The Cabin at Lake Bled – Part 2: The Lake at Night

They swam at midnight, because Sara dared him to.

The lake was black and cool as silk, the mountains standing vast against the stars. Marko gasped and swore in Slovenian. Sara laughed until she swallowed water. They floated on their backs together, in the dark, side by side, looking up at the Milky Way.

"I'd forgotten," she said. "That the sky was this big."

"I'd forgotten that you laugh like that."

"Like what?"

"Like you did before the mortgage."

They climbed out shivering and ran, hand in hand, up the wooden steps to the cabin, where the woodstove had burned down to a bed of orange coals. Marko wrapped her in a towel and rubbed her arms until she stopped shaking, and then his hands slowed, and so did she.

"Can I ask you something?" said Marko, his voice low.

"Yes."

"May I kiss my wife?"

"You may," said Sara. "And if I say stop, you must do the washing-up for a month."

"That's a very serious threat," said Marko, and kissed her.

It was slow, warm, a little breathless, the taste of lake water and wine between them, her hands in his damp hair. They had kissed ten thousand times and it felt new. Behind them, the stove ticked, the lamp glowed gold, and the lake lay silent under the stars.

When they parted, both of them were smiling.

"Green?" he asked.

"Green," said Sara. "Very green."

Later, wrapped together under the heavy blanket with the window open to the cold, she whispered, "Let's not wait for the next anniversary."

"Next month," said Marko. "I'll ring your sister."

"You'd better," said Sara, and fell asleep against his shoulder.

More married couple romance: The Cruise · Couples Retreat · The Second Honeymoon