“Why do you think my memory is back?” I asked him surprised, his face was harsh and his eyes were frozen.
He quickly got closer and took me by the shoulders roughly forcing me to face him.
“Stop lying to me.” He demanded harshly.
“I am not lying to you!” I yelled back. “Who do you think you are to treat me like this?” I asked furiously. I gave him a hurtful look; my body was shaking even more. “I don’t care if you believe me or not, you are so stupid!”
I noticed that my eyes were full of tears and threatened to burst out any moment, I put my hands on top of his and with all the strength I could, I took them away. I looked away so he wouldn’t see me cry, I turned my back on him. I could only hear the sound of the water from the waterfall, I knew he was there even though he wasn’t talking, I noticed he was staring at me, an annoying chill ran through my neck.
I felt how he was running his fingers down my arm and gave me the chills; I turned around to look at him, there he was standing close to me, his eyes shocked me. There was definitely pain in there and I could tell he was sorry, it was too real. My heart shrank and my anger vanished, leaving room for another feeling, a protective instinct. I couldn’t help myself and I quickly turned to put my arm around him. I responded without thinking and he put his arms around my waist running his hand through my neck and hid his face behind my hair.
“You´re right, I´m stupid, please forgive me.” He whispered on my neck with a melancholic tone.
An idea crossed my mind, it might work, who knows. I stepped back softly, looking at him.
“I forgive you, but your mood swings are a turn off for me.”
He looked at me surprised and gave my words a thought for a moment.
“We have to try to get along for our sake, Noah, you can’t keep accusing me. I don’t remember anything and you have to believe me. How do you think I feel? I wake up one day without knowing who I am, without memory of anything, I had to believe you’re my husband and follow you here without knowing if it was really true.”
By the look in his face I could tell he understood, his eyes opened wide and I continued.
“What if we start over?”
He looked at me puzzled and I smiled, I raised my hand and said:
“Hi, I´m Alison...What´s my maiden name?”
“Bennet.” He murmured, I looked at him thankful.
“I’m Alison Bennet, it’s nice to meet you.”
He changed the look in his face and looked at me gently, he shook my hand and kissed it.
“Noah Jefferson, the pleasure is all mine, Miss.”
I blushed and I smiled at him, like a hormonal teenager in crisis. I am so ridiculous, I thought to myself.
“Would you mind if I take you to your new house?” He asked playfully, I gave him a mischievous look.
“Not at all, let’s go.”
He offered his arm which I took and he took me to a jeep that was hiding behind the bushes. He helped me up and he even put the seat belt around me, assuring my safety and the gesture moved me.
We made our way, and where he was going I could not see anything. Curves and more trees, a lot of vegetation, that blocked the road. We went through a small bridge by the river, I figured it was the one from the waterfall, my jaw was open when I saw the beautiful view.
The jeep stopped and I could appreciate a better view, before us there was a huge lake, the water had an amazing turquoise tone which darkened as the water deepened. The most incredible part was the house at the other side, half over the lake and half on land, it was very well designed, it seemed perfect for this place. The tall walls with a dark green color that blended with the vegetation, in front of the house facing the lake there were large windows that led to a floating porch made out of wood. On the first floor there were four similar crystal windows and with closed blinds. I noticed Noah had taken my hand, I looked at him in the eyes feeling like I was being transported to another reality.
“This place is amazing, ideal.”
He smiled.
“Yeah, it was thanks to you that we found it.” He told me.
I looked at him not believing it.
“My parents have a house at the other side of the island, he went there when we were dating, one day we went hiking and you...well I don’t know how you got lost.”
I noticed he was keeping himself from laughing and I raised an eye brow, puzzled, I was sure he wasn’t telling me the whole story. He raised his hands with his palms upwards and continued:
“Don’t look at me that way, it’s the truth, the thing is you...” he hesitated but continued, “you have an adventurous side.”
“I don’t believe it.” I answered back and this time he laughed.
I turned and there before me, was a stone trail. I didn’t know whether to walk down the trail or go around the beach, it looked so far away. Finally, I ran towards the stone trail. I heard Noah behind me.
“Not there, you can fall, it is slippery.”
I didn’t answer and kept concentrated on putting my feet on the correct places, if I wore running shoes it would have been a lot better, but with all the rush I didn’t even think about it, there I was, trying to be brave. Breathe, take a deep breath and don’t be afraid, I encouraged myself. There were only five more stones left and smiled from the inside, then I noticed a weird noise that made me lose my balance, I tried not to fall, when I was about to recover, a pair of powerful hands held my waist and I jumped.
“I got you!”
I jumped back from the fright, tripping over his torso and the impact was so strong that we both fell into the water and I didn’t even know where to swim to. I extended my arms in front of me, I didn’t see the surface anywhere. I was so panicked I couldn’t breathe and I opened my eyes to guide myself and looked for the sun, I saw a green eyed angel swimming towards me, I didn’t even move, the view was divine, with his brown hair floating around his face. He got to me so fast and I put my arms around his shoulders, he leaned closer to my face and pressed his lips into mine.
I didn’t understand where that came from, it was not the best moment to kiss me and when I felt my lungs full with air, I embraced him and let him to give me more air. With boldness I put my legs around his waist, I was so scared of letting go.
I don’t know how long we were there, minutes or maybe even hours, in the crystal clear water with absolute silence, the only witnesses of all the tiny fish swimming around us. What before was a survival technique turned into a passionate kiss, his tongue searched for mine and I let myself go with a whole new emotion. Every cell of my body seemed to be alive, a new flame was born within my body and ran through every inch inside of me, I got closer to him and let out a moan. Big mistake! That made my mouth fill with water and I desperately emerged to get fresh air, I coughed to get the water out and breathed the precious oxygen. After a moment, I realized I was in Noah´s arms, he looked at me worried and I gave him a smile.
“I´m fine!”
“Umm...Alison, has no one told you that you can’t breathe under water?” He asked making fun of me. I looked at him surprised and I pretended to me upset and said:
“Yes, I know, but it was your fault I forgot, who kisses that way underwater?
I was expecting him to laugh, but he didn’t, he looked at me with a strange spark in his eyes.
“That´s one of the things I love about you the most.”
And without thought, he gave me a small kiss on the nose, it was so sweet and unexpected that I looked away.
“What did the love about me and what did I do? I had no idea, it was the first time he told me he loved me, even if it wasn’t directly. Even though the weather was warm, I felt a chill running through my body, Noah noticed and took me out of the water in his arms. He took me to the floating porch and put me on the ground gently, from his pocket he took set of keys, opened the door and set off the alarm, at the same time the blinds opened on their own. Such a modern house, I thought, when I was sure they opened, I entered, and my eyes caught a portrait on the wall, a girl, five years old more or less.
I couldn’t hide the surprise and longing screaming in my heart, I felt a sharp pain on the scar and took my hands to my lower abdomen.
“Ayleen!” I screamed.
Everything was spinning turning dark at the same time.