Spring Came A Calling
At
The House of Four Seasons
by Atonia
part 2
The house thought this was starting out nicely no emotional outbursts, no tears, no anger ,yes this might work. All it needed was Toni’s guiding love to bring him into the fold. Meanwhile there was that lasagne to prepare, and she’d forgotten to mention dessert.
Toni looked down at the big hand that held hers and then up at him and smiled. “You have such big strong hands,” she said.
He smiled slightly, “Yeah I’m a big guy.”
“A big man with a big heart,” she raised his hand to her lips and kissed it softly.
He blinked several times looked at the fireplace, the window, the cat that had curled up on the hearthrug and then back at her, released her hand and pulled her to him kissing her softly, tasting, getting the feel of her.
His lips were so soft moving gently his tongue touching hers. When he released her he didn’t pull away, touching her nose with his he kissed her again.
“We’re going to be fine,” Toni said against his lips. Her arms were around his neck and she was on his lap.
Bud’s breath was becoming ragged, he didn’t know what he had expected when he rang the bell to this house but it wasn’t this, any of it. A kinda proposal to a kinda marriage and this woman, it was moving too fast…too fast, he felt as though he were running to keep up. But gee whiz she felt good on his lap, all soft in all the right places and she was kissing him now…him.
Toni lay her head on his shoulder breathing him in, Spring, and she would have him. She knew she had pushed him but she had to know, she had to. It was right, it felt right, it would be okay. Now the discovery lay ahead. He was going to kiss her again.
A silent mutual consent took them up the stairs to her bedroom the house had made ready for them. He undressed her and let her undress him and they lay down in the bed touching feeling discovering each other. He was a tender lover their first time together, so afraid he would hurt her, she was so small but she took him and loved him.
He lay beside her, “I can’t believe this is happening to me.”
Toni caressed his cheek and softly kissed his mouth, “Believe it, it’s real Bud.”
“A couple of hours ago I didn’t know you, it don’t seem possible”
“You came looking for love didn’t you?”
“I don’t know what I came for…I came because you invited me.”
“You’re not sorry?”
“No…no…you don’t fall in love this fast.”
“If it was meant to be who are we to question time?”
“You think it was meant to be?”
She smiled, “What do you think…yes I do.” She ran her hand over his chest catching the hair between her fingers. “It feels right to me, you’re going to be easy to love Bud.”
He put his hand behind her head and pulled her down for a kiss. Toni moved on top of him.
Outside the wind blew the storm out to sea, and down in the kitchen the lasagne began to send its aroma down the hall and up the stairs, reminding the two lovers it was time to eat.
Bud fell hard and fast, he couldn’t get over her and by the time they showered and dressed and came down for dinner he was hers. He pushed the thought of sharing her with his brothers to the back of his mind, right now she was his.
It was though winter hung around long enough for Bud to arrive and settle in, and then it quietly moved north and the weather changed. The snow was a memory, the trees were sticky with new leaves, and green found its way through the forest floor. Toni and Bud took long walks over the property. Being a city boy he revelled in the wide open spaces and especially liked the cliff walks they took. The ground was still wet and he always held onto Toni to make sure she didn’t slip and fall.
“You know nothing is going to happen to me here Bud.”
“I can’t help it I have this thing inside me that wants to protect you.”
They began making short trips out exploring Cape Anne but they were never gone more than a few hours at a time. Toni thought if worse came to worse at least they could get a ride back to the house from the local area.
They went to Rockport one day and had lunch at a restaurant on Bradley Warf. She had someone take their picture next to the fishing shack, the most photographed building in New England. She was beginning to fill up her green photo album.
It was the beginning of May when Bud began thinking about his season coming to an end. He loved Toni with everything he had, and the thought of leaving her was weighing heavy on him. He would be going in four weeks and the thought of her being in the arms of another man bothered him, it bothered him a lot.
Toni found him sitting out on the patio one day staring off toward the ocean.
“Hi sweetie what’s on your mind today, something bothering you?”
“No…well yeah I guess something is.”
“Are we going to talk about it?” she sat down beside him on the edge of the stone planter.
“I was thinking about when I first came here and we said it was kinda like a marriage, it would be forever.”
“Yes, it will be as long as we want it.”
“When I leave here Max Skinner shows up and takes my place…”
“No he takes his place.”
“With my wife.”
“Bud you understand how this place works, I can’t change the seasons. I’m yours for three months and when you come back I’m yours again.”
“Toni…I’m not sure I can handle this.”
It shocked her, everything had been going so well between them, they’d found that something and she loved him. “Bud it has to be this way, nobody particularly likes it but they accept it. If you want something bad enough sometimes you do what you have to do to make it happen. Maybe you don’t want it bad enough.”
He turned to her, “Aw kitten I want it, it’s all I want. I’ve been putting off thinking about this, about the other three. I don’t want to share you.”
“You don’t have a choice. I’m happy Bud, you’ve made me very happy this spring I want you to come back. I can’t imagine anybody else…I can’t.”
“I don’t have a choice.” The thought of her in someone else’s arms made his blood hot, it frustrated him and there was nothing he could do about it.
“If you are going to be a part of this you have to accept it. I’m going to ask you something else too while we’re discussing this. If you came back next year and found I was pregnant how would you feel?”
“Like somebody’d kicked me in the balls,” he got up and walked off toward the path to the lake.
Toni rested her head in her hands. This had never come up before with her other seasons, they knew how it was and accepted it. John was happy for her, it wasn’t a problem for Terry and Max just simply ignored it. She felt raindrops on her shoulders and looked up, it was going to rain again today…why today?
Bud walked to the pond and found the path that led to the other side, he needed to get away from her to think. He sat on the same bench Terry had occupied in the fall and thought about how much he loved her. There would never be anyone else for him, and he reckoned she didn’t feel the same about him.
He watched the raindrops hitting the pond feeling it well up inside of him and decided the best thing would be for him to leave.
Toni kept going to the windows looking for him, it was raining quite hard now and he hadn’t returned from the pond. She was beginning to worry about him. She thought she might go look for him and went downstairs to the hall closet for a raincoat and an umbrella. As she was closing the closet door she heard a car start up and ran to the front door.
“No…no!”
Bud backed his car out and pulled up the drive to turn around and he saw her on the front porch, she was crying and waving her arms. He sat behind the wheel looking at her ‘if you want something bad enough’…
“I was going to leave…”
“No…please Bud…please.”
“Do what you have to do…”
“I love you, I love you Bud.”
“To make it happen,” he held her in the rain.
“I’m so sorry, so sorry it has to be this way.”
He kissed her, each tasting salty tears, “You’re getting all wet.”
“So are you, we should go in.”
“Yeah.”
They had been sleeping in his bedroom but she led him to hers helping him out of his wet clothes.
“Did you think I’d let you leave me,” she asked as he lay her down on the bed.
“I wasn’t gonna ask, I couldn’t do it, Toni, you mean too much to me.”
“Then let me love you Bud,” she took his face in her hands and kissed his soft lips.
He wrapped his strong arms around her and held her to him feeling her warmth along the length of his body, his hand finding a motion in the small of her back and moving down caressing her bottom he moaned and kissed her neck, her chin, her nose, her mouth.
Toni moaned too breathing in his warm masculine scent, the feel of his skin beneath her hands as she ran them up and down his back and over his hips. He buried his face in her breasts .
“I will love you Bud, forever.”
“Forever,” he whispered and kissed her lips probing deep with his tongue he pulled her beneath him.
“You will come back?”
“Yes,” he smiled softly his eyes telling her all she needed to know.
The house had rocked a bit but was now back on track. Whatever was he thinking, and here it had already decided his bedroom was to be permanent, no more shifting furniture and painting walls. It took his car back to the garage opened the door and pushed it in locking it behind. That should take care of that. Now they will have to be fed…what to do about dinner?
He left on May 30 after an emotional morning but he was okay with it. He had accepted how things had to be and he told Toni before he left if she was pregnant when he came next year he would take care of her and be a proud uncle.
