Chapter 5: The Freckle Hunt

I got up early and carefully selected what I would wear this morning. It took me over 30 minutes to decide what to put on, a procedure that normally took only a few minutes. I wanted to impress Maureen; stupid, but unavoidable.

Finally, I found what I wanted - and dressed in a pair of nice grey slacks, a light blue shirt, a soft, light-blue cashmere sweater, and comfortable dark-blue loafers; casual, but seriously relaxed. I was waiting for the time to pass, but suddenly decided to leave early and got my car, took the top down as it was another glorious day, and headed off to the hotel. Traffic was non-existent, and I arrived at 9:30. A tip to the valet and again the car would be available immediately.

The lobby was empty, and I sat down in one of the comfortable chairs looking out to the Sydney harbor. I had never tried sailing, but Peter had urged me to come out with him - another promise that I would have to do one day and that I had not kept. It was tempting, however. I looked at my watch and it was only 9:45; another hour to wait for my date to appear.

Suddenly two hands covered my eyes and a sweet voice asked, “Guess who? And what are you doing here at this time? You said eleven o’clock!”

“Well, you’re the witch who spells innocent men like me. And I’m here because I could not wait any longer at home. I thought that if you came down a bit earlier, I would have some additional moments with you. Foolish, isn’t it?”

“Well, we both seem to be fools. I was certain you would come early. Let me sign the bill and we can be off.”

I was taken again with the grace of her moves and the happiness in her eyes. She was dressed in a little blue top, with small straps holding it up, but showing enough of her breasts, unrestrained by a bra. A little makeup to show off her cheeks and eyes (and what beautiful huge eyes), and a bit of gloss on her smiling lips. Tight jeans to accentuate her narrow waist and hips, and bluish sandals for her feet. A vision of elegance, simplicity and beauty. I watched her walking to the counter and was certain that she must have had ballet lessons because nobody could walk this graceful and sensuous way without having had years of hard exercises. Then she came back and embraced me.

“You haven’t said a proper good morning to me. Have you forgotten how I said good evening to you?”

She kissed me and I was lost - again. It was not a kiss that you see in movies or read about in books with tongues battling and heavy breathing; it was a sweet, loving, hello darling kiss, showing the joy of meeting me and looking forward to the day. All the doubts I had the previous night whether this was real or not, vanished. This was it and I would keep it this way.

“We’ve reservations at one at the Hilton for brunch. It’s still early, the sun is shining, just a few clouds, and may I suggest that we drive up to the Gap and enjoy the moment for a while?”

“James, you decide today, and I’ll follow. Lay on, Macduff!”

“If I’m Macduff, you better watch it. You know what happened and you’ll have to treat me nicely to escape an evil ending!”

She stopped for a moment and, gazing at me, said that whatever I would do, she had complete trust in me that it would lead to a good ending. How can you not love a woman like this?

I handed her the keys and with a very satisfied grin she drove off. The directions were easy and after a short while, we came to a spot that Peter had once shown me. I took a blanket from the Porsche and led her to a secluded spot overlooking the Gap, where the ocean entered the Bay. It was a beautiful morning, the sun was shining but it wasn’t too hot yet, and a light breeze made the cirrus clouds coming in from the ocean chase each other. We heard the noise of the waves breaking way below, and the occasional scream of a gull.

I spread the blanket and helped her to sit down comfortably. I had wondered what to say to her when we were alone, but it came naturally.

“Maureen, yesterday was the best day of my life and I just want to say to you that everything I said last night, I repeat today. I still cannot explain what happened so suddenly, but it did happen. I’ve fallen in love and I don’t want to lose you. These are my feelings, and I certainly don’t want to push you into something you are not certain of, but I want you to know how I feel. You’ve said that you trust me, and I’ll never take anything that you’re not willing to give freely. I’ll trust you the same way that whatever you say or do will be from your heart - even if you tell me that you do not want to go on.”

She looked at me and took my hands tenderly.

“James, I thought a lot about yesterday, what it meant to me - and what it could mean in the future for me and perhaps for both of us. I also can’t rationally explain what happened. Let me tell you something about my life. I’m the only child of a very happy couple and was raised to respect and love my family and my friends. Then my father died six years ago, and everything changed. My mother didn’t take my father’s death well and enclosed herself in a mental shield that nobody could break - not even I. Added to the pain I felt about the death of my father, the breakdown of my relationship with my mother led me to do things I’m not proud of today. I revolted against all my upbringing.”

Her eyes were tearing up.

“For heaven’s sake, I started to smoke marijuana, lost good friends and gained bad ones, and one day ended up in a police station because of a robbery that had gone bad. Not that I was involved, but I was in the same car that the two guys were using to get away. My mother came to the station and convinced the police that I hadn’t been involved - I was just an almost innocent bystander. She took me home and we both cried for hours! She because she had abandoned me, me because I had committed stupid acts, and mainly that we had not communicated at all, lately. I was lucky that I had never gone too far - for heaven’s sake, I’m still a virgin - but I had messed up my life completely. It didn’t help that I didn’t have a sister or a best friend to talk with; the friends I had driven away, and the sister had never appeared.”

There was a certain longing in her eyes that she had missed a friend, a confidant, someone to share joy and despair. She swallowed, took a deep breath, and continued.

“It took us a few months to reestablish our trust and today we’re at least comfortable with each other. However, I’m still bearing, the psychological scars from that period. I didn’t let anybody come close to me after someone I still considered a friend, tried to use the situation to force me and almost raped me when I refused his advances, and from that moment on I kept to myself. My mother runs a big company in Brisbane and there have been many attempts to get to her through me.”

Her eyes lit up.

“And then suddenly, out of nowhere, you appeared in my life, ignoring my barriers, and taking me on a different ride. You were a fun companion, and polite. We had an interesting and occasionally teasing conversation, and common interests. You just swept me along with you, and I appreciated that there was no attempt at a one-night stand. I sensed that you started to like me, and when you offered the tickets to the opera, I accepted almost immediately.”

I laughed, “Almost immediately? I could see your thoughts going forwards and backwards, but I was very glad that at the end you accepted the invitation.”

She grinned. “The way you almost clicked your heels when you said goodbye at the hotel and kissed my hand was so funny that without thinking I kissed you - and to my surprise enjoyed it. The next day we walked in the park, and it was different and wonderful. We kissed again and I felt safe and secure with you. Joan Sutherland was great and seeing your emotion after that aria turned my heart around. James, I feel that this is not a fling for you and I’m certain that it’s not for me either - it’s something much more serious, and it frightens me a bit. I don’t want to lose you either, but how are we going to handle this?”

All I could do was to take her into my arms and hug her. I kissed her eyes and lips tenderly to express my happiness and my trust that we had a future together. Then I released her, which was difficult to do, and said, “We trust each other and love each other. We want to stay together and enjoy our life together. We’ll find a way. Maureen, I don’t want to lose you!”

She started to sniffle and put her head on my shoulders. “James, I love you, too, and will do everything I can to never disappoint you and lose you.”

She went from sniffles to real tears and sobbed for a few moments. Then she stopped and looked at me. She took my hand and put it on her breast.

“These are not tears of sadness, James, these are tears of happiness. Feel my heart and know that we’ll build a life together - I don’t know how, but we will.”

She started to grin. “Why aren’t you kissing me? Lost the taste already?”

This was an offer I could not refuse, and we lost track of everything until she had to come up for breath. It had been a good idea to bring the blanket. I wondered what would have happened to her top and jeans, or my outfit without it. I still had my hand on her breast, and it felt wonderful. I squeezed it lightly and she seemed to enjoy it very much. This encouraged me to lean down and place a kiss on her nipple. Even through the light top I felt that it had hardened and stood up proudly.

I always thought that the form of a female breast was the ultimate form of grace and elegance, and here was a prime example. I turned my head and nuzzled my nose in her hair, luxuriating in its softness; I loved the way hers was so full and rich. Feeling that she enjoyed this gesture, I gave the soft skin of her neck a soft kiss, and then a few more, causing her to breathe more heavily. My lips slipped upward and nibbled on her earlobe, which made her giggle and goosebumps appeared on her arm and then went down her side. I started nibbling gently with my teeth, which caused her to moan, interspersed with the giggles. The goosebumps were even more pronounced, and they felt interesting to my hand, which had slipped away from her breast to stroke up and down her side, caressing her hip and upper leg, and on up her side until I returned to her breast.

I said softly, “Please don’t wake me up if I’m dreaming. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful or felt so wonderful in my life.”

“My love, you’re not dreaming. This is real and we’ll repeat and improve on it many times, I hope. I don’t want to spoil the moment, but didn’t you make a reservation for brunch?”

I looked at my watch and was relieved. We still had another thirty minutes to go before we had to leave. I looked at her for a long time.

“Do you know that you have thirteen freckles on your face?”

“So what? Don’t you like them? What are you going to do about them?”

‘Well, first of all, I like them. They tell me when you are teasing me or when you are embarrassed. They blush and are more visible. As I said, I like them. What can I do about them? I read an article once in a magazine of alternative medicine that there was a theory that if each freckle was kissed with love, it would slowly fade away. The remedy was not immediate and had to be repeated many, many times. Can we try this?”

“James, you’re joking. This is rather foolish and can’t be true, but, unfortunately, you haven’t shown me yet any signs that could tell me if you made it up. I swear that this will change rapidly in the future.”

“My love, I confirm that I read this, but the article admitted that the remedy had not been proven, considering the time necessary between starting the procedure and finishing it. Looking at you, I’d like very much to try out whether it works or not. Imagine if one day I receive the Nobel Prize in medicine for this important discovery!”