The flashback scenes in ’Til Death Do Us Part chronicle the time from when Henry and Sam first began their courtship through to the night before Henry leaves on his ill-fated flight. To catch up with the flashback scenes previously posted, click this link to the the category archives: https://authoraddisonalbright.com/category/til-death-do-us-part/flashback-scenes-from-sams-pov/.

This series of blog posts was motivated by a comment from one of the book’s reviewers, Bethany at Rainbow Gold Reviews, who made the comment that she wished the flashback scenes had been from Sam’s POV instead of from Henry’s.

This week’s scene is from the 7th flashback in the book, found at the beginning of Chapter 8:

“Not tonight,” Henry muttered. Something was wrong. Not that it wasn’t perfectly fine for Henry to decline sex, but there was something in his tone. Sam turned to look at his boyfriend. It was too dark in the room to tell if Henry was blushing, but the tension in his facial muscles indicated discomfort.

“Everything okay?” Sam asked. His eyebrows came together in concern, and he pulled back his roaming hand.

“Yeah, no biggie.”

“Something’s wrong. Tell me, please.”

“Nothing’s wrong!”

“Is it something I did? Something I said?” Sam searched his memory, but could think of nothing.

“No. You’re fine. I love you.”

Henry’s body stilled as soon as the words were out. Sam stiffened as well. Neither of them had said those words before. Henry was dropping them now when something was clearly wrong between them, whether or not he wanted to admit it?

“You love me?” Sam replied.

Henry turned his face toward Sam and gazed into his eyes. “Yes,” he whispered.

A smile inched across Sam’s mouth. “I love you, too, Henry.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. So tell me what’s wrong.”

Henry puffed out a loud sigh. “Fine. My stomach hurts. I’m constipated, okay? Are you happy now, making me say that?”

“Oh. Sorry you’re not feeling well, hon. Have you taken anything?” Sam relaxed with relief that Henry’s problem was nothing more than temporary minor digestive discomfort.

“Yes. I’ll try not to disturb you in the night.”

“You could never disturb me,” replied Sam. He pulled Henry into his arms and landed a smiling kiss on his lover’s brow. Henry loved him.

Henry’s limbs softened as he rested his head on Sam’s shoulder, snuggling into Sam’s chest. Sam briefly tightened his arms around Henry, giving a light squeeze, then he closed his eyes and reveled in pleasant thoughts of the future, sharing his life with this wonderful man.