Chapter 16 – Epilogue

“And I just let those little things slip out of my mouth, words like I miss you. Please come back and see how much I do. Listen to the soft voice in your heart, all those little things that made up the greatness of our love.”
― Rolf van der Wind

Prague – December 26th, 2009

The room was almost all red. The carpet, the bedsheets, the canopy, the curtains that only allowed a tiny bit of dawn to invade the suite. Yet, the color was nothing but a fuzzy background and all Michael saw were Lisa’s eyes looking up at him, wide and bright. Their hue was intense – trapped between gray, blue and water-green.

He tried to keep his breathing slow and steady, and only focused on the warm feeling of her sweaty body straining underneath is, while he kept moving inside of her, slow and deliberate.

Her hands were pinned above her head, her fingers interlaced with his, and she moaned softly. Almost breathlessly. The ball of fire got closer and closer and he found himself swallowing, trying to maintain iron control over himself.

This was way too good to end now. He wanted to keep going. He wanted to keep loving her like this forever… and maybe even longer than that.

“Baby… I love you so damn much… Oh, shit…” Her eyes closed for a moment, then opened again, focusing on him. “It’s too much… You’re making me come again…”

Yes, he could tell. He felt her body writhe and quiver underneath his as he picked up speed, not too much but just enough for her to shatter into pieces, his thrusts solid enough to make her scream out and make him see stars, threatening to push him into the abyss with her.

Not yet…

Lisa cried out again and he kissed her hard. She sucked on his tongue, doing exactly nothing to postpone the inevitable onslaught of pleasure. He had to break the kiss and resume his movements, speeding up the pace again, changing his rhythm, allowing her to go from one high to the next. Unable to peel his eyes off her, he let go of her hands and her arms immediately closed around his torso, from his shoulder blades and then moving lower. Her fingers skimmed down the sweaty skin of his back, finding his ass, pulling him into her as her thighs rose, cradling him between her legs. Trapping him in heaven. Her pelvis began to move as her eyes kept staring at him and he was done.

“Fuck… Oh, girl…”

“Yes… I know… There you go, daddy… Oh yeah… I wanna feel you… Come on… Let me have it all…”

“Here it comes… Jesus Christ!”

Gritting his teeth, he spasmed and began to release into her with such violence that his head began to spin. He felt dizzy and almost couldn’t orient himself as his climax kept going. For a moment, he thought he would never stop spilling inside her body.

And then he collapsed on top of her, his cock still jerking inside of her, her body not allowing him to leave yet. Not that he had any intention to go anywhere.

For a few minutes, there was nothing but panting.

“Merry Christmas, baby…”

Lisa purred the words in his ear as her lips nuzzled his neck, making him shiver. Her hands still slowly running up and down his back and sides felt heavenly. Tender and sexy at the same time.

“Technically, it’s not Christmas… Not anymore…”

She giggled.

“I guess I’m still in the Los Angeles timezone, then…”

He kissed her shoulder, her collarbone, her neck. Propping up on his elbow, their bodies still connected, he took his sweet time sucking and nibbling at her breasts, loving the aftermath of their lovemaking just as much as he loved the act itself.

“Well, you better get used to the new timezone then, babe… ‘cause we’re gonna stay here until next year.”

Lisa laughed, and the involuntary contractions of her inner muscles made him shiver, likely shortening his refractory period. It was still weird to be fifty-one and, more often than not need a recovery time that was more akin to a twenty-something-year-old dude. Lisa was very happy about it – and quite frankly, he was too. They truly were each other’s youth elixir, let alone biggest source of happiness.

“What a moron. We’re gonna stay here for just a week.”

“Exactly. And it’s gonna be next year when we leave.”

He rolled over and took her with him, causing her to land right on top of him – all without leaving her body. Lisa purred again and sat up, pushing her hands on his chest for leverage. She tossed her hair.

“Michael…”

“Yes, baby.”

“Thank you for this trip. I love that we were able to book the same suite. And I love it that this is our honeymoon.”

He smiled. The suite looked exactly the same as it did back then. Time seemed to stand still in this magical city. It was like a beautiful, luminescent, perfect bubble.

“Yeah, me too. I mean, I know it’s a bit late but…”

She laughed.

“You can very well say that, but… better late than never…”

“Right…”

She leaned in, her long auburn hair caressing his naked skin, and they kissed some more. This was absolute perfection, and besides… she was right. Everything happened for a reason, in its due time. He and Lisa had been married for about nine years, and yet only now they had found the time to truly take some time off and go back to the place that had snapped them out of their misery. Effectively laying down the grounds for their new beginning.

They had landed in Prague the previous night, with two nannies and all their kids on toe, and they would be visiting the Threshold later that afternoon. Jaroslav and Dana couldn’t wait to see them and were ecstatic at the idea of spending some time with their old friends. They had already told Michael and Lisa to get ready, because the place they had contributed to creating had changed a bit. For the better! The Threshold had expanded and evolved, and now included even a primary school and a theater, and was thriving. Through the years, Lisa and Michael had never really lost touch with the Mazeks, and every now and then they had received pictures of the place via e-mail, but seeing it in person, breathing it in, was going to be an entirely different animal.

But first, some quality time. At least until the children woke up.

Lisa’s fingers in his hair, her lips on his neck managed to reawaken him and, of course, she noticed. Her pelvis moved ever so slowly.

“Baby… Looks like I haven’t been able to wear you out yet…” She lifted her head and her sexy, hooded eyes smiled down at him. “…Something wrong with me?”

“Yes. You’re way too gorgeous for this old man…” For good measure, his hips pushed up and into her, making her moan slightly. Oh, yeah. He was coming back to life alright. “…And I don’t think there’s anything you can do about that.”

“Well…” Once again, Lisa sat up. She raked her fingers through her long hair and straightened her stance, allowing him to watch her naked body in all its breathtaking beauty. “Maybe I can try again…”

Out of sheer instinct and undiluted, unbridled desire, his hands caressed her perfect thighs, her flat abdomen, then moved up, fondling her breasts.

“Yeah… try again… and I’ll let you know if it works out or not…”

Damn, she truly was drop-dead gorgeous. There was a new maturity about her that only enhanced her natural beauty and made him want her all the time. He just couldn’t get enough of her – the scent of her skin, the taste of her, the feeling of having her close. She also looked magnificent after making love, with that inner glow sparkling from the inside out, her hair tousled and wild, down on her back, her skin flushed. Since they had gotten back together, Michael had managed to constantly find new reasons to love her. And she, him. And the best part was that, once they had finally let their guards down, it hadn’t been hard at all! Despite all their difficulties and despite their past. Maybe honestly and openly acknowledging their deepest fears, ten years earlier, was what had been able to make a difference. Or maybe it had been a Christmas miracle for real and they had been living in it since then.

Lisa began to seriously move in his lap, and there was no doubt that he was ready to take her one more time. Because of the jet lag they hadn’t been able to sleep at all, and their first night in the suite that she had been able to snatch from him the first time around had been all about making love. After all, this was their belated honeymoon… and they were also on a mission.

Ten years earlier, after meeting again in Prague – after deciding that they would only be fuck buddies and only as long as they were abroad, and then gloriously failing at staying away from each other once back home – they had resumed their relationship with fresh optimism and renewed hope. It had become a definite possibility the very moment they had been able to truly open up and talk. Not just speak, but truly talk things out like they hadn’t done in a very, very long time. That level of communication was very similar to that they had shared during the first year of their marriage. Only better. Filled with a new sense of awareness.

Of course, they both knew that they would need time to heal emotionally from their previous fuck-ups, but unlike in the past, they intended to do so by having absolute faith in each other, both as individuals and as a couple. That had been their starting point, the pillar of their love. This time, their approach to their relationship had been completely different, and maybe if it hadn’t been so, they wouldn’t have ended up where they are now. Instead, they seemed to have found the perfect recipe: expectations had been replaced by trust, and apprehension had been swapped with some kind of new bravery that they had never experienced before.

Lisa and Michael had decided to get back together knowing well what they were doing, being mindful of their decision and committed to it. Genuinely intentioned to take their time to rebuild what they had thought they had lost forever, it didn’t matter how long it would take. With a love like the one they shared, there was just no other way than being together.

But then, things had gone in a different and utterly unexpected direction.

A few days later, around New Year’s Eve, Lisa had discovered that she was pregnant. It hadn’t been planned and, in fact, nothing could have shocked her more, at that time. Yes, she and Michael had never used condoms during sex, but it was just because she had been on the pill while in Prague. Not for a second she had imagined that what she and Michael were doing could be risky, and had she thought differently, she would have asked him to use precautions. She was aware that a pregnancy was the last thing a less-than-solid couple needed, and she and him, back then, hadn’t even been a couple. As a matter of fact, they were supposed to be pretty much nothing to each other. However, fate had a strange way to manifest itself, and the result of the three different pregnancy tests she had taken at home, leaving no room for interpretation, had been utterly stunning and unexpected.

She still remembered sitting on the floor, near the bathtub, holding that third little stick in her shaking hand, wondering how in the world something like that could have occurred. She and Michael had attempted to have a baby in the past, but it had just never happened despite their best efforts. How strange it was that it had now, the very moment they were not looking for a pregnancy at all.

At first, she didn’t even know how to tell him, or how he would react to the news. It was one thing to decide to go back together and start again from there, but to tell him that she would have his baby when he had pretty much just become a father of two other kids was something entirely different. Maybe he would think that she was trying to shackle him. Maybe he would run for the hills, feeling trapped and backed into a corner. Lisa honestly had no idea, and the inability to imagine what would happen next had almost given her a panic attack. Those damned old fears were still there, somehow.

However, one of the new rules that she and Michael had set up for themselves was that there would be no more secrets – no more silence. They would be able to freely communicate, they would trust their heart and their love. And so she had taken that leap of faith and had just told him.

Obviously, Michael was as unprepared for the news just as much as she had been. Lisa’s words had pretty much floored him. If a man could manage to be floored by sheer and undiluted happiness, of course.

“…Are you kidding me?”

“…No. I would never joke on stuff like this.”

“But… How did it happen? I thought you were on the pill?”

Yeah… of course his mind had immediately gone there. Lisa had almost felt like crying, realizing that she couldn’t really read his mood. She was not entirely sure if he was just shocked or if there was also something else simmering beneath the surface. Something she wasn’t able to interpret yet. Courageously, she had held his gaze. What else could she do?

“I was. Are you mad at me?”

He had looked at her as if he had lost her mind.

“Mad at you? What for? Because we made a baby? Are you crazy? I’m the happiest man on the planet!”

“Are you sure?”

He had taken her hands and pulled her close, then he had kissed her. His arms around her, he had lifted her up, his lips still attached to hers. Infusing her with everything that his obvious amazement couldn’t convey verbally. She had felt his heart beating frantically in his chest.

“Yes. God, yes, I’m sure. Oh, girl… I’m so happy. You should know… You have to know that there’s nothing more I’ve ever wanted than having a baby with you.” He had put her down again and his hands had framed her face lovingly. His eyes were shining and everything had become clear to her. The reality of it all was finally dawning on him in all its glory. He had just needed a moment. “Lise…! We’re gonna have our baby!”

Only then she had been able to smile. Only then she had been able to breathe again.

Michael had scanned her face, staring at her from one eye to the other. She had noticed his hesitance immediately. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one still dealing with the shadows of the past.

“…And you… are you OK with this? I mean… how do you feel about it? I haven’t asked you yet…”

“How do I feel about you being my baby daddy?”

He had tried as much as he could to keep his smile relatively composed, but she could now see how proud and smug he was.

“Yeah…”

Lisa had taken a deep breath, held it for a moment, and then finally let it go. Just allowing her emotions to run freely. How liberating it was, to know that she and Michael were on the same page. Reaching up, she had covered his big, warm hands with her own smaller ones. She had realized that she hadn’t asked herself that question yet. And she was glad that it had come from him.

“I feel… happy. And still a bit shocked, quite honestly. But mostly, deliriously happy. And… in love.”

Underneath of those leftovers of fear and anxiety, it was exactly how she felt.

Yes, maybe she and Michael would still need to keep working on their insecurities. But they were also getting pretty good at it.

Once her pregnancy had become a sure thing, they had asked Lisa’s gynecologist how in the world it had happened. The doctor had given them serious food for thought.

“How did it happen? Well, you have no idea how many babies get conceived while the partners are traveling abroad. And even when birth control is involved. You know why? The keyword is: timezone. First of all, being on the pill is not automatically a 100% guarantee of not getting pregnant. Plus, certain conditions or behaviors can increase the likelihood that your birth control won’t be as effective at preventing pregnancy. For example, if you can’t remember to take your pill at the same time every day, your risk of pregnancy increases. Ovulation can increase your chances of becoming pregnant as well. Lisa, if you were in Prague and got confused by the timezone, and forgot to take your pill at the same time every day… If you were late with a dose or skipped one altogether, and all the while you were having sex with Michael, well…”

Yeah. That had probably been it. Maybe she had messed up with the timezone. And surely, she and Michael had had lots of sex. So it had indeed been an accident waiting to happen. But still, that unexpected pregnancy had ended up becoming the best belated Christmas present ever, for a couple who finally had found a way to go back to square one and resume their relationship from a place of absolute love and trust.

Their beautiful baby boy had come into this world the following September, and Lisa had giggled, telling Michael how funny it was that little Michael Jr. was a crazy Virgo just like his dad. Tired as all get-out but also completely high on endorphins, she had gone on and on about having another male in the house destined to live and thrive in complete chaos. Michael had just rolled his eyes in return. Clearly, his woman still couldn’t fully appreciate his genius. How much he loved her! And how deliriously happy he was!

A week later he had proposed, down on his knee, big beautiful ring in his hand and all. She had cried, and he too had gotten emotional. He had told her that they would get it right this time and she had believed him, because she could feel it in her heart that it was the truth. They had remarried about six months after the birth of their baby, and they had never even thought about breaking up since then. Not once.

Of course, not every single day of their marriage had been about flowers and puppies and rainbows. As a matter of fact, some days had been just god-awful. Marriages were hard work, not fairy tales. Still, the lesson had been learned and they had always found a way to navigate whatever issue had come their way, either personal or professional. He counted on her not only when it came to his private matters, but also his business. She had indeed ended up helping him find another record label and, since then, he had always carefully listened to her advice. He was no longer a one-man show. He and Lisa were back at being perfectly in sync, like they had always been destined to be, and driven by the same principles and values. To know that, together, they were the best version of themselves and that they were safer together than they would ever be apart was a source of great motivation.

Their little honeymoon to Prague was now acting as a symbolic return to the place that had finally allowed to see things from a different perspective. The place that had managed to clean the dirt off the windows of their small, subjective universe, making them aware of what was outside of it. Making them aware of who they truly were to each other.

And if everything went the way Michael had planned, maybe they would go back to Los Angeles with another beautiful Christmas present… Which he had started thinking about during the fall, while wrapping up his residency show in NYC.

Unlike in the past, when he had told Lisa that he would have loved to have another child, this time she hadn’t even protested – nor she had become defensive. As a matter of fact, her reaction had almost left him speechless. She had looked… relieved.

“Oh, God. I hoped you would ask me…” She had sat in his lap, kissing him softly. “I too have been thinking about it for quite some time, you know? I just didn’t bring up the subject because you’ve been so busy with your shows and you were so focused, I didn’t want to pressure you with anything else… but now that you’re finally retiring…”

Michael’s hands had come to rest on her perfect ass. He had felt absolutely high, just thrilled, yet he had tried to maintain a calm, casual behavior, not wanting to freak her out with his enthusiasm.

“Woman! I’m not retiring for real. I’m not that old. I’m just going to stop touring… and in a couple of shows, this residency too will be over. I am done being on stage for months on end and I wanna move on to other things, I told you.”

“Uh-uhm… Other things… Sounds good, baby.”

“And I’m still perfectly capable of making another baby.”

“You’re right. Even in your mature years, you’re nothing but a stud.”

He had kissed her hard, pulling her body into his, making her feel how studly he could be indeed, and how eager he was to go straight to baby-making business.

Lisa had kissed his ear, her lips lingering there for a moment. Her body had melted against his, like pure, liquid heat.

“Come on, daddy… Let’s make another baby…”

But all joking aside… Once again, communication had to take center stage.

“Do you really want it, Lise? ‘Cause I’m not joking…”

“Neither am I.” Another soft kiss, this time on his neck. “I’m serious. I love you. As a partner, as a lover, as a father for our children. And yes, I do want to have another baby with you. You’re still young to be a father, but I don’t have much time left… My biological clock is about to break forever.”

“Don’t say that, Lise. You’re perfect.”

“Yes. I’m a perfectly forty-one-year-old woman. So we gotta hurry up, if we truly want this.”

“I do… Because I love you. I love that you’re the mother of my children.”

She had framed his face with her hands and her eyes had turned tender. She had shaken her head every so slightly, a tiny smile appearing on her lips.

“You make me so happy, Michael… Just so, so happy. I should tell you every day.”

So simple and sincere, her words had moved him deep inside, and they had spent the rest of the afternoon making love, cuddling, enjoying a long bath together, and taking a long walk around the ranch. Meanwhile, his mind had never stopped reeling and, a couple of days later, he had brought up the idea of a little, delayed honeymoon in Prague.

Lisa had been cooking when he had told her. He had seen her grin, her eyes still fixed on the oven. What a good metaphor.

“Can we really call it a honeymoon, with five children attached to our hips?”

“Yes. If we see it as such. Plus, it would be a great occasion to make our new baby… If we haven’t managed to get there already. I mean, we sure have been trying.”

She had turned to look at him. She seemed intrigued.

“Wow. Looks like you got it all figured out. You really wanna do this, don’t you…”

“Yes. I would love to. I think Prague holds a special magic for us. It worked out so well the first time around… and I was just thinking…” She had watched as Lisa walked over to him and fed him a little slice of apple. “…Maybe we can try again and see if we’re still as lucky as we were back then.”

She had watched him with eyes so full of love that he had felt as if nothing, absolutely nothing, was wrong in the world.

“Let’s be honest, Mike. We’re even luckier now.”

“Mommy! Are we going?”

Lisa turned and watched Mickey, her nine-year-old son, fidgeting and jumping around like the little bundle of energy that he was.

“Why, are you cold?”

“Nope. But I’m bored. I wanna go back to the Christmas market.”

“Well, be bored for another five minutes and then we’ll see what we can do, OK?”

The kid didn’t look amused in the slightest. His eyes moved over to Michael.

“Daddy?”

“What? You heard your mother.”

Rolling his eyes, he turned and trotted back to his older siblings, who were busy taking selfies and laughing about something that was probably very silly but also quite funny. Michael and Lisa just stared at them for a moment.

“Look at them. Instead of watching this beautiful scenery, they’re turning their back to it and taking pictures,” Michael scoffed.

“They’re called selfies, Mike. The self-portraits of the digital age.”

“Yeah…” He maneuvered her body so that it came to stand in front of him and hugged her from behind. “Well, I still prefer old-style things… Real stuff… I’m not that much into that virtual BS…”

Lisa kissed his hands.

“I know. And I love how you handle real stuff…”

He giggled.

“Behave…”

“I always do.”

He sarcastically snorted again, then rested his chin on her shoulder and they just stood there for a moment, their eyes narrowing against the chilly breeze. It was a very cold day, and although it was fortunate that the sun had come out, they still wished it would resume snowing later that afternoon. Because the Threshold truly looked even more magical when covered with that soft white blanket. However, the sun rays kissing the city in all its beauty made the view even more stunning. No more clouds. No fog. Everything was clear, visible in every single detail.

It was a little after noon, and they were on top of the Old Town Bridge Tower, just the two of them and the kids. Their security detail had discreetly followed them from a distance for the past couple of hours as they walked around the city center, and now the guys were waiting for them down on the Charles Bridge. Just like ten years earlier, this little trip to Prague had managed to go pretty much unnoticed, and it was nice to have the freedom to move around like a typical family, if only for a few days.

“Lise… are you OK?”

She pushed back into him further, snuggling against his torso.

“Yeah… I’m good. Even though you’re scraping me with that stubble. Why?”

He just shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t know… for a moment, you looked far away.”

He could tell that she was smiling.

“I’m not. I’m here, with you, just enjoying this moment.” She turned her head and their eyes met. “It’s perfect.”

“We are perfect. All of us.”

Yeah… It was the truth. Michael’s eyes moved over to the river. Its surface looked smooth and shimmering like liquid silver.

A couple of swans were there, just slowly skimming over the water, side by side. Once, he had read that swans mated for life and mourned if their partner died, in a process akin to human grieving. It had always stayed with him. He had been unable to forget about that detail, and he had never truly understood why that bond fascinated him so much.

But maybe he did now. As he observed the swans on the Vltava river starting to swim with their necks entwined in the shape of a heart, he realized why they had become a nearly universal symbol of love and loyalty. He realized why it was hard for them to go on as if nothing had happened, if their loved one was no longer. It simply could not be.

“Lise… What if we never went here? Back then, I mean.”

This time she turned her body fully, her arms circling his torso.

“I think about it, sometimes… And then I stop. Because I don’t want my mind to go there. It’s not what happened.”

“I just think that it only takes one tiny, insignificant event to change everything else. If I hadn’t gotten involved in this project to begin with… or if I had decided to not go check it out personally… Maybe I would have never seen you again.”

She looked up at him.

“Do you really think that?”

“I don’t know… I think that God works in mysterious ways. Do you?”

“I used to. But then I realized that some things are just forever, Michael. They’re just bound to go in a certain way. Maybe they don’t happen the way we think they would. Or when we would like them to happen. But eventually, they always find a way.”

Michael tilted his head, his eyes slightly mischievous.

“All I know is that you almost kicked my ass when you first found out that I was here.”

She laughed that low, husky laugh he had always found so sexy.

“I was just surprised, that’s all.” Her hand reached up, touching his face. “I was so scared to meet you again. I was so bruised, so scarred, and I didn’t think I could recover and become capable of seeing you the way I used to see you. And I was right, you know… During that trip, you became someone else. Someone you had been all along and I couldn’t spot. Someone who could heal me. Maybe I had been the blind one, among the two of us.”

“No, we both were blind in a way. Until we truly understood what love is… Finding that person who brings out the best in us, and eliminates the worst.”

“Yeah. Maybe only by allowing ourselves to truly love, we could understand what love really is all about.”

His eyebrows sprung up.

“You don’t think we knew what it was, before then?”

“No, I think we did. I think we knew exactly what it was. The butterflies and the haziness and the longing and all that stuff. But underneath it all, there was also that tiny voice whispering… I can’t believe this is really happening to me. I can’t believe he wants me that way. I can’t believe forever exists… But then…”

“But then we found out that the door we had been banging on forever had opened.”

“Or had been open all along. Who knows? What I do know is that we had to be vulnerable and raw to heal. That was all.”

Sighing, Michael pulled her into his arms.

“Remember when I told you that you should have faith and believe in what isn’t always right in front of you?”

“Yes…”

“That’s it. That’s it, Lise. You gotta be able to see miracles for there to be miracles.”

End.