Long Ago Moments Remembered

As Christian lie back, soaking in the hot water he reflected back to Josette as he often did as he reclined in his bath. Maybe it was feeling relaxed him or being totally alone that allowed him to drop his guard and allow her to creep back into his waking thoughts. They had shared some of their deepest secrets while soaking in her bath after a night of love making. It was as if they were cocooned against the petty politics of both their kind.

Christian chuckled to himself as he remembered them, luxuriating in her bathtub. Her body glistened from the steamy, warm water. He picked up a strand of her wet hair.
“So now what, Madame Delacore?”
She smiled back at him and he was lost in her emerald eyes. There was nothing he would not do for her, well, almost nothing.
“What is your wish, Christian?” His name rolled off her tongue.
“Perhaps you could be dissuaded to leave Gaétan and come to me.” He brushed her wet cheek as he ran his fingers down her neck. She trembled under his touch but held his gaze.
“Would you like having a mortal mistress?”
“I want you.” He whispered as his lips found the pulse of her neck. She surrendered to him, yet he fought the urge and pulled back.
“And what of Michel?” She whispered, “I sense he hates me.”
“Michel is very covetous of our friendship. He does not want to share me with anyone, living or dead.”
“I can’t say I blame him.”She raised one foot up through the water and wiggled her toes.
“I would be lying if I thought this would be easy. Gaétan hates me and Gabrielle will despise us both once she loses me.” He tried to grab her foot but she pulled her knees up to her chest without as much as a ripple. Christian knew Michel would come around in time, but Gabrielle and Gaétan were another story.
“What is it?” She asked; her eyes suddenly darker, her face worried.
“I worry about you, Jo, you’re just ---”
“Please don’t,” she smiled, yet he knew she was pretending to be strong for his sake.
“Gaétan cannot hold onto me without my consent. He is powerless to stop me and he knows it.”
“If he feels about you as I do then he will never let you go.”
“You overestimate my charm, Christian.”

She smiled up at him and for a moment he wondered what it would be like to have her by his side for all eternity. Would their love remain as it did at this moment, or would it be subject to the ravishes of time, even though they would not? He loved her scent and the rhythm of her blood coursing through her veins. The sound of her heart beating soothed him and her warm skin made him feel safe and secure.

He was not sure he would ever want to give that up, despite the simple fact that she would grow older and die; unless he turned her. She was willing, yet how could he tell her that it was her very mortality that attracted him and held him to her? It was complicated and there was no solution other than to let her go when the time came, leave her and endure the pain of her absence.

But for now, there was no one else, no place he could ever imagine himself being, other than in her arms, gazing into her dark eyes.