“Come back to bed, baby,” Zachary moaned as he rolled over, watching Sari sway seductively as she moved into their in-suite bath. “It’s early yet, and there’s a chill in the air.”
Sari pivoted in the doorway, the morning sun dappling her sheer gown and her svelte profile in its glow. Holding her head down, she quickly raked her fingers through her cascading hair as she engineered a practiced top knot. “Zachary, . . .” she pleaded, “the house is up and moving.” She then backed into the bathroom out of Zachary’s sight.
He heard the shower turn on and called out through the still-open door, “But we’re still on our honeymoon, sweetheart.”
Sari returned to the door, her eyebrow raised in confusion. “Still?”
“Yes, still. Now, tell me, Mrs. Trumble, why are you leaving our warm bed to weigh through budget spreadsheets with Junie?”
Running to Zachary and landing with a plop half on his body, she snuggled into his side. “You know, in my past, I broke sunlight catching and fetching for the Missus Benson. Then I would do all the bidding she had in her little privileged heart. We’ve been married for almost a year. And you’ve kept me pretty much in this room, in your bed. Junie said—”
Zachary gently nipped her lips, sniffing her hair and nibbling across her neck. “You deserve a rest, sweetheart. Getting all that money means you get a little breather from all that catching and carrying you did for years. I can’t change what was, but I can sure make sure that history doesn’t repeat itself.”
Placing her hands on each side of Zachary’s face, Sari pulled him down to her for a passionate lip-locking kiss. When they finally came up for air, she pulled her wandering gown strap back over her shoulder. “Uh-uh. Not so fast. I’ve got water running, and I’m not in it. You know I hate waste. Modern folk are so used to things we had to work hard for that you forget to be grateful.” Sari slid off the bed and pulled her gown down over her hips. “If I’m going to keep all that money I inherited, I need to attend the classes my little brother set up for me. No sense in him being the only one in the family with all the sense.”
Following behind her, Zachary grabbed her around the waist and carried her the rest of the way to the bathroom. “I beg your pardon, darling. Junie’s a genius, but he’s not the only one with some God-given smarts.”
Giggling as Zachary threw her over his shoulder, Sari faked beat his back.
A loud knock on the door had both paused.
“Yes?” Zachary called through the door.
Instead of an answer, a thirteen-year-old Junie burst into the room. Taller, his skin glowing from good food and an even better life, he frowned.
“Sari, I’m not going to be waiting and twiddling my thumbs while you up here with Zachary spooning!” he snarked, then turning quickly to Zachary, added, “Begging your pardon, but my sister was supposed to be downstairs in the study thirty minutes ago. And I got things to do.”
Zachary slowly had Sari slide down his body while he simultaneously covered her naked rear end from her brother’s eyes. “It’s a hard thing to be your age, and everyone looking to you to know it all. Hard to be a boy when people looking at you like you a man. But you’re an adolescent just entering your teen years. You’re talking to your big sister, who is also my wife. We are not back in 1859, Junie, where you have to get up with the chickens. It’s 6:42 a.m. Your sister was supposed to meet you at 6:00 in the morning. You both are working late into the night some nights. We all have to get a hold of this pace, or everyone is going to be burnt out. So slow down, little brother.”
Junie gulped and tapped his foot as he bit his lower lip. “We have a lot of ground to cover. People expect us to fail. They say a family of enslaved folk with big ideas can’t be successful. Then there’s all the moving parts we have going. But it doesn’t matter. I’m going to prove them wrong.” Junie emphasized his passion by punching his fist into his palm.
Sari stepped over to her little brother and hugged him fiercely. “No, Junie, we are going to prove them wrong. The gifted school for the underprivileged is going well—you’ve seen to that, and the first graduates into the high school are coming up. The security force manned by ex-military men have more jobs than they can handle—”
“And I’m taking care of that. Between me and Bebop, we got this on lock. The supplemental insurance and mental health center are causing our phones and emails to stay full of those leaving the military.”
A slight knock sounded on the door, then John Benson entered the room. “I thought you’d be in here, son. I heard a little of what’s going on in the hallway, and I can add that the vocational center is turning out young men and women any tradesmen would be proud of. You can slow down some. Zachary is right. His being her husband trumps her being your sister or my daughter.”
Sari smiled sweetly. “Love you, Papa.”
Gruffly, John grunted. “Course you do.”
Zachary went over and slung his arm around Junie’s shoulder. “What’s God saying about all this rushing around, Junie?”
Head hanging, Junie mumbled.
“Speak up, son,” John said.
“Be still and know I am God,” Junie sulked.
Falling back into her old dialect, Sari exclaimed. “Lands sake, Junie. Get outta our room.”
John shook his head and pushed his son toward the door. Getting to its threshold, Junie stopped and turned around. “All right. I admit I might be jumping the gun some, and we can use a little relaxation. But, Zachary?”
“Yeah?”
“I believe my sister be free. Let her see some sunshine sometime, all right?”
Hee-hawing and slapping hands with his father, they both chuckled all the way out of the door.
Staring at the closed door, Zachary looked over at Sari, who had her hand over her mouth, stifling her laughter. His long legs sauntered over. He looked down at what he felt was a perfect face. Her green eyes twinkled until they smoldered at his thirsty stare.
“I must admit, I have been a bit selfish with your time. But once you leave this room, you’re everyone’s. In here, you’re all mine.”
“I’m always all yours, Zachary Trumble, man of my heart. Now, as your elder, I will make a compromise with you. I will leave this room at a reasonable time. Like 9:00 a.m. And you will come home from the security building at a reasonable time, like by 6:00 p.m. And we will have dinner together and then come into this room, our sanctuary, and we will shut the world out.”
“That sounds wonderful, baby. I can do that forever,” Zachary said as they walked toward the bathroom.
Sari whispered loudly, “At least for another seven months.”
Zachary stopped. “Seven months?”
“Um, give or take some weeks,” she sang.
“Are you saying—”
Squealing, Sari grabbed his neck. “I wanted to wait, but now is as good a time as any, Daddy Trumble.”
Zachary repeated her words in a daze. “Daddy Trumble . . .”
Then he grabbed her around the waist, lifting her from her feet as he almost ran her into the bathroom.
“Zachary, what are you doing?” Sari shrieked.
“Conserving water, my love; conserving water.”
The End
Look in on the whole Benson clan in my newest novel, Chasing Different.
Click here: https://a.co/d/7NOn9BJ