me, baby.”
The longing to have my mouth on hers becomes unbearable. I need her as much as she needs me. Our mouths hover over each other’s, hesitant at first, but when she brushes those sweet, plump lips over mine, my craving to consume her mouth overtakes me.
Her lips part, welcoming me. I take her in, running my fingertips over her jaw, mesmerized by the way her full lower lip trembles at my touch. I search her features and am overwhelmed with the emotion I feel for her in this moment.
“I love you,” I say again before slowly tilting her head to take the kiss I crave from her.
It starts slow and easy so as not to push her after everything she's just endured. I taste her lips, wanting nothing more than to drown in her. As I dip my tongue against hers, I savor the gentle whimper that leaves her chest.
There isn't anything I wouldn't do to kiss her like this every day for the rest of our lives. I feel dizzy, faint, and so overcome with happiness that she is here. We watch each other. I don’t know what she sees; I can only hope she searches out the understanding, the acute awareness I feel, and knows that I don’t blame her for any of this.
If nothing else, she needs to know that. This brave woman of mine who has been through hell and back, had no choice. It may not make any sense at all to anyone but the two of us, but I love her and she loves me. Together we will overcome those who tried to taint that love and destroy us for their own selfish reasons.
The door of that room I have been trapped in has now been unlocked. All along, Clove has been the only one who had the ability to open it. Here in my arms lies the woman who I vowed to love and protect, and I promise her with this first kiss of re-acquaintance that nothing will ever come between us again.
************
For the past hour we have just been sitting here talking about absolutely nothing and everything at the same time. Neither of us has brought up the emotions I so easily notice in her eyes, or why she can no longer look at my face for more than a few seconds at a time. Instead of dealing with the elephant in the room we both know is there, we choose to ignore it.
She did try a few times to bring something up in conversation, but each time I quieted her with my mouth on hers. I’m not ready and I don’t believe she is, either. I know she feels the need to get things off of her chest, but not here. This is a topic we need to discuss in the privacy of our own home, which is another thing we need to talk over. The click of the door opening takes me out of my thoughts.
“Someone is hungry,” a woman’s voice singsongs from behind us over the screeching of the baby whose carrier she is lugging inside.
A radiant glow sweeps over Clove as she adjusts herself upright in the bed. I feel ten feet tall, excited as the nurse comes in closer and I see a tiny fist hanging in the air, waving back and forth.
“Is she all right?” I ask.
“Oh yes. She is perfectly all right. An angel, really. But she won’t drink out of the bottle we tried to give her. She wants her momma, don’t you, precious girl?”
She sets it down and lifts my daughter out.
“I just need to check your ID bracelet and make sure it matches hers first,” she says politely.
“Oh. Okay.”
Clove lifts her arm for inspection. The nurse checks and smiles down at the both of us.
My heart is expanding and I feel so damned lucky right now as I get my first glimpse of my daughter. She is dressed in a little pink t-shirt with matching socks. I sit still, the only thing I am able to move is my head as I watch the nurse hand our creation over to Clove. The minute she is in her mother’s arms, she stops her crying and looks around as if she is taking in everything around her. Her tiny head turns toward Clove’s breast.
“Um, do you have a blanket or anything?” Clove asks shyly.
“I do. Here,” she says, retrieving one from underneath the carrier she brought the baby in.
“I’ll leave the three of