Chapter 7 #2
They showered together, making love again against the tile.
She could feel herself falling more in love with him with each time he touched her, and she loved him so much already.
Once they were in the hot tub together, they enjoyed just talking about their day.
Olivia had never been this in love with anyone, and she doubted that she’d ever love like this again.
If he decided to leave her now, she’d never survive it.
It would just kill her to lose him after being so in love with him.
After getting out of the hot tub, they went to bed.
They said that they only needed to rest up a little bit before finding them something to eat.
She was hungry and decided that if she went to sleep now, she’d never wake until morning.
Her body was so relaxed that she knew that on some level, she wasn’t going to be getting up anytime soon.
They made their way to the kitchen to find something to eat.
“ She usually puts out sandwiches when I skip dinner. Here we go.” He pulled out a platter of roast beef sandwiches and ham ones.
“ I love Hari. She’s the best cook of all the cooks in the family.
I’m going to miss her when she retires. There won’t be another person like her to come and take care of us. ”
“ There was another woman in here the other day when I came into the kitchen. She said she was teaching her how to make sausage gravy and biscuits for you. I was told that was one of your favorite meals. It’s mine too, with a little bit of cheese on the top.
” She ate two of the sandwiches and some of the potato salad that was in small containers in the fridge.
“ I haven’t had any of that in a long time.
I’d forgotten how good it was on a cold morning. ”
“ I love to have it right before a big trial. It calms me down for some reason.” He moved to sit beside her, and she smiled at him. “ I can’t seem to get enough of you. You’re all I ever thought about when I was thinking that there might be a woman out there for me.”
“ I never thought that I’d find my one true love in you.
It’s why I kept pushing you away. Fat lot of good it did me.
You worked your way into my heart anyway.
And I couldn’t be happier.” He said he felt the same way about her.
“ I don’t know how I survived without you all my life.
Now it’s almost as if you’ve been there for me forever.
I can’t wait to see what the next fifty years or so brings up.
Do you want to have children? I’d love to have more than one.
I was an only child, and I hated it. However, maybe I was lucky in that.
They might well have turned out to be just like my parents. ”
“ I’d love to have children with you. However many you want.” She said that she thought that two would be enough. “ I’m willing to keep practicing with you until you’re ready.”
“ I might be broken if we keep making love like we did tonight.” He said that he loved her and couldn’t wait to have children with her.
Then he told her about the first time he’d met her and how he’d seen her in his mind, heavy with their child.
“ That’s so sweet. And we didn’t even love each other then.
I do love you, Zander, and will for the rest of my life. ”
“ We’ll be married in the morning, then we’ll have to plan for a honeymoon.
Someplace warm. But we’ll have to wait until after Christmas.
It’s in a couple of weeks now, and I can’t wait.
Everyone is going to have wives for our first Christmas together, and Martha would have been so proud of us all. ”
Getting back into bed, they were snuggled up against one another before falling asleep.
She couldn’t get enough of Zander holding her, and he seemed to have the same feelings.
Closing her eyes, sated and full, she knew that she was going to have the best day of her life tomorrow and become Mrs. Olivia Erickson. She couldn’t wait.
~*~
It was three days before Christmas, and he was getting excited about having his family come over to his house on Christmas Eve.
They were going to be hitting all the homes of each other and exchanging gifts.
Then on Christmas day, they were going to meet at his house for dinner and fun.
He had the biggest house by far and was willing to host his family every year if asked.
He was happy to be able to have them come over for all the holidays.
Zander was glad that he and Olivia had gotten married yesterday.
They had planned for it to be the day before, but they didn’t get up until after noon and were too late for the planned wedding.
All his brothers stood up for him, and their wives stood up for Olivia.
It was about as big as a home wedding would have been with the dozen or so of them there.
He couldn’t have been happier with the turnout.
Even the weather cooperated in that the sun was shining and the snow was piled high off the streets.
“ There’s some speculation about the Marsh family and them being put in different prisons.
A source told me that they’re plotting when they’re together, and it doesn’t bode well for the other inmates.
” Zander asked Demi what he meant by that.
“ I have a friend who works the kitchen out at the prison. He said that he’d heard that since they were in the same prison together, they’re making trouble for others around them.
And when they do get together, not as often as they’d like, they have their heads together like they’re planning a big cue or something.
He said that the officers are trying to keep them apart, but it’s difficult to do with so many prisons there. ”
“ That’s just what we need. Them having people on the outside doing their bidding.
Do you suppose they will be separated? I mean, I couldn’t believe that they were put in the same prison in the first place.
Hell, I didn’t know they had coed prisons, and I’m an attorney.
” Demi told him why they were coed. “ I guess I can see overcrowding as an issue. I never really gave it much thought. But I can see them getting into trouble with their plans. They just don’t think that the law pertains to them in any way.
Have you heard anything about how they’re going to do that? I mean, separate them?”
“ He told me that they usually move them in the middle of the night. Just wake them up and tell them that they’re going someplace and take them there.
It works out better when the people are about half asleep.
Plus, there isn’t any trouble with the other inmates when it’s done that way.
” Zander nodded and looked at the plate of food in front of him. “ You didn’t care for it, did you?”
“ No, I love it. I just wish I’d have known that I was going to be tasting for you today.
I wouldn’t have eaten so much lunch before coming here.
I really love the chicken salad. The grapes in it are perfect.
And are those raisins in it?” He told him they were cranberries.
“ They’re perfect when you take a bite and bite into one of them. I love the sweetness of them, too.”
“ I forgot to put walnuts in it. But I suppose that’s all right with you since you can’t stand them.” He said that he thought he might like them in the salad if he were to put a few of them in it. “ I will next time.”
They talked about the other items on the list of food he was trying out and decided that his brother was an excellent cook. He asked him about cooking for the school still, and Demi said that he was having fun with that.
“ The boys eat on the days that I make pancakes. Usually they eat at home, but on those days. I’m having a lot of fun seeing all the kids, too.
Even some of the parents are coming in to have some breakfast and helping to clean up afterwards.
It’s been working out well for the system, and I get to spend more time with my kids.
” Demi had two little boys with Mandy. They were her nephews, and they’d adopted them.
His brother was great at being a dad, and he was going to come to him for advice when his own kids came along.
“ I’m sure going to have fun when our own children are going to school there.
I might be doing this until I’m in my eighties and still having fun. ”
“ I can see you doing that too.” He told him he didn’t care for the pie he’d made, and Demi was all right with that. It was too sweet, and Zander had a sweet tooth, too. “ If I think it’s too sweet, then you know that it’s sweet.”
They talked about the prison moving the Marshes around and other topics that came to their head.
That was why he liked hanging out with Demi.
He was the one brother who could keep up with his conversations when he was jumping around.
When he was ready to leave, hating that he didn’t have more time to spend with his older brother, he got a much-needed hug.
When asked why he needed it, he told him that with the holidays coming up, he seemed to miss Martha more.
“ I know what you mean. That first Christmas with her was a blast. Even Thanksgiving, too. We’d never celebrated those when we lived at home, and it was nice to be able to spend our first one with her.
” Demi agreed. “ They only got better as the years went by. This will be our first Christmas without her, and I find myself wishing that we’d had one more year with her. ”