My darling husband... “I don’t know.” She gave him a sly smile. “Can you wait?”
“No.”
Luna laughed. “I knew you couldn’t.”
“Am I that transparent?”
“In certain ways.”
His features sobered. “You have the advantage of me.”
She fought to stifle a moan. No matter how much she wanted the barrier between them to go away, it remained. She reached into her purse and handed him his new phone. He lifted his head.
“Come over here. I’ll show you an app.”
They walked over to the bed and sat down. “The app teaches you how to speak Italian. The woman speaks Romansh and takes you through different conversations. She reads aloud an index. As each subject lights up, you can press it and then repeat what she teaches you in Italian. When you wake up in the middle of the night tonight, you can turn it on and practice.”
His dark, handsome head turned to her. “How do you know I wake up?”
“I’ve been with you from the moment I found you. The last two nights at the hospital you woke
up around three and were restless. You’d get up and walk around before going back to bed. I’m sure you’d had bad dreams. I thought this would be a good way to help you.”
“Did I call out or say anything?” There was alarm in his voice.
“No.”
A bleak look came from his eyes. “I’m sorry. When I asked you to sleep by me, I didn’t realize what I was asking.”
She moved closer to kiss his jaw. “You don’t remember, but three months after we were married, I contracted a strain of flu that put me in the hospital. You stayed with me day and night and nursed me for a week after I got home. After the love you showed me, I could never make that up to you. If you don’t believe me, ask your grandparents. You missed a week and a half of work.”
“Were you close to dying?”
“Rini—of course not!” She walked over and sat on the side of the bed. “Come on. Push it and let’s listen.”
He did her bidding. “If I’d had this in Rezana, I would have gotten out of there within a day.”
Without thinking, she put her arm around his back. “It kills me to realize what you had to go through.”
He put the phone on the side table and pulled her into his arms. “It awes me that you didn’t give up on me. If you hadn’t talked to the officer and come to the hospital...”
Rini fell back with her and buried his face in her neck. They clung to each other. This time he didn’t pull away from her. She felt like they were communicating at last. More than that, they were communing.
His mouth found hers. “Thank you for this gift. I have a feeling it’s going to save my life in the dark hours of the night.”
“Don’t forget I’ll be there, too.” She pressed her lips to his. They kissed slowly and sumptuously.
“Let’s continue this while we’re both on top of the bed, pulcina mia.” Together they got up and lay down so their arms and legs tangled. Luna had wanted this for so long, she was in pain for him.
“Careful you don’t hurt your wound.”
“It’s already healing.”
But no sooner were the words out of his mouth than her cell phone rang.
“Don’t answer it,” he whispered against her lips.
“I have no intention.” She kissed him hungrily, wanting to forget the world, but the phone rang again.