VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
It feels like I'm all the way back where I come from
It feels like home to me, feels like home to me
It feels like I'm all the way back where I belong...
Feels Like Home by Chantal Kreviazuk
Chapter Nineteen
When Nora awoke the next morning her room was flooded with daylight instead of the rosy glow of early sunrise. She was startled for a moment thinking she had overslept until she spied Bo’s blue t-shirt thrown across a chair. She stretched and smiled. Bo was here. Her mind drifted back to the events of the night before...the carnival, the dancing, the love-making… Now these memories brought joy instead of fear. They were beginning again...together.
She heard Bo talking to Matthew as they came down the hall. “Let’s find your Mommy...we’ll just tell her she can’t sleep all day…” She looked up as he stopped in her doorway Matthew on his arm.
“Hi Big Boy!” Nora said enthusiastically.
“Hi yourself,” Bo responded coming to the bed with an excited, kicking baby.
“I was talking to Matthew,” she said.
“Oh? I’m bigger than he is...thought you were talking to me,” he teased. “You going to get up today?” he asked handing her the baby.
She pulled Matthew to her and kissed his neck eliciting a giggle. “You smell so good...Mommy could eat you up! You smell like maple syrup!” She glanced up at Bo who was now laying on his side next to her. He looked so handsome...barefoot in his jeans with his plaid shirt open exposing his chest.
“Did you make me breakfast?” she asked with sparkling eyes.
“I saved some batter. You’ll have some pancakes and steaming hot coffee if you ever get your lazy...self out of this bed.”
“So sorry,” she said running her hand inside his shirt and across his chest. “I was up late.”
“Hope whatever kept you up was worth losing sleep over,” he said grinning.
“Mmmm. It was so worth it.” She tugged him to her by the shirt front to collect a kiss. “Thank you for letting me sleep in.”
“You’re very welcome,” he said collecting a few more kisses. “Now, I’m getting up and making your pancakes. Come and get them while they’re hot.”
* * * * * * *
They were just going out the door after breakfast for a walk on the beach when the phone rang. It was Rachel. The conversation was taking awhile, so Nora waved Bo to go on and he took Matthew to the beach.
She was getting off the phone about thirty minutes later, when Bo came in carrying Matthew who was carrying one beach rose in his tiny hand.
“Show Mommy,” she heard Bo whisper to Matthew.
Nora opened her mouth in exaggerated surprise. “What do you have, Sweetpea?”
“It’s a flower for you, Mommy. Give it to her, Buddy,” Bo said gently to Matthew.
Instead of taking just the flower, Nora took the baby from Bo’s arms.
“Thank you, Sweetie. My flower is beautiful!” she said in her baby voice. “Mommy loves it and she loves you!” She nuzzled his neck and gave him kisses that brought lots of giggles from him.
Bo, observing this interaction said, “What about me? Where’s my kiss?...”
“Where’s your flower?” she asked him turning to go down the hall. “Come on, Matthew. You don’t smell like a flower...time for a change.”
Bo followed. “Wait a minute...I’ll have you know…” Nora rounded the corner into the nursery. She was a woman on a mission. Bo rounded the corner after her. He continued, “I’ll have you know...that flower was a joint effort.”
“Oh Bo, really…” she began.
“Really!” he said. “We got that flower together...so I should get some kisses too, don’t you think?” he said into her ear as she laid the baby on the changing table.
“I can’t believe you, Bo! Trying to get the reward for his thoughtfulness…”
“His thoughtfulness?!” Bo raised his hands in disbelief. “I took him to the beach, I found the flower, I picked the flower, and I placed the flower into his pudgy little hand. Shouldn’t I get some kind of reward for that?!”
“You give me a flower, you’ll get your just rewards,” she said simply.
“Fine!” Bo said as he whirled around and headed out the nursery door.
“Where are you going?” she called after him.
“Never you mind,” was his response as she heard the screen door snap shut behind him.
She grinned a sly grin at Matthew. “Your Mommy is sooo bad,” she said as she tickled him into a belly laugh.
Matthew, in his high chair, was halfway through his lunch by the time Bo returned. When Nora heard the squeak of the screen door, she turned to find Bo standing there with a solemn face and a fistful of beach roses.
She started laughing. “What do you have there, Sweetie?” she asked him.
“I picked every beach rose I saw out there,” he said seriously.
“Oooo...well, you probably shouldn’t have done that. There are laws about picking the flora on the beachfront...you could have been arrested.”
“You didn’t say that about Matthew’s beach rose…” he said as she approached him.
“Oh, don’t be silly. They wouldn’t arrest Matthew...he’s just a baby! They are beautiful though. Thank you,” she said giving him a simple kiss.
Bo looked confused. “Wait a minute. That’s it? I brought a full bouquet for that chaste peck? I expect my ‘just rewards’.”
She took the bouquet from him. “No...that’s not it...you’ll get your ‘just rewards’ when Matthew takes his nap,” she said seductively lifting her brows.
They looked at Matthew whose face was covered with mashed noodle-os and blueberries.
Bo said, “Hurry up and eat, Kid, cuz I think you’ll be napping early today!”
* * * * * * *
It was a lazy Sunday afternoon that passed by too quickly. They spent time after lunch just playing with Matthew, then went to town to retrieve Bo’s things from the hotel. As Bo pulled into the hotel lot, Nora commented, “Sorry you paid for two nights here and only stayed one.”
“I’m not sorry,” Bo responded, “the amenities are better at your place.” He gave her a grin.
“And don’t you forget it, Mister,” she said. “Next time you can just skip the hotel and stay with me...that living room couch makes a nice bed,” she said looking at him from the corner of her eye.
“Like you’d let me sleep on that couch,” he said unfastening his seatbelt. “You’d be in there begging for me to keep you company.”
He shut the door as she began his instigated tirade, “Begging you, Buchanan?! I’ll have you know…”
But he walked away from the jeep smiling in the window at her. “You’re impossible to live with, Buchanan,” she said shaking her head as he disappeared inside the hotel, “and even more impossible to live without,” she said to herself.
* * * * * * *
They lay tangled in the sheets while a sea breeze wafted over their bodies. Nora, atop Bo, ran her hands along his sides as she snuggled closer to him, kissing his neck, his chest, and hungrily finding his mouth. Finally, she rested her head on his chest as they caught their breath and let their racing hearts slow down. Bo held her close, running one hand softly along her arm, her side, her thigh, the other through her hair.
“I hear your heartbeat,” she said quietly.
He smiled and softly placed a kiss in her hair.
She glanced up at him. He gave her a gentle kiss and then looked into her eyes.
“I don’t want to leave,” he told her. “I miss you just thinking about it.”
She snuggled closer. “Then let’s not think about it,” she said.
Through the baby monitor they could hear Matthew waking up from his nap.
Nora ran her hand across Bo’s chest. She tried to lighten the mood. “Did you enjoy your ‘just rewards’? she asked smiling.
“Mmhmm,” he murmured.
“I hope I gave you some warm memories to conjure up when you’re lonely and missing me.”
“That you did…” he assured her with a lingering kiss.
They listened as Matthew played with his musical crib toy then stood up and started bouncing on the mattress and fussing.
“I guess that means the party’s over,” Bo said.
“Guess so.” Nora gave Bo another sweet kiss then stood and grabbed her robe. “Coming, Buddy,” she called to the fussing baby.
* * * * * * *
Within the hour, Bo was showered and ready to make the trip back home. He picked up Matthew and gave him hugs and kisses and promises to see him soon. Then he put him down for more exploring.
“I think he’s going to walk at a young age,” Nora said. “He’s already trying to pull up by the furniture.”
“Well, don’t let him start walking when I’m not here. I want to be here for that,” Bo said.
She laughed. “And you think I can control this, Bo? He’s on his own little schedule.”
“I just don’t want to miss anything,” he said watching the little boy. Then he put his bag by the door. “Well, guess it’s time,” he said drawing Nora into his arms. “I’m going to miss you like crazy.”
“Me too,” she said. “But, it’s only six days til the weekend...I’m already counting.”
He held her close as they shared a very passionate goodbye. Then they heard the rustling of papers and Bo peered over Nora’s shoulder.
“Uh...hey Buddy...what are you into? I think he’s into something, Red.”
Nora turned around to see Matthew with scattered papers all around him that he had pulled from her school satchel. “Matthew! No!” She left Bo’s arms to rescue her work. “No No,” she scolded as she took papers from his hands. He plopped down on the floor and puckered up.
“Aww,” she heard Bo say.
“Don’t you baby him, Bo. He has to learn the word ‘no’,” she said in frustration as she tried to pick up the scattered mess.
Matthew, still hearing the anger in her voice, crawled to Bo and took a firm grasp on his pant legs.
Bo looked at Nora with questioning eyes.
“Yes, you can pick him up...but don’t coddle him. He has to learn.”
Bo bent down and picked up the baby. Matthew held tight to Bo’s shirt collar and watched Nora.
“Oh, forget it,” she said throwing the stack onto her desk. “I’ll sort this mess later.”
She heard Bo whisper to Matthew, “Maybe you should come home with me.”
Nora went to them. “No...he’s a monster sometimes, but I couldn’t live without him. Come here, Sweetie,” she said reaching for the baby, “Mommy loves you.”
Bo watched the two of them. He hated to leave. He felt like he was leaving his family behind.
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