Double Glazing

"Yes, and you were right. So start thinking in terms of Sun, Sea, and lots and lots of deliciously making love. I have years of deprivation to make up for, and you are the chosen man to assist me in that."

"I'll start taking the vitamin pills."

*

Chapter eight

Aubrey was working again, although his success rate had dropped slightly. I did notice that his orders were now more complete, and we were getting close to the forty-five percent gross profit margin. His attitude to me though was still antagonistic. Whenever he came into the office he would take every opportunity to make snide remarks. These usually inferred that my sexuality was doubtful. The urge for me to retaliate was powerful, but I resisted. The demon on one shoulder wanted to throw my burgeoning relationship with Eve in his face. The Angel on my other shoulder told me to keep quiet. I did keep quiet. The Decree Nisi could still be challenged, and if Aubrey had even the slightest whiff of our relationship he would make things very difficult for Eve.

Knowing that I often worked late, Andy had taken to dropping into the office after his surgery had closed. We cleared up outstanding issues, and he would sign any documents that needed his signature. He was well aware of Aubrey's attitude, and he seemed to have more of a problem with it than I.

"John. I am going to have words with Aubrey soon. I knew about his divorce, and made allowances for his emotional state, but even so this can't go on. He is making your position untenable."

"Leave it, Andy. There's no point in cracking the egg before you need to fry it." He was shaking his head.

"No, I can't leave it. His sneers and imputations will eventually become common gossip in the place, and the factory hands and fitters may lose respect for you. I can't have that." I didn't want to stir up trouble such as this, so I had to tell Andy what was happening.

"Andy, I have a reason for not challenging Aubrey. There is something I should tell you, but in the strictest confidence. If it got back to Aubrey, then someone else would suffer." He was intrigued.

"Whatever you tell me, stays within these four walls. My word on that."

"I have been seeing Mrs. Chatsworth, socially."

"Ah! Just socially, John?"

"It's a little more than that." Andy grinned.

"I have met Mrs. Chatsworth on a couple of occasions in the past. She's a stunner. You are a dark horse, John." He stopped and thought for a moment. "Hey! This isn't the reason for the Divorce?"

"No. The divorce is because of something that Aubrey did. Nothing untoward has happened between Mrs. Chatsworth and me. The reason I am putting up with Aubrey's snide remarks is that I don't want any hint of this to get out. I believe that he would make things difficult for Eve, if he knew."

"So, John. Are you looking at a possible long term relationship with the delectable Mrs. Chatsworth?"

"I believe that is what it will be. But do understand, Andy, there has been no impropriety. The divorce must go through first."

"Ok, John. We will play it your way. You do understand that it will get worse with Aubrey, especially if he finds out that after the Absolute is granted, you are seeing his ex-wife."

"Oh, yes, I have recognised that. I will let slip then, that I know why he was divorced, and if he wants to play silly buggers, I can play as well......And before you ask. No! I cannot tell you the reason."

"Take care, John. You may be playing with fire."

Six weeks and one day crawled very slowly. Eve phoned me quite frequently now, and came to see me at the flat a couple of times every week. We couldn't be seen together in public nor did she want me to phone at the flat she was renting, the phone downstairs was quite public, and she was afraid that Aubrey may get a hint by talking to others in the building. I told her when I had booked our holiday Villa.

"We fly from Birmingham on the Tuesday following your absolute. I'm sorry Eve, but I couldn't get anything close to the beach, and still secluded. So I have booked one that is reasonably close. It has a private pool, and there are no other buildings for at least a mile in any direction. I have also booked a hire car, so we can get round the island and see places of interest." I had printed off the pictures of the Villa, and Eve, having seen them gave approval.

"Looks very good and secluded." She retorted. "And from the look of it, I won't need to pack any clothes at all." We laughed together.

"Well only for when the maid comes in twice a week."

"Damn. I was hoping to get an all-over tan."

"May I help you with the sun block?" I volunteered.

"Funny you should mention that. I was just thinking the same thing. Much attention should be paid to the areas that don't normally see the light of day." She kissed me with a mischievous look on her face. "I am actually thinking of your areas, not mine."

"That could be interesting."

"That's what I thought." A sudden thought struck her. "What about food?"

"We are close to the harbour town of La Savina. According to the Travel Agent there are lots of little bars around the harbour where we can eat. All we need to do is get basics for breakfast and drinks for during the day."

"Oh! So I will need clothes after all."

"Just some light frocks for the evening." Eve put her arms round me, and asked softly.

"Would you like me to go without bra and panties?"

"When you said you wanted to be decadent you meant it! That would be very interesting, but if you do, you must be prepared for a reaction from me."

"That's ok. I can help you with that." Eve replied nonchalantly. "In fact I look forward to helping."

Later that evening Eve became serious.

"John. Will we be together after? I mean when we get back from the holiday."

"Darling Eve. That's what I would like. I was going to sell my dad's house, but I have been thinking that we could move in there together. It's nothing like the 'Sycamores', so if you don't like the idea, we will think about somewhere else."

"Being nothing like the 'Sycamores' is a point in its favour." Eve replied. "I actually disliked that house, but as in so many things it was Aubrey's choice. Are you sure you want us to live together?"

"Yes. That's the way I am. If we have a relationship it is either one hundred percent or nothing. If you agree to that, then marriage is part of the package." Eve seemed astounded.

"You can't mean that. I am damaged goods."

"I do mean it. Eve these have been the most important few weeks in my life, seeing you, knowing what you mean to me. It hasn't happened in the usual way, meeting, going out together, falling in love. There are no rules that say it has to be that way. All I know is that I want you in my life, I love you. I have sympathy for your situation, but my loving you has nothing to do with that. You are not damaged goods, you are perfect for me." She smiled.

"You lovely man. I have no doubt that I want to be with you. It was Atcham that made my mind up, being with you seemed so natural, so right. I will tell you now that if you propose to me I will say yes."

There are plenty of people out there who would counsel us not to act in haste. My dad would have for one. Even the wise Angel on my shoulder was telling me to slow down, yet I couldn't. People talk of love at first sight, there are so many clichés to cover this situation. Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread. Don't cross your bridges before you come to them, Marry in haste, repent at leisure. All of them were banished from my mind by the energy that existed between Eve and myself. I had no doubts and if Eve would have me, we will be together.

With my mind elsewhere, work had become mechanical. I found myself having to stay late at the office simply to check and re-check the schedules I had posted that day. More than once I found simple mistakes that would never have occurred before. Aubrey's stinging comments no longer bothered me. His position as the king-pin had been eroded. His impending divorce was unknown to almost everyone in the office except Andy and me, yet it's affect on Aubrey was noted by most without knowing the reason. The stipulation about commission payments had an adverse effect on his success rate, and he was now little better than the other agents. Aubrey knew this as the monthly sales figures were circulated to the agents. He, of course did not look at himself as the arbiter of his misfortune. Like so many of his kind he looked for plots and intrigues to explain his present troubles.

*

Chapter nine

These days were longer than ever before, hands on the clock seemingly welded to the spot rarely moving. The long hours adding up to weeks that seemed without end. It came as a shock when one Sunday Eve gaily announced that on the following Thursday, Mr. Gaunt would apply for the Absolute. We were together at my dad's house. I had been clearing the place of his personal effects, and Eve came to help. She was happy as the apparent long wait was over. I turned to her.

"I thought it was another week yet." She shook her head, the smile broadening.

"Are we planning to celebrate?" Eve was asking two questions in one. I went and took her in my arms.

"What would you like to do?"

"I know what I want to do, but you would think me very forward if I told you." Unsurprisingly I had thought about this. An idea came to my mind. I picked up the local paper and leafed through to the entertainments page. It was as I thought.

"There is a concert at the Symphony Hall that Friday. It's music from the movies. Let's say we try for tickets, have a late meal, and find the perfect end to the day." Eve nodded eagerly.

"Yes, we shall have our music, have our meal, then you can have me." She paused momentarily. "And I can have you!" She lifted her face for a kiss. "John, you would be shocked to know how much I want you."

"No more than you, Eve, if you knew how much you are desired."

We returned from the concert that Friday. I had Butterflies in my stomach, and was sure that Eve also suffered that fluttery anticipation. I made coffee, and we sat quietly talking about little, for both of us the anticipation made concentration difficult. Eve told me that she was going to brush her teeth, got up and kissed me. She took her little bag. I listened as she went into my bedroom first, then a few moments later I heard the bathroom door close. It seemed ages before she came out. I waited a few minutes then went round switching off the lights. The bathroom light was still on when I went in to brush my teeth. I undressed and put on a clean pair of silk boxers. Eve was in bed, just her eyes peeking at me from the top of the Duvet. She pushed the cover down slightly and grinned at me.

"You will not be needing those, Mister." She was looking at my Boxers. I took them off and slipped under the Duvet. Immediately Eve held me tight, her arms going round my back, mine similarly encircling her There are no words to describe getting into bed with your lover for the first time. Holding her naked body against yours, the breath that you take at that first awesome contact held in your lungs for moments until your body pleads for you to breathe again. I could recall little except my words of love to Eve, and her squirming, clinging, seeking to place every inch of her skin against mine, as if she felt the need to bind us together. That touch was electric, chasing words away with the frisson that passed between us. Eve's face of love as she looked at me when I filled her, the dismay when I drew back, and the delight as I filled her again. The kisses that sensitised our lips, the flavour of our combined breath as we breathed mouth to mouth exhaled and inhaled over and over again, the fragrance of our mingled perspiration, our murmurs and cries. All of these would remain with me. There was no race to finish, no prizes for triumph, just two people who had found each other, and celebrated their love and union with Paradise.

That Saturday we talked excitedly about our forthcoming holiday, making promises of loving that in all probability our bodies could not keep. Later we did the mundane things, shopping, buying food for the evening and the Sunday, as we had decided that Eve would stay over until the Monday morning. On Sunday we got up late, luxuriating in laying in bed, holding each other and talking. It was the first time that Eve had ever done that, and she insisted that this should be a ritual she wanted to repeat.

"It's so good. Laying here with you, touching in a loving way and talking. I feel as if I have come home to the place I should have been for all those years. In your arms."

The next Tuesday we flew out of Birmingham to Ibiza. Formentera has no airport, so after landing on Ibiza we took the ferry across to Formentera. The ferry actually docks in La Savina, so we were able to notice the many small bars and restaurants lining the harbour. A agent was waiting for us, holding up a placard with my name printed on it. He had the keys to the hire car and directions for getting to the Villa. There was little trouble in finding the place, there was only the one main road which ran east to west on the island. We had to make a right turn at the sign for Platya de Migjorn. The maid who would come in twice a week to change the beds and clean, was waiting by the door. She was a happy soul and welcomed us warmly. We settled in and the maid told us she would be back in three days. She showed us the fridge in the kitchen which surprisingly was full of soft drinks. There was also tea and coffee, so we would be well served for the first couple of days.

Eve wandered out to the pool and as soon as the maid had left I heard the splash as she dived in. I strolled through to the patio. Eve was swimming the length, Her dress and underwear laying casually discarded on a sun lounger. Eve was swimming in the nude! I joined her. Eve was a far better swimmer than me. She teased me, allowing fleeting touches, then with a smile and a stroke or two she would be half way across the pool. My laboured crawl would bring me back to her, only for her to escape easily yet again, laughing. Eventually she tired of teasing me, and swam to the ladder and climbed out to stand, breathtakingly beautiful, the Sunlight playing on her lovely body, flickering reflections from the water streaming down her breasts and flanks in rivulets. Those same rivulets caressed her curves so lovingly. I wished I could be those rivulets. I clambered out, breathing heavily with my inexpert swimming as much as my need to join with her. She watched me as I walked towards her. I spoke the last line of a poem..

"No beauty she doth miss, When all her robes are on:
But Beauty's self she is, When all her robes are gone."

Her arms opened and clasped around my neck, Our wet bodies slithered together, and we kissed.

"Have me!" She expressed her need. "Have me, here, now. I want you."

I cupped her buttocks and lifted her, Eve's legs opened to grip my upper thighs and as I lowered her slowly on to my erection she used one hand to guide me into her.

Later we lay in each others arms. Eve raised her head and looked at me, her love patently obvious on her face.

"That verse was beautiful. I said you could seduce me with your words, and you did, who was the Poet?"

"In the anthologies the poet is anonymous, but there are many who believe it was written by Francis Davison an Elizabethan poet."

"Do you know the rest of it?" I shook my head.

"Sorry. If you like we can look it up when we get home."

Throughout our stay there, in that idyllic Villa, Eve would take every opportunity to tease. It was never anything but light-hearted teasing, and invariably would culminate in a culmination. She had promised me that she wanted to make up for years of deprivation, and I was more than happy to accede to her wishes. I was curious that she and Aubrey had been only occasional lovers. She explained to me one night as we lay in bed, sky clad and holding each other despite the warmth of the evening.

"When we first married, we were as I thought normal. We slept together and Aubrey would want sex about once a week. It gradually became less, and when we moved to the 'Sycamores', Aubrey informed me that he never slept well alongside of me. He told me I moved too much. So we had separate bedrooms, and from that day he didn't seem to be concerned that we didn't have sex. I wasn't a virgin when we married, but not that experienced. I wondered if this was normal or that I didn't please him, so I tried to make it up to him by being the wife he wanted, you know, the immaculate, well-dressed woman you saw."

"Doesn't sound normal to me." I commented. She wriggled against me, reminding me of her body cleaving to mine.

"Well of course it wasn't normal. I know that now. You have ploughed me so beautifully these last few days and nights. I will have to go easy on you John. I'll settle for only twice a day when we get back home." She giggled. " But for the moment I am still feeling deprived. I could do with some more sullying. Do you think..." She felt for me and found my erection. "Oh well done my darling lover. Just lay there, I'll do all the work."

Later she collapsed on to me, breathing fast and hard. As her breathing calmed, we kissed slowly, tenderly and deeply.

"You lovely man. You do it for me every time. I could feel very bitter, you know, that I didn't discover you earlier, before I married Aubrey. I feel so wanted and cared for with you. Your eyes tell me how much you desire me, so it's your fault really as seeing that desire in your eyes makes me want you."

"So it's down to me then, this attack on me."

"Yes, my darling, it is. Though I do encourage you. I love watching you, watching me when I am naked. I confess that I take my clothes off in order to see the desire in your eyes and this other beautiful reaction. I see that look and see you hard and I get wet. I'm a hussy really. But I am your hussy."

This holiday cemented that which we had known. This was not just a flirtatious affair, it was a connection that would last for many years. I had never been a demonstrative man, yet now I took the lead in holding Eve's hand as we walked around the harbour at La Savina, through the quaint lanes of Es Pujols, and completely naked on the long beach at Migjorn, something that delighted Eve, although worried me as she would insist that we stop frequently to kiss. Indeed at one point I had to make a hurried diversion into the sea, her kisses had become too passionate. I waded waist deep willing my ardour to subside, and Eve shook with laughter waiting for me to emerge. By the end of our holiday I was convinced that my future would be with Eve. We lay in bed that last night, and I proposed just after we had made love.

"Eve, I love you unreservedly and I want you in my life. I don't want a semi-detached relationship, I want permanence. Would you consider marrying me? Possibly not straight away, as you have only just been divorced, but when you feel that you have your life together again." Eve turned to kiss me, then drew back so she could see my face.

"John, my lovely darling man. I don't need to wait. The divorce is only confirming that a marriage which was dead a long time ago is officially dead. To all intents and purposes I have not been a married woman for the last eight or nine years. Yes, yes, yes. I want to be your wife, as soon as you wish."

*

Chapter Ten

We returned to real life, and real life problems. Aubrey was bringing in so little business, and seemed to be drinking, or so Andy told me.

"He was in yesterday. I could smell Whisky on him, but he appeared sober, although I am not sure if he would pass the breathaliser test." I was concerned about this and was prepared for another vicious attack when next I saw him. However I would not postpone Eve's and my plans to marry. In many ways I had had enough of Aubrey. No longer would I tip-toe around him. Discovering Eve had finally made up my mind that he would no longer be a factor in any decisions I would make.