The Sicilian Affair

Chapter 18 - What love feels like (Part 1)

"You must miss your little boy." Laurie finally said as Tomas placed his hands at her waist, lifting her up over the fallen trunk of yet another olive tree.

Neither of them had dared to utter a word of last night's kiss or any other word for that matter.

His kiss had taken her by surprise causing her to stay up all night reliving the moment , second by second - wondering why? Why did he kiss her?

Tomas stiffened at Laurie's gentle comment as he set her down to her feet and when she slowly raised her head to look at him, he exhaled, as if, like hers, hid breath had been trapped in his lungs at how dangerously close they now stood.

"I think about him everyday." He admitted roughly, allowing his hands to fall from her waist before turning around and continued to walk up the narrow path - in search of the main road.

As fast as Tomas had turned, Laurie had still managed to catch the glimpse of sadness in his eyes which tugged at her heart and made her want to hold him in her arms and tell him that eventually, with time, things will get better. But how could she when the only loss that she had ever experienced was that of her dog. The feeling was surely not even as close to what he must be feeling. No, she told herself as she watched that magnificent man walk a few good feet a head of her with his strong shoulders stretched with pride.

Nobody could understand, especially if they have never experienced such a loss. But she could only imagine the excruciating pain that was trapped inside of him - slowly numbing the parts of him that she was growing rather fond of.

She followed quietly behind him as he let the way through a thick bush of wild berries and stopped when she realised that they had made it back to the road. The sky was blue with no traces of the dark clouds that it displayed last night. A smile graced Laurie's lips when she caught sight of the Carsigni mansion in a far distance.

"The others must be worried sick about us, don't you think?" She said, placing her dog on the ground. The little canine wagged it's tail and ran up a head to join Tomas causing Laurie to chuckle at the sight.

Tomas spared the puppy a side glance before sighing out loud. "Probably," he replied, "I would have called them to let them know that we were safe but I forgot my phone back at the house."

"I'm willing to bet that Mario had a hard time keeping both Silvia and Teresa from coming out to look for us." Laurie said, shaking her head in amusement at the thought.

Tomas grinned. She wasn't far off. It was true that when those two had an idea stuck in their heads it was hard trying to rid them of it.

When Tomas made no move to engage in her conversation, Laurie hastened her pace and caught up with them in a few quick strides. "Thank you for coming after me last night. I think that I forgot to say that," She said.

"It's fine." He replied, furrowed down at the grey pup who apparently kept insisting on tugging at his pants.

"Would you mind if I asked how?" Laurie asked, catching the annoyed look on his face.

"How what, Ms.Slade?" He returned, then finally gave up, bending down and scooped the attention seeking dog - who now seemed pleased to be in the comfort of his arms.

"How your son - how he died?"

His feet came to an abrupt stop. Ms. Slade did not seem to want to let this go and he was in no mood today to talk about his past and even less, about his son.

He arched a brow at her, his eyes holding hers in place. "Are you sure you want to do this now?"

Her cheeks flooded with colour at the memory of last night. "I'm sorry. I just thought that maybe we could talk, you know, to pass the time while we walk." She explained.

It wasn't as though she hinting on another kiss because she wasn't. Well, atleast not now. Not with them both having a hard time catching their breaths.

"Well, did anybody ever tell you that you talk too much?" He asked, starting to walk again.

Laurie let out a soft chuckling sound of laughter. "Actually," she smiled, running both of her hands through her hair, combing through the curles with her fingers. "Your mother might have mentioned it once or twice and Silvia scolds me whenever we dine together. Something about Italians having a conversation with their food." She shrugged.

The rest of the walk back was quiet. After another few efforts of trying to keep a decent conversation, Laurie gave up. Evidently both Tomas and Karma wanted to be left alone, so decided to do just that.

As soon as they stepped foot inside the house, Silvia was the first to come running towards them. She grabbed Laurie into a firm embrace, scolding her to never go out alone, ever again.

Tomas excused himself and made his way up the stairs and before Laurie could do the same, Silvia pulled her into Teresa's room.

Teresa was pacing back and forth by the window, her brows locked into what seemed like a permanent frown and when she saw Silvia walk in followed by Laurie, a heavy sigh of relief blew past her lips.

"Laurie!" She exclaimed, her voice filled with worries as she placed a hand over her heart.

"I'm fine, Teresa. Really." Laurie said and gasped in surprise when Teresa pulled her in hug.

She wasn't used to people fussing over her, quite the contrary, it was always her who fussed over them. It was her job, she told herself a million times before, she had to make sure that her patients were always taken care of and felt the utmost comfort that she could possibly give. And when both Teresa and Silvia hugged her, she didn't know what to make of it. But it felt nice and warm, and the foreign feeling made her insides tingle bringing tears to her eyes.

Was this what it felt like to be loved in return? She wandered, because if it was then rather liked how it made her feel.

"I think I should get lost more often." She muttered through her tears.

***************
Sorry guys,
I know that this one is a bit short but I'm still trying to fit everything around my new busy schedule. I'll try to update the next part as soon as I can.

Take care

Love

Stanlight