Fifteen and Still Counting

“Good morning, honey,” I said as my beautiful wife, Angel, woke up and groaned at the sound of the alarm going off at 5:00 am.

“…Ugghhh…good morning, Sam dear…uggghh…why do I have to get up at this time every morning?” Angel said as she struggled not to throw the clock against the wall and go back to sleep.

This was a morning ritual. Angel works in the IT department at a computer hardware company. She’s been working there for ten years and is an assistant manager. Recently, we decided to move out of the city and into the Rocky Mountains not far away. We needed to get out. City life was causing too much stress for us. We were always working and never together except on weekends, which was the time we usually caught up on sleep for the upcoming week. Sometimes we would go to a friend’s house and spend the evening, but rarely were we getting any time for each other. I was a biochemist employed at a pharmaceutical company. Up to the time we moved, I was working at a research laboratory researching various medicines and their effects on the human body. Recently, as senior research scientist, I was given the opportunity to work from home, doing some investigation into various ailments and better ways to treat them. I reported in twice a month to the lab. The research lab no longer needed my immediate guidance, and until they did, I was going to be home. So we decided to take this opportunity to make our getaway of sorts.

That’s how it came to this. Instead of her waking up at 6 A.M. to get ready for the 10 minute drive to work, she now has to get up at 5 A.M. to get ready for the 45 minute drive to work. Yes, it was a bit inconvenient, but with my recent raise and promotion to district senior research scientist, it alleviated some of the problems. To go along with that, we also had more time for each other. Instead of constantly working and being caught up in the city life and the rush of everything, we were able to slow things down and make time for each other. We were able to enjoy the little things in life more.

“You know, I’m amazed every morning watching you get dressed. I feel so lucky that you’re my wife.”

“What do you feel lucky about? That I am your wife or that you can watch me go from nearly naked to fully dressed almost every morning?” she asked with a playful smile on her face.

We’re used to this kind of teasing, seeing how we used to do it all the time when we first got married. We considered it humorous, whereas most people might consider it biting sarcasm.

“Well, if you’re going to put it that way…” I said with my back turned in a thoughtful pose.

“Oooohhhhh, I see how it is. You want me just for my body. Okay, we’ll see who you’re sleeping with tonight. The dog or me.”

She looked away just as I looked at her with a mock shocked expression on my face.

“All right, Angel. If you keep tempting me like that, I’ll just have to surprise you when you get home.”

She quickly turned around with a truly confused look on her face.

“What, what are you talking about?” she asked. “You know I go to the grocery store to pick up our groceries for the week. It’s going to be too late by the time I get home to really do anything.”

“That’s why I am picking up the groceries today. You come straight home from work. No dilly-dallying, you hear me? Besides, I have a few more things I need to pick up today while in town.”

Angel started walking seductively over to me. “Well, love, you know you could tell me, and I could pick them up for you and then rush home,” she said in a saucy voice, trying her best to woo me.

“If I did that, you’d have an idea what the surprise is and you might get in a wreck. So no, go get dressed for work before you’re late.”

With a playful smile on her face, Angel said, “I could still act surprised. Besides, you know it isn’t good to hide secrets from your wife. And to top it all off,” she said with a couple forced coughs, “I feel like I’ve come down with something. I think I should call in sick.”

“If you don’t get your naughty behind dressed and stop trying to seduce me, you’ll have come down with something, and it won’t be any cold! It’s called ‘no surprise for you.’ Now off you go, before you make me change my mind. Go, shoo, shoo, get dressed before you’re late. Don’t you have that meeting with the district supervisor today?”

With a look of shock at having forgotten about that meeting, and a sudden rush to get dressed, she said, “Oh, crap, I forgot all about that. Thank you, Nate. Darn, I really can’t miss that meeting either. Well, I guess I’ll let you surprise me this time. But only this time…”

“Ummm hmmmm…that’s what you say every time, isn’t it, my dear?” I give her a kiss on her neck and a squeeze on her derriere.

“See, look at you, trying to start something. After reminding me about the meeting, you’re not going to let me go to it, are you?”

Angel had that playful smile again as she took my hand and pulled me close for a nice, long, passionate kiss that really did make me want to keep her there.

“And on that note, you are going to make breakfast for us so I really can leave on time, right?” She arched her eyebrows knowingly and slowly pushed me to the door. “Now go, shoo, shoo, and don’t forget to wake the kids up for school,” she added, laughing at the way she turned things around on me.

After I saw Angel off to work–despite her continued but unsuccessful efforts to get the surprise out of me–and the kids off to school, I tidied up the house quickly, putting things away from this morning and doing some light cleaning. Then I ran to town to get our groceries and the items I needed for my surprise this evening. Later, picking up the kids from school, I made them promise not to tell their mother what I was planning for her. After receiving their solemn word of honor, I let them help me with the preparations.

By the time we were finished, it was close to the time Angel was to arrive home. I ushered the kids to the neighbor’s house and told them to call if they needed anything. Returning home, I turned the lights off and then sat outside on our porch to wait for her to show up.

She got home ten minutes earlier than usual, just as I expected.

“Hey love, you’re home early. Of course, you usually seem to find a way home early when I have something for you. How did the meeting with the big honcho go?”

“It turned out he couldn’t make it today. He’s going to come next week.”

“Awwww, so I could have kept you home today? Darn…”

“No, Sam, I used today to catch up on stuff I needed to get done. Besides, it would have ruined your surprise for me, and we can’t have that, now can we?” she asked, walking slowly up to me with a seductive sway in her hips.

She ran her fingertips along my chin. I smiled, then embraced her and kissed her longingly. We held each other for a few minutes before I released her, grabbed her hand, and pulled her inside.

“Follow me. I have a really special evening planned for you. For right now, I don’t want you to say a word.” Still holding her hand, I led her into the dark living room. “Stand here for a moment. Oh, and close your eyes. Please.”

She closed her eyes and waited. I lit 15 candles arranged around a blanket I crocheted with our favorite collegiate colors, purple and orange. I’d also placed a platter of hors d’oeuvres with Ritz crackers and a ranch dip with chives in the middle of the blanket.

“Okay, you can open your eyes now.”

She opened them and gasped. Around the platter were 15 cards I had bought for her, each of them different with unique messages in them talking about how much I loved her. Next to each one was a rose. In front of the blanket was one of our laptops set up with three DVD’s.

“I didn’t know if you remembered that today was our 15-year anniversary of the day we started our relationship in college. So I thought I’d remind you with a little nostalgia.”

I could see tears start to form in her eyes.

“Nate, I remembered today was our 15-anniversary when I got to work and thought about why you could be planning a surprise for me tonight. This is all so…I can’t even describe it. What’s with all the movies?”

“The first one is from our one year anniversary. The third one is a new romantic movie we haven’t seen yet. The second one is the one I made for this year’s anniversary. It has a collection of memories from the past 15 years.” I paused. “I hope you enjoy.”

“Oh Nate, this is all so sweet. How did you…”

“Shhhh, don’t ask any questions. Just enjoy it.”

We sat down to watch the movies, starting first with the one from our one-year anniversary, then the new one for this year’s anniversary, and finally the new romantic movie. We had finished the hors d’oeuvres by the middle of the second movie and she had read all the cards by the beginning of the third movie. Throughout the evening I had continued to surprise with other little small gifts, including brownies that I had baked myself, a story I had written for her, and then a set of scented candles that we decided to save for another occasion similar to this one. As the night grew darker, we drew closer together and held each other. During convenient pauses, I whispered in her ears how much I loved her and how happy I was to be with her. I told her that I, since the day we began dating, have loved her more and more. I rubbed her arms up and down and she told me how warm I have always been and how she loves being in my arms because of that.

We held each other tight as the third movie reached its climax and the two lovers are finally reunited forever.

When the movie ended, Angel turned around to face me and cradled my face in her hands, like the couple in the movie did, and whispered with passion and love, “I love you so much, Sam, and I will always love you.”

I wrapped my arms around her and rolled over until she is on top of me. “I don’t know if you can take anymore, but I have one more surprise for you.”

“Sam, if you give me anymore surprises, I…”

“You’re going to what? Punish me?” I asked with a coy smile on my face. “Well, I think this one will deserve a good punishment.” I gave her a quick peck and then gently took her off of me. I reached over to the coffee table and pulled out a drawer. Reaching in, I pulled out a single piece of paper and handed it to her. With a slightly confused, but hopeful look, she began to read it.

Each and every time I look in your eyes, I see love.
Each and every time you hold my hand, I feel love.
Each and every time you kiss me, I taste love.

Each and every time you whisper my name in my ear, I hear passion.
Each and every time I bite your neck, I smell passion.
Each and every time you graze my face with your fingers, I feel passion.

Each and every time I explore your body, I taste desire.
Each and every time you look at me with that fire, I see desire.
Each and every time I hear you moan, I hear desire.

Each and every time we make love, I know we desire each other.
Each and every time we kiss, I know we have passion for each other.
Each and every time we embrace, I know we love each other.

I, Samuel Anthony Stavis, love you, Angeline Ze’Maria Stavis, and I will always love you for all my life.

As she looked up from reading it, she had tears running down from her eyes. I got up off the floor, pulled her up and embraced her. As I did so, I whispered in her ears, “I love you Lola. Happy 15 years love.”

She looked up at me with tears in her eyes and all she could say was, “Sam,…” before we lost all control and began to kiss passionately. As we kissed, we sank to the floor amid a chorus of moans. The clothes seemed to melt off of our bodies until we were naked surrounded by 15 candles. We made the sweetest love we’ve made in a long time, until we were both exhausted and fell asleep in each other’s arms, long into the next morning.

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