Valerie and Aaron had breakfast together at La Isla Café and afterward took a leisurely stroll through the town and ended up in an isolated, serene area overlooking the ocean. The sun had barely risen and was still in a vivid orange phase.
“Gorgeous,” Valerie said.
Aaron sat near her, perched on a rock. She marveled at his handsome, chiseled profile. The early sun cast an interesting glow on his surprisingly long eyelashes, making them appear gold-dusted. Unable to resist, she reached up and lightly brushed her fingertips against his closely cut dark hair, tracing the precise line of his sideburn; the hair felt as smooth as velour. His hand closed around hers, gently urging it back down to her side where it belonged, but he did not release it. She felt the spreading warmth of his touch and wished they could just remain the way they were indefinitely.
“Valerie, this is the last time I’m going to ask you,” he said.
She bit her lip apprehensively. “Ask?” she repeated, although she knew full well what he was going to say. She wanted to hear it, yet feared the moment all the same.
“If you’ll have me, I want to marry you this week in Belize.”
Have you? I’d have you in a heartbeat, Valerie thought, but the words stuck in her throat.
She had researched Belizean laws and knew that it was possible for them to get married without much hassle at all. They could be husband and wife by the end of the week.
“There are rules,” Aaron continued, while she stared straight ahead as though distracted by the sea. “Not too many, but nevertheless we can’t function as a team without them.”
Here come the prenuptials, she thought. “Go on,” she said, finding her voice.
“Do not think that once we’re married you’ll be able to change my personality. If you can’t accept me as I am right now, we don’t belong together.”
Guilty, Valerie thought. She did like and accept who he was, but surely some refinements and adjustments in personality would be acceptable. Everyone made compromises whether they chose to admit it or not.
“And there will be no children,” he said adamantly. “And no unrealistic expectations about—”
“You don’t have to worry about me having children, since I can’t,” she interrupted, trying to temper the hollow sarcasm in her voice. “But maybe…and I certainly don’t mean anytime soon…would you consider adoption?”
“No.”
And that was all he had to say. No elaboration as to why not. She squeezed her eyes shut. At some point in her single life, she had toyed with the idea of adopting a child, but it had been just that, toying. His ultimatum wasn’t impossible to live with. If she ever felt the need to hear youthful laughter, there were other people’s children that she could borrow from time to time. And Jasmine was going to have a new baby.
“You told me that you had a miscarriage when you were married to Porter,” Aaron said. “But why did that permanently determine your inability to conceive?”
Valerie found his question jarring and invasive. But she realized that he had a right to know, and so she forced herself to get over it. “At the time of the miscarriage, I discovered that I had a bleeding disorder called Von Willebrand’s.”
His eyebrows rose. “Similar to hemophilia?”
“Sort of, but nowhere near as serious. I’m not in danger of bleeding to death from a paper cut or a needle puncture. It’s a problem only if something traumatic happens or if I need surgery.”
Aaron was silent for a second. “You had a potentially life-threatening bleeding episode during the miscarriage?”
“Yes,” she admitted. “And the doctor told me I shouldn’t have any children. The surgical procedure they performed resulted in scar tissue and made me unable to conceive.”
“How many doctors have confirmed this?”
“Confirmed what? My inability to conceive or my having Von Willebrand’s?”
“Both.” Aaron’s expression had a concentrated, disturbing intensity that Valerie couldn’t quite read.
She clenched her hands together. “At least three. Aaron, don’t look so serious, I’m a nurse, and I know the ramifications of this disorder. I told you…I’m perfectly healthy. I just can’t bear children and I shouldn’t chop off any fingers, toes or whatever.”
His brow furrowed. “Unusual that you discovered the illness as an adult. How did you manage to survive childhood without any physical trauma? What about needing stitches from maybe falling off a bicycle, or what about having tonsils removed or dental surgery?”
“I had plenty of such incidents, and I did bleed a lot, but those episodes never turned into emergency situations, so my parents thought nothing of it. I mean, let’s face it, some people do bleed more than others.”
“I suppose that is true,” he said.
Their discussion of rules and health issues had definitely taken a disconcerting and unromantic turn. “Can we get back to what you were originally talking about…unless…” She hesitated. “Unless my so-called disease has changed everything.”
“It hasn’t changed a thing,” he said. “My other request is that you never betray my trust or enter into this alliance with any illusions that you are somehow going to be able to convert me from agnosticism to Christianity.”
She flinched. Enter into this alliance? Was marriage a business agreement to him? But she remained silent, focusing on the latter part of his request. Somehow she could not believe that an intelligent man could refuse to acknowledge a divine being, but still she saw some hope in that at least he had not declared himself an atheist.
Aaron released her hand and stood up straight. “I’m no knight in shining armor. I’m set in my ways, and my lifestyle would not work for a clingy, needy woman, which you fortunately are not. Even if I do resign from espionage, my job with Avian will take me away from home a lot.”
Valerie nodded numbly. She was well aware of all the things he’d just said, and thus far he hadn’t mentioned anything that completely turned her off; also, to his credit, he hadn’t even mentioned prenuptials, which she’d anticipated to be one of the major issues, since he was a wealthy man.
“Are you finished?” She rose now and stood beside him, nudging him with her elbow. When he said nothing, she breathed a sigh of relief that she wasn’t going to have to go into a coldly rehearsed speech about how in the event of a separation, she had no intention of demanding anything that didn’t initially belong to her.
“Are you finished?” she repeated.
Aaron nodded.
“Good.” She inhaled sharply and moved around so she faced him, making direct eye contact. “I don’t want to hear anything else you have to say because I have some rules, too.”
There it was—that sly glimmer of a smile creasing his face. “What are your rules?” he asked.
“The first one is that you quit smoking, and I don’t mean just limiting it. I mean completely.”
The sly smile remained. “Not a problem. I smoke only when I’m bored.”
“Then I’ll have to make sure you’re never bored. Secondly, I’m aware that you’re not a believer, but you must never ridicule or belittle my faith.” She took another deep breath. “While it wouldn’t be fair for me to demand that you leave the espionage business immediately, I will highly encourage you to not just think about it, but seriously, seriously consider retirement.” She reached for his hand and he offered her both of his. “Aaron, I’d like to be your friend, your love, your confidante, but don’t expect me to be your doormat, the little woman, or the silent mouse who never questions her husband’s decisions or…”
Aaron released her hands and slid his arms around her waist. “Are you through?”
“Gotcha, didn’t I?” she said. “Seems I have more rules than you do.”
“Why am I not surprised?” He tilted his head downward and met her lips with his own. “Will you?”
She savored his kiss—warm and enticing like the early sunlight filtering down on them.
“Yes,” she said. “Yes.”
***
The marriage in the town hall of Belize City was private and involved no traditional celebration. Aaron and Valerie exchanged vows before a justice of the peace and did it all in the presence of two witnesses who were little more than friendly strangers—a Belizean couple and an employee from Avian International who Aaron knew casually.
When they drove away from the town hall, he wearing a dark business suit, and she in what amounted to a fancy cocktail dress. She felt as though nothing had changed and that they were both still single.
However, on their first night together in an expensive hotel suite in ritzier Ambergris Caye, Aaron quickly vanquished that notion and left her with no doubt what the newest phase in their relationship was about. They didn’t leave their hotel room for the rest of the day, because their intimate moments soared well above and beyond Valerie’s most vivid imagination.
His style of intimacy was confident, unruffled, and cool—completely devoid of self-consciousness and in stark contrast to the flaming passion he ignited in her. She loved everything about being with him, including waking up in the morning entwined in such a way that even their breathing seemed to be in unison. She was fire and he was ice. Together they sizzled.