Page 83 of Henhouse
Some things I know (like the sky is blue) and you and I are what they meant when they spoke of destiny wrapped in Sunshine on the dark side of the moon.
Effie’s cheeks hurt from smiling as she read. Whatever fear she had about Theo knowing what they were to each other so quickly, so assuredly was washed away with every word. As she read aloud she was treated to a palate of flavors like a sumptuous seven-course meal. Theo, whether knowingly or not, had written a poem that had her mouth watering with every savory remark, every delectable, filling phrase, every sweet notion.
She laid the book back on the counter, her curiosity over what other lovely things he’d written about her pushed aside for the time being. Theo gripped her waist with his strong hands.
He looked at her like she was the whole universe wrappedin a sundress.
There was a question in the way he held her, the way he wouldn’t take his eyes off hers. She was ready and she said so with a nod.
The smile that spread across his handsome face sent Effie’s knees wobbling. She knew if his fingers weren’t curled into the flesh at her hips she’d have fallen right over. “Effie Rose Thatcher,” he said, voice heavy with importance and laced with a deep yearning. “I love you.”
Effie knew it was coming but her heart fluttered all the same. “I love you too.”
Effie had said I love you many times. To Grams, Hope, and all her family. She’d said it to the cat they had when she was little and to Issa on more than one occasion. Each time it had tasted the same, like crisp lemon water, refreshing and bright and full of zest. But when she said it to Theo, it was fuller, sweeter. Like freshly squeezed lemonade on a hot summer day.
“What does it taste like?” he asked, and Effie nearly swooned all over again at his awareness that her mind mulled over the way her synesthesia responded toI love you.
“Like the sweetest lemonade I could drink every day for the rest of my life.”
His fingers were soft as they brushed her hair back from her face. “I’ve seen you all along, Effie. Soft.” He brushed a teasing touch down her neck. “Sweet.” He brought his hand to her cheek. “Magnetic. The only woman I’ve ever loved.”
She barely had time to inhale before he hoisted her onto the counter. His lips met hers and she welcomed him closer, her thighs cinched around his waist. He placed one hand on the counter, the other bracing her back as he worked his way up the column of her neck with tender kisses.
Effie tingled all over as she arched into his touch. He took his time exploring the curve of her collarbone, his hand roaming over her back. Theo planted taunting kisses along her jaw whispering thirst-quenching, lemonadeI love you’sbetween breaths. He tried to bypass her lips, but that wouldn’t do.
Effie clutched the back of his head, fingers tangled in the thick blond locks she’d imagined running her hands through so many weeks ago. She couldn’t get him close enough. The taste of his lips and the sweetness of his breath were driving her wild. She scooted closer to the edge of the counter suffocating the last bit of space between them.
This was what she’d been waiting for. This devotion, this affection. This promise of forever and the love that went with it. It had been there all along, but she’d kept it blocked, unable to receive it before. She tried not to chastise herself for the wasted weeks when she could have been savoring this feeling. Every touch made her shiver with a desire she’d only ever brushed against. She felt it fully now. She needed him, all of him. The certainty she’d craved and received in more ways than one had her drawing back and whispering his name. “Theo.” Sweet salted caramel chocolate.
His warm hazel eyes assessed her face, reading her decision. “Are you sure?”
She nodded and he kissed her again. Effie fed off the love and desire she felt with the press of his lips. He lifted her up, her legs wrapping around his waist. She laughed. “Where are you taking me?”
“I’m not making love to you against the kitchen counter,” he said. “At least not yet,” he grumbled with a devilish kind of grin. A thrill went through Effie. Her insides twisted with anticipation as they crossed into his bedroom and he laid her gently on the mattress.Their passionate need softened to a romantic sensuality as his hands explored her body like a work of art. His kisses promised to make her feel adored, and as their clothes were shed Effie was aware that she had never in her life been so certain of anything.
She wanted everything with Theo, and she was pleased as punch she was finally letting herself have it.
41
Theo, for all of his experience and sexual prowess, hadn’t realized it could be like that. The moment she’d said I love you, said yes, he felt something greater tethering them together. He knew it was a spiritual connection, their souls or their energy colliding along with their bodies. He’d been well aware what kind of connection Effie saved her virginity for, because it was the same one he’d wanted to find. It was soulmates. It was devotion. It was a forever kind of love, whatever came their way.
Making love to Effie was a bliss like he’d never known. And he realized that was the difference. He’d had a lot of sex, but he had never made love. Not like he knew it now.
If he’d thought he was enamored before, crossing that final line in their physical relationship had only solidified for him that Effie was his person. It was all he could do to get out of bed in the morning and go to work the next day. As though it were any other day. As though his world hadn’t come into crystal clear focus, forever changed bythe woman who held his heart in her hands. It could only be called blasphemous that everyone he passed on the street didn’t stop to congratulate him on being so in love, so utterly and completely devoted to Effie Thatcher.
In the days that followed, Effie spent every night with him. He’d made good on his promise to take her against the kitchen island and it was better than he ever imagined. Everything about them was good, at least when she wasn’t missing the family dinners or breakfasts she’d become accustomed to over the last two decades of her life. Her angst over the changes had him encouraging her to go home and be with her family for a few nights, though—honestly—the emptiness in bed made it hard for him to sleep.
Effie stood beside Hope, zesting a lemon for the lemon bars she was making for dessert while Hope slathered chicken breasts with her favorite marinade before popping the pan in the oven. Though popping probably wasn’t the right word, since Hope’s movements had become slow and deliberate, holding her belly like she thought it might fall off. “How ya doing there?”
Hope huffed a breath but laughed. “Oh you know, three days past my due date, so stellar, fantastic, didn’t know existing could be so exhausting.”
“I can finish up, go sit.”
Hope dragged the stool from beside the landline phone into the kitchen instead, propping herself on it while she peeled potatoes.
The house was quiet for once. The sizzle of the stove warming water and the hum of the oven the only constants in the room. Each swipe ofthe vegetable peeler was a sharp slice into the silence between them. Effie put her lemon bars in another chamber of the oven and set her egg timer before taking up the cutting board beside Hope. She cut the peeled potatoes into chunks and plopped them into the boiling water.
“So what’s next?” Effie asked.
