Falling for Grace Pt. 05

"I said it's my treat, Gracie. Everything. Bring a little spending money. But I'll cover the rest. We'll have a great time. See things we wouldn't get to see for years. I've been to Paris and London, and they're great cities. I even speak some French, enough to get by."

Then Grace surprised me by breaking into fluent, conversational French, better than I could do. But we were able to talk back and forth fairly well. "Let's do it, Gracie. We could go the beginning of November, before it gets too cold and I should be fit to go and walk all around by then."

She thought about it, weighing the pros and cons. How her mother would react. Hell, how my own parents would react. But I didn't think they'd mind (too much). She came to a decision. "Henry, if you're really sure, if you don't mind paying....I guess I'm in. Let's go, First of November. I held her and kissed her, squeezing her hard. "Henry, let me breathe! You're crushing my tits!" We both laughed and I let her go, a little.

"Gracie, we will have such a great time. So many young people travel around Europe by train and backpacking. I'll take care of everything, from your backpack to extra clothing you'll need, airfare, room, food." We were sitting facing each other on my bed, our legs open around each other. We kissed lovingly, letting our hands roam a little as we got aroused for each other again. My cock was certainly getting hard and her dark nipples were doing the same. Soon we shifted around so still sitting close like that, legs akimbo, Grace leaned backwards a little and I pushed the head of my cock to the entrance to her pussy, all moist and swollen with desire. I slid in just about halfway, then I grabbed her butt and I helped her slide closer to me. As she got closer, the rest of my cock filled her pussy and we both moaned as we joined together. "Gracie, you always give me just what I need. My perfect woman."

"This does feel pretty great, doesn't it, baby?" Then she started talking to me in French, romantic talk, and I responded the same way. It was so sensuous, beautiful. We kissed every so often and our hands kept moving over each other as our motions became more intense and a light sweat broke out over our bodies. We were grunting and grinding, saying loving things in French only. Suddenly our bodies both became flush and our muscles tightened, my cock twitched inside her pussy, and Gracie came, squeezing my cock, and then I came, a warm stream of my cum gushing to her cervix and leaking out a little around our joined sex. We sat there breathing hard, looking in each others eyes, arms around each others' necks as we spoke soft, sweet words of love to each other. "Mon cheri" I whispered.

"Mon ami" Grace whispered back. We stayed like that, not the most comfortable position, but it was very intimate. We lost track of time and then we heard my parents coming in the front door and calling out to us.

"Shit!" I said as low as I could. We jumped off the bed and I called out "Hey, we're up here! Uh, can you give us a few minutes?"

My parents had to know what was going on while they were out, but they must have expected us to be done and to have gotten ourselves together before they came home. My dad called up "Ok... please come down when you're 'ready'."

We were giggling together as we dressed. It was a little funny, our situation, but our laughs were really more from being nervous. We had never been so in their faces about the nature of our relationship before. When we were cleaned up (as best we could without a shower) and dressed again, we sheepishly made our way downstairs to the living room. My mom just gave us a withering look, every bit as disapproving as Edina could have done. Dad was clearly uncomfortable, and Grace and I were beet red with embarrassment. My dad said "I know you're both adults now, and if you were in New York, you'd both be free to do as you please together. But this is still our house, Henry. You should have been a little more discreet and respectful and you should be thinking about how hard this still can be for your mother and I. Grace, the same applies to you. You're family as far as we're concerned. But family respects each other."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Douglas, Mrs. Douglas." Grace said with obvious sincerity.

"Dad, it's my fault. It's just a weird situation, you know? We love each other very much."

My mom spoke then. "You think the two of you invented love? Not just as a feeling, but as a behavior? We were young once too, we got married at 21. We just ask for a little respect in return for a little tolerance."

We apologized again, then we went upstairs, separately, to get cleaned up for bed time. Grace didn't have any sleepwear there, so I gave her one of my long shirts and my mother gave her an old robe. After cleaning and changing, we all spent about an hour watching tv, some drama and the news, then we went to go to bed, with Grace bedding down in one of our guest rooms.

About 2:20 in the morning, I felt this nice, warm, female body crawling into bed with me. Assuming it wasn't my mother (yuck!), I turned around and my Gracie kissed me softly as we held each other. "Hey you, this is a pleasant surprise" I said as quietly as I could.

"I just couldn't keep away all night, knowing you were just ten feet away. I had to get a little of your sweet loving."

"You can have all you want of that, honey. At least until about 6AM. My dad's alarm goes off around 6:30, so you have to get out before then. But for now, you can stay right here."

She snuggled next to me sleepily and we cuddled in the dark. And even though it was the middle of the night and we were tired, our natural instincts took over and soon we were just touching each other, in effect giving each other handjobs. It was much quieter that way than risking the sounds of my bed creaking and waking my parents. We were kissing passionately while our hands brought each other to the brink, then we backed down, edging each other a few times until we both came, with Grace guiding my cumshot to her tits, spraying her brown globes with my pearly white semen. We snuggled close together, my cum sticking to our bodies as we settled down. I was so deeply in love with this amazing woman. Somewhere in the back of my mind a voice was telling me She's the One, as Bruce Springsteen's song said. She's the One.

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Over the next few weeks, life continued to get better. We both informed our parents of our desire to spend a few weeks traveling in Europe. While neither Edina nor my parents were completely thrilled with the idea, they also realized how far our relationship had progressed, that we weren't just loving together, we were very much in love with each other. We weren't asking for money; I could easily afford to pay our way. They also understood how we would be bored just sitting around until the holidays and then mid-January when we went off to school, and how being bored is bad news for teenagers, no matter how smart they are.

I called my doctor that Monday and got recommendations for a therapist. After meeting three of them, I settled on a nice woman, Dr. Seeger, and I went to see her twice a week. After a few weeks of talking and realizing a few very personal things about myself, she was able to give me some ideas about how to try to drive again. The first time, I still shook like a leaf in a wind storm. The second time (with my father next to me) I actually was able to drive. I was extra careful, taking longer than usual at stop signs and traffic lights, causing a couple of other drivers to honk their horns at me. My dad told me to ignore them and just take my time. It was a little like when he taught me to drive all over again. When we got home, it felt like a small victory and I hugged both him and my mom. After one more trip out with my dad, I felt I was ready to drive on my own to go and see Grace and take her out. The two things I couldn't do right away was drive on the highway, which meant not going to visit Darrell or Evelyn up at the U, and I couldn't drive home by the intersection where I had my accident. That was going to take some time.

When Grace and I went on our next, first date, it was to go for pizza and a movie, the date we missed. Grace even paid for dinner like she had promised. I tried to tell her it wasn't necessary, that she had done so much for me the last few months, but she wouldn't let me argue with her. We went to a movie after, and then we made love in my new car at Lookout Point. All in all, it was a pretty great date.

Grace's passport came in mid-October. Aside from some shopping, that was the last major issue. We were going to Europe in two weeks. We had our plane tickets, we looked up in travel guides the locations and ratings for hostels in London, Paris and Amsterdam and we planned all the things we wanted to see in each city. We worked out a rough budget, and I went to the bank and got three thousand dollars in traveler's cheques ("Don't Leave Home Without Them!" as Karl Malden used to say), half in my name and half in Grace's. And as a safety net, my dad helped me get a credit card with a ten thousand dollar limit, based on the money I had with the bank. In 1979, that was way more than we would need. We were taking no chances.

Eleven days before we left it was Grace's 19th birthday. "Henry, don't make a big deal about it" she warned me. "You're already paying for an expensive trip for us. I told you weeks ago, buy me a sweater, something warm to wear. Don't do something ridiculous or I just might have to kill you." She was pretty adamant.

"Ok, I'll take it easy." So I wasn't going to buy her jewelry, just something nice, warm and stylish. But she didn't say anything about where we could go to celebrate.

We spent the day together, doing simple and fun things. We wandered around Charleston's historic district, checking out the area's distinctive architecture with the beautiful old homes and stores. We did a little shopping, nothing expensive. We went for a light lunch in a pub and had a beer with lunch while a couple of musicians played live music. And we had time to go to her house and make love before we had to be at my home to have dinner with everyone, my family, including Evelyn, and hers, Alton and Gus and Alton's girlfriend, Maddy.

While we were getting dressed in her room, Grace said "Thank you Henry. This has been a perfect day. You didn't make a big deal, but you still made today special. I love you."

"I love you too. And I had just as much fun as you did. I still have a gift for you, back home, and it's just something warm for you. But tomorrow night, we're going out for dinner, just you and me. So you have to get dressed for it. Nicely dressed."

"Baby, I told you not to make a thing out of my birthday. You're going crazy."

"I'm just showing my love for the woman who changed my life and helped me through one of the worst times I could have imagined. So let me appreciate you. You're the most incredible woman, Gracie. I remember you staying at the hospital for four days straight while I was out cold. We show our love for each other any way we can. Don't worry, after this trip, I'll cut it way back, except for something nice for Christmas. I'll have the vast majority of my money and it will stay in the bank. This birthday just feels like something very special we should be celebrating in style."

"Henry, what am I going to do with you?" Grace asked, not actually frustrated. She actually liked me making a big deal over her. Her biggest worry was that she couldn't do the same for me, but I didn't care about that. She made me feel special in a hundred intangible ways and I told her so.

Dinner at my parents was great. Edina outdid herself making a glazed ham and all the fixings. After dinner, before the cake, we all gave her gifts, almost all of which were clothes, especially warm sweaters and cute socks, my sister got her a really nice pair of slacks to go out at night and my parents got her a very warm, expensive robe and slippers, essential for use in a communal bathroom. Gus and Alton got her a beautiful, soft cashmere hot pink sweater, which she loved. Edina gave her two charms for her bracelet; they'd been doing that for 10 years. It was something very special between them. And I gave her a coat, grey wool, soft and fine, with oversized black buttons, that flared out at the hips and a pair of black leather lined gloves. She'd look very stylish walking around the streets of Paris in that.

Later, after cake had been served and Evelyn, Maddy and I cleaned up (Grace was the guest of honor), we had a few minutes alone out back of my house, before she had to go home. We were going to celebrate the next night. We kissed a few times as we cuddled in the cool of the night. "I loved that coat, Henry. You have pretty good taste in clothing....for a guy" she teased.

"Yeah, I do all right. Mom's been letting me buy most of my own clothes for a few years. I like nice things. So I think I have a good eye for fashion."

"Well, I approve. Everyone got me such lovely things. And most important, I'm so happy at the way our families get along. Alton I was never worried about. Gus, though...I'm just glad to see he's come around. He's a little hard about White people."

"So I've noticed. But, after that tense beginning, he's been nothing but nice to me. I guess he notices how much I love and adore his little sister." We kissed a few quick pecks. She really had to get going with her family. "Remember, get dressed very nice tomorrow night. We have 7:30 reservations, so I'm picking you up at 7 sharp. And we're not coming home until the next morning, maybe afternoon. So if you need a few things with you..."

"I'll be fine, baby. You're not going to tell me where we're going, are you? Give a girl a little hint?"

"Not a chance. It's all a surprise."

"You're such a Nasty Boy. And I love it. I love you, Henry."

"I love you too, Gracie. My Dirty Girl." We embraced in a big, long kiss, until Evelyn came looking for us. She cleared her throat and gave us her million dollar smile. "Your family is waiting, Grace. Happy Birthday again, sweetie." They kissed cheeks.

"Thanks for coming all the way down for me, Evelyn. I love you, I love your whole family. One member more than the others." Grace smiled at me.

"Lord, I hope so!" Ev said with a chuckle. "Come on, girl, they're getting impatient."

We kissed one last time, and she left for the night. I went back in the house and helped my family straighten up everything. Ev had afternoon classes the next day, so she was spending the night. We all watched something on the tube for a while, then we went to bed. Ev and I went into her room to talk. We hadn't done much of that in quite a while.

I asked her "So, what's up with you, Ev? Any guys recently? More than one?" I teased her.

"Nope, not a one lately. My life is so boring. I haven't even had a date since I broke up with Keith. I feel like I lost some of my mojo" Ev said with a wry laugh. "I haven't gone more than two weeks without a date or a boyfriend since I was 17. In the meantime, my little brother has an awesome girlfriend he's probably screwing every other day!"

"Ev! I'm not going there with you!"

"Oh, why the hell not? We should be able to be open about these things. I have friends who are guys, but I've always felt closer to you than to any of them. And so many of my girlfriends just won't or can't talk about sex. I'm not talking about salacious gossip; I mean frank discussions. Sometimes I feel like I don't know what I'm missing out on."

"Ev, I don't know if I'm the one to help you with that. It's just so personal. I don't talk about it with my friends, not a lot anyway. I did when I was just screwing around but when it comes to Grace, I don't tell anyone anything. I'd feel like I was betraying her."

"I'm kind of glad to hear that, Henry. It shows you respect her a lot. I wasn't asking you for details. I just wanted to know if things with you and Grace were...satisfying."

"Very. We're both very happy there, sis. Can we just leave it there?"

"Yes we can. I just wish I had someone I could confide in about the things I think about. So, I can't believe you two are traveling to Europe..." and like that the conversation changed to more typical sibling talk. We stayed up about an hour and a half talking. I knew she needed to talk about more personal matters, and I hated shutting her out, but I just couldn't go there with her.

The next day I took a shower on the late side, around 4, and I shaved close and careful. At 6 I got dressed in my best suit, a grey conservative pinstripe with a brand new shirt and a silk blue and red tie and black loafers with a tassel. The only jewelry I wore was the Rolex my parents gave me when I turned 18. If I give the impression I was a bit of a clothes horse, it's because I was. I still am. I like nice clothes and I think dressing for success is important. Even my casual clothes are nice. If a t-shirt gets even a small hole, it becomes a cleaning rag. I get this from my mom. If she saw me wearing anything even a little bit ratty looking, she'd have had a fit.

My parents were sitting at dinner when I came downstairs and mom especially made a fuss over my appearance. "You look like you're going to sweep a beautiful young lady off her feet tonight. I can't believe how handsome my son is." She hugged me and kissed my cheek, then wiped a trace of her lipstick off with a napkin. Dad of course made sure I had enough money with me. They told me to have a good time and they'd see me the next day. I had a small overnight bag in the car already, but they knew I wasn't coming home that night.

I took Edina home, who also made a deal over how nice I looked for her daughter. "You're such a handsome man, Henry. Most of all, I've seen how much you and Grace love each other. If it wasn't the case, I'd be furious with you, taking her to all those countries. You treat my baby like gold. She told me last night not to expect her home until tomorrow, and that still rubs me wrong. But she can choose her own life, and I know you're not just using her. So just keep treating her right, Henry. And no drinking and driving!"

"I'll be very careful; you have my word, Edina. Last thing I want is to end up in the hospital again. And you know I would never do anything to hurt Grace, physically or emotionally."

We went into her house and of course, Grace wasn't quite ready yet. She never kept me waiting long, but she usually kept me waiting. She called for her mom to help her with her hair so I just sat on the couch and waited. It didn't take long, and the results were phenomenal. I don't know where she got it, but Grace wore a red cocktail dress, spaghetti straps, that fit her like a sheath. She wore matching pumps with a thin, 3 inch heel. And she had a set of faux pearls on her next that made her brown skin glow. The big change, though, was her hair. It was like the night of her prom, curled and reddish tinted, but it was fluffed out all around. She looked 25 instead of 19 and it brought attention right to her gorgeous face. I felt like another thunderbolt shocked my system.

"Grace, I don't know what to say. You belong on the cover of a fashion magazine. I mean, you're always beautiful, but this is unbelievable. I feel like I'm going out with Miss America. Not Miss South Carolina. I mean the winner."

She smiled kind of shyly, but also with great satisfaction. She loved having that effect on me. She didn't care what others thought, only me. "You look incredibly handsome too, Henry. And I love that suit. You look like an executive at some big company. I helped her on with the new coat I bought her, which was a perfect length for her dress. She grabbed a clutch and an overnight bag, kissed Edina and we were off.