Last Chance for Love

"What happening again?"

"The man I love dying on me. It just about killed me when George died. Darryl, I do love you. If we were dating, I'm sure we would probably get married, I'm sure I would grow to love you even more. Then you would up and die and I would go through it all over again. I don't want to suffer like that ever again."

"You well know that we usually don't get to choose when to die. Babies die their first day. Teenagers die. Middle age people die. People our age die. People older than us die. You don't need to worry about when I'm going to die. You need to worry about when you're going to live again. If you live without love, you're not living, you're just existing.

"Eve, I think being with you is my last chance for love, but I won't stop looking if you decide you don't want to live with me. I do love you. I do want to be with you and marriage would be my preference. You need to decide if you're going to take what may be your last chance for love. All I can tell you is that tonight is the last time I'm going to offer. Go home and think about it. Here's money for a taxi home. Good night."

He could hear Eve crying as he left. His steps were hurried as he felt his tears coming too. There was no memory of the trip home. His mind was totally occupied worrying if he had done the right thing. He was taking the risk of losing his best friend. "Me and my big mouth."

In the next couple of weeks, Eve called Darryl several times. The substance of the calls was nothing unusual or significant. 'How are you?' calls. The one thing both had on their mind was the last thing they wanted to talk about. Until the last call. She ended it with, 'Do you still feel the same way as you did when we last talked in person?' Darryl was irritated but said he did. She said thanks and hung up. With each passing day after, Darryl felt less hope about a future with Eve.

It was another week before he heard from Eve since her last phone call. He received a post card that invited him to a birthday party for her at her house. She handwrote that she really wanted him there. "If you still care for me, please come." That made him mad. His initial response was to tear up the invitation. He opted instead for closure. He would tell her off about her doubting he ever cared for her. It didn't matter if it was in front of a bunch of people. He would probably never see her or them again.

There were about 20 people there when he arrived. He tried to make nice, but it was difficult. Eve briefly thanked him for coming in passing as she mingled quickly around all guests. Darryl gave up fretting for a few minutes and enjoyed the food and drink. After a while, Eve got everyone's attention.

"You all were asked to come to help me celebrate my birthday. You know the Fire Marshall refused to let us put a candle for each year. Well, I have a confession. I did not bring you to here to just celebrate another year for me. I brought you here to see me kill someone." Puzzled looks abounded. "The person I am killing tonight is the old me -- the me that foolishly risked letting love slip away." She walked over to where Darryl was standing. "This is the finest man I have ever known. For too long, I kept myself from admitting how much I loved him. I plan to correct that mistake." Eve bent down on one knee and pulled out a small box. "Darryl Evans, will you marry this stupid, woman in front of you and help me live in love for the rest of my life?"

The crowd cheered for a few seconds but stopped when they notice Darryl not saying anything. Finally, he spoke.

"I'm sorry but I can't say I can . . . because I don't see a stupid woman. All I see is the classiest woman I have ever know and I care most about. She is all caring. She is beautiful. And she is very intelligent. If she asks me to marry her, I will do so gladly. Now, get up before I get down there and we both embarrass ourselves by not being able to get up."

When everyone except Darryl had left, Eve said to leave the cleanup until tomorrow. They sat down at the kitchen table. Eve spoke, "I'm sorry I sprung our engagement on you like that. I had planned the party before I had decided what I wanted for us. When I said, 'if you care for me,' I was giving you one last chance to break away from me."

"Now that you have accepted my offer of marriage, I am offering you the chance to put a condition on your acceptance. This is so hard to say. Darryl, I want you to have the chance to change your mind if you find out we are sexually incompatible. I have an old body. It does not react the way it used to. It is not flexible as it once was. In addition, I am only used to what the kids call today, 'vanilla sex.' George was only agreeable to the missionary position. Oral sex was taboo for George as being unnatural as well as unclean. I don't even want to tell you what he said about anal sex.

"What I'm trying to say is that I'm not very good at regular sex. I don't even know if I'm good at any other kind of sex because I've never tried it. I have no idea what you were hoping for with me, but I want you to know I'll do my best to love you any way you want. Just please go slow with me and don't give up on me if I don't get it right the first time."

"Eve, in one way, I wish you had not pulled the surprise you did tonight. Not because I don't want to marry you, but because there is something about me sexually you don't know either. When I tell you what that is, you can tell me to leave and I will understand.

"Eve, there is nothing in the world I would rather do than make long, slow love to you, but I can't, at least in the way you and George probably did. I have not been fully able to have regular sex for over 20 years, even before Millie's dementia kicked in. Besides having a small penis my whole life, I have had difficulty ejaculating other than with my hand. As we got older, in the last years of our marriage there was not enough friction within Millie's vagina for regular sex to provoke an ejaculation on my part or an orgasm on her part. Millie was willing to perform oral sex on me, but she did try and try without success. What she did would feel good to me, but I never was able to climax. Her jaw muscles would get too sore to continue each time she tried, so she just stopped trying altogether.

"I am just letting you know in advance that I do have ideas on how to satisfy you sexually in some ways. Rather than give up on sex with Millie all together, I became more skillful with my tongue and fingers. I was eventually able to give Millie orgasms on a consistent basis although we did not try frequently. I became accustomed to finishing myself off with my hand. That's the deal I am offering you. If you and I are to be a couple, I promise to do my best to give you an orgasm as often as possible. I think we need to try and see how well we do. I don't think you should marry me until you are sure I can satisfy you in bed."

"Sweet Darryl, I do enjoy vaginal sex, but I think I could enjoy other sex. In fact, I believe I could enjoy any stimulation that I knew was coming from a man I knew loved me. Will you come to be with me, now?" She led him to her bedroom.

Eve and Darryl stood by her king size bed. She turned down the covers. Eve began to take off her clothes. Darryl asked her to go slowly. He was amazed how good each part of her looked as she exposed herself little by little. She looked better than when he saw her after Larry tried to rape her. Her breasts sagged but they were smooth. Her areola and nipples looked like bullseyes on an archery targets. She had a little muffin top, but she was not fat. There was a small amount of bush that matched her hair color. He was turned on more than . . ., well he couldn't remember when.

"I'm sorry if my body does not please you."

"Are you kidding? It's taking every bit of restraint I have not to rape you right now."

"It's not rape when the other person is willing. In case you're wondering, I'm willing."

They spent the night learning how to love each other. Eve was surprised when Darryl's tongue started near her anus and worked its way up to her vagina. She called a halt. "Darryl, did you know how close you came to my, you know, hole."

"What if I wanted to?"

"Then I think I am about to experience a lot of new things."

Darryl repeated the strokes with his tongue and Eve lay back and sighed. She perked up when he started to concentrate on her clit. He went back and forth, up and down, and hummed while his teeth held on. She squirmed and squirmed until she had what would have passed for a seizure.

When she awoke, Darryl was giving her water. "What happened?"

"I'm hoping it was the best orgasm you ever had."

"If that was a '10' on the orgasm scale then I have never had one over a '3' in my life before. That was fantastic. I could kick myself now that I know I could have had this months ago. Whew, I don't think I can get out of bed yet."

"Good, because we're not through."

"There's more?"

"We're just getting started."

The next assault was a triple play. Darryl licked her clit while sticking his thumb in her vagina and his saliva-lubricated middle finger in her ass. She didn't pass out this time, but she counted three orgasms before Darryl stopped. "That was a sheet wrecker!"

"A what?"

Eve laughed. "George used to call our especially vigorous love sessions 'sheet wreckers.'"

About a month later, she surprised Darryl when she put his penis in her mouth. He almost stopped her as he figured it was useless. Just as he grabbed her head to pull her off, he noticed it felt different than when Millie had tried. He waited. There was a slow build-up of tension in his genitals. He cried out, "Faster. Harder." Eve increased her efforts. Darryl almost cried when Eve's blowjob brought in a gusher. She tried to swallow it all, but it was too much too fast. He said, "I had forgotten how good that felt. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."

After settling back, Darryl asked, "How did you do that?"

"Research. My niece is an escort. She gave me some tips. She specializes in fast ejaculations with her blowjobs. It increases her clients per night average."

"Remind me to send her a special present at Christmas."

They lasted eleven years together. Eleven wonderful years. Trips to exotic places filled their passport pages. Sex was not frequent but highly enjoyed when it happened. In between vacation trips there were heavy doses of grandchild spoiling. They even got to see Eve's two great-grandchildren before Darryl died. Two days later, Eve joined him and were happily greeted by George and Millie.

Cue the Donna Summers song.