Star Wars: The Rise of Ren ✓

Chapter 42 - Renewed Relationship

When they entered the suite, Naluma looked around. She espied a vase of flowers on the mantel and a stack of cards in envelopes waiting for them. The suite smelled fresh—not of blood, not of sanitizers, but of the kedari trees outside.

She took in a deep breath, letting the fragrance of the trees energize her. Sensing the Force flowing between the trees outside the window,  she longed to join them. She smiled in anticipation of being outside one day soon, her mood swinging from the low end of the spectrum back to the high within seconds.

Luke lowered her to the bed and propped her up with pillows. "Need anything?"

"Dinner? I'm hungry. Med center food may be nutritious, but it sure doesn't fill you up," Naluma said with a grin.

He  smiled at her first attempt at humor. "No problem." He raised his eyebrow. "Although, I should warn you, the doctor has placed you on an iron-rich diet."

She stuck her tongue out at him, envisioning plates of wilted waha in the future.

He chuckled as he exited the suite and headed to the kitchen.

Luke brought two trays to the suite. If Naluma had to have iron, he was going to make sure a few nerf steaks were on the menu.

"Okay, I think I can handle this diet. Well, maybe except this boiled waha." She swirled the wilted greens on her fork.

"You need your greens." He raised an eyebrow.

"I know. But if I have to eat waha, I'd prefer it raw." She took a bite and forced down the slimy leaves.

He grinned at her. "Noted."

As they ate, Luke stared at Naluma, smiling with affection.

Naluma sensed a stirring in the Force between them as he observed her, something she had not felt in months. "Luke, what are you thinking?"

"Just remembering our first dinner together—you know, that night on the shuttle ramp," Luke said with a twinkle in his eyes. After a few bites of his steak, he asked, "So, when did you know?"

"Know what?"

"That you loved me." He stabbed his waha with a fork.

"Hmm. Good question. I was definitely attracted to you that first night, when you went to that High Command dinner in your dress blacks," she said with a warm smile.

Luke smiled widely, throwing his head back with a laugh. "Yeah, I remember. Your shielding was so terrible at that point ... No way to miss your attraction." A blush rose to his cheeks as his eyes glazed over. "It was electrifying. You were the first woman to ever look at me that way. And then I was conflicted ... because I was not supposed to feel like that."

She put her fork down. "Yeah, I was fighting that, too. Then the next day I knew I could trust you. But as for loving you ... loving you so much I'd give my life for you ... Telti, when you hurt your back."

"I would have guessed it was before Telti. You were extremely jealous of Leia," he teased, waving his waha in front of her with his fork.

"You might be right." She grinned. "How about you? After the terrorists in the Senate?"

"No, don't you know? It was that second night," Luke said with a teasing laugh. "While we were eating dinner on the shuttle ramp. I fought with my feelings each day until your accident. Think about all that time we wasted."

"Ten years. During those first ten years, that is my only regret—and then I was so angry when we found out that the original doctrines had been tainted."

"You and me both. My whole life I had been told one lie after another, until I married you." He reached over and stroked her face softly. "You still give me chills when you look at me from across the room."

Naluma leaned forward and kissed him softly. "You do, too." She ran her hand down his chest.

Luke grabbed her arm and moved it away. "None of that, Naluma. Doctor said at least six weeks."

With a sigh, Naluma pouted.

"And we're in this together ... I can wait."

"I don't deserve you."

"I know," Luke said with an impudent grin. Naluma hit him with a pillow.

Did you know . . .

● The surface tension is relieved, but it was tough getting to this point. Emotional scenes take every ounce of energy from a writer.

Tell me what you think . . .

● Do you think Luke and Naluma's marriage will go back to where it once was? Why or why not?