Traveling Soldier

Short Visit

      For the next few weeks, Gabriel stayed in my bed with me at night and then sat with me and Dylan in the living room frequently. I started reading "Great Expectations" to him when he felt a lot of pain. We got really close and stayed up talking for hours which resulted in sleeping in late. Mother was always worried I would get pregnant at first but she realized we wouldn't do anything. Delilah broke the news to me that he was getting much better. It would've been great news, but that means he has to go back. His injury was just a bad sprain, but it was enough to have him home for a while. 

     "June?" Gabriel calls to me as I'm walking in the kitchen from my bedroom. "Yeah?" I asked him. He was standing in the doorway. "Come here for a second," he said. Dylan was with his grandmother and Delilah was outside shucking corn. I walked towards his out-stretched hand and grabbed it. He brought me to him and kissed me softly. Looking into his eyes, I kissed him again, this time with more force. Gabriel picked me up and brought me towards the bed, laying me down and climbing up to lay over me and still kiss me. He started to unbutton my dress but I stopped him. "Later," I promised, looking at the vein poking out in his forehead. He nodded and lay down beside me.

      Gabriel had on a white shirt and army issued athletic shorts with dog tags around his neck. I played with his dog-tag that read 'Gabriel A. Reiling.' He kept kissing my forehead and cheek. "What are you doing?" I said, as he got on his hands and knees over me. "You need to learn to take care of yourself," he said, smiling and leaning down farther to kiss me. He started to put his hands on my waist and I tried to fight him off. "Struggling doesn't help. You need to untense and knock into my chest and stomach to distract me. Then you push me off with your arm on my side," he said like a teacher. I got distracted by his deep voice for a second but tried out the tactic. We play wrestled for about twenty minutes until I finally had him on his stomach with his arm pinned behind his back. "Okay," he said with a tense red face. I loosened by grip and he flipped around to where I was straddling his lap while he was laying down. He leaned up and kissed me before we both stood up and went to see what Delilah was making for dinner.

      "I made Gnocchi. It's dumplings made out of potatos with green beans on the side," Delilah said, excitedly. It was better than it sounded. Gabriel and I ate all of what Delilah and Mother didn't eat. "This is what the poor in Italy used to eat," Delilah said. We said goodnight to Mother and Delilah braided my hair. "Love you, Delilah," I said, as she bustled out of the room. "Love you, too, baby doll," she said in her slightly deep, sweet voice.

      I put on my satin night robe and brushed my teeth. After I washed my face I felt a pair of arms around me as I dried my face. I turned around in his arms and kissed his soft lips, feeling the scratchiness of the small pieces of facial hair he has. He rubbed my back and backed me up to the foot of the bed. I fumbled with his belt buckle and he slid his shorts off, leaving only his boxers. He turned off the lamp and slid into me. My breath caught as he started going faster. I scratched into his back as he furiously kissed my neck. "God!" I cried out, not loud enough for my mother or Delilah to hear. He kissed me one last time and then gently layed down beside me and fixed my robe while slipping back on his t-shirt and shorts. "I love you," he said quietly in his deep voice. I burst into tears, "I love you, too, but I don't want you to go back!" He looked out the ceiling and tried his hardest not to cry. I rolled over and cried into his chest while he clutched me tightly and rubbed my back. "I wanna stay here forever," he said, choking up...