The Secret.

Home coming pt. 2

As the day slowly faded into night, everyone tampered off to bed. Nicole had tucked sarah into her bed with Birdy and Rain upstairs in the big house, she kissed her forehead and stayed with her till she fell asleep.

When she knew she was fast asleep she thanked Birdy and rain for letting sarah stay with them and she made her way back downstairs, Matt was waiting for her by the back door.
"Is she comfortable up there?" He asked

"Yeah, I stayed with her till she fell asleep, she couldn't stop talking about how much fun she had today with Birdy, rain, and Mr. Cupcake." Nicole said with a smile while she put her coat back on.

"Good, I'm glad she likes it here," Matt cleared his throat. "do you like it here?"

Nicole looked up at him with a twinkle in her eye.
"Of course I do...I love Alaska, this house, your family....you."

A slight smile was pulling at the corner of his mouth, he pulled her in close and kissed her, Nicole melted into his strong, warm embrace.
"Lets go to bed." He whispered.

"Okay."

He grabbed her hand and pulled her close behind him to his tire shack.
Gabe was still sitting by the fire, he chuckled to himself cause he knew what they were up to.
When they got in the tire shack, Matt locked the door behind them and turned to Nicole, the dim light from the moon was cast on her face, and shimmering in her eyes, he thought she was the prettiest girl he'd ever laid his eyes on. She stepped in close to him, and he kissed her delicately on the head.
"Lets dance." She said as she rested her head on his chest.
He held her close to him and they swayed back and forth to the sweet sound of the crickets chirping and the crackling of the fire outside...
He began kissing her neck as they swayed in the moonlight.
"You still have my necklace?"

"Yeah, I put it around my neck so that I know you're always with me." She said as she held the bear claw in her hand looking at it.

"Where was Jason when you left?" He asked.

"...he was at work, the night before I left, I put me and Sarah's bags in the truck, and waited till he left the next morning, then I woke Sarah up and we never looked back... you know....I don't think sarah knows her daddy's a bad man, I mean she knows he drinks, but I don't know if she knows he's violent."

"I'm just glad you two got away without him hurting one of you...I don't know what'd I do if I lost you."

"Im glad too." She said as she kissed him, her kisses were sweet, like strawberry wine, sweet, but strong with passion. As one thing led to another, they shared the night in nothing more than the shear joy of being in each other's presence, and holding one another close.

The next morning, they laid there in bed sleeping in each other's arms, Matt woke up and slid closer to Nicole, she was shivering from the morning frost in the air. He sat up leaning on his arm, and looked at her sleeping.
"Your so beautiful, even when you sleep." Matt said in a deep gruffly morning voice, as he brushed the hair away from her eyes.
Nicole giggled as she opened her sleepy eyes.
"I love waking up to see your face Matt."

"I love seeing you too."

He leaned in for a kiss, when they heard a knock at the door.

"Matt! Nicole! Wake up, breakfast is ready!" Ami said excitedly on the other side of the door.

Matt groaned and fell over on his back.

"Way to ruin the moment mom."

Nicole giggled and laid her head on his chest.
"I guess we better get up then, huh?"

Matt took in a deep breath as he stroked her hair.
"Yeah...I guess so, I don't want to though, I wanna stay here with you all day."

"You and me both."

Matt sat up and hung his legs over the side of the bed and began putting his jeans on, and Nicole laid in the covers all bundled up and watched him.

"Are you gonna lay there and watch me? Or are you gonna get dressed too?" Matt said with a chuckle.

"I haven't decided yet, I really like this view!"

Matt stood up and pulled his t-shirt over head and looked down at Nicole.

"Come on sleepy head, it's time to get up."

Matt jumped on top of her and started tickling her, she squealed as he had her trapped and wouldn't let up.

"Okay okay! I'm up!" Nicole laughed as he let her out his grasp. Matt loved hearing her laugh, it made him happy to see her happy.

After they both got dressed for the day, they headed out the door and to the big house hand in hand. It was a chilly morning, but Nicole didn't mind it cause she had Matt there to keep her warm.
When they walked through the door sarah ran from the table into her mothers arms
"Momma! I got to help make pancakes with Birdy and rainy!"

"Really?! I know how much you love pancakes!" Nicole said she poked sarah making her giggle and squirm in her arms.

Matt and Nicole sat at the kitchen table and ate pancakes and bacon with the rest of the family, Nicole noticed how sarah really opened up and enjoyed talking and laughing with Birdy, she was usually so shy and timid.
After breakfast everyone scattered off to their daily chores, leaving Matt, Nicole and Sarah at the table. Sarah was telling Matt about how Mr. cupcake loved to chase after his brother bear in the woods, and how fast he could run. Matt was intent to listen and started telling Sarah a story about Mr. cupcake finding two bear cubs and bringing them home.
Nicole watched him as he was really animated with this hand motions and words trying to grasp Sarah's attention.
Nicole and Sarah shared a good laugh when Matt got down on his hands and knees and started mimicking what mr cupcake did in his story. Nicole could tell he actually liked Sarah, and Sarah liked him, she was scared they wouldn't get along, but Matt proved her wrong.