3

Chapter 3

March 2003, Manhattan, NY

            Silas walked through the door of the sixth floor loft he shared with Samantha at a quarter after three in the afternoon.  His patient load had been light and he finished early.  He knew Samantha would be home and he wanted to surprise her.  Van Morrison drifted across the room as Silas placed his keys, wallet, and cellphone in the dish on the table by the door and hung his coat on the hook next to the table.  He wished he had changed out of his navy blue scrubs before leaving the hospital.

            Rounding the corner that opened into the kitchen, Silas found papers, maps, and books scattered everywhere and Samantha hunched over a map and a book at the kitchen counter with her hair blanketing her face.  Black track pants and a gray sweater hugged her, showing off the curves Silas had explored numerous times.  He leaned against the corner, admiring her, not wanting to disrupt her working or cause her to knock over the glass of red wine next to her.  He loved watching her work especially when she may have found an area worth investigating on her maps or in her books.  Samantha had said something about a possible position at a university research department for an underwater excavation team.  Her eyes lit up each time she talked about it.  She had an interview that morning for the position.  Admiring long enough, Silas pushed himself from the wall, being careful not to step on any papers.  As he approached her, Samantha looked up through strands of dark hair, smiling.

            “Hi babe, you’re home early,” she said, still with her bright smile.

            Silas picked up the wine, taking a sip before leaning over to offer a kiss to his love’s soft, awaiting lips.  He mumbles a ‘hello’ between their meeting lips.  His reply is met with a soft hum as Samantha deepens the kiss.  Silas sets the wine glass away from the chaos of her research, quickly returning his hands and arms to her – entwining his fingers in her hair.  Her fingers twirled around the ends of his hair, taking a firm hold but not pulling as she held onto him.

            They stayed that way, holding on to one another and kissing, for several minutes, enjoying themselves as if their love was brand new rather than having been together for over a year.  Samantha was the one who finally broke it off with sweet, short, gentle kisses as she moved her arms to circle around his waist.  Her chin rested on his chest as he looked from her lips to her eyes to his fingers softly sweeping a strand of hair away from her forehead.

            “So my lovely Samantha, how did the interview go?”  Silas asked, still stroking her hair.

            She bit her bottom lip before turning them into a grin and saying, “I got the position.  The department head liked my previous work and wanted me to get started on the research as quickly as possible.”

            “What is the research on if you don’t mind me asking?”

            Samantha laughed, pulling her arms away to move back to the piles of maps and books, and replied, “I don’t mind.  It’s research about a supposed sunken pirate ship that new details say went down about two hundred years ago near New York or New Jersey.”

            “How very Captain Hook-ish,” Silas teased while reaching for the wine glass.  Samantha intercepted, regaining ownership of it.

            “You, Silas Clay, can go get your own glass of wine.  And I might for the time being call this project Captain Hook.”

            “Hey, I just wanted a sip, not the whole thing,” Silas fired back, throwing his hands up in direction of the glass.

            Samantha quirked an eyebrow and possessively held the glass.  Slowly moving away, she reached the barstool she previously occupied.  Carefully, she lifted her foot to press into the bottom rung so she could sit down.  Her bottom never met the wood for Silas’ hand caught her elbow, pulling her back towards him.  One arm snaked around her waist while his hand eased away the wine glass, took a sip, and then set it down.  A small kiss on her nose followed by a brief squeeze was done before Silas said, “Congratulations beautiful.  There’s no one more deserving than you.  When you become the next famous person to discover hidden pirate treasure and it’s all over the news, I’ll proudly proclaim to everyone that’ll listen that you’re my woman and I love you more than anything.”

            Samantha blinked away tears and gave her love a smile, whispering to him a thank you.  Van Morrison’s Have I Told You Lately came on next in the playlist.  Silas moved her hands from his arms to behind his neck as his hands wrapped around her hips.  Samantha pressed her cheek into his chest; he rested a kiss on her head.  They stayed that way as they swayed in time to the song.  When it was over, Samantha looked up and asked, “How was your day, Silas?”

            Removing one hand from her hip, Silas stroked a strand of hair and moved his fingers to rest on her neck.  His thumb caressed her cheek.  His eyes glanced at her lips then moved to her eyes.  A smile played upon Samantha’s face.  Silas wanted another kiss and then another and another.  He never wanted to stop kissing her.  As he leaned in to take more love from her lips, he whispered, “It was like all the rest, nothing new.  For now, I want to continue congratulating you.  Here on the kitchen counter, on the kitchen floor, then to the couch, then our bed where we’ll fall out from exhaustion.  Are you up for it?”

            His question was answered with a fevered kiss.  He met the fervor by backing them up to the counter, pushing away all the papers, maps, and books to the floor.  Samantha’s ass hit the edge of the butcher-block counter.  Her hands roamed over Silas’s back, his hands explored her hair as their lips and tongues danced a waltz. 

His hands gripped her thighs, hoisting her up to the counter.  Samantha laid back, her hair fanning out.  Silas loomed over, running his hands down her arms to her belly and then to the top of her black track pants.  They came off, along with the panties, with ease.  Samantha opened herself for him.  She was met with his tongue running up the inside of her thigh.  Silas placed an open-mouthed kiss on the soft flesh before moving up to remove her gray sweater.  The bra met the same fate as the rest of Samantha’s clothing.

Brown Eyed Girl flipped on next.  Silas was moving his way down Samantha’s neck to her chest before stalling over her pert nipples.  He moved his hand from her hip to brush his thumb across the pink pebble.  She inhaled sharply; he grazed his tongue over it.  Looking up at her, he rasped,” I love you, my brown eyed girl.”  She smiled faintly, his lips enclosed her nipple, she gasped and arched her back.

Present Day

On-call room, General Hospital

Slamming my eyes shut, I shake my head.  Why did that day have to bubble up from my own Tartarus?  That day we created life.

Whispering, I say to no one, “That was beginning of the end.”