The Gulf Coast Move Ch. 05

We all stripped off when we got to Cheryl's and Peter's house. The two of them still looked great. It wasn't difficult to see from where Samantha had inherited her extraordinary beauty. It was summer and still reasonably early in the evening. Peter got us all drinks and we went to the Collins' outside pool to talk and skinny-dip.

Like a fool, I had brought my cell phone out to the pool. It pinged with another text. I opened it to see Gwen's message: "You need to ask her."

Samantha had heard this ping and was curious because I rarely get texts. "What was that?" she asked.

"Just Gwen telling me they got home ok," I replied perhaps too hastily. I don't think that satisfied Samantha. She knew that Gwen knew that I hate texts.

We swam and drank. Samantha and I caught Cheryl and Peter up on what had been going on with us. Cheryl and Peter told us what had been happening with them. It was just a relaxed evening.

I had gotten out of the pool and lay on my back on a lounge chair. I watched Samantha get out of the pool and watched the water run off her perfect bare body. She was beautiful, very smart, funny, we shared many of the same interests, we got along very well, and I loved her passionately. I couldn't understand why a woman as perfect as Samantha would want to spend her life with me, but maybe Gwen had a point. Maybe I should ask Samantha to make our relationship permanent.

Samantha walked over to my chair and, unself-consciously, lay face down on top of me in full view of her parents. It was a natural thing for Samantha to do when we were at home. I wrapped my arms around her. I could feel her heartbeat and her breathing as she lay on top of me. Finally, I said softly in her ear, "Samantha Collins, will you marry me?"

Samantha sat up. "What did you say?" she asked loudly.

I could see Cheryl and Peter looking at us. I couldn't, and didn't want to, back down now. In an equally loud voice, I said, "I asked, Samantha Collins, if you will marry me?"

Samantha looked in my eyes for a moment. "You really mean that?" she asked.

"Absolutely," I said.

"Of course, I'll marry you!" Samantha said and flopped back down on top of me.

I heard Cheryl ask Peter, "Were we naked when you proposed?"

Softly, Samantha said, "Carol will always be a part of you, and I loved her too. I can't replace Carol. I can only be me."

"All I want is you," I said. Samantha kissed me for a long time.

A little later, Samantha got up, took my phone, and looked at my messages. She laughed and started typing. When she finished, she showed me her reply to Gwen's message: "He asked. Deal done. Sam."

"Send it," I said.

Peter had gone inside and came back out with four glasses of champagne. "Gather round," he said. We got up and walked over to him as did Cheryl. I stood naked with my naked fiancé and my naked soon-to-be in-laws. Peter handed round the glasses. "A toast," he said, "to Harry Stone finally getting good sense and to my daughter finally getting what she's wanted for many years." We drank to that.

Much later, Samantha and I were lying in bed in her parents' guest room. We'd just finished our nightly lovemaking. Samantha said, "Once we get married, I'd like to go off of birth control."

"I'm fine with that," I said. I meant it too.