In one corner was an elaborate train set, in another a large doll house. A wardrobe packed with costumes for fairies, superheroes, knights, and more, was at the back of the room. Adjacent to this was a craft area where sun catchers, polystyrene planes and Hama beads lay as evidence of either completed projects or works in progress. And stacked on shelves were books and board games. Robert had noted with interest that there were no electronic toys, not even a television set. When he had queried Dana about it she had responded that she wanted the kids to use their imaginations and release their creative potential in that room.
“You’d be surprise what they come up with after a couple hours in here. It’s like they forget that video games and TV exist,” she’d said.
He had been impressed. Most mothers he knew seemed to give into their children’s demands. She, on the other hand, appeared to be loving, yet firm. She really was an amazing woman. His feelings for her were daily growing beyond mere physical attraction.
The children sat in various positions; one boy lying on his stomach on the soft rug, another boy sitting Indian-style on the floor, and the girl curled up on the large Futon sofa bed in Robert’s lap. All eyes were on Dana as she read the bedtime story. She had explained that he hadn’t yet fully recovered from the accident so it hurt his head to read.
~*~*~*~
After the story was over, Robert and Dana put the kids to bed together. Before each could climb beneath the covers, Robert prayed for them. That one almost floored Dana. Beyond the perfunctory night prayer, Robert had never placed his hand on each child’s head and blessed them before.
Having deposited the last child in his room, Dana was about to bid Robert goodnight when he took her hand. She glanced at him in surprise.
“I’d like to speak with you,” he said.
“About what?”
“Let’s go to our room.”
After they were seated on the sofa, he said, “Dana, I want to move back into this room tonight.”
“Oh! Why?”
“I think that for the sake of the children we should be in the same room. This whole episode has been somewhat traumatic for them, I’m sure. I want them to feel stable. If they see us in separate rooms, it will confuse them.”
To hear Robert say these words was really surprising. Imagine this man had forgotten he even had children and now he was waxing poetic about how important it was that they felt safe and stable. She wondered if he was for real or if this was just a ploy to get into bed with her. She narrowed her eyes at him and scrutinized every inch of his face looking for even the slightest hint of insincerity. Finally, she sighed. He was an award-winning actor. If he were faking it would be pretty difficult for her to know. Only time would tell how sincere he really was.
She nodded. “Okay, we can share a bed, but I’m not ready to…”
“I know, and I can accept that. I’ll respect your wishes. I won’t overstep your boundaries. I haven’t been sleeping through at night and when I awake I sometimes check in on you to make sure you’re safe. I’ve never tried to touch you on those occasions. Although I wanted to,” he added, almost to himself.
Dana bit the inside of her lip and averted her gaze for a second so that he wouldn’t see how his words had impacted her. The thought that he wanted to ensure that she was safe despite the security guards at their gate and the high powered security system had sent a warmth coursing through her belly.
“Go get your things and come to bed, then,” she said decisively. He had proffered a good case for why he should be allowed back in their bed. She had to at least give him the opportunity to prove himself.
“I may be in the bathroom when you return. I’m going to take a shower,” she said.
“How about I give you a little privacy so that you can get ready for bed and then join you in about twenty minutes. Will that be enough time?”
“Um…sure. Thanks.” How considerate! Was this an elaborate act? It didn’t seem so.
“No problem.” He reached the door and then turned back to her with his hand on the door knob.
“By the way, I was wondering if maybe we could have devotion together. You’ll have to read, of course, but there’s a marriage devotional by James and Shirley Dobson I found around here called Night Light. It looks practically brand new.”
“I bought that in our first year of marriage. We started out doing the devotions fairly faithfully, but a few months in it just seemed like we got too busy and never made the time to do it so…”
“Well, we’ve certainly got the time now. Let’s start tonight.”
After Dana had showered and dressed in her thin-strapped nightgown, she brushed out her hair and almost spritzed on perfume before she caught herself. This was not a prelude to anything. She and Robert were just having devotion and then they would move to opposite sides of the huge, king-sized, four-poster bed. She caught her reflection in the mirror and shook her head. She looked a little too provocative in the silk nighty which stopped mid-thigh and gently accentuated her figure. She couldn’t give Robert any ideas. Trying to refrain from touching him was difficult as it was.
Being holed up with him alone over the last several days had been unexpectedly tempting. She had begun to feel stirrings that she hadn’t felt for him in months. He had seemed oblivious to the effect he was having on her, though. The previous day, for example, he had emerged from the guest room shirtless and in a brief swim trunk.
She could feel a heat flush creep across her entire body, and she knew her face had lit up like a Christmas tree because after one glance at her he had immediately apologized.
“I’m sorry I wanted to take a little swim and these were all I found.”
To her credit, she had recovered enough to caution him to take it easy and not attempt to do anything crazy like dive off the deep end. When he returned fifteen minutes later, slightly winded, she had been relieved to see he was wearing a terry robe from the poolside that Maria, on her first day back, had most likely left there for him. Bless her heart.
She could still recall the image all through that day and had tried to stay focused. One part of her said that he was her husband, and she had every right to give into her carnal thoughts. Another part said that he didn’t remember her and wasn’t in love with her, so it would be like letting a stranger make love to her. That last thought inspired her now to French-braid her hair and wrap the silk robe that matched the plum colored nighty tightly around her. Until Robert was her husband emotionally, she couldn’t be his wife physically. It was as simple as that.
There was a soft knock at the bedroom door. Her heart immediately skipped a beat. She put her hands on her cheeks and willed herself to act natural. She wanted to call out to him to come in, but she was afraid her voice would betray her excitement. Instead, she walked over and opened the door.
He stood there with a smile, wearing striped pajama pants and a blue-gray crew neck tee shirt. The book was clutched to his chest.
Dana’s heart rate took off in a most ill-mannered gallop.
“Come in,” she said, pointing to the sofa. “Do you want to have the devotion here or on the balcony?”
“Here can work.”
She sat on the couch, and he joined her. Dana read the devotional out loud. Based on Jeremiah 17:7, it spoke about choosing to trust God even amidst life’s stresses. It emphasized that marriage was a triangle, with the man and woman at the bottom and God at the top.
“So how has God blessed us during hard times in our marriage?” she asked.
“You’ll need to tell me.”
She thought about this a while.
“After a few years of marriage, I hadn’t gotten pregnant so we decided to visit a doctor and find out what the problem was. It turned out that I wasn’t ovulating regularly. I had to get treatment. So that was a stressful time for us.”
“How so?”
“Well, I had to take medication to stimulate my ovaries. The medication produced a few side effects, like nausea and hea
daches, which made me a little irritable. Also, the doctor advised that we should pair that with making love at times when I was most fertile. I had to take my temperature to track the times when I was ovulating. It was not very romantic. Once I had to call you in the middle of an interview to come home.”
“That actually sounds pretty exciting. Not stressful,” he said with a twinkle in his dark eyes.
Dana ran a hand down her nose bridge as she recalled what had transpired.
“When you got home and found out the reason for the call you were livid and asked if I was insane.”
“Wait,” Robert said as he sat forward, “I didn’t know why you wanted me to come home?”
Dana pursed her lips.
“I kind of told you there was an emergency at home that needed your attention. You raced over here and discovered me in bed waiting for you.”
“And I was livid? Seems hard to believe,” Robert said in an intimate tone.
Was it her imagination or was he watching her like a cat watching a mouse?
Dana tried to stay on point.
“Oh, trust me, your career was – is – very important to you, and this was a major interview set to be aired the upcoming weekend.”
“So what happened next?” he asked watching her with unwavering interest as he rubbed his sexy cleft chin.
“I reminded you that it was your idea we get pregnant in the first place.”
“My idea? You didn’t want kids?”
Dana met his gaze head on.
“Yeah, I just didn’t think we needed to do it right then.”
“We’ve been married almost eleven years, and the kids are seven, so we waited four years.”
“No, we actually waited for three so don’t you start on me,” she said threateningly, pointing at his chest.
He chuckled and held up his hands in surrender.
“Just saying, I may have had a point.”
“Hmm, well, you’re on your side. What a surprise.”
“I’m not taking anyone’s side. I’m neutral.”
Dana burst out laughing.
“So, what happened?” he asked.
“Huh?”
“I was livid. You told me off. Then what?”
She paused, instantly regretting the path she’d led their conversation down. She played with the hem of her nightgown and shifted her gaze to an oil painting on the wall.
“Well...you were contrite, admitted that you’d acted like a fool...and we…um…ended up making passionate love. I think that was the day the kids were conceived.”
She glanced back at him and observed his pupils dilate.
“Right,” he said in a husky voice.
She cleared her throat. “Well, then, let’s just finish up and go to bed – sleep! I mean go to sleep.”
She looked back down at the book and thought briefly about turning on the air conditioner. It was suddenly very hot in there.
“What are some of the little stresses that drive us apart?”
“I can think of one – amnesia,” Robert said.
“Yeah and before that it was your job, my job, not making enough time for each other, all the absences, the traveling...” Dana added.
“Are you saying that our marriage wasn’t going very well?”
“Yes, I am. Just before the accident I felt very disconnected from you. I doubted your love for me. You hardly spent time home.”
“Were we on the verge of divorce?”
After a short pause, Dana said, “I never initiated that discussion.”
“Was it on your mind?” Robert asked as he watched her intently.
Dana was silent for a long moment as she tried to decide how honest she should be with him. “It did occur to me.”
“I see. Certain things now make sense.”
“What do you mean?”
“It explains why you have this emotional distance from me. I was wondering if it was because of the accident. I see it’s because of our history.”
She really didn’t want to go there with him right now, and this conversation was beginning to give her a headache.
“Let’s finish up.” She said the closing prayer.
When she opened her eyes and looked up, the huge bed seemed to loom before her. How come she hadn’t noticed how sensuous and inviting it looked before? The teak bed’s mattress was covered in sleek, camel hair gold silk. Those were the same sheets that had covered the bed on their wedding night. Normally, she reserved them for special occasions to create a mood. She hadn’t asked Maria to put on those sheets in the last two years or so. What had possessed the housekeeper to place them on the bed now? Dana sighed to herself. She couldn’t very well go and change them now without making her discomfort obvious. She would just have to grin and bear it.
Dana placed the book on the nightstand and climbed in her side of the bed. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Robert do the same. She noted a strange look pass over his face as he held the sheets to climb into the bed. He paused and ran his fingers lightly over the fabric. The look was gone a second later.
She had half expected him to undress, Robert usually didn’t sleep in clothing, but he made no attempt to take off his clothes.
When he turned his back to her, Dana immediately wondered if he was angry and for the first time in a long time she wanted to scramble over to his side of the bed and cuddle with him. Instead, she took off her robe and turned off the lamp. For good measure, she took one of the pillows from behind her head and used it as a separator between them.
“Goodnight, Bobby.”
“Goodnight, Dana,” he responded softly.
Chapter 16
When Robert’s eyes opened the next morning, he was surprised to find himself staring at a pillow. It took a minute or two, but he remembered that he was in another bed. He was in the bed he shared with his wife. Or that he had shared with her prior to his accident.
He pushed down the huge pillow between them and lifted his head slightly to peer at her. She was still asleep. She was facing him, and there was one arm under her head.
He watched her chest gently move up and down as she breathed. Her long lashes shifted as her eyes moved under the closed lids.
It suddenly occurred to him that he had slept through. He hadn’t awoken during the night.
A glance at the clock on the wall revealed that it was just after six o’clock. A slow smile traveled across Robert’s face. What a wonderful thing to be able to have a good nights’ sleep. He felt refreshed for the first time since his surgery.
He glanced back at Dana. She had shifted to the other side, and he was suddenly staring at her back. He propped up on his arm so that he could get a better look. His eyes took in her rich, lustrous hair, caught up in the braid, and the wispy golden strands that escaped and traveled down her graceful neck where tendrils curled. He could watch her all day. It seemed like the more time he spent in her company, the more he wanted her. She was like a drug of some kind. He wanted to take one of the curls of her hair between his fingers but resisted the urge. The last thing he needed was for her to awake, find him touching her and then banish him to the guest room again.
He sighed and one second later jerked around in alarm as the bedroom door burst open and the little girl, Alex, ran in. She beamed when she saw him.
“Daddy.”
She came over and sat on the bed beside him. She cupped his cheek with her tiny hand.
“I just wanted to make sure I didn’t dream you yesterday.”
He smiled. “No, you didn’t dream me. I’m really here.”
“Good. Can you make my hot chocolate?”
“Um…sure. In a second.”
Robert took a few deep breaths. The physiotherapist had cautioned him not to attempt to dash out of bed on mornings but to take in some oxygen and slowly stretch. This advice had been offered after Robert had confessed that he usually felt a little dizzy when he got straight out of bed. The therapist had advised him to rest at the side of th
e bed for a couple of minutes first. It had injured his pride a little to think he had to resort to stabilizing himself like an old man before he could leave his bed, but he soon relaxed when the man assured him that this particular issue was usually only temporary and was more likely to clear up faster if he followed his advice.
Five minutes later, Robert made his way down the stairs with Alex in tow.
“Where are your brothers?”
“Silly Daddy. You know they don’t wake this early on Saturdays.”
“Right. So you’re always the first up, sunshine?”
“Yes. Don’t you remember?”
“Remember, I told you yesterday that the accident caused me to forget some things. Right? So, I’m going to need you kids to jog my memory from time to time. You promised to help me with that.”
“Okay. I’ll help you, Daddy.”
“Great. Now get me the ingredients.”
Alex scooted around the kitchen. She chatted as she collected cocoa, sugar, and cinnamon from the cupboards.
“I’ve got the milk,” Robert declared as he closed the fridge door.
“I’ll get the pot,” Alex said. She hunched down and retrieved a small pot from the cupboard and placed it on the stove top. “…and you get the measuring cup. It’s up there.” She pointed to an overhead cabinet.
He checked the cupboard and found the cup.
“Okay, so I’m guessing that your brothers are going to want some when they get up too. Am I right?”
“Yep.”
To Robert’s surprise, he knew the correct measurements of ingredients to mix together without knowing how he knew. The result was a tasty pot of hot chocolate if he did say so himself.
Alex soon sat at the kitchen table sipping away.
They both looked up at Maria when she entered. She was taking on cooking duties for the chef who Robert was told had requested an extra week’s vacation.
“Oh, good morning, Mr. Cortelli. Sorry to be late this morning but I had to speak with my sister on the phone. My nephew was rushed to the hospital last night.”
“Hospital? Why? What happened to him?”
Second Chance: A Christian Romance (Royals Book 2) Page 17