Chapter 2

Maybe it was only my imagination ... Perhaps the silent digital clock next to my bed actually did start to tick (in that ominous way that grandfather clocks tick in horror movies!) ... Perhaps time could actually stand still ... Melody lay there staring into my eyes for what seemed like an eternity, in subjective time, but was probably, at most, a few seconds in real time.

“Oh Nate!” And she closed her beautiful eyes for a moment, “Oh of course I will marry you...” and I let out a breath I hadn’t totally realized I was holding, then she touched her finger to my lips with a smile... “Let me say my part, and then you can respond”. “I will marry you when we are truly settled into our lives together ... when we are marrying for love and to be together as husband and wife forever. And, I will marry you when you’ve taken the time to talk to the other women in our lives!” And I suddenly remembered Beth, and Jane, and Joy, and Monica, and my eyes startled open in sheer panic! “Shhhhhh”, she said as she stroked my forehead just before kissing it, like you would try to calm a suddenly startled child. “We’ve already spoken about this possibility, so don’t totally panic out on me! But until we’ve all spoken and decided how we want to proceed, I will give you this placeholder for now. I love you with all my heart, and I want nothing more than to be married to you!”.

With my heart still hammering in my chest, as though I had just climbed a high pass in the Alps, I flashed through a seemingly long list of emotions, and finally settled on relieved! And incredibly happy!

We took a loving shower, with lots of playing around but nothing more than making sure that every square inch of each other was scrubbed to a glowing pink! And then dressed in shorts and t-shirts, settled in to a light breakfast and, for me at least, trying to dig through the pile of mail that my lovers had so lovingly organized for me. After a cup of tea and an English muffin, I pulled the basket of ‘lingering’ mail from off the entryway table and onto the kitchen table, which just happened to be located very close to the recycling bin! I dealt with the obvious junk mail by ripping it in half and tossing it. Then I moved on to the ‘clearly a bill’ pile and, after checking the due date, sorted them to get ready to pay them ... And finally, it was on to the largest pile in the basket; the mail that clearly didn’t fit into one of the other two categories! As I was shuffling through the ‘general mail’ pile, a yellow envelope with a postmark from Paris, France caught my eye, as did the words “Le Tour Femmes” tastefully printed in the upper-left corner. It was addressed to me, with the words “Director Sportif” below my name ... Hmmmmmm???? I gently opened the top and pulled out a couple of printed pages, and started scanning over them looking for the “ask” ... This was from Le Tour, and worse yet, the organizing committee ... And that bunch had never, ever, passed up on an opportunity to separate anyone they met from their hard-earned cash! I pulled up short, and then went back to the top and read every word (a couple of them twice to be certain that they said what I thought they said), and then pushing back from the table, I stood and slowly paced around the kitchen, while Melody watched me carefully, I can only assume, waiting for me to reveal it all to her eventually ... or to have a panic attack!