I almost hate to admit this but the kids got plenty of heart. At first I thought that it was just the residual effects of Xena, but now I see it as something more. Never has anyone had an effect on me like this. I see her all the time. When I'm awake I daydream about her and when I'm asleep?.Oh dear God!!!! The dreams that take over in the night. She's everything I always wanted and didn't know. It's almost laughable. For me to become tongue tied by the stately Southern Belle, but how could I not? Look at her!! The hair, as dark as midnight and as smooth as silk. Her skin, the softest shade of ivory that becomes almost golden after a day in the sun. Her smile, it melts even a hard-ass like myself into submission. And finally her eyes. To say that they are blue is more than an understatement. The shade may be that on a color wheel but face to face, and how I love that face, they are the color of the sea. A deep dark royal blue when in concentration and an ethereal sky blue, almost ice white when in anger or just impassioned.

I have seen all of those colours and all of the ranges of emotion that provoke them. And I am more than a little sorry to say that I, myself, have provoked all of the more dangerous emotions more than once. On the other hand, I am very pleased to be able to say that I have also made up for my lack of sensitivity more than once. Mel humbles me and I love her for that. I've told her that, not only will I love her forever but I will spend my life and every life I have from now on, making her as happy and as complete as she has made me. I admit that it will be difficult, because even her lingering scent sends my heart into overdrive.

Long story short, Mel is my everything. There is no better way to express this. Words will never nor have they ever been. So as I sit here, writing in my journal and looking at her, watching her sleep, I feel, not for the first time, the peace that has been lacking in my life and I understand what it means to love and be loved in return. It's Mel's gift to me. She thinks that it's the other way around and a part of me, the arrogant part , would like to believe that she is correct, but the archaeologist in me, the part that finds facts and uncovers truths of ancient mysteries, knows otherwise. Mel is my truth, my love, my life, my mystery and I will spend eternity uncovering all that makes her happy and try my best to give it to her.