desire, way beyond their bodies’ urge. She snuggled her face into the side of his neck, inhaled his lovely scent and tried to calm her racing body for a moment. He stroke her hair, making little noises of affection.
Eventually one of them had to say something.
And of course they started at the same time.
- I’m sorry if…
- I wasn’t trying to…
They chuckled. This was so typical, they knew each other so well. And yet they didn’t. This was a whole new territory, a thin ice to tread lightly on. Audrey lifted her head, she could almost breathe properly again and dared to meet his gaze.
- I didn’t think it could be like this. At our age. But apparently it could. With the right bloke.
A sudden expression of pain flashed across his face. Oh, she didn’t mean to hurt him. Of course he understood what she was referring to. She had seen his eyes turn black when Gerald was around or even mentioned. But those days were long gone. And she had been over that man even before he was out of the door with the newly operated Rock. She had been quite surprised that she never missed him the slightest. She was sorry that she had hurt him, led him on for quite some time before she realised that she wasn’t in love with him. But that was it. No wonder the earth didn’t move.
Siegfried’s face softened again, his eyes loving and smiling as he brushed her lips with the lightest of kisses, so unlike the demanding embrace from before. And yet it filled her with the same overwhelming feelings.
- Because now you are with the right bloke. And I’m with the right lass. Audrey Hall from Scarborough, he whispered.
She couldn’t answer, she just smiled at him. Tears making her eyes hazy. She could see the same in his.
At the other end of the hallway where they were standing, Helen was on her way out of the dining room, little Jimmy on her arm. When she saw the entangled couple by the phone, she stopped on the threshold and backed away into the sitting room, hushing Tristan and James right behind her.
- Goodness, she whispered. Siegfried and Audrey – snogging!!
With a restrained giggle they all withdrew to an unseen spot of the sitting room, discussing in pianissimo how long this might have been going on.
They stayed in their embrace. For how long? Who knows. Audrey leaned into Siegfried’s body, fondling his back, finding the soft skin on his neck, relishing his caresses and small kisses on her face and neck. Very far back in her head she heard a very weak voice telling her to start making dinner. But it seemed very unimportant. She was floating on a blissful cloud, music in her ears and a beloved boy in her arms. Food was of no significance whatsoever. And that beautiful music… She could actually hear an angelic voice surrounded by caressing strings. Love could actually make you hear something so beautiful.
- Can you hear it too? She whispered into his ear.
- The music?
- Yes! It’s so beautiful.
- It’s Vera Lynn.
She looked at him.
- Vera Lynn?
Not an angel?
- Yes. The radio in the kitchen.
- I thought…
She laughed.
- So did I. Until I realised. And can you hear what song it is?
She sharpened her hearing, listening to the lyrics. Then looked at him again. A mischievous sparkle in his eyes - that song! What a coincidence! They shared a silent laugh and kissed again, swaying to the music.
- Let’s keep this our secret, just for a while, he said softly. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I really want to shout it out from the rooftops. But I would love if it was just ours for a while.
She nodded.
- I agree. Just ours. In due time we can tell them.
In the connecting room their three foster children stood with their heads close together, whispering and giggling. And wee Jimmy on his mummy’s arm maybe wondering what the fuss was all about. Hadn’t the grownups seen before that his godparents loved each other?
And on the radio Vera Lynn sang her refrain.
Kiss me again, kiss me my darling
Each time I cling to your kiss
I hear music divine
Besame o Besame Mucho
Hold me,my darling
And say that you'll always be mine
This joy is something new
My arms enfolding you
Never knew this thrill before..
Whoever thought I'd be
holding you close to me,
Whispering "It's You I adore",
Dearest one,
If you should leave me,
Each little dream would take wing.
And my life would be through,
Besame o Besame Mucho,
Love me forever,
and make all my dreams come true.