Tennessee Rose

Part 42 - Marshall

“Are you going to open your gift?” I ask her, keeping my fingers crossed behind my back that I’m not pushing her to far. I watch as she opens the box cautiously to reveal a key with a red bow attached to it and a keyring, its an ‘R’ with diamonds encrusted on it. Rose swallow nervously “Are those diamonds? “ I smile and nod at her.

“The key is to our home, I hope you still want to live with me baby, as much as I want you too” I speak softly, suddenly afraid at her reaction. “I want that more than anything Marshall! “ she leans up and kisses me hard. “I’m so ready for us “ she exclaims excitedly.

“I’m so sorry about the whole it’s  me or your family thing, I.. “ she stops me mid flow and kisses me “it’s forgotten, let’s just get on with our lives now please Marsh, I’m over Tennessee now” Laughing I drag her back into the restaurant, while I shed the rest of Smokey the bear she orders some food for me and I get ready for her next surprise “Rose, “ she turns to look at me while she’s eating “This is your real gift” and I hand her over some paperwork “Oh my god” she grabs my arm as she reads the itinerary.
Her mom smiles at me, she gave me the idea for this, something Rose had always wanted to see “Is this a joke” she waves the details in my face “no baby, we leave tonight at 11pm” she starts crying which is possibly not the reaction I was going for until she manages to sob out the fact that they were tears of happiness. I laugh she is funny.

“What is it Rose?” her brother Dane asks her.
“I’m going to paradise” she says quite whimsically, “we’re going to the Maldives, five whole nights in paradise” she looks at me grinning from ear to ear, I’ve never been so happy.
We spend the rest of the day with her family and move to her parents house after our meal is finished so Rose can pack a case for our trip, I spend the early part of the evening watching sports with the male members of her family and I’m pleased to hear Dane say that even though Liv is living at his house, he knows that she did wrong and didn’t hold me responsible for any of her shit.

At 6pm I grab Rose and she says goodbye for a couple of days to her family and I take her back to my hotel, I need to have her to myself for awhile before we leave for Rose’s paradise. She was going to shit a brick when she saw the villa that I had hired, I was quite proud of myself I’d arranged and booked everything, Paul couldn’t believe I’d figured out how to book it on my ipad and hadn’t actually had to call him to do it!

We hold hands the short distance to my hotel and once safely inside the privacy of the room we kiss each other as if our lives depended on it, we make out til the last possible moment before the front desk calls and let us know our driver has arrived to pick us up.
An hour later we board my jet and settle down for take off, I look over at Rose and she has the key that I gave her in her hand, turning it over and over and smiling at it. She looks incredibly blissed out before we’ve even hit the Maldives, to be honest I needed this time away too, being without Rose these past months I’d thrown myself into writing but was getting no where fast, it was time to recharge my batteries.

”Did you bring the dog outfit?” She did serious but as I look up from my comic book I can see her body shaking with laughter “Sure baby, I had it shipped to our island, you want some doggy action” Rose laughs at me “You looked amazing Marsh, glad I got some photos to prove it actually happened” I scoff as I turn back to my comic “put them anywhere and I’ll punish you” she giggles at me before placing her headphones on her head and beginning to watch a film on her tablet, I’m asleep within minutes, catching up on two months worth of sleepless nights, my own fault but I needed to catch up now and stop thinking about my past mistakes, the here and now was all that really mattered.

We arrived on our first island at the Maldives around six in the morning, from here we needed to take a seaplane to Lily beach where we would be staying, Rose was bouncing as we boarded the tiny seaplane and it sped across the top of the sea before lifting and we flew for thirty minutes before coming in to a bumpy landing at a pontoon at Lily Beach, we are greeted with virgin cocktails and wreathes made of  colourful flowers.
A golf buggy collects us and our luggage and drives us to a private pontoon on high stalks, there is just one villa at the very end out over the clear ocean and its ours. Rose wraps her arms around my neck and kisses my cheek “it’s so hot Marsh, I love it already! “ we snuggle together watching the view as we travel and eventually pull up outside our lovely villa. There’s no windows facing the beach and two wooden fences stretch across the bottom of the pontoon so that we are hidden from the beaches prying eyes.

The concierge let’s us in giving us both keys and takes our bags through to the bedroom. It’s beautiful.

As we’re finally left alone Rose looks around before squealing and launching herself at me, I catch her and hold onto her as we walk around the villa, there are no walls facing the ocean, it’s all open, including the bedroom and bathroom. The only thing hidden from view is the toilet, Rose looks worried as her eyes search for the walls to keep us hidden and safe “Don’t worry baby no one else can get close enough to see anything that happens in here, I wouldn’t let anyone see us” she seems to relax a little in my arms as I lead her outside, there’s a pool that overflows into the sea, hammocks swinging over the water and a slide that takes you down into the ocean.

“This is the best birthday ever, I’m so lucky to have you “ she kisses me deeply as I shake my head and pull away from her “No Rose, I’m the lucky one. “