The Morning after the Night Before

I woke up in Nathans arms, just after 10 am the day after the wedding. He was still asleep and I was just replaying last night in my head. We got home around 1am, and went straight to bed. Lesley showed us where we are sleeping. The house was a beautiful two storey house; it had hardwood floors, and balconies that wrapped around the entire houses two levels and bushland as a backdrop.

“And you Nathan will be sleeping in here and Paris you’ll just down the hall.” She joked. I laughed.

“Ha, ha.”Nathan said sarcastically. I hit him playfully on the arm. Lesley chuckled.

“Ok well Nathan you know where everything is, so you can just show Paris.”

“Thanks heaps for having us Lesley.” I said.

“Hey no worries, we love having people here.” She smiled.

Nathan and I walked into the room and it took my breath away. It was a 4 poster bed, with white lace curtains around the frame, it was beautiful and the moon was shining through the window onto the hardwood floors. This house had lots of character and warmth; it was the house I could imagine Nathan growing up in. His mother’s house was cold from the inside out.

“Oh...This is so beautiful!” I said while touching the curtains.

“Yeah, it’s pretty nice.” Nathan said intently watching my fingers on the curtains.

“Nate, why didn’t you tell me you lived here growing up?” I asked.

He sighed loudly but he wasn’t angry, “It just didn’t come up, I...mum and I had problems lots and lots of problems Paris. So Lesley said I could stay with her, and I did.”He looked sad.

“I’m sorry Nate, you don’t have to tell me...I just want you to know, that you can talk to me about this, if you want too.” I said wrapping my arms around him.

He gulped repeatedly before speaking, “I can talk to you Paris. It’s just hard. There’s a lot...”He stopped talking before he finished his thought.

“It’s ok Nate.” I said kissing him. He kissed me back, and led my over to the bed.

We both got lost in each other after that. His hands travelled the length of my body over and over again, and his lips only left mine once to tell me he loved me...I don’t think he realises how special he is.

Nathan woke up about 15 minutes later and pulled me in for a kiss.

“Morning beautiful, how’d you sleep?”He asked.

“Actually it was the best sleep I have had in ages.” I answered honestly.

“Me too.” Nate said.

“Hmmm ok let’s get up, can you show me where the shower is?” I said.

“The shower is just there, that door.” He said as he pointed to the other side of the room.

I shook my head, “No...Can you show me?”I smiled.

He chuckled softly before untangling himself from the sheet and dragging me to the bathroom.

Nate and I walked down the stairs about half an hour later laughing at some stupid joke from the best man speech at the wedding.

“Hello you two, nice of you to join us in the world of the living.” Lesley said.

“Sorry, we were tired.”Nate said smiling at me.

“Yeah sure...”Lesley said with a knowing smile that made me go bright red, and Nathan cough loudly.

“Well Brad’s making breakfast and your mum, Belle and Matt, Georgie, Chelsea, Jake, West and Uncle John are coming over.” Lesley said, counting everyone on her fingers.

“Oh cool. Well I guess you’ll get a chance to meet everyone then.” Nathan said to me.

I smiled, “Guess so, I think I’m going to go see if Brad needs any help.” I said.

“Morning Brad, did you need any help?” I offered.

“Oh hello Paris, I would LOVE some help. Can you make scrambled eggs?” He asked.

“I can certainly try.” I smiled.

Half an hour later we were all sitting around the table, I was wedged between Nate and Georgie. Everyone was having a really nice time. Chelsea was nice but a little closed off just like Georgie said. Jake was a little serious but friendly. It was going well and Martine was keeping her distance. The newlyweds looked so happy, Matt was absolutely smitten with her, he looked at her like she was the only girl in the world. And then Martine decided to change the subject.

“Well this is lovely isn’t it? All the family together, oh and Paris of course.” Martine said. I felt Nate tense up, like he knew trouble was coming, I rubbed his leg under the table and gave him a smile, as if to say it’s all fine.

“It is lovely isn’t it?”Lesley said casually.

“So football season starts soon Nathan doesn’t it?” Brad asked, it’s like everybody knew when trouble was brewing and they all took on the appropriate roles to diffuse the situation.

“Sure does, I have training on Tuesday.”

“Oh well, won’t be able to have so much fun with Paris then?” Martine chimed in.

“Nope probably not, but will make time.”Nate said his voice light but his body was tense.

“Hmmm I’m sure you will.” She said angrily. At this point everyone had turned their attention to the intense conversation going on.

“Ok so who wants some more orange juice?” Chelsea asked, a few people said yes and the cups were passed around.

“So are you both planning to stay another night still?” Lesley asked Nathan and me.

“Yep if that was ok.” Nate answered.

“No worries. Happy to have you!” Lesley smiled.

“Oh so none of you are not going to stay with me tonight?” She asked her question directed at Nate, Chelsea, Georgie and Jake.

“Mum why would we? You treat us like crap for most of our lives and then you treat Paris like a stupid slut that’s just after Nathan’s money. WHY THE HELL WOULD WE?” Georgie screamed. I had definitely never seen her angry and it seemed like most of the table was shocked too.

“Don’t you ever speak to me like that. How dare you?” Martine yelled back. At this point the table cleared, Lesley grabbed my shoulder and we walked outside, followed by the rest of the family besides Georgie, Nate and Chelsea.

Jake grabbed my hand and steered me towards the garden. “Paris...I’m sorry, she...we’ve all been through a lot with her.” He looked exactly like Nate looked last night, extremely vulnerable and sad.

“It’s fine. Every family has baggage I suppose. I don’t know exactly what happened with all you kids and your mum but I’m sorry.” I said patting him on the back, while he lit up a cigarette.

“Stress smoking only.” He smiled.

We chatted easily for about 15 minutes, just sitting in the garden looking out at the bushland. Then we heard Georgie calling us up to the house, while we were walking back he said,

“Your good for Nathan, I can see why he likes you.” I smiled back at him and realised that all of family (besides his mum) were really genuine and kind.