Allison put her fingers on the buttons of Michela’s sleeping shirt, only to have them gently halted.
Michela pulled Allison’s hand to her lips and tenderly kissed her fingers. “You don’t have to do that.”
Allison shook her head, a shy smile on her face. “But I want to. For so many nights I watched you undress, always disappointed when you got into bed.” She lightly kissed Michela’s cheek. “Please let me help.”
Michela softly captured Allison’s lips and guided Allison’s hands to her shirt. They slowly undressed each other, relieved at the trust and passion that was reflected in each other’s eyes. Finally naked, they stood and silently worshipped the other’s body.
Michela reached across the small distance, and tenderly traced the curve of Allison’s breast with the back of her fingers. “You are so incredibly beautiful.”
Allison shuddered at the effect of Michela’s touch.
Michela pulled Allison to her and reveled in the feel of skin against skin. She traced a lazy trail down Allison’s back and rested her hand on her baby-soft backside.
Allison, hands lightly draped on Michela’s waist, gasped at the sensation created by their closeness. Between ragged breaths, she kissed Michela’s neck and looked up. “Please, baby, help me.”
Michela snagged the sleeping bag off the other bed and put it next to her bag. She held out her hand to Allison and in return Allison silently took Michela’s hand. Michela eased Allison onto the bed and climbed in next to her. As she did she offered a silent prayer of thanks at the wider beds now fitted in the apples.
Michela traced a gentle path over Allison’s skin, barely touching her. She paused at the bottom of Allison’s stomach and lightly played with the downy hair below her navel, before grazing the warm hollow near her waist. She traced Allison’s breasts with feather-light touches, lovingly delivered with the back of her hand, intensely aware of Allison’s building arousal. Halting her sensual path, she gazed into Allison’s eyes. “Honey, I want to make love to you, but if I do anything you’re not comfortable with please stop me. I’d never do anything to hurt you.”
Allison sweetly smiled. She kissed Michela’s palm and then shyly guided it to the swell of her breast. “I don’t think you could ever hurt me.” She sealed her words with a kiss.
Humbled by Allison’s trust, Michela ever so gently kissed a trail of love over Allison’s body. She was in turn rewarded by Allison’s feather-light touches as they charted a path across Michela’s body, tentatively grazing across Michela’s breasts before retreating.
As their dance of love progressed, their touches became bolder, more certain, each quietly pleased at the sensations they created in the other. Murmuring words of love, Michela tenderly stroked Allison, barely containing her own response to Allison’s ardor.
Sensing Michela’s need, Allison captured her lips and shyly moved her thigh to meet Michela’s centre. Passionately connected, they sensuously moved together, harmoniously building to a climax. They crested together and continued to move in exquisite synchronization before finally slowing down, entwined around each other’s body.
Regaining her breath, Michela looked at Allison. “Honey, are you all right?”
Allison stroked Michela’s face. “Thank you. Thank you for being so patient with me. Thank you for putting up with my bad moods and my tantrums. But most of all, thank you for loving me.” Her voice broke as her eyes misted with tears.
Fighting her own tears, Michela pulled Allison to her and tenderly kissed her forehead. “Always, my love, for forever and beyond.”
WHILE THE STORM raged outside, Michela and Allison took the time to discover each other and were delighted at what they found. Their days passed peacefully, sometimes doing no more than completing their respective research, sometimes not getting out of bed at all. Occasionally they’d disagree on one issue or another.
Such discussions would lapse into arguments, end with stony silence, and then they would passionately reconcile their differences.
Finally, after seven days of being buffeted by the wind, Michela awoke, her body comfortably covered by Allison. She gently shook Allison. “Alli, honey, wake up.”
Allison nuzzled the chest she’d used on and off as a pillow for the past few days. “Don’t want to.”
Michela smiled and kissed the top of Allison’s head. “Okay, then just listen.” Allison shifted and a couple of seconds later slumped against Michela. “What’s the matter?”
Allison’s voice was muffled as she clung to the Michela’s body. “I don’t want to go. Can’t we stay here and let the rest of the world go on without us?”
Michela put her hand underneath Allison’s chin and tilted her face up. “It’ll be okay, trust me. I think I understand how you feel right now, but we’ll work it out.” She softly and lovingly kissed Allison’s lips. “But if we don’t get this place cleaned up, we’re likely to have Sarah walk in on us.”
Allison almost leapt from the bed. She quickly bathed and dressed and then helped in straightening the hut.
“Michela, this is Sarah, can I come over, over.”
Michela and Allison laughed at Sarah’s perfect timing—they’d just finished making the place presentable.
Sarah walked into the hut and observed the look that passed between Michela and Allison. “G’day you two. That was some storm wasn’t it?” Trying to hide her “I told you so” smile, she looked at Allison and was surprised by a touch of reticence in her face. Puzzled, she glanced at Michela. Michela almost imperceptibly shook her head.
Breaking the slight tension, Michela clapped Sarah’s shoulder. “Yes, it was. Now, how about some breakfast? Have we managed to regain communications with Wills Station yet?”
Sarah nodded. “That happened about four hours ago. Maddi suggested we finish breaking down the camp and then head for the station.”
Allison slammed her cup on the counter, startling Michela and Sarah. They caught a brief glimpse of her angry expression before she turned away from them. Michela gave Sarah a “don’t ask” look.
“She’s right,” Michela said. “We’ll start with breakfast and then pull these huts down. That should take no more than a couple of hours and then we’ll be on our way. Alli, how about we try some of Sarah’s cooking for a change?”
Allison nodded, fighting back the irrational frustration at hearing Maddi Walker’s name. While she was grateful for Michela’s explanation of what had occurred between her and Maddi, she couldn’t help but wonder if Maddi felt the same way. “That sounds like a plan. Let’s go.” Allison walked around Michela and Sarah and out the door.
Sarah gave Michela a quizzical look. “What’s that about? I’m assuming that by the look you gave me that you two finally sorted out your differences.”
“Yes, we did. But ever since this morning when we woke up and found the storm had passed over, she’s progressively withdrawn into herself.” And not prepared to admit what’s happened between the two of us to the world.
Sarah rubbed Michela’s back. “Give it time. It’s got to be a hell of a change for her. Maybe the trip back with the four of us is what she needs to help sort herself out and what this change means to her.”
Michela followed Sarah to the other apple. I just hope that’s all it is, and she’s not having second thoughts. I don’t think I could cope.
Chapter Eleven
My Darling Charlotte,
My love, the daylight hours grow shorter here as winter tightens its grip against Ian Ross and myself. Only yesterday our team member Malcolm Pitt, succumbed to the pneumonia that had racked his poor body for the last week. The weather is so forbidding and cold that it took us most of the day to dig any more than a pitifully shallow scrape in the ice. We served him into his sleeping bag and built a makeshift sled to take him to his final resting-place. After a short ceremony, we covered him and returned to the cold and loneliness of our hut.
Despite that only two of us remain, our food is slowly running out. As
the days progress, even the simplest of tasks become a burden, made even more so by the injury to Ian’s leg, which stubbornly refuses to heal. It is only my commitment to maintaining Ian’s spirits that force me out of bed at all. However, I fear the day will soon be upon us when neither of us moves, consigning us to our own fate. To have come so far and hoped for so much, only to arrive at where we are now. How did I allow it to come to this?
ERF
Antarctica—2010
THE ABSENCE OF the BOB-trak allowed the team to return to Will’s Station in their sno-trak at a comfortable cruising speed of twenty five miles an hour. Instead of the tedious nine days it had taken to get to the site, Rob estimated they would spend no more than two nights on the ice.
Taking advantage of the vehicle’s speed, and after a quick discussion with Michela, Rob deviated from the original route and took them to a rookery, populated by emperor penguins and their recently hatched young.
For the first time since leaving the base, Allison surfaced from her introspective mood. The sound of the adult penguins was almost unbearable as they squawked over one another to be heard. She carefully walked to the rookery and smiled at the penguins as they waddled around her, as if her presence there was an everyday event. She took her video from its bag on her hip and filmed the adults, with their resplendent black and white plumage, trimmed by a neck of golden yellow. She softly laughed at their antics and at the sweet grey chicks that followed their parents’ every step. Preoccupied in her task, she was startled by a crunch on the snow behind her.
Michela walked to Allison’s side. “They’re funny, aren’t they? Last time I was down here I was taken to an Adelie penguin rookery. The Adelie are small compared to these and much more in keeping with the traditional black and white penguin.”
Allison nodded, surprised and yet, awkwardly silenced by Michela’s arrival. She finished her filming and returned her camera to its bag.
Michela brushed Allison’s arm with her hand. Allison turned to her.
“Is anything wrong?” Michela asked.
Allison looked where Michela’s hand rested, lightly grasping her wrist, and then gazed at the vista. What is the matter with me? Only days ago everything seemed so perfect and now, well, I’m not so sure. She returned her gaze to Michela. “No. I think I’m tired and a little bit disappointed that we didn’t get a lot more done than we did at the dig site.”
Michela shook her head. “You and the rest of your crew did wonders. You’ve established it well for any further excavations. Don’t lessen the degree of what you achieved because you didn’t uncover the complete hut.” Michela took Allison’s hand. “And besides, I’m proud of you.”
Allison looked at the hand covering her own and then slowly released it. “I know. I wish we were back there, that’s all.”
Disappointed at Allison’s detachment and yet sensing she wanted some time to herself, Michela softly rubbed Allison’s back, before leaving her to her own thoughts.
Allison listened to Michela’s footfall as she walked away, and winced at her actions. Why did I do that when she touched me? Not less than twenty-four hours ago she touched me and I welcomed it. What’s changed?
The more she thought about her response to Michela’s touch, the more confused she became. I mean, I really do like her. But everything seems to have gotten a heck of a lot more complex. How am I supposed to act around her? Are we allowed to touch each other in public? Do I want her to touch me in public? What about what other people say? My friends have no idea what’s gone on down here, not to mention my parents. And what about my job? What does this mean for my job? She cursed the loss of the isolation and intimacy she’d shared with Michela during the final days at Finlayson camp and longed to return to the time when it was just her and Michela alone.
Hearing Rob calling her back, she trudged back to the sno-trak for the rest of their return journey.
MICHELA WATCHED AS Allison headed into the main building at Will’s Station. Shaking her head, she went to the rear of the sno-trak to help Sarah unhook the container from the vehicle.
Sarah motioned her head at Allison. “So, how’re things going between you two?”
Michela let out an exasperated breath. “I really don’t know. It seems the closer we got to this place the more withdrawn she became.”
Sarah pulled the trailer away from the sno-trak. “I saw you talking at the rookery. Did she mention anything there?”
“No. She seems to be fine when there’s the four of us, but when it’s just us, she’s almost reticent to discuss anything.”
“Are you going to talk to her about it?”
Michela nodded. “Now we’re back here and there’s a bit more privacy, maybe I can sit down with her and talk this through.” She closed her eyes and rubbed the back of her neck. She gazed at Sarah. “I really do like her. I wonder if she realizes how much.”
Sarah gently patted Michela’s back. “Give it time, my friend, give it time.”
ALLISON CLOSED THE door of her allocated room and released a sigh. For the first time in a long while she was finally alone. While privacy was a luxury she’d longed for during her time on the ice, it now had a new meaning— being alone with Michela. Now she could no longer look forward to quiet moments alone with Michela.
Allison pulled from her pack clothes that were sorely in need of a decent wash as she tried work through her confusion over her actions with Michela during the return journey. While she felt as if she’d at last found comfort and loving security in Michela’s arms, the thought of returning to civilization and its associated pressures clouded her thinking. What do I really want?
She jumped at the knock on her door. She opened it and was greeted by a smiling Sarah. Sarah walked into the small room, jumped onto the bed, and made herself comfortable. Allison smiled. “Come in.”
“Thanks, I thought I’d see what you were up to. As surprising as it may seem, Rick and Di made themselves useful while they were back here. Everything’s good to go for the trip home.” Sarah crossed her outstretched legs. “So, have you got any plans when you get back to Australia? Any possible holiday plans with someone else perhaps?”
Allison blushed, strangely uncomfortable that the relationship between herself and Michela was so transparent. “You know.”
Sarah waved her hand. “Of course I do and I have to say it’s about time. Most of the eight weeks you two spent together were wasted on dancing around the subject. Sometimes the two of you clash, but most of the time you’re right for each other.”
Exasperated, Allison flopped down on the bed. “How is it you know we’re so right for each other and yet I’m not so sure? I mean, I really do care for Michela, but I’m not certain whether I’m ready to commit to anything and everything that goes with it.”
“Have you spoken with Michela?” Allison shook her head. “What is it that concerns you the most?”
“There’re so many things. As you said, sometimes we argue like cats and dogs. Not to mention, she’s on one side of the world and I’m on the other. What does this mean to her job? Hell, I didn’t even know I was out and now do I have to be? How do I know this relationship isn’t a case of two people being thrown together in the right circumstances and nothing else?”
Sarah took Allison’s hands. “I know this is different to what you’ve experienced before on a personal level, but let me try and clear a few things up. Yes, you argue like cats and dogs, but how long do you really stay mad at each other? Yes, she’s on the other side of the world and that’s a major hurdle. One that only you and she can overcome. I don’t know what it means to Michela’s job and as for you, when did anyone say you had to be out? That’s a personal choice, Alli, and one I don’t think Michela’s going to demand as a prerequisite for any relationship.”
Allison nodded. “I understand. It’s so much to absorb all at once.”
“And finally, regarding your last comment, let me ask you one thing.” Sarah searched Allison’s face. “Do you ho
nestly believe this is no more than a case of two people being thrown together under the right circumstances? How do you really feel about her?”
Allison closed out all the external pressures and centralized her thoughts, her mind surprisingly clear. She smiled. “She moves me like no one else has ever done. She touches emotional depths I never knew existed. She holds me when I hurt and comforts me through the pain. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before.”
“Then I think you’ve answered your own question. Mind you, I still think you two need to sit down and talk about it. But, for the moment, were you going to the laundry? I’ve also got a heap of washing to do.”
Allison stood and threw her dirty clothing into her laundry bag. “I do. It’s amazing the amount of dirt that piles up after only weeks of basic washing.”
MICHELA STRETCHED OUT full-length on her bed, disdainful of the request on the back door to first remove her shoes before lying down. This is so much different to that apple. I particularly like the do not disturb and please make up my room sign that someone snatched from a hotel. Someone certainly had a keen sense of humor. She nuzzled into her pillow and groaned at the knock on the door. She got up, opened the door, and smiled at Maddi, before seeing her tears. “What is it?”
“I’m sorry to disturb you,” Maddi said. “I was wondering if I could speak with you. On a professional basis if I could.”
Michela motioned for Maddi to enter and put the “do not disturb” sign on the doorknob before closing the door.
“What is it? What’s happened?”
“It’s my father. I just got off the satellite phone to mum. He was working on the roof yesterday and he suffered a massive stroke. He died last night in the hospital,” Maddi said. “God, he was my rock. He loved me no matter how many times I caused him to consider otherwise. When I came out all he said was ‘you’re my daughter and if you’re happy then that’s all that matters.’ I’m so lost without him.” Maddi sobbed and fell into Michela’s arms.
Colder Than Ice Page 24