Book 03: A Match Made - Ch. 05

We gazed at each other. If she was thinking what I was thinking, it was the pleasure of the realization that this was the first day of our married lives. No more or less significant than any other day we'd awakened together, yet different.

And undeniably better.

Kara reached for me, snuggling close, her hands moving to my butt, her eyes giving away her intent. I laughed.

"What? Why are you laughing at me? I'm your wife; I don't think that you're allowed to laugh at your wife."

I laughed longer and louder at that one.

"Babycakes, if that was the case, you'd have insisted I marry you long ago." She pouted. I giggled again. "You're adorable, do you know that?" She shrugged.

"You tell me I am, so I guess so. I don't think I'm any particularly big deal."

"Honey, you're not, and neither am I, but the only damn thing that matters is that each of us thinks the other is a great big fat big deal of biblical proportions." Her brow furrowed, as if she was pondering that declaration.

"Okay, I'll buy that. Now can we please make love before we have to go?"

"What time is it? We have to find a clock and see how we're doing on time." I struggled to lift my head and find a clock. I saw one, but the time was blinded by the angle to the sun. Our phones were in our purses, which were a long way away.

"Honey, use the phone and ask the front desk what time it is." She did, and paled, and looked at me.

"Ten. Shit, shit, shit, we have to get moving and NOW!" Gawd!!

Our flight was at 1:30. And we had to take a cab to Nik and Karen's to retrieve our son before heading to O'Hare. Flying being what it was, especially given weather and the time of year, there was simply no cutting it close. In fact, 'cutting it close' might well mean getting to the airport three hours in advance. Or more.

Bathroom essentials first, then showers. Kara went first while I made coffee. I prayed the coffee would chase the cobwebs from my head. I don't remember drinking too much, but my head tells me I probably did.

Kara came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel. I couldn't help myself; I grinned. She's adorable, even with wet hair and no makeup.

"What? It's not like you haven't seen me like this before."

"Well actually, you most often wander out of the bathroom nekky." She blushed, but it was true. "And I don't know, truth be told. You're beautiful is all." She couldn't look at me, lowering her eyes. I hadn't meant to embarrass her, but she's my wife and... well, beautiful.

"Okay, my turn in the bathroom. Would you please bring me coffee when you hear the shower turned off?" She nodded, and I closed the door behind me. Well, that's stupid, I thought. Steam won't help with makeup, and it's not like she hasn't seen me nekky before. I opened it a bit, then stepped into the shower.

Oh my gosh, the hot water felt so good. I washed my hair twice after cleaning myself. Poor kitty was sore, but I didn't think she minded much. It had been a most thorough, in depth marital night romp for sure. I'm pretty sure kitty purred at my thought. I smiled contentedly.

I dried off and tended to hygiene. A coffee cup was waiting as requested. I took a tentative sip. Not too bad. And another, much bigger, gulp. My bathroom requirements were soon completed, including a satisfying seat on the pot to pee. Yup, must have had more to drink than I thought.

It was a satisfying contradiction to leave my towel on the bathroom floor. I never did that at home, and my kids learned early that they better damn well not either.

I came out of the bathroom to find Kara in bra and panties. New, I guessed, for the occasion. She was at the table, putting makeup on. Mascara at the moment. Both of us did it all the time, and it wasn't new, but again, it felt different watching her so intent on what she was doing. She glanced at me.

"This is silly, you. You've seen me do this hundreds of times. Get dressed, will ya? We have to eat before we get a cab."

Bossy, isn't she?

"Yes miss."

"Hey, the whole miss/pet thing should be suspended until we come home from our honeymoon. What do ya think?"

"Yeah, good, okay, I like it."

"Now get dressed, pet." I gave her the finger; she giggled, never taking her eyes off the mirror.

Casual wear. Slacks and blouse. Sleeves, yes. It had been an interesting discussion. Going from winter in Chicago to our warm honeymoon location offered challenges in how to best dress. We settled on packing sweaters and light jackets and wearing our winter coats and accessories. I gambled and didn't plan on wearing boots.

Anyway, we finished and headed downstairs to the restaurant and, we prayed, breakfast. By the time we got there, it was nearly 11am. We had to hustle. Light fare and small portions. But you can damn well bet I didn't skimp on my bacon. Kara didn't comment, but her eyeroll made it clear what she thought. We both had more coffee.

"Do you think we can get coffee to go here?" I was pretty sure we could.

We ate hurriedly, drank our coffee, and looked for to-go cups. Praise god, they had 'em. Armed for the road, we headed to the front desk. A pretty young man asked if he could help us.

"Can you order a cab or do we need to go out and flag one down?" He smiled, picked up the phone, spoke, and hung up.

"A cab should be pulling up shortly. You can wait just inside the front door if you like." We thanked him. He asked if we'd enjoyed our stay. I'm pretty sure Kara blushed, but I assured him we had, with a big smile.

The cab came as promised, we threw our bags in the trunk, climbed in, and I gave the driver the address. And asked him to hurry. As we drove, I clued the driver to our plan.

"The address I gave you is where our son is staying with his grandparents. I'd like you to wait while we get him and hurry back before you take us to O'Hare to catch our flight." He perked up, not aware our destination was the airport. Nik and Karen lived in the far northwest corner of the city, so he'd likely head to O'Hare anyway, but better if he was paid to do so.

We got there in a jiffy. I had called to let them know we were headed their way. As requested, they were waiting in the doorway for us. Mick's bag was on the floor. We both piled out and headed to our son. Kisses, hugs, and smiles awaited us. Mick was excited to see us, god love him.

We had to hustle, which was unfortunate, but Nik and Karen understood. We promised postcards. We hurried to the cab after goodbyes were exchanged.

We were cutting it dangerously close if we arrived at O'Hare by noon. And damn if there wasn't a delay in getting into the airport proper. I fidgeted in my seat, terrified that we'd blown it by waking up late and all the time spent getting ready. But, too late for that.

We hustled out of the cab after paying the fare, grabbed our bags, and hustled into the airport. I found someone in the airline's uniform, showed her my ticket, and asked, "Where do we go to do what we need to do?" She pointed to a counter. I wanted to cry. There was a loooooonnnnnnggggg line. "Miss, we're on our honeymoon and it would be a catastrophe if we missed our flight. Is there any sort of shortcut we could take advantage of?"

"Did you use the automatic check in to get your boarding passes?" Um, no!

She walked us to a machine. "Put your electronic ticket under the light. It will verify you being on that flight and print your boarding pass. Then you can go through security and straight to your gate." I wanted to kiss her.

We did as she instructed. We were about to leave when she said, "Are you going to carry your luggage on the plane?" Oh lord. Of course not. We may have packed light for last night, but women do not travel light for a stay as long as ours. We said no.

"Then you'll have to get the bags checked in." She smiled. "Come with me; I'll handle it myself." I blinked; was this our guardian angel or what!! She leaned in and whispered, "I'm family. Congratulations to you both." I wanted to cry!! Imagine our good fortune. Truly a guardian angel.

The bags were checked, tags applied, copies stapled to the pamphlet our boarding passes were in, and we were free to head to security. I kissed her hand. "You've been a godsend. Thank you so much." She blushed and smiled.

Security was a drudge, moving at the speed of sludge, but we got though it. We had to take off our wedding rings, which Kara didn't take kindly to. But no one likes TSA and the security bullshit at the airports. Who do you complain to, anyway? And at what cost? Missing your flight? No thank you!!

Mick looked at me when I told him to take his shoes off.

"I'll tell you in a little while when we're at our gate." He frowned but did as I requested.

We cleared with no hiccups, put or shoes and rings back on, and hustled out of that line. Free at last!! We had our purses, coats, a carry on bag, and time. Thank god for that. But we scurried to find our gate nonetheless. We could breathe freely when we were checked in at the gate. Which we were. Kara took Mick to find water, cookies, and a coke for our little guy. She came back with all that and a sandwich for cutie.

"It's likely to be a while till they serve lunch, so the sandwich is protection if he gets hungry." Smart kid, my wife.

We lounged around, waiting, thankful to be through the ordeal that is flying. Or rather, the ordeal that is airports these days. Our flying time would be another ordeal of sorts, cooped up in an aluminum tube with several hundred of our fellow travelers.

They finally announced boarding. By group, of course. We waited, got in line, produced our passes, and headed down the corridor to the plane. Three seats, one for each. Mick in the window seat, at least to start. He looked, spellbound, at all the ground traffic. And stared at me, wide eyed, when the plane began to roll away from the gate. I smiled.

"That's nothing, Mick. Wait till you feel them rev up the engines for takeoff."

Kara squeezed my hand hard as the plane rolled, slowly at first, quickly gathering speed, and finally lifting its nose in the air as we took off. Mick sat spellbound, oogle eyed, gobsmacked. He looked out the window at the receding ground and cars and homes that soon looked like matchbox pieces.

"This is so cool, Mommy."

"Yeah it is, honey. Neither Kara nor I fly much anymore for work, but I never tire of it, especially takeoffs and landings."

*********************

That pretty much puts a ribbon on our story. I'm not spending time on our honeymoon. It was a Caribbean location, warm, with clear blue water and drinks with umbrellas in them. And, blissfully, not much rain.

It was more fun than you could fit into another story of this length. And I'm one wordy wench, which you already know.

We arrived home safely, got through customs just fine, and shivered as the reality of Chicago's winter slapped us in the face. We grabbed a cab from the line, dumped our bags, and gave the driver our address.

Our bags were lugged inside, to be dealt with later. I ordered pizza at Mick's urging. We would pick up Sam from Bridgid's place in the morning after we dropped Mick at preschool.

We're fine. Really good, actually. We're getting back into the swing of our normal lives. People at work teased us about our tans. But they were also very kind and congratulated us on our marriage. You do know I mean me at my job and Kara at hers, right? Mmkay, good.

Life goes on. It's another steamy Chicago summer, the Cubs are making noises like they're serious about doing what hasn't been done that anyone alive has seen. There's an election on the horizon, which, like, yawn.

And Kara asked me the other night if we wanted to have another child. Can you believe it!! We'll see. I'm not getting any younger, ya know, and it takes more than a village to raise a child. It takes one hell of a lot of energy. And I mean a LOT.

We're just two crazies who, having met, fallen in love, and married, are carving out a life for ourselves and our son. I hope this story has entertained you. Trust me, life with blondie is entertaining to be sure. And more. Eyebrows wiggling.

Our love and best wishes to you all from the Thornton-Stone family: Kara, Mick, and Lissy. Bye bye and thank you!!