Ghost on the Wind Pt. 02

That was how it all began. Over dinner that Saturday she told me what she had learned of the ways of a cheating husband and I filled in the voids I'd left out of my own story. For a time, our dinner was in danger of being overwhelmed by grief and anger until I said, "We can't do this!"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean we can't let them poison our night out. What do you say for the rest of tonight we let the ghosts haunt someone else?"

She smiled. "Deal! So, tell me about your daughters." Well, that's all the encouragement a proud father needs. I told her about my daughters, and about all their friends, and how they come up at least one weekend every month. She made me promise to invite her for breakfast the next time they visit, and you can bet I was not about to forget that request. Then she told me about her daughter and son. It didn't take long to realize that we both had some equally great kids and could take some pride that we had raised them right.

The music that night was delightful, warm and intimate. You don't go to a folk concert unless you are prepared to sing along to a few of the songs and that night we both gathered our courage and did our best to sing in key. I failed, she laughed, and I sang again. Her laughter made me feel invincible.

When I took her home, she invited me in for coffee. Coffee was code for... coffee. We sat and talked, sipped our brew, and talked some more. As the conversation grew quiet and I was thinking it might be time for me to leave, I said, "Kate, I'd like very much to see you again. Would that be possible?"

"Yes, AB, very possible." She smiled and paused to look intently into her mug. "But there is something I need to say. I can't, won't, get involved with a married man."

"I understand. My divorce should be final in March and I'm not going to change my mind about it."

"Could we just explore friendship for now? I like being with you, AB, but I don't want to feel guilty when I look in the mirror."

"Believe me, I understand. I think I'd be more comfortable with that, too." Now it was my time to stare intently into my mug. "But I have to be honest with you, Kate -- I'd like to see my new friend often if she's willing."

She was smiling in a big way now. "I think she's more than willing."

I got a very chaste kiss on the cheek as I left her place that night. I got another when I picked her up for dinner the following Wednesday night and again when I took her home. For a guy who'd been married for a very long time, I was living large. In time, her kisses lingered, and her smiles grew brighter. She had a way of brushing my cheek with hers that made the kisses go on and on.

Our life continued that way for ten weeks. We started seeing each other twice a week which grew to three times with lots of phone calls on the off nights. On weekends, when the weather allowed, she would guide my exploration of Maine, taking the back roads to small towns both on the coast and inland. She has a knack for finding old-time general stores in small, out-of-the-way towns and we explored them as part of our adventure. She showed me the marinas, the shops of aging hippie artisans, and the little out-of-the-way restaurants. When we didn't go out, we cooked together. I was having a wonderful time, although I will admit there was a quiet voice in the back of my mind saying, "Be careful of a rebound romance. Take your time. Look before you leap." I hate that voice.

She met my daughters when they visited, and they began to ask if Kate would be there when they visited next? I remember saying, "Do you not like Kate? Is there a problem?"

"We love Kate! If she can't be there, we can come up another weekend." That put my mind to rest on the subject.

At the same time, I met her son and daughter. There was no doubt that they were carved from the same stuff as my own daughters and once we introduced the four of them plus one husband, we were forever outnumbered. Kate told me that she had a heart-to-heart with her kids about how we were just friends. She said they didn't buy it and as each week passed neither did I. I had the same talk with my girls and they just smirked. "I'm serious here. Kate and I agreed that so long as I'm married to your mother we are going to play by the rules. I won't do anything to dishonor my vows, at least until they are dissolved."

"We know, dad, and if mom hadn't gone stupid on us, you'd still be a faithful husband, but she did. You deserve to be happy, dad, and Kate makes you happy. Plus, we like her."

"Yeah, mom doesn't like her, but we do."

"What does your mother know about Kate?"

They looked at each other sheepishly. "Sorry, dad. Don't be mad, but we kind of told her about Kate."

You might think it made me glad to hear that, but it didn't. The months I'd spent from August to Christmas and then the weeks since I'd met Kate were doing me a world of good. I was getting over Karen's betrayal and moving on, and I was happy. Seven months ago, I would have celebrated Karen's misery and fueled her jealousy, I would have rubbed her nose in it, but that wasn't me any longer. There was no point to rubbing salt in her wounds. Her life was her punishment.

Kate and I continued to explore our evolving friendship. We spent many evenings together, but at night we slept alone in our own beds. Then my life changed again one night late in March when I got home from work and read my mail. There, in a manila envelope from my lawyer's office, was the final decree for my divorce from Karen. I saw my marriage end with my own eyes when I viewed the video recorded in Illinois back in late June. Now I had the legal confirmation of my freedom. As much as I thought I was prepared for this, as much as I was working for this, when it comes the realization hits you hard. Twenty-five years of marriage and a life dedicated to one woman does not leave you prepared for starting over.

I sat on my couch for what must have been an hour or more, contemplated the past, and when I was ready, I called Kate.

"Do you need company? I can come over."

"I think I need to be alone tonight. I think I just need to mourn a little. Does that make sense?"

"It makes perfect sense. I'll let you be. You just call me when you're ready and if I don't hear from you in a few days I'll call your landlord to fumigate the apartment."

God help me, that woman makes me smile. "I don't think it'll get to that."

"Okay, AB, don't forget me."

"How could I forget you?"

It was only the one night. I sat and felt sorry for myself, drank a few beers, and went to bed. In the morning I felt considerably better. I called my daughters, gave them the news, and then called Kate and asked if she'd go to dinner with me.

"You're in luck! I happen to be free tonight."

"What about tomorrow night?" This was my attempt at flirting. After twenty-five years of marriage, a man loses his flirting chops and runs the risk of sounding desperate.

"You're in luck again! It just so happens I'm free both nights!"

"Well, how about dinner tonight with a nightcap overlooking the bay and then we'll decide what to do tomorrow?"

We had a lovely evening. When I walked Kate to her door hoping for our usual loving, if chaste, kiss on the cheek, I began to say goodnight. She placed her finger on my lips, smiled, and gave me a kiss that I would remember for the rest of my life. It was heavenly.

As we broke the kiss and I leaned back just enough to see the slightest tears in her eyes. "I said I wouldn't become involved with a married man. I never said anything about divorced."

After another kiss with all the passion of the first, she said, "And now we officially leave the friendship phase and begin the dating phase, if that's acceptable to you?" With that, she placed her hand alongside my cheek, turned, and entered her house. She smiled one last time and closed the door.

I stood there for a moment trying to understand what had just happened. I thought I had a green light, and then I didn't. After a fleeting moment of disappointment, I reminded myself that Kate is a serious woman. She's not going to jump into bed with me the first day I'm free. The friendship was solid and now the courtship begins. Once I understood, I left her porch a happy man and smiled the whole way home.

The next night was much the same, but the kisses got even better. After that, I was again invited inside. However, now whenever we were together, whether out on the town or cooking together, there was a very different atmosphere. There was an electricity in the air that had always been there, but that had always been suppressed. It was suppressed no longer. There were coy smiles, loving tones, and gentle touches. However we spent our evening, it ended on the sofa talking, kissing, and in a short time caressing. Sure, I'd known for three months that I had a girlfriend. My daughters knew. Her kids knew. My friends at work knew. Hell, even my parents and my ex-wife knew. But now, she was showing me.

We grew closer by the day as we continued our custom of dinners, touring the countryside, and finding whatever adventure there was to be found. It was early May and spring was in the air. The daffodils were in bloom and the lupines were budding. The days were warm, and the nights were comfortably cool. It was great sleeping weather. Kate called me at work around midday on a Friday and asked if I'd like to come for dinner that night. Of course, I did. Then she practically knocked me off my chair when she said, "Pack a small bag. I'm planning to fix breakfast and then we can look at a boat I found for you." She said it so matter of fact that I confess I almost missed it. When I realized what she'd said I was momentarily speechless.

"A... a bag?"

"Yes, unless you want to wear your work clothes to the yard."

I left work early and raced back to my place to shower. Then I showered again. I packed some clothes, but I put them in a knapsack. I mean, I didn't want to seem like some geek who took a suitcase to his girlfriend's place. And I packed for three days. I was prepared to stay until work Monday morning. Hell, I'd take off work and spend the week if I could talk her into it.

I pulled up to her place and I sat in the car. My pulse was racing and my mouth was dry. "Don't over think this. Calm down. Maintain. Don't embarrass yourself. You've both been working toward this since Christmas. Just relax and it will all work out fine." I worried alternately between being too nervous to get it up and ejaculating as I stepped into her bedroom. Twenty-five years of marriage and it felt like the first time again. Then I thought, "Maybe I'm sleeping in the guestroom? She didn't say. Okay, I can do that. Don't expect too much. These things take time." With that thought I was both relieved and disappointed.

I considered leaving my knapsack in my car just in case I misunderstood, but to hell with that! She met me at the door, and when I entered her home, I got the girlfriend kiss I'd been enjoying for two months. I set my knapsack by the door and for a moment I thought I saw a glimpse of confusion or disappointment in her face. "You said to pack a bag. I just thought..."

Kate smiled. I seem to amuse her easily. "I hope they don't wrinkle!"

Kate took me by the hand, but she walked me into the kitchen. "I was thinking lasagna and a side salad. Does that sound good?"

"Everything sounds good." With that, we settled into the routine we'd been building for months. We cooked together and drank a little wine while the lasagna baked. We ate, we talked, we kissed, and she flirted with me more than she had ever flirted before. I was on cloud nine.

I ate light that night. My stomach was way too nervous for food. We had spent so many months suppressing our desires that now I was left unsure of her intentions. Was this really the night? I was helping to clear the table when I noticed her hands were shaking. "Kate, are you okay? You're shaking like a leaf."

She laughed quietly and looked down at the floor shaking her head. "AB, I've been with just one man in my life. I'm as nervous as a virgin on her wedding day."

"I thought I was the only one who was nervous tonight." We were laughing together now. "Did I misunderstand the invitation?"

"No, AB. I'm ready now." With that, she took my hand and led me to her bedroom. After all the days and all the evenings that I'd spent in her house, this was my first time setting foot in her bedroom. It was lovely, warm, and inviting just like Kate.

As we crossed the threshold of her bedroom she melted into my arms. Her kisses were like exchanging parts of our souls. For a time, all we did was kiss and hold each other. I took her face in my hands and kissed her tenderly and repeatedly. She hugged me tight, running her hands up my back to my shoulder blades and back down to my waist. In time we broke our kisses and began impatiently and clumsily wrestling with each other's belts, releasing the buttons and undoing the zippers. Kate was wearing pants that night as she often did. They were elegant navy creased linen. Her blouse was white silk. For her, a dress was a formal affair and she had no need of a sheer nightgown in my seduction.

My pants fell to my ankles first and the smile on her face suggested that she had won. After I slowly unzipped her pants, I ran my hands around the waistband, and with my fingers inside I slowly slid her pants down until they fell to her ankles while running my fingertips along her skin. I was on my knees by now and running my hands up the backs of her legs with my fingers inside her thighs. She shuddered and held my head with her hands as I kissed her stomach over her blouse.

As I stood, I began to unbutton her blouse and she did the same with my shirt. We were kissing as we fumbled with buttons. We were clumsy, but we were happy. We were excited and savoring the moment. She slipped my shirt from my shoulders and I slipped her blouse from hers. Then she grabbed my t-shirt and abruptly pulled it over my head with some difficulty since I was somewhat taller than her, but I was an eager accomplice in her efforts.

We kissed and I slipped my hands around her back. Reaching for the clasp on the back of her bra, I prayed I was not so rusty that I would fail to release it. In my ear she whispered, "It releases in the front." With a quiet gasp of frustration, I reached for the snap and released two beautiful pink globes with swollen brown nipples that were more beautiful than I had imagined. I eased the straps from her shoulders as the bra fell to the ground and held her beautiful breasts in the palm of my hands. With her arms around my neck, she pulled me close and kissed me with all the passion I could desire.

As we turned to step toward the bed, we realized simultaneously that our pants were still piled around our ankles and we were hobbled like two horses whose cowboys were waiting for sunrise. With more nervous laughter and a clear memory of our introduction, we stepped out of our pants.

I am convinced that whoever invented socks was fundamentally opposed to anyone ever having sex! As we looked at the pile of pants by our feet, I realized that bare legs with socks is just not a good look for me. In an effort to distract her, I dropped to my knees and slowly removed her socks to reveal her lovely, graceful feet, caressing them as I worked. She must have understood because Kate could not contain her snickering and she, in turn, did the same for me. However, she did not stop there. Having come face to face with the protruding tent of my boxers, she slipped her fingers inside the waistband and slid them down my hips and over my now erect penis. I guess she liked what she saw because she began to kiss the underside of the shaft. She wrapped her hands around my swollen member and took me into her mouth as her tongue dancing across the head. She kissed and licked and kissed some more, running her hands up and down the shaft, until I needed to say, "Kate, for God's sake, stop. If you keep that up much longer, we'll have to wait an hour to consummate this relationship." Some say that laughter during sex is a bad sign, but when you laugh together for the sheer joy of the moment, it is very, very right.

I reached under her arms and lifted her to her feet, kissing her, and then walked her toward the bed. She sat on her bed, slipped up and across until her head rested on a pillow, and invited me to lie beside her. Placing one knee on the mattress, I momentarily ignored her outstretched arms and applied myself to the wonderful task of slipping her panties from her hips, down her legs, and over her feet. For a moment I ran my hand over her lovely mound of soft, close-cropped hair and then lay beside her. I took her in my arms as we intertwined our legs.

Holding her and caressing her, with kisses increasingly desperate, I soon began to kiss her neck and slowly kissed my way across her chest and down her torso until I reached her waist. One happy memory of my marriage was when I learned that for some women their belly button is wired to their clitoris. With my hands under her bottom, I kissed Kate's tummy and probed my tongue deeply into her navel. She responded by first raising her hips and then arching her back as she tried to stifle her screams. I was encouraged on.

As my lips kissed lower on her torso and my hands gently squeezed her bottom, I reached her mound. Her hair smelled like flowers as the scent of her sex drew me lower. Reaching the top of her legs, I began to kiss down one leg and inward until she spread her legs for me. With one hand and then the other, I reached between her legs and under her bottom. I kissed the inside of her thighs approaching her sex and found her open and inviting. Her lips were soft, wet, and warm, her clitoris hard and wanting attention. As I took her into my mouth, I licked her lovely pink button. Then running my lips and tongue down and back up her lips, she rotated her hips upward. With my hands, I raised her higher and inhaled her scent, breathing her pheromones deep into my lungs. I was thinking this should never end when she suddenly thrust her hips forward and with screams, she started her orgasm. Her body shook and her lips quivered as they began returning my kisses. All the muscles of her sex seemed to call me to her, draw me in, returning my kisses, until she collapsed exhausted.

She went limp in my hands with her legs against my shoulders and her hands caressing my head. I slowly and methodically kissed her thighs and then back up her torso. I reached her breasts and those still swollen nipples, kissing and teasing each gently, and then rose on my elbows to gaze into those beautiful brown eyes.

Wrapping her legs around mine, she slipped her hand between us and began directing me toward her labia. She guided me into position until I felt the warmth and moisture of her sex. Then gently, slowly, I eased myself into her as she moved, adjusted, and repositioned until I was fully within her. The feeling was exquisite, tight, hot and wet. She held me tight within her as I began moving slowly in and out, pausing and starting, always trying to sense her desire as my passion for her climbed. We began to move more purposefully, gaining speed and intensity. Our breathing grew labored and desperate as my desire began to overwhelm my control until I felt her body tense and her fingers dig into my skin. She moaned and thrust her hips forward repeatedly. I felt the spasms of her sex squeezing and milking me until I was overcome by our passion and exploded into her driving my seed deep into her womb.

With our passion exhausted, I held her, gazing into her eyes, and pulling her to me. I tried to delay the moment when I would fall from her; but when the moment came, I gently moved to her side. Holding her in my arms we lay together, kissing and snuggling, until the passion of our coupling subsided and I was left with only joy and an overwhelming love for this woman who had taken my lonely life and made me whole again.