Her Knight in Shining Armor

When my wife and I were much younger we took in a neighbor kid, seeing him through his last year of high school and tech school. That situation gave me the idea for this story, hopefully you'll enjoy it.

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I didn't much like where I was living, a two bedroom apartment with no garage area or storage, the only redeeming value is that it was on the first floor. I arrived in Kansas City two months ago, a 57 year old refrigeration journeyman taking a job with another commercial refrigeration company. I had worked for Andrews Refrigeration for 27 years, it wasn't the company I wanted to get away from, it was all the memories of my failed marriage and loss of my closest sibling. I'd lost my wife to another, someone I didn't have the equipment to compete with. A beautiful bronze skinned female doctor from Jamaica, who in time moved back to her native country taking Marion with her.

In the last year I had lost the other love of my life as well, my sister, younger than me by eleven months. Karen and I were so close in age and feature's that folks thought we were fraternal twins. We were always together, even after we were married and had families. At family functions you would find us on the couch together, standing next to the other in the kitchen doing whatever, we were just always together, we always seemed to have something to talk about.

We were referred to as "the lovers" in a snickering sort of way, it came about when we were being sought for lunch on a family Sunday when mom blurted out, "oh, the lovers are sitting in the swing on the front porch", there was much laughter and guffawing, but the supposed joke never ended. From that point on anytime one or both of us was being sought at a family gathering it was always the same. Where are the lovers?

My wife was a heavy drinker, something I chose to overlook before we married, and realized too late after we were together. She was a slobbering closet drunk, wine being her poison of choice. She also never learned to let go of her high school friends, so being out with them clubbing every few weeks wasn't unusual. I admit I was blind to most of her loose behavior, but I think only because I foolishly chose to overlook it, hoping it would change on its own.

Karen's husband was an over the road trucker gone most of the time. When she discovered there were two other women he was living with as wives she ended the marriage after 28 years together. A few weeks following my wife told me she was going to Jamaica with her lover, Karen and I leaned on one another even more. Had we paid closer attention to the signs that existed we may not have been so devastated, but we hadn't and the hurt ensued.

The loss of our marriages was the impetus that brought us together again, Karen didn't want to live alone but wasn't ready to sell her house, we made a joint decision she should move in with me and rent her place. After all, who would question a brother and sister living with each other following divorces. What we hadn't foreseen was becoming lovers after years of stuffing the urges to be intimate.

She and I always knew we loved the other, more than a simple sibling love, we also made damned sure we never gave into the urges neither of us ever voiced. Standing in the kitchen talking, sitting on the couch together, or on the front porch swing had to be enough, that's just the way it had to be. That is, until we moved in together, both in our early fifties and both still in love with the other. It wasn't one of those situations you read about where she suddenly had to have me, we ripped our clothes off and screwed all over the house for two days. Those stories for the most part are bullshit.

Ours started out very subtle and slow, we'd been referred to as "the lovers" for so long it had become a natural thing to hold hands if we were out together. Most of the folks in town knew us and didn't refer to us as Ted and Karen, we were jokingly referred to as the lovers. Even old Sam Johnson at the hardware store would ask when we walked in together, "What can I get for you two lovers today?"

Therefore, it meant nothing to the towns people to see Karen and I walking around holding hands, or our arm around the others waist, it did however begin to make a difference for us. It was no longer simply grabbing her hand, or she mine, it had become the art of slipping my hand into hers or vise versa, the soft touch of our fingers intertwined, or my palm on the small of her back, the sweetness, the tenderness in our voices as we conversed. The feeling of being complete and relevant in this world when we were together, a preference to be with no other, we were all we needed.

Giving in to our sexual urges didn't occur for months. We had always kissed hello and goodbye, nothing sensual, just a quick kiss, we did the same each morning and evening now that we were in the same household. Something else we'd done was develop a foolish back and forth in the morning. It all began one morning when things were not going right for Karen, I told her to have a crappy day, she instantly responded with enjoy your crummy job.

It was now a running joke that as I was leaving one would say 'have a crappy day, followed by 'enjoy your crummy job' by the other, chuckles and another quick peck on the lips. That changed on the morning we kissed, literally kissed, not a peck, she pulled back, stroked the side of my face with the palm of her hand and told me to have a productive day and be safe. I'd hurt myself the day before changing out a compressor, telling her about it at supper, this was Karen's way of telling me to not abandon her now that we were together again.

She normally left for work a half hour after I did and always finished dressing after I'd leave. She'd have on her terry cloth robe tied tightly shut, her face and hair would be ready, but she would wait to dress, making sure we had our oatmeal together before I left. I would wonder what she had on under that robe, was she in undies or as bare as the day she was born? As I was leaving she would stand on tip toes kissing me sweetly, patting my chest and telling me to have a crappy day.

Our morning kisses heated up over time. A day after I'd accidentally scratched the top of my head leaving a long scab in the middle of it she held me tight as we kissed goodbye, not releasing me. Looking into my eyes she half scolded as well as admonished,

"Teddy, you make sure you come home to me tonight ... undamaged."

Pushing me out the door she smiled and mouthed I love you. I know I made it to work that morning, but I certainly don't remember driving there. My service manager asked if I needed to go home, when I asked why he told me because I sure wasn't there. I cleared my head, picked up my first service call and hit the road. Karen would get home an hour or more before me so she typically had a meal ready when I walked in, if I was still running calls and knew I'd be late I would text her. Her response was always the same, "I'll know you're home when I see the whites of your eyes." No pissin and moanin, no nasty attitude, just, I'll see you when you get home.

As I walked in from the garage I didn't smell supper, very unusual. I called out Karen's name with no answer, her car was in the garage, wonder where she could be. Walking down the hall to my bedroom she exited hers looking like a million bucks, reaching for me for her kiss, then telling me to get cleaned up and ready, we're going to dinner ... and wear something nice. As she walked away I watched her ass twitch, making her skirt sway as she walked, I was sure she knew I was watching because she made it do more than normal. As the skirt swayed I could see enough upper leg to make me begin hardening.

Karen is an attractive woman, always has been, and is even more so in her older years. She stands five foot three, has a tiny waist and short torso, having never bore children her hips hadn't widened much since high school. I thought her chest was perfect, I knew it was a 34B because I looked at her bra, she generally wore cotton bikini or boy shorts underwear, but I had also seen some shinier ones in the laundry, probably nylon or satin. In my estimation she was a complete package.

I showered, shaved, slapped on some British Sterling, her favorite cologne, a dress shirt, tie and dress slacks. When I walked into the dining room she gave me a wolf whistle and wiggled her eyebrows as she smiled. She stood and slowly spun around, looking wonderful in a flowing black skirt and bright white blouse with seamed nylons and three inch spiked heels. The most appealing part for me was the amount of skin showing, her skirt ended just below mid-thigh, the blouse was open enough to know she had cleavage without showing it.

When I asked what the occasion was and where we were going she told me it was Friday night, I was taking her to dinner at Texas Road House and then we were going dancing ... finishing with she didn't want to hear a negative word about it. Just get my scrawny ass in the truck and let's go, she was hungry.

With a big grin on my face I extended my arm, she looped her hand through the crook of my elbow and away we went. Our waitress was Alice Simonson, when she saw who it was she used the normal greeting, "Hey, what you two love birds up to tonight?"

Karen told her supper and dancing. Sitting in the parking lot of the dance bar later on she scooted next to me.

"Teddy, I don't want anyone else dancing with me ... or you. I want you to make sure that doesn't happen, okay? If they're going to call us lovers, then I want you to treat me like I'm your lover. I don't mean in a vulgar way, I mean in a protective way."

I nodded, tilted her chin upward with my fingers and kissed her soft, slow, and tenderly. Our lips making a smacking noise as we parted.

"Do you mean like that Sis? I hope so because I could do that all night long."

That evening was the most fun we'd had in months. We didn't dance with others, although there was a guy at our table or trying to cut in most of the time. I loved how her skirt would billow slightly when she turned or spun around, at one point she spun hard enough I could see the top of her thigh highs, knowing what she'd done she instantly pushed her skirt down and giggled. The next number was slow, we didn't bump or grind, but we also didn't pull back. With her head resting on my chest she looked up at me with a grin, when I ask what the grin was about she giggled again and pulled back.

"I felt so naughty when my skirt went up, it made me feel sexy, how much did you see?"

"I love those red panties."

"Oh my God, oh shit. If you saw them Ted, then so did others. Oh I'm so embarrassed."

"No need to be embarrassed Karen, you're with your lover, remember?"

Leaning her head against me again she sighed with a "yes I am."

Though it was after 11 when we got home neither of us were ready for bed, after changing into something less constrictive than our evening clothes we settled on the couch. I was reading a book as she sat next to me, she reached up, closed my book and told me to hold her. As we settled in for a warm snuggle, she suddenly stood, walked to the wall and turned off the lamps, leaving the light on the microwave to softly barely break the darkness. As she sat, she grabbed my arm and put it around her shoulders.

It was minutes before we spoke, Karen's voice sweetly permeated the dark.

"Ted, do you think about me during the day?"

"Sure I do, all day every day. I have since we were in high school. I make nearly every decision based on what I think you might want."

Karen pushed herself so she was now facing me, looking at me intently and with what I thought was confusion. I wondered if I had been unwise in my choice of words until she touched my face and asked.

"Have you ever wanted to kiss me? I ask because I've wanted to kiss you for years, even before our divorces. This might sound wrong Teddy, but we've been called lovers for so many years I've often wondered why we aren't."

The cat was out of the box, the question now became, do we try putting the cat back in the box, or leave it out and deal with it? The answer was mutual and instant, we leaned toward each other and kissed, not a brother/sister kiss, a lover's kiss. We spent the next twenty minutes each exploring the body we'd desired to touch for decades but always avoided it. With our sweats on the floor Karen was now in cute red with little white polka dot panties and no bra, while I sat next to her with a raging hardon.

With her arms around my neck she asked in between kisses, "Teddy, which room will be ours from now on? Yours has the attached bath, lets sleep there."

I picked her up, carried her to my room, lay her down, hooked my thumbs in her panties as she lifted up and I slithered them down her legs, a soft mound of hair greeted me. Laying in just her thigh highs I damn near jumped her then and there. She in turn pulled my underwear out so my dick wouldn't be caught on the elastic and pulled them to my ankles. In the shadows of night we spent time playing orally, she having a long much needed orgasm, followed by her sucking me long enough to want to bury it in her wet pussy. It wasn't frantic or hurried, in fact we had to stop for a moment and let her deal with a charlie horse in her right leg, our love making was just that, making love.

I remember glancing at the clock as I climbed into her saddle, she had cum first and when I unloaded I noticed we'd been making love almost fifteen minutes. I've read accounts where men say they went for hours, I don't know how, but maybe it's just me. Laying in the dark she said it felt good to be my lover, I shared the sentiment as we drifted into slumber. For the next three years we lived as lovers, only sleeping in separate rooms if any of my kids came to visit. A brain aneurism took her from me, and I found myself alone again.

More than one evening I sat in the darkness of my patio wondering why we had waited so long to show our true affection. I suppose the issue of incest weighed on our minds even though we never spoke of it. We had been teased and chided as "lovers" for so many years, it was actually only a matter of time before we were. As I reflected on where our lives ended up, I had no regrets having my sister as my lover, but it was time to move on, I couldn't grieve forever.

My kids were grown, married and living in different parts of the world. I was 56 years old still running service calls, pulling standby a week at a time every 8 weeks, changing ten and twenty horse compressors with the help of an inexperienced apprentice, and as I looked around, I noticed there were fewer and fewer younger guys entering the trade. The average age of a commercial refrigeration journeyman in our area was 41, it became apparent to me that with very few younger men coming behind I'd still be running calls and humping compressors by myself until the day I retired.

There was no reason for me to stay in the Milwaukee area, or remain in cold weather, I began looking for a service manager position in a warmer climate. Answering an ad for a service manager brought me to a commercial company in Kansas City, Kansas. Their present service manager was retiring in May, which would give me six months to know the servicemen, the customer base, the way the company ran its business and most importantly ... them to know me. Commercial refrigeration companies are quite different than appliance stores that work on domestic units, our customer base is grocery stores and other commercial refrigeration.

You may ask why I'm in a crappy apartment, the answer is that I bought a house from a young couple with kids in school. For reducing the price, I agreed to allow them to reside there renting from me until school was done the last week of May. My lawyer required them to put $5000 in escrow to make sure I wasn't left with damaged property and no recourse. I didn't want to think that could happen, but who knows anymore in this crazy world. I could move in anytime after June first, my lease on this dump was over on June 15, that would afford me two weeks to move my stuff out of storage and into the house.

Kansas City cold in December isn't like Wisconsin cold in December, but with the constant wind and higher humidity it's still damned chilly even with the sun shining. It was the Friday two weeks before Christmas as I parked my service van and trudged down the hall to my apartment, groceries in hand. My mind traveled back to the Christmas before Karen's death, she and I had the interior and exterior of the house decorated ... in this apartment, I had nothing. The eightplex was laid out in a fashion of four upper and four lower, a hallway down the middle, two apartments on each side. I happened to live in a rear unit.

Though I'd been there a few months I didn't really know anyone, which didn't bother me at all. I'd met the mother and daughter across the hall, the mother a drunk and crack whore, the daughter trying her best to get through her final year of high school and leave. These few things I'd learned from the gossiping lady upstairs in the laundry room and having talked with the girl a time or two in the hall. Sitting on the floor across from my door was Tina, crying and hanging onto a back pack with clothes hanging out.

I squatted to be at eye level, "Hey kid, what's wrong, why are you crying?"

"My mom's gone, this was sitting in the hallway when I got home from school. The note said I'm 18 now so I'm on my own, the super said she left with some guy this morning, I don't know what to do."

"Do you have family nearby?"

"No, I don't have anyone around here."

I stood, unlocked the door and told her to come in. She looked at me frightened.

"It's okay Tina, I'm not going to rape you. Let's get you warmed up and some food in your tummy, then we'll figure it out. Okay?"

I'd picked up a rotisserie chicken on the way home and had plenty of salad makings, between the two we filled our tummy's sufficiently. When I asked her about other family she told me she was born in El Paso which legally made her a US citizen, but her mother had been sent back to Guatemala shortly after her birth for drug trafficking, she had somehow made it across the border again years later. Tina had been in the foster care system until her mother reappeared three years ago. Now she had no one and nowhere to go.

It was certainly risky, I didn't know her from Adam, but I took a chance telling her she could stay at my place if need be. I certainly didn't want to see her on the streets at the mercy of pimps and street thugs. I asked her to let me show her around before she decided. I had two bedrooms, one with an attached half bath where I was sleeping and the spare room which was basically bare. She could have the spare room, we'd need to share the hall bath for showers, otherwise it would be considered her space. Still looking scared I told her I'd install a lock on her bedroom door if it made her feel more comfortable.

Still looking fearful she asked, "I don't even know your name, and how would I pay you rent?"

"Name is a simple one, Ted Engler, and I don't want anything for rent. You can stay here rent free if you do one thing, finish school and get your diploma."

With tears in her eyes she asked point blank. "So, once I'm moved in are you gonna make me fuck you or you'll throw me out?"

"Tina why do you talk like that? Pretty girls don't need to be vulgar to make their point. To answer your question, no, I won't be demanding anything sexual from you. Like I said, you're welcome if you stay in school and keep your nose clean, if I find you down on the corners buying or selling, we're done. Fair enough?"

"Fair enough."

"Okay, you need something to sleep on, Furniture World is open until nine, we have just enough time to get there and buy a bed. Wally world is open until 11, we'll grab some sheets and blankets, I have an extra pillow. Are all of your belongings in that backpack?" She nodded yes.