Lizzie

Lizzie suddenly realised she was really hungry. "Yes please. We have skipped lunch completely and I feel famished. I haven't had anything to eat today, actually, due to the floods."

"Oh my. Too preoccupied! Let's get ready."

They went downstairs and got dressed against the rain. Then they walked to Dan's car under Dan's umbrella. He had parked it a couple of yards away from the house.

"Please tell me how to go."

"I will. First we turn around..."

They drove to the Oak in half an hour - it would have been under three minutes in normal circumstances. The pub could just be reached from the other end; a quarter mile further down the road was submerged. They were fairly early, and they ordered their food immediately. Dwight recognised Dan at once.

"Welcome back," he said. "Come to watch the rising waters?"

"I got the impression that they are not rising too much any more - at Lizzie's end, at least."

"Let's devoutly hope you're right! Okay. Have a nice evening!"

"Thank you. Er... Do you have a working telephone?"

"I think so. Why?"

"It is down at Lizzie's, and I'd like to make a call."

"Over there. Go ahead!"

Dan called his uncle who appeared to be quite relieved.

"Glad to know you're alright," he said. "Have a good time."

"I will, with Lizzie - we've got together."

"Really? Oh, brilliant. Give her my regards!"

Dan said he would and rang off. He went back to Dwight to pay for the call, and then he joined Lizzie who had found a table.

"Good," he said. "Everybody reassured. I told uncle Jack, and he asked me to say hello."

"Okay. Who was the elder brother? Your father?"

"No. Uncle Jack is a year older. He is the only remaining one of their generation now."

"Mine have all died. I've only got a few cousins, but we hardly ever see each other."

"Seems the usual way." He was silent for a moment. "I love that painting of the barn."

"Thank you. It did come off well... I thought of taking it along to show you but then Jane pointed out my likeness and so I got cold feet. I thought you might take it amiss and I didn't want to lose you as a friend."

Dan nodded. "I know. I just didn't realise in the beginning either - or not quite; now and then, when we were singing together, or on that walk, I think I did, briefly. I never trusted myself too much, and I didn't want to come between Zeb and you. It was at my father's that I finally knew for a certainty that my feelings for you really were what I thought they were."

He smiled and raised his glass. "To us," he said. He reached out to her across the table and Lizzie took his hand and squeezed it softly.

They sat smiling into each other's eyes until their meals were ready.

"Mmm," Lizzie said. "This is good."

After a few bites her stomach started rumbling. She grinned, a little embarrassed, but Dan didn't seem to mind. He just gave her a warm smile, and she smiled back, feeling very relieved that she didn't have to keep up appearances. Dan would accept her the way she was regardless.

They ate their meal slowly, content to be sitting in the warmth of the pub, looking at each other and enjoying each other's presence, listening to the pub fill up slowly.

When they had nearly finished, Joe and Ellen came in from the rain. They went to the bar for drinks and walked over to where they were sitting. Lizzie asked them to join them. Dan moved over to her side and they sat down on the other two chairs.

"Hello Dan. So what brings you here in all this bad weather?" Ellen said.

"I wanted to see if things were alright," Dan said.

"Okay?"

"We've taken all my things to the first floor," Lizzie said. "The water is at the garden gate."

"Oh my. What a mess. At least you don't live down there close to the river. So you called Dan to come and help?"

"No," Lizzie said, and she beamed at Ellen. "He just came. I have no telephone connection at all down there now. Suppose there's too much water around."

Ellen raised her eyebrows. "Oh my. So are you alright now?"

"Yes, I am. We are, actually." She put a hand on Dan's arm and he grinned at her.

"Oh, that's nice! I thought so last time."

"Well, it's only official since this afternoon."

"Not before time either - you spent far too long alone."

"I don't know. I'm glad I did; I'm very happy now."

"Congratulations. Good to see you so radiant!"

Joe nodded. "That's right. Can I buy you guys a drink?"

They sat talking together until half past eight, when Ellen saw that Dan in particular seemed very tired.

"My," she said. "You do look worn out! I think you should call it a day."

Dan nodded. "I'm afraid we'd better," he said. "Shall we go?"

XXV

They left the pub to find the rain had turned into a drizzle. They had left the car up the road, and they walked back arm in arm. Dan, who had lived on tonic for most of the evening, drove home. He parked the car in the same spot and they walked back to the house.

The water had risen just a very little while they'd been away. There was a slight dip in the path to the house at the garden gate that had filled with water, but the rest of the path was still okay.

"I think the house will be alright," Lizzie said. "With a little luck..."

They went inside, and Lizzie went into the study to collect a couple of glasses and a bottle.

"I am afraid it's not as good as your bottle," she apologised. "But it's the best I can do. You do want some, don't you?"

"Yes please. It's good to be here together; Joe and Ellen are really nice but I think I'll appreciate them more when I'm rested."

"I don't think they'll have noticed. You must have excellent social skills."

"I have to, in my line of work - and I really enjoy talking to them."

"Yes. Okay. Well, here goes!"

She poured them both a good two fingers, and she handed one glass to Dan. He sat down in a big armchair. Lizzie looked at him for a moment, and smiled, and then she went and took a CD from the shelf. She slipped it into the CD player, and selected a track.

Before she pressed play, she smiled at Dan. He raised his eyebrows.

"Just you listen," she said.

Dan recognised the song immediately.

Lizzie looked at her glass as it played, but when it came to the chorus she lifted her eyes and looked at Dan.

"And when the moon is misty

Through the trees right now

She says, 'I want to be your little girl...'"

He put down his glass and got up to hug her. "I love to have you for my little girl," he said.

Lizzie kissed him for an answer. Then she said, "Let's finish our drinks. I want to hug you properly!" She turned off the music and looked at Dan, sitting there in her room and smiling at her, and she thought she hadn't been so perfectly happy for years. The way she looked made Dan's heart skip a beat, and he thought she looked absolutely smashing.

"I hope you'll allow me to have the barn picture framed, so we can put it up?"

She nodded vehemently. "Please," she said. Then she drained her glass.

Dan finished his and got up. He walked across the carpet to where she was sitting, and took her hands. He said, "I would never have thought the esoterica festival would turn out to be one of the best things to happen to me."

Lizzie smiled and nodded. She got up, too. "Come," she said. "Please hold me!

She put her arms around Dan's neck. He took her in his arms and pressed her close, and rubbed his nose against hers. Then he kissed her hungrily.

Lizzie licked his lips and he found her tongue and sucked it into his mouth while she took his head in her hands.

They stood wrapped up in each other's arms for a little while. Dan eventually broke their kiss.

"May I touch you?" he said.

"Oh yes please! Let us go upstairs."

They went up the eight steps hand in hand and Lizzie opened her bedroom door for him.

"I love to touch," she said. "And to be touched... I'm hungry for you."

She smiled, and Dan melted. He kissed her hard and stroked her hair and her bottom, and enjoyed the feeling of her body pressing into his.

"Don't you want to touch my breasts?"

Dan nodded enthusiastically. He lowered his hand to her breasts.

"That's touching my dress, not my breasts," Lizzie said, pouting.

Dan groaned. He stepped back and unbuttoned her dress while looking into her eyes. She shook her dress onto the floor, eager to feel Dan's naked body. She turned around so he could unhook her bra, and she pushed her panties down her legs. When she turned back she undid his shirt buttons and his belt, and when he had taken off his shirt she unzipped his trousers and shoved them down his legs together with his underpants.

"Come - kiss me!" she said.

She rubbed her breasts into his chest and put one arm around his neck while she felt down between their bodies with the other. Dan finally touched her breasts the way she wanted him to. It felt good, and she felt herself go very wet. She slipped her tongue into his mouth and squeezed his cock, while he paid homage to her breasts, touching them in just the right way for her. She loved to have her nipples rolled and she felt that he loved the feel of them. Ooh, yes! He lowered one hand to her buttocks and stroked and squeezed them, softly but insistently, and he ran his middle finger through her crack. She shivered and pulled him close.

"Oh please, make love to me - I need you now!"

Dan beamed. It was all he needed to hear. "I will, my love!" He put both hands under her buttocks and he lifted her up and carried her to the bed.

He softly put her down, and she opened her legs for him. He knelt between them. Bending over her he returned to her breasts, and worked on them with his hands and tongue, and Lizzie squirmed. Ooh yes, this was what she had been hoping for. She took his cock in her hand and squeezed it and moved the loose skin back and forth. When she ran her fingertip over the slit in the top Dan almost growled.

He stopped fondling her breasts and kissed her, hard and demanding. Lizzie smiled at him. She clapped her legs around his thighs and pulled him into her hungry, wet centre.

She let go of his mouth for half a moment. "Fuck me, love," she whispered. Then she pulled his head back down and kissed him, deeply, hungrily, lovingly... It felt just exactly right.

Dan used his left arm to lift himself a little to be able to look into his lover's eyes, and he explored her body with the other, from her taut nipples to her swollen nub by way of her navel which made her shiver. Lizzie had a lovely body, he thought, very feminine, and nicely rounded with all the right curves.

Lizzie loved his eyes on her. She ran a nail along his spine and pinched his nipple viciously. She loved every minute of it; she loved what she read in his eyes best of all. She saw all she needed to see. The love she felt for him was mirrored in the way he looked at her, and she was glad to see he was just as hungry for her as she was for him. She stopped torturing his nipples; she stroked his hair and cheeks, and she kissed him softly for a moment.

Dan took her head in his hands for a moment.

"Okay, my little girl?"

"Yes. So good! Go for it!"

Dan did. He lifted her bottom and got up on his knees, and he gave it to her good and hard, while she lay moaning and smiling at him, bucking her pelvis against his with her legs around his back.

She stroked his chest and belly, and Dan ran his fingers around her belly button, stroking and tickling and driving her wild. She loved and enjoyed every moment of it. She was certain she would remember it forever - and then she couldn't contain herself any longer and pulled his body into hers. "Please - make me come," she whispered into his ear, and she squeezed his cock.

Dan kissed her mouth, her forehead, her nose and her mouth again and found her g-spot with his cock while he rubbed her nub with his index finger. Lizzie hugged him tight and then she let herself go. She bit his lip hard, and she felt as if she was flying and then she came. She held him so tight it hurt, but he didn't mind, and he licked around her lips and nibbled her ear lobes. He moved in and out of her for a little longer until she felt his sperm erupt, warm and sticky and the best feeling she could wish and she held him with her legs.

They lay fondling each other for a long time, cheek to cheek, enjoying the intimacy of the moment, waiting to regain their breath.

Lizzie was the first to speak. "That was so sweet," she said. "I'm so happy!"

Dan agreed. He smiled at her and rejoiced at the feeling of his love's naked body touching his. "It was," he said. "You are all I could ever hope for, and you are more beautiful than I could put into words."

She stroked his hair and offered him her mouth, and she kissed him long and lovingly and sweet. "It's so good to have you in my arms," she said. "The rains really did me a good turn."

"They did. We have waited for each other a long time. You need to be prodded sometimes - or I do, at least."

They looked at each other all smiles. Then Lizzie got up and positioned her pussy over his face while she rubbed his cock in her hands. Dan lifted his head and touched her pussy lips with his tongue.

"Oooh yes," Lizzie said. "That's the idea!"

Dan loved it. He could touch her buttocks and feel their curves, and he had a wonderful view of her sex in the soft hair surrounding it. Her inner labia were quite pronounced and beautiful; they stuck out half an inch or so. And he loved her smell, heady, exciting, intoxicating... He used his tongue to investigate every fold and every wrinkle, and to taste her juices - a little mixed up with his own, he thought.

Lizzie wiggled her hips, pressing her sex closer into Dan's face. She loved his tongue on him, and his hands on her bum - touching and being touched... She moved his foreskin up and down between her thumbs and index fingers. After a little while she took the stem of his cock in one hand and found his balls with the other. She licked her lips, and when they felt wet enough she kissed the tip of his cock, licking up the drop of precum that had gathered on top. Dan squeezed her bum for a moment when she did so, and with a sigh of happiness she opened her lips and sucked the top of his cock into her mouth. He tasted good, and she had always loved kissing and sucking that way.

Dan pushed the tip of his tongue between her inner pussylips, and he moved it slowly up and down, which made her shudder. He pulled her labia apart with his fingers to look at the coral inside, and then he touched her clit with his tongue. Lizzie moaned around his cock. She started sucking eagerly, hungrily tasting a every drop of precum her treatment produced. She squeezed his cock, and softly rolled his balls in her hand.

Dan let himself go on the flood of happiness he felt. He sucked and nibbled, and rubbed her clit with his nose for a moment. Then he lashed her clit with the tip of his tongue, and when he heard her breathing go ragged he bit her clit softly.

Lizzie let go of his cock while she came. She lay her head on his hip and found his hand with hers, and twined her fingers through his. He squeezed her hand, and whispered sweet words to her, and they kept lying in the same position for some minutes.

Eventually she got up, turned around and squatted over him. Dan looked into her eyes while she took his cock. He still was raging hard, just the way she hoped, and she sank down over him while she took hold of both his hands. She bent over to kiss him briefly on the lips, and sat up again.

She rode his cock fiercely and with great enthusiasm, holding on to his hands and squeezing them hard. Her breasts swung up and down, and the perspiration ran off her forehead into her eyes, and she was all smiles and honey, Dan thought. He lay beaming at her, and Lizzie revelled in the looks he cast on her. It was just what she had hoped for and exactly what she needed, she thought. Oh Dan oh Dan oh Dan oh Dan... She repeated the words in her mind like a charm, "oh" when she inhaled, and "Dan" on the exhalation.

To her joy and surprise it was not long before she found a new orgasm build up, and when it hit her, she collapsed on top of him. She kissed him and bit his lips, and she found his tongue. Dan wrapped his arms around her back and held her while he pushed up into her for another minute, until he came, too.

He stroked her hair and rubbed his nose against hers.

Lizzie slowly regained her breath. "My sunshine!" she whispered. "My love!"

***

It didn't take Dan long to find out that Lizzie really meant she loved to touch. She sometimes woke him up doing just that - to his great delight. They seldom spent a day without making love or petting or cuddling. He became a lot less reserved in many respects, to most people's joy - the whole world seemed to smile on him now that Lizzie did.

After Dan had arranged all that remained to be done about his father's things, Lizzie and Dan had spent Christmas at the barn. They had done a lot of talking, deciding on how to arrange their lives, on where to live, and why, and they had visited uncle Jack on new year's eve. He had been overwhelmed with joy at their visit, and Lizzie had taken to him very much.

The house she'd shared with Zeb had been sold. The barn was more comfortable and much bigger, and they both had ample room for their various activities. And apart from that, her one-off experience with a threatening flood was something they could both do without. The water had eventually only got as high as the porch; it lay a good three inches lower than the rest of the ground floor. And it had slowly subsided after that. But still... No, thank you very much!

Lizzie had moved house in the second week of January. She had invited Joe and Ellen and Charles over for dinner at the Oak to take her leave properly. She had had to promise she would come back ever so often.

Kevin had seen her go with some misgivings, but after a little while he understood that she would come and deliver the goods anyway. She didn't mind at all; she could stay the night at the Royal Oak and visit her old friends. She loved sitting in the public bar, talking and listening.

Jane lived rather close by now, though, and she came to visit them sometimes. She liked Dan, too, and the feeling was mutual.

It had taken quite some time to put their music together. However, she had happily left that part to Dan who seemed to like it, and they had a lot of quality time playing their old favourites to each other.

Lizzie had given up trying to play the autoharp. There were quite enough people playing it anyway, and she happily left it to them, content to do a lot of singing with Dan. She had told Bill what she'd meant with the cupboard and the painting, eventually, and he had grinned. It appeared a lot of people had just been wondering when, rather than if, they'd really become a pair.

Lizzie had gone to see the Thompsons when she had moved. They had shown her that they had had their picture framed; it had been put on the chimney over the fireplace. They sat talking for a long time. Lizzie told them she'd moved in with her love, and the Thompsons heartily applauded her move. "I think my visiting you actually helped," she'd said.

The outhouse had been converted into a studio, and Lizzie had made a few alterations to the garden. The early spring flowers were already past their prime, and the small, starry magnolia was about to flower. The weather was brilliant, and the doors and windows of the outhouse were open wide. There was a large ginger cat sitting on one of the window sills. A cat had been a longstanding wish of Dan's, and now that he didn't have to spend a lot of time travelling up and down to Scotland any longer, he had eventually got one. Lizzie stood in the large room looking critically at a canvas she had been working on over the past fortnight. It looked right; she thought it was.