Excerpt From Timeless Sojourn

“Merry Christmas Geoffrey.”

He accepted the box, a grin on his handsome face. “Thank you love. I wonder what it could be?” He started tearing the wrapping paper from the box and reached in and removed the contents. I hit it on the mark. I could tell by the look in his face he really liked it. “Anne, this is exquisite. You really do have a knack for catching the essence of your subject.”

“You like it then?”

“Yes, very much. Thank you.” He leaned over and planted one hell of a huge passionate kiss on my lips.

“I can make you one in color too if you’d like. I just thought the black and white made it so much more dramatic.” I kissed him on the cheek. “I’m glad you like it.”

He leaned under the tree and pulled out one of the two boxes. “This goes with something we’ve discussed.” He handed me the small box.

I quickly tore the paper off and opened the box. Inside I found a very elegant silver key ring with two keys attached. I knew immediately what they were to; his house. I looked up at him and silently let him know I was fine with it. “Thank you. These are to your house I take it?”

“Yes. I’m not trying to pressure you, but I did want you to have them and anytime you’re ready you’ll have them. Or if you simply want to come over and I’m not here, you can let yourself in.”

I wrapped my fingers around them and grinned over at him. Not trying to pressure me, I thought to myself. Hmmm.

He handed me another box. This one was a little bigger. This time he didn’t offer any commentary, he just handed it to me.

Once I opened the box I was flabbergasted by what it held. Inside was a pair of sapphire earrings along with a magnificent ring to match. Both had diamonds surrounding the sapphires; and the sapphire in the ring was the largest I had ever seen up close. I was unsure what was going on here, what his intention was, but I knew I could not not accept them. It would hurt his feelings.

“Geoffrey, I don’t know what to say. They are exquisite, I’m speechless.”

“They are beautiful, aren’t they? There are no strings here Anne. I simply saw them and immediately thought of you. Besides I’m lousy when it comes to knowing what to buy a woman.”

“I find that hard to believe, Geoffrey. I think you know exactly what a woman likes. They are breathtaking. Thank you.”

“So you’ll wear them?”

“Yes, of course I will.” I replied, taking the ring out of the box and placing on my right hand ring finger. Funny, it fit perfectly. I removed the earrings I had on and replaced them with the sapphires. “Well, what do you think?”

“Beautiful. They’re perfect Anne.” He leaned over and placed one hand on my face and kissed me. We stayed that way for what seemed to be a long time, exploring the depths of each other. When we finally parted, with his hand still on my face he looked me in the eye and told me words I didn’t know if I wanted to hear. “I’m falling in love with you Anne. I had to let you know because I don’t want to deny my feelings for you any longer.”

“Geoffrey,” I replied, “I don’t think you’ve ever denied your feelings. That is one of the things I love about you.”

“Anne,” he interrupted, “I don’t want you to say a thing. You know I understand what you’re coming out of and when you’re ready and you’re comfortable then you can share it with me.”

“Thank you Geoffrey. You know I care deeply for you…” He cut me off with a kiss.