Page 116 of Marriage (Red, White &) Blues

“We got about a month and a half. My fucking mother keeps pushing ‘eligible’ women my way and Jupiter is pissed at me.”

“Come here for Christmas. We’ll spend it together. You don’t have to tell anyone you’re coming to see me.” Sometimes I had the best ideas.

Our first married Christmas together—wow. I missed Thanksgiving with my mom and friends, but for Christmas, Pen, Ant and Sierra showed first. Blake and I flew my mother, Carl and Lola in, putting them up in a nice hotel. We ate way too much good food, exchanged gifts, and generally enjoyed family time.

The holiday went too fast and they all had to go back to reality. Seeing the people I loved most in the world leave hurt way more than I thought it would, and I knew it would suck.

Finally, February rolled around. Mr. Groundhog saw his shadow. Six more weeks of winter didn’t really mean much in Guam, but I felt for my peeps back home. I now had anoticeable baby bump given I was squarely into my second trimester. During the day, I volunteered at local charity centers. At night, I watched television while researching baby names on my computer and I solved a lot of crossword puzzles.

But this time of day, that small window of time between day and night, I spent it on the beach watching the water. I befriended a local woman named Cheryl. She and her husband, Duane, ran a boat tour. They took me out on the ocean several times. We saw moray eels, stingrays, and sharks. We also got to witness dolphins and these mammals called pilot whales, basically the short-finned cousin of dolphins, swimming and playing off the coast. Pilots were dark gray with white anchors on their bellies. You could never confuse them for dolphins because of their bulbous heads and lack of a beak.

Yes, I missed my friends and I FaceTimed Georgie Boy and Princess Miranda just about every night. Our furry kids no longer lived with the Von Dutton-McCains. Blake missed us all too much. Knowing he couldn’t bring me home yet, he packed them up and now they were Vermonters too.

Once the sun set, I walked back up to my place. The whole house smelled of the kaddon pika that I’d kept simmering in the Crock-Pot all day. Cheryl shared the recipe with me. A spicy chicken stew made with vinegar, garlic, onions, and other stuff that made magic in your mouth. Pure, unadulterated magic. I heated the red rice—another Guam staple—in the microwave with a piece of dampened paper towel over the top of the opened container to steam it. After dinner, I lay down on the bed to watch some television and then drifted off to sleep.

In the morning, I showered and dressed for the day, then I walked down to the local library, where I helped children with reading issues. I tutored children three days a week and my schedule filled up fast. My first student of the day, a little girl named Gabby, walked in holding her mother’s hand. She wasof indigenous ancestry and had that gorgeous golden skin and dark hair combination. Her mother worked at the library and after our tutoring session, her grandmother came to pick her up. I spent two hours with Gabby. Then I saw Theo, Nathaniel, Danica, and my last student of the day, Wally, who entered without a parent. He usually did because he got dropped off by the school. Wally was a little older and needed just a little more help. So instead of heading home when his school day ended, he came to me. I adored Wally, too. He carved me decorations for my room out of driftwood. The kid had serious talent.

“When are you going to buy a house?” he asked me while we picked out a book to read.

“I’m not.”

“Gloria, you have to be running out of wall space. Plus, how will you and the baby live in a rental?”

“I’ve told you this is temporary.”

“Why? You should move here.”

“I should do a lot of things,” I said to shut down this topic that he always seemed to start up, but he simply smirked in a way that let me know he’d stop now, but that this discussion was far from finished.

Wally was just one more person to add to my growing list of friends here on the island.

At the end of the day, I took the bus home rather than walk. If my day didn’t start too early, I liked to get my steps in. Healthy mama, healthy baby. I was kind of tired though, and wanted to rest before heading out to the beach. I walked up the private sidewalk to my door, using the key to open it, then stopped short when Georgie Boy leapt up onto me, almost hugging me with his front paws.

“Georgie Boy?” I cried. “In my living room?”

I gently nudged him off me, then bent down to give him snuggles and kisses. “I missed you, buddy.” Yes, I should’ve beenasking, “How the hell did you get here?” but that had to wait. He needed his mommy kisses. Then I saw Princess Miranda. Quickly, I closed the door and knelt to scratch her ears. She rubbed her head against my hand and purred.

“Missed you, too, sweet girl.”

“How about me?”Oh, shit. Blake. My head whipped up fast enough to cause momentary dizziness and I ran lunging for the man, leaping up into his arms.

“Oh my God, I’m going to cry,” I cried and peppered his face with a million kisses.

“Fuck, baby,” he said, holding my face, he kissed me back. “Your nipples are rock hard. They’re poking into my chest.”

“Sorry, that’s kind of a permanent state. Pregnancy side effect. You want me to get down?”

“No. I want to suck them into my mouth.” He moved his hand from my face to adjust his cock in his jeans.

“Okay,” I agreed because I hadn’t felt him inside me since the new year started. My sex pulsated just from the thought of him moving inside it. My sex was a Blake slut. “Sofa?” I asked, hopeful to get this going.

His eyes raged between love and lust as he slowly shook his head. “Bed.”

“You brought the kids.”

He glanced briefly down at them then back up at me. “They missed you, too.”

My husband, the multitasker, carried me to the bedroom while devouring my lips with his kisses. Stealing my breath and wetting my panties. “You’re here,” I said. “I can’t believe you’re here.”

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