Feeling his unwavering stare, Marg lifted her head to meet his green eyes.
“I missed you,” Ben spoke with feeling, eliciting another blush from her. The butterflies were now flapping their wings rapidly against each other in her chest.
“I missed you too,” she said softly.
Without hesitation, Ben walked over to her and swept her up in a hug as he placed a gentle kiss against her lips.
“Ready to go?”
After his prior expression of affection, Marg could only nod. Ben beamed broadly and extended his hand to her. Marg slipped her smaller hand inside and hooked her fingers into his. Their skin-to-skin contact generated heat that traveled up her arm, yet the mere act of grasping her hand caused her skin to pucker.
Susie appeared at the rung of the stairs, and Marg gave her a few instructions before leaving with Ben. When they got to his car, he released her hand and opened the door, helping her up into the seat. After closing her door, he rounded the other side and got into the driver’s seat. His hand found hers across the console, and their fingers intertwined once more as he used his other hand to drive. Marg couldn’t help the smile that made its way onto her lips.
Ben turned into the parking lot of Flintstone Park. He quickly traversed the passenger side and helped Marg down. He then opened the car's hatch and removed the picnic basket, a checkered sheet, and a wine chiller bucket.
Marg looked around the park and noticed quite a number of people had the same idea of enjoying the sunshine during the end of April’s chilliness. They picket a spot overlooking the water. Ben laid out the spread of cheese and crackers, fruit, and an assortment of meats.
“This is lovely,” Marg replied, taking his hand and allowing him to help her lower to the ground.
“I wanted you to have a wonderful time because I want you to know just how special you are.”
Marg grinned so widely that her cheeks burned.
"You're so beautiful," Ben complimented as he poured them a glass of red wine. Marg chuckled shyly and sipped the alcohol.
After sipping on the glass of mildly sweet yet tart wine, she reached for a strawberry and bit into it, savoring the sweet taste of the fruit. Ben reclined on his elbows, gazing at her with passion in his emerald eyes.
“What?” she asked, ducking her head as her cheeks continued to smart.
“I’m just admiring how beautiful you are, especially when you blush like that,” Ben responded without hesitation.
“Thank you,” Marg replied. She shouldn’t have looked into his emerald eyes, which seemed to beckon her into a dimension different from their own. Paradoxically, she felt as though she were floating on a cloud bed and freefalling at the same time. It was a scary feeling.
She felt something light land on her leg, and she looked down to see a Frisbee resting there. She looked over her shoulder at the sound of running feet to see a little boy who couldn’t be older than three or four running in her direction. She picked up the toy and turned just as he came to a stop before her.
“Hi.” She smiled warmly. “Is this yours?”
The little boy nodded, his brown hair rising and falling over his forehead with each jerk of his head. He held out his tiny hand, and Marg placed the Frisbee in it. The little boy cracked a smile as soon as he had the toy in his possession, then ran off in the direction he’d come. Marg’s heart warmed as she watched him go until he got to his parents and two older children that had been watching their interaction. A deep yearning hit her square in the stomach as she watched the woman who must have been the little boy’s mother lift him into her arms and rain down kisses on his small face as he giggled wildly.
Marg’s smile slipped as she thought about her situation. It had been a few weeks since she’d last thought about the possibility of having a child of her own, but she had pushed it to the back of her mind and kept herself busy. But as she stared at the family having fun together, she knew the yearning would never disappear.
“Marg, what’s wrong?”
Marg shook her head to clear it as she turned to look at Ben’s concerned face. “Nothing. I’m fine.” She grinned reassuringly.
Ben looked at her for a long time, causing her to shift uncomfortably under his assessing gaze.“You should try the cut meats. They’re really good,” he finally said.
“Okay,” Marg replied, reaching for a slice of the cured cuts. She put it in her mouth and chewed. It was tasty, she could tell, but her mind refused to be stimulated by it. Instead, it had remained on the little boy with the Frisbee and the desire to have a child of her own. She wondered if he would get her dark hair and eyes as green as a rainforest.
Marg’s head pulled back at the hand waving before her face. She turned to see Ben staring at her with the same concerned look from before.
“You zoned out on me,” he explained.
Marg gave him an apologetic grin. “I’m sorry,” she said. For the remainder of the picnic, she tried to remain engaged in the conversation she and Ben were having and eating the food that had lost its taste as the deep yearning to nurture a child remained a prominent fixture in her mind.
Ben took her back to the inn after their picnic. She turned quizzical eyes toward him when he made no attempt to release her hand to go open her door. “Ben?”
His head snapped in her direction, his expression unreadable. “I can tell that something is eating at you. Why won’t you let me in, Marg?”
