Three Little Words

Then I slammed my eyes shut and cursed at the sound of my phone chiming to let me know I had a call. I looked down at where my cell phone sat on the floor and muttered, "Its mother, probably calling to wish me a Merry Christmas." I rolled my eyes. Perfect timing, Mom.

Giselle grinned, wiped the back of her hand across her mouth and said, "Then I guess you'd better answer it."

Smiling, and shaking my head at the naughty look in her eye, I said, "Hey, Mom, Merry Christmas."

When my mother said she hoped I wasn't spending the holiday on my own, I told her, "No, I'm at home with a friend." My best friend, if I was going to be honest.

Giselle got up to get us more coffee, probably to give me some privacy so I could talk with my mom. Then her cell phone rang, and I could hear her talking to her sister in the kitchen, wishing her and her family a Merry Christmas, too.

It was just as well they called when they did, because the way things were going, I knew exactly what we'd be doing for the rest of the day, and it wouldn't involve dicing up vegetables or cooking a turkey.

And ordering a pizza later wasn't exactly what I had in mind for a nice Christmas dinner.

After we'd both said our goodbyes and hung up, wearing a sly little grin as she carried in our coffees, she said, "Now, where were we, before everyone called?"

I had my robe back on, sitting by the tree with another gift for her in my hand, cocking an eyebrow at her, I said, "I think we were opening presents?"

Though she wrinkled her nose, pretending to be put out, she sat down beside me and started to open her gift. Then her face broke into a smile, she got up on her knees threw her arms around my neck and kissed me. "Thank you, Rory. I can't believe you found it," she said, happily looking it over. I'd managed to find an out of print book she'd been looking for forever, by an author she'd told me she'd loved reading from the time she was in her teens. And since I'd finally managed to locate a single copy online in a tiny bookseller in England, I was relieved to see she liked it.

Next, I opened the shiny red gift bag she handed me and threw back my head and laughed when I saw that inside was a pair of black boxers with a nutcracker on the crotch. "Just what I need to cover my bottom half while I'm wearing that sweater."

"Figured they'd be fun, and you can model them for me later," she said with a playful waggle of her eyebrows.

Then I handed her another rectangle shaped present and waited for her reaction. Once she'd ripped off the paper and opened the box, she actually gasped when she saw that I'd enlarged a picture of the two of us in our bathing suits from that first night at the pool. I didn't think she'd remember that I got the bartender to take a picture of us. And you could tell from the look in our eyes, that we seemed pretty happy to be together right from the start.

She looked over at me, and I laughed at the way her mouth was hanging open, obviously shocked that I had a picture of us from that very first night. "I don't remember us taking a picture together. But I'm so glad we did. Thank you for this, Rory, it's perfect."

I thought things were going pretty well, and she hadn't said a word about splitting up anymore, so I took a deep breath, reached under the tree and handed her the pale blue Tiffany's bag that I'd been agonizing about giving her.

She eyed me for a moment, and said, "This better not be anything expensive, because we both agreed to only get one little thing for each other, remember?"

I winced. "Well, it's not very big."

She pulled the turquoise ring box out of the bag, popped it open and the instant she saw the brilliant cut, solitaire engagement ring with the diamond encircled band, she gasped, and covered her mouth with her hand. Then she shook her head, looking frantic, closed it up again and dropped it back in the bag and pushed it back at me. "No. I can't take this, Rory. I'm sorry."

Oh, shit. Not exactly what I was hoping for now that I'd finally found the courage to ask for her hand.

I stroked my hand on her knee. "Giselle, you don't have to give me an answer, or even wear it if you don't want to. But just keep it for now, okay?"

When I saw that she was starting to tear up, feeling awful, I pulled into my lap, brushed the hair from her eyes and whispered, "I love you. And I hope one day you can admit that you love me, too. And I want a future with you. I told you I don't care about the difference in our age or about us having any kids. So why don't we just take it slow for now, one day at a time, okay? But please just keep the ring for now."

She wiped at her eyes, and looked up at me. "There are so many reasons why this could never work. And it's more than just the difference in our age, or the fact that I'll probably never be able to have children. But knowing you could have anyone you want, I can't understand why you want me."

I touched her cheek. "Maybe because we're perfect together? And I've never met anyone like you. And I haven't so much as looked at another woman since the day we met."

Her expression softened, and she gave me a crooked smile. "We were having such a nice morning and you had to go and spoil it all by giving me that ring."

Chuckling, I said, "I know, I'm mean like that." I ran my hand over her back, and nodded my head at the bag. "Don't you even want to try it on to see if it fits?"

I dug in the bag and opened the ring box again, pulled out the ring, and looking right into her eyes I slipped it onto her finger.

She was quiet for a minute as she looked down at it sparkling on her hand. But then she sighed and said, "It's beautiful, Rory, really beautiful. Probably the prettiest ring I've ever seen. But you should take it back. I can't accept it. I'm sorry. There's just so much going on in my life right now, and I can't drag you down with me. It just wouldn't be fair."

I stared at her, wondering what the hell she was talking about. Now she had me worried, because obviously she was keeping something from me, something pretty major. "Then tell me what's going on, and maybe I can help. If it's because you're worried about your job, and the possibility of your company moving, you know you've already a job working with me anytime you want it. And I promise I won't even mess around with you after work, if that's what you'd prefer."

Though she smirked at that, she also let out a heavy sigh, and looked so sad when she looked up at me, stroking her hand across my cheek. "How about we just enjoy today, and we'll talk about it tomorrow? It's Christmas, so we should be having fun, not bringing each other down."

I didn't want to argue, but tomorrow I was going to find out what the hell was going on.

We decided to put some clothes on to make dinner, just to be civilized, I guess. And while Giselle was busy peeling vegetables, I made the stuffing, dressed the bird, and got it into the oven.

With the turkey roasting, and all pots on the stove ready to go when it was time, I poured us some wine and put together a platter of cheese, crackers, pate and some olives, so we could sit back and relax.

Then we sat down in front of the TV and laughed our asses off watching Christmas Vacation, especially the part with Chevy Chase stumbling around in the attic, nearly breaking his neck, and the hilarious bit when the kid finds the squealing cat wrapped as a present in a box.

"I just love this movie," Giselle said, wiping at her eyes, she was laughing so hard. And I was just glad to see her happy.

Dinner turned out really well. Even the gravy that we'd worked on together, hoping we wouldn't end up with a lumpy mess to pour over the whipped potatoes, turned out nice and smooth and tasted good, too.

When we sat down to eat, I touched my glass to hers, and said, "Merry Christmas, baby."

After she smiled into my eyes and said it back, she looked pretty pleased looking down at her plate. "This looks amazing. I know if I was home on my own today, I'd probably just be having something delivered, like an order of chicken or even just a burger." Which I thought was pretty sad, especially the thought of her being all on her own at Christmas, celebrating the day with crappy fast food for dinner. So, I was really glad I had her with me.

"Well, I think we make a good team. But I guess we'll have to taste it to know for sure."

Both of us moaned the minute we took our first bite, and then we both laughed at the sounds coming out of us. But it really was good, probably since it was a joint effort. And it was fun cooking with her, too.

I thought we really did make a good team, working around each other in my tiny kitchen with neither of us getting excited. Well, except for maybe when she grabbed my ass and started massaging my buns. Because that had gotten me pretty excited, which had me pulling her into my arms, hiking up her sweater and nearly kissing the hell out of her, before I remembered we were supposed to be making dinner.

Since Giselle was French Canadian on her father's side, for dessert, I was glad that I'd found us a nice chocolate Bouche Noel cake at a local bakery. Her eyes lit up when I put it on the table between us. "Oh, wow! My grand-mere always made this for us when we'd go there for Christmas. How did you ever find one here?"

"There's a great bakery not too far from here and they make all kinds of different stuff for Christmas. I also got a German stollen to have with coffee tomorrow. They seem to cater to everyone's tastes at this time of year.

We were so stuffed and tired by the time we were done, after we'd cleaned up and put everything away, we decided just to take our clothes off and crawl into bed with a bottle of Bailey's.

I poured us each a glass and we smiled at each other as we drank, obviously remembering the fun we'd had with it last time.

Then with a naughty glint in her eye, Giselle tugged my head down and slid her sweet, liqueur-laced tongue all around my lips, before slipping it into my mouth. I loved how amazing it felt every time we kissed; the way she'd tease me with little nibbles of my lips, and flicks of her tongue against mine, and like always, in no time she had me hard as brick.

We put our glasses aside and I slid her onto her back, keeping my gaze trained on her pretty green eyes. I couldn't get over how sexy she looked with her breasts heaving as I parted her thighs. When I slipped a finger in her, she was already so wet all I had to do was take hold of myself and slide inside her. But as eager as we were, we took our time, and made slow sweet love for hours, starting with her beneath me, and then with her crawling on top, to ride me. One thing she couldn't deny, when we got in bed together, it was always crazy good.

She was still curled up tight in my arms when I woke up in the morning, and when she opened her eyes and looked up at me, I could tell she wasn't sure what to say.

I brushed a kiss across her forehead, deciding we might as well get to it. "Well, are you ready to tell me what's going on?"

She eyed me carefully as she nodded, probably wondering where to start. "But only if you promise that you'll let me take care of this on my own, once I tell you."

Since I had no idea what she was dealing with, I just gave her a squeeze and said, "Just know I'm here for you, Giselle, no matter what it is."

Heaving a sigh, she finally opened up. "Do you remember me telling you that my mom died two years before we met?"

"Yeah, I remember. She died the year after I lost my father."

She nodded, and it took her a while, but finally she swallowed and continued. "Well, my doctor retired, and the one that replaced her seems to be a lot more thorough. And when she started asking about my family's medical history, as soon as I told her that both my mother and her mother had died of breast cancer, she looked pretty alarmed. And right away she called her receptionist and arranged for a mammogram and also set me up with a specialist for genetic screening to see if I might be carrying any genes related to breast or ovarian cancer. I just couldn't believe it. When I walked in I felt fine, and suddenly she had me wondering if I'd be next."

I could hear what she was saying, but I just felt so stunned, I had no idea what to say. All I knew was that I did not want her to tell me that she was going to die. I could handle anything else, but not that. "So, did you already go for the tests?"

She nodded. "I had a mammogram last week." Then she looked up at me, blinked a few times and quietly said, "And they found a lump."

I felt my heart drop to my feet. They found a lump? Oh, my god. This couldn't be happening, not to her. Not to my Giselle.

I chill ran down my spine, as I realized what she was saying, and what it could mean for her. "So, what did they say? Have they checked it yet?"

"I've already gone for the genetic screening, and I'm going in to have the lump removed on January second, so I'll have to leave and head home on New Year's day. After they've done a biopsy on whatever it is they find, the doctor said she'd call me to come in and talk about the results. And she suggested it would be a good idea if my sister had herself checked out, too. My sister Marie's got two kids, so I'm praying that they won't find anything wrong with her."

I just kept nodding, trying to absorb what she was saying. But I felt like I was in shock, and hoped I wasn't going to be sick. I just couldn't lose her. "Okay," I finally said, "then we'll fly you back home on the first."

She reached for my hand, and gave me a squeeze. "Rory, I'm going to do this on my own, and I wasn't even planning to tell you, because I didn't want to worry you. This is why I want you to move on. There are just so many things going on with me right now. And you're still so young. You've got your whole life ahead of you. I don't want you to be dragged down with my problems. I'm not even sure what will happen if they find out I've got cancer, some of the surgeries can be pretty drastic, even disfiguring. Both my mother and grandmother had what they referred to as galloping cancer because it spread through them so quickly that they never stood a chance." She managed a weak smile as she stroked my cheek. "So, we'll have these last few days together, and then I'll go home and... I guess after I've had the surgery, I'll find out what happens next."

"Giselle, you're not dealing with this on your own."

"I'm sure a friend could drive me home after I've had the surgery. And you need to stay and take care of things here. You've got this whole new venture you're looking into. And I can take care of this on my own."

"I've got good people in place that can handle everything while I'm gone. So there's no way you're going through this on your own, when you've got me. I can't even believe that you've kept this to yourself. Or that you think I could just turn my back on you now when you really need me." I cupped her face in my hands, and looked into her eyes. "I love you. And whatever happens, we're going to deal with this together."

GISELLE

This was why I was hoping he'd never find out. He's just so stubborn. I knew he'd insist on being there for me. And though I was touched to know that he really did care, I hated the idea of him possibly having to go through what I went through with my mother. And it sure wasn't pretty, having to watch her fade away.

"Which breast is it?" he asked.

"The left one."

"Does it hurt?"

"No. I don't feel anything. But luckily whatever they found is pretty small, but it's also pretty deep."

He nodded and pulled me in closer and kissed the top of my head, wrapped his arms around me, and just held me. And for the longest time neither of us said a word, because there really wasn't much more to say. Until I knew for sure what was going to happen, all I could do was wait -- and hope for the best.

For the next few days Rory was so attentive, and so sweet. But he was being so sweet, the way he was walking on eggshells around me, being careful not to be too rough or ruffle my feathers that he was actually starting to get on my nerves. Finally I lost my patience, and I tackled him to the floor in front of the fire, and made him laugh with how determined I was to get him out of his clothes.

Then I grabbed the bottle of Bailey's I'd got out of the fridge, and I let it drip onto his nipples, and we both laughed like crazy while I licked it all off.

But he stopped laughing when I dribbled it down along his cock, and flashed him an evil smile as I got between his legs and took him in my mouth.

I wanted him to know that I wasn't made of glass, and nothing had to change between us, at least for now.

Forgetting about everything else, we must have made out on the floor for a couple of hours, exploring each other every way we could think of. And when finally he pulled a blanket over us, it felt so nice to doze off with him with his arms tight around me, with us bathed in the soft orange glow of the fire.

As we began to drop off, I could feel my heart clenching, when he tipped up my chin, kissed me, and murmured, "Love you, babe," especially knowing that what we had was almost over.

I guess because of what I was facing, we made a point of really enjoying our last few days together. We took lots of walks in the woods, of course with peanuts in our pockets to feed all the squirrels and birds.

Walking back one day, I noticed a football on his deck and we tossed that around for a while, since it was a pretty mild day for the end of December. And I made him laugh when I stuck my tongue out at him, when he told me that I threw like a girl. And I told him that he didn't mind the fact that I was a girl when he got me naked though, did he?

When we woke up on New Year's eve Marshmallow was waiting at the back door, with her big green eyes peering in at us, hoping for a cuddle. We smiled across at each other as we both spoiled her a little, taking turns rubbing her head and her back, while she closed her eyes and purred her little heart out.

Looking around Rory's quirky bungalow as I stroked the little fur ball, I realized I was really going to miss this little slice of heaven that he called home, especially all the animals and the walks in the woods, but obviously not as much as I was going to miss him.

I knew the house he planned to build right behind this one would be amazing, but I also knew I'd never forget the fun we'd shared in here.

Just for fun for New Year's Eve, we decided to dress up. We both wore what we'd worn to the Christmas party, with me in the same black dress, and heels that Rory thought was pretty sexy. And I've got to say, he sure cleaned up nice. No small wonder every woman in the room the night of the party had been drooling over him in his perfectly fitted charcoal gray suit, crisp white shirt and black and gray striped tie, because he looked like a million bucks.

We had our own little party with steaks and shrimp for dinner, and a nice bottle of red wine. Then after we'd finished, Rory put on some music and we danced close together to Al Green's Let's Stay Together. Reading right through him, I cocked an eyebrow making him laugh, pretty sure why he'd picked this particular song. So I said, "I wonder why you chose this song."

He just shrugged and smiled into my eyes. "I've always thought this was a perfect love song, especially for a night like this."

I got a little teary-eyed, as Al's velvet-smooth voice crooned: "I'm, I'm so in love with you, Whatever you want to do, Is alright with me. 'Cause you make me feel so brand new, I want to spend my life with you. Loving you, whether times are good or bad, happy or sad, come on, Let's, let's stay together... Loving you forever, Is what I need..."