A Road Trip Fantasy Pt. 06

"With room to grow."

*****

Dinner was fragile but approached normalcy. While Jen had moped at her parents' house, Aaron had thrown his sorrow into a run to the grocery store and preparing some of Jen's favorite dishes. That was okay, because he was the one who needed to apologize.

They talked about his day at the office and an upcoming meeting later in the week and about her day with her mother and some changes starting on labor and delivery at Jen's hospital. She told him about Cathy's call, but afterward, avoided that topic of conversation.

"You're working Saturday, aren't you?" he asked.

"I've got the day shift. Why?"

"Javi wanted to go biking this weekend and then invited us over for dinner afterward."

"Go for the ride and have fun. I could meet you for a late dinner. Don't forget we have Rebecca's birthday brunch on Sunday."

"Got it. No staying out late with Javi."

Jen snickered at that. "As if. He hasn't stayed out late since Alejandro was born."

"Okay, no staying up late playing video games at Javi's."

"Because you'll be coming home with me."

He smiled at her and touched the back of her hand. "I like the sound of that."

Jen bit back a retort about trust, because it would sound too harsh, and she did not want to reprimand him when he was trying so hard and she so wanted to repair the hurt. Instead she said, "I do too."

Afterward she packed away leftovers and put away the candles while he did the dishes. They sat on the couch together, her legs curled up under her, his arm around her waist, their heads resting together and watched an episode of one of the shows they had been streaming together. By the time it was over, it was time for a shower and shuteye.

The sheets on Jen's side were cold when she crawled into bed with Aaron. She lay with her back to him, but no sooner did the coolness settle over her than the warmth of his arm slipped around her waist and the heat of his body spooned her back.

"Thank you for coming home," his words whispered past her ear. "I love you."

She snuggled his arm in hers. "I love you too."

The soft moisture of his lips touched her ear and her neck.

Jen shifted onto her back so she could face him. "I don't know, honey. It may be too soon."

His kisses ran across her cheek and found her lips. She kept them closed at first, imagining herself a marble statue, unyielding and cold, but the tenderness of his mouth melted her resolve. Her traitorous lips softened and parted to return the kisses.

Aaron propped himself on his side above her and fluttered kisses across her lips and cheeks, up over her eyelids and across her forward, back down over her lips again onto her neck and then across her shoulders. They tickled her collarbone.

She laughed and gave him a half-hearted push, more a laying on of hands than anything. "Stop it."

He did pause and regard her eyes with that familiar passion. A year and a half since had not dimmed that look in the least.

"It tickles," she said. The volcano heat of his eyes was melting the cold stone she wanted to feel inside. She sighed. "Okay." Her right arm wrapped under his arm and up to his back and neck. She pulled herself up to his lips when he did not yield to the pressure. By contrast, his lips yielded hot and moist to hers.

Once Jen kissed him, Aaron let her draw him down to the bed with his left arm tucked beneath her. His right hand ran over her nightgown to cup her breast through the cotton fabric. She had not worn a bra to bed, and her nipple perked beneath his touch.

As usual, Aaron did not wear a shirt to bed. While they kissed, Jen played with his chest hairs and pinched at his nipples in time to his ministrations.

The hurt was still there, but Jen's desire and love for him soothed the tears and dressed the wounds. The wounds would heal with time. One of the recesses of her mind hoped they would not scar, but the rest of her mind kindled into flame in his arms.

His exploring hand dipped down and back up under her nightgown.

"This is in the way," Jen said. She sat up enough to peel off her top.

When she lay back down, Aaron's fingers caught in the waistband of her panties. "So are these." And then he pulled them off and tossed them to the side, but she was grabbing the sides of his boxers and then they were naked together.

Jen lay back down and took his body between her legs. Her erect nipples brushed his chest above her. She pulled his face to hers with one arm while she reached down between them with the other to direct his penis.

His stubble prickled her lips. The head of his penis massaged her clitoris. Their juices intermingled. He slipped lower and began spreading her, working his way inside with gentle thrusts.

That delicious mixture of discomfort with the initial stretch and pleasure with that same stretch tingled up through her body. All of her nerve endings lit up from the feel of her calves caressing his, the texture of his thighs against hers, his penis spreading and stretching and thrusting, his chest compressing her breasts and chaffing against her nipples, his lips and tongue on hers.

Whatever else may have happened in the past year, Aaron had learned what Jen liked, what she wanted and needed, how to make her beg for more. Tonight, she let him pleasure her. She succumbed to her desire and his sensual attention. All other thoughts evaporated from her mind save their joining and the slow build of passion that Aaron laid down layer by layer.

He brought her to the edge again and again.

He tantalized her for what seemed like an eternity.

When she thought she might go mad from her need, his penis deep inside her and his pelvic bone against her clitoris settled into that rhythm she needed, and this time he did not stop but let the orgasm overtake her.

Jen arched her back and cried out. She panted and pulled him down to her and cried out again. She could feel all the muscles down below squeezing and contracting around him, trying to hold him deep inside while he thrust.

The shudders still cascaded over her body when he cried out atop her. His pelvis gyrated against hers as he too peaked.

The motion of their bodies slowed. His weight crushed down on her, but it felt so good to feel the thudding of his heart against her chest and the pulsations where his lower body pressed against hers and the last twitches of his penis inside her.

*****

We made it.

Those three words cover myriad ups and downs, smiles and tears, challenges and triumphs, but we made it.

Our wedding took place on a sunny, warm, blustery Saturday in March almost three years after we started our romance on that first road trip together. We held it outdoors next to the bay under white canopies.

We had two flower girls in the ceremony, Anna, just over two years old, and Celeste just shy of two. Scattering white flower petals on the carpeted aisle seemed both the height of fun and naughtiness such that they refused to drop anything down the first half of their procession. Catherine coaxed them to start tossing the petals by the time they passed the fifth row of chairs. They spent the rest of the ceremony tossing the remaining petals from their baskets, climbing out of their chairs to retrieve the fallen petals, and then throwing them again.

Alejandro, Nicole and Javier's son, served as our ring bearer. At almost three, he was very solemn in his duty marching down the aisle without a smile on his face. Later in the ceremony, when it was time for him to deliver the heart shaped pillow with the rings to Aaron, he scooted off his chair and stepped onto the dais with the same solemnity. Aaron's best man, Javier, beamed enough for both of them.

Rebecca was my matron of honor. Of course, Emily and Theresa were there in the audience along with most of the staff and doctors from Aaron's office. Even Stacey, Marissa, and Sam had made the trip out from Nebraska to San Diego for the event. I was surprised they all made it since we had finished school two years ago, but that year had been more bonding than I had thought.

My father cried when he walked me down the aisle and presented my arm to Aaron. I think he sobbed more than my mother did in that front row. Tom joined them and my grandmother there. Between them sat a picture of my grandfather who had missed my big day by almost five months.

Aaron's parents, brother and his girlfriend sat on the opposite side. They had given me a warm enough welcome when we first met, but now I think they were convinced I was not going to break his heart and had accepted me. Behind them, Caleb kept Nicole and Alejandro company during the ceremony, but Emily told me later that he kept making eyes at any of my friends who glanced his way when they felt his gaze on them.

Aaron said that in my wedding dress that afternoon, putting the ring on his finger, I was the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen, but if he said anything different, there would be trouble.

I know I am biased, but Aaron looked even handsomer and happier than he had in the wedding portrait I had found in his spare room long ago. That portrait and the wedding album that went with it were packed away in a box in the attic of our new home. Celeste's name was written across the top. Someday, when she was older, Aaron would share it with her.

Catherine and I had made peace with each other. Rather, I suppose, I had made peace with her presence in Aaron's life. Catherine really did seem to have moved on from him years ago. She brought her fiancé with her to the wedding. Ray would be the main father figure in Celeste's life going forward, and although he made a good show of it, I knew Aaron was still coming to terms with that reality.

Someday, he and I would have our own children. I pictured us with one of each, but in the end those details were not entirely in my control. Aaron and I would try, and we would find happiness no matter what happened. I knew I was very much looking forward to spending the rest of our lives finding out what the journey had in store for us.

*****

Thank you again to everyone who has read these stories. I had not idea where the journey would take us when I started, and there was more there than I first realized. Jennifer and Aaron are looking forward to the rest of their story, but for now, I think I've found the end of the thread. I hope you have enjoyed reading it through the ups and downs as much as I have enjoyed telling it.