Lucky Man Pt. 01

"Sort of." I still hesitated from continuing.

She smiled and reminded me, "It was you that was bold enough to put a rogue finger up my bum only a couple of days ago, and now this! I am going to have to be more adventurous just to keep up with you."

She released her hand and put it around my waist and tucked her head under my arm and into my chest and we strolled languidly along the path. "I can see that I'm going to have to come up with some ideas of my own to challenge you."

I wrapped my arm comfortably round her shoulders. "Bring it on young lady, I always rise to the challenge."

"I know!" Ruth laughed, "You rising up to any challenge all the time is the one thing likely to get me into trouble!"

"Well, you know what they say, 'it takes two to tango'."

"So that is your plan, then? To sweep me off my feet with some fancy moves, a dip and a twirl ... then bang me in the back of your old banger?"

I stopped walking and turned to face her, removing my arm from her shoulders and folding them across my chest.

"I'm mortally offended," I intoned, sniffily, "nobody but me calls Betsy an 'old banger'!"

"OK," she giggled, "I will admit that she hasn't let us down yet. I just can't get over that you've named your car, when did you do that?"

"Just now when you called her an 'old banger'. An old car develops a personality of its own and I thought she needed someone to defend her honour." I put my arm around her again and we resumed walking slowly. "Unfortunately old Betsy goes to the scrapper tomorrow, I got a good deal from my Dad's scrap yard. Not that he knows anything about it, but I have a few good contacts of my own there. The tax and insurance on the new car should be sorted by then and you can drive me to the garage from the scrapyard to pick it up, if you like!"

"Wow! I don't believe you! What colour is it?"

My eyes rolled upward, not for the first time, nor the last in conversations with Ruth. What could I say?

"Blue, dark blue."

She grinned at the face I pulled, "OK, I'll take you. When can I drive it?"

"Any time you like, I put you down as named driver on my policy, cost me an extra £50 a year."

Ruth thought about that titbit of information for a full minute.

"Does that mean ... that you consider that we are a couple?" she said shyly, her eyes casting downwards.

"I suppose that is one interpretation," I admitted as she glanced briefly up at me, "It is certainly the version I prefer."

She looked up at me and held my gaze as we continued to walk. We were surrounded by other walkers by then who had caught us up, and neither of us was prepared to stop and embrace even though from the looks we exchanged, we both wanted to. Silently she mouthed, "I do too".

We hadn't exchanged the "Love" word yet, so this was the closest we had got by this point in our developing romance. Time to rack it up a notch, Mark my boy, no better time than now.

"I certainly didn't have a 'bang in the back of a motor' in mind, as you so eloquently put it," using my huffy intonation again, then added more softly, "That's why I have booked a two-night stay at 'The Poachers Inn' at Darrington."

Darrington was a small, pretty market town about thirty miles away from our town, where nobody knew us, I hoped.

"They have an intimate restaurant," I continued, "so we can have a candlelight dinner. And they have old-time dancing every Tuesday and Wednesday night until midnight."

She stopped walking then, and nearly forced a cyclist to take evasive action. He almost end up in the murky drink.

"Sorry!" we both called out.

I thought the cyclist's two-fingered gesture was a little uncalled for, especially as I'm sure cycling was - or should have been - banned on that path.

"My birthday is Wednesday, I thought we were going out then?" she asked hesitantly.

"And dancing on Tuesday night continues until Midnight..."

I left her with the thought, she's bright, but then she is a woman, they don't always think along the same lines. Her expression appeared to soften, so I continued, I had to, I was on a roll.

"I have booked Tuesday and Wednesday night, so can you fix it with Carol so you can tell your Mum that for your birthday celebrations you are having a double sleepover with her or the rest of the girls?"

Ruth stretched her arms around me and kissed me deeply and for what seemed several minutes. I was fighting for air but not complaining.

"It's a date, Mr Newlands, I suppose I will have to be 'Mrs Newlands' for the duration of our hotel stay?"

"You can be Mrs Newlands for as long as you like, Ruth."

"Ruth Elizabeth Newlands has a nice ring to it," she smiled.

"I might have to do something about that," I said, "We will probably have to get a wedding band from a jewellers in the next couple of weeks, some of these family-run country hotels can be a bit old fashioned about having unmarried couples sharing rooms."

"I have my grandmother's wedding ring at home that she left me, I can wear that," she said practically. "Look, honey, you are lashing out on hotel rooms and a new car. You've been buying petrol for our trips and meals, drinks, lessons, tickets, and you aren't even earning any money this week. I know you don't have a bottomless fortune. You must be dipping heavily into your savings."

"I've only paid a deposit on the room and I'm getting the car on HP," I said, "but after I shell out for the room, meals and drinks, I admit I won't have a lot left. But that's what I save for anyway, to spend it on things I like ... and you I like."

"Well, sweetheart, we are in this together. We're both doing what we like, so you really must let me go Dutch."

I wasn't arguing with her, I hoped we would never argue. Although neither of us had said it yet, I knew was in love with her, the full head-over-heels kind! Is there any other kind?

Madame Lesinski was a hard task mistress and never had she had two more inept beginner students, clearly so poorly suited to even walk together let alone dance in time to music. She continually pointed out our continual failings with an air of exasperation, which she made no effort to temper. Ruth and I had missed the first daily lesson on Monday, so for a long while we were slightly behind the rest of the class, mostly made up of middle-aged housewives or couples advanced in their dotage. We were the youngest in the class and possessed the least idea of all present of what we were doing. The only advantage for me being I had an excuse to hang on to my beloved for an hour every day, except where Madame mixed it up and swapped us around. But that made me appreciate my intimacy with Ruth even more.

After two solid weeks of lessons we felt were quite in tune as a couple, able to fudge our way through most of the dances without permanent damage to our respective appendages. Once we had relaxed, our movements became semi-automatic and I could gaze on Ruthie while we twirled without a care in the world. Madame Lesinski never suggested noting any improvement in our abilities, as she continued to get on our backs to work at our moves.

We saw each other every day and every evening, except Wednesday nights when I went to football training and she had her regular night out with the girls, and on Saturdays during the day when I had my football game either home or away and she spent the day at the riding school.

When her birthday came around three weeks into our relationship she told her mother that she would spend Tuesday and Wednesday night at Carol's for her birthday bash with her friends. It was as uncomplicated as that. Whether her mother believed her daughter, I wasn't sure but by then she knew who her daughter was seeing most evenings of the week.

I told the football club that I wasn't available that Wednesday night. I got a bit of stick from the manager and knew I would probably get dropped from the following match, but considered the rewards well worth it.

I booked us into a nice hotel for both those nights. I got the room at a surprisingly reasonable rate, being mid-week. Ruthie wore her grandmother's wedding ring, which was a perfect fit and only took it off briefly when she washed and showered before retiring.

'The Poachers Inn' was a stuffy establishment, all oak panels and plush velvet curtains. Our luggage, mine packed into my cheap battered plastic suitcase, and Ruth's in her tiny pink overnight bag, was regarded by the porter with some suspicion as to our marital status. As for the 50p tip I offered, well, I thought he was going to give it back to me, he hesitated so long before pocketing the offered crumb with disdain.

We arrived about lunchtime on Tuesday, unpacked our clothes and distributed them among the voluminous drawers and cavernous wardrobe. I had brought 12 condoms with me, which I buried in with my pants and socks, I'm a born optimist, me.

We strolled down to the market town centre and had a light pub lunch, it was a lot cheaper than the hotel menu. We walked around the historic and picturesque town and its little park for a while. The weather wasn't brilliant, windy and overcast, unseasonably chilly for mid-August, too chilly to linger. We returned to the hotel late in the afternoon and showered together for the first time. Goodness, we were so horny we nearly lost it but we had planned this day from almost the time we met and we both agreed to limit our enjoyment of each other to petting only. Neither of us wanted to spoil the event we had so looked forward to.

I changed into my only suit, a ready to wear from a high street retailer. It was a rough mainly woollen fabric, a little too thick for the summer, but it was all I had. I finished it off with a white shirt which I had ironed rather imperfectly myself, borrowing my landlady's iron. My cheap court shoes had been well worn in on the dancing classes, but they were comfortable and I polished them to as high a shine I could get on them.

I had received a lot of stick at the building site over the past two weeks, starting work an hour early and finishing in time to attend Madame's everyday soirée at teatime. I used the early start to stack enough bricks to keep the bricky going from the time he started and had the mortar mixed all ready for him. Brickies were paid piecework rather than by time, so they earned more and I got a bit of extra cash in my envelope, which was handy, so I had some spare cash with me.

Ruth had naturally brought a couple of dresses with her that made her look absolutely stunning. That first dance night she wore a royal blue silk dress, quite low cut with the slenderest of straps, pinched into the waist and pleated so it was loose and flowing to finish just above the knee. A single string of pearls around her neck and pearl studs in her pierced ears added highlights to her ensemble. Her holiday tan of last month had been topped up with a lot of late afternoons and weekends out of doors in the good weather which had held up well until today of all days. Her black highly polished pumps must've had four inch heels as she ended up only an inch or two below me, making her calves even shapelier than ever. For the life of me I couldn't see why she had complained that her ankles had swollen up when she went on the pill a few weeks before, they looked absolutely lovely.

We dined simply, both deciding to start with the hot soup of the day, which had been chilly, followed by roast chicken for the lady, well-done steak (for that read 'burnt'), chips and peas for her 'husband'. Ice cream followed by coffee and mints completed the set meal range on the menu, again for budgetary reasons. We had a carafe of table wine and I laid off the lager and lime for the night, I was aiming to be in tip-top condition come the witching hour.

The dancehall was a separate room, across the corridor from the restaurant, and we made our way into it and occupied a table to one side, next to the dance floor. We took with us our last glass of wine each from the carafe. We sat out the first couple of dances as no-one else was up dancing yet. I didn't know enough about music to tell if the little five-piece made up of really old guys were any good or not. It wasn't the kind of music you heard on a juke box but it seemed to suit the surroundings. The lighting was subdued but a lot brighter than I had hoped for and I felt a little intimidated, having only performed in front of other beginners, who we had become familiar and comfortable with. We spent those first five or six minutes looking around as the tables spread around the room slowly filled up. The third number was a simple waltz and Ruth was itching to get out there, so she grabbed my hand and I had little choice but to follow. After all, I couldn't complain, it had been my idea to come dancing, and we did have nearly four hours to kill.

Bugger! We found that we were the only ones out there when the music started! I never seem to get an even break, do I?

Well, we faced each other and counted to eight as we had been shown and started our practiced moves on the right beat. Soon we were smiling at each other and elaborated our dance out of the simple box and threw in a few turns to move around the small dance floor. By the time the music finished, three or four minutes later, we were laughing and enjoying ourselves. It went just as the lessons had been except that there was no Madame shouting at us. When I looked around to find our table, I was amazed to see that about a dozen couples had joined us on the floor and I had been so wrapped up in my partner that I thought we were still dancing alone.

The band started up again as we walked across the dance floor.

"This is a foxtrot, we can do this!" Ruth said, pleadingly.

I scooped her up in my arms again without hesitation and started the simple box again to the slightly different pattern until we were both in the groove before throwing in a few turns, I was not as good at this dance as the waltz, but at least her toes survived. Ruth held on to me when the music finished so I gave her sweet lips a quick peck, squeezing her hand. The music started again and this tune was upbeat and we held hands to face one another and danced to a swing number.

Ruth was a lovely mover, she really picked up the rhythm of the music. I was as stiff-jointed as usual but it was a joy looking at her face, she was really enjoying this. Inspired by her confidence in the steps, I raised my left arm, holding her fingers loosely and she twirled to her right. I just remembered Madame's barking instructions in time to put in my quarter turn, so we faced each other again.

We both laughed and I think I loosened up a bit then, counting the beats before raising my left hand across Ruth and she twirled in the other direction. When this dance finished I said I was in need of a drink so we left the floor. We finished drinking the wine and I went to the bar to get some long soft drinks, lemonade and lime, with plenty of ice, I remember, and charged it to the room. Before the barman mixed the drinks I ordered and downed a neat scotch, I needed that.

A couple of numbers later, we got up again to do the cha-cha, followed by a tango and then went the whole hog with a rumba. We did OK, I think, with the first two and my God, Ruthie was so sexy with the last dance while I was flailing my arms about like an unbalanced windmill in a light breeze, if it hadn't been for the wine and whisky I wouldn't have moved my hips as much as I did.

As we walked from the now-crowded floor for a much-needed rest Ruth received a round of applause from the other dancers. I got more than a few slaps on the back from male dancers who knew I was a lucky son of a bitch to have a such a delightful partner. I know that no matter how bad your luck may be, right then I felt I had won the jackpot, this lovely lady was mine for now and after tonight I hoped she would be mine forever, or my name wasn't Marcus.

The barman brought over several rounds of drinks after that, saying they had been bought for us, another carafe of wine, long drinks and whisky for me. I guess the barman had been quizzed as to what were our poisons. We didn't have to buy another drink all night. Everyone smiled at us, one old couple said they were there celebrating their fortieth anniversary and just assumed that we must have been celebrating at least our first as we were so much in tune with one another. Ruth and I exchanged glances and I said to them that we had not quite been married for a year yet, but we were here celebrating my wife's birthday.

We pretty well danced every dance after that, several of which we didn't really know, like the Charleston, but we had a stab at it. Our confidence grew without the constant sniping we were used to from our teacher. The dance floor was pretty full for the rest of the evening, I didn't think these old codgers still had it in them!

The last dance at midnight was an extended slow romantic waltz and Ruth felt like my bride as she melted into my arms and we floated around the floor as if we had become a single weightless entity. It was a wonderful evening, so much more enjoyable than I thought possible, and this was just the curtain-raiser to the most memorable night of our lives. We collected my jacket and her wrap from our table, but not before we received another round of applause and had to endure handshakes from a lot of old guys and cheek kisses and hugs from all their ladies. Well, that's what I got, I couldn't see but I guessed Ruth got enthusiastic kisses and cuddles from everyone.

Eventually we got to our room, holding hands all the way up the stairs, there was no lift in that ancient old-fashioned hotel.

"Happy birthday, sweetheart," I said as soon as our first long exhilarating kiss ended after our tongues needed the break. I released my firm clasp around waist and neck and went to the drawer where I kept my socks. I handed her the first birthday present of the day, nicely wrapped in tissue paper with a ribbon and bow around it, a cube only about an inch and a half across. No, it wasn't a ring box, I hadn't the bottle to ask her to marry me yet, although I was already certain that no-one else could possibly come close to what I was feeling for this beautiful creature.

I don't know if she thought it might have been the dreaded engagement ring already, because the loving look she gave me followed by another sweet caress of my mouth would fill my dreams forever. Then she ripped apart the ribbon and tissue wrapping and opened the velvet covered jewellers' box. The gold earrings looked expensive, the deep red stones weren't rubies but I had been told they were very good garnets. They were antique but well looked over by their many previous owners, and didn't cost me anything like as much as they looked to be worth. I was a bit better off than a couple of weeks earlier as Ruth had been true to her word and gone Dutch on the cost of the Hotel.

To say she was pleased with the gift would be an understatement. I couldn't really tell if she was relieved it wasn't a ring or just delighted with the earrings, as she squealed in delight, put the box down and removed her pearl ones. She popped in the new jewels, quite easily so I assume the catches were of a familiar design (I'm a guy what do I know?) and Ruth rushed off to the bathroom to check them out in the illuminated mirror. They had looked good in the shop and in the box, they looked beautiful on my Ruthie. I got my reward, lots of endearments and lashings of hugs and little kisses that developed into a passionate snog.

Without losing the intimate contact of our lips and tongues, we slowly undressed each other. Her dress was a simple back zip, and a gentle tug relieved her of its snug fit to pool at her stockinged feet.

My clothing consisted of fiddly shirt buttons and belt, three buttons and a zipper. I helped her with the shirt buttons. We fell on the bed and kissed for a long time, we had always enjoyed kissing each other. We got to the point of second and third bases, we broke off our kissing before we lost it completely and both said "teeth!"