Chapter SIXTEEN

**

It was indeed the middle of the night on the other side of the world. Urs was on his back staring at the ceiling in his bedroom, waiting but he didn’t know for what. All day he had felt this sense of anticipation, not an evil omen, more like that expectant feeling when you see presents under the Christmas tree and wonder what’s in them. It had been a long tiring flight and after all the red tape at the airport and check in, they had all opted to crash and try to sleep off jet lag.

He sat up and decided to go to the tiny kitchen for a mug of milk to put in the nuke. He smiled. That was Mami’s cure all for insomnia, warm milk.

On the way back he noticed a flashing icon on his laptop where he had left it on the table. He ignored it but then paused and went back. He had mail.

He clicked on the icon to check his e.mail messages, began to read who it was from and dropped the mug of milk on the floor.

Nimrodel….that was a Tolkien name!!…It had to be from Honey!!!

He scanned the message quickly, shouted “YES!!!!” at the top of his operatic trained voice and pranced about the room with his arms raised in victory, cutting his foot on the broken mug, but not caring in the least, in fact not noticing.

He had to share….it was after 3 in the morning, he didn’t care, he just had to share this. He grabbed his key card off the small foyer table and raced out of his suite, first to pound on David’s door, then Carlos, then Seb, leaving bloody footprints on the plush carpet of the hall and shocking an elderly lady who looked out of her room at all the commotion and saw a wild, curly-haired man dressed only in very tight cotton boxer shorts, banging on doors and shouting “She loves me!!”

“I can understand why,” the woman said as she took one last look and reluctantly shut her door.

David opened his door, Holly right behind him, both looking frightened, thinking maybe the hotel was on fire but Urs grabbed him by the head and kissed his messy hair.

“I got mail. She loves me,” he cried as Seb, Anna, Carlos and Gerry came out in the hall.

“From Honey?” Gerry cried out. “Let me see it.”

“Copy…that’s right I need a copy…front desk…they have printers….” Urs was gone in a flash, back into his suite, came out with his laptop, trying to wind up the charging cord as he ran down the hall to the elevators.

David tackled him, put him in a headlock while Carlos fielded the laptop agilely and, once David had Urs on the floor, Seb sat on him. They were all laughing now and other guests were peering out their doors watching as these big, grown, half dressed men, with their ladies watching, wrestled about on the floor, laughing or leaning against the walls, hysterical.

“Urs, let Carlos go down to the desk…you only have shorts on,” Gerry finally managed to say and he looked down as if surprised that yes, that was all he was wearing, then completely forgot about his state of undress again as Seb bounced on his chest.

“And your foot is bleeding…..David bring him inside while Carlos goes down to the desk,” Holly gasped between giggles and they helped Urs inside, all the guys still laughing, Urs with a grin on his face that made his dimples deep and his eyes squinched up.

They got him installed on the toilet seat in the bathroom with his leg up on a stool while Holly used tweezers to pick pieces of the mug out of the sole of his foot and he tried to tell the others about the e.mail.

“She gave me the address and said it’s a really nice chalet on 10 acres….I know the town…. it’s beautiful in that area……she said she would be waiting for me to mail her back. Mein gott…I’ve got to go answer her….” He pulled his leg down and tried to stand.

“DAVID!!! Make him sit down!” Holly yelled and David took Urs face in his big hands and talked to him.

“Urs, hey Bro…pay attention. Carlos took your ‘puter down to the desk to print the mail you got. Now sit still and let Holly fix your foot.”

Urs stared at him for a moment then glanced down at Holly on her knees, smearing antiseptic cream on his foot, over to Gerry, leaning against the door frame and Anna, sitting on the other end of the counter. His face went red and he reached his long arm over to the pile of towels on the rack and pulled one over to spread across his lap.

“Uh, David…I don’t have any jeans on…”

David snickered and then tried not to laugh.

“Actually Urs, most of the guests on this floor know that.”

Seb was also trying to keep a straight face. “I think you left the key card in the door, Urs. I will go find your jeans…and I will take Anna and Gerry with me.”

“And I’ll give you some privacy now too, Ursy. I’ve finished with your foot.” Holly rose and kissed him on the brow, grinned at David and shut the door behind her.

It wasn’t long before the bedlam had died down. Urs, with his jeans on, sat next to Carlos on the sofa and read out the letter, sharing what he had received.

“It’s a beautiful area, I know it well. I even know the farm….it used to be a camp for music students. There was a dormitory out back but it burned down about ten years ago and they sold off most of the farm. I can just picture Honey living there happily.”

David had opened some wine and they all toasted the successful re-uniting of their lost loved one with them, the girls alternating between crying and smiling over such a romantic turn of events.

“So what happens now, Urs?” Anna asked, snuggled sleepily up against Seb on the sofa.

He looked around at his friends and grinned.

“Well I guess the first thing would be to let you guys get back to sleep. I’m going to answer Honey’s letter and we’ll make some plans from there. And we’ll finish the tour, of course.”

**

Honey had turned the sound on her speakers way up so if her ‘puter beeped that she had mail she wouldn’t miss it. She called her contact, a Captain Mulvahy, at Ramstien base in Germany and left a voice mail for him, then proceeded to work on the baby blanket she was crocheting, eager to get it finished since now she needed two.

She was sitting at the table day-dreaming and crocheting when the ‘puter made it’s happy little sound and she clicked on mail to answer immediately.

From: Ekinamadi@comet.net

‘Hey: I am so happy I’m almost losing my mind…I want to come home to you, right now, but of course I can’t…we have to finish the tour and I know you understand that. That doesn’t mean I won’t be thinking about having my arms around you and feeling your sweet mouth on mine every minute that I’m awake over the next 3 weeks, probably when I’m sleeping too.

You could not have picked a more perfect place than at Kussnacht. Der Musik Hof was a camp for music students for many years until a fire took the dormitory about ten years ago. Then the farm was parceled off and the last piece, with the house, was empty for a long time. I’ve always loved that area.

It warms my heart to think that you want the twins to be Swiss and to be named after our fathers. I had hoped to give the boys my name but I would much rather give it to their mother first. I do want to marry you, mein Liebling, for purely selfish reasons. I love you and want us to always belong to each other. For me, Marriage is for life and beyond and you are the only woman I have ever even considered being wed to. Please take a chance on me. I love you desperately, with my whole heart, soul and body.

Answer me back anytime, even tonight. I’m much too happy to sleep.

With much love, your Urs’

She cried a bit with happiness then sent him a short note.

“You need your sleep….go to bed and dream about me being beside you, our bodies touching and warming each other. I can almost feel my hands skimming across your chest, tickling the curly hairs, tracing the line of your ribs and reaching to that strong back with the ropes of muscle. Can you not feel it, the way my nails scratch ever so lightly, making you shiver? ….the way our legs are tangled, the silky softness of your hair making my cheeks tingle as you lean over me to caress my mouth…… can you feel the warmth of my hand stroking you, making you harder, ready to seek that warm, wet glove that is so eager to fold around you?... are your hips ready to rock against mine and take us to the peak once more?

Urs, I don’t know about you, but now I’m definitely ready for some sweet dreams…..remember how much I love you, my darling.

Honey”