Milo

About the same time Milo, along with Peter and Mary had been summoned to go to Korea for three weeks for a major transition of records and systems to the integrate with the existing Korean systems. He was contractually obliged to go and in any event the fifty thousand dollars plus all first class expenses was too good to pass up.

Milo was worried about his Ma. She had been slowing down over the last few months and he was concerned. She needed someone to look out for her whilst he was away. He decided to ask Ary. He thought he could kill two birds with one stone - he could solve his concern with his Ma and resolve, at least temporarily, Ary's problem with her apartment.

Milo invited Ary to take his third floor apartment while she looked for a new place to live and at least for the three weeks while he was away she could look out for his Ma. The win-win situation immediately appealed to Ary. Within two weeks Ary had moved to Milo's house and settled in. Ary got along fine with Ma. In fact Ma was pushing Milo out of the door for his trip so she could have Ary to herself without tripping over Milo all the time.

Milo's trip to Korea went well. He returned to Ma and Ary having formed an excellent relationship, although Ma was clearly getting weaker.

Ary was having little luck in finding any decent accommodation. She was discouraged. One evening over dinner Milo, after another 'just rented' incident that Ary vented about, Milo suggested she stay with them permanently. Milo settled on a small, under the table, rent amount knowing Ary was not well paid at the centre, and an undertaking Ary would look out for his Ma if Milo were not around. A handshake agreement was reached.

The arrangement worked fine and they lived as a family. Ma lasted another two years in relatively good health and died shortly after her ninety-second birthday of a stroke. Both Milo and Ary were devastated. They both grieved deeply but silently after a well-attended funeral. The grieving faded over the course of a year. Ary continued to live in Milo's house, and they continued a similar routine they had developed with Ma around.

A hurricane that ripped up the East coast hit their city. During the night Ary could feel the house shake. Through the blankets she had wrapped around her head she could still hear an ominous and regular knocking noise. Ary was really scared. She did not know what to do. She got up to make herself a cup of tea when she heard a tearing sound. She rushed downstairs to Milo's room, went in and crawled into bed with Milo. As she cuddled up to him she dug her nails into his ribs. "There. There. We'll be just fine." Milo wrapped his arm around her to protect her. They remained like that for the rest of the night.

In the morning as the winds settled Ary was not sure what to do.

With the relief of the storm's passing she joked, "Hey we're the same height lying down." Ary was at least eight inches taller than Milo, standing.

"That's cruel." Milo tickled her. "Behave yourself young lady. Didn't anyone teach you to respect you elders?"

Ary tried to imitate Milo's the mild Irish brogue, "No. Only my betters." She tickled Milo back, and jumped on top of Milo straddling Milo and collapsed on him. For the first time in since Colleen left Milo was in close contact with a near naked woman. His body remembered what to do. Milo could feel an oncoming erection developing and tried to push Ary off. Ary also felt the movement below her. She anchored herself firmly to Milo. She was also strong. Milo could have easily dislodged a guy with one punch, but all he could do was wriggle from side to side until he discovered that this made his contact with Ary even more intimate.

"Not so old after all," Ary whispered in Milo's ear. The she kissed him on the lips. Milo's erection jerked to an even harder state. "No. Not at all old." Milo just froze. He was uncertain as what to do. His relationship with Ary was changed in an instant. He could smell her deeply arousing scent. He saw a beautiful woman straddling him. He could feel her hardened nipples pressing into his chest as she pressed down on him. Something broke in his mind, Ary was no longer a work colleague, a simple friend nor a tenant, but a woman who he could love.

Ary too was aroused. It had been a long time. But it was not just a simple need for a fuck; it was much, much more. She suddenly realized she loved Milo. She loved his smallness, his Irish brogue, his pugnacious nature, his generosity and so much more. This was all new to her. She rolled off Milo and lay on her back at his side.

Milo spoke first. "I'm sixty-one. You're, what, twenty-eight? That's thirty-three years. Its ridiculous."

Ary spoke quietly. "It's not. It's not ridiculous. I love you Milo. I have for a long time, but I have only just figured it out. Why I wanted to stay here. Upstairs. Why I wanted to remain at the centre even though I could have earned almost twice as much in another city. I've had offers. Why I have always been happy when you stayed late and we chatted. All this is not impossible. Ignore our age difference. I can live with it. It does not matter."

Milo rose from the bed, put on a gown and as he left the bedroom he called over his shoulder, "Stay there, if you want. I need to think on my own."

Milo thought. He accepted Ary's love and threw his own into the equation. He returned to the bed where Ary remained. They consummated their love for each other that had taken root only hours earlier in the hurricane. The next day they became engaged briefly and married within a month. They ignored the fact technically he was still married to Colleen.

Nine months later Michael arrived. He was a healthy bouncing boy blessed with a beautiful mahogany complexion long black eyelashes and a winning smile. Everyone could see elements of both his mother and father in him.

Some did the math and started calling him Michael Hurricane O'Connor behind his parents back. Eventually the name would stick, although its origins disappeared into the mists of time. Others looked at the age difference between the couple, and Milo's absolute age, and concluded that Ary had strayed and Milo had rescued her from single parenthood by marrying her.

Upon Ary's insistence they once more did some remodeling in the house and moved into the granny flat on the ground floor rearranged to suit their needs. Milo's old bedroom became the nursery, and the top floor apartment as left empty.

So life continued for the couple, their love deepening as the years passed. Milo imperceptibly slowed down with each passing year. He fussed about the hair growing in his ears and on his back and finally as whiskers on his nose. His eyesight deteriorated. In the spring and fall, particularly, his knee, hip and fingers became arthritic. Ary cared for him with much tenderness.

They took Michael with them to the Centre as when he was young. Milo transported him to and from kindergarten and primary school until he was old enough to go to middle school and then high school on a bus.

One day when Michael was about ten, Ary remembered quite late that she had left some estimates at the office that she needed to work on for a meeting the following day. Milo volunteered to go and fetch them. When he approached Ary's office he could see a faint light under the door.

Milo collected a baseball bat from the storeroom and stealthily opened the office door. The light came from Ary's computer. Milo thought this strange, but she could have left it on. Milo went to the desk and retrieved the file from the top drawer and was about to leave when he spotted a person crunched up under the knee area of the desk. Milo grabbed the bat and told him to come out. A youth crawled out clutching a book on the Civil War. He had a swollen eye. Milo recognized him as a new student called Matt in the Karate class.

"Mr. O'Connor. I wasn't doing any harm. Honest." Matt was shaking.

"OK Matt. Calm down. What's going on here? " Milo followed Matt's gaze down to a backpack and sleeping bag on the floor. "Tell me." Milo had the reputation of being a tough old geezer but also a super-hero. Matt was in awe of him.

"My Mom's new boyfriend smashed my computer. I have to hand in my History homework tomorrow if I want an A grade."

"What about your eye? And the sleeping bag? Were you planning to sleep here? Also how did you get into the building and know the password?" Milo knew he was asking too many questions.

"He swiped me. I had to get out. I planned to just sleep here tonight, after doing my homework. I'd be gone in the morning."

"Here's what we'll do Matt. You print or download or whatever you want to do with what you've already got of your homework. Then you'll collect your things and you'll come along with me. Right. Get to it." Matt sat down and started to download his homework onto a cloud file. Milo phoned Ary and told her about the visitor they were getting.

Ary had heated some meatball stew she had in the fridge. The seventeen year old inhaled two bowls of it and half a loaf. Milo then quizzed Matt more carefully and found out his mother was possibly a crack head and the new boyfriend probably one too. Matt hated them both and when he was beaten up by his new step-dad he decided to take off. Milo was resolved to look into Matt's circumstances the following day.

They sat Matt in front of the computer and told Matt to finish his homework. He was also told that after he was finished he was to have a bath because he stank, and then he was going to bed. Ary made up the bed on the third floor. Matt did exactly as he was told. After Matt was finished with the computer, Ary did her work.

Before he left for school Ary made him some eggs and bacon and toast, and told him to return after school. Milo looked up Matt's registration for Karate and found his home address. Milo visited Matt's mother, and found she lived in slum like conditions with the apartment a filthy wreck. He asked if she minded if Matt came to live with him and his wife for a while. All she said was "great, take him." Milo knew he'd probably have to wrap this up with some paperwork.

So Matt came to live with O'Connor's. They discovered he was a very bright student, and the top of all his classes. He took to Michael and played with him a lot. In the eighteen months he stayed with them his academic work improved even more. He won a full scholarship to the State University and left the O'Connor family when he was just shy of nineteen.

Milo and Ary reflected on their experience with Matt and decided this was a further way they could help the local community. Ary set the criteria and Milo agreed with them. It involved looking for the intellectually gifted but needy teenage kids. They started a search for a new lodger, and found Charlene. Over the years that followed a string a needy kids passed through the O'Connor household.

Milo had never been sexually active. Mostly Ary initiated the sex. As the years passed Ary knew how far she could push in this direction and when it was appropriate and when it was not. Certainly she got horny but was easily able to sublimate her more carnal urges into one of love for Milo. Sex became secondary to her affection and respect for Milo.

Michael grew up with a string of new brothers and sisters. Michael's talents showed early when a friend of the Milo bought a toy xylophone for Michael. Neither Milo nor Ary were happy with the thoughts of the noise tinkling in their ears for months on end until he became bored with it and went onto another toy. This is not how it worked out. Within two weeks Michael was playing recognizable tunes he had heard on the radio or songs he had learned at school. He had a natural talent for music. This talent was harnessed through piano lessons, initially, and later Michael took to the cello. He was talented but no child prodigy. Michael also shone at Mathematics. It was these math skills that took him through school to University. Forming a classical quartet and playing at local functions and weddings that paid for all his fun stuff.

Milo allowed Michael's eightieth birthday slip by unnoticed. A year later, too many people remembered his marriage for the twentieth wedding anniversary to pass by without a celebration. The centre was closed to the general public for the day. Michael played the piano and most of Milo's students turned out, as well as the community at large. Some said it was the largest and best party they could remember.

So Milo and Ary continued with their life through the years. Milo's health remained good and he kept his faculties, although his memory for new names began to leave him. Milo still attended the Centre with Ary, but mainly sat in the entrance hall. The boxing ring had been dismantled to make more room for Karate and Taekwondo. Everyone spoke to Milo as they passed through. They saw their thirtieth wedding anniversary with another party at the Centre. Milo looked at Ary every day and thanked the Good Lord for bringing them together.

Milo echoed his Ma's passing when he had a stroke at ninety-two. Ary was bereft for more than a year before she did as Milo had urged her in his latter years to get out meet people and if the right man, who will treat her well, came along she was to marry him.