Page 15 of Never Have We Ever
Valeskafinally raised her eyes to meet her husband’s gaze. “I suppose that’s one of many things we should discuss two years into our marriage.”
“You wantles enfants, oui?”
Damnit! If Valeska didn’t stop blushing, she would embarrass herself beyond what was acceptable in these situations!
André pulled his hand out of her skirt and snatched her fingers off the table. “Two years means the grace periodisfin.You and I, we will start a new phase of our marriage.”
“I thought grace period meant we would be exclusive and then discuss otherwise.”
André’s eyes widened. “You say that you want to have another man?”
“No! Why? Are there… other women?”
His hand tightened around hers. “When I think of the best woman to have a marriage and children with, I still think of Madame Dubois.”
“You don’tmean that.”
“I do not say things I do not mean.”
“You want to have children with me?”
“I want to have children and make you the happiest Madame Dubois in the history of my family. We can trace our lineage back to the 1400s, you know. That is many happy Dubois.”
“If youreallywant to make me happy, you could try being home a little more often.”
“I will speak with my father. If he knows thatwe are trying to have children and that I need to be a good father myself, maybe he will be more lenient on my duties. He will understand. There are duties to a wife, he always says.”
“Does he?”
“When he’s drunk on wine, he tells me that my number one duty as a husband is to make money. The second one is to make you come.”
“André!”
“I think I am lacking at number two because I am gone so much.Even though I call you and try to have fun half a world away.”
“I can’t understand you on the phone when you speak French!”
“I am such a bad tutor. How can my wife know that I want to make love on the phone if she cannot understand me?”
“How can you be so forward?”
“I am only so forward with my wife.”
That was one of those phrases that would haunt Valeska for years to come, but that night,on the second anniversary of her marriage to André Dubois, she found it so terribly romantic that she cut their dinner short and allowed her husband to take her upstairs for the rest of the evening. They ate their dessert of tiramisu near midnight, when they were naked in bed and André teased her that she should pick a homely female companion, so she would not be tempted to bed her when he was away.
“I think you want to imagine it, but I am not like that,” she chided.
He lightly tapped her bare skin with the dessert fork they shared. “I will do my best to not be away so much that you become that way. I want my wife to myself.”
While the tantalizing touch of sharp metal against her skin infused her with more energy, Valeska placed her hand against her husband’s naked chest and said, “Iwant my husband too. For me only, yes?”
“More reasons for me to come home more often. My wife is so wonderful that I must make love to her every day.”
“Every day?”
“For now I will say it’s because we will make a baby. Later, I will say it’s because I am addicted to you.”
“You’re not already?”
