When she finally managed to get everyone gathered around the table (two card tables pushed together for the youngsters), the sounds of eating stopped all conversation for a few long moments.
“Mmm.” Tom, Senna’s husband said. “I’ve never tasted cabbage this good before.” Senna gave him a withering look before he looked down at his plate and continued eating quietly.
“So…” Senna asked while taking a second helping of cabbage. “How did you make this smothered cabbage?”
Dinner was a hit. Even the children ate everything on their plates. While dessert was being enjoyed, Tory and Lee couldn’t stop the sappy smiles that appeared on their faces. They held hands looking like they were both cats that had caught the canaries.
Lee cleared his throat. “Everyone, thank you for coming.”
“Let’s thank Tory for making fifty pounds of delicious collard greens!” Raphael announced.
“You’re welcome, Ralph,” she giggled.
Lee took a deep breath. “Tory and I decided that after the wedding we’re going to move to Flores.” Someone gasped, and then everyone began speaking over each other in both Portuguese as well as English.
“English, please.” Lee stated.
“Why?” Francie asked. “Why can’t you wait a few years? We’re just starting to know our new sister and now you want to take her away from us!”
“Uncle Lee, it won’t be the same without you here!”
“You can’t leave now, Lee!”
He held up his hands grimly. “I don’t want to lose you guys, either. But if you think about it, Flores would be a wonderful place to raise that baby that is in Tory’s belly, as well as all of the other ones that we plan to create. So you see-”
Someone screeched in joy and then suddenly everyone had left their seats to hug and kiss the couple.
Ten sets of hands touched Tory’s belly although she didn’t want to say that the roundness there wasn’t due to a baby bump. In light of this new information there was a change of heart.
The baby would be Portuguese and that was that. The parents had no say. It would be born on Flores and then they could return to the states at a later date. It was settled. Tory and Lee just hugged and grinned. Whatever--as long as the arguing had stopped.
Someone turned on music and it was loud and then the dancing began. Lee pulled Tory into the center of the dancing bodies and despite his casts, he spun her, dipped her and then slapped her rear causing her and everyone else to roar with laughter. Then he made her sit down with water and she tapped her feet and clapped her hands and watched her brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews party late into the night.
~***~
The ringing of the telephone pulled the couple from their slumber early the next morning. It was Lee’s cell phone that was ringing. He reached over sleepily and felt for it.
“What time is it?” He asked Tory.
She squinted at the bedside clock. “7:22 am.” She saw a frown cross his face. “Hello?” He sat up suddenly. “What?”
Tory’s heart began to speed up. “What is it, baby?”
“That is not a good idea…” He glanced at Tory and then covered the mouthpiece. “It’s Rosalind. She wants to come over.”
“What?!”
“Roz, it’s early, we’re still half asleep-”
“Give me that phone!” She snatched it out of his hands. “What do you want?! Why are you calling?”
Rosalind was crying. “So you won. You got knocked up! But if you hadn’t pulled that then I would have gotten him. Just understand this, Lee and I have a special bond. We were each other’s first! We made plans for a life together! Maybe not this second but soon he will see you for the stupid black cow that you are!”
Tory handed the phone back to Lee and watched as he listened silently to Rosalind’s rant.
“I don’t know why I thought that we could remain friends. Maybe because I remember that I used to love a girl that had the sound of laughter in her voice.”
“Lee! Wait-” Rosalind tried to interject.
“You reminded me of the sea. Even when we came to the states I always felt like I was close to the sea whenever you were around…but you aren’t that person anymore.”
“Lee! I love you! I’ve finally admitted it to myself and now I can say it to you! I am in love with you and I can be everything that you need. You don’t have to marry her! ”
“Rosalind, it’s not just that I don’t love you. It’s that I don’t want to be in love with you. If there was no Tory I still wouldn’t want you! You have been sneaky and conniving, telling me at the hospital how sorry you were that Tory and you had gotten off on the wrong foot, when all along you were just trying to turn my family against her. I don’t trust you!” There was finally quiet on the other end of the line. “I never thought I’d say this, but you brought it on yourself. You and I can’t be friends. I don’t want to be friends with you. You stay away. If you come around, I won’t be so kind.” He disconnected the phone and placed it on the bedside table.
He blew out a long, stressed breath. “I am so sorry about that. You should have never had to deal with the likes of her. I’m putting the word out that other than at the restaurant, she is not welcomed around me, you or are children.”
Tory smiled. “Thank you.” She hugged him.
~***~
Tory stood back and watched how Mama Torres expertly pulled the pot from the hot spring which she had used to cook the sopa that Tory had prepared. The spring bubbled and steamed and Mama warned her for the millionth time to be careful even though she was a foot behind her. People were known to fall in, she cautioned. Tory knew that she was concerned because her stomach was huge and everything about her was now awkward. But she wasn’t a weeble wobble toy! Sheesh. Still, Tory welcomed Mama Torres’ lessons on how to be a true Azorean.
She and Lee had finally gotten settled in to their new home on the Island of Flores, and it had only taken about a month. All of the packages were unpacked—a necessity so that Lee could get his bearings in the new home. They had to ditch most of the furniture; shipping it would have cost a small fortune. The house was big and sparse; yet they didn’t need much. Lee had joked that they would fill it with kids soon enough.
The first thing Tory realized upon landing on the island is that there were miles and miles of lush green hills and valleys, and the most beautiful flowers in every direction that you looked. And yet despite this, it was also a cultivated community. There were shops, restaurants, and events just like any other town. There were even tourists carrying around cameras and fanny packs! She did not feel out of place at all!
Mama and Papa Torres immediately took her under their wings and drove her and Lee all over, proudly showing off points of interest. She saw the waterfalls of Ribeira Grande, the Flores nature park, and the seat of the municipal government; Lajes das Flores, where Lee’s parents lived. Tory and Lee’s house was situated in a much smaller province called Faja Grande.
Their beautiful house was nestled at the bottom of a seaside cliff. The Ribeira Grande river was in plain sight, as was the sea—which meant so was the beach! Tory actually looked on in disbelief that something this beautiful could be all hers to enjoy. Lee proclaimed that the surfing was great here and promised to show her how after the baby was born. She gave him a quick look but he wasn’t kidding. Damn, this man would never stop amazing her.
She was becoming well acclimated to island life. No more frantic bus rides to a horrible job, she no longer ate alone wishing to experience new and exotic foods, but best of all she had the man of her dreams who didn’t consider her weight to be a negative—quite the opposite. And even thought there were still days when he sometimes thought that she deserved someone better, and she still sometimes wondered why he loved her of all people, those times were becoming fewer and fewer.
She settled back in her seat in Mama Torres’ 4-Runner and marveled at the scene unfolding before her. She counted another waterfall; that was three! Ma
ma Torres spoke in slow Portuguese as they drove back to her and Lee’s house. The other woman pointed out interesting sites and spoke proudly about her Island. Tory was getting good at picking up on what was being said even if she didn’t always use the right tense or place words in the correct order when she tried to speak the foreign language.
When they arrived home, Mrs. Torres insisted on carrying the pot of sopa. Lee was on the sun porch behind his computer transcribing a new book. He was pushing out the books like crazy. He said the sun and sea breeze kept him invigorated and had turned the enclosed porch into his office.
He greeted them in Portuguese and ambled into the kitchen for a sampling of the soup before dinner. Mama smacked his hand and shooed him away and then gave them both big kisses and left to tend to her own dinner. Tory promptly removed the lid from the soup and gave Lee a sample.
“Almost as good as Mama’s,” he said in Portuguese. She had asked him to speak it as much as possible. She wanted to learn as quickly as she could and this was the best way for her to do it.
“Cooking Mama good taste,” She said in choppy Portuguese. He smiled and pulled her to him for a kiss and then corrected the wording.
“Okay, we’re going to do some exercise in translation.” He said. She struggled to understand and then said yes. He slipped his hands beneath her blouse and sought her thick nipples beneath her bra.
“What are these big beautiful things I’m holding in my hands?”
She gasped and giggled and then squirmed away. “Bad.” She said simply. “You’re bad.”
But then from across the room he heard her say, “Chega cá…”
He grinned and did as she requested; he went to her. She tossed her blouse at him and he caught it. She tossed her bra and he caught that as well. Tory shook her head. He still never ceased to amaze her.
When he was right in front of her, his arm snaked out and went around her waist. The he kissed her, pulling her taute against his body as one arm clutched at her ample rear end and the other covered her swollen breast. He groaned deep in his throat as he dipped his head to capture her sweet nipple.
She sighed and closed her eyes as he gently pulled, sucking and using his tongue to flick and tease.
“Oh my God…” she groaned.
He peeked up at her, “Meu Deus,” he corrected.
“Meu Deus!”
He swooped down and lifted her, her legs went around him swiftly despite an oversized belly between them. He walked them sure-footedly through the kitchen, living room and then up the stairs to their bedroom.
He placed her carefully on the bed and then slowly stripped out of his clothes. Tory watched him through lust slit eyes. It was like watching her own private stripper. I must be the luckiest woman in the world…
THE END
July 2012
Awards
~~***~~
Pepper Pace is a popular author on Literotica.com. She is the winner of the 11th Annual Literotica Awards for 2009 for Best Reluctance story, as well as best Novels/Novella. She is also recipient of Literotica’s August 2009 People's Choice Award, and was awarded second place in the January 2010 People’s Choice Award. In the 12th Annual Literotica Awards for 2010, Pepper Pace won number one writer in the category of Novels/Novella as well as best Interracial story.
PEPPER PACE BOOKS
~~***~~
STRANDED!
Love Intertwined Vol. 1
Love Intertwined Vol. 2
Urban Vampire; The Turning
Urban Vampire; Creature of the Night
Wheels of Steel Book 1
Wheels of Steel Book 2
Wheels of Steel Book 3
Angel Over My Shoulder
CRASH
About the Author
Pepper Pace is the pin name used by the author. Born and raised in Cincinnati, she has always enjoyed creativity. At a very young age, Pepper had a gift for art and would spend most of her spare time drawing images that she later began adding stories behind. Soon writing became more important than the illustrations and took a back seat to her real love.
Pepper wrote her first novel when she was 12 years old and had written 2 more by the age of 18. Too shy to share her work with anyone, Pepper stock piled her many stories into notebooks until she came upon Literotica.com and was compelled to share her craft.
Pepper became instantly popular and won several awards each year in which she submitted a story to the site. After receiving popular feedback, she grew in confidence and created a popular blog entitled Writing Feedback where she encourages her readers to interact with her on topics concerning, music, writing, art and pop culture. She can be reached at her blog:
pepperpacefeedback.blogspot.com/
Pepper Pace, They Say Love Is Blind
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