Happily Ever After... Interrupted

Traci blinked back tears. She looked like a deer in the headlights, Jason thought.

"What about the kids? What will they think?" she asked timidly.

"I suppose they'll think we're having earth-shattering sex," Jason said with a crooked grin. "Look, Traci, we're consenting adults, we're best friends. Who says best friends can't be best friends with benefits, unless you think that I'm being too forward?"

"No, no. Best friends can have sex," Traci quickly answered. "But you might have to be gentle with this old woman for a while. It's been quite a while since I've actually played the game with another human being. I decided that if I couldn't have you, I didn't need to have sex with a poor replacement. Quite honestly, it took a while, but I found out they've all been poor replacements."

Jason looked at Traci for a long minute.

"I'm not talking love, Traci. I've always been honest with you. Just some sex between two best friends."

"Can we make love sometimes? Can we fuck like minks sometimes?" she said coquettishly.

"Whatever you want to do, Traci."

After Traci moved in, family Christmas was always celebrated at Jason's house. Traci's children had no problem with their mother living with Jason. As a matter of fact, all three children had a room of their own to stay in, once Traci moved her stuff out of one of the guest bedrooms and into Jason's master suite.

Traci wasn't naïve enough not to realize that on those occasions when the pair made love, Jason always seemed to be a little off his game. She knew she would have to get used to Jason giving her his body, but never his soul. Not even in their wildest moments of sexual rapture did Jason ever utter the words that would have been music to Traci's ears, "I love you."

Of course at 60 the sex didn't have the same physicality it had when they were both 20, but both had taken care of themselves well and still had the desire to have sex at least twice a week. Vaginal lubricant was a necessity now for Traci, but she could still get wired up pretty good when Jason used his hands and mouth on her before sliding his cock inside her pussy. She would usually come multiple times from the stimulation, and in her old age had gotten much louder and more expressive, Jason noted to himself.

The two were lying in each other's arms gradually coming down from what Traci considered a great session when the thought hit her, followed by the guilt. She looked up at Jason shyly, then very softly spoke.

"Tell me I didn't completely sour you on love for your whole life. Tell me I'm not the reason you never married," she whispered.

Jason looked deeply into Traci's eyes and saw a deep look of regret.

"Truth," she whispered.

Jason looked up at the ceiling in the darkened room for a few seconds, then took several deep breaths.

"Traci, I've faced bullets, I've faced death. I've lost friends in battle. Your betrayal was still the most defining moment of my life. But I forgave you. I've told you that.

"I've had plenty of women since we broke up, but only one other woman to whom I've ever said those magic words. It was about 10 years after I joined the Navy. We'd been a couple for about a year when I asked her to marry me. But she told me she couldn't, because she couldn't take the uncertainty of not knowing if I was coming back from a mission. Not every woman can handle being a SEAL's wife. I accepted that, and we moved on. We've remained friends since, and I get a Christmas card from her every year."

Apparently Leslie had told Chris and Nancy about Jason's history with Traci, because none of the children ever pushed Jason on marrying their mother. But even without the piece of paper, Jason was most definitely family to Traci's children, and became Grandpa J when they started having kids of their own.

Jason was out back mowing the yard and Traci was out doing some shopping when the cellphone in his pocket rang. He got concerned when he saw it was the Fort Wayne Police Department on the line.

"Jason Arnold speaking. How can I help you today?" he answered.

"Mr. Arnold, we have a Traci Ingram here at the station with us right now. She seems very disoriented, and has been this way since Glenbrook Mall personnel found her wandering around aimlessly in their parking lot. Fortunately, her cell phone has you listed as her emergency contact," a young officer explained to Jason. "We think it would be best if you could pick her up and take her home ... or maybe to a doctor."

Jason answered affirmatively and headed off the police department. He had noticed recently that on occasion Traci had seemed a little distant, but this was definitely a lot more than that. He just had assumed that at 67, Traci was just showing some signs of old age.

Traci seemed worried as Jason approached the desk at the police department, but she brightened right up on seeing his face. She immediately started apologizing to both Jason and the desk sergeant, but Jason assured her everything was fine and he would drive her home as soon as he took care of some paperwork.

"Mr. Arnold, this is not how she was acting just a few minutes ago. She seems perfectly fine now," said the sergeant, whose name badge read Gillespie. "But I'm telling you there's something wrong. If it was my wife, I'd get her to a doctor today."

Jason didn't bother correcting the sergeant. He filled out some paperwork, thanked the woman and collected Traci, who seemed puzzled as to why she was in the police station in the first place.

"I don't recall driving over here," she said as Jason walked her to his truck. "Where's my car?"

"Your car's back at the mall. Maybe we'll get it tomorrow," Jason replied.

The doctor's diagnosis was grim. Traci had the start of Alzheimer's. The doctor told Traci and Jason just about everything he knew that could slow the progression of the disease, but he was truthful and told both that nothing could stop it. He advised the pair to make plans for palliative care sometime down the road. Traci was devastated by the news.

Traci's children were also devastated by the news when Traci and Jason told them when everybody was at Jason's the next Christmas. A lot of plans and what-ifs were thrown around the dinner table late one night. Jason sat quietly while mother and children talked.

"She'll continue to stay here with me for as long I can deal with her physical handicaps," Jason finally stated quietly but forcefully.

"We can't ask you to do that," Chris responded while the others nodded.

"You didn't ask. I offered. I was taught to never leave a fallen comrade behind. I will get this done. Friends don't bail when things get rough.

"Traci, you're my best friend, and have been for much of my life. Trust me, I won't let you down."

"I love you, Jason Arnold. I was stupid once and forgot that for a lot of years. But these last several years have been among the best of my life. I know you can't reciprocate that love, but I trust that your love for me as your friend will be enough to carry us through. Thank you, my love ... and my friend."

++++++++++

Traci had steadily declined in the last five years. The confusion came more often, as did Traci's wanderings back in her memory. She would become 18 or so for hours at a time, back to when her love for Jason was probably at its strongest, before they both went away to college. She would profess her love for Jason in a softer voice at those times, the way she had all those years ago. Jason quietly endured the stings to his heart, knowing she was remembering happier times.

"I love you, Jason Arnold," Traci would say.

"You're not so bad yourself," Jason would answer.

Traci never pushed for an "I love you" back, Jason noted. It was almost as if her current self and her younger self had worked out an arrangement concerning him.

Despite Jason's best efforts at trying to keep Traci strong physically, Alzheimer's eventually won that fight, too, and Traci had grown frail. Still, Jason would take her out on walks in their neighborhood whenever the weather would cooperate. They would walk about their yard, looking at flowers and the trees that Jason had planted at Traci's request.

Traci's children all lived within several hours' drive of Jason's house. They each stopped by every few weeks to check on their mother and Jason. Traci didn't always remember them or their children, leaving Jason the task of trying to soften the blow to them.

"You're an amazing man, Jason," Leslie said after one such visit. "You know we all love you."

"And I love every single one of you back," he said as he wrapped Leslie in a tight hug.

++++++++++

Traci's journey home ended in a cemetery about 15 minutes outside of Fort Wayne. Jason picked a small cemetery on a rise above an expansive farm field below. With the wind whipping and the temperature in the 20s, Traci's children wondered why Jason had brought their mother here to be buried. They didn't know that the spot was picked at Traci's request. When Jason and she had looked for burial spots the previous summer, they had come to the cemetery, and Traci fell in love with the view of the cemetery overlooking the green of the growing corn on a sun-drenched morning. The gravesite was in the bright morning sunlight, but in the afternoon they would be in the shade of a near-by oak tree.

Ten years later the children had their answer when Jason died in the summer. At Jason's request, the funeral was held in the afternoon. The family stood in the shade of the tree and looked out across a beautiful field of growing corn. Glancing down from that sight were two graves, side by side, with the headstones having been erected long ago, with one just waiting until that day for its owner to arrive:

Traci Ingram

His best friend

Jason Arnold

Her best friend