Sweet Lantern

Chapter 27

Alice

We slept through the night. I was so exhausted that activities normally expected of a wedding night were not even on my mind. I wake up the next morning and the room is still kind of dark. I'm incredibly thankful that they relocated the window and that Darry had them install eclipse curtains. It's so nice to wake up and not be assaulted by the sun first thing.

Shifting to my side, I turn toward Darry and run my fingers through the messy mop of brown hair on top of his head. Keeping his eyes closed, he smiles and reaches for me. He wraps his long fingers around my wrist and brings my hand to his mouth, pushing my open palm to his soft lips.

"Good morning, husband", I whisper.

A grin creeps across his mouth, "Good Morning, wife."

I reach down to kiss him and he wraps his arms around me, turning me over so his body is now over mine. His eyes are open now. The bright green now replaced with something darker, something hungry, they burn through me. A warming sensation washes over me as he brushes my hair back and leans down to kiss my neck, nipping at the skin. "I love you, Alley", he whispers. "I love you too, Darry."

My mind is racing, in a good way. My heart beats fast in anticipation under the weight of his body. We've only been intimate once, and that was completely in the heat of the moment and unexpected. I'm nervous, though I'm happy that our inexperience parallels each other. Darry, seemingly driven by passion alone, appears to know exactly what he's doing as he pulls my gown up over my head, and teases me by lightly brushing his lips over the flesh above my hips. We explore each other in the light of day, learning things about each other that we didn't know before, even having known every other aspect of one another over the course of our eighteen years... this is new.

Afterward, laying wrapped in each other, our chests rising and falling in unison, I've never felt closer to anyone in my life. I've never felt more loved. Darry's arm around me, my head on his chest, I feel like we're the same person; I am every bit of him, and he is every bit of me. One without the other - only half of a person, void, empty.

"I'm starved", he finally speaks up, looking down his nose at me. I look up at him, keeping my head on his chest and agree, "Me too. Let's go see if there's any food here."

Downstairs, we quickly realize that we need to go to the grocery store to stock our pantry and refrigerator. Our parents must have thought of that too, because when we look in the refrigerator, there is a small carton of eggs, a small pack of bacon, a tub of butter and a loaf of bread waiting on us. Next to all of that there's a half gallon of milk and a half gallon of orange juice. "How thoughtful of them."

When I finish cooking, I turn to Darry, sitting at the table, "We can go to Henry's to get groceries or if you'd rather we can go to Wal-Mart. It's up to you."

Without hesitation he replies, "Henry's is fine. You know how I hate having to go into Wal-Mart... unless it's absolutely necessary... but even then, I'd rather be drug over a bed of hot coals, naked." Clearly, he's being a bit over dramatic.

I hand Darry his plate and turn to grab a notepad and a pencil from one of the kitchen drawers. While we're eating, we talk about groceries and the meals we'd like to have over the next week. It's a bit new and strange to be working through a grocery list with Darry, but it's something I'm sure we'll both be used to soon enough.

"Steak and potatoes, those little red ones like they served last night", Darry tells me to put that on the list for sure.

"I'd like to have spaghetti one night, what do you think?" I ask, as he takes another bite of his toast. "Mmhm", he replies, before downing his glass of orange juice.

We finish the list with all of the food we both like and then we go back to bed for a little while.

Later, when we walk into Henry's, we're greeted with congratulations and hugs from neighbors and familiar faces. Darry helps me load the buggy and then we go to check out. The total isn't expensive, but it puts a nice dent in the money that we had left between us.

In the car, I can see Darry's mind spinning. My heart sinks at the worry clearly marked all over his gorgeous face. "I'm gonna have to find a job or talk to dad about taking on more at the farm to be able to support us."

When we get home, Darry helps me bring the bags into the kitchen and I tell him that I can handle this, he should go find his dad and talk to him. I don't want him to wait because I know that the longer he waits the more this will begin to eat at him. We knew we'd have to figure this out, but with all the planning and excitement, the details of this part of our now adult life somehow got lost in the shuffle.

Everything is put away neatly in the pantry and the refrigerator, so I sit down at the table and wait for Darry to come back through the door. I plan on making a nice spaghetti dinner, so the meat is thawing in cold water in the sink. I'll probably make some garlic bread and a salad to go with it. I think to myself. I'm glad that Darry isn't a picky eater, he agreed pretty easily to the angel hair noodles that I love vs the thin spaghetti, which is my family's preference.

Darry comes back in the door, a big smile now in place of the frown that he left here with just a few minutes ago. "We don't have to worry", he tells me, "They already had it all figured out. I will help on my parent's farm in the mornings before school and in the afternoons when we get home, I will help out in the stables at your father's place for a few hours. They've already opened another account just for us, that they will be putting my pay into every week. Can you believe that?" He says, picking me up out of my chair and spinning me around the kitchen, causing me to squeal.

"I love when you do that. It drives me crazy!" Darry says, carrying me to our room.