Chapter 18: First Time

Daise walked up behind me, slipped her arm around my waist, and gave me a gentle kiss on the cheek. I turned my head to look at her with a smile and asked"I hope you're not a vegetarian?"

"No. I haven't eaten too much meat recently. Those steaks look huge."

I laughed. "They are fairly large. Don't worry about it though, what we can't eat will go into the fridge and we can snack on them later. There's nothing like cold steak sliced up on white bread with a bit of 'Old English' mustard."

"Sounds nice. Can I get you something to drink?"

"Yes, please. A Coke would be nice."

As Daise walked over to the bar fridge, Sgt. Major Dhlamini looked at me with a grin and cocked his head at Daise.

"You approve, do you, Sgt. Major?"

"Yes. She seems nice. I really approve because I can see the effect she is having on you, though."

"You aren't worried about the shit-storm it is bringing down?"

"No, I'm actually looking forward to it."

"Yes, you would. You love having an excuse, don't you? By the way, are you staying over tonight?"

"Yes. Nqobile has me sorted. I have one of my guys fetching the kit we need for tomorrow. He'll meet us at the car place."

"What are you guys talking about?" Daise asked, as she returned carrying my Coke and a Castle Lager for the Sgt. Major.

"Alina is arriving tomorrow, and we were just going over the final arrangements."

"All I heard was something about weapons?" Daise queried, with a nervous lilt to her voice.

I explained the basics to Daise; that we would be picking Alina up but changing cars and that she should stay with the Sgt. Major in the over-watch car. At first she seemed to be a little surprised that all the arrangements were necessary, but I explained to her that we were just taking precautions to ensure that we didn't make it easy, although we knew that we could be found simply enough once someone knew it was us that Alina was joining. Daise was obviously still nervous about the whole thing, but seemed to be content to leave the issue in our hands.

Once the meat was ready, we all helped ourselves to the salads that Nqobile had made, and ate with our plates on our laps. The Sgt. Major ensured that the soldiers on guard got their food, and then rejoined us.

After the meal, we were all tired so we packed up and went off to bed.

It took me a while to figure out what had woken me. My curtains were open, so I could see that it was still night time. I got out of bed, then walked out into the passage, and then followed the sounds to Daise's room. I could see that she was still asleep, but she seemed to be having a nightmare; she was tossing and turning, and every couple of seconds she called out in what I guessed was Russian. I was reminded of the many times I had comforted my daughters at night, when they had bad dreams. Daise had kicked off the covers, so I laid down on the bed next to her and pulled her into my arms. She didn't wake up, but put her arms around me and pulled me close. I continued to lie there, holding her, until I fell asleep again.

The next time I woke up, it was because Daise had moved. I opened my eyes and watched her. She was awake and I could see she was trying to extricate herself from the tangle the two of us had made of our limbs and the bed-sheets. I smiled slightly and tightened my grip on her. She looked up at me in surprise.

"You had a bad dream; I fell asleep as I held you."

Daise looked embarrassed, "Sorry if I woke you."

"When? Now, or in the middle of the night?"

"Both."

"Well, I certainly never expected our first night sleeping together would be like this," I teased her.

"Me either." She looked at me again and a mischievous expression crossed her face, "I expected it to be much more active."

I laughed. "You looked so beautiful in the moonlight from the window, I wanted to kiss every inch of you."

"Why didn't you?" Her voice shifted suddenly; from a young girl's, to the throaty voice of a woman. "It caught me completely off-side.

"I didn't want to take advantage of you."