44 Anonymous Valentines

Perhaps forty five minutes or an hour passed. George knew that he must have dropped off for a time. But now he needed to pee. He moved over to the side of the bed, and swung his legs over the side, hoping not to wake Linda. But that was not to be.

"Where do you think you are sneaking off to?" asked Linda, with a giggle. "Just like a man -- give a woman the orgasm of her life, have your way with her, and then exit, stage right!"

"Actually, my beloved, I was just going to pee, take a Viagra, and prepare for round two!" George answered laughing.

"Maybe you could bring a warm washcloth and a towel. I'm kind of yucky. Or wait a minute, I'll come in with you." Linda jumped out of bed.

When they returned, she stood there looking down at the bed, shaking her head.

"Let me guess who's supposed to sleep in the wet spot?" she smiled and didn't sound too upset. George came up behind her, and put his arms around her, and kissed the back of her neck.

"I guess the next time, we can use my half of the bed. That way, at least, we'll both have a wet spot."

At that moment the doorbell rang. Linda and George looked at each other. George was clearly surprised.

"You don't have any other long-lost loves who you sent Valentine's to, do you?" asked Linda, albeit with a grin. In their small town she knew that if George had any other women around, she would know about them.

"I don't remember any," he replied with a grin, "but who the heck could that be, in the middle of the day? Don't they know it's freezing out there?"

He threw a bathrobe on.

"Do you mind staying here for a moment? I'll get rid of them, whoever it is." He turned and left the room. Linda, having no intention of leaving or being chased out, crawled back into bed and pulled up the covers.

Linda was becoming somewhat worried and upset, as the minutes ticked by, and George didn't reappear. She could hear voices, but couldn't hear the words, and finally she heard a woman's laugh. But it was only a little after hearing the woman's laughter that George returned to the bedroom.

He came in, still in his bathrobe and sat next to Linda on the bed. He smiled at her, and reached out to take her hand in his.

"So, do you want the good news or the bad news first?"

Linda looked at him, a little suspiciously.

"The bad news, I guess."

George nodded, "Our visitor was my daughter Sandy, who came by to check up on me and see how I was doing. I took her into the living room to talk. It wasn't hard for her to make an educated guess, when I answered the door in my robe, and there wasn't anyone else who she could see. She more-or-less figured out that there was some hanky-panky going on in the bedroom!" He shrugged his shoulders. "Really, the kids were going to have to know sooner or later, although knowing within the hour may be sooner than absolutely necessary."

A smiling Linda pulled their intertwined hands together, and started kissing them.

"Oh, it gets worse," George told her. "I told her that an old friend, who I'd known since my high school days was with me in the house, and you know what? She asked me if it was you."

"Me?" Linda squeaked, her eyes opening wide.

"Not by name, of course. But she asked if it was you." George's eyes filled with tears as he explained.

"Before Betsy died, she must have taken Sandy aside sometime when they were alone together. Betsy told her that I had been in love with another woman before we got married, and that she was pretty certain that I'd never really gotten over her.

"She told Sandy that it was a good thing that I had so much love in my heart, that I still had enough left over to share with her, and we were able to have a loving family together. She told her that," George's voice began to choke up, "I'd been the best husband a woman could have, and that she had been happier with me than she could have ever thought possible. That, even though she was dying, she was grateful for every moment that we'd had together." The tears began to flow in earnest, and Linda put her arms around George to hold and comfort him.

When he could speak again, he wiped the tears from his eyes and continued.

"She told Sandy that she hoped that after she was gone, that I would be able to find happiness again, perhaps with the other woman I'd loved. So Sandy asked me, if it was you — the woman I had loved, who I was with. I told her yes."

Linda looked at George curiously.

"If that's the bad news, then what is the good news?"

"She told me that she, George Jr. and Alice have all been hoping that I would find that special someone who could make me happy again. And Sandy thought that it was really funny that she'd caught us messing around. Sandy claims it's only justice for the times I almost caught her with her boyfriend. She says that she's calling her siblings as soon as she gets home to spread the word.

"Plus, we are going to have to attend a family dinner next weekend. You'll have to meet the children, the grandkids, all of that sort of thing. Probably just the first of many. Does that work for you?"

"George, I look forward to it. I can hardly wait," Linda agreed, before she lowered her eyelids, batted her eye lashes in his direction and gave him her best sultry look and asked, "So how long does that Viagra take before we can...you know... do it again?"

That evening as Linda and George ate their first meal together as a couple, Linda did put her foot down.

"George, there is one thing that I need to make clear is an absolute precondition for our relationship going forward from here!"

George sat waiting with a certain trepidation. What was she going on about? Sex? Money? The kids? The house?

"From now on, NO MORE ANONYMOUS VALENTINE'S. You can sign it as 'your lover', 'your man', hopefully as 'your husband', but you WILL sign it!"

With that, he took her hand in his, and they laughed together. and snatched a quick kiss before George replied, knowing better than to argue about this request,

"Whatever you say, dearest."