They Say Love Is Blind (23 page)

“
Tu és tão lindo
,” she whispered.

He lowered himself carefully on top of her. “You are
the
beautiful
one
, and you don’t
even
realize it. My beautiful Tory.” He brought himself up
until he was poised to enter her
and she
suddenly
felt him pushing into her. She was slick and ready but for a moment she felt that he might over fill her. But then her body relaxed and closed around his girth. He sighed
and uttered a word that she didn’t know; whether it was Portuguese or some mixture of a groan and a word she
just
didn’t know. His hips began its slow
roll and then it was her that made non-existent words.

He increased his pace and Tory’s legs encased his body
while
her hips
slid up and down in rhythm to his pumping hips.

Oh god! It was so good. She was liquid…she was the epitome of all sensation
. S
he was a neuron that
transmitted and received every chemical and electric signal in both her and Lee’s bodies! The rising tide of passion was overpowering—strong enough to engulf and obliterate them. Their bodies rolled and pumped and finally imploded. She couldn’t bare it, it was too much! She yelled out in passion and held onto Lee as his body guided them back down to reason. With one last bit of effort, Lee rolled off of her and onto his back
before going
limp.

Neither could talk but lay side by side panting
, trying to catch t
heir breaths. Tory’s hand moved to his and she gently stroked his finger tips. He opened his hand and she traced his palm, moving across the cast
before holding his hand tightly
in hers. 

~***~

“Tory Torres.” He said.

She laughed. They were in the bath, much easier than trying to shower and keep his casts from getting wet. They made water casts but she guessed no one had
stopped to think
how
much more
convenient it would be for a person with two arms in a cast to keep them dry.

“Victoria Torres, Victoria das
Torres, Tory das Torres,
” S
he tested the names and
sighed
happily. Her back was leaned against his
front a
nd
his arms rested on the sides of the tub. “I love the sound of it, even though I sound like I’m a character in a Dr. Suess book.”

“Mmmm, I want to be married to you Tory Torres; Mrs. Tory Torres.” He kissed her temple.

“When?”

“Mmmm, up to you.”

“Next week.”

He laughed. “I have a huge family and they aren’t all situated in Ohio. Three months? That will give us time to prepare.”

She made a face. “I guess…” she wiggled her hips. “As long as we can keep pretending like we’re married.”

His fingers gently grazed her nipple. “I can agree to that.
”

“I think we really need to pick out rings.”

“Mmmm,” he sighed in contentment. “Whatever you want,
querida
, I want you to have
. Oh
yeah,
I know that you aren’t
Catholic
but
I’d
really
like to get married in my church. Would that be okay?
”

“Oh yes. I love your church.”
But it was huge.
It sounded like he wanted a big wedding.
She turned slightly to regard him. “We need to talk about finances.”

“Yes we do.” He sighed. “But let’s get out of the bath. “My cock is getting wrinkly.”

“Ooo bad boy,” she laughed.

“Plus my parents will return soon and I’d rather not give their imagination fodder.”

She wrapped a towel around herself and frowned. “You didn’t make love to me last night.”

He paused in drying off and then wrapped the towel around his waist.
“Tory, I know just how much sound it takes to be heard in that other room…”

“Ah, gotcha.”

“I’m an adult but the idea of my parents listening to us make love is…”

“Yeah, okay, yeah.”

After they dressed and were comfortable in the living room, Lee got them iced tea and then she rested in his arms. She didn’t know why this topic was so difficult for her; maybe because she didn’t want to be impacted by the amount of money he made. If he was poor she would love him no less and if he was a millionaire she couldn’t love him more than she did at this very moment.

“Tory, if I had my fondest wish, it would be for you
to quit work and to allow me to take care of you financially.”

She made a face. “But then you’d have to give me an allowance…”

“No.  Why would you need an allowance for what is essentially ours? The only thing I’d ask is that if we make any major purchases we discuss it first. Other than that what’s mine is yours; ours.”

“Well…” she bit her lip. “I do have these student loans
..
.”

“Tory, I make a hundred and twenty thousand a year without even trying. I can make double that just by transcribing more books. Visually impaired people are always going to want books, even in the digital age and there is never going to stop being books that people need transcribed. I have great benefits and my boss is also a personal friend of mine. We’ve been buddies since we met at the blind academy when we were both sixteen. When he started this company I was the first person he contacted and I’ve been with him for ages. So I’m in a secure job, my finances are secure and-”

“Okay,” She grinned. “I’ll quit my job.
I really…hate that job.”

He kissed her and seemed relieved. “I know you do. And it’s not that I don’t want you working. I just don’t want you working at some job that you don’t like and that doesn’t appreciate you. I mean if you were doing something else that you liked; like how my sisters have their restaurant than I’d support that completely.”

She considered his words. Would she want to start her own business? If she could do anything that her hearts desired, what would it be?

“I don’t know what I’d want to do for a career, but I do know tha
t I want to do something. If
it’s
okay I’d like to find some type of job that I’d enjoy.”

He nodded. “My only requirement is that you like whatever it is you chose to do.”

She snuggled deeply into his arms. “I am quite possibly the luckiest woman in the world.”

~***~

After church, Mr. and Mrs. Torres announced that they would return home
the following day
.
Everybody objected but understood.
Dinner was at Kaye and Paulo’s big home
where the entire family showed up
to spend one last family dinner with
the
matriarch and patriarch of their large clan.

Rosalind was even present with her two boys Brice, jr and Michael. Tory was determined not to allow the other woman to get under her skin. Lee was so solidly hers that there was nothing Ros could do to change that.

In the kitchen, the ladies convened to prepare the meal. Tory knew what to do in the kitchen but since Mama Torres (
Mrs. Torres insisted she stop
with the MRS and call her Mama) was present
all rolls wer
e
changed as the older woman took charge of making an authentic Azorean
dinner. And to think, all this time she thought she was eating authentic Azorean food!

She was told to make
arroz doce
instead of the
aletria
that she usually made
.
And
there would also be deep fried calamari sautéed in olive oil and wine, grilled linguica, little neck clams,
beer mussels,
caldo verde sop
a,
and a braised beef served with potatoes and carrots called
carne guizada
. She liked being in the kitchen with Mama Torres, who seemed to know everything about cooking just by sight. She knew when Kaye needed to add more salt to the beef and that Francine’s wine wouldn’t do for the
molho vilao.

“When will I be returning for the wedding?” Mama Torres asked
with a sly smile
.

Tory grinned as she stirred the custard. “Three months.” Everyone began to whoop in exc
itement, everyone except for Roz
who was pretending that Tory wasn’t present.

“Have you picked out a ring?”

“Where is the wedding going to be held?”

“Where is the honeymoon?”

She giggled happily and held up her hands. “We haven’t decided on all of that yet. The only thing we know is that we’re going to be married in the church.”

Rosalind’s head whipped around. “But you’re not even Catholic. Only Catholics can get married in a Catholic church. Everybody knows that.”

“Nonsense,” Kaye said. “Father Romano knows us like his second rib. He wouldn’t want anybody else to do the nuptials.”

Macey piped up. “And if he dared to raise a stink he’d lose all of us.”

“That’s right!” Everyone agreed, including Senna and Leticia, which surprised Tory. It appeared that the tides were turning back to her.
Roz wisely kept her mouth shut.

While the men watched the big screen television in the other room,
Mama Torres went off to spend time with the grand children. The
women sat and had wine and cheese in the dining room. 

“How are you holding up?” Leticia asked Rosalind. Rosalind shrugged and sighed. “I’m fine but the boys are having a difficult time. I’m happy they have all of their cousins here to play with, and of course their aunts and uncles.”

Ugh, what cousins? What aunts and uncles? She wasn’t even related to them!

Katy, who was married to
Carlo patted the other woman’s hand. “You have u
s, Roz
, don’t forget that.”

“I appreciate that. My family is back home and you are all the family I have now.”

Francie
gave her hand a pat
. “You’ll always have us. God willing you will find the love that you deserve.”
Tory watched as
Roz
shrugged and looked down forlornly.
She almost said, ugh, out loud at her fakeness.

“I don’t think I want to be in love. I’ve had two great loves and both ended leaving me in misery.” The room grew quiet. “If I could I would
go back in time and choose wisely in my youth
.” She gave Tory a careful smile. “Then I’d be happily married just like the rest of you.”

Fiona made a sound of disapproval
at her words
.

“
Rosalind, watch your mouth.”

“I don’t mean any disrespect. These are just the words of a broken hearted woman.” She stood. “Excuse me. I’m going to take
cerveja
to the men.”
Tory counted to ten…and then to twenty before she felt it was safe to stop gripping her chair handle so that she wouldn’t jump down Roz’s throat!

“Who invited her?” Macey muttered
after a few quiet moments.
Everyone chuckled.

At dinner Lee was having a tough time feeding himself
because it was too difficult to cut the beef with the cast
. Tory took great pleasure in feeding him and shushing him when he complained that he could do it. She
delivered a kiss to his cheek to quiet his protests and then the men laughed and complimented him on figuring out how to be served so efficiently. Tory joined in the good-natured razing and despite the careful glares by Rosalind, Tory felt like everything between her and the Torres family had returned to normal.