Seated, his back to Petra’s boulder, Gabe folded his arms across Birdie’s breasts, his chin pressed against the side of her curly head. Off in the distance, the twinkle of the flickering torches at the pool could be seen; laughter and music drifted on the cool night air. He shifted his legs and raised up one haunch to shift the sharp edge of a pebble from his butt.
Birdie laid a hand over his arm and sighed contentedly. “This is perfect, Gabe. I know you come here often by yourself. This is the first time we’ve been here together.”
“You’ve come up here?”
She wiggled a little in his embrace. “When you were away at school, I’d come up here. I’d talk to you sometimes, and sometimes I’d talk to Petra. I followed you a few times. I followed you when you got accused of cheating at school, and it turned out Morris Tabor had copied your math paper, not the other way around. And I stayed down there on the road the night you had to put down your hound, Clyde.” She turned her head and kissed his chin. “You did everything you could for him. The coyote tore him up too bad.”
“You should’ve come up and sat with me.”
She nestled in a little closer. “You would’ve sent me back to the house.”
He nodded. “Probably, I can be a selfish bastard, you sure you know what you’re doing?”
Giggling, she lay back in his arms, one hand on his chest. “Oh, I know exactly what I’m letting myself in for, Gabriel Buxton. There’s no going back.”
After a bit of heavy petting, Gabe brought up a serious topic for discussion. “I know I said we should wait to make our decision about where we’re going to live, but I think right here, right now is the perfect time. I’ve made a lot of decisions up here, and I have yet to regret any of them. I can put things in perspective up here, think more clearly, always have.”
“Agreed,” she said, her fingers tracing his lips, driving him wild with desire.
“I need to know how you feel about living in Portland, Birdie. Don’t try to give me some pat answer, like, I’ll live wherever you say. I know you have a definite preference. And I think I can guess what you would really like.”
She giggled and said, “Well then, if you think you know me so well what are we going to do about it? Your veterinary practice is in Portland, but I want to stay in Baker City.”
He groaned. “That’s what I thought you’d say.” The logistics of the problem created a train wreck in his head. He silently lined out several scenarios, discarded them, and finally made a confession. “The truth is, I never wanted to leave. I left because I couldn’t stay after Mother passed away, it hurt too much. It still hurts. I miss seeing her, listening to her and Dad talking in their room at night. I miss finding her in the kitchen in her robe and slippers in the morning. I haven’t been able to accept she’s gone. But it’s time I did, I suppose.”
Birdie put the palm of her hand against his jaw. “Are you upset, Gabe? Does it upset you to think of Buck remarrying?”
He sat quiet for a long time, gazing up at the stars. “He’s been happier lately with Adella here. I like her. I have a problem with the fact of her being Edditha’s mother., but in time, I suppose I’ll get over it.”
He pressed his lips to her forehead. “I’d like to come home, Birdie.”
He heard her take in her breath. “You mean Baker City? Or do you mean the hot spring?”
She had her fingers on his lips. He pressed his lips to her thumb. “Both, I guess. Buck is right, Petra’s house in town is the perfect location for my practice. But the hot spring will always be home to me. Would you mind living in town? The house is solid, but it needs some work.”
Birdie bobbed up, her head bumping his chin, and turned her torso to press against his chest. “I’d love to take the house on. I’ve always loved it. We’ll make it our home with some paint, new wallpaper, some flower boxes on the veranda, maybe update the kitchen and install an indoor bath, that house would be heaven.”
Rubbing his chin, he said, “So, that’s it, we set down roots in Baker City?”
Her hand behind his head, she forced him to bring his face down closer to hers. “Roots, oh, yes, Gabe, long, hardy roots.”
His lips a hair's breadth from hers, he said, “I’ll let Dad, Van, and Jo know in the morning.”
His lips rested on her opened mouth, but she kept on talking, “What about Portland?”
“We’ll honeymoon there.”
“Hmmm,” was all he allowed her to say.
Gabe relented and gave her a second to come up for air and say, “I love you, Gabe.”
“We should go back,” he said, his lips pressing kisses down between her breasts.
“Hmmm, I could stay like this forever,” she said, her hand on the back of his head.
“Well, I can’t,” he said, shifting his weight. “I’ve got rocks in my hiney.”
She slapped him lightly on the chest before sitting up. She scrambled to her feet and turned, holding out her hand to him. “Are you sure you want to move back to Baker City, Gabe? I could be happy in Portland.”
Brushing the rocks off his backside, he said, “I’m sure. I want to be close to Dad and Van. And you’ll want to stay close to your mother. We’ll need her help with the kids.”
Holding Birdie’s hand, Gabe started down the side of the canyon, slipping and sliding in the scree.
She jerked and skidded. “Kids?”
He took her by the elbow to steady her. “Yeah, lots of kids.”
They started their descent. “How many is a lot?” she asked before she lost her footing and fell down on her bottom, taking Gabe down with her. He lay on top of her, huffing and puffing.
His hand found her bosom. He could feel her nipple become hard beneath the soft cotton fabric of her dress. “Hmmm, I dunno, four, maybe six. We’ll start planting seeds directly. It’s the right phase of the moon.”
She put her hand over his to stop his taunting fingers. “I can hardly wait,” she said before his lips found her mouth. One of his hands started to bunch up the skirt of her dress, his fingers on a quest to find her moist, sweet bud. Birdie lay back, her breathing quickening, and she held up her underdress for him.
“I think we should go home, Birdie,” he whispered, his lips next to her ear.
“Yes, do-si-do, Gabe, take me all the way home.”