I listened to her tell him about the day Marcus died. I was sitting on the couch reading a script, her head was in my lap, and she was telling him about the phone call she’d gotten in the middle of the night. I paused when I realized what she was talking about and slipped one hand down into her hair, gently running my hand down her golden tresses, trying to offer her comfort without being intrusive.
She told him the whole story, the entire thing. Even what came after his death—the months and months of solitude and sadness. Then I listened to her tell him the story of us, and how we’d reconnected. My fingers had been trailing through her hair the entire conversation, but when she started talking about our relationship, and how I’d helped her even if it was by letting her heal on her own, my fingers moved to her shoulder then down her arm. I needed the contact. The words were for her father, but it felt good to hear them nonetheless.
She hung up the phone with him after the emotional conversation, said nothing to me, but twined her fingers through mine, and napped on my lap until I was ready for bed. When I tried to move gently from under her and carry her to bed, she sleepily wrapped her arms around my neck, then pressed her lips to mine, kissing me with ease and patience, as if she knew she had an entire night to use her lips on me.
I placed her tenderly on the bed and she never let me go, pulling me over her as she leaned back onto the pillows.
Slowly, we both removed each other’s clothes, and with more tenderness and devotion than ever before, we made love. I watched as Kalli lazily slid onto me, leaning down to take my mouth in a kiss as she rode me with ease, her eyes never leaving mine. My hands wandered her entire body, the silkiness of her skin smoothing under my hands, her curves and angles giving my fingers the most gorgeous playground. I ached to touch her everywhere and knew I was blessed because she allowed me access to all of her.
Sex between Kalli and me had always been incredible, but looking back it became apparent there was always something missing, something she always held back, even if she didn’t know she was doing it.
Now, there’d been a shift in her life, as if something jarred her so tremendously that a missing piece had become dislodged and fallen back into place. So when I watched her climb that physical high, looked upon her as she brought us both to our climax, it was the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen. I’d loved the broken Kalli, would have followed her to the end of the earth, but I loved this Kalli more because I didn’t have to follow her anywhere—she took me with her.
Later, as we lay wrapped around each other, still naked, very much entangled beneath the blanket, she whispered, “I wish I’d been able to feel this whole when I still had my whole family. Sometimes it’s hard to feel this happy knowing they’re not here.”
I kissed her hairline and said, “Try not to focus on what you’ve lost, Kal. Try to focus on what you still have.”
A few days later when Kalli mentioned off the cuff how it would be nice to spend Christmas with her new family, I wasted no time arranging for just that to happen.
We arrived at my parents’ house on the morning of the twenty-fourth, after a lazy morning in bed, complete with lazy morning sex, which spilled over into clean-up shower sex. The drive up to my parents’ house was calm and happy, and Kalli held my hand the whole way, asking me silly questions and making me stop at every viewpoint. I acted as though it was a hassle to stop and look at the beautiful sights with her, but in reality I’d always leap at an opportunity to take a breather and appreciate the scenery with the most important person in my life by my side.
Another big development was waiting for us at my parents’ in the form of my sister’s baby daddy, Jordy. As Kalli had predicted, once he learned of his unborn baby, nothing could stop him from coming to be with Halah, and together they had told my parents. Just as I had predicted, my parents were shocked at first, but quickly settled into the idea of being grandparents, especially when Halah mentioned she wanted to leave her job for good and stay in San Francisco. Nothing could have made my mother happier than hearing that her baby was coming home, and that she was going to have a baby.
My parents had graciously opened their home to Jordy, offering the couple a place to stay until they figured out life as a family. Although, I was pretty sure my mother was hoping they’d stay until after the baby was born.
So on Christmas Eve, as I sat around our giant kitchen table with Kalli, my sister, her boyfriend, and my parents, it felt right as rain to be laughing and playing Clue, which was a Christmas Eve tradition we’d not been able to fully enjoy ever since Halah left for her cruise ship life.
When the doorbell rang, I exchanged a knowing glance with my mother, then put my hand on Kalli’s back. “Why don’t you go get the door, babe.”
“You want me to get the door?” she asked, eyes wide and confused.
“Yeah, go,” I said, giving her a gentle tap on her ass as she hesitantly stood up and walked through the house. I listened to her footsteps until I knew she was at the front door.