Another Chance Book I of III

Book II-Chapter 7, Hold Me

Hold Me

Prince's POV

Bella arrived on her porch and entering her cottage she realized just how important it had been to go to Prince this morning. She was so thankful that the Holy Spirit had given her clear guidance. When she first looked into Prince's eyes she could tell he was really down and for him that often seemed to lead to depression if not checked quickly. She was glad for the opportunity to learn how to help him manage that here in Paradise where it was not nearly so dangerous as on earth. She kneeled in front of the couch and said Thank you my most gracious Savior and Holy Spirit for helping me to help Prince today. Thank you for his opening himself up more to me and showing the first seeds of trust. He told me directly that he loved me today for the first time. It made me feel so incredibly good. I thank you for that also because I think he was really sincere. Please keep my feet on the right path in all things that concern Prince. In Jesus name. Amen.

Getting up Bella went into the kitchen to begin to prepare lunch. She decided she would make one of Prince's favorites, spaghetti with red sauce. She would add a green salad to that with Italian dressing some garlic bread and have the sweet potato pie for dessert. Yikes, the pies!. With all that was going on this morning she had not gone to pick them up With a thought, she was at her Uncle Henry's cottage. She started up the walk to knock on the door when J.R seeing her from the window opened it. "Girl, you better be glad you showed up just now, because I was just getting ready to eat those pies". She looked at him and saw how much he was enjoying this moment. She told him she had to help Prince with something this morning and just had a moment to come and get them. She asked if her Uncle was home. No he went to the Communal Gathering Place because he was on the lunch preparation team for a while. Bella said "please tell him I said thank you and I will see him soon"! "I will" J. R. said. She gave him a hug and then headed back to her place with a thought.

Bella had to get moving if she was going to make homemade sauce in time for lunch she thought as she washed her hands. She thought up some fresh tomatoes and some additional Italian spices to the ones in her spice rack. Selecting a large pot, she put water on to boil and then peeled the tomatoes. She measured and put all of the spices into the water and covered the pot, turning it on high to boil. She got the pasta out of the cupboard and set it aside in the box. She thought up 2 small cans of tomato paste and set them aside also along with a loaf of Italian bread. She pulled two skillets, one large and one medium size out of the pots and pans cabinet. Going to the refrigerator, she pulled out a pound and a quarter of ground turkey and shredded it with her fingers into the large skillet. She turned the heat to medium under the skillet and used a wooden spoon periodically to stir the turkey until is was nice and brown. She then turned off the skillet and poured off any excess oil and placed in a throw away container. She noted through the glass top on the pot of water that it had started to boil. She put tomatoes in the water and adjusted the temperature to medium high. She then took butter out of the refrigerator to soften, tore some red lettuce up putting it into a bowl and added some thinly sliced cucumbers, mushrooms, shaved some carrots for color and threw in some cherry tomatoes for both color and flavor as well. Finally she chopped some black olives and some green ones stuffed with pimento and tossed them into the salad bowl also. Covering the bowl with clear wrap, she put it back into the refrigerator. Checking the tomatoes with a wooden spoon she noted they had softened to the right texture. She turned off the heat and then took the tomatoes out one at a time and put them into bowl. As each one was placed in the bowl she cut it into bite size pieces using the edge of a spoon. Once she was satisfied with the size of the tomato pieces, she put 2/3s of them in the larger skillet with the cooked ground turkey and the remaining 1/3 in the smaller one. She then poured some of the spiced water in which she had cooked the tomatoes into each of the skillets and turned the heat on low. Opening up the two small cans of tomato paste she put the contents of one can into each skillet and stirred until the tomato paste had been absorbed into the liquid in each one. Adding little more of the spiced water, she then measured a little sugar, pepper, salt, oregano and one bay leaf into each skillet. She covered both skillets with a screen with a handle attached so that the sauce could simmer without being covered and without the red sauce popping all over the stove and counter tops. Turning the heat under both skillets to low she simply needed now to keep an eye on them to ensure they had enough fluid as they simmered. Next she took some of the softened butter and put it into a very small bowl. Adding a tiny bit of garlic salt and garlic powder she mixed the butter thoroughly. Bella then took the loaf of Italian bread she had thought up earlier and slathered the bread with the butter mixture evenly. She wrapped the bread in a slightly dampened kitchen towel and set it on the sideboard in a warming pan. Checking the sauce again she saw that it was almost ready. Bella took the remaining spiced water and poured it out of the pot and put it into a four cup measuring cup and covered it with a folded paper towel. She then washed up the dishes that had been used in preparing the food and poured herself a large glass of ice water. She went into the living room to get the notes she had started the day before on the Dance Ministry to review. Bringing them back into the kitchen she looked at the sauce again said perfect to herself and allowed it to continue to simmer. She had just decided to start the pasta when she heard a familiar knock at the door. Turning the sauce off, she went and opened it to see her handsome Prince standing on the porch with a slight smile on his face. He said nothing but took her hand, led her over to the couch, sat down placing her on his lap and saying softly "I missed you", began to kiss her. The kisses were slow and languid at first and then became a little more urgent. When he came up for air, Bella asked him how his walk had gone. He was now nuzzling her neck and said fine. She asked him if he was hungry and he stopped nuzzling long enough to say that the house smelled wonderful and asked what she had made. She said spaghetti with red sauce. He sat up a little straighter and said that is one of my favorites, I like it with orange juice. She said she knew having read that long ago. He smiled and said it smells divine but I would rather have it for dinner. Okay...do you want something lighter she asked? He smiled that slight smile he had shown up with and said I want this and began kissing her again. For the first time since she had known him, Prince's mouth parted slightly and the tip of his tongue started to slide across her bottom lip and then across her top lip. He then became a little more forceful pressing his tongue against her lips as though seeking permission to enter her mouth. As he did this her breath hitched and she felt her desire start to build. She opened her lips and let the tip of her tongue touch Prince's. He groaned in pleasure and began exploring every inch of her tongue with his own and then expanded the exploration to her mouth. After awhile he laid his head back onto the back of the couch and pulled Bella's face onto his chest. He sat there for a time and Bella could tell that he was fighting for control. To distract him she asked if he wanted to review the notes she had made on the Dance Ministry. He sat her next to him, stood up grabbed her hand and growled "dinner"! Taking her hand he led her into her bedroom. "There are no rules against holding you Bella Bruner and that is what I want to do now". I want to hold you and I want you to hold me too". Pulling the covers back, he laid in Bella's bed fully clothed, kicking off only his shoes. "Hold me Bella, please." Snuggling up next to him, she lay in his arms and took her right arm and laid it on top of his left one. " I love you Bella" he said. "I love you more" Bella said. They lay in each others arms and fell asleep.