"Perhaps," he quickly signed. "But, please let me determine if the time is right, for I would not hurt you too much in this, your first time in learning of a man's desire. I am going to spread your legs and let you feel my love first with my touch, alone, like we did this afternoon at the lake. There is time for more than this later."
"What do you mean by this 'more' and 'later'?" Laylah spoke in English and without making signs. "Perhaps I should tell you I intend to know all about love now, tonight. Don't you know, I am so in love with you, I want everything about you to become a part of me? We have already touched one another spirit to spirit and become close even without the act of love. And, now, I know the feeling of love. But, we have not experienced our passion together at the same time, and I want to know this. Tell me, do you think there might come a time where I cannot tell where I end and you begin?" She sighed before continuing, "I want you in my arms, in my life, in my dreams and in my prayers. If it has anything to do with you, my husband, I want it in my life."
Because she had spoken swiftly and hadn't translated her words into the gesture language, she was stunned to look up and see tears in his eyes. She whispered, "I knew you would understand some of what I said, but you understood it all, didn't you?"
He nodded. "Long...have I...understood your...words. Speak...your tongue very...bad. But, we...teach each other."
"Yes, yes. I want you, Eagle Heart. I want your children, I want a home with you, but, most of all, I want you in my life."
He collapsed against her, although he moved the majority of his weight to the side. She was aware it took him a moment or two to compose himself, for he tried to speak several times. At last he said in English, "Always...I want...do...things that...make you love me."
She grinned at him. "Well, you'd better get to work on it, sir, because I am set to make love to you all night."
His laughter was like a heavenly sort of music, and he wasted no time using his touch alone to pleasure her. But, it seemed to her as though he were merely frustrating her. As pleasurable as it had been before, she now wanted more. And, she whispered, "I am ready for you, my husband. Thank you for your consideration, but I want you...all of you. I am ready for you to love me. Are you ready for me?"
He grinned down at her as he came up onto his knees before her. "Long...I...ready." Taking hold of her legs, he placed first one of her legs and then the other over his shoulders and said in English, "This way of loving...I see you. I make...love...look into...eyes...same time."
And, then he joined himself with her. "So...long," he said, "have I wished...for this, I... hard time...holding back."
"No, please, don't hold back," she whispered, even while she met his movements with those of her own.
"Don't...understand. I...wait too long. Hard to...stop."
"Please don't stop."
But, it appeared he wasn't taking orders from her, and he moved against her in a way that brought on the same kind of exquisite pleasure she now understood was a part of lovemaking. She twisted her body along with him, complementing him. And then, looking up into his eyes, she felt again the ultimate sensation of loving this man. Casually, she wondered which was more pleasurable, watching him as he stared down at her or experiencing the feel of him as a part of her.
But, at last it appeared he could hold back no longer, and, moving against her, he took control of their lovemaking and bore into her with all the pent-up energy of a young man long desiring his woman. He was not long meeting his own plateau of sensuality and pleasure, however, and, with the final push against her, he gifted her with his seed.
For many moments, neither of them moved, both of them breathing heavily. At last, however, he fell to her side and brought her up, placing her over him.
She lay upon him, stomach to stomach, breast to breast, her legs straddling him around his waist and hips. She was aware her hair had spread out over his chest and noticed its color seemed in conflict with the hue of his darker skin. Idly, she watched as he brought up a hand to play with one of the locks of her hair, and that's when she saw the two scars, one on the right side of his upper chest, the other on his left.
"What are these?" She traced the scars gently. "Does it hurt when I touch them?"
"No, it does not hurt," he spoke, both in sign and in Blackfeet. "Those scars are from my prayers to the Creator, Sun."
"Scars from prayers?"
"We call it the Sun Dance, a time when a man hopes to communicate with Sun, the Creator."
"Perhaps someday you might tell me more about this, for I am not certain I understand what a prayer and a dance for the Creator have to do with scarring. But, perhaps not now," she whispered against his shoulder. She paused for a moment before asking, "Are we going to do it again?"
He smiled up at her as his black eyes met hers. "Indeed we will do it again,'" he signed, "but let us rest for a moment. If you will look up"—he pointed—"you will see a full moon through the smoke hole at the top of our shelter. Would you like to take a walk with me to the lake and watch the moon as it shines down upon the water? We do not need to get dressed; I will take my robe and perhaps, wrapped together, we can admire the moon and the stars."
"Yes, I like this idea."
He smiled at her as he stood up naked and offered his hand to her, helping her to arise and bringing her nude body in close beside him. He said in English, "You...feel...good. So good, might ...try keep you...always naked."
She giggled a little and said, "Well, two can do this. If you are to keep me naked, then I wish you to be always naked with me, also."
He laughed. "Little...happen then...except love. Make babies...many. Not good...for...you...space between...babies important. But tonight, it good...we be naked...first night...together as man and...his woman."
"I like the sound of that: a man and his woman. Or perhaps, a woman and her man?"
He made no comment on this as they stepped away from their shelter and slowly walked toward the lake's shoreline. His robe covered them both, and he kept his arm fastened securely around her waist. Standing together, first he and then she looked up into the wide blackened sky littered with millions, perhaps billions, of tiny dots of light.
She had never seen the stars shine so brightly, and she wondered why. Was it due to where they were, being located so high up in the mountains? Or was their brightness caused by the position of the full moon, which hung low in the eastern sky? Or maybe it was both.
