Fireflies (Double Love Series Part 2)

I Would Love To Believe

Penn Castle
Dorset, United Kingdom
Christmas Day
Sunday, December 25, 2022
(12:00 am)
*********************

"It's midnight...Merry Christmas, sweetheart."

Stevie was lying in Lindsey's arms, and she brought her mouth up to his to kiss him because it was midnight and therefore it was officially Christmas Day. Eight years ago at this moment, she recalled, she had been walking along the shore outside of Mick's house in Maui, the Pacific Ocean chill in the air causing him to pull her close as she'd opened up about Lindsey, their relationship, how conflicted she was...and the whole thing had culminated in a kiss on the beach on midnight on Christmas as the town church bells rang in the distance. Stevie wiped the memory from her mind completely and chose, instead, to embrace the moment. Lindsey had asked her to marry him four hours ago and she had said yes, putting to end over fifty years of the very same conflicts she'd spoken to Mick about that night on the beach eight years before.

She kissed the sweet, amazing man who held her close in bed under the covers, bringing a gentle hand to his cheek and gliding her tongue along his lower lip almost imperceptibly, teasing him until he met her tongue with his and deepened the kiss, his fingers tangling in her hair as he pulled her closer and she moaned, so overwhelmed by the moment that she thought her heart would burst. In her head, all she could hear was Stevie Nicks Buckingham. Stephanie Buckingham. Stephanie Lynn Nicks Buckingham...doesn't matter what combination...it sounds like poetry.

"Merry Christmas, my beautiful Stephanie," Lindsey murmured against her lips as they continued to brush against hers in soft little pecks again and again, Stevie doing the same until had become almost a little game. "I can't believe I get to spend the rest of my life with the most beautiful girl in the world," he said in between kisses. "Best Christmas present ever."

"I still can't get over it," Stevie said, her fingers running through his hair at its side. She rested one hand over his chest and her chin on top so she could gaze up at him, and she could see the diamond ring on her finger, already feeling like it had always been there, that it was meant to be there, and suddenly seeing an image flashing in her mind of two very old hands, one tiny with painted fingernails and one bigger and rougher as if it had spent eight decades strumming guitar strings, both with gold bands on the ring fingers, clasped together like a lock or a finished jigsaw puzzle, as the owners of the hands at about ninety years old lay together in bed and whispered stories of their younger days, pausing occasionally for a gentle kiss or two, until little by little, the whispering fell away...and they left the earth together, singing a song about crystal-clear water closing around them as they ascended to a place where they could let the water close in around them for all eternity, safe in each other's arms.

"Actually neither can I," Lindsey admitted, reaching down to stroke her hair, tucking it behind her ear. "This has been quite the elaborate plan, you know...I brought Chris with me to pick out the ring, I hid it...it was a whole thing...and now it's on your tiny little finger..." he began to kiss her ring finger, then the others, picking up her hand in his. "You're so tiny, baby girl...with your tiny hands and tiny fingers..." He was sliding her palm against his now, from wrist to fingertips. "So tiny...so adorable...and so soft..." His hand began to slowly glide along the inside of her arm. "Do you know how magical it is to touch you, angel? Your soft, smooth skin, your hair all silky and shiny, your sweet, full lips..." He couldn't resist the urge to kiss her lips again. Stevie whimpered against his mouth as it met hers, overwhelmed by emotions she couldn't even name.

The congratulations from the others had lasted through dessert before people had begun going upstairs to their bedrooms, and Stevie and Lindsey had followed, locking themselves into the bedroom at about eleven o'clock to have their own private celebration. They had made slow, quiet but passionate love, complete with tears of joy, finally wrapping themselves up together and enjoying the same closeness they had that morning, alone together in the quiet night...Christmas night...whispering words of love and the occasional memory under the covers.