Sherry smiled as her beautiful eyes welled-up.
“No, of course not. It’s what Mum always called me, too; obviously great minds think alike!”
James laughed, and it sounded relieved, a genuine, happy sound.
“Cherie, I know this is all happening really fast, and you probably need time to get this all straight, but I want you to know that when you’re ready, we’re here; your family is waiting for you. There’s no pressure, and definitely no rush, so when, and if, you feel ready, we’re here, my wife and I, my children, my daughter Nia, who you spoke with briefly, and my son Jamie, waiting to welcome you to your family.”
Sherry rang off, and looked at me thoughtfully, her eyes no longer doubtful or questioning. There was definitely a sense of links falling into place and connections made, questions on the cusp of being answered. All in all I felt like we’d made a good and lasting family connection, and even if it wasn’t with any family of mine, well, Sherry was my family, and they were her family, so now they were my family too. That pleased me; it gave Sherry that past and family history she’d always been lacking; now at least we knew the most important parts of her story.
With that in mind, I took Sherry back to bed once more, just to hold her and let her feel the love. Her life the last few months had been an emotional rollercoaster, with some shocks, and some incredible moments. She needed to calm down, cool-off, and chill out, and the way to start that process was to let her sleep it off. Sherry made noise about how I was just trying to get her back into bed, but she was just kidding around. We both knew if I truly had to convince her to climb in the sack with me then we weren’t as tight as we thought we were, and that’s not how it was with us. I slid her into bed, warmed her up, then tucked her in and let her sleep while I went and did a little grocery shopping. When my girl woke up, I wanted her favourite treats ready and waiting for her, and maybe plan a getaway somewhere for a few days, just to get all of this shaken off us for a while.
*****
When Sherry awoke she found me grinning at her, my own special “I know something you don’t know” grin guaranteed to make her attack me until I gave in, so I moved out of range.
“What? What have you done?” she smiled sleepily, while I reflected that, just awakened, eyes still blurry with sleep, and her customary elaborately styled and immaculately sleeked-back quiff a disorganised, “bed-head” haystack, she was still just about the most adorable, beautiful thing I’d ever seen. The ‘Winnie the Pooh’ pyjamas just added to the overall picture of hot adorableness. I wanted to leap frenziedly on her, but I damped that down. That could come later. Right then, I had a treat for my girl…
“Upsy-daisy sleepyhead, day’s a-wasting! I grinned, holding out my hand, which she took, and I helped her out of bed. Sherry grabbed the quilt and rolled it around herself like Sitting Bull in an old western movie.
“What, it’s nice and warm!” she smiled at my look, letting me lead her into the lounge. Her eyes lit up at what she saw there. While she was sleeping I had been busy. I’d gone to our local Lidl supermarket and stocked up on all her favourite treats and wake-up snacks: platters of smoked salmon, prosciutto and Serrano ham sliced thin and delicate, just the way she liked it, sliced Danish salami, her favourite Valencay goat’s cheese and mild Normandy butter, soft brioche fingers still warm from the oven, malty, crusty granary bread rolls, kibbled wheat crackers, rich, smooth Ardennes Pate, and grapes, redcurrants, strawberries, and fresh raspberries, and, just to top her off, sweet little ‘Pastel de Nata’ tarts, churros, and a cherry Clafoutis tart, with a couple of chilled sparkling orange juices to wash it all down. When she was ready, I also had a secret weapon: a couple of bottles of Cremant de Limoux sparkling Languedoc wine chilling in the fridge in case she needed further persuasion.
“Danny!” she breathed, “oh you sweet guy, you remembered, thank you!”
All conversation ceased as she tucked in; Sherry has never been one of those calorie-conscious girls, she’d never needed to be, her slim svelte elegant figure remained unchanged no matter what she ate, and it did me good to watch her put away any and everything she liked. I think she suspected I had an ulterior motive, and I did, sort of, but she didn’t let that stop herself enjoying the treats I’d laid out for her. I wanted to see my girl enjoy herself, with the things she liked best in the world; if I could get away with it, I’d do this for her every day of my life just to see the light in her eyes and the smile on her lips. What I had in mind could wait.
Conversation kind of flagged for a while; Sherry was too busy exploring the table I’d laid for her, and I kept urging new and more interesting things on her, things she eagerly ate, closed her eyes and beamed in ecstasy, and went on to something else. It did my heart good to see her so happy. She’d had a rough time those last few weeks, what with all the publicity surrounding the trial, the trial itself, the TV appearances, all that must have made a difference to her. I needed to pull her back to a simpler place, just for an hour or two, and I thought it was working.
Eventually, she gave a satisfied sigh and leaned away from the table, relaxing with a J20 in her hand and a sweet smile on her face. Even with her hair in wild disarray, dressed in rumpled Winnie the Pooh pyjamas, with not a trace of makeup or lipstick, she was still the most ravishingly beautiful girl I’d ever seen, and my heart literally gave a little stumble at just the thought that she was my girl.
“Okay Danny, you win; why the big wine and dine seduction routine, although I see no sign of wine yet… ” She grinned, making me smile back. When Sherry smiled at me it was like the sun coming up, like dawn breaking through the clouds, it lit up the room and warmed me all the way through.
“What have you done that you need me mellowed-out, baby-boy?”
I grinned: busted. Sherry knew when I was up to something, she always had, she was just like Mum in that respect, I could never slip one past her.
“Okay, confession time. I made a couple of phone-calls while you were snoring -” she threw a cushion at me at that “-and made some arrangements, so, next weekend, starting Thursday, I took some of the Bank Holiday time in lieu I’ve accrued, and I have six days off, Thursday through Tuesday. I also spoke with your uncle again”- her head snapped up at that, “-and I told him we’re coming to see him and his family on Friday.”
Her eyes got big at that but she didn’t explode in outrage, so I ploughed on, on the basis that she hadn’t gone off like a hand-grenade so she wasn’t going to.
“I also had a chat with your cousin Jamie, who sounds like one of the nicest guys on the planet. I think you’re going to like meeting him. I know he’s going to love meeting you, he’s enthralled with the idea of having a first cousin, there’s always been just him and his sister, Nia, and she’s jumping up and down too. Your family sounds like nice people, baby.”
“I don’t know…” she hedged, but I could see she was intrigued by the idea, so I pushed a little harder.
“You know this needs to happen, baby; there’s too much story here, things you need to know, about your family, about Rosa, your father. This is where it all comes together, and come on, aren’t you in the least bit curious about your family?”
Sherry stared at me, her glorious eyes hooded, pensive, then she brightened and her beautiful smile broke out.
“You’re right, let’s do this, let’s go find out what happened and who my family are, correction, my other family; you’re my only real family, Danny-boy, you and me first, always, everyone else second, always.”
I took her hand and kissed it while she fluttered her eyelids innocently and gasped, “Why young sir, what are you doing, you are so forward!” I looked up at her and she grinned.
“I didn’t say you should stop, you know, maybe you can sort of work your way up?”
I don’t need huge great big hints to leap frenziedly on my girl, a wink would do it, but just as I prepared to launch a frontal assault, she held up her hand.
“Uh, wine?” she hinted, so I went charging into the kitchen to get the chilled bubbly, corkscrew and some wineglasses, but when I came back she was gone.
“In here, baby-boy!” she called from the bedroom, so I made tracks in there, but when I got there I almost threw everything down and jumped on her.
Sherry was lying, posing, really, on top of the covers, her wild, jet-black hair smoothed back, absolutely stark naked; the sight of her, of her pale skin glowing in the golden afternoon sunshine, her naturally coral lips contrasting with her pale, smooth skin so vividly drove all thoughts of champagne out of my head.
“See anything you like, sailor?” she purred, and I didn’t throw the glasses and sparkly down, I didn’t leap on her like a wolf on a lamb, and I didn’t just grab her and have my way with her, much as I wanted to. No, I calmly and safely put the glassware down, pulled my polo shirt off and unzipped my jeans, slid them off and tossed them on the chair then I leaped on her, because human flesh can only take so much…
Sherry shrieked as I landed next to her, tickle-hands at the ready, and the next few moments were taken up with her laughing and giggling and rolling around as I tried out all her ticklish spots, until we ended-up with me on the bottom, with her face-to-face with me and her holding down my wrists with all her weight.
“Gotcha now, so quit tickling me!” she ordered.
“Or what?” I challenged, grinning cockily at her.
“Or I’ll bite your nose off!” She grinned, coming closer, so I kissed her, she was too close to not kiss, and she was very much worth kissing. Sherry didn’t fight back, instead she relaxed, her full weight on me as our tongues fenced and our lips explored each other.
“I love you, baby-boy!” she whispered, and gasped, her eyes widening as I pulled her buttocks apart just for a second. “Naughty, Danny-Baby, very naughty,” she purred.
“I love you too, Sherry-Baby, and I like being naughty with you.” I grinned right back at her.
“Show me how naughty… ” she whispered, so I obliged, kissing her neck and shoulders, places that always made her mew happily when I kissed or even breathed hotly on them, slowly working my way down her lithe, perfect body with my lips and the tip of my tongue. Sherry writhed in delight and gasped softly as I kissed or gently licked somewhere new, but I really hit the jackpot when my probing tongue-tip danced through the trimmed patch of peach-fuzz decorating the apex of her slit.