They left the glasses in the kitchen, but Wade carried the bottle of remaining champagne up to his room. Taking turns, taking swigs out of the fancy bottle, they circled each other around the bed.
Weeks ago, he'd had the construction crew take away the old bed when they were tearing down walls in the kitchen. He'd given the bed and other furniture to some needy couple in town and now his room had no reminders of his past life. The new bed delivered from a furniture company was a king, firm and ready for him to lay down upon with Jenny.
She lit a single candle and smiled as she began to unbutton her blouse. "Wade, would you mind if I stepped into the shower for a minute. The day has been so long."
"Hurry." He slumped, but acquiesced, then winking at her. Then he pulled off his tee shirt, kicked off his boots, propped the pillows on the bed and laid back. His eyes closed, relaxing, the champagne bottle finding its way to his lips from time to time, he rested and contemplated what was about to happen.
Tonight he would become a new person. The rest of his life would have promise. His eyes fluttered shut, he sighed and then he slipped into a light slumber.
He wasn't asleep but a few minutes, when he dreamed of walking down an unfamiliar hall to a door. He'd had this dream before but never had he walked this far. He didn't want to open the door, but he had to. It was time to know what was on the other side. He accepted this, and the dream that had waited for him as if wanting him to get to this point where he would be open enough to allow himself to walk down the hall and turn the handle.
The door swung open effortlessly.
A young girl sat on the bed, playing with a video game. She looked up.
Wade's heart cracked wide open.
"You came," she whispered in disbelief. "I've waited ever so long."
He reached out to touch her, but a swirl of clouds circled them and suddenly she was lost to his reach.
His body jerked up just as Jenny came flying into the room.
"I saw it," she said, out of breath, "...I saw you open the door. Lilly was sitting on the bed."
He stared at Jenny in utter amazement. "What was Lilly doing? What did she say? What did you see?" His hands shaking, he rested them on his thighs. "Wow, I almost touched her."
"She was playing some game," she said, "and waiting for you to come to her."
"Holy shit." His voice shook. Rising, he paced the room. "How? I mean, how did you see what I dreamed?"
"A vision," she said, sinking on the bed. "As I stood in the shower. I shut my eyes as I felt the water running down me. It came fast. I didn't get any warning at all."
"It was Lilly," he whispered. "Really, it was Lilly, older, but my Lilly. I saw her." He grinned. "I saw what she looks like. All this time, I have pictured her like she was, frozen in time, sort of like I have been. But she's different. She's beautiful, isn't she?"
"Yes, she is."
"She wants me to come and get her." He sat back on the edge of the bed, dumbfounded at what had happened to him, to them both.
"Wade," she said, kneeling down to peer up into his face. "Do you see now? Do you see what I experience and how real it is?"
"Hell, yes, it was fucking incredible. Sorry," he said, looking at her for the first time. She wore only a towel and her hair was all wet and lay flat away from her face. He smiled at her. "You're beautiful too. Two beautiful girls," he voiced. "Oh, Jenny," he said, pulling her between his legs. "Somehow, we're connected."
"I know. I knew it right away."
"How do I find her?"
"She's out there somewhere. Waiting. She wants to come home. You have to do whatever it takes."
"I don't understand. Her mother, she said Lilly drowned. She was so convincing. I didn't question it or challenge any of it. I was so upset I left town. She handled the cremation, paperwork, everything. Only a few months later, she took up with... Fuck me. Ahhh, Holy Mother of... They must have her," he said, the truth dawning for the first time. "That bastard, Frank, has my daughter."
She didn't speak. For that, he appreciated her even more. He needed to go through this and really think about the past, this time with a clear head. But emotions surged.
"I'll kill him."
"That won't do Lilly any good. Don't let them win, this time. Be smart. Do this right. Find them and do this legally."
"You're right." He traced his finger down her smooth cheek. "I'm sorry, I didn't understand before."
"How could you? It's wonderful to have you experience this with me. I feel so close to you."
"Love me." He wrapped her into his arms and the towel slid down her waist.
His fingers stoked her breasts, taking one nipple in between his fingers; he pulled back and forth, pinching the tender bud, until Jenny moaned out loud. He didn't stop until she was pushing up against him in a wild frenzy of emotions. Only then did he take her nipple into his mouth.
Jenny grabbed his silky hair to pull him even closer. Here was what she'd never had. This feeling of connection with another, so deep and so meaningful, tears came to her eyes.
He left her nipple to shower her neck with kisses before claiming her lips in an emotional, gut wrenching, kiss that made her want him inside her in a way she'd not known she needed. But she needed him and she needed him now.
The powerful emotions swept through her, as she tightened her hold on him and drew him closer still. Her hands came to rest on his naked rear and she pulled him toward her.
It was all the encouragement he needed as he positioned himself above her.
The anticipation filled her as she waited for Wade to enter her.
As he slid into the wetness he had created in her, it was more than her body that reacted. Her heart opened and her soul reached out to him in a way she had not known existed.
He slammed down hard, filling her, touching her, pelvis-to-pelvis, as deep as he could go and there in that moment of stillness; they found each other and their hearts touched.
When they slept, they were still intertwined.
)
