⇾ 𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 | 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐋𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐧 𝐈𝐈

Chapter Sixty: The Sweetest I'd Ever Known

May 4, 1964

Morning came far before it should have. I was in a trance, my thoughts in an overwhelming whirl that left me dizzy. I was in a state of bliss. When my eyes opened and I remembered the night's activities, I blushed before feeling John's strong arms come at me from behind. The love made last night had been the sweetest I'd ever known.

"Good morning, you," he said, his voice deep, as it always was when he had just woken up.

I sighed lightly in pleasure as my body unwound under his touch, feeling even woozier than before. "Good morning," I responded, rolling over so that I was facing him.

He pushed a strand of hair our of my face and then kissed me on the forehead. He dipped his hands below the blanket and picked up my left hand, studying the engagement ring, as well as the promise ring he'd given me some years ago in Lübeck. He had a wistful look on his face as if he finally had something lifted off of his shoulders, and I suppose he did have something lifted off his shoulders.

"I love it," I told him.

He smiled at me. "I'm so glad you do," he said.

"You know," he added a moment later, entwining his hands with mine and looking at me. "Brian helped me," he admitted. "I wanted it to be perfect. I went crazy over it." He chuckled. "Even I had never seen myself that worked up over something."

"Yeah?" I responded with a giggle. "I do that to you?"

"Oh, you do a lot of things to me, love," he assured me. "Too many to wrap my head around."

I blushed. "Well, I have to say, you weren't very good at hiding how nervous you were," I commented with a teasing smile.

"Don't be cheeky," he said, tapping me on the nose playfully before studying me up and down. "Up for another round?" he asked, grinning challengingly. "Before we've got to leave?"

I looked at the clock on the table against the back wall of the room. "You've got two hours," I responded innocently. "Make it count."

"Oh, with pleasure, my love," he said. "What round is this?" he asked amusedly, leaning in dangerously close, but not kissing me, just teasing me, leaving me merely wanting him. "Round ten-ish? Rowdy one, aren't you?"

I nodded, an innocent smile playing on my lips as he shifted himself so that he was on top of me. "That's my girl," he whispered, leaning in for a kiss to begin the show.

~~~

We were back at the airport, boarding another plane. John kept a tight hold on my hand the whole way onto the plane as we talked to Pattie and George about what Tahiti would be like.

"I'm thinking like coconuts and more palm trees and all that. The sand will be stark white and the sea will be electric blue!" said John dramatically as he sat down in his seat and began to pull the seatbelt around him. "It'll just rain tropical drinks!"

When the belt had snapped into place, he settled back in the seat, leaning his head against the back of the chair and closing his eyes. "I could go for some sleep," he commented.

"Yeah?" said George, cracking an amused grin. "Late night?"

"You have no idea," John replied, opening his eyes just for a moment, solely to provide a cheeky wink that left me a blushing mess.

George only laughed. "So, John's getting married now," he said. "Wait until the media hears this one."

John's eyes popped open. "And now that Geo has spoiled the mood, let's talk about something else."

George pulled a pack of cards out of his pocket. "Anyone up for a game?" he asked.

I shrugged. "I'll play."

"Very good!" George said, shuffling the cards.

~~~

"I guess now's a bad time to mention I'm afraid of boats."

John looked at me pitifully as we stared at the boat in front of us. It wasn't exactly what we'd been promised, but it looked cozy enough, I guess.

"Everything'll be alright," he insisted.

I nodded as I tried to push my fear to the side, telling myself it was silly to worry and that everything really was going to be okay.

It was dark out. We'd been waiting for the boat to get here since we'd arrived and so we'd had a look around the island. John and George had bought matching green coats and we'd filled up on some dinner before coming back.

"It's now or never," said George, clapping John on the back and leading Pattie towards the boat by her hand.

John looked at me with an encouraging smile. I extended my arm in front of me. "Let's go, then," I said as I gestured towards the vehicle bobbing on the water in front of us.

He smiled, taking my hand, and helping me onto the deck of the mechanism. I immediately fell uneasy with the moving surface below my feet. I grabbed onto the rail as soon as I was completely on board, feeling like I was going to fall over.

"Okay?" asked John, an amused grin on his face as he helped me steady myself.

I nodded feverishly, but my swimming stomach said otherwise. A light rain had begun to fall and that meant we'd be spending the night in tonight. We were led by a part of the crew we had, who thankfully didn't know who any of us were, down to a room containing two sets of bunk beds where we'd be sleeping when we were on board, which wouldn't be every night, I was told.

Pattie and George were already getting themselves situated, sitting on the top bunk on the left and talking about god-knows-what. Clearly whatever it was, they both had strong feelings about it. When they saw us come into the room, they both looked up and smiled. John and I thanked the man who had led us back and he gave a sincere look before leaving us to get settled.

"Welcome aboard!" said George jokingly, hopping down from his perch on the bed and making a wild gesture around.

I was still adjusting to the slight movements of the boat rocking, so every now and then, I'd catch myself stumbling and having to catch myself.

"Alright there, Epstein?" remarked George, snickering.

I smiles sarcastically. "Yeah," I responded. "I'm great." I stumbled again. "How the hell do you stay so steady?" I snapped at John and George, frowning when my response was laughter from all three of them.

John sat down the bag he had in his hand and took mine from me too. I used the free hand to steady myself enough to move and sit down on the bottom bed on the right side of the room.

"I guess I'm on the top again, then?" asked John, cracking a grin.

I rolled my eyes. "Be my guest," I replied as George and John broke into childish laughter at the comment.