Charles and Diana Ch. 05

"My grandparents lived in Northumberland County, right near the border with Lancaster County on Indian Creek. I used to come visit them off and on during the summers starting in 1939. Do you realize how close we might have been to each other during that time? Did you ever go other places while you were on those vacations?"

"Well, sure!" she exclaimed as she thought about what they did during those trips. "My father's friend's property was right on the river near a very small town, but we used to travel a little further up the road to a larger town to do most of our grocery shopping. I remember one summer while we were there for a week, the town's local Volunteer Fire Department was having a carnival to raise money, and Daddy took me to the carnival on the last evening we were there. I must've been about...13 at the time, but I've always remembered it because I saw this boy who kept looking at me with the most intense look I'd ever seen in a boy's eyes before...and never saw again after that. I remember I wished I'd had enough guts to walk over to that boy and say 'hi' because he showed more interest in me with just that brief look in his eyes than any boy I came in contact with all during high school."

When she looked at Charles again, he had a stunned look on his face so she asked, "What?" He asked her what year that was. "That was...1939. Why?" He asked her if she remembered what she was wearing that evening. She frowned as she thought back and remembered that warm, humid evening and the sleeveless, bright yellow sundress with a daisy print, which tied behind her back, that she had been afraid to wear because it emphasized how much her breasts had grown during the past year. But she remembered that the boy had only stared at her face and eyes and never glanced at her body—that she saw; she kept glancing away from him. She started to describe her dress, and then he took over...

"...yellow dress with flowers on it, that hugged your body with curves in all the right places. Your light, golden hair tied back with a yellow ribbon...and sparkling gray-blue eyes almost just like mine, in the most beautiful face I'd ever seen, glancing and smiling at me shyly..."

"Oh, my God! That was you?" as she closed her eyes and tried to picture the boy's face. He'd been relegated to the back of her memory as soon as she'd developed her crush on John Wayne. She pictured herself glancing at the boy; she saw his dark brown, wavy hair, his intense gray-blue eyes and a flash of a dimple in his right cheek as he'd grinned at her the last time she glanced back at him... "Oh, my God! That WAS you! I dreamed about you for the next couple of years—until I saw my first John Wayne movie! I never got back to that area during the carnival week after that summer. But I used to look for you everywhere whenever we went back to that town during our visits over the next couple years...I had so hoped to find you!"

Charles hugged her to him as he said, "I kept looking for you every time I went back over the next 4 years, but I didn't get into town very often. And I tried to make sure I was there during the week of the carnival, and tried to go every night; I chased down I don't know how many girls with hair color that was anything close to what I remembered, only to have most of them look at me like I was crazy! After a while, I started to believe that I had imagined you; it seemed impossible that, at 13 years old, I had seen and recognized my dream girl. And now...here you are!"

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes and squeaked, "All those wasted years! We were so close...and it just...slipped away! Why? All the pain we've suffered in our lives that could've been prevented. Why did God allow that to happen? I would never have believed He could be so deliberately cruel! What had we done to deserve that then? I could understand it now—I've sinned in more ways than I care to think about, but missing out on you then is probably what caused me all those sins! I just don't understand! Why?!!!"

Charles understood, so he explained it to her; "Diana, we're both very different people now than we were then. God knew we were young and innocent but...but what did we really know about love then? We would probably have recognized that we belonged together, but without all the pain we've experienced, we would have taken what we could've had for granted and it would not have been as wonderful, exciting and meaningful as it will be for us now. As bad as my first marriage turned out, it did make me realize what I wanted in a marriage. And would you risk trading your dreams, or memories, of your encounter with John Wayne to go back and take a chance on what we MIGHT have had together then?"

She frowned and said, "I guess not." She looked upward for a moment and said, "I'm sorry, God. I shouldn't have said You were cruel. I know You must have a plan about everything and I was wrong to question it. And I'm sorry if I've disappointed You in the way I've handled what You've thrown at me so far, but I've had a confusing life. I'll try to do better from now on! Thanks for listening!"

When she looked back at Charles, he was looking at her with a frowning grin and asked, "Is that how you pray?"

She chuckled and said, "No. I was talking to God...praying is when you're asking or thanking God for something. God is omnipresent and omnipotent...He's everywhere and the power behind everything. You can talk to Him any time—I don't need a church to do that. He sent His Son to try to teach us that—and how to treat each other, about basic goodness and how to recognize evil. But I don't think God expected there to be so many...blind, sick and stupid mortals who just can't or won't see how everything would work for the good of everyone if we mortals would just do what Jesus tried to teach! He even made His Son suffer a cruel death to try to make those who cannot, see what is right and what is wrong! And now here we are, almost 2,000 years later and still, most mortals don't get it! Do you get it?"

"Yes, I get it very clearly...we definitely won't be having any arguments over religious differences! Just don't try to talk to my mother about this! She's dyed-in-the-wool Catholic and she doesn't do anything without The Church's approval. When she finds out how we got married, she's going to throw a fit! But, I don't care and I won't let her attack you on it. I don't get along with most of my family, so getting transferred to L.A. was a blessing—boy was it a blessing!" as he leaned down and kissed her tenderly.

When he lifted his head again, she asked him why he didn't get along with his family. He told her about his parents' loveless marriage and that he didn't understand why they stayed together when they share nothing other than children, and all of them were now grown and on their own—or at least they should be! He said it was mostly his mother; she was "so Catholic" that she just didn't believe in divorce—period. She'd tried to talk him out of divorcing his ex-wife until he'd told her everything he'd found out; then she'd relented and said that his ex-wife didn't deserve him...it was the nicest thing his mother had ever said to him.

Usually his mother just tried to use him as her own free handy man because his father was always away on business; fix this, repair that, help her with whatever she needed. He had two brothers, both older than him, and a younger sister, and all of them had all managed to escape their parents' strange existence—until they needed money! Then they'd appear with some story about what terrible trouble they've had in their lives; except for his oldest brother, who lived the farthest away and he had no idea what that brother was up to because he rarely kept in touch. But his middle brother and younger sister were always in financial trouble, and he kept trying to talk his mother out of bailing them out every time they showed up, but she never listened.

That was another reason why he'd taken this transfer to L.A. because he knew it was the only way to distance himself from his family without making it obvious to them that he was trying to escape. He felt the need to start fresh and try to find something, or someone that he could be happy with. Then he hugged her to him again and said, "I almost turned down the transfer to L.A. because I hate big cities, but my gut instinct told me I needed to go. I've been in L.A. less than a month and already I've found what I've been looking for all my life—my dream girl...my soul mate! I'll never ignore my instincts again!"

As she lay there in his arms against his right side, they both started to yawn and she asked him what time it was; he glanced at a clock on the table beside the bed and it showed about 2:30. Diana had hoped to keep him up all night—but this was a Friday night; they had both worked all day and then gone to that pub just to unwind for a few hours after a full work week...they hadn't expected to meet their soul mates, end up in Las Vegas, married and having sex for hours! Diana looked up at Charles and said, "I had hoped we could make love all night, but this has been a long, exciting day and now I'm exhausted—I hope you aren't disappointed!"

Charles took a deep breath and said, "No...I am by no means disappointed! You are turning out to be far better than I had ever wished, hoped and prayed for. I was just afraid at first that I would be a disappointment to you—what with my lack of experience. But you have not made me feel that way at all—if anything, you have made me feel like I'm the sexiest, and most desirable man you've ever been with...and if I've been able to please you nearly as much as John Wayne, then I'll take that as a great compliment!"

Diana lifted up and climbed on top of Charles, stared into his eyes as she stroked his hair and his face and told him huskily, "You've given me every bit as much pleasure as he did, and we've only gotten started! I have no doubt that you'll be able to surpass him; I already love you as much, if not more, than him. But please understand when I tell you that I will always love him. He'll never come between us, but just because of how important he was to me and how much he helped me and loved me, I'll always love him because of that. But my life is with you—we belong together and I know I'll never find another man who can satisfy me the way you can—but that doesn't mean I won't be oblivious to other men who stare at me...gotta keep you on your toes, remember?!!"

Charles wrapped his arms around Diana and rolled his body partially up and to his right until she was mostly on her back with him leaning over her, and said in his deep, sexy voice, "That's right, pretty lady. I'm sure there'll be plenty of men who'll help you keep me on my toes. But, what about you? How will I keep you on your toes? I don't get that much attention from women."

Diana raised her eyebrows, and said, "You don't think so? I don't think you've really paid much attention to how much attention women pay to you. You're a monogamous kind of man, so you haven't been looking at many women and you probably don't know how to read the signs of a woman who is interested in you, other than me—but I'll teach you what to look for! Trust me, you won't have any problem keeping me on my toes!" she purred at him as she ran her fingertips over his face and lips, studying his handsome features.

Charles leaned down and kissed her passionately, his heart beating hard at the look of love and desire he saw in her eyes as she studied his face. Then he broke the kiss, leaned his forehead against hers and said tiredly, "Much as I wish I could make love to you again, I'm pretty exhausted, too. So, why don't clean up a little and get some sleep. As soon as we wake up, we can pick up right where we left off...OK?"

Diana smiled and nodded, so they got up and went to the bathroom, she used the toilet while he cleaned himself up with a wash cloth, then she did the same as he pissed in the toilet...while she watched! She stood there grinning and chuckled silently, and he glanced sideways at her and saw her ginning, and he raised his eyebrows and asked, "What? You've never seen a man take a piss before?" She kept grinning as she shook her head no. So he said, "Well, I'm OK with letting you watch me piss...I might even let you aim for me sometime, if it doesn't turn me on so that I can't piss! But, I don't think I'd want you in here at other times...understand?"

Diana chuckled again and said, "Good! Because I wouldn't want to be in here, either, and I don't want you in here with me during those times! So, at least that's something else we agree on! Now, let's go get some sleep so we can get back to enjoying our brief honeymoon!" Diana took a towel with them back to the bed as Charles turned out the lights at the switch near the door; they lay down on their right sides with the back of Diana's body cradled against the front of Charles' and his left arm wrapped protectively around her.

Diana hadn't felt this content and safe since the last time she'd fallen asleep in John Wayne's arms over 2 years ago...and it was starting to feel more like a dream than a memory. The reality of Charles' presence in her life was starting to feel more like her dream come true...