Tempest in Eden

"Then, right in the middle of a counseling session that was crucial to this man's peace of mind, if not his life, you come in flaunting a ribald note in my face. How could I talk to him, pray with him, with that kind of distraction?"

Tears filled her eyes. "It wasn't ribald. I'm your wife."

"Then you should know better than to interrupt when I'm counseling someone in need."

"And what about me? What if I need you too?"

"You'll have to learn to wait."

"But I'm your wife," she repeated. "I come first."

He stared at her for a long moment, then said in a low voice that reverberated through the room, "No, Shay, God comes first."

Her face drained of all color, and she felt her life was seeping out of her body. Blindly she turned and fled to the bathroom, shutting and locking the door behind her. Only then did she let the tears fall. They flowed down her cheeks in torrents while wracking sobs shook her body.

"Shay, open this door," Ian demanded, knocking on it from the other side. "I'm sorry I yelled at you. Now open the door."

She obeyed him, opening the door immediately, flinging herself repentantly into his arms, and hugging him tight.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't know. Honestly I didn't. I'm a wretched wife."

He buried his face in her wealth of hair and drew her toward the bed. There he comforted her until her crying had stopped and she was hiccuping softly.

"You didn't know any better this time. Ordinarily I would love to get a naughty note from you. It wasn't the note I objected to. It was your timing. I try to schedule counseling sessions during the day at my church office when I know I won't be disturbed. This was an emergency, and the first one since our marriage. I should have prepared you for nights like this, times when the telephone will ring and I'll have to leave you and our bed with virtually no explanation."

"I know, I know. Mentally I know that God and your work have to come first in your life. Forgive me for my occasional lapses of jealousy," she said, moving her fingers over his face, loving him. "It wasn't malicious. I didn't realize the gravity of his coming. I thought he had just come to visit. I'm trying, Ian. I really am."

He hugged her harder, running his hands over her back. "I know you are, and I'm so proud of you it's almost sinful."

She laughed then and pushed away, looking at him with her eyes awash with tears. "I love you so much."

"I love you, too," he whispered and lowered his mouth to hers for a kiss that drew her soul into his. "I love you." He covered her face and throat with kisses that grew in urgency even as his hands became greedier in their caresses. "What are you doing in this shroud?" he asked, pulling at yards of flannel in an effort to touch her. Hastily they undressed, and he pulled her down on top of him on the bed. "I do love you, Shay."

"I know, I know. I'm ashamed and sorry for what I did tonight. I was unthinking and selfish."

"I'll give you an opportunity to be unselfish."

She smiled and, leaning forward, offered him her breasts.

The candlelight service Ian conducted at midnight on Christmas Eve was one of the most moving Shay had ever attended. Christmas Day was a happy occasion, which they spent at the parsonage with Celia and John, who seemed more in love than ever. Members of the church dropped by bearing gifts in appreciation of Ian's devoted service to them through the year. Mrs. Higgins kept coffee, hot cranberry punch, and baked goods in ready supply for such unannounced guests.

Shay suggested that Ian open one of his presents from her in private. It was a box of body paints that they tried out in the shower while Celia and John retired to the guest bedroom for an afternoon nap.

"Isn't this fun?" Shay smoothed a line of Passionate Purple down his chest and stomach. His breath lodged in his throat when her fingers slid farther down.

"It's decadent." Despite his hoarse voice, he was accurately applying a dab of Voluptuous Vermilion to her nipple. "I think this is what they were doing in Sodom and Gomorrah before the Lord destroyed it."

"What a way to go," she said against his mouth.

They dropped tubes of paint onto the shower floor as their searching hands found better occupations. She swayed against him hypnotically, her thighs grazing elusively over his lower body until he trembled with need. "Shay, I can't wait. Take me inside you."

He grasped her hips with strong hands, and she let herself be impaled on his strength. Her cries of ecstasy echoed in the small tile enclosure as he fused their bodies with the wet, sleek precision of two sea creatures. Their mating was frenzied and quick. His body shuddered with his release at the same moment that she collapsed onto his chest, dying a little even as his life pumped into her.

Afterward they clung together weakly as water sluiced over them and cooled their fevered bodies. They fell apart, stunned, when they heard someone knocking on the bathroom door.

Ian shut off the water. "Yes?" he croaked.

"I hate to bother you, Ian," Celia called, "but I couldn't find Shay. There's a group of people from the church waiting to see you. I've served them refreshments in the living room."