Page 46 of Brother to Brother

It didn’t seem like it was a four hour ride. Honestly, it felt like we’d only been on the bike for minutes. He motioned for me to get off, which I did and he backed into a space in front of the great old lodge’s front porch and shut off the motorcycle. No sooner had the rumbling of his engine ceased, than the front door of the lodge swept open, letting out a rich, warm, golden glow.

“Are you Archer?” an older, portly woman asked. Her long, iron hair swept into two braids on either side of her head. She was short, and her eyes were in a perpetual squint as she smiled at us.

“Yeah, I’m Archer,” he answered.

“Oh, good! I’m Contessa; José said you’d be coming. Congratulations to the both of you!” she cried excitedly and swept me into a quick squeeze of a hug in her excitement.

“Thank you,” I said laughing lightly. Archer, in the meantime, had hauled his leather saddlebags up onto his shoulder.

“Everything’s in order then?” he asked and Contessa beamed at him.

“Absolutely! You’re in the honeymoon cabin, do you know where that is?”

Archer nodded, “That I do.”

“Great! Here’s the key,” she handed him a key with an old fashioned brass hotel key tag attached to it. “Breakfast is at nine, here in the lodge, lunch is at one, and dinner is at six. Would you like me to send someone to get you at meal times?”

“That’d be good, yeah. Might lose track of time,” he cleared his throat and I felt my mouth go a little dry.

“Would you like to walk around or come through the lodge?” Contessa asked, motioning to the open front door.

“I think we’re fine, I know the way. Come on, Mel,” he held out his hand to me and I took the few steps toward him and took it. It was warm, his hands rough from the work he did with them on the regular.

“Have a good night, sleep well!” Contessa called after us, waving. I waved back at her over my shoulder and slid a bit on some loose gravel. I yipped in surprise and laughed and paid more attention to where I was going after that, following Archer down a steep, winding path towards a glimmer of what looked like water through the trees.

I held tightly to Archer’s hand in the close dark, the sounds of crickets and somewhere an owl, very different from the rap music and general disorder surrounding the apartment. This was a welcome respite from the noise of a more urban setting.

We followed the winding path to a small, squat stone cabin that looked like something out of a fairy tale. The windows glowed with muted golden light, and Archer used the key to unlock the front door. He let us in to a very modern, very swank single bedroom, one other doorway leading into a bathroom and another standing open to a small closet.

He held the door open for me and murmured my name softly. I shook myself as if waking from a dream, and stepped past him, over the threshold onto a square, slate entryway.

A fireplace burned cheery in the stone fireplace and the bed took up the center of the room, which was odd placement but made sense when you realized that itwasa pretty small room and it was to give the fireplace full advantage as well as all the little white tables and chests with candles on them the opportunity to do their thing. There was no electric lighting in the bedroom, it was all candles or oil lamp sconces on the walls. It was beautiful, and I didn’t want to track dirt from outside onto the plush, cream carpet studded with white rose petals, so I stopped to take off my boots right there on the easily swept slate.

Archer looked down at what I was doing and tossed the saddlebags to the bed, leaning down to pull off his boots on the marble as well. I hated socks with no boots, in fact, if I could run around barefootallthe time, I would, so I stripped those off as well before stepping into the white foam that was just as soft as it looked.

“It’s beautiful in here,” I murmured and Archer made a noise of agreement. He went past me into the room and dug into one of the saddlebags, turning around with a wooden box in his hands that looked suspiciously like Rush’s work, though simple in design.

“It was a long ride, why don’t you take this and use it?” he said, and I frowned in confusion. My curiosity got the better of me though, and I took the box, releasing the little metal hasp and opening it up to an assortment of bath products and a folded note.

Hey Melody!

You should takesometime on this trip for yourself and relax! We hear the honeymoon suite has a killer bathtub. Feel free to lock Archer out and take some ‘me’ time.

The Ol’ Ladies.

I chuckled and handed the note to Archer who read it and frowned saying, “Better not lock me out, it’s my honeymoon too.”

I stilled and nodded, and thought to myself,it’s probably not his idea of a good time being ball and chained to me, either.I wondered briefly what else we were going to do over the three whole days we had here, because sex couldn’t and wouldn’t be the totality of our stay… I mean, would it?

“Go on, it was a long ride, take a hot soak and try to relax. I’ll put the rest of this stuff away.” I looked up startled out of my deep thinking and tried a smile, nodding, and headed for the bathroom a few paces away.

I stopped in the door way and said, “Hey Archer,” he looked in my direction, back over his shoulder, “Thank you for a lovely first dance,” and I meant it. It had probably been one of the most perfect parts of my day.

“You’re welcome,” he said, and in a lower, husky voice that sounded like a closely held secret he told me, “I liked it too.”

I softened marginally, and with a slight nod, took myself into the bathroom with my little wooden treasure-trove of a box. What I saw stopped me cold. It was like a fairytale in here too. The room was tiny, and the ceiling low, but instead of feeling claustrophobic it feltright; nice and homey and it wasdefinitelybeautiful.

The back wall, as you came through the door, was white with heavy brown wooden cross beams. The Tudor style is what I believed it was called, at least when it was the same effect on theoutsideof the building. I didn’t know if it rang true for interiors as well.

---