Elise Ch. 35 - Epilogue

"Elise"

EPILOGUE (MF age diff)

One year later

Sandy

As I write this, I reflect back on the past fifteen months, believing that the events that took place in that period of time have benefited all the players in this little saga, particularly young Elise and me.

The two of us indeed had several more months of sexy fun at my house whenever we could manage it. In the course of that time, I introduced her to the remainder of my small array of BDSM kinks and related toys and accessories, and I made certain she enjoyed every one of them. She continued to explore her still-developing sexuality with me, the two of us opening up, through our play, as many possibilities for her as we could, until she left for her freshman year at Eastern Cal in August.

Elaine and Ross's divorce became final around the time their daughter graduated in May. Elaine's divorce lawyer helped her make sure things went smoothly, and that she got what she was entitled to and had been seeking under the agreement. During the final hearing, Ross had tried his best, a final time, to hurt her by ranting about how glad he was to finally be rid of her, only getting a blank sympathetic stare in return, which, according to reports, visibly infuriated him. He apparently still didn't realize that, in truth, Elaine was just as glad to be rid of him and move on with the next phase of her life, free of her cold, controlling, philandering ex-husband and all his drama.

Elise graduated from Zirconia High with honors. I was reluctant to attend the ceremony, not wanting to risk unwanted notice for her, her family, or me. But both Elise and her mother insisted I be there to lend my support, and they introduced me to several relatives and friends as "a friend of the family." When Elise walked across that stage, receiving her honors hood as well as her diploma, there was no one in that auditorium prouder of her than I. Along with very few others, I fully realized just what she had overcome to be able to stand with such distinction at that moment.

Her summer was busier than most had been. She attended an EC soccer camp and met many of her teammates, and then her freshman season started in August. I was able to make many of her home matches during the fall, some of them with Elaine along. Her team, packed with talented upperclassmen, had a very good season, qualifying for the Division II regionals, where they lost a heartbreaker in the finals to the eventual national champion, Oregon Baptist University. Elise had significant playing time as a freshman, and there was no doubt that she would be a key contributor next year, as a sophomore, to EC women's soccer's continued success.

Her athletic scholarship to EC was a partial one; however, she had earned two academic scholarships as well, based on her high test scores and school performance; these grants in total afforded her a completely free ride to college. I constantly let her know how proud I was of her and all she was achieving, and I was glad to hear that her mother was making a point of doing so as well. The days of Elise Madrigal toiling away in obscurity were over. She now had a permanent rooting section of her own, and from what she was telling me, it seemed like it was growing all the time.

Elise came home to Blanksville on weekends when there was no match or other reason to stay on campus, and we always made it a point to eat out somewhere while she filled me in on the goings-on in her active college life. Elaine eagerly joined us when she could. It was clear that Elise loved the new freedom she had as a college student living away from home, and that she appreciated no longer feeling that she had to pigeonhole herself into any certain persona to gain the measure of self-protection she felt she needed. She excitedly talked about how liberating it was to finally interact with her peers as her genuine self, letting her pleasant, budding personality attractively shine through.

And it was clear that others were responding positively to her new-found gregarious overtures. I had made it plain to Elise that now that she was in college, we were friends without benefits, although our hugs and pecky little kisses were still there and would always be. I expected that she would, soon enough, start dating inside her general age group, and indeed within a month into her first semester she indicated that she had started to make friends, both male and female, and she hinted that two or three of the guys might like her to go out with them.

It pleased me when she said she was taking it slow, feeling no urge to rush into anything with any of her fellow students. Not that she really had the time, as she was enjoying hanging out with her teammates, and others in her dorm as well, at the times when she wasn't studying, playing, or practicing. On every one of her visits home, I reiterated what I'd been telling her all along: she was precious, a real prize for the right man, and that any man who couldn't wait until she felt the time was right, was probably not a good long-term prospect anyway.

As for me, over the summer Rachel and I discussed her possibly providing me information on another 18-year old young lady at one of the high schools. After some thought, I decided to sit this year out, having a lot of wonderful memories of my year with Elise to keep me warm and stimulated.

***************

At Thanksgiving, Elise came into town for the long weekend, and what was left of the Madrigal family got together for the day, as was customary, with Elaine's sister Charlene and her family. Again, both Elaine and her daughter insisted I join them, both pointedly telling me that there was no way they would allow me to be by myself on this holiday.

I accepted with some trepidation, but once I arrived and was warmly greeted by all, any doubts I had that I was welcome quickly melted away. We enjoyed dinner and just visiting with one another throughout the afternoon. I finally got a chance to talk to Charlene and Jerry, who I found to be a delightful couple with three highly active kids who seemed to keep them insanely busy. While we were chatting, I observed the interplay between Elise and her younger cousins, and could readily tell that, someday, she'd enthusiastically embrace her role as a mother whenever it finally fell to her to do so.

Later, after Charlene and her family had departed, I had a chance to chat with Elise out of earshot for a few minutes.

"Thank you so much for including me. The whole thing reminded me a little of when Rachel was growing up, when we'd sometimes get together with some of her aunts, uncles, and cousins for holidays. I always enjoyed that." Elise smiled, nodding her acknowledgement.

I remarked, "I found it noteworthy that me all of a sudden being included in your big family gathering didn't even draw a remark from anyone the whole time."

"Well Sandy, I'm pretty sure that Aunt Charlene has been informed, at least in general, of how we came to know you. And I'm not completely sure, but I would be surprised if she hadn't found a way to inform Uncle Jerry as well. They are cool people, very go-with-the-flow, and we knew they'd accept you just fine. And, despite what my family life was like at times, my mother is a very welcoming person. So you really had nothing to worry about."

"I see that now, and I appreciate it, believe you me. I'm curious, though: How did you feel today without your father and brother here?"

Sighing, she responded, "Honestly, I'm fine with it. Every person here today really and truly loves me, and every one of them is someone I'm comfortable with and thankful to know so well. I don't know, based on what happened a year ago, whether I'll ever be able to, or even want to, feel the same about either of them. I sorta think that I'm better off here and they're better off wherever they are, know what I mean?"

I did indeed, and I reached out to hug her. Nothing more needed to be said.

***************

One evening about two weeks ago, just after Thanksgiving and as chilly December winds began to blow through the Central Valley, there was a knock at my front door. I opened it, exclaiming, "Elaine. What a surprise. Come on in. Welcome."

Elise's mother stepped inside and turned to me. "Sorry for dropping by unannounced." I waved that off. "But I needed to talk to you about something."

Concerned, I countered, "This isn't about Elise, is it?"

"No, no, she's great. It's more about me and my situation."

Curious, I walked her into my dining nook, offering her a drink. She accepted a water with thanks.

I motioned her to sit, and we did. "OK Elaine, what's on your mind?"

"Well, I don't know if you're aware, but Elise and I have had some discussions in which she was somewhat specific about the kinds of things you two did when you were together."

That caught me up short. "If that's true, I must say I'm disappointed with Elise for volunteering such information to anyone else. That was understood to be private between us. At least that was my understanding."

With a wave of her hand, Elaine replied, "Oh, don't blame Elise. I'm afraid I practically forced it out of her. I might add that she didn't want to, and I only got her to relent by the hardest."

"And why would you do that and force her to betray our confidences?"

She looked down as if chastened. "A couple of reasons. I was concerned about her safety, and a certain amount of detail was needed to provide me comfort in that regard. But I have to admit that was a relatively small reason. The big one was that I was extremely curious about your play, and I wanted enough information to assess whether these types of things could be applicable to my situation."

I was fairly stunned. "You were curious about our play? How could that relate to you?"

Taking a breath in as if to steady herself through a coming ordeal, Elaine answered, "To answer that, I need to give you a little background. After becoming privy to your private life to an extent I really shouldn't have, it's only fair that I tell about some of mine."

"Elaine, you don't have to do that. We are not children. This is not tit for tat."

"I understand that. But if you'll allow me, there are some things, of which I think you need to be aware."

I shook my head once. "As you wish."

So she started. "As anyone who knew our domestic living arrangement might have guessed, during the last fifteen years of our marriage, really ever since Elise was born, sex between Ross and me was largely a thing of the past. And, by the way, as I learned later of his long-time infidelities, I was glad for that. But what I want to disclose to you was the nature of our sex life prior to that time."

I nodded, showing, I hoped, kindness. If I couldn't get her not to go into these details of her private life, at least I could try to help her get through whatever she was going to tell me in the least stressful and most empathetic way possible.

Looking right at me now, Elaine pushed on. "From the time our sex life began, Ross demonstrated that he wanted -- needed, I think -- to be dominant in the bedroom. So he took over, and for a time, that was fine with me. I think I was a bit submissive in nature anyway, so it all worked, as I said, for a while.

"But the problem was, Ross was dominant outside the bedroom as well. He made it clear from the beginning that he, and he alone, would make decisions for the household, and he expected me, and later the children, to follow without question. And, with me thinking too much like my mother did in her time, that seemed reasonable, since after all he was the breadwinner, as I finished nursing school and began my career at the bottom rung of the ladder.

"So you can guess what developed over time. I was dominated in all phases of my life -- everywhere at home and at work in those early years. I began to resent it, and the place I chose to display that resentment was in the bedroom. Gradually, I started to resist Ross's efforts to control my activities there. Mind you, I didn't actually mind having my activities controlled in the bedroom, so much as I resented him controlling them on ALL fronts, all the time, without exception.

"So I became less and less receptive to his romantic overtures, finally even moving out of his bedroom. Luckily for me, something in my husband kept him from responding with physical abuse, although I did receive my share of verbal abuse over the years. Primarily, though, he took a classically passive-aggressive approach. He got his job transferred full-time to San Francisco, announcing that he was moving there during the work week, making it plain that my "frigidity," as he called it, had a lot to do with the decision.

"And that was, for all practical purposes, the end of any intimacy between us. For the better part of twenty years, our relationship was a completely logistical one; in effect, we were co-workers in the effort to maintain a comfortable household for Brett and Elise, interacting as little as we could with one another. No more than that. He did whatever he did in the city, while I developed my chops in the nursing profession here in town, both of us obsessively pursuing our careers to the exclusion of almost anything else."

I mused, "Makes me wonder how many couples wind up in that same type of arrangement, for convenience or practicality's sake."

"Lots, I'm sure," she replied wanly. "Anyway, this all has been my long-winded way of telling you that even though the terms of my marriage to Ross became unacceptable to me, I never stopped desiring a little submission in the bedroom. Always wondered how that could be for me in the right situation.

"And then Elise met you, and the two of you began the arrangement you had. Then I met you and found it hard not to like you. Through this, it was impossible for me not to see how happy Elise had become with you in such a short time. Goddammit, Sandy, it kills me to admit this, but I was VERY JEALOUS of my daughter. The fact that, on her first time around the block sexually, she had succeeded where I had failed in having the kind of sexual arrangement I desired, and with a man who would treat me as an equal in all other facets of life, was all I could think of.

"I hope you can understand. I HAD to tell you all this. You'd been so kind to Elise, so considerate of her needs as the two of you saw them, such an important part of this critical past year for her, not to mention that you provided the impetus for me to finally become a bigger part of my own daughter's life, for which I will be eternally grateful by the way, that I thought I owed you the unvarnished truth."

I stared ahead at her, silent for a long time.

"But WHY volunteer all this? You didn't owe it to me" was all I could offer in response.

With a slight smile, she softly replied, "Isn't it obvious? After I saw my daughter having the kind of submissive relationship I had once enjoyed, have yearned for ever since, but have been without for so long, I felt I owed it to MYSELF to find out if I could have the same thing." She took my hands in hers then. "Can we at least talk about it?"

***************

It's now a couple of days before Christmas, and I'm lying in my bed, reflecting on my life the last fifteen months, right up to the present moment.

I suppose I could write more, to explain some things a little better, help my reader understand an additional point or two. But...

Just now Elaine Madrigal rolls over toward me, fresh from a post-orgasmic snooze. "Come over here and spoon with me, Daddy. Please," she whispers.

So I do. After all, I could never say no to my babygirl.