The Truest of Words

by Georgina Guthrie

“I probably ought to have kept my trap shut.”

  “No, I’m glad you told me.” My mind flickered to my ripped nightie. “Do you think he’s been having bad dreams?”

  “I’m not privy to his sleep patterns, darling. Please don’t tell him I said anything. He does seem better now that you’re here. He missed you terribly, that’s all.”

  “I missed him too, trust me.”

  “I know the feeling,” Julie said. “I hated being away from Jer, especially knowing he was dealing with that stuff in France by himself.”

  “Did everything go okay?” I said.

  “He said it was surreal. He stood on the exact spot where his parents died.”

  “Jesus. How awful would that be?”

  Julie shook her head. “He said it was weird, but comforting, like he was getting a chance to say good-bye properly for the first time. He doesn’t remember the funeral. He was only three.”

  “Oh, don’t.” Penny dabbed at the corner of her eye. “Poor Jeremy.”

  Julie looked out over the fields. “He doesn’t want a pity party. He said meeting Anita and talking to her was a really positive experience.”

  “I’m happy for him,” I said, rubbing Julie’s back.

  “Me too,” Julie said. “Anyway, enough doom and gloom. How are your plans shaping up? What’s happening next week?”

  “Daniel has an itinerary planned. Bath, Stratford, Salisbury…”

  “I thought you wanted to go to London,” she said.

  “I do. Daniel only wants to go for one night, two at the most.”

  “It is expensive,” Penny pointed out.

  “You know he doesn’t give a crap about money, Penny,” I argued.

  Julie flattened her lips into a grim line. “Maybe he’s stressed about going back there because of…you know…”

  “What, that he’d be dreading being near Oxford, you mean?” Penny asked.

  “Yeah, maybe he’s afraid it’ll bring back memories,” Julie suggested.

  “I’d say you’re right,” Penny mused. “However, Oxford isn’t actually in London. Not even really near it at all.”

  “I thought it was,” I said, my voice fading. I felt like such an ignoramus.

  “No, silly, it’s in Oxfordshire,” Penny said. “About an hour and a half northwest of London.”

  “Okay, there goes that theory.” Julie grimaced.

  As we walked on, Julie quizzed Penny about their honeymoon trip, but I found myself unable to keep track of the conversation, distracted by thoughts of my ripped silk nightie and Daniel’s mysterious aversion to London.

  Chapter 29

  Preparations

  Prepare we for our marriage…

  And may our oaths well kept and prosperous be!

  (Henry V, Act V, Scene ii)

  THE NEXT MORNING, I had breakfast with Daniel’s family and Julie in the estate dining room while he golfed with his dad and brothers. As Patty, Gwen, and great-aunt Gwendolyn speculated about the weather, I squirmed uncomfortably in my seat.

  After the rehearsal party the night before, Daniel had imbibed a tad too much, and we’d ended up in our room playing a drinking game with a tumbler of scotch. Somehow, most of it had ended up all over me, a good deal of it between my thighs, a mess which Daniel had kindly offered to clean up—with this tongue. At the time, it had been fun, but now I was paying for it.

  I excused myself from the table, rummaging for my phone in my bag and finding a quiet corner in the lobby to call Daniel. After four rings and the sound of muffled rustling, Daniel finally answered.

  “Aubrey? Is everything okay?”

  “Everything’s fine here. How are you?”

  “Aside from this blinding hangover and the fact that Brad has suddenly turned into an arrogant golf pro? I’m superb.”

  “You’re having a bad game?”

  “Meh, hit and miss. You caught me mid-putt. Not that I’m particularly worried about the distraction. I don’t have a chance in hell of sinking this. Hang on.”

  I heard him calling out to Jeremy to go ahead and take his turn first.

  “So, your head’s pounding?” I asked.

  “Fiercely. Christ. I was a mess last night.”

  “Feel free to be as messy as you like as often as you please.”

  “I take it you enjoyed yourself?”

  “Immensely. Although your scotch trick might have been a tad ill-advised. They don’t call it firewater for nothing. I’m stinging a wee bit south of the border.”

  “I didn’t even think about that. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. A soak in the tub and a day of rest should sort everything out.”

  “A day of rest, huh? Sounds like I might’ve shot myself in the foot.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with my hands—” I turned to the wall as I continued to whisper “—or my tongue, for that matter.”

  He cleared his throat. “Okay, as much as I’m enjoying imagining that, I’m about to make a spectacle of myself. Before my dad mistakes me for a flag hole marker and fires a ball at my crotch, we should change the subject.”

  “You could always duck behind a tree and take a few…um…handicap strokes.” I giggled.

  “Aubrey…”

  “Okay, sorry,” I said, tittering at my own joke.

  “Is there a specific reason for your call, feisty pants?”

  “Actually, yes. Do you think you could make a trip to the pharmacy on the way back? Grab some Epsom salts or something? I’d like to have a soak in the tub this afternoon.”

  “I should pick up some Tylenol anyway. Anything else?”

  “It’s not an emergency, but I’d like to paint my toenails. Can you get me a bottle of red nail polish if you see some?”

  He sighed heavily. “Brad will get a kick out of me shopping for that.”

  “Never mind. It’s not a big deal—”

  “No, no, it’s fine. If I see something, I’ll pick it up. Listen, I should try to salvage some dignity here. We’ll be back in an hour and a half or so.”

  “Drive carefully.”

  “Not easy with visions of you in that tiny skirt dancing around in my rearview mirror.”

  “You could send the guys off for a nature walk and take a turn in the back seat by yourself,” I suggested.

  “Maybe I’ll try to find Harriet the Horny Holstein. I believe we have some unfinished business.”

  When I heard the room door open, I slid warily under the blanket of bubbles.

  “Daniel? Is that you?”

  A hand holding a box of Epsom salts emerged through the crack in the bathroom door.

  “Of course it’s me.” He peered around the edge of the door. “I sure as hell hope you weren’t expecting someone else.”

  “You’re so adorable when you’re jealous.”

  “Touché.”

  “Thanks for grabbing that,” I said.

  “I hope it eases the fire down below. Actually hope isn’t a strong enough word. I’m fervently praying with every fiber of my being.”

  I laughed as he poured a healthy dose of the crystals into the water.

  “Comfortable?” he asked, perching on the edge of the tub.

  “Uh-huh. I love bubble baths.”

  “I hate ’em,” he said, frowning at the suds. “Can’t see a damn thing.”

  He smiled, and I gazed back at him dreamily, reaching up to link my soapy fingers with his.

  “I love you, sailor.”

  “I love you too, poppet.” He suddenly stood, reaching into his pocket. “And I endured Brad’s mockery just for you.” He placed a bottle of nail polish on the side of the tub. “Fire-engine red.”

  “Aptly named,” I said, reaching for the bottle. “And a very pretty color.”

  He sighed, popping open the button of his pants and peeling off his shirt.

  “Funny, that’s exactly what Brad said.” He turned on the shower and finished undressing. “You don’t mind if I shower, do you?”

&nb
sp; “Of course not. Do your thing.”

  Daniel did his thing. Did he ever. While he soaped up, I ogled him shamelessly, watching his muscles rippling. Such a pedestrian activity, but Daniel made showering look like an art. He stepped out and wrapped a towel around his waist, reaching over the sink to towel-dry the mirror. I slid to the other end of the tub, leaning on my hands as I watched.

  “I think we should get shower doors like that at home.”

  “Really? Why’s that?”

  “Unfrosted glass is the way to go.”

  “You’re as perverted as I am,” he said. “But I confess, I’ve considered new shower doors a few times myself.”

  He smirked, squirted a dollop of shaving cream onto his palm, and lathered his chin.

  “Penny will be relieved.”

  “She can’t seriously have thought I’d go to her wedding without shaving. I’ll be front and center all day.”

  “Are you nervous?”

  He rinsed the razor, his lips pursed in contemplation. “Honestly? I’m kind of excited about emceeing.”

  “This sort of thing is right up your alley, isn’t it, Professor?”

  I gave him a saucy wink, and he shook his head, turning his attention back to the mirror. As he finally dried his face and splashed the sink clean, I perched my foot on the side of the bath.

  “Can I borrow your shaving cream, sunshine?”

  Daniel smiled, giving the can a shake. He sprayed a foamy blob onto his fingers and slid his hand up my leg, massaging it into my skin. He dangled my razor between his fingers.

  “May I?”

  “May you what? Shave my legs?”

  “Sure. I’m a pro. Don’t you trust me?”

  “Um, of course I do.”

  He perched on the edge of the tub, positioning the razor at my ankle and making a slow, even sweep through the foam.

  “Okay?” he asked.

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Then why are you holding your breath?” He laughed. “I promise not to cut your leg off.”

  I sank under the bubbles and tried to relax. After Daniel had made several careful passes up my calf, rinsing the blade under the hot water each time, I closed my eyes and hummed contentedly.

  “Do me a favor?” he said.

  “Hmm?”

  “Don’t tell Brad about this.”

  “I can totally imagine him doing this for Penny.”

  “Really?”

  “It’s got a foreplay feel to it, don’t you think?”

  He chuckled as he rinsed the remaining foam from my calf, allowing his hand to travel unnecessarily up my thigh in the process.

  Yep, definitely foreplay.

  Gesturing for me to switch legs, he gave the shaving cream another shake and proceeded to do my other shin.

  “Did you see Penny this morning?” he asked.

  “No. She and the bridesmaids left for the salon early. You know, hair, manicures, pedicures…”

  “Have you ever had a full beauty treatment like that?” Daniel asked as I ran my fingers up and down my legs, admiring his handiwork.

  “Not for a long time. But I don’t need a salon. I’ve got you,” I said, wiggling my toes and reaching for the nail polish.

  “Oh, no,” Daniel said, recoiling and waving his hands. “I don’t have a clue how to polish nails.”

  “Please? It’s easy. It’s like painting.”

  I reached over the side of the tub for a towel and dried my feet, resting one of them on his leg.

  “Please?”

  He exhaled loudly, his expression a mixture of defeat and exasperation. He tightened the towel at his waist and knelt on the floor, taking the polish and untwisting the cap.

  “I’m totally whipped, you know that?”

  I ignored his comment, clapping my hands and curling my toes over the edge of the tub. He pulled the brush out of the bottle, dragging some of the excess off against the bottle’s rim.

  “Look at that. You’re a natural,” I said.

  “Don’t push your luck.”

  I closed my lips with an imaginary zipper as he went from one toe to the next. Oddly enough, he was very good at it.

  “What a treat.” I sighed.

  “No guy’s ever done this for you before?”

  “Nope.”

  “For some strange reason, that makes me happy.”

  “I don’t think it’s strange knowing you’re charting territory no one else has. You’ve been the first to do lots of things for me.”

  He quirked an eyebrow. “I’m listening…”

  “Fishing is more like it.”

  “Call it what you will.”

  I pondered all the ways Daniel had been my first.

  “No one’s ever taught me to rumba. No one’s put a poem to music and sung it for me before, or read me poetry in bed. I’ve certainly never had someone write me odes and sonnets.”

  “Child’s play,” he scoffed.

  “No one else has named a boat after me.”

  “Yeah, that is pretty cool.” He shrugged with a false modesty.

  “Your turn.” I smiled at him shyly.

  “Okay.” He looked up at the ceiling as he pondered. “No one’s ever played Pictionary on my back before.”

  “That’s a dumb one,” I protested.

  “No it’s not. I love playing back-Pictionary with you.”

  “Think of a better one.”

  “No one’s ever given me herself and all her stuff as a birthday gift before.”

  “That’s strange too. Maybe I’m a weirdo.”

  “You’re not a weirdo.” He puckered his brows, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed. “No woman has made me feel like my love for her is all that matters, and that regardless of what I do or say, her love will still be there at the end of it all.”

  My heart fluttered. What had started as a silly conversation had taken a serious turn.

  “Daniel…”

  “What? It’s true.”

  “Do you think you’ve done something to make me want to turn my back on you?”

  His eyes flickered to mine and darted down again. He hid behind a façade of concentration, as if painting my baby toenail required the utmost attention. I suppose it did.

  “We all have our ups and downs,” I said. “You don’t always have to be at the top of your game.”

  “Sometimes I think I have more downs than ups.”

  I recalled what Penny had said the day before about his moodiness during the week. I could easily quiz him about our time apart, ask about his nightmares, dig for information to find out if he’d been hiding something, but I couldn’t bring myself to drag a dark cloud over the day.

  “I’m still amazed that you didn’t run for the hills after you read those PDF files on the plane,” he added.

  “Why would you sharing your heart with me make me run? You’re being too hard on yourself.”

  “You’re very tolerant.”

  “No, I’m not. I’m the least tolerant person I know. I have the patience of a housefly.”

  “That’s true,” he said, screwing the top of the nail polish back on. “You win.”

  “It’s not about winning or losing.” I paused. “But you’re right, I do win.”

  The tension broken, he dunked his hand into the tub and flicked water in my face. I was on the verge of sending a wave of soapy water into his lap when the phone rang in the other room. He leapt up, grabbing a robe as he crossed to the door.

  “You’re lucky, mister!” I called after him.

  While Daniel talked on the phone, I surveyed my red toenails. He’d done a great job. I momentarily toyed with the idea of asking him to put on a second coat, but when he came back into the bathroom, he was wearing his jeans and pulling a shirt over his head.

  “Sorry, poppet, I’m needed downstairs. Then I’ll have to head to Brad’s room to get ready. Maybe you can grab lunch with Julie and get ready in here.”

  “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fin
e.”

  He leaned over and wrapped his hands around my feet, kissing each of my toes softly.

  “That tickles.” I giggled. “Hey, that’s another one. No one’s ever kissed my toes before.”

  I emerged from the bathroom, spinning around so Julie could see my dress from all sides.

  “Holy crap, Aubrey! You look—stunning.”

  “Not too much?”

  “Are you kidding? It’s perfect. You’re so lucky you can wear a strapless. If I wore a dress with no straps it would fall straight down to the floor.” She cupped her tiny boobs for emphasis.

  “Julie, your dress is gorgeous. Jeremy’s gonna lose his shit when he sees you.”

  I sat at the dressing table, pulling my hair up and turning my face this way and that. Julie stood behind me.

  “You should let me put your hair up so you can show off your shoulders.”

  “That would be great, if you don’t mind.”

  “What about jewelry?”

  “I don’t know. I’d like to wear the bangle Daniel got me for graduation, but it’s rose gold. I don’t have matching earrings.”

  “You’re sold on the bangle?” she asked, reaching for her clutch purse.

  I slipped the bangle onto my wrist. “I think so. It’s perfect with this dress.”

  “I agree. Daniel would agree too.” She opened her purse and pulled out a small Tiffany box. “He wanted you to have these, but he was afraid you’d feel pressured into wearing them if you had something else in mind.”

  I eased open the box. Inside sat a pair of rose gold hoops, similar in style to the bangle, each with three diamonds set in the gold.

  “They’re gorgeous.” I slipped the hoops from the velvet pad and put them on.

  Julie assessed my reflection. “Beautiful,” she pronounced, holding my hair in a loose ponytail.

  “Isn’t he the most amazing guy ever?”

  She smiled at me brightly. “Next to Jeremy, he’s a pretty close second.”

  “Do you ever pinch yourself, Julie? I still can’t believe how lucky I am.”

  “You’re both lucky,” she said.

  I turned my face back and forth so I could admire the earrings. Julie absently dragged the brush through my hair.

  “Remember when he walked into that classroom the first time and you pretended you were all blasé? I knew you had it bad from day one. Talk about falling hard.”