Evie

We spent the next couple hours talking about everything and nothing, glad to be together again. Occasionally, we'd hear muffled voices or a laugh wafting from the kitchen as the women worked on our feast.

About 3PM Susan stuck her head out. "You boys need to set the table, we'll be ready in a half hour or so."

"On it." I called out.

Evie had gone all out, I'd never seen this much food in my life. Susan would put on a feed for the holidays, but nothing anywhere near this level. We ate and talked, discussing Evie's upcoming future as a nurse.

"Given Mr. Klutz's record." Roy laughed. "He'll keep you busy."

"Love you too, Roy." I teased.

We all laughed. Evie leaned over and held my hand. "Look at the bright side." She smiled. "Falling out of that tree got us together, I'm not sure I could have reeled you in without it."

"You're probably right." I admitted. "I can be rather stubborn."

Everyone laughed, enjoying the playful banter. Roy and Susan were overjoyed that Evie and I found each other and I was finally getting my life back on track.

"I know I promised Evie we'd not worry about gifts." Roy said. "But Susan and I have been discussing this for quite some time, and now seems like the best time to do it. Aaron, you've worked so hard on this place, honestly, I see a lot of Sophie in here too. I can't ask you to give that up." He handed me a piece of paper. "This is the deed to the house, it's yours if you want it."

I blinked, looking at the deed. I was moved beyond words by their wonderful gift. Fighting tears, I spoke. "This is the only home I've ever known." I started. "Every good thing that ever happened in my life happened here. I had been dragging my feet completing it because I didn't want you to put it up for sale. I knew there was no way I could afford to buy it. From the bottom of my heart, thank you."

I stood and hugged them both, thanking them again for their generosity. "You deserve it." They both agreed.

"There's only one thing that would make this day better." I grinned, looking at Evie. "Would you like to move in with me? I love you and I want us to be together. I'm tired of being alone and miserable. I don't know where we're going to end up, but I do know we'll be together. You don't have to answer me today, think about it..."

She jumped up and leapt into my arms, showering me with kisses. "Yes, I'd kinda already decided I wasn't leaving anyway, it just makes it easier that you want me here too."

Susan giggled. "I'm overjoyed for you two. It's good to see him happy again."

Dinner over, we sat and talked. Susan asked if Evie had thought about where she wanted to work once she graduated.

"The nursing supervisor at the hospital Aaron was in asked me to come see her." She answered. "I must have impressed them while I helped take care of him. Back then I wasn't sure I'd be staying in the area, but now, I think I'll go see her. Staying here sounds pretty great right now."

"As for you." Roy looked at me. "I've been after you to take over the landscaping team for years. I know you always said you don't want the responsibility, but you've been doing the job most of the time you've been with me. The current supervisor is a lazy bastard that has been letting you do his job for him. The job is yours, I won't take no for an answer, along with a significant raise in your pay. I'll let you decide if he stays, demoted to your old job, or if you want him gone. I'll trust your decision."

"Alright." I relented. "If it makes you happy, I'll do it. And you're right, Leon is a dick, I'll give him the option to stay, but I doubt he'll want to work that hard. If I'm lucky, he won't take a poke at me."

"I'd pay to see that." Roy laughed. "You'd take him apart."

"Yeah." I sighed. "Doesn't mean I want to though."

"That's precisely why I want you in that job." He clarified. "You can be diplomatic, but if things get hairy, you've got the muscle to back it up. The guys respect that, they'll have your back and do anything for you."

Susan helped Evie clear the table and put the food away. We packed leftovers for her and Roy and they said their goodbyes, leaving us to digest the events of the day.

"Wow." I exclaimed, plopping into a chair. "I certainly didn't see things going like this today."

Evie sat in my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck. "Happy?"

"Best.Day.Ever." I grinned. "I have a home to call my own, and someone to share it with me, what more could I need?"

"Who is she? I'll kick her ass." She teased. "I'm territorial, any bitch sniffing around you answers to me."

"Don't go all Sarah Connor on me, girl." I chuckled.

"I've had my eye on you for a long time, I'm not about to let someone else steal you away." She giggled.

"They're not beating down my door." I observed. "I'm guessing you're safe."

"Their loss." She shrugged. "Don't know a good thing when they see it."

"Keep that up and I'm going to get a swollen head." I said.

She kissed me, her tongue fighting mine for space. "Not exactly the part I wanted to swell." She grinned wickedly. "Take me to bed please."

Taking her by the hand, we walked to the bedroom. She slowly stripped as I watched, then sprawled out on the bed. "Need you here." She patted the mattress beside her.

Losing my clothes, I laid next to her, kissing her again and massaging her breasts. She sighed her approval into my mouth as I pinched a nipple making her squirm. I left a trail of kisses down her neck and across her chest, lingering at her tits, feasting on an erect nipple before continuing my descent. Stopping briefly, I french kissed her navel making her giggle.

"That tickles." She squealed.

I looked up at her and grinned, then proceeded south. I felt her tense as I approached my destination. Concerned I asked. "You OK with this?"

"Just new territory." She answered, her hands running through my hair. "Never done this before."

I smiled internally. I would be the first to feast on her pretty pussy. I was honored. I would make it something she'd never forget.

Her mind might be uncertain, but from the state of wetness I discovered as I parted her labia and took my first tentative taste, her body was looking forward to the experience with great enthusiasm.

I kissed my way around her mound, concentrating on her inner thighs and outer areas. I was purposely teasing her and she responded as I expected, gyrating her hips and moaning, trying to snag my tongue with her inflamed sex.

Settling in between her spread legs, I took a long lick from bottom to top, her trimmed hair tickling my nose and cheeks. At the top of her groove, I flicked my tongue over her clit, then nibbled on it. She yelped and slammed her legs closed, trapping my head, pushing me deeper in.

"Oh my God, Oh my God, OH MY GOD!! She screamed as I worked her clit, making her thrash around on the bed, kicking her legs. I wrapped my arms around her thighs, pinning them, holding her down before she beat me to death, then resumed licking and probing her wet folds, catapulting her towards her climax. Moments later, with one last targeted lick, she exploded, arching her back and groaning loudly as her orgasm tore through her, shredding any semblance of sanity that remained. She flailed around, whimpering and panting for almost a minute before she fell limp, breathing heavily. Every few seconds, she would shiver as an aftershock ran through her overheated groin.

I laid next to her, holding her as she recovered, marveling at the intensity of her orgasm. As I waited for her to recover, I stroked her face and gently kissed her. She snuggled into my neck and in just a few minutes fell sound asleep, purring in my ear like a contented kitten.

I woke the next morning, alone. Her side of the bed was cold, so she'd been up at least half an hour or so. I was surprised I didn't wake up, I'm not usually such a heavy sleeper. I pulled on my robe and went to find her. She was curled up on the couch watching TV, nursing a cup of hot chocolate. She blushed deep red when she saw me.

"What's with the color change?" I asked.

"I'm embarrassed about last night." She answered. "You made me feel so good, and I fell asleep, leaving you, uh, hard."

I sat down next to her. "Do you know how it made me feel to see you cum that hard?" I asked. "I damn near came myself. It was pretty hot. I'm thrilled I could do that to you. I can't wait to do it again."

"As much as I enjoyed it." She admitted. "We can't do that every day, you'll kill me. I think I may have blacked out briefly, I'm not sure. My head's still fuzzy. I had no idea that was even possible."

"Well, I've never seen anything like it before." I said. "But I was glad I got to share it with you."

"You're gonna make it impossible for me to leave you alone you know." She giggled.

"Why is that bad?" I asked.

"I have a degree to finish, and you have to work." She sighed. "The bills don't pay themselves, regardless of how much I just want to spend all day in bed fucking your brains out."

We had leftovers for breakfast, then talked about moving her in. "You still want too?" I asked.

"Try and stop me." She chuckled. "Even if I didn't love you, my roommate is such a bitch, I'd have still jumped at the chance. Wait, that sounded better in my head. I love you and I'd love to be here with you, roomy bitch can just suck it."

I laughed, pulling her into a hug. "I don't care why you're here as long as you stay. How soon can we move your stuff."

"I'm pretty sure I can break my lease." She answered. "The landlord said he had a student looking for a place, so he might let me off. Hopefully Amy doesn't scare them off."

"That bad huh?" I inquired. She generally didn't talk about her roommate, so I knew very little about her.

"She's not a terrible person." Evie admitted. "She's just a drama queen. Everything is a personal attack on her. She'll be 50 shades of pissed that I have a boyfriend since hers dumped her a couple weeks ago. I'll need to keep that on the down low until I can get out or she'll drive me nuts."

"Guess that's a worry for another day." I smiled. "I am hoping you'll stay with me until you go back to class."

"That, I can do." She grinned. "I'll just tell her I'm going to visit my parents, she has no clue they're out of the country. Speaking of, we need to go see them as soon as they get back. They'll want to meet you."

"I'd like that." I said. "Hopefully they won't want my head for sleeping with their daughter."

"Well, I wouldn't lead with that." She giggled. "But I am an adult, even if they don't want to believe it, so they either like you or they don't, it won't change how I feel."

I hugged her. She had no idea how much it meant to me that she would choose me over her own parents. Never having any family, I wasn't accustomed to that kind of loyalty.

Weeks passed, Evie went back to school and I went back to work. As I was a supervisor now, I spent most of my time at a desk, or driving between build sites inspecting the progress of the projects. Evie's landlord agreed to let her out of her lease at the end of January, so we planned to move her out the last weekend before February.

Moving her in was an easy affair, needing only most of a Saturday to accomplish. Roy and Susan helped, making the day much less stressful. Evie would have to drive to school now, the buses would take too long. She had a car, but it was a piece of shit and wasn't very dependable, especially in cold weather. Roy had given me one of the company trucks to use, so I let her use my car and we unloaded hers.

We quickly became comfortable living together. We both liked having someone around, and regular sex was something we both could become addicted to.

After dinner one night, Evie cuddled up with me on the couch. "Aaron, can I ask you something?"

"Of course." I answered. "What's going on in that pretty head?"

"You never married Sophie." She said. "Why? It's obvious you two loved each other, I just seems odd that you didn't."

"We actually talked about it." I admitted. "We just figured we had time. Neither of us were in a hurry. Deep down I think we were afraid it would change us. We'd spend most of our lives alone, not having anyone to rely on and not having to answer to anyone. I know I was afraid I'd not be good enough, that I'd disappoint her. I'd never known love, giving or receiving, I didn't know if I could. Looking back, we spent way too much time doubting ourselves not realizing it didn't matter."

"Do you still feel that way?" She asked.

"No." I stated confidently. "Losing her made me realize that the only things in life worth anything are the ones that scare the shit out of you. The easy stuff is pretty much meaningless."

"You want to get married?" She asked.

"Are you proposing?" I teased, not entirely sure she meant it.

Evie looked up at me, smiling. "I am. I can't imagine myself anywhere but right here."

"You're actually serious." I sat up, surprised.

She nodded nervously. "I am."

I didn't even have to think about it. It felt right. If my past had taught me anything, it was that life is short, I'd missed out once, it wasn't going to happen again. "Yes." I hugged her, nuzzling her hair, fighting tears. "You and me, always and forever."

She smiled, and snuggled into my side. "I like the sound of that."

Unfortunately, things got busy and we weren't able to go see Evie's parents, but they were coming to her graduation, so I'd get to meet them then, and we'd drop the bomb on them. What could possibly go wrong?

Graduation day came at last. Evie had found out she was very near the top of her class, making her very happy. I told her how proud I was that she'd done so well. Her parents were going to come to the house before the ceremony, to get acquainted, then we'd all drive to the University in one car.

Evie was in the shower when the doorbell rang. I answered the door. "You must be Mr. and Mrs. Lane, I'm Aaron, nice to finally meet you. Evie will be out in a bit. Please come in and have a seat."

Mr. Lane shook my hand. "Call me Leo. Nice to meet you as well. This is Maddie my wife."

"Ma'am." I nodded.

We had barely settled in when Evie wandered into the room, drying her hair with a towel. "Aaron, let me know when Mom and Dad get here." She stated. Her vision was obscured by the towel, so she had no idea they were already here.

"Evelyn, my baby girl." Her Mother shrieked, jumping up and hugging her daughter.

"Momma?" Evie said, peering from under the towel. "You're early."

"Sorry, dumpling." Leo sighed. "I couldn't stop her."

"What?" Maddie huffed. "I can't see my own daughter now."

"It's OK Momma." Evie sighed. "I take it you've met Aaron."

"We have." Leo answered. "But we've only been here a few minutes, we haven't talked much yet."

"Give me a minute and we'll sit and talk." Evie left briefly, then came back and sat next to me.

I leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, then whispered in her ear. "Evelyn?"

"Call me that to my face and I'll tear your dick off." She whispered back. "I hate that name, I think Momma just does it to annoy me."

We chatted for a bit, her parents feeling me out. It wasn't the interrogation I was expecting, but Maddie did get a bit personal before Evie stepped in and shut her down.

"Evelyn, dear." Maddie observed. "It just dawned on me, you were in the shower when we got here. Why didn't you shower at your place before you came over?"

I shot a terrified look at Evie. She just smiled and winked at me. "I did Momma."

"Then why did you need another one?" She asked, puzzled.

"I didn't." Evie answered, smiling. She was enjoying toying with her mother. I was already wondering how long this would go on before she or Leo figured it out.

"But you did." Maddie stated. "I saw you."

"It's not that hard Momma." Evie grinned. "Think."

"What?" Maddie furrowed her brow, mind churning.

"Oh for Christ's sake, woman." Leo groaned. "This IS her place, or did you not notice the ring on her left hand."

Maddie sat for a few moments, her lips moving, but no sound came from them. Finally, she was able to form words. "Wait...you live here...ring, what ring?"

Evie flashed her left hand. "We're engaged Momma, and before you accuse him of tricking me, I proposed to him."

Leo laughed. He stood and hugged his daughter. "I'm happy for you dumpling." Then he shook my hand.

"I figured you'd be mad." Evie stated.

"I can see how happy you are." He smiled. "It may not be how I thought it would be, but as long as he's good to you, I'm OK. Congratulations to you both."

"Thank you Daddy." Evie sobbed, hugging her Father with all her might.

"Your Mother on the other hand." Leo whispered in her ear.

"How can you say that Leo?" Maddie exploded. "She's living with HIM, they're probably sleeping together."

"And I bet they're..." Leo started, grinning at his wife's distress.

"Don't you dare say that." Maddie threatened. "I won't hear of my precious baby girl doing such things."

"In case you haven't noticed, dear." Leo said. "She's an adult now. What she does, and who she does it with are no longer anything we have any control over. They're going to be married. You can either accept it, or it will drive a wedge between you two. If she's half as headstrong as you are, she may quit speaking to you all together."

"She wouldn't." Maddie gasped. "You wouldn't." She looked at Evie.

"Momma." Evie said. "I love you and Daddy with all my heart, but I love him too. You knew this day was coming, that I'd find someone to share my life with."

"But Evelyn, you're not married yet, it isn't decent." Her Mother protested.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but my brother's birthday is only 6 months after you and Daddy were married." She stated. "He weighted almost 10 pounds, so he wasn't born premature. I think you know what I'm trying to say. And for the love of God, would you please call me Evie."

"But..." She sputtered.

"Let it go Maddie." Leo chuckled. "They're not doing anything we didn't. I would like the pregnant part to wait for a while if that's OK."

Maddie collapsed into a chair, holding her head.

"She'll be fine in a bit." Leo explained.

Evie left to get ready while Leo and I continued to talk. Afterwards, we left for the ceremony. Evie graduated with High Honors and received a special citation along with her diploma.

One of the speakers was the Nursing Director from the hospital. She cornered Evie after the ceremony. "If you want to work for me, the offer still stands." She said. "I know you'd be a fine addition to our staff." She left her card and excused herself.

"Now that that's over." Leo grinned. "How about we go have a nice dinner somewhere and get to know our future son-in-law a bit better."

Evie hooked her arm through mine. "That sounds wonderful, Daddy."

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

Evie took a staff position at the hospital. She excelled at her chosen profession, earning the respect and admiration of her peers.

Leo and I got along well, he accepted me into the family willingly. Maddie, well she's a work in progress, but I'll win her over... eventually.

After about a year supervising the landscaping division of Roy's business, he moved me to second in command of the entire organization. Seemingly, I have a knack for the job, and Roy reminded me he didn't plan on working forever. He wanted to leave the business in good hands when that time came. I'm honored he has that much faith in me.

Evie and I married a few months after she started at the hospital. Roy was my best man. Any time I imagined what my father might have been like, I always picture Roy in my mind.

It's two years since we married. I'm happier than I've ever been in my life. Work for both of us is going well. We enjoy it and are good at what we do. I'm surrounded by people who love me, Evie, Roy and Susan, Leo and Maddie (even if she still glares at me sometimes), even Evie's brother and I get along well, and soon we will meet the next member of our family, our daughter, Sophie Lane Carter. May those she is named after be remembered always.