Love is the Key

That had been the darkest time of her life; the time when she'd felt utterly helpless and out of control. Work had been her only solace, and then Cliff had come along and at least helped her feel normal again.

But it had taken Dan Summers to make her feel loved, and although it was very early in their budding relationship, Jill hadn't felt like this since she fell in love with the man she'd married.

Dan caught up to her and put her arm around her. Jill did the same as they turned back toward their cars.

"You can't possibly imagine how happy I am right now," Dan told her as he looked over at her.

"I can't?" she said with a smile. "Even though I'm about to burst inside from happiness?"

"Geez. You can't let me win at anything, can you?" Dan teased.

"Uh-uh. You have to earn it," Jill informed him.

"Oh?"

"Uh-huh."

"In that case, I'd like to try and start...earning it as soon as possible," Dan told her earnestly.

"Is tonight soon enough?" Jill asked as she bit her lower lip after asking the question.

"Tonight is...perfect," Dan told her.

And around 10:30 that evening, Jill learned what perfect meant. Or perhaps she re-learned it as she had her first mind-blowing sex since she was in college. Dan had heard things about 'older women'. He'd just never been with one before to verify those rumors. But he found out they were true as Jill 'turned him every which way but loose' in bed.

"You are a demon!" Dan panted when they finished the first time.

"Whoa! Hold on there! If I'm a demon, you're...the devil himself!" she replied before rolling over on top of him. "And I must say I LOVE your pitchfork."

Dan laughed and Jill did, too. A long, happy, lover's laugh as they looked into each other's eyes.

"Hey! Is that your pitchfork?" she asked when she felt it rising again.

"Yes. You've been a very bad girl, and I need to teach you another lesson."

"Oh. I see," she said as she began pushing against him. "Well, then. Teach away, Beelzebub!"

Dan rolled her over and took her again only this time it was slower, gentler, and much more deliberate as they explored one another's bodies in great detail. Dan told her many times how beautiful she was and Jill let him know he didn't have to say that.

He stopped the lovemaking at one point, looked into her eyes and said, "I'm not just saying it. I'm saying because it's true and I still can't believe just how gorgeous you really are."

"In that case, let me say that I feel like I'm living some kind of fantasy in a dreamworld with someone so handsome it can't possibly be true."

"And young. Don't forget young," Dan told her very seriously.

When Jill said, "Yes. Young. Lucky me!" with love in her eyes, Dan went back to work and proved just how lucky she really was.

It was around midnight, and as Jill lay in his arms Dan asked if she was okay with telling people about their relationship. She wondered if that's what he wanted, and when he laughed, she was relieved.

"No! I want to tell the whole world," Dan said.

"Then let's tell them," Jill happily agreed.

The next morning they ran together, showered together as Dan brought some clothes with him, then walked into work together holding hands.

If looks could kill, Melanie would have been in jail as she sneered at Jill and made a snide remark to Dan about his choice of older women.

"You okay?" Dan asked once they got out of her field of view.

"You know, I really try to like everyone, but that woman pushes me to my limits!" Jill told him.

Kara was disappointed and yet she was still able to smile when she saw them. And because she could tell how happy Jill was, she said to them both, "I'm really happy for you guys."

"Thank you, Kara," Jill said.

She then looked at Dan and said, "So are we."

News spread quickly about the newest May-December couple in Wichita, and a photo of them even appeared on the front page of the local newspaper. There was a short summary of their jobs at KAKE and a line about how 'love was in the air.'

*****

Both Dan and Jill meant it when they said they were 'all in'. The two of them became inseparable from the moment they kissed during that summer run. Dan not only ran the race he'd promised, he beat his girlfriend by nearly a minute causing her to make a playful quip about 'natural runners' and how much she hated them.

"With one very notable exception," she added before kissing the younger man she was falling in love with.

By the time Fall came around, both of them had told the other they loved them many, many times. And because Jill had a house and Dan had an apartment, he moved in with her just before Thanksgiving. Dan had met Jill's parents and they hit off it off almost immediately. Dan's parents were slightly less enthusiastic about this older woman until they spent some time around her. Once they really got to know her she won their hearts, too, and her constant enthusiasm proved contagious.

It was the end of January and right after a heavy snow that the station manager told Jill she'd need to join Dan during the morning traffic report to give her opinion of the situation. It didn't make a lot of sense to her, but any excuse to be with the man she loved was music to her eyes.

When Kara, who was on air, mentioned that Jill was in the air with 'Dan the Man' as they'd taken to calling him around the station, the camera inside the helo switched on.

"So what can you tell us, Dan?" Kara asked.

"Well, it looks cold and snowy down there, Kara, but traffic is moving along quite nicely."

"I see. And how about inside the KAKE 'eye in the sky'?"

"If I'm right, things in here are just the opposite. It's warm and toasty, and I'd say this little bird is full of love."

The camera switched over to Jill who was giving her boyfriend-pilot a funny look when he said, "It's no secret this beautiful woman and I have been dating, and it's probably also not a secret that I'm stone-cold in love with her."

Jill furrowed her brow then smiled.

"But what no one knows, other than the station manager who got Jill up in the air with me this morning is that..."

He fished out a large diamond ring from his jacket pocket then said, "That I'm about to propose to the woman I love."

Jill's eyes opened wide as Dan said, "I can't get down on one knee, honey, but I don't love you any less."

The cameras were rolling as Dan said, "I love you more than anything or anyone on earth, Jill Asbury. So. Will you make me even happier by saying 'yes'? Jill, will you marry me? And for your information, this is NOT a key."

Jill was crying and nodding and holding out her left hand as Dan used his left hand to slide the ring on. He leaned over and kissed her, and viewers all around the city were saying, "Aaah!" and many eyes were moist with tears at the on-air romance unfolding right before their eyes.

Other than Jill, no one was happier than the station manager when ratings went through the roof. They settled back to normal a month or so later, but the in-air proposal again made huge headlines, and the station offered to cater the wedding reception the following June after the newly-married couple wed in the church where Jill's family still attended.

But the happiest person by far was Jill Summers who learned, just after turning 44, that she was finally going to be a mom. Dan was thrilled, too, but Jill was over the moon with the joyful news.

And when their beautiful little boy was born the following March, Jill cried tears of joy when she held him for the first time.

Dan was by her side and when he leaned down to kiss her and tell her how beautiful both of them were, Jill remembered her mother's sage words of advice.

"Love is the key, honey."

And as Jill Summers cradled her sweet baby boy and looked at her handsome husband smiling at them both, she knew she'd finally found all the love any woman could ever hope for.