Chapter 9 #2
“I’m hurting everywhere. But I feel good too.” He said that he wasn’t hurting so much as he felt like he’d been lifting weights all day. “That sounds like you’re sore. Me too. My throat is a little tight feeling, too. I’ve never screamed that loudly in my life.”
“You made me feel like the king of the world.” He kissed her on the nose, and she smiled again, but her eyes were closed. “Are you sleepy? Did I wear you out?”
“Yes to both.” When she yawned, she moaned again. “I love that we’ve finally had sex, but I’d much prefer it not to be so much. Will it be like that every time you think?”
“As much as I’d like to say yes, it will, I’m hoping not.” He moved so that he could touch her gently with his hands and pulled her the last few inches toward him. “I need to know that you’re close to me. I also need for you to be happy that we made love like we did.”
“I am. But I’m sleepy.” She yawned again and wrapped her left leg up and over his hip. “No sex right now, but I do need for you to be close, too.”
Gleason held her until she was asleep. Moving better on the bed, he was in the middle of it while she laid atop of him. He liked it better this way. They were close enough so that he could hold her.
Dozing off and on, he thought about the fact that he’d not used any protection. It never occurred to him that he needed to, as she was on the pill. He’d seen her prescription on the bathroom counter in the morning when they’d been sleeping together.
Getting up once more to use the bathroom, he got back in bed, and she wrapped herself around him.
If she did this every time they slept together, he could enjoy life better.
Not that he wasn’t now, but he was happy to be able to just hold her.
Being in love with the love of his life, Gleason knew that he’d be a happy man.
Closing his eyes once again, he was ready to sleep.
He was worn out and needed to catch up on his sleep as he’d not slept that well the night before.
Now they were married and sharing a bed, he knew that they’d both sleep better.
Hopefully. She was still worried about McGee, but not as much as she had been.
Having gone to the feds the way that she had really took a great deal of stress off her shoulders and mind.
Just as he was waking up again, she told him that she was hungry.
They broke out the trays and ate them in bed.
He’d put back on his boxers, and she was wearing his shirt.
The two of them polished off both trays and ate the rest of the grapes.
While she was eating a banana, she finished off an apple that he’d had part of earlier.
The two of them went back to bed to sleep.
He knew it was going to be a great day tomorrow and was excited to get a start on it.
~*~
Hailey wasn’t nearly as sore as she thought she would have been.
After getting up and getting a shower, she was ready to face the day.
Today, their hot tub was going to be delivered and set up for them, and she was excited about that.
Some of her clothing was supposed to come today, too, and that made her happy.
“Why didn’t you want to go shopping at the mall?” She told Meggie that she hated shopping and had gotten out of the habit when she didn’t have anything to spend. “I usually order online too. I’ll order five or six things, then what I don’t like I send back.” She said she did the same thing.
“It makes it easier to shop from home, too, I think.” Hailey told her that she’d been shopping from home for so long that was why she didn’t care for the mall.
“They don’t have all that many shops around anymore anyway.
There are all kinds of shops that specialize in things like hats or games, but nothing that I’d go to if I needed something formal. ”
“That’s the way that I feel.” The two of them were working on a balance sheet that Meggie had been working on for one of her many businesses. “I don’t see where all this money is going. Who is this person that the checks are being made out to anyway? Or is it none of my business?”
“No, it’s fine. I don’t know who it is either.
I’m going to ask my grannie. She’ll know.
” As she made the phone call to her mother, Hailey poured herself another cup of tea.
She didn’t know why it was so much better at her house, but it was good.
As she was sitting down, having got an answer, Meggie sighed in relief.
“It’s a man whose wife was killed while on duty.
She said that she’s been paying him her wage since the accident to help with his kids.
She thinks that it’s about time to cut him off.
The kids have to be out of school by now and probably out of college. ”
“That’s very generous of her. I wonder how long it’s been going on?” She told her. “Yeah, I’d think that is long enough. Twenty years is long enough for them not only to be out of school, like you said, but well on their way to having a family of their own, too. How will you handle that?”
“Just send him a letter with one of the checks. I’ll give him six weeks to know that it’s going to be stopped, then after that, he’s on his own.
Grannie said to only give him two weeks, but if he’s counting on the money, he’ll need a little more time.
” Hailey thought that both ways were generous but said nothing.
She wasn’t sure how to be rich yet. “Did Gleason tell you that he’s been doing well with his investments?
Kinsey is jealous that he’s doing so well.
I’m proud of him for taking the chances.
That’s the way my grannie has done it over the years, too.
Just taking a chance so that she can get a return on her money. ”
“He showed me the list of investments that he has. I don’t know a great deal about it, but I’m learning.
He said that he has a broker, too, who helps him run things.
I think that’s the way that I’d do it too.
” Meggie told her that she’d need to have someone watching all the time, too.
“David said that they should sign all their own checks, too, so that no one other than them can do that. I think that’s a brilliant idea.
I know it might get old having to sign checks for things like groceries and the electric bill, but at least he knows where his money is going. ”
They talked about the way things were being paid, and she was amazed that, like Meggie, their house had an account at the local grocery store for staples. But they went to the bigger stores for things like meat and specialty items.
“I’m trying to get better at knowing the house, too.
It’s big.” She said that she couldn’t believe that Gleason had wanted to go so big when he built his own home.
“He said that he didn’t want to move anymore, and when the kids started to leave home, they’d still have their own rooms. I like that thought.
Not about them leaving but of them coming home to stay. ”
“The holidays are going to be something this year. This will be the first time they’ve had one since their grannie had died. We’re putting up a big tree with the ornaments that we’re picking up when we go places. He doesn’t have a single one. I would imagine none of them do.”
“I don’t either. And this will be my first too in a long time.
” She asked about her parents. “They’re both still alive.
I’m to be notified when they pass on. I don’t have much to do with them.
When I was growing up, I’d hide myself away in our house so that I’d not be underfoot with them. I think they liked it that way.”
“That’s the saddest thing I think I’ve ever heard. You really don’t have anything to do with them?” She said that she gets a call sometimes at Christmas. “What about your birthday?”
“Never. Like I said, they didn’t like me underfoot, so I’d stay out of their way.
There were times I thought they were surprised to see that I still lived at home with them.
When I turned eighteen, I asked for some money to travel, and after giving it to me, I never bothered them for anything again.
Like I said, sometimes at Christmas I hear from them.
I won’t this year because I no longer have that phone.
” Meggie thought that was about as sad as she could imagine.
“It’s fine. I’m used to it. When they pass on, the attorney for the estate is supposed to tell me, but that’s all I know.
Mother told me once that it was a nuisance having me call them, so I waited until they remembered me and called.
It’s worked out well for the three of us. ”
“Do they have money?” Hailey told her that they did when she left home, but she didn’t know now. “You should contact them and tell them that you’re married and give them your new number. That’s all, just that. Maybe they’ve had a change of heart and are missing you.”
“I plan on giving them my new number. They’ll give it to their attorney.
But they won’t care that I’m married any more than they did that I’ve had holidays without them.
It used to hurt me when I couldn’t talk to them, but I’ve since told myself that it’s all on them.
I guess I could have been more of a daughter to them, but it’s too late for that now.
And I’m all right with it, I guess. Perhaps when I have a baby, I’ll let them know that they’re grandparents, but they won’t want to be bothered by that any more than they did me when I was a child. ”