Ann: A Love Story Ch. 31

I took another deep breath, and tried to find a pause. Hearing Ann take a quick breath herself, I rushed my words, hoping she'd hear me. "It's okay, babe. Please...stop crying."

Ann had been sobbing almost uncontrollably since she'd confessed, unable to hold in her emotions any longer once she'd told me her secret. It was a déjà vu moment from the phone call I'd had with her at the airport in DC very early that morning. I felt helpless...and the situation seemed hopeless. I prayed I could get her to stop crying long enough to hear me.

"Ann...please stop crying and talk to me." There was a pause in Ann's cries, and I took a chance that she was actually listening. "You didn't do anything you should be ashamed of, Ann. I love you...and I'm telling you, it's okay."

Ann took another shallow breath, the inflection in her voice showing her level of despair. "N...no it's n...not! It...it wasn't supposed to be this w...way!" she wailed into the phone.

I was elated, if for no other reason than she actually heard me and responded. Jumping on the first opportunity I'd had in the last few minutes, I said, "Who says? We've both known from the start that our relationship was going to be different. Why in the world would this make any difference?"

"B...because! I...I should have been able to ignore it. I sh...should have been able to control myself. How can you t...trust me after I did something so...reckless!"

"Reckless? That's bullshit, Ann. Look at all the things you just did for me this weekend. For God's sake...I was off fucking different women all weekend long because of YOU. Hell, there was one that you didn't even know about until after I'd done it. Compared to that, I think this is only fair, really."

"No it's not. This it totally different and you know it! I was supposed to be able to wait, Neil. There's no excuse for what I did. I was impatient. I was s...selfish," she stammered, starting to sob again.

"Ann. You're being irrational. It was ridiculous from the start to think that I'd expect you to wait this long. This is really all my fault."

"No it isn't! Stop trying to make it seem okay, Neil. I let you down. And after all you've been through, you deserved better than to have me go out and do this to you. You must feel..."

"Ann...stop it! Seriously. What's it been? Over six weeks. That's a long time for you to go without it. And it had to be driving you nuts."

"B...but I should have told you I wanted to. I should have at least ASKED you if it was okay."

"Okay...I'll grant you that. Maybe you should have asked first. But the truth is, I wasn't thinking about your needs, or what you must have been going through. I never really thought about what it must be like for you to go this long without it. Is this why you started crying when you called me this morning?

"Yes," she said, sniffing a little, trying to get control of herself.

"Well, it all makes sense now. But why are you tormenting yourself like this?"

"Because, Neil. Doing something like THIS is bad...and to do it behind your back? GOD, I must be the worst fiancée ever. You must think I'm the most ungrateful woman in the world," she said.

"Why would you say that, Ann?"

"Because I just did it without thinking about how you'd feel. I was only thinking of me. And I swore to myself that I would never, ever do that in our relationship. But I had this little voice nagging at me, and I caved to the pressure. It was all an impulse. I didn't think about how you'd react...I was only trying to satisfy my own selfish needs. And once Dave pulled it out and showed it to me. God, Neil...it was so big...and so beautiful. I...I just had to have it. It was almost like I needed it. And that's just not like me, Neil. Not at all. I just don't DO these kinds of things."

"I don't think this was as selfish as you're making it out to be, Ann. You DID need it. Hell, you deserve it. And after all, it's not like I could do anything about it from where I am. And it's going to be another six weeks before I'm going to see you. Asking you to go three months would have been like punishment. I want this to be a happy time...for both of us."

"There had to be another way, Neil. If I would have just talked to you about it, maybe you could have found a different way to take care of it. But by taking matters into my own hands...I never gave you the chance to tell me how you felt about it, or for you to make some arrangements for me to take care of it. I'm sure if I would have just told you, you would have found some amazing, incredible way to take care of me, Neil. I never gave you a chance to set that something up."

Ann started to whimper again, and I could tell she was on the edge of losing it all over again. "Don't start crying again, Ann."

"I can't help it...I'm sorry. I'm so sorry about everything."

"There's nothing to be sorry about. I mean, you're right...maybe I could have set something up. But I never even thought about it...I'm the one who should be saying I'm sorry."

"Well that's silly. I did it."

"Right. You wanted it, and I didn't think about you needing it. That's kind of my point...we both played a part in this. And we can debate forever who feels worse. It doesn't matter. All that matters is that, in the end, you got it. Besides, you said Dave was really good, right? Didn't you say he took care of you?"

"Yeah...I suppose."

"You suppose? Ann...did he make you happy?"

"Yes," she said sheepishly.

"And were you satisfied with what he did for you?"

"Well, yeah...but I knew I'd be happy in the end. I mean, it's not like I don't know him, or like that was the first time I'd ever been there. I've been going to him for years, and he's always treated me like a princess. I think that's because he's older...he just has a way to a woman's heart when it comes to these things. And when he found out I was getting married and that you and I wouldn't have a chance to be together for months...well, he kind of insisted on being the one to help me out. I didn't have the heart to tell him no. Besides, like I said, I knew he'd take care of me, and he did...big time. In fact, it turned out better than I ever could have imagined. But really, Neil, I don't see what that has to do with what I did. It was still wrong."

"It has everything to do with it, Ann. This is something you're going to live with the rest of your life. If you would had bothered to ask me, I would have told you to make sure you when you did it, that you should make sure to go to someone that was going give you exactly what you wanted. Like I said, you deserve it."

"Well, Dave sure did that. But I wish I could take back. It wasn't worth hurting you."

"You didn't hurt me, Ann. And you can't tell me it wasn't worth it. I know you felt better about yourself the next day...you had to. Am I right?"

Ann was silent for a moment, and said, "You're right."

"I know I am Ann...face it...you only get an engagement ring once!" ~*~*~*~*~*~

It was the oversight of all oversights. Of course, if you don't know you're going to ask someone to marry you until seconds before you do it, it's a little unrealistic to think that you'd have a ring at the ready to pull out of your pocket to give her. And it was a Saturday night; actually, it was early Sunday morning to be more precise. It wasn't like there was a 24-hour jewelry store in the little blip on the map where I happened to live. Couple all of that with fact that Ann got up and got on a plane just a few short hours later, and it set up the situation that I was now dealing with.

It really was an oversight. More of a crime of omission, in light of what Ann had been going through. I never thought of it, but Ann was having a hard time convincing people that she really WAS getting married, because she didn't have an engagement ring. When you looked at it for what it was, our engagement was sort of an implausible story. A woman goes back to the Midwest for her high school reunion, and meets a guy she really barely knew in school, but not at the reunion itself...at a mutual friends' house instead. They see each other every day for six days, and end up falling in love and deciding to get married. A story like that needs proof. And proof of an engagement usually comes in the form of a ring.

Not only that, but after going week after week without having one, two other things were happening to Ann. The first was that the people that DID believe her started to question what kind of guy she was marrying. In their eyes, he was apparently one so out of touch he didn't see the importance that an engagement ring meant to a woman betrothed. And that made Ann furious that they were questioning the integrity of the man she loved.

The second was that she didn't have the force field that an engagement ring provided. The automatic 'I'm engaged' shield that would make would be lust filled suitors take pause and turn heel, forcing them to look elsewhere for a place to put their dicks.

It shouldn't have surprised me. Ann was a hot babe, working in a store filled with stylish cloths designed specifically to make a hot babe like her look even hotter. Based on the limited wardrobe she'd brought with her on the trip to Indiana, and her own admission that she'd toned down what she'd brought in order to better assimilate into the ultra conservative environment where I lived, I could only imagine how Ann dressed normally. I was sure I'd only seen the watered down version, and that made me excited just thinking about it. And there was the rub. Without the ring, Ann's claims of being engaged, and therefore no longer available, were often ignored. She was still getting hit on several times every day.

Ann was telling her plight to her friend Dave one day over her lunch break. Dave ran a jewelry store in the mall where she worked. Upon hearing that Ann was upset and why, he proposed the solution by saying it was fate that it worked out the way that it did, so she could get a huge discount from him on the engagement and wedding rings. As it turned out, Ann bought all of them, and my Bond watch as well.

I didn't do her any favors by not even thinking to find a way to solve the problem myself. Then again, I never knew there was a problem, or a potential problem. So, I never brought it up. And Ann didn't mention it, thinking it wasn't her place. She didn't want to seem pushy or needy, which is a ludicrous thought. But the fact that it never crossed my mind was inexcusable, at least to me. Why wouldn't an engagement ring be important to her? And why was I so out of touch that I never thought I needed to get her one right away?

"Do you have a problem with me buying the wedding rings too? I never gave you a chance to see them," she asked, still struggling to get past the guilt she'd built up over having to buy her own engagement ring without telling me about it.

"The way I look at it, if I would have gotten you an engagement ring like I should have, you wouldn't have seen it ahead of time. At least this way, you got rings you really like."

"But what if you don't like the ring I picked out for you?"

"Why wouldn't I like it? You picked it out...and I love you, Ann. I think that just makes it more special to me."

"It is beautiful. I think you're really going to love it. I just wish..."

"Ann, this is all my fault. I can't believe I didn't think about this, or about how you must have felt. You must think I'm the most insensitive jerk in the world. We've spent so much time talking about seemingly everything imaginable. And yet it never crossed my stupid mind that you didn't have an engagement ring. Here you have all of your friends excited for you, and I robbed you of one of the best parts of being engaged in the first place...getting to show off the ring."

"I could have said something, Neil. And it wasn't a big deal at first. I just kind of thought you'd bring one out with you when come out to get me. But then, that seemed so far away, and I couldn't take it anymore."

Come out to get her? I blinked, not remembering ever having THAT conversation.

"Neil?"

"Uh...yeah?"

"What's wrong?"

"Uh...nothing. Why?"

"You know, based on what I'm hearing, or not hearing, I think we need to work on our communication again, babe. We've never talked about you coming out, have we?"

"Not that I recall. But then again, I'm still trying to figure out how I could be so stupid not to think about the engagement ring. You want me to come out there?"

"Yes. Is that a problem?"

Ann wanted me to meet her friends. It wasn't likely that many of them were going to be able to make it out to the wedding, since we had decided that it would be in Indiana because that was closer to our families. She didn't want them to feel left out, so my coming out would be a kind of celebration with them before Ann moved.

Ann was explaining herself, feeling like she needed to convince me. She said, "Besides babe; I have to get my car there somehow, and driving from California to Indiana by myself isn't something I really think I want to do. I was kind of hoping you'd fly out, spend a few days in California with me, and then we could have a nice adventure together driving back."

The way she said the last part, about the trip back and making it an adventure really intrigued me. And frankly, the idea of having a week with Ann before she came back to Indiana thrilled me. I'd still be living at my parent's place, and she'd be at hers...until we got married. Which meant that we would be back to being together, but we'd still be apart in a sense. And since I'd never been to California, I was having a hard time seeing anything negative about it.

"What do you think, Neil?"

"I'd love to, Ann. I still have some vacation left. I could take a week off and fly out on a Friday after work. It sounds like you have the rest planned out. When are we talking about?"

"September. My last day is Friday the 8th. If you came out that day, we'd have an entire week to...play."

"Well, I'm not sure about the entire time. I'm guessing it would take us four days to drive home, unless you wanted to drive straight through."

"No way. We're stopping. This is a vacation for you. And I want it to be fun for the both of us. I've already..."

"I know babe. You have a jump-start on me. I'm sure you already have it all planned out."

"No I don't. I just have some ideas, that's all. In fact, I kind of like the idea of being spontaneous. Let's just see what happens. So, can you come out then?"

"Sure...I'll put in for the vacation tomorrow, babe. That should give me time to save up money for the airline tickets."

"I already have that covered...that's what I was going to tell you," she said with a little giggle.

"No...not..."

"Relax. It's not Rachel. Sonya's helping us out. It's a wedding gift."

"Oh...okay. Well, that's a relief. Let me set things up as far as the vacation, and then she can make the plane reservations, okay?"

"Okay babe. Now, can we talk about the wedding?"

"Wedding? We haven't even set a date yet," I said with a laugh.

"Actually, that's what I want to talk about. Now that we both know when I'll be back in Indiana, I think we should go ahead and set the date. I want to know exactly how long I'll be stuck at my parents. Even though things are better between me and my Mom, I want to be living with you, not my parents."

~*~*~*~*~*~

I agreed with Ann. I had been in my parents' house long enough too. And the thought of her being home, but having to still be apart would drive me insane. That said, we couldn't just rush into it. I'd been married before, but this was going to be Ann's wedding. I'd already denied her the elation of showing off an engagement ring to her friends and family. I wasn't about to deny her the wedding she'd always dreamed of.

We decided almost immediately that the wedding would be at her parent's church. I'd gotten married in my parent's church the first time, and the thought of walking down that aisle again made me queasy. Coming up with a date took a little longer to work out. As much as we wanted to get married right away, we both knew that that wasn't going to happen. We needed time to find a place to live if we were going to be in Indiana, and time to actually plan the wedding. We went back and forth, and finally we agreed on two Saturdays in early December. Ann loved the idea of a Christmas wedding theme. We picked two different possible days, in case we couldn't get the Franklin's church on one of the dates, we'd hopefully be able to have it for the other.

Now having our immediate future sort of planned out, Ann was excited. Very excited, as it turned out.

"God I wish you were here, baby. I could really use a nice, long fuck right now."

"After the day I've had, I'm not sure I'd do you much good right now. But it would be wonderful to try. I wish I would have just switched planes this morning like I'd said and flown to California."

"Would you really have done that for me?" she asked. I could hear the way she was breathing, and knew she was thinking about that fuck.

"If you needed me to. I don't like hearing you cry."

"How about moan? Do you like it when I moan?"

"Sounds to me like you're already well on your way. What are you doing?"

"I'm thinking about you. And I'm thinking about how nice it would be if you'd help me one more time before we hang up. I know you have to get some sleep. But I really need this, Neil. I promised myself I wouldn't cum again until you got home. And now I know that once isn't going to be enough. Please?"

"Where's Antonio?"

"He's right here at the ready. What do you want him to do?"

"Which hand is he in, Ann?"

"My right. I always use my right. I'm right handed...you know that. Why?"

"I want you to use your left hand this time...and only your left."

"Why? What difference does it make? I need to cum fast baby."

"You will. I promise. Now, pick up Antonio with your left hand and hold it in front of you. Do you have a speaker phone on that thing?"

"No. Of course not."

"Okay, well, put the phone in your right hand and then put it next to your ear...and hold it for a minute with your shoulder. Can you do that?"

"I'm a woman, Neil. Of course I can talk on the phone without my hand holding it."

I laughed and said, "Sorry. I forgot that was part of female DNA. Do you have him in your hand yet?"

"Yes," she said impatiently.

"Okay, I want you to hold it like I'm standing in front of you, and you're on your knees in front of me. Use your right hand to hold the very base."

I heard Ann moving, obviously changing her position. "Okay, I'm doing it. What now?"

"Take your left hand, and start stroking it like it's me, and you want to get it hard."

"It's already hard, babe...just like you always are," she giggled.

"Just do it for me."

"Okay, okay...I am. Why am I doing this though? I..."

"Patience Ann. You're the one that said you wanted a nice long fuck. It's all about the foreplay."

"Ooooh," she said, sighing into the phone. Just from the sound she was making, I knew it wouldn't take her long once I let her fuck herself with her dildo. But drawing out the preamble of our latest round of phone sex would only make it better for her.

"Are you doing it? Are you stroking it?"

"Yes, baby."

"Where's your thumb?"

"It's...underneath the shaft. Why?"

"Make sure your mouth is in line with the cock, like you're thinking about licking the head."

"Okay, I had to move it down a little. Now what? Do you want me to lick it?"

"Not yet. I'll tell you what to do. But first, I want you to picture that it's me in your mind. It's not Antonio any more. It's me. I'm right there with you from now on every time you use it. Can you do that?"

"Um hum," Ann moaned, and I pictured her in my mind smiling as she licked her lips.