Fire - Betrayal (13 page)

“Stay with me tonight Ben,”
I whispered.

He
looked deeply into my eyes.  He did not speak.  He kissed me lightly on the lips, and then opened his door and got out.

He walked around to
my door, opening it for me, taking my hand as I got out of the car. Together, we walked to the front door.

I
leisurely unlocked the front door of the house.  I was unsure whether Ben would stay.  He was leaning at the side of the front door, his face serious, brooding.

I
lifted my hand to the side of his face and whispered, “Stay!”

Again,
he did not speak.  He hesitated, closing his eyes, and then he followed me through the front door. I turned on the light, and Ben turned to close the door, facing the front garden.

It was then that
he suddenly took off, jumping the fence, as if chasing something.

H
e was gone for several minutes, but then he returned to the house, walking back casually, although, he was breathing in deeply, and then blowing his breath out through his lips as if breathing out anger.

By the time that he reached Katie’s Gate,
I was standing on the porch waiting for him, worried.

“Ben?”
my single word was infused with one hundred questions.

“I thought I saw something Cate, and so I took off to confront it.  I jumped the fence and ran in the direction that I thought it went.  The street is well lit, and I could not see what I thought that I saw, but I kept running for a bit just to be sure. Once I was satisfied, I turned around to come back.  The only thing that I saw was a black cat.  Maybe that’s what I had seen out of the corner of my eye as I closed the door,” he
said.

I
looked at him for a moment, searching his face.  He certainly was calm, and he continued to look me in the eye.  I knew that he was reading my mind to see if I believed him.

We
went inside, and again Ben closed the door.  This time, I sensed that he wasn’t fighting his strong emotions for me, he seemed more….protective of me.

I
sat on the sofa and turned on the television, flicking through the guide to find something interesting. I thought that if we did something together that would take our minds off our attraction to each other, it would make it easier for Ben to stay. I did not want Ben to go home tonight.  I wanted him by my side.

But, he
did not sit beside me on the sofa, as I had expected him to do. He remained standing, watching me. It made me feel uncomfortable.  What was going on?

And t
hen, after a short time, he walked around in front of me.  His behavior was puzzling me.  There was no way that I could predict was his was going to do at the moment.

“Let’s go to bed
Cate,“ Ben said, offering his hands to me.

Shocked by his request, I
looked up at him, and saw the seriousness in his eyes.  I turned off the television immediately and took his hands in mine and stood, very close to him, and kissed him lightly on the lips, concerned about his state of mind.

H
e closed his eyes as I kissed him lightly, and then I walked away to the bedroom. However, when we entered the bedroom, neither of us orientated to each other, or the bed, I went and showered first, followed by Ben.

I was
standing at the tall wooden sash windows, looking out into the darkness when he had finished showering. He walked over to me slowly, and stopped behind me.  He wrapped his arms around me and then kissed my neck softly.  I put my hand up around his head, and then slowly turned around.

He
was looking into my eyes, mesmerizing me. His eyes were serious, and emotional.  They were drawing me into him. But, I refrained from kissing him.  I knew what his eyes were telling me.  I returned his gaze with my eyes full of love for him, and then led him over to the bed.

At first,
we lay on the bed on our backs, with only our hands touching, keeping eye contact the whole time. But then, eventually I rolled over to him, putting my head on his chest and my arm around him.  He kissed my forehead. But then, I lifted my head up towards him, and brought my lips close to his.  I wanted just one kiss before we went to sleep, just one kiss.

Ben lay very still as
I gently placed my lips on his.  He kissed me back very gently, as if I would break.  I whispered his name as my love for him overflowed. I couldn’t help myself.  I knew that whispering his name when we were close was his weakness.  I really should not have done that.  It wasn’t fair of me to do that.

He moved his lips over
mine with hunger, and I whispered his name again.  He held me closely to his body and then starting kissing my neck.  I was responding in pleasure at the touch of his hands and his kisses.

He moved his lips back up to
mine, and I kissed him urgently, bringing my hand up to his face. It was then that my promise ring sparkled in the moonlight shining in through the window, a stark reminder of our promise.

He pulled away from
me in absolute frustration, his hands over his eyes.

I
rolled beside him again and put my head on his chest.  He put his arm around me, kissed my forehead and then breathed deeply.

“Two weeks, “ he whispered, “two weeks.”

***

I
felt her body relax as she fell into a deep peaceful sleep, but I did not.  My mind was filled with conversations and happenings from the day, the Terreans and their quest to find the Warrior, the men in black stealing a seed from The Magnificent Tree.

And, I
had to return to work tomorrow. I hadn’t told Cate. I wanted her to enjoy being with me, and not worry about what tomorrow would bring.

But I
was concerned, deeply concerned.

Finally, sleep did catch
me, and then I woke in the morning to find her still peacefully asleep in my arms.  I could not wait until this would be forever.

Two weeks.

Mortality

I woke first, but I did not get out of bed
.  I wanted to be with her when she woke.  I loved the way that she would stretch, and then look out of the window and smile, no matter what the weather.  I loved the way that she would look at me when I stayed the night, it melted my heart.

Two weeks.

She started to stir.  First it was her arms that moved, and then she twisted and rolled onto her back, stretching her arms and legs and then arching her body, accentuating the feminine shapeliness of her body.

I
wanted to touch her. But I knew that I must not.

I wanted to kiss her.  But I knew that I must not.

I wanted to pull her body closely to mine. But I knew that I must not.

I
didn’t want to start something that I could not finish, that would leave us both frustrated.

Two weeks.

Then she turned her head and looked at me, smiling, her whole face lit up. She touched my face, lightly, and traced my lips with her fingers, then ran her hands down over my chest and stomach, and back up to my face.  She leaned in to me and kissed me and moved away.  My eyes were burning into hers, and I felt myself becoming absorbed into her. I breathed in deeply.

Two weeks.

Then she sat up and got out of bed and stood beside the window looking out.

I watched her closely. And
then stood behind her and pulled her closely to me - tightly. I couldn’t resist her. I loved feeling how her body fitted against mine. I breathed deeply.

Two weeks.

“Cate, I have to check in at base today,” I said unenthusiastically.

I
felt her peacefulness and contentment leave her body. It took some of mine as well.

“Let’s have breakfast, and ah, we need to talk about the best day of our lives coming up….two weeks,”
I said smiling coyly, trying to make it up to her after delivering the bad news of me returning to work.

She
breathed in deeply and looked out the window.  We had only spent two days together, and now I had to go back to work.

“I’ll meet you downstairs Ben,”
she replied forlornly.

I
watched her carefully as she left the bedroom before I headed downstairs as well.  I knew that she was not happy about me returning to work.

This was going to be a long two weeks.

I stayed with her until midmorning before I headed off to the base at 10am.  I was going to be late, but I needed to spend time with her. I would only leave her when I was certain that she was going to be okay.

Two weeks.

After kissing her at the door before I left, I held her closely, breathing in her scent.

“I love you,”
I whispered, and then kissed her again with passion.

“I love you more!”
she said as I walked the path to Katie’s Gate.  I turned to her, walking backwards, and smiled shyly, before I left in my car.

***

I watched him drive off, before hurriedly returning to the house. I had plans, ideas, bookings and wedding dress shopping to do, and I set about it with zeal.

3pm that day,
the phone rang.  I knew it would be Ben. And, I knew it would not be good news.

“
Cate. This is going to hurt.  Ah, I have to go away again.  But I’ve made a deal with them, and I will be back on Wednesday next week.  Four days before our wedding.  Cate, are you still there?” he asked worriedly.

“Yes. I’m still here … listening.” 
My voice was down.

“I’m really sorry
Cate.  But, this is my final call out.  I have renegotiated my work contract with the company so that it no longer takes me out of state or out of the country.”

“
And our honeymoon?”I asked.

“Don’t worry, I have that all covered
Cate Adams,“ he replied. “I’ll see you early Wednesday morning Cate…I love you.”

“And I love you more!”
I added.
And counting down to Wednesday morning
, I said to myself once I had gotten off the phone.  At least I would be kept very busy with the wedding plans.

I
couldn’t wait to finally be Ben’s wife.

I then contacted a wedding planner, an associate from work whom I highly respected, and got things started straight away.  We booked the church first.  At least now I definitely knew that I would not be getting married in the church of my recurring nightmare.

I organized the wedding reception, including the menu and cake tasting.

It seemed to flow so smoothly. 

All that there was to do now was to organize the bridesmaids,  choose
my wedding dress, and send out invitations – immediate family and a few close friends only, we had decided.

It seemed to flow so smoothly.

By the Monday before their wedding day, everything had been organized and planned with precision, and I could start relaxing to enjoy the time up to Saturday.  I loved everything about the build up to the wedding, the planning, the checking of details, the purchasing of flowers, the dresses, the shoes, the invitations, the cars.

The only thing that Ben had to do was to
arrange their honeymoon destination, and I couldn’t wait to see where he had chosen to take me.  Normally I hated surprises, but just for this one particular extra special occasion, I’m sure that I would cope with the surprise honeymoon location.

It seemed to flow so smoothly.

Bright and early Tuesday morning, I woke up and organized the fruit for the day for the homeless people, as I always did. Tomorrow would be Wednesday, and Ben would be back.  I walked along with a spring in my step. Many of the homeless people who had come to know me well, commented on it, and were overjoyed to hear that I would be finally marrying the love of my life.

Later that day, the six Terreans showed up at her door.  They had returned to tell
me how well my eye contact lens idea had been working.  In the short amount of time that they had concealed their eye colour, they had all secured a job.  They felt that they were going well with their mission, and they wanted to thank me for my help.

I
really enjoyed the company of the Terreans, and asked them to stay for dinner.  We coversed about the personalities and attitudes of the Earth people, and ways to respond to them.  They shared their stories of what they found hilarious living here, and also stories of the many things that made them sad.

After dinner,
we all settled on a movie, and sat silently watching it. Life was pretty much as perfect as it could get. But then, came an unfamiliar sound.  I brushed it off.  The house was very old and made some strange and peculiar noises at times.