Gang Aft Agley Ch. 02

Author's Notes: Gang Aft Agley is a work of fiction, no characters or situations have any basis in known persons. The story continues the theme I generally use, that of a happily married couple wherein the wife attempts to add a lover to the family mix. In this story the couple has a girl child. Let me be very clear, the child is not involved in any way in any sexual activities of her mother or father. She is simply part of the family. A few of the many poems of the great Scots bard Robert Burns are used as a device to carry the plot in this story. They are gathered from an excellent website of the British Broadcasting Corporation dedicated to the work and life of Burns: here In addition to the text, Burns poems and songs are available aurally as read by very notable British persons including some by HRH Charles, Prince of Wales. At least two of the poems used in this story are also available by various artists on YouTube.Com, Ae Fond Kiss and My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose. Gang Aft Agley is written in four chapters and each will be submitted simultaneously. Publication schedule, of course, lies with Literotica editors.

CHAPTER TWO - MARRIAGE

By summer's end Nancy had their home livable, in comfortable décor. Her decorating style might best be called thrift store - yard sale eclectic. She was proudest of two decisions. Her first decorating decision was to tie in both Robert and her own familial past to their new home. Nancy contacted both mothers and asked they pick out something from their home that would keep the young couple connected to their families. Robert's mother Carla gifted a Tiffany table lamp that now resided juxtaposed on a yard sale Danish modern end table in their living room. Three weeks after talking with her, Nancy's father and mother arrived Saturday afternoon with the French provincial style love seat that had been Nancy's favorite nap spot when she was a very young child.

Her second decision took her to antique furniture collectors looking for pieces with restoration potential but low initial cost. On a rainy Saturday, Nancy coaxed Robert along and he was the one who spotted two ornate church alter chairs that needed stripping, a new finish to walnut wood hidden by years of grime, and new upholstered seat cushions. Robert took the lead in negotiations with the seller and they eventually bought both chairs for a hundred and fifty dollars. The antique dealer liked their spirit and good judgment. He recommended an artisan to handle the new upholstery and gave tips to Robert on how to do the stripping himself. When the chairs were finished and in place in their living room only two weeks before Thanksgiving the couple had an elegantly furnished room at prices they could afford.

Nancy spent a lot of time browsing sales for home furnishings, but that was mostly weekend duty. She also set a goal to keep her honeymoon sun tan as long and as vibrant as possible. Nancy did her best to get a bikini clad hour at the apartment complex pool at least four days every week. At least one of those hours always managed to be on a weekend day so Robert could rub the lotion on her body and get some sun for himself.

End of summer also brought back to school teaching duties for Nancy. As would happen every year for the coming future, she had a new batch of second graders to learn, love and guide. This part of her school year was the best of times for Nancy. She felt like a parent, well maybe more like an aunt or a big sister, toward her twenty-six new faces. Each child had a unique personality; each child had a background, a future and real potential. Each child also had a set of parents. Nancy mostly dealt with the children's mothers; some would be pleasant and reasonably objective. Some were less of both. Some mothers were just a pain in the ass. Nancy looked over her class of children the first day and wondered what sort of mother she would be when her children went to elementary school.

That evening after first class day of the school year, Nancy shared with Robert her question to herself as to what sort of mother she would be. She got a kiss, a grin and a question from hubby, "Don't you think we better have some children before you try to figure out what sort of mother you will be?"

Nancy laughed at herself and her husband. "Want to start practicing on how we might make me a mother-to-be?" They didn't spend much time in their living room that evening; the bedroom seemed like a better play pen. That night's child-conceiving romp was just pretend play though; she still took her BC pills every morning. Nancy's Motherhood was still in the couple's future.

Robert and Nancy shared a first year of marriage much like most new couples. They expanded the intimacy of dating and learning to love into the daily routine of being a couple. Many of the things they could only do as scheduled over their dating time, especially their sex nights and waking in bed together, they could now do any night, every night if they chose. At first they tried for every night, but they mutually came to understand something each never would have believed. Every night sex subtracts from the special nature of anticipation. How each kept that special anticipation phenomenon alive never did become a rule based affair. Robert and Nancy never got to the sex on Wednesday night, Friday night and Saturday point of marriage, not in their first year and not in their last year. Both relished the role spontaneity played.

Both also relished the poetry from the Bard of Scotland and the place Robert Burns' words fit into the love shared between Robert and Nancy Winthrop. Nancy often asked for her Red, Red Rose and Robert always whispered the rose to her ear:

O my Luve's like a red, red rose
That's newly sprung in June;
O my Luve's like the melodie
That's sweetly play'd in tune. .

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I:
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a' the seas gang dry:

Grass on lawns became sparse and lost color; leaves turned gold, red, brown, and then became gone. Winter cold and snow were in the Kansas City skies. Their first holiday season as a just-the-two-of-us couple descended upon them with exciting newness together. Nancy never gave thought to cooking a complete Thanksgiving dinner by herself. She helped her mother many times, of course, but Momma always seasoned the dressing as secret recipe, and her cranberry relish always won rave reviews when shared with neighbors and at church.

On a cold dreary Saturday in mid November, Nancy accepted as her wifely duty to prepare all of those dishes for Robert. She burned up the phone lines all weekend asking questions, listening to Carla and her Momma, and jotting suggestions and recipes on one of her school student's wide lined tablets with a dull number two pencil. Nancy was a second grader as wife and holiday cook/mistress-of-house as far as Thanksgiving dinner was concerned. The two mothers dialed their own conversation, laughing at their daughter's questions and excitement. Both recalled their first holiday events as newly married women.

Christmas presented fewer challenges. On return to school after the November holiday, Nancy started her second grade class working on simple Christmas decorations using primitive materials. She worked right along with her children explaining that she was making decorations for her first Christmas tree. Emanuel, one of her most quiet and shy pupils with whom she had worked so hard trying to socialize to his fellow students, stammered a suggestion that made him hero to his classmates. "Can -- can -- could I?"

"Yes Emanuel, tell us all what you want." Nancy hugged her youngster and encouraged him.

Suddenly the words burst from his lips, "I want to make a star for your Christmas tree. Can I make a star? Will you hang it on your tree?"

Others in the class got excited. "Me too!" "I want to make something for your tree." Emanuel beamed. Soon the entire class was working feverishly on decorations for Nancy's first Christmas tree, and she made a personal decoration for each of her children. Her Christmas spirit began with a vibrant, even boisterous, foundation. When she told her husband what she had going on in class, Robert bought into his wife's enthusiasm. He asked for, and received with a kiss, some homemade decorations for his office.

Their Christmas tree had to be a little larger than first intended to hold all of the decorations. It overflowed the modest living room space they allocated. Selecting their first tree turned into a rosy cheeked, laugh filled, Saturday afternoon that the couple planned to duplicate every year as a permanent fixture of their love and togetherness. Nancy made hot chocolate as soon as they returned with Yule tree. Robert included their personal overseer, Robert Burns, in their afternoon fun. He recited, for the first of many a Christmas celebration, Burns' ode to a humble mouse preparing his burrow for winter's weather.

Wee, sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous beastie,
O, what a panic's in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty
Wi bickering brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee,
Wi' murdering pattle.

Nancy interrupted her husband's recital at the end of the first verse with laughter, tickling and ardent kisses that she wanted to drag on and on. Robert accepted her fun and passion for a while and then eased her away to continue the second verse.

I'm truly sorry man's dominion
Has broken Nature's social union,
An' justifies that ill opinion
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor, earth born companion
An' fellow mortal!

Once again, and for each of the next series of verses, Nancy stopped Robert and pressed home kisses and tender strokes. Where necessary, when Robert used the Scots dialect and brogue, she needed interpretation. Robert had difficulty keeping his recital in the proper pattern, but they both had fun drawing out Burns ode to Mousie until Robert firmly blocked his wife as he reached the last two verses.

But Mousie, thou art no thy lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!

Still thou are blest, compared wi' me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But och! I backward cast my e'e,
On prospects drear!
An' forward, tho' I canna see,
I guess an' fear!

Robert finally finished the poem with his punctuation a passionate kiss on his Nancy's lips.

"I thought Steinbeck wrote that Mice and Men title original; are you telling me he stole it from Burns?"

"Yep, he sure did, sweetheart, he stole it straight from my forbearer. At least Steinbeck knew enough to steal a line from a true poet for his book."

To close out the late year party season, a group of Robert's work friends invited them to a New Years Eve party in a ritzy Kansas City hotel. Nancy and Robert dressed up in their finest glad rags to show off, party and generally have a good time. Robert knew the group of friends that suggested this party often enjoyed more than a few pints o' the best ale, and some of Scotland's best whiskey too, so he booked a room at the hotel to avoid driving home inebriated. There was no sense offering himself and Nancy as jailbait to the police who were sure to be out looking for drunk drivers this particular night.

With no outside worries to distract, fun and frolic were the primary agenda items for both Robert and Nancy. They snacked on hors de oeuvres, drank freely but not to wretched excess, laughed too loudly as jokes worked their way around the room late in the evening, danced together and with others, and generally let themselves just have fun. They met many new people especially Nancy who really did not know many of her husband's work mates. Nancy also relished practice time using flirting skills she hadn't exercised since she pledged herself to Robert. Robert noticed the flirting, but understood his wife's activity was harmless. He flirted with many of the women he ran across as well.

Dancing and flirting with others ended, though, as the midnight hour approached. The couple stood with arms wrapped around each other as they counted down to the coming year: Three, Two, One -- Happy New Year. Robert and Nancy kissed with the passion of newlyweds. "I love you. Happy New Year darling", Nancy whispered her wishes direct to Robert's ear to make sure he heard amidst the tumult.

Robert was ready with Burns ode to the New Year, "Sing with me my darling." Nancy was ready to follow along and accompany her husband with this one.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my jo,
for auld lang syne,
we'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

Nancy crooned along, often just humming, while Robert sang each word and each verse proudly; she couldn't help express her love and desire for husband and made no effort to try. As the spirit moved her, Nancy would kiss her Robert on cheek, ear and neck. Her love of being married to this wonderful man overflowed. At last, Robert reached the end of the song and the verse that always brought a chuckle from Nancy. The spirit and sometimes silliness of the Scots dialect just amused her.

And there's a hand, my trusty fiere!
and gie's a hand o' thine!
And we'll tak a right gude-willy waught,
for auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my jo,
for auld lang syne,
we'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

When Robert finished singing, Nancy encased his lips with hers in a kiss so fierce and passionate that her assault took his breath away. Still kissing, Nancy led Robert into a dance to rhythms playing only in her head. They were one and alone among the party crowd. They needed no others this special moment; they had love for each other and that was sufficient.

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With three years of married life to their history, the young couple decided it was time to extend their situation in new directions, namely home ownership and child bearing. Working toward the first objective, they sought financial help from their parents. With small loans from each set of parents, combined with the few thousand dollars they had managed to save during the last three years, Robert and Nancy set out to find their first home. They had visions of elegance until the real estate agent injected actual dollar numbers to the pictures and descriptions in the MLS book. Nancy took the lead role on features the house should have; Robert worked the numbers and kept them grounded to a reality they could afford.

House hunting began in late spring and intensified as summer heat became earnest. After checking out many houses that were almost the right one, several that were well beyond their means for a first home, Nancy finally said, "I want to live in this house", to a three bedroom, single story rambler that Robert agreed they could afford. Robert stood at the charcoal fire wearing an apron over his shorts and T-shirt grilling his first back yard steaks by Labor Day.

Furnishing their apartment the thrift store, antique shop, yard sale route had been a lot of fun so Nancy decided to follow the same method with her new home. Appliances and bedroom furniture had to be new, of course, but eclectic, old, used and restored would work fine everywhere else. Robert decided he would let his wife's imagination run free until she exhausted herself. Nancy just took her weekend household decorating excursions as adventurous fun. Slowly their newly purchased house developed a home-to-the-Winthrop-family look and feel.

Their new neighborhood seemed a friendly place to live; most of the families had children. October 31, Halloween, brought a stream of costumed ghosts, princesses and super heroes to their door crying Trick or Treat as parents watched from the sidewalk or stood by holding hands for the younger ones. By the time the last trick-or-treat child said their thank you and goodnight, Nancy's maternal hormones were fully stoked. "Robert, I am going to stop my birth control pills at the end of this cycle. I have been taking care of other women's children for three years now. I want my own children. I want our children. It is time for me to be a mother and you to be a father."

That hallowed evening Robert and Nancy started their baby-making journey. They exercised their skills regularly. Soon they were successful. Before Christmas, the dip-stick said -- Yes! Only the doctor's confirmation remained to insure that next Christmas there would be gifts under the tree for three in the Winthrop family.

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Carla Elizabeth Winthrop breathed her first life's breath August 30. She was born knowing how to clench her fists, kick her feet in the air, scream with lust-for-life enthusiasm, and suck on her mother's nipple for sustenance the instant Nancy took her new daughter to breast. As soon as Nancy knew she was carrying a girl child, she decided that the child's name would honor her two grandmothers. Nancy gave her daughter what mothers give; she gave warmth, and sustenance, and safety, and love. Robert gave his share as well; his daughter must know the culture from whence she sprung.

Every evening when Robert returned home from work, he relieved Nancy of parenting duty and took Carla Elizabeth to his arms, cuddling her close and crooning the poems of Rabbie Burns. Sometimes he would sing the first verse of Burns short poem to one of his first lovers, Jean Armour, the woman who eventually became his wife:

Of a' the airts the wind can blaw,
I dearly like the west,
For there the bonnie lassie lives,
The lassie I lo'e best:
There wild woods grow, and rivers row,
And monie a hill between;
But day and night may fancy's flight
Is ever wi' my Jean.

Robert, as proud and caring poppa, always substituted Carla's name for Jean at the end as he sang for the little child he loved. As Carla developed, she came to expect to hear her father's voice when he held her; she would coo and reach for her daddy's face from whence the poetic songs flowed.

Carla Elizabeth matured and her awareness increased; Robert added another poem to her entertainment repertoire. Burns wrote "A Poet's Welcome To His Love Begotten Daughter" to an illegitimate child he fathered, but the bastardry did not deter father. He thrilled to recite Burns' first verse as his little daughter was learning to speak her first words.

Thou's welcome, wean; mishanter fa' me,
If thoughts o' thee, or yet thy mamie,
Shall ever daunton me or awe me,
My bonie lady,
Or if I blush when thou shalt ca' me
Tyta or daddie.

With Momma and Dada mastered as first words, young Carla Elizabeth tackled her own name. It took a while but Carla Elizabeth eventually came out Call Leezabad. Nancy clapped her hands and repeated Leezabad to her daughter who promptly joined in the applause.

"Leezabad -- Leezabad -- Leezabad!"

When Dada Robert first heard her name he scooped his daughter high to give a kiss of congratulation. "You will always be my Call me Leezabad", Robert exclaimed with a tickle. Leezabad laughed, clapped her hands, clapped her Dada's face, and wrapped her little arms around his neck. She was rapidly becoming a father's girl. Leezabad remained her family nickname and as she grew she asked her friends call her Leezabad too.

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