Adventure Pt. 02

They both gave me a pitying look. Marcie nodded to Christine, who said. "What do you really think we talk about when Marcie is giving me a massage or Kirsty's doing my nails. Don't worry, we don't do it in front of Jayde, that wouldn't be very nice of us." 

"Fucking hell that's how all this bollocks started from you bloody lot talking, filling her head with crap about adventures that weren't true." I was getting quite grumpy now. 

They look shocked they'd never heard me swear before, Marcie said. "Yeah, we tried to sort that out; we only tell the truth there's no exaggeration and I've warned everybody that was our customers say may not be true, in fact on Friday nights when we go out, we have a new game trying to work out which ones are true and which ones are just bluster." 

Then something struck me. "Have you two been looking after me to make it up after what Jayde did and to keep me occupied so I would be here when Jayde finished her adventure." 

"No." they shouted together. 

They were aghast, the look of shock on their faces made me think they were either very good actresses or telling the truth, they both couldn't be that good actresses made me think they were telling the truth.   

"So have you two been discussing me?" 

It was Christine's turn this time. "No, well little things, but nothing intimate, how do you think I knew what beer to get you for that first evening, just little things like that. What you and Marcie do is between you." 

"So how long have you two known about me going out with the other one?" 

Christine spoke up. "Listen, none of us are spring chickens, we've all been around the block a few times and as long as there's no commitment, we are good with it. But as soon as you commit to one or the other it all stops." 

I felt a bit stupid, how much had they really discussed me behind my back, with the rest of the girls in the salon, how much did they know? Too late to worry about it now I suppose. 

That appeared to be the end of it, we made our pleasantries and Marcie went home. I haven't had too much to drink so I followed Christine home to her place. We made gentle love that night, when we finished, I asked her the same question that I asked Marcie, what about us now. She gave me almost the same answer, I was entertaining, good to be with and she felt safe and comfortable around me with me. But it was never going to be permanent because of Jayde. Both her and Marcie had talked about it a couple of weeks ago whilst she was having a massage and thought that Jayde seeing me having a good time might have made her think about what she'd done. And feeling like being used as a sex object didn't help either. It wasn't planned like that. But meanwhile they were both going to get all the pleasure they could. 

Christine looked at me and took my head in her hands and said. "I'm really very fond of you, you have been a wonderful friend, companion and lover this last couple of months, and I would like to stay friends when you and Jayde get back together." 

I noticed she said 'when' not 'if'. 

It took me a while to realise that Jayde wasn't going out as much, she still went out with the girls on a Friday, but wasn't home late, saying she had work on Saturday. She started doing stuff around the house and even washed her car. I think she tried a bit of wet 'T' shirt thing with me. It almost worked. 

I had asked the PI to keep an occasional eye on Jayde, more to pre-warn me of another Paul or Harold incident. I had reports from the private investigators,she behaved herself. She had fun with girls but rarely danced with the same man twice. 

Jayde asked me if she could cook dinner for me on a Sunday, that was a bit strange for house mates. She'd been very quiet the last couple of weeks, she'd been out a few times but was generally in by 11 or midnight. I got up at nine-ish to find her bustling around the kitchen. Seemed a bit strange for a Sunday roast for the two of us. Never mind it'll save me cooking or eating in the pub which had become my habit, she told me I was getting in the way so I could clear off to the garden, the shed or go to the pub. This was getting just like old times. I actually quite enjoyed it. So, I cleaned the bike, even though it didn't need it, but I did it anyway. She kept me supplied with tea so it didn't need to go into the kitchen, she told me I just got in her way. I cut the grass; it did need it. I was told to go and get some wine for dinner and Jayde suggested I might like a couple of pints before dinner. I was told to be back by two sharp, now it really was like old times. I got the wine, a Niersteiner  

and a Schwarze Katz. Ok heathen, white wine with beef. Blame Christine. I had a few pints with some mates, and I wandered home and was there a bit before two. As I walked up to the house there were a lot of cars parked around and I recognised some of them, my parents, her parents, her sister plus some others I didn't. I almost didn't go in, had I been more sober or more drunk I wouldn't have done it. but I was in that nice happy inquisitive mood. 

I walked in the door and as I expected with all the cars outside the place was full. There were the parents and siblings I've mentioned earlier plus a couple of Jayde's workmates. And confusingly, Marcie. She waved at me and smiled with a big open smile. "I wonder if she's wearing a leather bra and knickers." The thought flashed through my brain. Oddly enough no one said anything, they just carried on chatting and looked at me, smiled and waved. Somebody handed me a can of Old Speckled Hen, I was about to start chatting when Jayde's mum came in and clapped her hands and told everybody to come through and sit down. I don't know how many people we had around that table or how they fitted them all in; it was very, very cosy. I remember Gerald and my dad pouring me beer. Everybody seemed particularly happy, but when I glanced around the table there was the odd nervous looks on some people's faces. Especially Jayde's sister and my mother. I looked at Marcie and I raised an eyebrow as if asking a question. She just grinned back at me, what the fuck is happening. Half of me wanted to get up and run away, the other half wanted to know what the bloody hell was going on. 

We had a very nice Sunday roast with my favourite's cauliflower cheese and pigs in blankets. Something was definitely afoot, and it was more than 12 inches. 

My mother and Marjorie with the help of a few of Jayde's work mates cleared the table of the main course. And that was when Jayde stood up and tapped her glass. She got out a small piece of paper. Oh, fuck here it comes.  

Looking at the parents' smiling faces, this was obviously a set up. 

She looked at the paper then at the people around the table. "Dear family and friends, with the help of our parents I've asked you all here today." She took a deep breath. "Nine months ago, I made the biggest mistake of my life. I won't go into it; you all know what happened. We've made no secret of the fact that three months ago my loving husband divorced me so I could have an adventure. I remember him telling me that if I wanted an adventure, I just had to tell him what I wanted to do, and we would do it together. He gave me every opportunity and I turned him down because I wanted something that he wouldn't agree with.  

"What I didn't realise was that I was already on an adventure. I Just didn't know it. Over these last few weeks, I've realised how foolish and stupid I was. I should have grasped with both hands what he was offering. I was selfish, narrow minded and stupidly thinking only of myself. I didn't see what a gentleman, a loving husband and lover I had in front of me. 

"Over this past couple of weeks I have been wondering how I can apologise and make it up to my loving husband, ex-husband, for what I did to him. With the help of a very dear friend and our parents I decided to stand up here in front of my family and friends and tell you all what a stupid, stupid woman I have been, he loved me enough to let me have my adventure, and I was so wrong to do that to the man that I love. So, I now promise in front of all of you that I'll never, ever do that again, and I beg for his forgiveness." She looked at me. "And I hope that one day that he will forgive me." She leaned across and kissed me on the forehead and spoke to me quietly. "I'm sorry." 

She carried on. "I would also like to apologise to you; my family and friends for the grief I've put you through.  I also have to thank a very good friend of mine; she made me realise when she said. 'That should have been you on the back of that bike.' I realised what a mistake I'd made." I saw she was looking at Marcie, and Marcie was smiling back at her. 

She put her piece of paper down and turned towards me, took my both my hands in hers and said out loud. "I'm sorry my love, I should not have done that to you, and for that the pain I've caused you I will be eternally sorry." She moved her hands from mine, cupped my face and kissed me full on the lips. Then she sat down grasping one of my hands in hers. The room was very quiet. 

Jayde was not good at public speaking and that was probably the longest I'd ever heard her say something to a group of people. That must have cost her dearly to gather the courage to do that. She may have had help with the words, I recognised some of Christine's inflections in there. 

Thank God for mothers, I think most people had an inkling that something was going to happen but not sure what it was or what she had planned, except me of course, I had no idea until I walked in the door. I thought it was just a family dinner, stupid bugger that I am, and I didn't know what to say; so, I said nothing. Well Marcie may have known the whole story. The mothers took over at this awkward moment. They got up, bustled into the kitchen and came back with a huge Black Forest gateau which they proceeded to slice apart and put on side plates. The hubbub returned around the room. I felt like I had to say something but nobody was looking at me, so I just sat there dumbfounded and ate my gateau. 

After we finished the dessert all of the ladies started clearing away and the men went into a garden to stay out of our way, they were giving us some time alone. Whilst the ladies did their work Jayde grabbed me and dragged me into the hallway where we could be alone. "I didn't know how to say sorry to you and to get you to trust me again; Christine and Marcie both told me how worried you were about me doing this again, and this was the only way I could think of trying to convince you to trust me and that I won't ever do something like this again. And that was the only way I could think of doing it by being completely open to you and family and friends. Sweetheart, I don't want to keep on doing this. I know I made a mistake. I want to move back in with you, but I'm frightened you'll turn me down. I couldn't say this in front of the family, but I didn't need any other men. I didn't realise it, until I tried it. But you showed me when we played our little games whilst we were separated. I should have seen it then, but I'm so thick I missed it. I did almost call it off then, I should have done it. Then Christine told me that her marriage broke up because they didn't work at it. You did, you tried. I didn't, I took what I thought was the easy way. I now know it was the wrong way. And for that I'm really, really sorry.  

"I know you said that I could ask you to marry me, and you would say yes, but I finally picked up on the hints that you may not actually say 'yes'. And I'm scared. I don't want to embarrass you or myself. I know you've had fun with Marcie and Christine, and I wouldn't blame you to say 'no' to me and carry on seeing them. I wouldn't ask you to marry me in front of family. It would put you on the spot as I've been too unfair to you already, it would almost force you to say yes to save face. I couldn't do that to you. But I do want to marry you and go on that adventure with you." She smiled at me, "I want to ride that bike with you to the end of the world." 

I had a feeling that some of the females in the group had talked some sense into her and this time she listened. I would have to say discreet thank you to the mothers, Marcie and probably Christine. 

"It was all changing, things were becoming clearer to me what an idiot I'd been, but it was all confirmed when you dropped Marcie off after your last bike ride, and as she walked past me, she whispered to me, "it should have been you on the back of that bike, not me. You silly cow!" When she said that she was stroking my arm, she told me to see her at my next coffee break, she smiled at me and walked away. I didn't drink the coffee that she made me, but she did call me a stupid cunt and tore me another one. I realised then how unhappy I was and how I had cocked up and I decided to get you back, if you'll have me. If I wasn't too late and I hadn't already lost you to Marcie or Christine?" 

Thankfully to Marcie's warning, I was expecting something like this, but certainly not in front of the family and on this scale and not so soon. I thought she might have one more go at some 'fun'. I'd already made-up my mind that when she asked, I knew what the answer would be. I looked at her and then took a long drink of my beer and said to her, "I believe you should ask my father for my hand in marriage." 

"That's not right, I might be a bit ditzy at times, but that's the wrong way round!" 

*Yes, she is ditzy, so I had to point it out to her. "If you ask my father if you could marry me, and if he said yes, which I somehow think he will, I probably wouldn't embarrass him by refusing you in front of all these people." You could see the light bulb come on in the head. She leaned in and kissed me. There were tears in her eyes as she pulled back and said, "I do love you so very much, I am so sorry." She almost ran from the hallway into the back garden. I stepped into the lounge to see what happened. By then the women were there as well. There was a general hubbub, she rushed up to my father and dragged him to one side, I couldn't hear what was being said, but I knew. He turned slightly and looked at me, I gave him a quick nod of the head, and he had a smile that would have put the Cheshire cat to shame and nodded his head. 

I started heading towards the garden. 

Jayde put her hands to her face for a couple of seconds and I could see her body shake, she rushed back indoors, and I heard a clatter as she ran up the stairs; she reappeared within seconds, she shot back in front of me. Everything went quiet in the garden and with a velvet covered box in her hands she got down on one knee in front of me. 

"My dearest sweetest man, I love you with all my heart and I wish to give you my heart for the rest of my life. It will be yours and yours alone as well this body. Please will you marry me." 

For a fleeting nanosecond I was tempted to say no as a joke, I think it was the beer. But I don't think it would have gone down well. I reached down, took the ring out of the box, I gave it to her and held out my left hand. I said. "Yes." She put the ring on my finger. I almost don't know how she could see through all those tears. I lifted her up onto her feet and kissed her and then hugged her, and as I looked over her shoulder there must have been a dust storm come running through the garden because there were a lot of handkerchiefs wiping a lot of eyes and it wasn't just the women. 

I hung onto her for a while, then I eased her away from me to give her a kiss and it was lovely. It was like being home. 

It was quite obvious that the house was emptying. People were saying goodbye to us, but we didn't take that much notice. As Marcie came past us, she had her phone in her hand. She said to us, "Christine would like to know how it's going?" 

"Tell her she's lost a boyfriend, but she still has a friend." That was it, the house was empty except for me and Jayde. She took my hand and dragged me to the stairs as we were going up, she reached into her pocket and gave me a folded piece of paper. I had a quizzical look on my face. "I know who you've been with, so I don't want yours, but this is my health check as we agreed to right at the start." 

We made plans to get married, well the parents did. I wanted a simple registry office job. Other people had other ideas. It wasn't a big church wedding but it was a church wedding. It's not normal for divorced people to get married in church, but it appears a pair of ex-mother- in laws approached the Bishop saying that as we were marrying each other again it probably didn't count. So, we got married in our local parish church. There were quite a few less than our original wedding, but we didn't mind. Most people there had supported Jayde over the last few months. I did notice Christine and Sonia at the back, I didn't remember them on the guest list. It appears there had been a bit of forward planning. I know who was the last to know, as usual.  

I decided where we would go on the honeymoon. We took my bike to a hotel on the Moselle, where I was welcomed with open arms. Jayde had to wear her leather Basque all the way there because there's no spare space in the panniers and she didn't want it to get creased. Germany has many sex shops, which we visited. Again, because there's not a lot of space in the panniers, even for a small thin vibrating butt plug and Jayde was worried that customs would find it if we got stopped, Jayde carried it internally over the last few bumpy miles on the road to Calais and onto the boat.  Although I found some space for some soft rope. On one of our walking trips around the valley we popped into a local supermarket and purchased some extra virgin olive oil. 

Epilogue, if you want one. The BTB section is after this bit.

Some people like to know what happens after the main event, if you're not one of those then don't carry on, I like to leave things when people are happy, and this is one of them. Although the BTB crowd might like the bit that follows this part. 

Marcie and I formed a nice relationship, but we never went there again, Jayde and Marcie got on even better after that, strangely enough so did Jayde and Christine. I did see Christine every other couple of weeks. Sometimes Jayde came with us. As I walked into the church, I saw Christine and Sonja sat at the back. They hadn't been invited, but I didn't think it was going to be a problem. As we left after the service. Jayde had a quick word with Christine and told her where the reception was being held. Christine and Sonia turned up at a suitable time. These ladies know when and where to appear.  

I did see Christine and my boss tripping the light fantastic during the reception. 8 months later they were engaged. Four months after that they were married. Jayde and I were invited to the wedding. At the reception Sonia came and asked to dance with me, I resisted, she insisted, and I gave in. It was a slow one, she leaned into me and spoke. "Thank you so very much for the support and love you've given my mother," she looked at me and gently pushed me away a little bit and looked at me in the face. "And me, I couldn't have wished for a better friend for my mother." She smiled at me and said, "I've been offered a position in the company to try and improve the machinery," I knew that; I had recommended her to the boss, she was bright, and she had the right attitude. "So, look out, in seven or eight years' time I could be your boss." She laughed at me, but there's an element of seriousness in that. What she said next surprised me. "And if you think, if that happens that you will get preferential treatment and high pay rises, then you're absolutely correct you will unless you seriously fuck up, because you have done so much to make my mother happy, and I can't repay you enough for that. Oh, and for not shaking my hands on that first night." She laughed.