Between Our Hearts

love at first sight

My heart is pounding in my ears, and my feet hit the ground hard as I run through the thicket of trees. The light filters through the branches and flashes light across my eyes as I increase my speed to a sprint.
I look behind me for a split second and I can see him a few yards behind me. He doesn't even seem like he's trying. His brown hair flutters in the wind, and his leg muscles tense with every stride. He's gaining on me, but no matter how hard I push myself to run faster, he's always right behind me.
Through the thicket of trees, I can see the house it the clearing with its pastel yellow siding, and wrap around porch. I begin to get excited. I might actually win this time. The crunching of the fall leaves seems to grown louder in the crisp fall air, as I increase my stride and try to push myself to run faster.
Suddenly my feet slip out from underneath me, and the ground comes rushing up to meet my face. I put my arms out to catch myself, but I still land hard,and roll a couple of times, before I come to a stop.
Before I can start getting up I can feel him run up and tackle me to the ground.
I let out a delighted laugh as he pins me down and nibbles on my ear. "Watson!" I shriek and try to push him off so he doesn't see how much I love feeling his beard on my neck.
He's heavier than me, I can't push him off, and he knows it. I give him one more half hearted push, and then I give in and gently kiss my husband on the cheek.
He smirks and I can tell in his mischievous green eyes that he knows he won our race.
"Come on" He says, as he pulls himself off the ground and offers his hand to help me up. "Let's go get your knee cleaned up"
I look down at my knee and see that my favorite pair of leggings are now torn in the left knee and soaking up the blood that is coming from a gash in my skin.
"Oh" I'm surprised, until then, I hadn't noticed I had gotten hurt. Watson always had a way of noticing things I didn't. I grumbled inwardly. "Wasnt I the wife, wasn't I supposed to notice things first?"
Watson is still offering his hand to help me up, so I reach up and put my soft, slender hands in his rough and calloused hand.
In one swift movement, he pulls me up, scoops me into his muscular arms, and Caries me the rest of the way home.
All the while I'm increasingly aware of the pain that has now started throbbing in my knee, and the blood which has now soaked my leggings and is getting on him arm. "Sorry" I say to him, but he just shrugs and continues walking to the house.
When we get to the house he sets me down on the island in the kitchen and goes to grab the first aid kit in the bathroom.
The granite is cold against the palms of my hands, and I smile, remembering how I sat in this exact same spot less than a month ago in a very similar situation. I wonder if Watson ever gets tired of bandaging me up. I'm so clumsy, and seemingly always getting hurt. In the five years Watson and I have been married, we've used three boxes of bandaids, just on me. Watson hasn't had so much as a stubbed toe.
Watson comes back into the kitchen with our massive first aid kit in hand. "Do you really need to bring the whole thing out here?" I ask in a teasing voice. He does this every time. Even if I'm not even bleeding. "Yes" he replies, but his voice is curt and to the point. He isnt in a joking mood anymore. "What's wrong" I ask tentatively while I start biting my fingernail. "We're out of bacitracin." He looks up from the first aid kit, and smirks at me. I release my breath as I realize he's just teasing and I smirk back.

I watch him as he wraps bandages around my knee. He forehead knit in concentration. He always takes fixing me up so seriously. He finishes wrapping my leg, and I reach up and put his face in my hands. He leans forward and I give him a sweet kiss as a thank you. He wraps his arms around me and Carries me to the sofa and lays me gingerly down. "I'll be right back. Try not to get hurt again while I'm gone." He tells me as he turns toward our bedroom "Where are you going?"
"You'll see"
I sit back into the chair and feel the cool leather against my leg. It begins to throb more.
I wonder what he could possibly be up to. He seems to always have something up his sleeve, and I can never figure it out. Last time he had a surprise,weren't to a Dodgers game.
I hear him shuffling around in the bedroom, and my curiosity grows.
Just as I am about to stand up, he appears in the doorway holding a huge box wrapped in a golden wrapping paper and a huge sapphire bow on top.
"Oh my goodness, Watson, how in the world did you hide this in our room without me noticing? This thing is huge!"
"Just open it Cali bear" he tells me as he shoves the box at me. I smile at my nickname and remember our first date when he won me a tiny stuffed bear at the fair in Iown California.
I gingerly start taking the bow off. I'm taking my sweet time because I know the anticipation drives Watson a little crazy.
I look over at him sitting in his lazy-boy. He's leaning forward, eager to see what my reaction is going to be. He looks at me, and gives me a look that says "hurry up already."
I take off the rest of the wrapping paper, open the flaps to the cardboard box, and peer inside.
My hand comes up to my mouth and I almost squeal in excitement. "Baby!!! Oh my gosh! I can't believe you got me a puppy!"

"What are you going to name her?"
An excited Golden retriever peers up at me as she tries to get out of the box. Her tail is wagging, and you can see that she's excited to play.
"She's got a bit of red in her fur, and she's feisty" I say as the puppy starts tearing at the box. " I think I'll name her Ember"
Watson smiles at me "That's a perfect name"
I take Ember out of the box and lay her on my chest. I laugh as she immediately comes up to my face and starts licking me. "I guess she already likes me."
I know it's just a puppy, but I can't help as a twinge of sadness pulls at my heart as I remember Mason.