Chapter 14

Changes

“Nervous again?” Richard asked Billie as they lay next to each other half an hour later.
“Huh?” Billie snapped out of her thoughts.
“Are you nervous?” he asked again “about the wedding?”
“The wedding … yeah, a little. I’ll be fine” she answered. Then she sighed. “Would you … um …”
“Would I what?” he asked slightly amused.
“H-hold me?” she answered biting her lip.
“Of course, come here” he said pulling her in his arms, her head resting on his chest.
“It’s strange …” she spoke. “Mom and dad are here. I always imagined they’d be at my wedding but I had gotten used to the idea that they weren’t able to come. And now they are here. And I want to be happy about it. Actually I am, but Lynn … she seems really sick …” she sighed.
“She’s pregnant” Richard stated causing her to look at him surprised.
“What??? How do you know that?”
“I don’t. But it fits. She fainted, she’s overly emotional, her boyfriend treats her like she’s some kind of porcelain doll that can break any minute, plus when you were talking about birth and babies she placed her hand on her stomach …”
“Wow, you should definitely consider a career in OB” she told him amused.
“Really, I …” a knock at the door interrupted him.
“Come in” he said.
“Sorry to bother you, I hope I’m not interrupting … anything” Denny said apologetically “I need some Tylenol. Lynn’s got a little fever.”
“Is she okay?” Billie asked concerned.
“Yeah. It’s just … um … it’s probably the flight … Thanks” he said taking the medicine from Richard and then walking out.
“He thought … he was interrupting … something” Billie said.
“Yes. He probably did” Richard answered.
“But he didn’t. Interrupt, I mean.”
“No” he agreed.
Neither of them said anything for a few minutes.
“Rae …”
“Mmm …”
“You’re not sleeping”
“No”
“You want to talk?”
“About what?”
“You tell me. The thing that’s keeping you awake.”
She sighed.
“When I moved in with you and Andy, I told you that you can … um … you know … date … if you wanted. I was okay with that at the time.”
“Yeah, you might have mentioned that” he said smiling.
“You’ve never tried to … um … get in bed with me … You did kiss me and stuff but …”
“Okay, Rae, I have to disagree. I did get in bed with you, in fact, I’m in bed with you right now” he said with a grin.
“I’m talking about sex!” she hissed. “You haven’t tried to have sex with me. And I want to know if that’s going to change once we’re married. There, I’ve said it.” Now all she had to do was to wait for his answer. He slowly turned her on her side so they could face each other.
“Do you want it to change?” he asked in a serious voice.
“Do you?” she asked back barely a whisper.
“Well…” he started cupping her face with his hands “I would like to be able to make love to my beautiful wife, but” he continued closing the gap between them and placing a soft kiss on her lips “if you’re not ready…” he kissed her forehead “I can wait” he finished and pulled her closer.
She seemed to be thinking about it for a while, then she spoke “I think I am … ready, I mean, I think I’m ready, but … what if … I’m not … good … enough … for you?” she asked biting her lip.
“Rae, listen to me, I could show you right now that you are good enough for me …” he said in a serious tone.
“But?” she interrupted him.
“I want to wait till tomorrow night” he explained.
“Our wedding night” she whispered.
“Our wedding night” he agreed. “I want it to be special and I want you to feel special because that is exactly how you are. So…” he kissed her forehead “very…” he kissed her nose “special.” he concluded kissing her lips passionately.
When they pulled away she was smiling.
“Okay, try to get some sleep, you sure aren’t going to get any tomorrow night” he chuckled. “Sweet dreams”
“Thanks, you too” she said placing her head on his chest and closing her eyes. She was about to fall asleep when Richard let out another chuckle and whispered “And you don’t cure anemia with Tylenol.”
“Mmm …” was all he got back and he, too closed his eyes.