She turned to him, the tears brimming over the edge of her eyelids and she gave him a watery smile. “Isn’t it fantastic?”
“Sure is,” he replied, but he was talking about her and not the sunrise, although it was pretty spectacular.
Once the sun was higher over the horizon, she took a deep breath, pulled a tissue out of her pocket and wiped her eyes. “Okay, now we can start the day,” she announced.
Sid nodded his head and turned over the engine. He was just about to put it into reverse when he stopped. Glancing at her profile, he leaned over and gently kissed her soft lips. “Thank you for sharing this with me,” he said.
Sabrina’s face seemed to light up and she glowed with pleasure at his comment. “You’re welcome,” she said, slightly breathless. “Thanks for coming with me,” she laughed.
“Let’s get some breakfast.” He put the car in reverse and got back onto the highway. Within minutes, he was pulling into a diner that he knew from his past served great meals. “Ready?” he asked.
She glanced at the name of the diner and shook her head. “How do you know about this place?” she asked, her surprise apparent on her face. “This is one of my favorite restaurants. I didn’t think many people from the city knew about it.”
He glanced out the windshield, then shrugged his shoulders dismissively. “I’m sure they don’t. It’s probably a well kept secret only the natives of this area know about.”
That was an interesting piece of information, Sabrina thought, getting out of the car. “Were you born here?” she asked, jumping on the first piece of personal information he’d ever volunteered. Until this moment, Sabrina hadn’t realized how little she knew about this man’s past. It was odd to know so much about a man, to respect him so deeply because of his present dynamic ambition and personal integrity, but to not know anything about what made him who he is. And add onto that, the fact that she’d agreed to share her life, love and body with him, it added a whole new dimension to his character. That she was willing to commit to him so completely and not know about his past, meant she was really in love with him. Not knowing enough about a man had been one of her arguments against becoming intimate with some of her previous boyfriends but it didn’t really matter with Sid. She loved him, regardless of who he was ten or twenty years ago.
“I’ve lived in many places, this is just one of them,” he said and came around to the other side of the car, as if he were protecting her from oncoming traffic or other pedestrians. It was a very sweet gesture and Sabrina appreciated it, even though it was a small issue.
“Where were you born?” she asked, stepping onto the curb but not going into the restaurant.
“No place special,” he said, looking down at her.
Sabrina understood that this probably wasn’t a topic he wanted to discuss. His features were set in stone and there was no emotion showing in his eyes that were usually her gauge to his mood. “Why is your birthplace a secret?” she asked. “Most people take pride in where they were born.”
Sid knew she was just curious and wasn’t trying to pry into his private life. But his past was one thing he never discussed with anyone. “It just isn’t very interesting,” was all he would say. “Where were you born?” he asked, changing the focus away from himself.
Sabrina understood his need for privacy but desperately wanted to know more about this man she had agreed to marry. “Virginia, in a small town outside of Washington, D.C.” she replied without hesitation, showing him that answering personal questions wasn’t so difficult.
“Was your sister born there as well?” he asked, guiding her into the restaurant and into a booth toward the back. He handed her a menu but didn’t bother to take one himself. He knew what he wanted. He’d eaten here several times before.
“Yep. Most people from that area are military so there aren’t many who can claim to have lived there for long. But we lived in the same house since I was born. My parents still live there.”
His interest was apparent as his features opened up as she talked. “Really? What about your neighbors? Were they always around?”
She shrugged slightly, thinking back to some of the sad times in her life when her friends had to leave when their parents found jobs in different states. “Some of them, but many moved around. I was always jealous. I hated being the one that was left behind. It seemed so boring and unexciting. I wanted to move to a new house, have a new room and meet new friends. It took me about ten years just to convince my parents to let me paint my bedroom walls. They painted them pink when I was born but by the time I was in elementary school, pink wasn’t cool.”
Sid smiled but he disagreed with her thoughts about moving. Having moved almost every year from the time he was born until he finished college, he hated changing residences. He’d never moved out of the state. Hell, he’d never even moved farther than five miles outside of Vegas. But he’d always wanted the white picket fence and a stable home. “Sounds nice,” was all he said.
They ate a huge breakfast of eggs, sausage and pancakes with a large pot of coffee. Sabrina enjoyed talking with him, asking him questions and laughing at his dry humor. He asked so many questions about her, her past, the men she’d dated, her sister and her parents, but more importantly in her mind was when he asked about her opinion on various subjects. It was different than the first dinner they’d had together. He shared his opinions with her, agreeing at times, but not always. The times that he didn’t agree, he respected her point of view.
Sabrina was almost sad when he dropped her off at her house that morning. As she showered, she savored the feeling of his lips when he’d kissed her goodbye. She’d asked him inside, shyly telling him that she didn’t want him to leave. But he declined after kissing her passionately. She loved the fact that he appeared just as affected by their kisses as she was. It made things much less scary to know that the passion was mutual. Chapter 7
“This is it,” Sabrina said, looking at her sister in the mirror. “Do I look okay?”
Nina smiled gently at her sister in the mirror. “You look stunning,” she said, bending down to fluff the train of Sabrina’s wedding dress slightly. “Sid is going to be amazed when he takes a look at you. You truly look like a fairy princess.”