SWANS AND STORMS

Summary

Noah's surprise is a small lake fed by the waters of Brice Creek. It is barely one hundred yards across and swimming all over it are hundreds of swans and Canadian geese. There are adults and chicks, and they are packed closely together. They seem unaffected by the humans until the canoe gently pushes them out of the way. Even then, they barely complain. Noah opens the bread he has brought with them, and Allie feed the birds, especially the chicks. It is one of the most beautiful sights she has ever seen. They stay there until the thunder and lightening makes them both know that it is time to leave.

Soon, the rain begins to fall, slowly at first and then heavier, as Noah paddles furiously to get them home. Nonetheless, he knows he is losing to Mother Nature. As for Allie, she holds her face up to the rain and allows it to soak her dress which she hopes will make Noah notice her body more. It feels wonderful, everything feels wonderful. She hears Noah breathing hard as he paddles, and it arouses her sexually. Finally, they arrive at Noah's house, and as Allie waits for him to tie up the canoe, her beauty hits him so hard that for a moment, he has to stop breathing. They both wonder how the other's body would feel. She realizes then that something has changed since she's come here . . . she knows that she has fallen in love with Noah Taylor Calhoun again, and that maybe, just maybe, she has never stopped.

Noah finds some warm dry clothes for Allie and while she dresses, he builds a fire in the fireplace. When she comes downstairs, he doesn't hear her at first, and she takes the opportunity to watch him silently. He is flushed with embarrassment and makes small talk to keep his mind off the sexual thoughts that are going around his mind. However, Allie takes the next step when she suggests bourbon instead of tea. She takes a quilt and wraps it around her, while he finds the liquor, and sits on the floor in front of the fire. When he returns to the room, she tells him she's always liked thunderstorms, because they seem so romantic. She reminds him of the time they had sat together watching a storm a few nights before she left that summer. The way he looked and acted that night had been the way she has always remembered him. She further tells him that he hasn't changed except in growing older. He is still has the gentleness that not even the war could take away.

When Noah asks Allie what she remembers most about that summer, she never hesitates in saying it was the time they had made love. It makes her put her arm through his and lay her head on his shoulder. She says that she loved him more that summer than she has ever loved anyone. They also talk about the letters he had written and the ones she wrote him, but had never sent. She had feared that she would discover that he had moved on, and she didn't want to know that. In every boy she met and dated, she'd find herself looking for Noah. Noah realizes that something has overtaken him now, and he gives in to it, hoping somehow, in some way, it will take them back to what they'd had so long ago. He tells her she's better than he remembered, and when she says he's sweet, he responds, I'm not saying it because I'm sweet. I'm saying it because I love you now and I always have. More than you can imagine. That's when Allie confesses that there's never been another man but him in all their years apart. He was her first and only lover. They cradle each other and while they do, Allie remembers the note Noah had given her when she left New Bern fourteen summers before. In it he had said, Our souls are connected . . . I know I have spent every life before this one searching for you . . . We will find each other again, and maybe the stars will have changed, and we will not only love each other in that time, but for all the times we've had before. Now she wonders if it could be, and that sitting here now seems to test the theory that they are destined to be together.

Like magic, it seems, their years apart don't matter anymore. They give in to everything they have fought against for the last fourteen years and begin to make love. Then, they spend the whole day in each other's arms, making love and making up for lost time, until they sleep in each other's arms for the night. In the morning, Noah awakens first and stares down at the beautiful woman he has spent his night with. Before she can speak, he says, You are the answer to every prayer I've offered. You are a song, a dream, a whisper, and I don't know how I could have lived without you as long as I have. I love you, Allie, more than you can ever imagine. I always have and I always will. Allie pulls him close and knows that she wants him, needs him now more than ever, like nothing she's ever known.

Notes

This chapter is the culmination of the sexual tension and the renewal of the love between Noah and Allie. It is full of wonderful feelings and the re-discovery of what Noah believes to be two souls that are destined for each other for all time.