Dr. Cole's Casefiles - Vanessa Pt. 07

She shook her head, like a little girl receiving orders and put up her arms for a hug.

***

She paused. I said, "If he knew about Judith, why didn't he say something before?"

She said, "I asked him that. That's what has me so bothered. No, not bothered, really, but ambiguous."

I pushed, "You need to explain that."

She said, "He told me that his life has taught him to try to let people solve their own problems. At first, before she showed up at my apartment, he didn't care about anything I might have done with Judith. But he couldn't afford to be made a fool. He didn't say 'again' but the word hung in the air without being spoken. I interpreted his answer to mean he was testing me to see what I'd do. It's all so cold-blooded. I don't know what to think."

I suggested, "Well, if you don't know what to think, perhaps we should discuss how you feel. Does any part of you feel comforted that he seems to still accept you, want to protect you, avenge you, love you?"

She said, "Yes, that's all true. But how do I know I can trust him?"

I couldn't stop myself from clicking my tongue. I said, "You've got to think about that question. What has he done to earn your distrust?"

She said, "He investigated me without my knowledge and consent. He uncovered my past without telling me. He made plans without telling me. I still don't know what he's doing about Judith."

I said, "What do you want him to do about Judith?"

She shrugged. "Maybe I don't want him to do ANYTHING about Judith. Now that he knows about my past, she doesn't have any power over me."

I shook my head. "Vanessa, I will remind you that I love you. It's necessary for me to say that before I say anything else."

She looked into my eyes. "I know that. I have feelings for you. I can't help that."

I pressed. "But you LOVE Aaron, yes?"

She closed her eyes. "Yes."

I continued, "So, you're feeling uncertain and confused. Chaos is reasserting itself into your life. Judith and Aaron each present their own form of order to you. Judith's is clearly negative. Aaron's, well, do you feel as if he is trying to control you?"

She shook her head, "No. He's not controlling me. But he is trying to control events around me. Judith is, or, I guess, was, trying to control me directly."

I nodded. "Judith treats you like property. Aaron treats you like, what?"

She said, "It's hard to describe. It's like he's trying to protect me from myself, from my own bad decisions. But isn't that a form of judgement?"

I said, "He's a man, a powerful and highly capable man, and you're the woman that he loves. He is genetically wired to protect you, mainly because he loves you. What would be easier for him? To save you or abandon you? Given his history with his ex-wife, wouldn't the easy course be the latter? And because he isn't taking it, doesn't that demonstrate his love for you? And he has to consider his reputation. If word got around about your past, how would that affect his ability to do business? I'm sure his plan covers all these aspects."

She thought for a moment before saying, "If that's true, then I've been a fool twice over."

I said, "Nonsense. He's the only man you've ever had in your life as a lover. Given your history, you expect him to abandon you in some fashion, if not actually by severing ties, than emotionally by judging you. You EXPECT to lose him, like you lost your father.

"But he let you try to solve your own problem, giving you only the help you requested, a credit card to seek medical treatment. Only when that failed did he step in, like a strong and intelligent man, meeting the danger to his loved one head on. You need to understand this about him. And you need to understand this about yourself; you didn't recognize it because you have no frame of reference for it. Now you do. So, I ask you again, do you love him? Do you trust him?"

She closed her eyes and visibly relaxed. "Yes. I do. What do you suggest that I do?"

I said, "Show him. Have y'all had sex since your talk?"

She said, "No."

I said, "Go home, make yourself as sexy as you can, invite him over, and fuck his balls off. I mean as if he is the only thing of significance in your world. Would you like to do that?"

She sighed. "Yes, I would. I will. Thank you Sue."

I said, "Until I see you next week, then."

Session 11

The following Wednesday, as I invited Vanessa into my office, I concentrated on her face, looking for signs of her mood. She was jubilant, as if she were walking on air. She had her hands behind her back, a strange posture for her.

She didn't go to the couch or even a chair. Instead, she flung her arms around my neck and said, "Oh Sue, everything has turned out alright. Better than I ever expected. I have the most wonderful news and I owe it all to you."

She stepped back and showed me her left hand. The diamond must have been ten karats. I'd never seen one so big. I said, "Oh my God. Are you engaged? To Aaron?"

Her voice rose an octave and she squealed "Yes! Can you believe it?"

I hugged her tight and whispered into her ear, "I'm so happy for you." I released her and said, "You must tell me everything. Do you want to lie down?"

She said, "No. I'll sit."

She sat and started. "It was so romantic the way he proposed. He took me to Chandelier Island, our favorite spot. He made a fire on the beach, played the guitar and sang some songs. The last one was an old one made popular by Eddy Arnold. The refrain goes:

'Say that you love me for a million years.

Then if it don't work out.

Then if it don't work out.

Then you can tell me, goodbye.'

"Then he turned his guitar over and this ring was taped to the back of it. I screamed, and hugged him, and cried. And he said, 'Well what's your answer?' I kissed him and said, 'Yes, but only if you make love to me right now."

I said, "Well I guess y'all did."

She closed her eyes and sighed and smiled.

I asked, "When's the wedding?"

She said, "In a month, right after the new Atlanta store opens. But it won't be big. We'll just go to a judge that he knows. Then we'll sail 'Selene' to the Cayman Islands for a month. After that, he promised to build me a big house. But I told him that my apartment would do until we have children."

She closed her eyes, as if dreaming of her future. I said, "Oh Vanessa, that's beautiful. And it's perfect for the two of you."

After a pause, I said, "Do you mind me asking about what happened to Judith?"

She refocused her attention on me. "It all worked out better than I expected. Aaron really is a genius. He planned to have Judith deported back to Russia. His investigators found out that she had a Swiss bank account with more than a million dollars in it and that the money came from her prostitution business. And they found out that Judith had never filed a tax return. That was the key to his plan.

"He's friends with the sheriff in the county, you know, where Judith has her house. Aaron's support helped get him elected. He knew that the sheriff couldn't act on the information Aaron had gathered because it came from a burglary. And arresting and trying her for prostitution would result in a huge scandal throughout South Mississippi, probably even get into the national news. And Aaron didn't want the IRS to get involved. The tax problem was his trump card.

"He got one of her clients, remember the woman who fondled me the day after Karen left while I put on her makeup? It seems that she had asked Judith about me repeatedly after I left and Judith got shitty with her. Now Sara, that's her name, hated her husband and only stayed with him because she had no place else to go. The notes Aaron's men had made on the documents showed that Sara had quit going to Judith. They approached her and made a deal.

"The deal was she'd get a life estate in a condo in the Caymans, all expenses and upkeep paid, and two thousand dollars a month in a bank account there in her name. All she had to do was sign an affidavit that she had paid Judith for sex on a regular basis. She would give the sheriff the affidavit. He would treat her as an anonymous source and use the affidavit to get a search warrant. Then he could legally get Judith's documents.

"Of course, Aaron told him exactly where to find the documents and no questions about how he knew, wink, wink. The sheriff would have Judith cold on prostitution. Of course, nobody wanted to have a scandal, so Judith would be encouraged to accept deportation back to Russia. Judith would be gone and the sheriff would be assured of Aaron's support for re-election or even if he decided to run for a higher office.

"The genius part was holding the IRS over Judith's head. If she didn't fight deportation, Aaron's contacts in the Immigration Service would be kept in the dark about the Swiss bank account and that would keep the IRS out of the whole business. So, even if she went back to Russia, she'd be able to buy her way out of the murder charges. Everybody involved with that thirty year old case was probably dead already. And if they weren't, their memories could be attacked.

"It all worked out. Judith is gone, Sara is in the Caymans, and there'll be no scandal. It all happened last Wednesday while I was talking to you."

I asked, "But what about the file Judith had on you?"

She looked smug. "When Judith came to Beauchamp last Tuesday for the rendezvous I skipped, Aaron's blackbag team broke into her house again and took my file and made sure there was no other evidence about my past activities there. When the sheriff executed his warrant Wednesday, he found plenty of stuff, but nothing about me.

"The authorities couldn't get Judith processed and sent back to Russia until a few days ago, so Aaron didn't call me before I called him because the business wasn't done. I called him on Wednesday like you said, but he was busy and couldn't come over until Friday. Turns out, he was in the middle of finalizing the 'Judith arrangements.'

"When he got to my apartment, he found me all sexy and ready for love, so he waited til afterward and then told me everything. The next day we sailed to Chandelier and he proposed there on the beach."

I said, "So, you get a storybook ending after all."

She said, "Oh no, not an ending. A beautiful beginning."

She grew pensive. I asked, "What's the matter?"

She said, "I'm gonna miss you, Sue. You've saved my life. I'll never be able to repay you."

I said, "Helping you get a chance at happiness means more to me than you know."

We stood. She put her arms around my neck, opened her mouth, and kissed me deeply, as a lover should. She broke the kiss and whispered, "Please don't forget me."

I murmured, "Never. I couldn't if I wanted to."

We kissed one last time and then she left.

Coda

On May 1, 2009, I received a letter. The return address said, "Vanessa Wilson '' and gave an address in Port City, the town immediately to the west of Beauchamp. I recognized it as her old apartment building, or, I should say the new building constructed after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the old one.

Over the years, I had read the occasional newspaper article about Aaron. The opening of a new store here and there, the sale of his business to a large national chain, the birth of twin girls named Adele and Annette, his establishment of a charitable foundation. But there was no mention of Vanessa other than the comment that he had sold his business in order to spend more time with his family. Finally there was a notice of his sudden death in 2003 from an aneurysm and the statement that he was survived by his wife and daughters and that the daughters would take over the running of his foundation.

I sent Vanessa a condolence card and a large bouquet of flowers to the funeral. She sent me a thank you note signed, "Love, Vanessa." I didn't attempt further contact, mainly because of the thrill I felt at the signature. I tried not to hope that she still had feelings for me, knowing that I probably couldn't fail to act upon them. If it weren't true, for it had been twenty-five years since we'd seen each other, then I would appear to be a vulture pecking at the corpse of a forgotten romance at a very inappropriate time.

My hands shook as I opened the envelope. It contained a short note:

"I miss you and I'm lonely. Would you please visit? I've moved into the new building where my old apartment was. I have the whole top floor. I always keep Wednesday afternoons open, I guess in memory of our old appointments. I'm a creature of habit." She signed it, "With love, your Vanessa."

I held the note to my breast, closed my eyes, and sighed. Could it possibly be true? Did she want to renew our relationship after twenty-five years? I stumbled to the mirror and scrutinized my face. I looked at the grey strands now prominent in my once solidly black hair. I saw the lines at the corners of my eyes and mouth. I thanked God that I still had my figure. Should I go to the salon and have the grey washed out? Should I apply enough foundation to hide the wrinkles?

No. I am what I am. I would keep the marks of my age. Vanessa always prized naturalness. Shallow attempts to hide my age would disappoint her. One of the things she had liked about me was my lack of vanity.

My hands shook as I wrote a one line response. "I'll see you this coming Wednesday, May 6th at our standard time, 4:00.p.m." I signed it, "Yours, now and forever, Sue."

On Wednesday, I fought the temptation to speed. I had to constantly pull my foot off the accelerator to get my speed down to the limit. Forrestburg is only eighty miles north of the coast, and the four lane state highway runs right into Port City, terminating at the highway that runs along the beach. I turned right and drove the two miles to the apartment building where Vanessa lived.

I wore my hair down, parted on the right, and with the sides held back by a pair of barrettes, keeping it out of my eyes but leaving plenty to cover my ears and drape my shoulders. It had always been thick and straight, unlike Vanessa's wavy locks. I had considered curling it but decided against that. Likewise, I wore no more makeup than usual, though I did paint my lips with a dark red gloss.

I wore a red dress, one that I used for date nights. Red always looks good on a woman with black hair. It fit my figure tight but not uncomfortable. Under the dress, I wore a red bra with sheer cups so my nipples showed through, flesh-toned thigh high stockings, sexy red high-heeled sandals and no panties.

When I dressed back in Forrestburg, I felt bold. But now, as I reached for the bell, doubt assailed me. Did she only want a familiar face with whom she could talk without fear? If that was so, then my blatant attempt to be sexy was exactly the wrong thing to do. How could I have been so thoughtless? How could Vanessa's allure hold me in bondage for a quarter of a century? How could I be so damn stupid?

I started to turn and leave when the door opened. There stood Vanessa, hair and makeup perfect, barefoot and wearing a thin robe that came down to mid-thigh. I could see she wore no bra. She raked her eyes down my body and back up, smiled, and threw the door wide. She didn't even say anything before grabbing my hand and pulling me inside. She shut the door with her foot, hugged me around the neck, and put her open mouth on mine. Her tongue probed my mouth while she ran the fingers of one hand through my hair and squeezed my butt with the other.

I pulled open her robe. I hadn't gotten a good look at her body because I had been staring at her face before the kiss began. Now I explored as much as I could. I found neither her breasts nor her derriere as firm as before, but I didn't care. Her skin was as warm and smooth as ever.

She broke the kiss. Her breath was short and I could see her pulse beat in her throat. Her bright brown eyes, lovely and lively as ever, held mine. Then, self-consciously, she pulled her robe closed. She said, "I'm sorry I sag now. It must be a disappointment to you. You're as firm as ever."

I held her gaze while I pulled her robe back open. I stepped back and trailed my eyes down her body and back up. Her tits sagged and there were stretch marks on them and on her belly. I stroked her breasts with a light touch, cupped one, and kissed it, first with my lips, then with my tongue.

She was nearly a head taller than me, so I had to pull her down a little to whisper into her ear. "The fact that you've born children only makes you more beautiful to me. Please don't ever say anything negative about yourself. It upsets me." I tongue-kissed her ear and bit the lobe and said, "You'll always be the sexiest woman I've ever known." Our open mouths met again and I entwined her tongue and sucked it in, holding it, massaging it, while I fondled her breasts.

She broke the kiss, took my hand, and said, "The bedroom is this way."

She closed the door and turned to me. "You look amazing. You've hardly aged a day."

I said, "Except for the grey hair and wrinkles you mean."

She said, "That hardly matters. Your eyes are still lively and intelligent and your body is still firm and round." She felt my breasts and pinched my nipples through the dress and sheer bra cups. Her deft fingers found the zipper on the back of the dress and pulled it down. The red dress peeled away and fell and the bra followed.

Vanessa stroked my breasts and said, "Yum," before taking one in her mouth. She ran one hand to my butt and the other to my leg. She murmured, "Your legs look fabulous in these stockings. I can't wait. Lay down."

She practically pushed me down. She picked up my left foot and said, "These are some of the sexiest shoes I've ever seen." She unbuckled it and sucked my toes one at a time. Remembering one of her stories about Judith, I unbuckled the other and rubbed her pussy with my right foot. I could feel the wetness as she moaned and rocked her hips. We switched feet, both of us getting hotter and wetter by the moment.

When she dropped my right foot, I cocked my legs open and said, "I"m all yours, baby."

Her tongue and fingers brought me to ecstasy in moments. As I lay there, trembling and moaning, I felt her arms around me and her lips on my neck. She murmured, "You taste wonderful. So sweet. So hot. So wet."

I ran my fingers through her hair and said, "Your turn."

***

Sated, we lay entwined, caressing each other. She said, "How about some champagne?"

I said, "Oh yes. Nothing but champagne will do. Can I borrow a robe?"

Her lips curled in a mischievous grin. "I guess it is my turn to lend you one."

We sat on the couch in her living room. Large windows gave us a splendid view of the beach and the water beyond. The slanting rays of the sun twinkled on small waves.

I sighed. "I was so afraid that you would just want to talk and that I'd made a fool of myself dressing sexy."

She laughed. "Well, what do you think now?"

I hugged her and whispered, "Thinking has nothing to do with it, only feeling."

She gazed into my eyes. "Do you still love me, after all these years?"

I said, "I can't help myself. You're a special woman."

She said, "I feel the same way about you. Have you been seeing anyone in particular?"

I shook my head. "Never. Not before you and sure as hell, not after you."

She stroked my cheek. "Would you like that to change?"

I didn't speak. Our open mouths pressed against each other was all the answer required.

FINIS