No Fury

Now: Sixty Two

A/N: You all are truly amazing! Thank you for all the views, votes, and comments. You crack me up.

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I can sense Harry studying me after we return to the cottage. He watches me slice some apples to preserve. He watches me sweep. He follows me from room to room, wearing a curious smile.

He is working to puzzle this all out, to see what is right in front of his face, and aye, something is. He could entwine our fingers and gaze at the scars there.

But the biggest something rides on her grandfather's back through the woods. We will both of us have to be patient until dusk.

I tend to the house and struggle to stay busy lest I break my own rule and take him back to the shed to ravage. But Harry has no such compunction, stealing kisses in the hallway, pressing me up against the wall.

"I know we are playing an important game," he says, grazing his teeth against my jaw. "But I am terribly distracted today."

And even though it isn't a game, it is our life that I want him to remember, I don't want him to lose this playfulness. The last two hours have been full of tension and need; he is trying so hard to do as I've asked, to please me.

"Distracted?" I whisper, feigning ignorance.

I duck out from under his arms, turning to run down the hall, squealing as his limping feet pound and shuffle behind me.

He tackles me on the bed in the single, small bedroom, trapping me beneath him and gazing down at me. His hips press to mine, smile slowly straightening.

"Hello, Harry," I whisper, biting back a smile.

"Hello, Catie." His smile returns and he bends, kissing me once. And with that single touch, my blood turns to fire. "My darling," he says, serious again, "I need to ask you some things."

Nodding, I run my hand up his stomach, to his chest. His heart thuds heavily beneath my palm.

"Why do you wince when I say your name?"

My smile falls. It is only now that he's asked it that I realize he is right. Each time he calls me Catie, some injury occurs deep in my chest, and I reflexively pull inward.

"It is not what you called me, that's all."

"What did I call you?"

I shake my head, stroking his lip with my fingertip. "There are only a few things I will not give you. One of them is my name."

"Maddening woman." He exhales with a huff through his nose, lifting his head to gaze at the far wall before looking back down at me. "Did others know we were in love?"

I nod. "Before the war, James knew. And my sister." Liam. Maria. Douglas. "A handful of others." And now, everyone knows. "More know now."

This doesn't seem to trouble him. Harry's eyes flicker back and forth between mine, needing answers with a desperation I can see plainly on his face. "How could I ever hide it?" he asks. "I can't help but stare at you whenever you are in the same room as I."

This makes me laugh. "We were always that way. I'm sure we were both terrible at pretending."

He smiles a little, drawing absent circles at the hollow of my throat. "Was I a good lover to you?"

Smiling, I tell him, "We both learned to be, together."

He blinks, and then accepts this answer with a small, crooked grin. "Did I give you pleasure, then?"