Mountains of Dawn

"What were you doing?" he asked with a laugh.

"Putting your face in my mind, the details of your face, the way you frown and smile and…just you."

He came over to her and drew her into his arms. "Why bother, when you have the real thing right here?"

"But I don't always." A small tabby cat jumped from the floor onto her lap. She gathered it in her arms and drew it close to her face, stroking it under the chin.

"Marta's cat. That's another inconvenience of not having any air conditioning. With the doors open, the cat comes in and out as it pleases." Kevin rose from the sofa and gathered the freshly printed sheets of his manuscript. "Darn critter, you'd think it owned the place."

Tanya cradled the cat and listened to the sweet song of its purr. "Poor baby, it's lonely. Marta spends so much time at the hospital with her niece. Tobia is often with me, sitting at my feet while I paint, keeping me company. I don't mind. Tobia needs attention."

Kevin grinned. "So do I!" He reached out and rubbed the cat's head. "My competition. But now let's talk about something else, something pleasant," he said, his smile strained. "Let's talk about your upcoming birthday."

"Birthday?" Tanya dropped the cat to the floor and stared at him.

"I must admit, I had to give Edda the third degree to get the date, but I didn't manage to get the year." He grinned at her. "How old will you be, my little Tanya?"

For a moment, Tanya was puzzled. Then she remembered the date of birth is often encoded as part of the key to access personal files. It could be used to break into a database to obtain confidential information. She stared blankly at Kevin.

"What's wrong? Are you really an older woman who's had cosmetic surgery to look young? Are you really forty or fifty years old?" He dropped to his knees before her and took her face in his hands. "Let me check," he said, his voice a husky whisper. He ran his fingers over her face with a feather touch. He cupped her chin, drew her toward him, and kissed her mouth with a delicate brush of his lips, then pulled her into his arms and kissed her long and deep.

Tanya gasped, nestled her head against his chest. "No, no…" she said when she could catch her breath. "I'm not forty or fifty. I'll be twenty-three."