20:45 – Brandon was fixing himself a breakfast sandwich when Valerie strolled into the galley. There was a strange Cheshire-cat grin on her face and she had both hands hidden behind her back. “What are you up to?” he questioned, suspiciously. Just then, Carl, Jackie, Tom, and Sally all filed in behind her. Brandon and Valerie had just come on duty, Carl and Jackie were getting off, and Tom and Sally should have been on their way to the two staterooms. The five of them all began singing an off-key chorus of Happy Birthday. At the end of the song Valerie revealed what she had been concealing behind her back. It was a vacuum-sealed gift-wrapped box, about the size of a pack of dental floss. “What the heck is this?” Brandon queried. “And where did it come from?”<\/p>\n
Valerie handed it over to him, saying, “I’ve been keeping this safe for you. It was slipped to me by Captain Clark and I can only guess where he got it.” Everyone laughed. “Go ahead and open it.” Brandon tore open the plastic pouch and suddenly had the strangest sensation that his wife, Emma, had just entered the room.<\/p>\n
A bit disoriented by this, he glanced around, but naturally she was not there. How could she be? They were at least 20 million miles away from Earth. He tugged the end of the crushed ribbon to untie the package. It fell away easily. Then, Brandon folded back the wrapping paper; it wasn’t even taped. Finally, the box top lifted off to reveal a sheet of rose-colored stationery, folded to nestle in the box. As he removed it, Emma was again beside him. He tentatively raised the paper to his nose, inhaling the scent. ‘Aha! Obsession… I think.’ Brandon continued to unfold the paper and the fragrance became even stronger as he read the note silently.<\/p>\n
“Well?” prodded Carl. “What does it say?”<\/p>\n
After first checking for intimate details, he read the message aloud, “Happy birthday, darling. Surprise!! I smuggled in this perfume to give you something to remember me by. I hope it made the trip unscathed. Remember I love you and come home safely, Emma.” Everyone applauded as Brandon reached into the box and pulled out the smallest perfume bottle he had ever laid his eyes upon, a single dram in a tiny vile.<\/p>\n
Valerie smiled broadly and added, “Captain Clark said you would have to skip a dessert for this.” Brandon knew exactly what she meant. Clark was the team leader responsible for weight distribution on the ship. Nothing goes onboard that he doesn’t know about. Everything had to be weighed so the right amount of fuel could be planned for the flight.<\/p>\n
“I’ll need to have a little chat with the good captain later,” Brandon joked. They all took a few minutes to partake of some toaster strudel, in lieu of birthday cake, before heading off to continue with their daily routines.<\/p>\n
From: Brandon Devlin
\nSubject: Missing you
\nDate: Aquarius 25, 0031 00:24
\nTo: Emma Devlin<\/p>\n
(CLT): 1 min 52.69 sec<\/p>\n
My very dearest M,<\/p>\n
Well, aren’t you the thoughtful loving spouse? I doubt anyone else would have ever thought to send a birthday present along on a Mars mission, let alone have it smuggled on board. It smells delicious, just like you. I know it’s your favorite scent: Obsession. I’ll put a drop on my pillow tonight and dream of you all night long. As a special ‘thank you’ I wrote a little something to tell you how I am feeling. Why don’t you go fill the tub, add a drop of perfume and take a nice long soak in a warm bath. Then, put on something soft and sexy for me to imagine and climb into bed before reading about how much I love you:<\/p>\n
Out of sight, out of mind, what a terrible thought to ponder
\nWhen you’re out of sight, I’m out of my mind, but my heart still grows fonder<\/p>\n
As the miles between us grow and years till again we meet
\nI’ll hold fast to the memory of your lovely face, so sweet<\/p>\n
I miss you dear, with all my heart, each fiber of my being
\nAnd when I close my eyes at night, ’tis you that I’ll be seeing<\/p>\n
I long to hold you in my arms, gently touch your skin, so bare
\nAs you run your hand across my chest, your fingers through my hair<\/p>\n
I’d kiss your palm, your wrist, your arm. I’d kiss your neck, then your breast
\nWorking my way toward your knees and kissing all the rest<\/p>\n
I want you wrapped around me, both feet up off the floor
\nHolding you gently, sweetly, till our legs will take no more<\/p>\n
Then lower you softly to the bed, lying beside you, half atop
\nHolding you, holding me. My head’s about to pop<\/p>\n
Making love the whole night through, till the morning light comes in
\nA little bite of breakfast in bed, then start all over again<\/p>\n
I’m missing you so much, my darling, but you have nothing to fear
\nI’ll be sleeping alone tonight, and wishing you were here<\/p>\n
Pleasant dreams, doll face.
\nYour loving and ever devoted husband, Brandon<\/p>\n
< ≡ ♂ ≡ ><\/p>\n
From: Emma Devlin
\nSubject: Missing you more
\nDate: August 25, 2018 9:17 p.m.
\nTo: Brandon Devlin<\/p>\n
(CLT): 2 min 4.10 sec<\/p>\n
Darling Brandon,<\/p>\n
Reading your words of love made me realize how very much I miss you. I wept as I whispered them over and over. They touched my heart and filled my soul with longing. Late at night, I lie awake in our bed wanting to reach out and hold you in my arms, but you’re not there, only a memory shares my bed. Lately, I’ve been doing the same thing with your Mesmerize cologne. A little mist on the pillow, I inhale your scent, and fall asleep dreaming of you spooning tightly against my back. I so miss the way you cuddled up to me.<\/p>\n
But, dwelling on your absence doesn’t do any good. It will be a very long time before I see and hold you again. What keeps me together is remembering how much we love each other, and your devotion to me. Bran, you have never given me a reason to doubt you. You’ve been a part of me for so long that I am only a shadow of a woman without the man I love. We complete one another. While you are gone, grasp my love in your hand and hold it near your heart. I am holding tightly to your love until you return to my arms.<\/p>\n
I love and miss you so much.
\nYour wife and soul mate
\nEmma<\/p>\n
HOLLAND<\/p>\n
< ≡ ♂ ≡ ><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
20:45 – Brandon was fixing himself a breakfast sandwich when Valerie strolled into the galley. There was a strange Cheshire-cat grin on her face and she had both hands hidden behind her back. “What are you up to?” he questioned, suspiciously. Just then, Carl, Jackie, Tom, and Sally all filed in behind her. Brandon and Valerie had just come on …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":172,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chapter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":290,"href":"https:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27\/revisions\/290"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}