Tutti Italia: A Novel Page 14

  “I’m surprised that they even waited for you. Putting chocolate in front of these two might get you to lose your hand.” Erik laughed.

  “That’s precisely why I intend to never get between a woman and her chocolate.” The girls didn’t bother to correct them or to collaborate with them because they were too busy stuffing chocolate into their mouths. When the desert trays were cleared, they decided that it was time to hike up to the castle. The foursome made sure that they had their cameras, and as they wound their way carefully up the old stone steps, they saw torches lit on both sides, and a courtyard of cobblestones that had a table set up for the dj, some refreshments, and the beginning of the museum tour. The tour was a little dry, but they got some excellent pictures of all the artifacts. Then they decided to do some dancing. There weren’t a lot of people up here, and eventually they decided to go back down to the lodge. There were no Americans left in the lodge either.

  “What about the pool? It’s always the perfect time for a swim.” Rachel would not be thwarted. She loved swimming, and if there was an opportunity to do it, she was the first one in line.

  “Yeah! That sounds great. Party in the hot tub!” It turned out that Van and Angela’s room was right down the hall from theirs, so they decided to meet up at the junction that led down to the pool. Rachel didn’t care about her makeup, she just stripped, in the bathroom where Erik couldn’t see her, and put her suit back on. He was faster than her, however, because when she came back out of the bathroom, he already had his swim trunks on. They met Van and Angela, and made their way down to the pool. When they opened the door, they saw right away where all of the Americans from their group were hiding. They’d all gotten drunk and were playing chicken in the shallow end. Some of them were missing parts of their suits, but no one said anything about it. The four of them went straight to the hot tub.

  “Ok, so what about a game of truth or dare?” suggested Angela. All of them had had enough to drink to lose their inhibitions.

  “Yeah, sure. Why not?” Erik was down with it. Rachel shrugged. Why not? She might learn more about him that way. Van was up for anything that Angela suggested, so it was unanimous.

  “Ok, so, Van, you start. You’re the oldest,” teased Angela. He stuck his tongue out at her. He looked right at Angela and smiled.

  “Truth or dare?” She must have detected something in his smile, because she shook her head and said truth. “Hmm. What do you wear to bed?” The two beds in the rooms were separated, but he should already know the answer to that. After all they were sharing a room for two nights.

  “I wear nothing to bed.” She was not ashamed to say anything, even though Rachel had to look away and blush. “So, I guess that makes it my turn.” She turned to Erik. “Truth or dare, big boy.” He must have sensed some danger in her voice, too, because he played it safe and told her truth as well. “Be honest. Are you and Rachel dating?” Rachel’s jaw dropped. She had in no way, shape or form put her up to it. This was completely unexpected. Erik looked at Rachel for a long time, and she shook her head, trying to let him know that she’d had nothing to do with it.

  “Yes, we are dating. And I hope that we continue for a long time.” Rachel looked up into his face, and his icy blue eyes captivated her. She couldn’t move, and she watched, almost in slow motion, as he leaned down to kiss her. Her eyes closed of their own accord, and she kissed him back with all she was worth. Apparently that was inspiring, because Van gathered Angela into his arms and kissed her, too. The wine in the women’s systems was definitely on the side of the men because the two couples were kissing. They were too wrapped up in each other to notice the other people leaving the pool. Erik and Rachel made their way back to their room, and in the darkness of the room, the two of them got much closer than they’d ever been before.

  The trip was over, and they were on their way home. Angela and Van were both asleep, leaning against each other, since they’d chosen the bench of seats in the back row. Erik was reading again, and Rachel was writing in her diary. She was thinking over the activities of the night before, and she could feel her cheeks getting warm and red when she remembered that her bed had gone unused. She stole a quick glance at Erik. He was completely wrapped up in the story of his book and didn’t notice her stealing glances at him. She finished her writing, and put away her diary, in favor of the cross stitch project that she’d been working on for a while. When she began to lay out her materials, he took notice of what she was doing. He watched her for a few minutes, then wrinkled his brow in confusion.

  “What’s that?” She smiled at him.

  “This is called a cross stitch. It’s one of my favorite hobbies. I can make beautiful pictures out of hundreds and thousands of tiny X’s on this canvas. It’s very relaxing.” He chuckled at her, and she immediately took offense to it. “What’s so funny?” He sobered up enough to answer her.

  “Nothing. You’re an old lady.” She frowned at him, and felt a little hurt. She didn’t look that old.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You like doing all the hobbies that old women do. You have some mad old lady skills.” He couldn’t resist laughing at her again. Oh well, let him tease her. When he had something that needed to be sewn, she knew he would come to her to get it done right. He went back to his book, and she went back to counting stitches. The repetitive stitching relaxed her and calmed her down. By the time they took a break to grab something to eat at a roadside café, she was back at one hundred percent happy. The foursome sat together again and talked about the night before, claiming that it was all the alcohol’s fault. Rachel agreed with Angela, verbally, but she knew the truth. She’d wanted it as much as Erik had, and that was why it had happened. The food came, and they ate in silence, every now and then tossing out a comment about the food. When they clamored back onto the bus, Van and Angela stayed awake and talked, but Erik and Rachel both fell asleep until they made it back to base. When Rachel drove home, it was barely afternoon, but she was tired. She stopped at her favorite restaurant, and when she’d had her dinner, she drove home and got herself ready for bed. Her hair still smelled of chlorine, so she made sure to shower first.

  Chapter 25

  The months flew by, and Erik asked Rachel to move in with him. She was surprised, but secretly pleased. She told him ok, and they spent a weekend moving all of the things she used all the time into his house. She took the rest of the day to clean up her dorm room. It still looked like she lived there, and every now and then she would actually spend some time there. Erik was testing for his next rank, and she wanted to surprise him when he got home. He wouldn’t know the results for a few months, but she wanted to try to lighten the mood for him a little. She cleaned his whole house, made a picnic lunch in the middle of the living room, and bought him a movie that he’d been wanting for a while. She took special care with the romantic picnic lunch in the living room. She’d pushed the furniture out of the way, spread a blanket over the cold tiles, and put a bowl of grapes out, a plate of cookies for desert, some crackers, ham cubes, cheese cubes, and sparkling wine. She’d even taken the time to spell out, ‘I LOVE YOU ERIK’ with the food. Then she lit some candles, and waited for him to come home. She heard his car in the driveway, and she couldn’t wait. She’d put on some of her best lingerie, and was waiting on the blanket for him. He came in the door, saw that everything was dark except the candles in the living room, and he took a look at the card and movie on the floor in front of him with an arrow pointing into the living room. He looked up and saw Rachel looking back at him with a loving smile, then walked straight past the living room and into the bathroom for a shower. Rachel felt as if her heart had been ripped out. She went into the bedroom with a basket of laundry, and started folding.

  The water stopped, and she could hear Erik getting out of the shower. She turned her back to the door and kept folding the laundry that she’d spread out across the bed. She tried to keep her tears to herself. He came in and grabbed a pair of underwe
ar and the space heater from their room. He disappeared again. She sighed and put the clothes away. When she was finished, she wanted to know why he didn’t care about her romantic gesture. She found him with the heater plugged in like a campfire in the dark living room, sitting on the blanket, waiting for her.

  “Why didn’t you say anything to me when you came home?” The hurt was clear in her voice.

  “I’m sorry, hun. I just didn’t know what to say. No one has ever done anything like that for me. I was hoping that you would come and join me in the shower.” Now Rachel knew that she couldn’t be altogether mad at him. It was sad that no girl had ever taken the time to so something sweet and romantic for him. She was slightly mollified, but he made it up to her by pulling her down onto the blanket with him and kissing her.

  They had a few spats now and then, but what couple didn’t? Their relationship grew in leaps and bounds. Within a year, the two of them were comfortable together, and life looked like it was going to be wonderful after all.

  When Valentine’s Day rolled around, she was working in the computer lab with her kids, letting them play some educational games. He came in and brought her a plastic bag from the mini mall. She peeked in it quickly, and saw that it was full of books. When she looked back up to thank him, he was already gone. She texted him quickly, while her kids were preoccupied, thanking him for the books. The reply that she got was a simple question of whether or not she’d found the surprise in the bag. She answered that she hadn’t, then looked through the bag. There was a small jewelry box in the bottom of the bag. She almost stopped breathing. Her heart started to beat a rapid tattoo against her ribs. Could it be? Could he possibly be proposing to her? She held her breath and opened the box. Inside were a pair of diamond earrings, and a matching necklace. It was such a sweet gesture that she couldn’t help but tear up a little bit. She could wait. The ring was coming, she just knew it.

  They continued going on trips and adventures together, enjoying each other’s company and letting more places fill up their memory albums. On Rachel’s birthday, in December, He made her breakfast in bed, then came back to snuggle with her. She enjoyed the day immensely. She’d been hoping for the ring then, too. But it hadn’t made an appearance. They got his mother’s special recipe for Christmas Stars, and made them together. A flour fight ensued, and the two of them fell into the shower together. Rachel had the perfect idea for Christmas. Erik still had to work, since he was military, but she had the break off. She drove to the mini mall and loaded up on Christmas decorations. She got a tree with blue lights, then found different blue ornaments to decorate it with. She even got a matching tree skirt to go with it. When she got home, she cleaned the whole house again, then set up the tree and decorated it. She checked the time and made dinner. It was ready for Erik by the time he came home.

  “Hey honey. How was your day?” Erik sat down and looked like he was really upset.

  “I just hate my jobs some days, and today was one of them.” Rachel gave him his plate, then filled her own and sat down across the table from him.

  “What happened?” Erik worked in communications, and had the entire computer system on base to work with, as well as government phones, and other communication devices. He was usually up to his ears in repairs and system checks.

  “We had a long line of ticket numbers to take care of, as usual, but a colonel came in and demanded that his problem be fixed right away. I explained to him that he would have to put in a ticket and we would get to it in the order it was put in. He didn’t like that answer very much, so he went over my head to my supervisor. My supervisor told him the same thing I did. He still wasn’t happy with the answer he got, so he went to our commander. As you know, commanders are always officers, so the jerkoff told him he would put the ticket at the start of the queue. I hate when people do crap like that. There are more important things than the colonel’s cell phone.” Rachel understood how frustrated he was. When dinner was finished, he went straight to his computer and started playing video games. This frustrated her to no end. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve, and she had one thing that she’d been planning on giving Erik that she hoped was going to be the best present he’d ever gotten. She’d wrapped all kinds of other presents and put them under the tree, but this one was special. She’d gone through a lot of indecision, but she thought that she finally had it right. She was going to propose to him. After all, if two people loved each other, did it really matter who got down on their knee? Erik went to the Laundromat to get some laundry done, hoping that no one else would want to go to the Laundromat on Christmas Eve.

  While he was gone, Rachel worked on her speech. She was so nervous, that she didn’t think that she could go through with it without stumbling a few times. She heard his car pulling up, and got herself together. She was going to give it to him as the last present of the evening. She folded the clothes while he made them a quick dinner. Since it was only the two of them, they weren’t making anything fancy. She’d just finished putting the last t-shirt into the drawer when he came into the bedroom and announced that dinner was ready. She followed him out and saw that he’d set up the table for them, with a few candles lit in the middle. She felt tears come to her eyes that he’d tried to make it romantic for her. She smiled at him and threw her arms around him.

  “Thank you, sweetheart.” He looked at her with confusion on his face.

  “Ok, um, you’re welcome? What did I do?” She kissed him before she answered him.

  “You made it a romantic dinner. Thank you. I haven’t had very many romantic gestures made for me, either.” That was something that they had in common. It was strange at times, their relationship, because they were both coming from bad ones, and it seemed like all they wanted to do was please each other. He pulled the chair out for her, and pushed it in as she went to sit down. He scrambled around to his side, and Rachel reached across the table for his hands. He was clearly surprised, but he reached for her hands as well. “I just want to take the time to thank God for bringing you into my life. I’m not overly religious, but that bears saying. I love you, Erik. And I couldn’t think of anyplace I would rather be.” She let go of him and the two ate their meal together in companionable silence. When they were finished, Erik went and put on some Christmas music on his computer, and the two of them cleared the table and cleaned the dishes together. Rachel thought back to when she was in her teens. She’d always hated doing chores, especially the dishes, but lately she’d found out that doing chores with someone that you loved, made it seem like it was something so much more than a chore. He finished washing the dishes before she finished drying them and putting them away, and he told her he’d meet her in the living room.

  She came into the living room, and he had their stockings in his hands. He handed her stocking to her, then waited for her to open it. She was a little confused as to why he was watching her so intently. She reached in and pulled out a small package wrapped up in snowflake paper. She opened it, and saw that it was a jewelry box. The last time she’d gotten a jewelry box from Erik, it had been the diamond earrings and the necklace. It was safe for her to assume that it was another pair of earrings. The box in her own pocket was burning a hole in her jeans. She opened it, and got the biggest shock of her life. It definitely was not a pair of earrings. It was a diamond ring. Rachel’s hands flew to her mouth in surprise, and she looked up at him. Erik had silently gotten on one knee while she was opening her box, without her noticing it.

  “What do you say, Rachel? Do you want to spend the rest of your life doing just what we’re doing right now?” She was crying in happiness, and all she could do was nod.

  “Yes! I would love to spend the rest of my life doing this with you. I guess great minds think alike.” Erik looked at her, a little confused. Rachel reached into her jeans pocket, pulled out the jewelry box, and opened it. Erik saw the ring in the box, and laughed.

  The End.

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