Chapter 33

Elizabeth woke up slowly with the familiar feeling of Sean's warm body beside hers. Of the many things that she loved doing with him, waking up with him beside her was one of her favorites. She cracked her eyes open and found that her fiancé was already awake.

"Mmm. Morning, handsome."

"Hey there, cutey," he greeted in return and lightly kissed the tip of her nose. Elizabeth could smell the minty scent of his toothpaste.

"You've been up for a while?"

"'Liz, it's ten in the morning. I've been awake for quite a while. Stretched out my hip, went for a walk, and found some breakfast."

"My my, haven't we been busy?"

"Not 'we' but me," Sean grinned. "You have been asleep all morning."

"Sean, it's Saturday. People sleep in on Saturday's, especially after a good round of sex the previous night."

"Oho," his grin stretched into a broad smile. "So I take it that this male oppressor has sated his woman's lustful wants?"

"Eh," she teased. Elizabeth laughed and pulled Sean in close for a proper good morning kiss. "Oh yes, you most certainly do fulfill my needs. You can consider me thoroughly ravished."

"Good, because if I had to pick up the pace anymore than it already is, my hair will turn gray before my next birthday."

Elizabeth laughed with him and then yelped in surprise when he rolled her out of bed. She tumbled off the mattress and landed most ungracefully. She frowned at her plight and shook her fist at Sean before crawling towards the bathroom. Sean stepped around her and playfully slapped her bare behind on his way out. Elizabeth mumbled a few choice words out of earshot and started in on her morning routine.

Refreshed by a hot shower and a round with the toothbrush, Elizabeth headed out to the kitchen and found Sean stooped over some paperwork. She ignored him for the moment and addressed her gnawing belly. She seemed to have worked up quite the appetite from last night. "Sean, I was wondering," she called out over her shoulder as she rifled through the sparse fridge. "I was going over your guest list and you forgot to put down any of your family members." Only silence answered her. Looking around the fridge door, she saw Sean sitting at the table with his back to her; his hands stalk still. "Sean?"

"I told you. I don't talk to them." His words were terse and sharp.

Brought short by his attitude, Elizabeth grabbed at an orange for now and shut the door. She sat down across from him and studied his pained gaze into history. "Well, how about extended family? Aunts, uncles, or cousins?"

"My father was an only child and I never knew my mom's side of the family."

"But don't you want to..."

"No, 'Liz, I don't. If I wanted to invite them then they would be on the list."

"Well, what if I wanted to invite them. Or at least meet them."

Sean sat tensely and quietly. "I will not talk to them." He stood up abruptly and left the table. The apartment door slammed shut on his way out.

"Elizabeth. Hey 'Liz!"

Elizabeth snapped to attention and looked questioningly at the magazine in her hands. "Huh?"

"I asked if you wanted to have identical wedding gowns."

Elizabeth took a moment to switch mental gears before she answered. "No, I think you and I would never settle on the design."

Vanessa scooted closer to her on the couch, concern creasing her brow. "Something's bothering you isn't it?"

She didn't answer, not trusting her voice at the moment.

"Alright, what did Sean do this time?"

"Nothing."

"Bullshit, nothing," her friend exclaimed. "You've had that spaced out look all morning. Now tell me what Sean did so I can pound some sense into him."

Elizabeth smiled at her friend but the upset lines settled back in at the corners of her mouth. "It's nothing, really. Sean and I just have a few wedding plan disagreements to work out."

"Well, that concerns me and Eric, too, so spill."

"In this instance it doesn't," Elizabeth argued. Surprised at her own vehemence, Elizabeth took a calming breath and slowly released. "Trust me. It doesn't."

"I'll be the judge of that," she growled

"No, you won't. I don't need your protection. Not from Sean. I'm sorry but this is between Sean and I." Rarely had Elizabeth argued with her friend but right now she was not in the mood for her wheedling. As promised, Elizabeth kept Sean's painful past to herself. She understood what it was like to keep one's pain a secret. Elizabeth never told anyone what happened to her during the final years of her marriage to that monster, Charles, until Sean came along and Sean never said a word about it to anyone. She wouldn't know what she would do if he let slip what had happened to her in those dark years. So, Elizabeth knew better than to tell anyone, best friend or not about Sean's hurt. Sometimes Elizabeth felt that her life was irrevocably intertwined with Sean's; his pain was her own as he bore her pain with him. Their pasts were an inviolable private place.

Elizabeth stood up and neatly stacked the magazines strewn about the coffee table. "I don't think that I'm in the right frame of mind to handle this right now, maybe tomorrow."

"'Liz..."

"I'll call you later. I'm not mad at you. I just... I just need some time to piece things together, okay."

"Yeah, no problem," Vanessa answered. "Just take it easy. And give your fiancé a good sock in the arm for me while you're at it."

Elizabeth smiled at her friend as best she could as she headed out the door. "Sure thing."

A chilly breeze from a nearby air conditioning blew across Elizabeth's taut face. She drove back to Sean's empty apartment and looked around. Elizabeth now paid attention to the stack of papers at the dinner table where Sean was working having previously ignored them after his stormy exit. It was the final paperwork for the house they were going to move into. With everything so hectic the last few months, and Sean routing her attention to wedding plans soon afterwards, Elizabeth had completely forgotten about their dream house. When Sean went into his coma all of their plans were postponed indefinitely. Elizabeth didn't want to move into an empty house.

Dusk crept up on Elizabeth as she thought of what to say to Sean. Finally he came home to the cramped apartment with a pizza. "Oh, you're home already. I thought you were with Vanessa." Elizabeth didn't answer, not sure what to say to him. "Well, I wasn't in the mood for fixing lunch."