Tess Awakening

by Andres Mann

  Carmen was frustrated. “Nicola, are we going to do it or not?”

  Nicola did not respond; he just took her hand and placed it on his chest. “Touch me, Carmen. Feel my body. Feel my heart beating.”

  Carmen, for the first time, felt that there might be more to a man than his penis. He started to guide her hands, caressing his hard pecs, his abdomen, and his thighs. She got a jolt when she reached his hard rock erection. ‘He is interested, after all.’

  Throughout, Nicola remained still. Now he turned toward her, took her face between his hands, and gave her a full-mouthed kiss.

  “Now it’s my turn to touch you.” He started to caress her throat and breast.

  “Nicola, stop. I don’t like to be pawed. I have never allowed that.”

  “I am not pawing you, I am exploring your body. I want you to enjoy my touch. You have beautiful soft skin, Carmen. Feel my hands on it. I just want to give you pleasure.” He kissed her breast; wow, that felt good.

  Carmen always controlled how she made love. She made the first moves, and the men followed. Nicola did not comply with her desires and his behavior annoyed her. Yet, this time she started to feel the pleasure of his gentle hands on her. He moved slowly, languorously, forcing her to delay her usual urgency, counteracting her resistance with gentle strength.

  “Trust me, Carmen, let me please you.”

  Carmen did not have much choice; the man was strong and she still needed sex. She gradually relaxed and allowed him to touch her body, slowly, tantalizing. Her visions of being raped in the past receded, enabling her to release control and start enjoying to Nicola’s gentle ministrations.

  He continued his exploration, kissing her neck, fondling her breasts, her stomach, her tight tummy. He proceeded to caress her inner thighs, working his way between her legs, just breathing on her labia. Carmen felt a jolt. She now really wanted him. She grabbed his head, pulling his lips toward her feminine center.

  Nicola gently licked her, ran his tongue around her labia and clitoris, then dipped it inside, working deeper into her.

  Carmen normally did not like oral sex, but Nicola’s tongue and mouth now felt right and heavenly. She exploded with an intense orgasm.

  She had never experienced a climax like that and now she wanted more. “Come inside me, Nicola, please!”

  Nicola kissed her abdomen and worked his way up to her breasts, finally placing his mouth over hers, both savoring her wetness. Carmen now spread her legs and raised her mound, inviting him to join with her. His huge shaft found its way to her center. He just buried his tip into her wetness, holding back until she fully opened to him, and then he plunged into her. The sudden, welcome invasion sunk into her depths to the cervix, and she screamed in pleasure. Nicola continued to move deeply inside her, feeling her internal muscles tighten against him. His mouth was on her throat; he moved his hard shaft side to side and in a circular motion, totally overwhelming her. They both climaxed at the same time, something that Carmen had never experienced before.

  This time, she had surrendered completely to a man who knew how to please a woman and she was rewarded with pure bliss. She held on with her legs wrapped around his hips, not wanting the moment to end. Nicola continued to kiss her and nuzzle on the neck. Carmen was now spent, deliciously so. She had finally experienced the pleasure provided by a man who knew how to be a lover.

  Chapter 48

  Return to the Living

  Tess was still in a coma. Jake had visited her early in the morning and was furious about the level of care that she was receiving. When he came to see her in the morning, her lips were dry and her tongue looked like a mummified flesh. Every day, he used several small sponges on a stick and spent at least a half an hour moisturizing her mouth. He expressed his displeasure to the head nurse. Her response was that Tess could not feel discomfort anyway, because she was in a coma. Jake did not buy that excuse and made himself into a nuisance to no avail.

  The next morning they had Tess tied hands and feet to the rails on the sides of the bed. Jake went ballistic. Several nurses came over and explained that Tess had pulled all of the IV and feeding tubes, so they had no choice but restrain her.

  “But isn’t that a good sign? It looks like she is trying to come back to consciousness. I know my wife; she would hate being so confined.”

  The nurses shrugged their shoulders. Jake called Tess’s dad and asked him to come up to the hospital. The General said that he was coordinating the search for baby Morgan and that he would come over the next day.

  Jake spent every available minute at the hospital, primarily to ensure that the nurses did not bind Tess again. Every time he had to leave, upon his return, Tess was confined as usual because she had again tried to pull out all the tubes. Jake released her bindings once more. He could not help believing that Tess was desperately struggling to wake up, to rejoin the living. He just knew that her restlessness was evidence that her mind was attempting to come back to consciousness. Yet, the doctors kept insisting that Tess showed no sign of recovery. Three neurologists scratched their heads, and the only response they could provide to Jake’s inquiries was “I don’t know.”

  “What do you mean you don’t know, “Jake fulminated, “What are going to do about it? Is there a procedure that can relieve the fluid in the brain?”

  One of the docs explained: “The general consensus is that an intervention at this stage is dangerous. We have to wait and see.”

  General Morgan walked in. He heard what the docs said. “If you people don’t know what to do for my daughter, I will take her to a place that can.”

  Jake agreed. “Let’s move her to Mount Sinai or a good hospital in New York City.” The same afternoon, an ambulance transported Tess to a specialized facility.

  The General was even more furious than Jake about the situation. He vowed that he would employ whatever resources were necessary to help Tess recover. Now he had to tell Jake that the search for little Morgan was not going well. Looking for someone in New York was like looking for a needle in a haystack. All departing flights were scrutinized. Amir’s Falcon jet was impounded, but the Iraqi Consulate got the State Department involved, creating a diplomatic mess. The FBI could not accuse Amir of any crimes without evidence because, during the incident, he had been in Iraq the whole time. The jet was released and the crew immediately it flew it to Montreal.

  Jake and General Morgan looked at all available options to find the baby. They assumed that he was being held somewhere in the city. Even with the dragnet in place, they were very much aware that with just a little subterfuge, it would not be impossible to smuggle the baby on an airliner. There were just too many travelers with kids coming and going to and from the city. You just could not search everyone.

  Jake’s analytical mind was hard at work. He reluctantly concluded that eventually Amir’s people would be able to take little Morgan out of the country. He just had to find out where. The likely destination could be any one of Amir’s houses in Europe, but Jake thought that Amir was too shrewd to do something that obvious. Jake concluded that only Tess could provide information that might be helpful in finding a direction. Unfortunately, Tess was still unconscious.

  Jake’s cell phone rang. The number appeared to be from the hospital. He answered the call.

  “Jake, I am packed, I want to go home.” It was Tess’s voice.

  Jake fell on a chair. Could it be? “Tess darling, what happened?”

  “I don’t know, Jake. I just want to leave this place. Come and get me.”

  “Tess, please, let me talk to one of the nurses.”

  A minute later, a woman answered. “Yes, Mr. Vickers. Your wife is awake, but we are having problems controlling her. She pulled out all the IVs, got dressed by herself, packed a few items of clothing in a hospital bag and is now in a wheelchair staring at the garden area, waiting for you to come. We can’t stop her; she threatens to wreck the place if you don’t get over here soon.”

  Jake ran downstairs and
caught a cab to the hospital; he offered the Pakistani driver a bonus to get there quickly. “No problem, Sir,” said the cabbie, while stepping on the accelerator. It was mid-morning, and traffic on the city streets was relatively light. The cab swerved around other cars, changed lanes with only inches to spare and bypassed bottlenecks by diverting to side streets, careening to the destination.

  ‘This guy should have been a fighter pilot,’ Jake thought while clutching the overhead strap. The cab screeched to a stop at the main entrance of the hospital. Relieved, Jake gave one hundred dollars to the intrepid fellow and ran upstairs to Tess’s patient room.

  Tess was still sitting in a wheelchair clutching a hospital-provided bag. At the sight of Jake, her face lighted up. She opened her arms and Jake gave her a kiss. They both could not contain their emotions and wept with joy.

  “Tess, you are back! I couldn’t wait for this to happen.”

  Tess looked at Jake, confused. “Jake, where am I? No one is talking to me.”

  “You are in a hospital, sweetie. You have been in a coma for a month. You hit your head in the car accident.”

  “I want to go home, Jake.”

  “Tess, listen to me. You have had a rough time. They tell me that you are going to be confused for a time, but you will get better. The docs say that you will need a couple of weeks of physical and occupational therapy. They will work with you to help you regain all of your faculties.”

  “I want to go home!”

  “I want you to come too, Tess, but we need to make sure you are okay. Please let me transfer you to therapy. I will be with you all the time and you will get back to normal soon. We just need to make sure that everything is working right.”

  Tess looked at Jake with pleading eyes. “Jack, I am scared. I don’t remember what happened.”

  “You had an accident Tess, but now you will get better. Let’s make sure that you are taken care of. All you need to do is to work with people that want to help you get well. Then we will go home.”

  Tess finally relinquished the bundle of clothes. Jack helped her get out of the wheelchair and laid her down on the bed.

  “Jake, I want you to be with me.”

  Jake squeezed on the hospital bed, lay alongside her and embraced her. “It will be fine, Tess. I am here, I love you and you will get better soon.”

  Tess felt his arms around her and comforted, dozed off. Jake carefully got off the bed and went to find the doctor on duty. He finally found her.

  “Doc, why did she wake up so suddenly? Is this normal?”

  The doctor seemed pleased. “Every case is different, Mr. Vickers and we should be thankful that your wife regained consciousness. Frankly, we were ready to transfer her to a nursing home. She must be a strong woman to have overcome the trauma. All she needs now is some therapy to help her regain her faculties. It will not take long. I will make the arrangements to transfer her to the rehab facility.

  Jake was elated until he had a horrible thought: How was he going to tell Tess that she lost the baby and that little Morgan had been abducted?

  He immediately called her father and told him the news. General Turner was relieved until Jake explained his predicament. “I will be right over, Jake.”

  The two men hugged each other, thankful that the nightmare of Tess’s coma had come to pass. Now they had to discuss how to tell Tess that both of her children were gone. They decided to wait until they could no longer avoid breaking the news to her.

  Chapter 49

  Chiavari

  Carmen and Nicola needed some rest and recreation, and at Nicola’s suggestion, they decided to spend a few days in Italy. He had left a few days earlier; she had to take care of a few things before departing. The plan was to connect when Carmen arrived in Italy.

  Landing at Milan’s Malpensa airport, Carmen was surprised by the size of the facility and the lack of amenities that other major airports had, such as motorized walkways to help people walk to the main terminal. The place was not a model of organization, and hardly anyone spoke a word of English. She finally managed to rent a small Fiat 500. It was her first car without an automatic transmission for quite some time, but she got used to it quickly.

  She headed south on the Autostrada toward Genoa. Her ultimate destination was a little city on the Italian Riviera called Chiavari, where she would rendezvous with Nicola.

  Carmen thought that renting a small car would be appropriate for the local conditions. She was wrong. Once on the road, her little 500 repeatedly shook when passed by nice BMWs, Audis, Alfa Romeos, Porches and even a few exotics. ‘I thought that the economy was bad in this country, but you wouldn’t know it by the cars. It seems that North Italians are doing quite well, thank you.’

  The travel guides did not mention that as you approach Genoa, the road turns into hairpin curves through the mountains. She stopped at a rest area, grabbed a ham and cheese panino, and examined the map. A closer look revealed that the Italian Riviera was sandwiched by mountains on the north side and the Mediterranean on the south. The Autostrada was built relatively high on the hills, with many bridges crossing deep gorges. Many of the towns could be reached only by finding your way down the hills to the shore. Without good reflexes, the journey could be challenging.

  She got back in the car and suffered additional humiliation meted by more powerful cars zooming past her. Eventually, she reached her destination. At least the highway’s toll gates were surprisingly modern and accepted cash as well as credit cards.

  She drove into Chiavari and congratulated herself on having purchased a GPS navigator before driving the car. It would have been hard to find her way through the ancient winding streets. She had to drive up a hill to find Nicola’s family house. The place was perched on a cliff, and she had to park the car in the only available space below the house. She grabbed her small suitcase and walked up the stairs clinging to the side of the hill until she made it to the house perched above. Nicola welcomed her with a warm kiss. After cleaning up, she dined on the terrace with Nicola and his parents. The place overlooked a splendid panorama of the town below with a view of the coastline.

  Carmen now understood why Nicola’s complexion was a gorgeous slightly dark shade, like a great tan. His mother was from Eritrea, a former Italian colony in East Africa. She was also beautiful, even at her age. Nicola explained that such mixed marriages were common in Italy, and hardly anybody blinked. After World War II, Eritrea reverted to the rule of locals, but many Italians stayed for a while and married Eritrean women.

  Carmen kept watching the panorama below. “I had no idea that such a beautiful place existed. It is really gorgeous.”

  Nicola provided some insight about the town. “Chiavari is a great place to live. It is a summer resort, but not a large one. It is populated by real people who have lived here for centuries. They are very proud of their town and take great care of it. The Center is graced by vaulted porticos around the buildings. The founding fathers designed a livable city that protected the locals from the elements at all times of the year. Tomorrow we will go down and I will give you a tour.”

  In the morning, the couple dropped their bags at Nicola’s apartment at the beach and walked all over town. They enjoyed the sophisticated shops, the outdoor market in the square across from the old castle now used as City Hall. They observed well-dressed locals discriminately selecting delicacies for their evening meal. They stopped at a bakery and bought some focaccia, a delicious flatbread that is a staple of the region.

  Carmen wanted to explore more the town. One of the things that amazed her was that unlike most of Italy, there was a virtual absence of graffiti on the walls. She walked the streets and boulevards lined with gorgeous mansions. Nicola explained that at the turn of the last century, locals who had made their fortune in America returned to their hometown and built several great houses. The locals called the buildings Palazzi Americani. Some were later turned into upscale apartments, but quite a few remained as single family manors owned by the wea
lthy. This explained the fancy cars and the expensive shops under the porticoes.

  She returned to the apartment and showered. Nicola took her out to dinner. The local fare included a lot of seafood, but she was surprised that most restaurants also offered a considerable selection of thin pizzas that seemed to be a favorite of the local diners.

  Nicola ordered dinner for both of them, focusing on local specialties. They had raw octopus ceviche, fresh from the sea, prepared with just a little olive oil and a spray of lemon juice. The typical Ligurian dish was Trenette al Pesto, a classic Genoese dish combining basil pesto with the region’s version of fettuccine, as well as string beans and potatoes. They then had a broiled seafood plate plus Tiramisu for dessert.

  Even though she already knew the answer, Carmen asked, “Do you always eat like this in Italy?”

  Nicola stated a well-known fact about the Italians. “We like several courses called Piatti — primo, secondo and so on. We like variety and we enjoy our food, in fact, eating well here is like a religion. It’s a hallowed practice, like going to Church.”

  “Well, it seems to work. People look happy.”

  “Happiness is relative. The Italians have always been masters at accommodation. They have been oppressed by foreign powers for so long, that they learned to adapt no matter what the situation. Right now, they are not at all happy with the European Union imposing all kinds of standards on just about anything. The general complaint here is that you have to work four months of the year just to pay off the thieving government. They may not be far off from the truth. What they really hate now is that since Italy became part of the EU, it is increasingly difficult to escape taxes and the bureaucracy. So, we feel oppressed, but still manage to get by, because that is what we have always done.”

  There was another fact about the region. The town was made for walking and parking was hard to come by. As a result, few people carried extra pounds; in fact just about every one of the locals seemed to be in exceptionally fine physical shape. The women were small, thin and gorgeous. The real surprise was the men. Quite a few of them were over six feet, masculine and handsome. Many had blonde hair, blue or green eyes; they were also well dressed and classy. Carmen saw the possibilities. She realized that a promising hunting ground was laid at her feet.