The Eternity that Follows

by Diane Marie

  When Joey got home, Gabriella was up in the bedroom curling her hair with the curling iron, with her makeup already polished on her face. Joey came in, giving her a big kiss on the forehead, for he had been dreaming of kissing her forehead, ever since he left this morning. Coming home to kiss Gabriella was the only thing that kept Joey working hard all day. He found himself, thinking several times during the day, what he had been doing with himself before Gabriella walked into his life. He was thankful to have her now, and never wanted to part.

  “What was that for?” Gabriella asked, in response to the kiss on the forehead Joey had given her.

  “For, being so pretty.”

  “Awe Joey.” Gabriella said, as she stood up to give him a real kiss hello. “Thank you for letting me sleep late this morning.” Gabriella said, while ruffling Joey's hair, making him look sexier then he already looked.

  “I love you.” Joey couldn't help to say.

  “Well, I love you too.” Gabriella said, and then thought back to the box she made him. She decided it wasn’t the right moment to give it to him.

  “I really love you.” Joey said, pulling Gabriella into his arms. “Like I love this.”

  “I really love you too, and I love this too.” Gabriella said, understanding Joey meant, he loved her being in his arms. “Oh really? You really love this too, what?”

  “Being in your arms like this.” Gabriella said, and then she gave him a light kiss on the nose.

  “Yup. That’s what I meant.” Joey said, holding Gabriella’s back, and leaning her down for a kiss, stunning Gabriella, because he had never kissed her like that before.

  “Oh my Joe.” Gabriella said, when she was back in his arms in an upright position.

  Joey laughed to Gabriella’s response to his kiss, realizing how old-fashioned it was.

  “Do people kiss like that any more?” Joey asked.

  “Only in the movies.”

  “Like when there really in love?”

  “I think so.” Gabriella said, leaning back for Joey to kiss her like that again.

  Joey took hold to her cue, and held Gabriella’s back as she leaned down. He leaned forward and gave her, what Gabriella would describe, one hell of a romantic kiss.

  Gabriella finished her hair, feeling fluttered from Joey's kiss, while Joey was in the shower. When Joey appeared from the bathroom, his hair was already styled with hair gel. He laid out his outfit, choosing to wear a pair of dark denim shorts with a powder blue, cotton, button down shirt. Gabriella noticed the outfit Joey had picked, and figured he would probably be wearing his black timberland low top boots. She went into her closet to pick an outfit to mirror how Joey was dressing. She came across a dark purple halter top, she purchased two summers ago. She tried it on with a dark denim skirt, not intentionally picking her outfit so they were both wearing dark denim, but it just so happened, it was all she had to match the halter. Gabriella was stumped when it came to picking out her shoes.

  “Joey, you wearing your black timberland boots tonight?” Gabriella called out from the closet.

  “Plan too.”

  “Okay, Thanks.” Gabriella said, and then she picked a pair of black one inch sandals to wear with her outfit.

  When she came out of the closet, Joey gave her many compliments that came to mind, as he blurted them out one by one. He then got down on his knees, and kissed her up her legs. He then quickly led Gabriella to the car, not wanting his hormones to take over. He figured they’d take his work truck tonight because Gabriella rarely got the chance to ride in it.

  Joey took Gabriella to his favorite Italian restaurant in Candlewood, a romantic place, set with candle light at all tables. Gabriella felt like a princess as Joey pulled her chair out for her to sit down. Joey ordered a bottle of red wine for them as the violinist started playing slow soft music. Gabriella complimented over how nicely a place Joey picked to take her to. Joey asked Gabriella what she would be having for dinner before the waiter came, he then ordered for her and himself. Gabriella had never had a man do that for her before, and she was staggered by Joey’s hospitality of showing her to a good time.

  When the meal came, and Joey tried his food, he assured Gabriella it wasn’t as tasty as her cooking. Gabriella knew he was fibbing to please her, and Joey admitted, maybe not, but she was a close second, and he did truly mean it.

  Once they were through eating, Joey ordered a slice of vanilla bean cheesecake for him and Gabriella to share. He asked the waiter to not bring it over until they had polished off the bottle wine they were working on finishing. Joey also ordered two cappuccino’s to accompany the cheesecake. When the cheesecake came out, Joey fed Gabriella, even though they were given two spoons. Gabriella didn't mind being fussed over, but it was then she realized, how ready for children Joey came across as being.

  When they were through, Joey stood up, and said ‘my lady,’ putting his hand out for Gabriella to leave with him. Gabriella felt pure magic during the moment, and even let off a light blush.

  When they left the restaurant, Joey took Gabriella to Lake Romantica, leading her to a secluded spot in the clearing of the woods on the lake grounds. He carried along a blanket, placing it down for them to watch the sunset. Joey made sure not to bring Gabriella anywhere near the home he was building on Lake Romantica. He was still set on waiting for the house to be completely built before Gabriella was able to see it. His intentions of bringing her to lake Romantica was for Gabriella to fall in love with the sunset over the lake, the same she had with Lake Mandala. Gabriella had never seen Lake Romantica before, because it was set back from the roadside. She found the lake to be magical upon their arrival. Gabriella questioned Joey how he was able to buy land on the lake, being she had once heard, the one who owned all the property wasn’t looking to sell or build around it. Joey just replied, ‘I know someone.’

  When the sun began to set, Gabriella was marveled over how beautiful the setting of the lake was. Since there weren't many houses surrounding the lake, the sunset radiated more off of the water then it did on Lake Mandala. Gabriella fell in love with the lake after she realized, there was much more privacy then Lake Mandala had to offer. Gabriella had always dreamed to live in a house far away in the woods, far from any other house.

  Joey and Gabriella stayed to watch the stars under the bright moon light. Gabriella couldn’t believe how beautiful the reflection of the sky was over Lake Romantica, considering there was barley any lights surrounding.

  Under the moonlight, Joey brought Gabriella and he into the lake naked. Gabriella found Joey’s arms right away, asking him not to go out to wear he couldn’t’ reach because she planned to stay in his arms for a while. Joey held Gabriella up in the air as his prized possession, holding her with grace, up over his head, as he showed nature how beautiful she was. When he brought her back down, Gabriella’s lips landed right on his. She slipped her tongue into his mouth as he was taken back by how intimate her kiss was. Joey held Gabriella in his arms as she wrapped her legs around his back.

  “You wanna race?” Joey asked.

  “No silly.”

  “Oh no?” Joey said, he thought racing would be fun. Gabriella had once claimed to be a fast swimmer.

  “My hearts racing.” Gabriella said, sharing with Joey how she was feeling inside.

  To calm her down, Joey dipped them down until their mid necks were blanketed by water. He then swayed her in his arms from side to side, slowly and gently. Joey then stopped swaying, looking into Gabriella’s eyes, whose eyes were already centered on his. “I love you, Joe.”

  “I love you too, Gab.”

  “Forever!” Gabriella said, as statement and then kissed Joey so he would know she wasn’t questioning if he wanted forever. She wanted him to know that forever is what she was feeling. “Forever” Joey confirmed, after their kiss.

  “The eternity that follows?” Gabriella asked, glaring at him with one eye as though she was judging her trust, as the other eye was lost inside of Joey.


  “The eternity that follows.” Joey promised.

  Joey lead Gabriella out of the water, then trying to cover her with the blanket, but she told him to leave it on the ground, for it was a warm night, and she wasn’t cold at all. Gabriella sat down on the blanket and Joey followed.

  “So you’re serious about keeping the house on Lake Romantica?” Gabriella asked.

  “Yes.”

  “I’d love that.”

  With that, Joey laid Gabriella onto her back, and with love making, Joey captured all the feelings of romance that had been passing through them throughout the night. Joey let his sexual attraction for Gabriella slip from his mind, letting his soul control his body. He elapsed thinking about trying to please either of them sexually, as his heart took over. He made pure love to Gabriella, using only his soul as his soul mated with hers, letting go of his passion, and letting romance control his mind. Under the stars, moon and the reflection casting over Lake Romantica, Joey emptied his love inside of Gabriella, without either of them realizing it was even happening.

  Joey wasn’t through making love to Gabriella though, and Gabriella had the same romance take a hold of her as they made love through the night. Gabriella lost her sense of being, forgetting where she was, who she was. The only thing Gabriella was able to remember through the love they were making, was that her soul was mating with another soul. Gabriella believed strongly in soul mates, and felt throughout the night, no two souls were ever able to mate with another soul, after they had been matched by god to their soul mate. When Gabriella awoke to who she was, and found Joey was inside of her, she felt her soul leave her and Joey’s enter into her.

  Their love making stopped in the early morning just as the sun was rising. Joey held Gabriella tightly from behind while they sat and watched the sun wake up. Joey covered Gabriella’s breast with his hands while he held from behind., for they were his and no other eyes were to dare to see them. There had been no words spoken between them since before their love making began. Joey and Gabriella were nothing but two souls expressing their love for each other, throughout the entire magical night they shared.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  When Joey and Gabriella got back to the house, they both threw their clothes off and laid down in bed. They found each others arms as legs were thrown over others, and stomachs were brought close together. They feel asleep and slept the whole day away.

  When Gabriella awoke it was already six o’clock at night. She started to panic over Joey’s love making, and hit Joey over the head with her pillow to wake him up.

  “What was that for?” Joey asked, sitting up in bed. “Ouch.” “For trying to get me pregnant.”

  “Gabriella. I was not trying to get you pregnant.” Joey said, remembering the magic that over took him last night.

  Gabriella gave Joey a face of, ‘I don’t believe you.’ “Gabriella, I swear I wasn’t trying to. It just happened.” Joey said, as he wondered if this was the same girl he had completely lost himself to last night.

  Gabriella gave him another look. ‘Okay, maybe but give me more.’ “I love you. I didn’t get carried away. It’s not that I wasn’t able to help myself, but it was natural.” Joey said, as the word natural gave him a warm and peaceful feeling.

  “Natural?”

  “Yes, natural.” Joey said, and then kissed her hand to rekindle the romance linking them last night.

  “Okay.”

  Gabriella felt she couldn’t argue with Joey over his actions. She was after all there last night and knew what he meant by natural. Joey thought to offer more of what he was feeling from the magic of last night.

  “I was mating with you. I felt my soul mating with yours. It was just natural. It happened naturally. I didn’t cause it to happen.” Joey said, remembering how he let the need for sexual pleasure leave his mind as he made love. “The desire of sexual pleasure completely left me.”

  “So you felt no sexual pleasure from last night?”

  “I felt pure romance.” Joey said, then bringing Gabriella into his arms. “And yes it felt wonderful.”

  “Well, I was lost.”

  “Oh lost, how?”

  “Inside of you.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes. I lost who I was, where I was. The only thing I knew is that I loved the soul making love to me, and I trusted it.” Gabriella said, kindly.

  Joey kissed Gabriella on the forehead and suggested with body language, she should get comfortable. She became cozy in his arms as they cuddled for a few minutes. Joey then laid on his side as Gabriella followed, doing the same. They laid there for over an hour, gazing into each other’s eyes, looking down to each other’s souls. Gabriella never wanted to leave Joey’s eyes, and broke their stare. “Do you think that’s what heaven is?” “What do you mean?”

  “Do you think heaven is just two souls staring at each other?” “You think that’s all heaven is?”

  “Well no. I mean, they say we’re just a soul in heaven. I always thought we were a soul but with an image of our faces and bodies too.”

  “How so?”

  “I don’t know. You know how I believe the meaning of life is for man to be with woman. Well, that’s the same meaning heaven has to me. So when I say an image of face and body, I mean that they’re just resting together for infinity and in doing so, they look in each other’s eyes for all of eternity.”

  “Okay. I get what your saying. I even see the point in having an image of face and body, but the soul’s eyes never leave each other? What about the souls children?”

  “You know how I think that the only reason there is children on earth is because Eve ate the apple?”

  “Yes.” Joey said, recalling the first day he was at Gabriella’s house when she told him, she felt when god told Eve she would bleed and live a life of crawling, it meant she was going to have a baby.

  To Gabriella that meant God only intend for two people to be on earth until the apple was eaten and the first sin committed. “So then in heaven, your only looking into your soul mates eyes.” “So I won’t see my children in heaven?”

  “Well think about it this way. Think about the amount of children just my body is capable of creating. There are billions of men on earth, and if you count those that are dead too, if we took my DNA and mixed it with every man there ever was on earth, we would be a close to infinite amounts of possible children created. And considering you can make more then one child with the same man, well that’s a lot of different combination of DNA, and that’s just with me. If you take into account the amount of women on earth too...”

  “Okay. So what’s your final conclusion?” Joey asked, feeling boggled for a moment.

  “That the same person can be born with different sets of parental DNA. I think there is a definite amount of people in a completed population in heaven. Therefore, I believe that there is a definite amount of people that can be born on earth too. I also believe we keep living again, take that into account too, remember our bloodline conversation”

  “Okay, so your trying to tell me that the babies you and I will make can be made by two other people on earth?” Joey asked, not seeing how that was possible.

  “No. I’m trying to say that there is a definite amount of possible combinations of DNA. That was just a theory in my explanation.” “Well you really do have to take into account the years that people are born in, how many generation’s one’s blood line is. I’m sure some are longer then others. You also need to account for how special making a baby is. Why a mother with children from several different fathers’ must really bother your mind, soul mate.” “Sort of.” Gabriella admitted. “Not really though, because if someone was born then their soul mate was born too. Where all suppose to be in heaven, remember?”

  “So if I had died before we met?”

  “I would be alone and lonely my whole life waiting to die to be with you.”

  “It really must bother you that people have sex outside of marriage.”


  “It sure does.”

  “Why are we supposed to all be in heaven again?”

  “Because there is a definite amount of people in heaven, and we weren’t suppose to be on earth, remember Adam and Eve. The earth was only for them.” Gabriella said, frustrated Joey wasn’t able to piece her theories together.

  Joey laughed to Gabriella's frustrations, he already understood her theory, but wanted Gabriella to spell it out for him, being he was having such a nice time talking to her.

  “So you think in heaven you and I will stare into each other’s eyes for eternity while our bodies rest together. And our children, we won’t see them, they’ll be looking into their soul mate’s eyes for eternity and we will have had no part in their souls being created just have been the ones to bring them to earth to meet their soul mates? When you put it like that we should just kill all babies that are born and let the population die out.”

  “Well now you forget judgment day.”

  “But you said everyone goes to heaven, or had God already planned out who makes it to heaven and who doesn't before they live? Oh, another time my dear, I’m starving, I’d love to talk about this, I have a ton of thoughts going on in my head, but I’m too hungry to carry on.”

  “Does that mean I should get my big butt down in the kitchen and cook?”

  “No, that means get dressed and don’t bother showering. We’re getting McDonald’s and going to see a movie.” Joey said, getting out what he had just planed in his head.

  “That’s perfect.” Gabriella beamed.

  Joey and Gabriella were out of the movies by twelve-thirty, and Joey was aware Gabriella wanted to go home and shower. He wouldn’t let her before they left the house, even though they, ‘went swimming in a lake’ as Gabriella had protested. Gabriella was wearing a pair of sweat shorts and a tank top, but Joey preferred her naked and couldn’t wait to get her home.

  When they got back to the bedroom, Gabriella ran the water for the hot tub. Joey was surprised when he walked into the bathroom, he thought she would have been in the shower by then. Gabriella thought they had enough romance for a lifetime last night, so held off on lighting candles, thinking it would be an overkill. Instead, she turned on the lights above the hot tube that beamed down a dark pink color over the water. Joey laughed as he hadn’t seen them turned on before. Gabriella was overloading the bubbles as the water was still running, when Joey hoped into the tub before it was filled, giving Gabriella a ‘what?’ look. He wanted a front row seat to watch Gabriella take her clothes off.