Episode 9 - Welcome Home

"You just did. Maybe you had more complicated feelings back then than you do now. Some changes may be for the better. Don’t you think?" 

"I must be insane. Why can't I remember, yet I'm sitting here doing the opposite of what I would do?  I must be insane!"

"Don't say that. You're not crazy! You have an amazing mind that will come to you soon. At least I hope all the good times we shared." 

"You think so?" She asked. All this compelled me to search my soul anew. I want to remember these good times he speaks of so fondly. But simultaneously, the most vibrant, energized emotions he stirs within me bring me distraught and confusion.

"Of course, that’s what I will be working on." And I will help you, and I will always be there."

"Really...always? Despite if I Never remember you?" 

"Always." He assured her. 

Zari could have sworn she was in a fantastic dream. Strangled thoughts and a baffling memory perplexed and held her in their grip. While this sensual dream only got better as they pulled up to this beautiful house. He parked the car and walked around to open the door for her. 

"Oh, my, whose house is this?" She asked with a smile as she looked into his eyes. A perfect, almost hallowed peace enveloped my innermost being.

The slender, tall man with the sweeping head of lovely, wavy black hair said. "It's our house, and you did a great job selecting the plants for the landscape and making this house into a home." 

"I did?" 

"Yes, but this is the difficult part. I’m going to need your cooperation. You see when I purchased this house, it was empty. But before we go inside. I want to bring you in the way I did when we purchased this house. Is that okay?"

"Hmm...Okay, I guess." 

Devon went to pick her up, and she held her hand out, backed up, and stopped him. 

"Wait! What are you doing? You can’t just pick me up. I’m afraid.” a slight frown marred her smooth forehead.

“Afraid of what?” he asked with a hint of a smile that softened Devon’s mouth.

“You are a stranger. Besides, I'm heavier than you think." She replied, trying to discourage him.

Devon rolled up his sleeve, showed her his guns, and kissed them. As she laughed, he said. "Don't let this slim body fool you. I can't say I'm not proud of them, and I work out regularly." She laughed more as he kissed them. 

"Okay, I'm carrying you in." He scooped her before she could further protest.  The unexpected motion forced her to wrap her arms around his neck to maintain her balance. He shifted her slightly, molding her breasts to his chest.  

He said. “You are light as a feather. Then he picked up the bag that held her old clothes.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Zari shouted at him. Her right hand fisted. “Put me down,” she demanded.

Devon tightened his hold under her knees. He shifted her again, smiling. 

“What do you plan to do with that fist?”

Zari looked at her hand as if it was something she’d never seen before. Heat suffused her face. There was no doubt she was ready to punch out the tall man holding her effortlessly as if she weighed light as a feather.. Devon smiled. Zari couldn’t help but relaxed her fingers.

When they stepped over the door's threshold, the house looked like she had entered an expensive hotel lobby.  She nodded with a smile.  He walked over to the sofa, sat her down, closed the door, and looked at her. 

"This is hard for me to believe I lived in a house like this. Are you rich?" 

"Well, it's your house, but you didn't live in it." 

"Why?" 

"We'll talk about that later. Let me show you where everything is first."

"Here will be your room, and I will sleep in the guest room down the hall." 

"Thanks for being so considerate. I thought you would make me sleep in the room with you." 

"No, not until you are ready." 

"Thanks," she said, a little shocked.

"Are you hungry?" 

"Yes," 

"Then you relax, and I will get some hot stuff ready." He said, heading to the kitchen, hoping the phrase would trigger a memory. It was something she called him all the time.

"Hot stuff?" She looked at him and giggled. "You are a funny man." 

"What can I say? CEO by day and stand-up comedian by night." He said, making them both laugh. He was about to leave her, but she stopped him.

"Hot stuff? Why does it feel so familiar?" 

"I'm going to go cook dinner. You keep thinking about it." he winked at her.

Devon realized just how much he loved and adored this woman. He was feeling the way he did the first day he saw her. And all he wanted to do at that moment was kiss her. He tried to help her memory of him in small doses.  Zari went into the room, sat on the bed's edge, and cried. She hoped the memories were there but just locked behind a wall in her brain that she couldn't knock down. But she felt something was familiar about this man; he was nothing like the man she knew as her husband.

When Devon came to her room an hour later to wake her up, he found her sitting on the bed, crying. He went over to her. She looked at him with teary eyes. "Why are you crying?" 

"I know it's hard for you, and you seem like such a nice man. I hate that I can't remember any of this." 

With tears running down her pretty face. "I should leave." 

"Don't say that. It's not hard for me. What was hard not having you here with me at all."  He said, holding her hands.

 "Promise me you will never leave me again?" 

"Ok." She said as he wiped her tears.

"I want to tell you a beautiful love story over dinner." 

She wanted to tell him what she remembered and about her real husband. But she was scared. "I'm scared." 

"Why are you scared, Zari? You can tell me anything. I'm not going to hurt you."  He tried to tell her. 

Zari took in a deep breath. "I was married, but not you but to another man." 

She could see the confusion, pain, and hurt on his face. "That can't be so!" 

"I am a married woman, just not to you." 

Devon looked at her, confused and stunned.