Aurora Borealis...

Beth was busy tending the supplies as Sam piloted the boat across the two miles or so of lake to the island, but he saw her looking around with glowing eyes. If he'd ever needed a reason to buy this vacation home, he was finding himself justified by the look on her face. The weather was nearly perfect - blue sky with some high white cumulus clouds, a light breeze from the southeast, temperature in the low eighties with about forty percent humidity. The realtor had told them the entire weekend was supposed to be like this. They would be able to hike and swim on what amounted to their own private island.

Sam:  There it is.

Beth:  Where?

Sam:  There...in the trees.  See the sunlight reflecting off the windows?

Beth's response was to put her hand to her mouth and sit, very still,
staring at the house.  She stayed that way up until Sam tied the boat up
and helped her up onto the landing.  She walked across the dock to the
grass, and Sam saw her looking from side to side, trying to take it all in.
Beside the landing was a small swimming beach.  From the swimming beach you
went across a small, grassy yard to a flagstone patio.  The flags were part
of the solar energy system and were situated to collect maximum sunlight
during the winter.  The A-frame house itself was quite small, but more than
big enough for the two of them.  The windows had been freshly washed.  It
looked like it was waiting for them.

Sam:  Wanna go into your house, hon?

Beth pulled herself together, then gave him such a blinding look of
love and devotion that it all but drove him back a step.  The scope of
Sam's acquisition, what it meant in the larger sense, was beginning to dawn
on her.  She had continually found herself explaining that she needed time
to catch up with him - now she wondered if she ever could, or even if she
needed to, because he seemed perfectly satisfied with her just as she was,
and he poured it on every chance she let him.  Possibly the thing to do
was just...let him go.  And give back everything she had.

Sam:  Here's the key.  Open it up.

Beth fitted the key into the lock and was unable to continue.  She was
still overcome.  There was only the one key that the realtor had turned over
to Sam, and while there might have been another she didn't want it just yet.
She knew very well that she would want to carry the key to 'her' house as a
symbolic thing...she would never actually set foot inside this place without
Sam.

Beth:  I'm a little shaky here, Deputy Hunk.  I never expected this.

Sam:  Here...

He steadied her hand with his own warm one and she was able to turn the 
key.  Together they pushed the door open, then Sam bent and lifted her
lightly into his arms as he stepped across the threshold.

Sam:  Welcome home, sweetie.

Beth  I don't know what to say...Sam...

Sam:  I do.  I love you, Squirrel.

Sam continued to hold her securely against his chest.  Beth burrowed
her head into the curve of his shoulder.

Beth:  Just when I think you can't possibly make me any happier, Sam, you
do it.  You change my life for the better every time I turn around.

Sam:  It's what I live to do.  Come on, you take a look around while I 
bring things in.

Beth:  No, lover.  Put me down and we'll bring things in.  Then we can take
a look around.  This is as new to you as it is to me.

Sam set her on her feet and she twisted against him to press her body
close to his.  He hugged her tightly, then released her and led her back
outside.  Bringing in the supplies was the work of a few minutes.  Beth
unpacked and put away the food and linens while Sam made another trip back
to the car for the dishes, flatware and cookware.  By the time he returned
again, she had the bed made, the towels in the bathroom and the bath filled.
Deb had told her about the oversized cast iron tub...sure enough the bathtub
looked big enough to float a small navy.  It would be more than large enough
for little her and big Sam.

Beth:  Sam!  Come on up and see this!

Sam:  See what, baby?  I've about had it.

Beth:  This'll help!  Come on...

Sam:  Lord God, look at that thing.  Is it full?

Beth:  Sure is.  Looks like there's room for two.

Sam:  Looks like there's room for two hundred.  Come on, Squirrel, let's
check that out.  We can unpack the rest of that stuff later.

Sam ran his hand slowly, sensuously up Beth's spine, bringing her
top with it until he had completely freed it from the waistband of her
jeans.  He felt her shudder at his touch, accepted her small form as she
slipped into his arms.  She tugged at his t-shirt, pulled it over his head
and tossed it carelessly into a corner, then she laid her cheek against
his bare chest.  He raised his arms around her back, worked at the fasteners
he found.  He could never get the damn things right, usually wound up
either pulling the things apart or letting her undo them herself.  She had 
intention of releasing him, so he saw the alternatives and did what he had
to do.  Another torn undergarment landed on top of his t-shirt.

Beth:  I lose more of those darn things that way.

Sam:  Hell with it.

Beth:  I didn't like it anyhow.

She raised her eyes to his, they were almost black with desire.  He
could feel her fingers working at his belt, getting ready to start in on
his trouser button.  As always with her, a great trembling commenced from
somewhere in the region of the pit of his stomach.  He could feel it,
radiating outward, making his hands shake and his breathing ragged and his
vision blur.  He had never felt it prior to Beth, but he had learned to
identify it quickly for what it was...the purest, rawest of passions
stemming from the overwhelming love he felt for the little thing clinging
to him and purring contentedly.  It was at moments like this that the
thought of Strannix so much as looking at her, let alone possessing her,
aroused an uncontrollable rage in him.  While he fought it down, his hands
pulled her shorts and panties to shreds.  She merely finished with his
jeans and calmly pushed them and his boxers down around his ankles.  He
picked her up as though she were a child and set her gently in the tub.
Joining her there, he cradled her against his chest.

Sam:  Sorry.  I keep that up you won't have anything to wear home.

Beth:  I'll just wear one of your t-shirts.  And I'll pin a parr of your
boxers around my waist.  Or maybe I won't go home at all...maybe I'll keep 
here, like Odysseus.

Sam:  I'm already under your spell.

That night there was a spectacular early autumn display of the Northern
Lights, the Aurora Borealis.  It might have been said that nature was 
putting on a spectacular show as a way of recognizing something wonderful.
But they didn't see it.  They had put on their own show off and on all day 
long, and the cold and shifting light of the Aurora fell on their sleeping
faces like a benediction.

TO BE CONTINUED...