Chapter 18

“I have missed you,” he said.

Jonathan closed his eyes and pulled his lover close. The moment epitomized his idea of what physical love between two people was supposed to be.

“And I, you,” he replied.

As the two men lay together, caressing, kissing, experiencing each other physically and emotionally, Jonathan tried to imagine if he could feel the same way if the person in his arms were Rebecca. He could not.

He could not even imagine that any man could feel this with any woman. The thought of this level of intimacy between members of the opposite sex was as foreign to his imagination as being able to fly. Yet, he knew scripture. He knew that man was to leave his family and cleave to his wife, and the two were to become one flesh. What made him feel that way about this man? He chose not to contemplate it further. Nathaniel was close; he would cleave to him, and with him, he would be one flesh. Thoughts of damnation and heresy were repressed, replaced with thoughts of love.