Let's Make a Deal Pt. 17

Scott had hung his jacket up earlier, but had left his tie on, much as he hated the things, wondering what she would make of it when the time came. He normally dressed casually enough that she'd never undressed him when he was wearing a tie—or even seen him in one, as far as he could remember. Probably sometime, when meeting with a customer, he thought.

They kissed, eagerly and at length but without real urgency. They both were more than ready, but they both felt they had time. Scott unbuttoned her blouse and caressed her breasts through her bra before unfastening it and moving his hands underneath. That kiss left them both breathing a little fast. She took his tie off without any problem. "You trust me with a noose around your neck? I could have pulled the other way, you know." He stopped anything else she might have said by kissing her again, slipping first blouse and then bra down her arms. Discarded clothes were going onto a chair in no particular order. She whimpered a little as he kissed and fondled her breasts more.

She told him, "If you wake up during the night wanting sex—and if you wake up during the night you better want sex!—you wake me up, even if you have to use that whole bucket of ice!" Not that ice had been necessary, for a long time now.

A moment later she said, "Scott, honey, sugar—and dear and darling and dearest, since Lynda doesn't get to use those any more—and sweetheart, too, since I shouldn't call her that any more either—and husband!—I didn't think I could ever again be as ready for you as I was that first time, but maybe I was wrong. I love you so much, and I love being able to tell you so. You are without a doubt the most wonderful husband I've ever heard of."

They undressed each other, continuing to kiss and caress, with fond talk between kisses. The rather scanty, lacy, red underwear was duly admired, though Scott made very clear that he'd enjoy just as much undressing her from red flannel longjohns.

Martha also showed him—without actually putting on—a lacy negligee, one of several she had received. Scott told her she probably wouldn't get much chance to actually wear those. He got too much enjoyment from undressing her, and when they had sex before sleeping they preferred to sleep nude. When the weather turned colder, she would want a nightgown, but one which could keep her warm. He did agree to let her model these negligees, at least very briefly, the other nights of the honeymoon.

Then Scott asked her, "Do you remember what you said the first time I saw you like this?"

She smiled, the same blinding smile that had taken his breath away that time, as she stood back, spread her arms a little, and asked, "Well? Do you like what you see?"

He stepped forward and hugged her. "Yes, that's exactly right. But this time around I'm not speechless. I came prepared," he said smugly. "Oui! Pour moi, tu es la femme plus belle du monde. Jawohl! Mein Frau, bei mir du bist die schönste Weib in der ganzen Welt. Да! ¡Si! Si! .אתה מוצא חן בעיני. חפצי בך

".זאת הפעם עצם מעצמי ובשר מבשרי"

"I'm sure I've butchered some of that. It's been years and years, and my French was never really all that good, and my German and Hebrew were even weaker—geared only to reading with a dictionary at hand. But you get the idea, don't you?"

"The French I understood, of course, and the Spanish. I don't know Spanish, but everyone knows that one word. The German, no, not beyond 'jawohl' and 'Frau'. And I didn't even recognize Hebrew at all. I assume that was all the stuff at the end. So what did it all say?"

"The German, much the same as the French: 'Yes! My wife, to me you are the most beautiful woman in the world.' The Hebrew, well, three separate things. The first is just, 'You find favor in my eyes', which is the normal way of saying you approve of, or like, or anything like that, something or someone. Then, well, it's an adapted form of a name in the Bible, Hephzibah, which means something like 'My delight is in her'. I just made it 'you' instead of 'her'. The last is from Genesis 2: 'This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.' I hope you get the idea, anyway."

He stopped for a moment, struck by a thought. "Oh. Wow. I just realized there's something else I could have said, without even having to look things up to check! I'm sure this would be right!

".בעיניי, אתה יפה מאוד מאוד In my eyes, or 'to me', you are very, very beautiful.

"To paraphrase what someone said to me earlier, you know I don't love you just for your physical charms, don't you? But I'm looking forward to a lot of time to enjoy them."

She stepped into his arms again, and said, "Oh, Scott!", and kissed him for a long time. When she broke off again, he bent a little and picked her up and moved toward the bed. She put her arms around his neck, which allowed him to let go enough with his right hand to pull the covers down somewhat, and he put her down. She moved over enough to make room for him and got her legs under the sheet and blanket. He turned out the light and joined her.

"I may have butchered the languages—and you didn't mention the Russian and Italian, by the way—but the sentiments are accurate."

They kissed again, more urgently than before, as his hands wandered. Both their hands. After a while, she came. When she had caught her breath, Scott kissed her again, working hard to restrain his own eagerness.

Martha said, "Scott, love, do you remember when that happened that first time? I'd wanted so much to come with you, and it was by far the best I'd ever had, but it had never even occurred to me that I might come again the same night, or even the same week, and I was just desolated because it happened too soon. And you were so good to me, so patient."

He said, "I remember it well." Then, as he realized exactly what he had said, he sang, "Ah yes, I remember it well," in a fairly unconvincing attempt at sounding like Maurice Chevalier.

Martha laughed. Gigi had been one of the movies they had all watched together, at Scott's suggestion. Neither of the women had been familiar with it before, and they had all enjoyed it. She kissed him again, at length. He said, "You know, somehow it never occurred to me before. That song, there's an assumption buried in it, and no justification is ever given. She keeps correcting him, and the assumption is that he's wrong and she's right." He kissed her again.

She eventually said, "Well, if you're going back to musicals from that period, this is the one that's really appropriate. I mean, as how I was when we got started.

"I am in a conventional dither,
With a conventional star in my eye.
No more a smart little girl with no heart,
I'm in love with a wonderful guy!"

One of the things Scott had been delighted to learn about Martha was that she could really sing. She hadn't had formal training, but she understood things like breath support and enunciation, and she generally stayed on pitch. Nonetheless, he was just as glad that she didn't sing that the way the song really demanded—very full—on this occasion. But she still sang it beautifully. He told her so, and they continued kissing.

After a few minutes, she climbed on top of him, and they consummated their marriage.

Continue to Part 18