Susan awoke the next morning nearly in the same position she’d been in when she fell asleep, except for two things; Greg’s hand was now on her breast over her gown, and though he was still fully asleep, his firm errection pressed against her back let her know that his condition from the night before had hardly abated. The fact that he was like this, even in his sleep, let her know more fully than anything else could just what her husband was going through. And as she lay there not moving, it brought back the memory of another time when she’d woken up beside Greg to something like this.
It was years ago, long before they married, when they were sailing from island to island on their homemade craft. It was one of those nights after discovering the massecre on the first two beaches, but before discovering the one in the cave when they’d spent the night on the beach instead of the boat. They’d felt vulnerable and unprotected lying on their mats on the sand, beside their dampened fire, and so fearing discovery, they’d huddled together to sleep with the intent of being more easily able to wake one another in order to flee should the worst happen. It was also near the time when they’d first started talking with one another about their dreams, and Susan began to suspect what they were. And so they’d fallen asleep on that night with the conversation about Aaron and Marie firmly in their minds.
The next morning, when Susan first stirred after dreaming of Aaron and Marie, when she found him there with her like that, it hadn’t felt odd at first. It wasn’t until a short time later when they were suddenly wide awake and she recognized what was happening, that Greg pulled abruptly away, chagrined and embarssed, that she’d understood; he’d been dreaming of her in his sleep, and in that moment between sleep and being fully awake, they’d experienced a timeslip … the first one they’d ever experienced … back to a time when responding to one another in that way had been as natural as breathing. It was now as well, but it was too soon.
Mentally bringing herself back to the present, Susan eased herself from beneath Greg’s arm and rolled gently away, trying not to wake him as she slid out of bed.
“Marie …” Greg murmured in his sleep and Susan smiled. Clearly he was dreaming of that time again.
Susan padded off towards the bathroom. Greg’s eyes fluttered open before she got there.
“Don’t go,” he said.
“I’ll be right back,” Susan promised.
Greg was there waiting for her when she returned.
“How are you?” she asked, though she was fairly certain she already knew.
“I was dreaming last night,” he told her.
“Of Aaron and Marie?” Susan guessed.
“How did you know?”
“You talk in your sleep … and I knew.” She nodded discretly towards his physical state. “My guess is you need a shower about now.”
“Oh,” Greg said looking slightly embarassed. “That hasn’t happened since I was a teenager.”
“Except for that night on one of the islands,” Susan remembered.
Greg stared at her. “You knew about that?” he asked hesitantly.
Susan smiled a quiet smile. “There wasn’t much we didn’t know about one another in those days.”
“No, I suppose not,” Greg said remembering.
Living in a place with no bathroom nor any privacy of any kind made them much more aware of every aspect of each other’s physical condition than they were likely to be at any other point in their lives … even though at the time they weren’t married. They’d managed it then by pretending not to know the things they did.
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Living Without Dreams
काल्पनिकBook 5 of the Dreamers Series, this story follows Greg and Susan as they begin their new life at home. Now a family of four and they are back in the United States and ready to make a new start, following the triumphant success of the end of their jo...
