He lay down flat on his back pulling Sabrina on top of him so every curve of her body molded seamlessly into his. Soon, her teddy slipped away and he was making love to her with a hunger unmatched by any Sabrina had ever experienced or imagined.
Completely uninhibited and joyful, Sabrina moaned as Gio became part of her. She moved in unison with his thrusting rhythms. Sabrina tossed her head back in abandon as long mahogany hair fell to her waist and he pulled her back down for another tempestuous kiss. The whole time, they both kept their eyes open, avid for the sight of each other’s unabashed nudity that shimmered in the moonlight. Their reunion was tinged with the sweet fruit of longing finally fulfilled.
Afterwards, sighing with profound contentment, Gio rose from the bed to rustle through his suitcase that he had dropped by the door. From her curled up position tangled in the sheets, Sabrina asked in a murmur, “What are you looking for?”
“You’ll see in a minute.” Gio groped through the suitcase in the dark, feeling for a certain rectangular box. “Here it is.” Gio held the box out to Sabrina to take.
“What is this?” She asked.
“It’s your birthday present.” He replied, wincing as he saw the emotion in her eyes. “I know it’s a month late, and I’m so sorry. I should have been with you on your birthday. I wanted to be, but my pride was in the way. But I didn’t forget your birthday. I actually bought this present shortly after we started seeing each other, knowing that one day I would give it to you. Open it up.”
Gently, Sabrina pulled back the wrapping paper and snapped open the velvet box. She gasped to see a strand a pearls accompanied by matching dangle earrings. “Gio, these are so beautiful.” She threw her arms around his neck, careful to avoid contact with his ailing shoulder.
“I’m glad you like them.” Gio whispered, returning her embrace.
“I do! I’m going to put them on right now!” Sabrina was already removing the earrings from the box and sticking them in her lobes as Gio laughed.
“Do you really want to put jewelry on before you go to sleep?” He asked, amused.
“I’m not going to sleep tonight.” Sabrina replied in a naughty tone, and he could not mistake the import of her words.
Hastily, he removed the pearl necklace from its setting and draped it around her slender neck. Gio struggled momentarily with the clasp, his thick fingers clumsy and unsteady. Finally, he fastened the necklace and drew her back into his arms, intending to make her hold true to her word that she would not be sleeping that night.
Sabrina and Gio were still making love when morning soared over the bungalow. Mere moments after sunrise, a knock sounded at the door, as Gio released Sabrina from his embrace. “Did you have an appointment this morning, Sabrina?”
“No.” Sabrina scowled. “But I think I know who that is. It’s my co-worker Tom who’s been bothering me ever since I arrived. I told him I have a boyfriend, but he seems too dense to understand even that basic concept.”
“Oh really?” Gio was instantly angry and rose to his feet, pulling on a pair of boxer shorts. He strode over to open the door, and Sabrina did not protest.
“May we help you?” was Gio’s curt reply as he faced the bulge-eyed man.
“Uh…is Sabrina here? I’m Tom---“
“Yes, my girlfriend is here. She’s still sleeping. Is there a reason you’re at her doorstep at such an uncivilized hour?” Gio placed a hand over the door ledge, as though showing Tom that he would not be permitted to enter.
“Er…I” Tom faltered under Gio’s predatory glare. “I thought she might like to get some breakfast before we start our work today.”
From the bed, Sabrina called, “I’m taking the day off.”
Gio growled to Tom, “You heard the lady. Have a good day.” Without further comment, Gio closed the door in Tom’s face and walked back to Sabrina.
“You didn’t have to be so mean.” She chastised gently.
“I wasn’t mean. I just wanted to be perfectly clear that his advances are not only unwelcome but also unsafe.”
“Unsafe?” Sabrina asked quizzically, knowing that Gio was a strong man, but certainly not a violent one.
“That’s right! If I needed to, I could run that Tom right out of town. Or right out to sea.” He smirked at her as she laughed at him.
Gio and Sabrina passed a felicitous day exploring the island as only couples can do, and she was taken by how different everything seemed as she walked with him. They didn’t venture too far from the bungalow, and he adamantly refused to board any form of transportation after his flight. Sabrina was charmed by how little the man had traveled and how he needed to regroup after what seemed to him like an odyssey. The beach provided ideal refreshment for them both, as they kept a leisurely pace along the shoreline, stopping to have lunch at a small hut that served fresh fish and ice cold drinks. They returned to the bungalow, feeling sated and warmed from their day spent in Nature’s lap.
After sunset, they danced together for the first time in their relationship to the energetic sounds of a live reggae band playing on the sand. The first set was an up-tempo mélange of rhythms that inspired Sabrina to twist her body in semi-circles as Gio tried to follow along, his large stature a hindrance to staying in time with the beat. Instinctively, Sabrina wove her ribcage around in seductive circles while her hips moved in tandem with the drums. Gio’s eyes burned into hers, and she could sense his impatience to get back to the bungalow and mimic these movements in a much more intimate fashion.
The music swelled on and then faded into a slow set, as Sabrina stepped into Gio’s arms, resting her head against his shoulder while he held her possessively. She cringed to feel the padding of the bandage beneath her cheek, guilt-ridden over having struck him so ruthlessly with the lamp. If Gio’s shoulder were still sore, he did not show that he was in pain and instead swayed with her on the cooling evening sand with the congas and tambourines pulsating hypnotically.
The next song was even slower and accompanied only by jazz guitar, drawing Sabrina and Gio closer together. He clasped his hands together on the small of her back, brushing his fingers upward to make contact with smooth bare skin in her strapless dress. A sea breeze stroked her flowing hair as the moon swathed them both in numinous light.
Sabrina felt as though the universe were spinning around them as she held Gio in her arms, unable to fathom how she had spent so much time apart from him. She wished that they could dance together on this sand for the rest of their lives, tucked sweetly inside each other from head to toe. But eventually the music ended, as the reggae artists played one final love song that kept couples in each other’s arms until the very last note.
Little by little, people began to leave the beach and walk back to the hotel, while some of the natives took the last ferry of the night to their residences. Gio and Sabrina sat on lounge chairs, watching as the band gathered their instruments and sound equipment and packed them into their van. Soon Gio and Sabrina were the only two people left on the beach, and she snuggled closer to him as the coldest part of the night was upon them. He rubbed her bare arms and back to kindle a warming friction and guided her to walk with him along the shore. For long silent minutes they strolled on the sand under an electrifying indigo mural.
When they had reached an area of the beach highlighted by treacherous cliffs, Gio stopped in his tracks. “Sabrina,” He murmured, gazing down at her shining face, “You see all that up ahead? The rocks and overhanging cliffs?” He pointed in the distance as Sabrina nodded. “They represent any obstacles that will ever come our way in the future. I’m not afraid of them. With you as my partner I can face them all. If the skies open up right now and release a thunderstorm, I’ll still walk with you along these shores.” He paused to kiss her gently on the lips.
Then, unexpectedly, he dropped to one knee on the sand and pulled a gleaming diamond ring from his shirt pocket, eliciting a gasp of amazement from Sabrina. “Sabrina, I love you. Will you be my wife?”
The words were simple and as old as time, but they moved Sabrina as no fancy poetry ever could. She was wordless with emotion, assimilating the import of his confession and proposal. He loved her. He had finally said it, and she had not pushed for or even expected it. The words were just there, given freely and generously to her before proposing the ultimate commitment between man and woman.
Almost too astonished to speak, Sabrina managed to utter in a breath shuddering with tears, “Yes. I will. And I love you too!” Gio rose to his feet and enclosed her tightly in his arms, lifting her off the ground and swinging her around.
A thought suddenly came to Sabrina, temporarily squelching her overwhelming joy. “Gio, are you going to be able to stay with me until my assignment is over? I still have several weeks and I don’t want to be apart from you anymore…”
“Don’t worry. You can’t get rid of me now. I told the firehouse before I left that I would be taking an extended vacation. No one protested because I haven’t taken a vacation for the entire time I’ve worked there. Some of them were actually pushing me out the door and offering to drive me to the airport.” He chuckled lightly.
“You’ve never had a vacation?” She exclaimed as Gio shook his head.
“I told you that I haven’t traveled much. Not much can also translate as not at all.”
“Well, you’ve come to the perfect place. This beach is just the beginning. We can do anything you want, Gio. We can hike through the rainforest, go on a wildlife safari, swim in a lagoon, or just be lazy bums and sunbathe all day long.” She said excitedly.
“Those activities do sound enjoyable,” Gio drawled with deliberate emphasis, “but my favorite activity of all is rather a private one.” They grinned knowingly at each other and began to walk towards the bungalow hand in hand.
Epilogue
December 31, 1981, Burlington, Vermont
The hospital walls were as white as the thick coverlet of snow outside. Chunky snowflakes sparkled on the window pane as Sabrina watched the scene from her bed. She patted a cloth to her perspiring forehead, as her eyes fluttered involuntarily and she began to surrender to exhaustion. The ordeal of the past day had been depleting. When she would have gratefully yielded to sleep, a nurse knocked at the door and glided over to her bedside.
The nurse addressed Sabrina in a tone of authority. “I know you’re very tired, Mrs. Salvatore. After what you’ve been through, it’s completely understandable. I hope you’re staying hydrated…look at you sweating like that! I’ll get you some ice chips and juice. But before I do, and before you drift off to a nap, I have some special visitors I think you’d like to see.” The nurse smiled gently as Sabrina nodded, gesturing for her to let the visitors in.
Gio walked through the door, looking prouder and happier than she could recall, carrying in his arms their newborn baby, adorable in knit booties and sky blue blankets wrapped around his tiny body.
“Hello sweetheart.” Gio touched his lips to hers and held out the infant to her open arms. “He was awake in the nursery, so I thought he’d like to spend some more time with his mother before falling asleep again.”
“Yes,” Sabrina sighed, holding the baby to her breast, “Gio, he’s so beautiful. Can you believe it?”
Ever since their wedding exactly nine months ago, Gio and Sabrina had morphed into a complete, content family. They had wed in a small chapel in Vermont and held their reception at a country estate. Max and Cara, newly engaged themselves, had served as best man and maid of honor. After the champagne had all been sipped, toasts to the future made, and bubbles blown at the departing young couple, Sabrina and Gio had taken their first real vacation together. Their extravagant two-week honeymoon was spent in the glorious Napa wine country. Between wine tastings and train excursions, the newlyweds had found time to tour San Francisco, but unapologetically spent most of their time entwined in each other’s arms at a peaceful Napa inn. It was there, amid the fertile earth and ripe grapes, that their son had been conceived.
When Sabrina had learned that she was pregnant, she negotiated a flexible work schedule involving minimal travel. Darlene had been congenial as always, excited to learn of Sabrina’s life-changing news. The newlyweds had been living in Sabrina’s small cape house, but decided to buy a larger house to accommodate their growing family. Gio and Sabrina agreed upon a lakeside property with majestic lake and mountain views.
Around that time, Cara had surprised everyone, including herself, by taking the plunge and moving from New York City to Vermont. Extended separations from her fiancé mixed with exasperating interstate commutes had given Cara the incentive to finally leave the New York nest. Mr. and Mrs. Montrouge were overjoyed for both their daughters and had encouraged Cara to move, feeling that a long distance relationship was problematic. Cara quickly became assimilated into Vermont life and began working alongside Max at his agency, providing legal counsel for him and his clients.
Another milestone had occurred when Glen Cooper was finally arrested. Early in the autumn, Cooper had attempted to re-enter the United States via El Paso. Border police found him smuggling in several kilos of cocaine and made a prompt arrest. When he was fingerprinted at the police station, officers used the tip Sabrina had given them to positively identify him as Glen Cooper. Further investigation led them to ascertain that his fingerprints matched those left at the site of the bank robbery. Now facing multiple charges including drug trafficking and armed robbery, Glen Cooper was likely to be in prison for a very long time. Gio had already let go of his animosity towards Cooper, but when he had read the story in the newspaper, he couldn’t help but feel satisfied that justice was being served. Even if the world would never know that Cooper was culpable as a co-conspirator in the arson, Gio knew the truth, and that was all he needed.
As Sabrina reflected on the past whirlwind year and a half, she shook her head in amazement. Incredible as it all was, it was true and she was happier than she could ever have fathomed. Caressing the baby’s delicate head, Sabrina said, “I think it’s time to name him. The doctors seem so shocked that we haven’t chosen a name yet. But truthfully, I’ve had one in mind all along.”
“What name is that?”
“Marcello Giovanni. For your father and for you, to prove how the generations continue to be fruitful. Those trees were just the beginning. Now the Salvatore lineage lives on in spirit and flesh.”
Gio did not try to fight back the tears that were welling up in his eyes. Before Sabrina, he would not have permitted himself the luxury of emotion, but now he was ecstatic to cry over the birth of his son and the miraculous flourishing of the generations.
“Marcello Giovanni. That is the perfect name, Sabrina. Thank you.” He leaned over his wife and son, embracing them both in his arms. Gio added, “As soon as Uncle Max and Aunt Cara get to the hospital tomorrow, we’ll have to make the announcement. They’re going to be the godparents whether they like it or not.”
Sabrina grinned, “Of course; they’re not getting out of that responsibility! I can’t wait until their wedding next spring…wait, I mean this spring. Is it after midnight, Gio?”
Gio looked at the digital clock on the nightstand and said, “It’s midnight on the dot. Happy New Year, my love.”
Sabrina leaned in for a kiss and whispered, “Happy New Year, darling. And Happy New Year to you, Marcello! You’re just a day old and already you’ve lived in two different years!”
Gio laughed and said, “Let’s forget about time from now on. It doesn’t matter what day or hour it is. I have my wife and my son. That’s a love that will last.”
“Yes, it will,” Sabrina breathed, holding Marcello closer and gazing into Gio’s eyes. Together, they had taught each other to follow the natural rhythms of their hearts, not just for a day, or a season, but for a lifetime.
*****
Dear Reader:
Thank you for reading Northern Moonlight! I hope you enjoyed Sabrina and Gio’s retro romance.
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Happy Reading!
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