Morning Glory (48 page)

 
Then she saw a swinging door that said "men" and a moment later its twin, swinging shut, adding "Wo—"

 
Women.

 
She stopped and reread the entire word to make sure, spun around, and there he was, already hurrying toward her.

 
"Elly!" He smiled, waved. "Elly!"

 
"Will!" She dropped her suitcase and waved back, jumping twice, her heart drumming crazily, her eyes already filling. He zigzagged closer, moving people aside. Another moment and he reached her.

 
"Elly-honey—oh, God, you came!" He lifted her clean off the floor, kissing her open-mouthed, with Lizzy squashed between them. Is-it-really-you-I-missed-you-so-I-love-you-oh-God-it's-been-so-long ...

 
The floor shook as trains rumbled, the air was a cacophony of voices, the room a melange of motion, while Will and Elly shared a lusty kiss, timeless and prolonged, with tongues swirling and arms clinging and the salt of Elly's tears flavoring their reunion.

 
Then Lizzy started squirming and they broke apart, laughing, suddenly aware that they'd been crushing her.

 
"Lizzy P., oh, sugar, you're here too ... let me look at you..." Will took her from Elly and held her aloft, smiling up at her apple cheeks and eyes whose lashes and irises were much darker than last time he'd seen them. With so many new distractions Lizzy didn't know whether to fret or laugh. "Lizzy P., you sweet thing, look at how fat you're getting." He kissed her soundly, set her on his arm and said, "Hello, sweet thing."

 
"I'm sorry, Will, I had to bring—"

 
Will's mouth stopped Elly's explanation. The second kiss began jubilant, became sensual, then commandeering with full complement of tongue and lips while Lizzy squirmed on his arm but went ignored. He grasped the back of Elly's head and told her without words what she could expect when they were alone. When the kiss ended, he pulled back while they studied each other's faces.

 
She found him stunning in his crisp uniform and garrison cap, so incredibly handsome she felt as if she'd stepped into a fantasy.

 
He found her thinner, prettier, her face trimmed with a pale touch of makeup, the first he'd ever seen her wear.

 
"God," he whispered, "I can't believe you're here. I was so scared you wouldn't come."

 
"I might not have if it wasn't for Miss Beasley. She made me."

 
He laughed and kissed her again briefly, then held her hand and backed up a step, scanning her length. "Where'd you get the dress?" It, too, was stylish: yellow with black military-type trim and buttons, padded at the shoulder, trim at the hip and flaring to a short hem that revealed her legs from the knee down. And she was wearing sling-back high heels with a cutaway toe!

 
Elly's gaze dropped self-consciously. "I made it for when you were supposed to come home the last time. Remember, I said I had a surprise for you?"

 
He gave a slow whistle and stole a phrase from radio's Captain Marvel. "Shazaam!"

 
Elly colored becomingly, touched a button at her waist and glanced up shyly into Will's handsome face. It was odd—she was almost afraid to stare at him too much, as if doing so might jeopardize her right to someone so dignified-looking, so attractive. "Lydia Marsh lent me her pattern and I ordered the cloth and shoes from the catalogue."

 
He was so impressed he didn't know on what to comment first, the fact that she'd made a friend or the updated change in her looks. Her hair was twisted high and away from her face the way the women in the munitions factories often wore theirs beneath safety scarves. One soft wave dipped low over the side of her forehead; her eyebrows had been slightly plucked and her lips painted pale pink.

 
"And makeup, too," he said approvingly.

 
"
Lydia
thought I ought to try it. She showed me how."

 
"Honey, you look so pretty you take my breath away."

 
"So do you." She took a full draught of him in his dress greens: wool blouse and crisply creased trousers, gleaming shoes, khaki shirt and tie and the Sam Browne belt running from his right shoulder to his left waist; the shining Marine Corps emblem—eagle, glove and anchor—centered above the leather bill of his garrison cap, which gave him the look of some important stranger. He had put on weight, was thicker at the shoulders and chest, but it definitely became him. The sight of her husband in the hard, tailored suit made Elly's heart swell with pride.

 
In a soft, teasing voice she asked, "Where is my cowboy?"

 
"Gone, ma'am," Will replied with banked pride. "He's a soldier now."

 
"You look like somebody who'd guard a door at the White House."

 
He chuckled and she requested, "Let me see that hair they cut off."

 
"Aww, you don't wanna see that."

 
"Yes, I do, Private First Class Parker." She playfully flicked the single gold chevron on his sleeve.

 
"All right—you asked for it."

 
He removed the garrison cap and she couldn't withhold a gulp of regret at the sight of his skull showing through the mere sprinkling of hair remaining on his head. Gone was the thick pelt she'd often washed and cut and combed.
The Marines ought to hire a new barber,
she thought. Why, she could do better with her plain kitchen scissors. But she searched for something heartening to say.

 
"I don't think I ever saw your ears before, Will. You got fine ears, and even without no hair you're still pretty to me."

 
"And you're a pretty li'l liar, Mrs. Parker." Laughing, he replaced the hat, stole another kiss, picked up her suitcase and his duffel in a single hand. "Hang on," he ordered. "I don't want to lose you in this mob. Lizzy P. is a surprise. How you doin', Lizzy-girl? You tired, babe?" He kissed her forehead while she whimpered softly and rubbed her eyes. "How was she on the train?"

 
"Terrible."

 
"Sorry for the quick orders. But on a
forty-eight
I didn't have time to think about arrangements for the kids. To tell you the truth, I wouldn't have cared if you had to bring 'em all, as long as I got to see you. Where are the boys?"

 
"At
Lydia
Marsh's. They kicked up a fuss when they found out I was comin' to see you, but it was bad enough havin' to bring this one. I had to though, 'cause she's still nursing."

 
"I realized that after I'd hung up. I made it awful hard for you, didn't I? How long ago did she eat?"

 
"Around three."

 
"And how 'bout you—are you hungry?"

 
"No. Yes." She glanced at the neon light over the door of the coffee shop as they passed it. "Well, sort of." She hugged his ann. "I mean, I don't want to waste time in any restaurant and I don't know how much longer Lizzy will hold out."

 
He led her outside into the humid summer late-afternoon. "I got us a room at the Oglethorpe. What do you say we pick up some hamburgers and take 'em back there?" They stood at the curb, their eyes exchanging mixed messages of hunger and impatience.

 
"Fine," she forced herself to answer.

 
"It's eight blocks or so. You think you can walk it in those shoes?"

 
"A real hotel?"

 
"That's right, green eyes. For tonight, a real hotel."

 
Privacy.

 
They stood gazing at each other while a taxi honked and car doors slammed. His heart leaped. Hers answered. They wanted to kiss but refrained, postponing any further intimacies until time and place allowed them full savor.

 
"On second thought," she murmured, "I wouldn't mind forgetting about the hamburgers.''

 
"You should eat something, and drink some milk, too—for Lizzy."

 
"Do I have to?"

 
"It won't take long." He smiled and led the way along the sidewalk.

* * *

Twenty-five minutes later they entered their room behind a "bellgirl" instead of a "bellboy." The young woman was friendly, hospitable and wore a red pillbox hat. While Will set their brown paper sack of hamburgers on the dresser, Elly stood by the door, taking in her surroundings. The bellgirl laid their suitcases on the bed, opened a window and pointed out the adjoining bath with its black and white hexagonal marble tile, claw-foot tub and pedestal lavatory. The bedroom itself was small, done in deep green with touches of maroon and peach. The floor was lined with a bound rug, the windows decorated with frond-patterned drapes, fronted by two overstuffed chairs and a table. The focal point of the room was a wooden bed covered with a peach chenille spread and a bedside stand bearing a lamp shaped like a maroon ocean wave.

 
Will politely allowed the bellgirl to do her job and show it all, suppressing the urge to shove her out the door and lock it behind her.

 
Finally he tipped her and the moment the door closed he turned to Elly for a kiss. Scarcely had their lips touched when Lizzy complained, forcing them to consider her first.

 
"Will she settle down?"

 
"I hope so. She's dead tired."

 
Their gazes met. How long? A half hour? An hour? I want you now.

 
"What're we gonna do with her, Will? I mean, where will she sleep?"

 
He scanned the room and suggested, "How about the chairs?" In four long strides he reached the pair of overstuffed armchairs and turned them seat-to-seat, creating a perfect crib, soft and safe with the arms and seats butted.

 
"This would work, wouldn't it?"

 
She was so relieved her smile broke easily. "It'll be perfect."

 
He flashed her a return smile and moved toward the suitcase. "You get her wet stuff off and I'll find her clean clothes."

 
While Will dug through the suitcase, Elly laid the baby on the bed and began changing her clothes for nighttime. Lizzy rubbed her eyes and whimpered.

 
"She's beat, poor thing," Will said, sitting down beside Lizzy, bracing on an elbow, watching, enjoying. In minutes she was changed into clean diapers and a lightweight kimono.

 
"Keep your eye on her a minute, okay?" Elly plunked Lizzy on Will's arm and turned away. Talking sweet nothings to the baby, he watched Elly remove her yellow dress, hang it in the closet, then turn, barefoot, dressed in a white half-slip and bra.

 
For a moment their gazes locked and all was still but for Lizzy's soft whimpering and the clamoring of their two hearts. Will's eyes dropped, lingered on the bare band of skin between the two white garments while Elly's traced the length of his dark, flattering uniform. When their eyes met again his breathing had accelerated and her cheeks had taken on an added glow.

 
"God, you look good," he breathed in a tight, reedy voice.

 
"So do you," she whispered.

 
She reached behind herself, released the hook on her bra and removed it, all the while holding him captive with her eyes. Her breasts were heavy, the nipples wide and florid, radiating faint blue lines. She stood unmoving, framed by the bathroom doorway, learning the exquisite pleasure of letting another study her body through the eyes of love. How different she felt about herself now than in the days after she'd first met him. Love, she had discovered, left her with no desire to hide.

 
She watched Will swallow. His nostrils dilated and his breathing grew noticeably rushed. Though Lizzy still fretted, Elly crossed the room slowly and rested a knee on the mattress, bending over Will for one, lingering kiss. He reached up and brushed her pendulous breast with a knuckle, nudged her lips away and whispered, "Hurry."

 
She sat on one of the overstuffed chairs with Lizzy in the crook of her arm. Will rolled onto his belly, crossed his wrists beneath his chin and observed as his wife looked down, took a nipple between two fingers and guided it to the baby's open mouth. His eyes became dark as onyx, his body aroused as he imbibed the image, both maternal and sexual. When he could bear it no longer he rose to prowl the room, striving to keep his eyes off her. He laid his hat upside down on the dresser, removed his wool blouse and hung it in the closet, opened the bag of food, peered inside and took out one hamburger wrapped in waxed paper. "You want one while you feed her?"

 
She accepted the hamburger and began eating it while he found the glass bottle of milk, removed the cardboard stopper, searched out a glass in the bathroom, filled it and set it on the table beside her. When he neared, her head swiveled, following his every movement. Her eyes lifted and lingered on his face, allowing him to witness how her impatience had grown to the same gnawing insistence as his own.