Love Heals a Naughty Girl

Chapter Five

The next two years were the happiest for them, and she knew that he wanted her. He never said that he loved her. She never said she loved him.

Their love was unspoken. For some reason they never got together for a visit or a date.

By the time she was twenty-three, Marissa had finished medical school with an extra year's concentration in surgery. She decided on another year of study at Johns Hopkins University Medical School. She needed another year of surgical training in support of a project she had volunteered for in Africa near the Southern Sudan border. For the first time in her life, she would meet Byron, who himself was teaching English Literature at the University of Maryland's College Park campus.

She had made inquiries through friends she had made in medical school that were already studying near there. She learned that every evening Byron always stopped off at Panera Bread to discuss literature with interested students, who wanted a more than their class syllabus covered. He'd spend hours stimulating eager minds.

But that night Marissa brought Byron the surprise of his life. Just before he entered Panera Bread, he heard her soft voice, almost whispering from behind, calling, "Byron." He stopped and listened, appearing unwilling to believe what he was hearing. She called again, "Byron." She could see him smiling even before he turned around. He saw her but just couldn't believe his eyes.

"Marissa, is that really you?" He put the backpack farther back on his shoulder. Then he moved in her direction. He held up his arms as she moved to meet him. They reached out and shared a warm embrace. She kissed him on the cheek while he returned her affection. He then asked, "I don't know where to start, Marissa. I am so glad to see you and have a thousand questions. Like how did you find me here?"

"That's easy, Byron, nearly everybody knows the professor who takes extra time with his students. You were so easy to find." Marissa then held onto his left arm with both of her hands and walked to toward Panera Bread with him. "Byron, I have a lot to tell you about."

Marissa then sat down with Byron and told him that she had volunteered for a special residency project that required a year of study in surgical procedures. They would have all that year to get to know each other before she left for the Southern Sudan where she would join a team of doctors sponsored by a special foundation in cooperation with Johns Hopkins University. By then she would be twenty-four.

So for the next year Marissa and Byron were constant companions. They did everything together. That is, everything except spend the night together. They shared affectionate kisses, but she did not press Byron for sex. Although she had long put the casual sex behind her, Marissa never stopped bringing up the subject of marriage. She then braced herself for Byron's usual argument, one she herself could repeat better than he could now. Nevertheless, she listened without interruption.

"Marissa, you ought to fall for the young man like the one in the corner. He looks a bit geeky, but you know how to choose a good man now. You're grown up."

Marissa laughed. With a warm smile, she said, "Oh, Byron, if you said that I am all grown up now, doesn't that mean that I can marry a man I love? A man like you? You talk about being too old. What will I will be when I come back: twenty-six, twenty-seven?" She took his hand, "When I come back for you, look out! I'll never let you go."

Before long they were in a mall where they snapped photos. They made several of themselves together. In one she grabbed Byron and kissed him on the mouth just as the camera flashed. It was perfect. They made another copy and kept one each.

During their last week together before she was to fly out of Baltimore-Washington International airport, she sat down with Byron in Panera Bread, as was their custom. "Byron, I'm giving you until the day I leave for Africa to agree to marry me, and then I am off and out of your life--if necessary. But I will leave knowing whether I have a man to come back to or not. You're the only man I ever really loved. But I have to get on with my life."

Byron then said, "Marissa, oh, how I wanted you to have been married to another well-deserving guy by now." He reached out and took her hands. "But I give up. I cannot hold back saying this. Marissa, I love you. I always have. You always knew it. If you want a man nearly fifty, I am yours. I have long wanted to be your husband."

Marissa said, "You just wait until I get back. The day I get back is the day you are going to marry me."

Byron smiled and held her hand. "Absolutely. I have a year to plan for it. We'll get the license and blood tests, and I know the perfect spot to spend our first night together."

"Yes, when I come back to you, I will specialize at Johns Hopkins. I'll move in with you once we are married and commute. It won't be a long drive."

"In Africa I might be learning hands-on. From what returnees here from that program tell me, they learn to save lives fast in the field. No telling what I will be doing overseas. Certainly not things I could do right here."

Byron said, "Sure. Keep safe and call me whenever you can reach me by cell phone."

Byron drove Marissa to her apartment. She stopped in front of her door. She turned and gave him such a passionate kiss, something he hadn't had in years. "You don't want to sleep with me all week until I leave for Africa?"

"Marissa, I guess that I'm still a little too old fashioned. But when we do make love, you'll know for the first time in your life what it really is like to be loved by a man, who loves you for yourself. If there's one thing I know, it is how to make love. All your previous experience with younger men will seem like nothing by contrast."

Byron's countenance changed a bit. "Marissa, there's something else. When I first left home to go overseas, I noticed a lot of guys and girls got engaged just before leaving. Just as I experienced working with local nationals years ago, you'll see things every day that people will go whole lifetimes here and never see. You will be a different person when you come back. I'll be the same and maybe not who you want anymore. It's another thing to consider."

They held onto each other for what seemed forever. They shared an untold number of kisses and never stopped saying how they loved each other. Marissa put her lips to Byron's ear. She asked, "Will you call me every day overseas?"

"You can count on me. But it's not like you're leaving tomorrow. We have all week."

What a week it was. They spent long hours laughing and joking about how it had been with them on the forum. How loving their time together. Marissa somehow didn't mind Byron's reluctance to wait. They loved each other so much. It just didn't matter.