Mrs. Miller

"He would know," said Liz. "I hope the time passes quickly for you two. You're perfect together."

"Thank you," said Jenny. "You and your husband are so very kind. I couldn't ask for better."

"I hate to pry, but has there been any word on why those two maniacs came into your house?"

"No," Jenny said. "But a police detective is coming by later today to ask me more questions, and maybe I'll learn more then."

Tom and Jenny sat quietly in the living room of her house, waiting for the detective to arrive. Jenny looked from window to window for the new sensors Tom installed. The keypad for the system glowed near the front door.

Jenny answered when the detective knocked, leading him to the chair while the two lovers took the loveseat.

"Thank you for seeing me," said the man. "I'm Detective Stone. I've read the police reports and the report from the coroner, but I'd appreciate it if you could tell it to me again in your own words."

They both recounted what they heard and saw. Tom's recollection of the fight on the stairway brought Jenny to tears when she was reminded how close she came to losing him. The detective took notes, and when they had finished, he closed his book.

"Mrs. Miller, I need to ask you some questions that are a bit awkward. I hope you don't mind," the man said. "Do you know of anyone who would want to harm you? I understand that you work in a bank. Perhaps it could be a disgruntled customer?"

Jenny thought for a moment. "I work in commercial finance, not consumer finance, so my customers are businesses, typically big businesses. Nothing seems very personal, and I don't know why this would be work-related."

"How about family," he asked. "Does anyone in your family have mental health problems, hold a grudge, feel cheated, or generally wish you harm?"

"This is a stretch," she said, "but my husband's younger sister believes I somehow cheated her out of insurance money."

Tom leaned back in his seat. This was the first he'd heard of anything of the sort.

"And why would she believe that?" Asked the detective.

Jenny looked down and spoke softly. "My husband was Gray Miller. He died about three years ago in a traffic accident. We had only been married a short time. We were trying to start a family and did the sorts of things people do. We began looking for a house, discussing baby names, and buying life insurance policies for both of us. We were going to open a college fund account, but he died before we got there."

Tom reached for her hand. "I'm sorry," he said.

She continued. "His death was a shock. We were very young. The insurance policy was written with me as the primary beneficiary and his sister as the contingent beneficiary if I preceded him in death. His sister somehow thought we'd split the money since we were both on the policy. That's not how it works, of course."

"And you know she thought this how?" The detective asked.

"She was very vocal about it," Jenny said. "When she discovered a month after his death that she'd receive nothing, she called me and threatened to sue me. She also began making horrible accusations about me to her family. His mom tried to talk sense into her but to no avail. In the end, I moved and got a new phone number. I was close to Gray's parents, but June made keeping in touch impossible."

"What is her full name?"

"June Alice Miller." Jenny provided contact information for her former sister-in-law.

"Is there anyone else you can think of?" The detective asked.

"No," said Jenny. "I can't imagine why anyone would have done that."

"That insurance policy is now paid out, so there is no question about beneficiaries or other legal matters, right?"

Jenny shrugged. "Correct. The will executed after his death had me as the sole heir, and his sister wasn't mentioned. That's now complete, too. I've had a new will drawn up citing my parents for any inheritance."

"Can you think of anything else that might help?"

Jenny looked at Tom, who shook his head. "No. That's all I can think of," said Jenny.

The detective handed Jenny his card and said that should she think of something, to please call. As an afterthought, the detective turned to Tom. "I should add that the coroner and the district attorney agreed that the death on the stairs was an accident and self-defense. So you're in the clear."

"Thank you," said Tom.

When the detective was gone, Tom held Jenny and said, "I didn't know any of that. I'm so sorry."

"It was a long time ago," she said. "It's hard to talk about, even now."

In nearly a whisper, Tom said, "I didn't know you were trying to get pregnant."

She wiped a tear away and said, "That was a long time ago, too."

They made love that night and the next but retired early on the third. The bedroom windows faced the front and side yards, not the back, so they didn't see the motion-activated flood lights flash. They did hear the alarm.

Tom grabbed the remote and silenced the alarm. Jenny sat up and looked panicked. He put his finger to his lips to silence her, then handed her the phone. "If I'm not back in sixty seconds, you call 911 and stay on the line. Don't open this door for anyone but me."

Tom slipped on his jeans and sneakers, gripped his baseball bat, and moved to the door. "Lock it just like we practiced," he whispered.

Jenny closed the door and locked the two deadbolts.

The keypad at the front door indicated a window break in the basement. Tom found the darkest spot near the base of the stairs and waited. If this was just a burglary, he might let it go. But the moment someone put a foot on those stairs leading to Jenny's bedroom, they would get the business end of that bat.

Tom stood as still as he could, knowing some floorboards squeak. A figure moving silently in the dark approached the stairs. They turned for a moment to look at the keypad but must have decided to ignore it. The intruder took that first step up, and Tom came out swinging. He hit the intruder behind the knees with a full swing. The figure screamed and fell backward into the entryway a few feet from the stairs. When Tom saw the intruder would not get up, he reached for the light switch and turned it on.

The intruder was a woman wearing a ski mask. Tom held the bat threatening to bring it down on her while reaching for the mask. He pulled it off, then shouted, "Are you alone? Who is with you?"

"Don't hurt me!" She cried.

"Are you alone?" Tom yelled.

"Yes!"

Tom took a breath and shouted toward the second floor. "Jenny, come down here. Bring the phone."

He heard the locks slide and the door open. When Jenny reached the top of the stairs, she saw the figure on the ground. "June?"

June Alice Miller said nothing.

"Jenny," Tom said in an exhausted voice, "call 911 and ask for the police to come by."

The police arrived in minutes, and June Miller was arrested. She was checked by EMTs and had no broken bones, but she complained bitterly about the bruising to the back of her knees, and she received little sympathy.

Chapter 7: The Fall of Leaves

Jenny knew the police would be crawling through the place the next day, so she left a message for her manager that she would be taking a personal day to deal with the second home invasion of the summer. She received an email in the morning wishing her well.

Since the police weren't going to arrive until noon for interviews, Tom and Jenny decided they would screw like bunnies the whole morning. Well, the whole morning, minus the time it took to bring John and Liz up to date.

"Are you glad I don't have any siblings?" Tom asked.

Jenny giggled. "Why? Would they want to kill me, too?"

Tom rolled on top of her and kissed her gently. "I guess we'll never know."

"Our whole bedroom smells like sex," she said. "Should we open a window?"

"Do you really want to take a chance on my Dad hearing you screaming Oh, Tom! Oh, Tom!"

She slugged him on the arm. "Yeah? How do you know it wouldn't be Oh, Detective Stone!"

He kissed her again and rubbed a thumb across her nipple. She cooed. "Don't start something you can't finish," she said.

He flipped her roughly onto her stomach and pulled her to her knees, raising her ass. He straddled her and wiped his hardening cock against her pussy, still wet from the last round.

"You've never fucked me like this before," she said.

He grunted. "I like looking into your eyes when I cum in you, but this ass has been begging for a viewing. It's a perfect ass."

He slipped his cock into her, held her hips, and pounded, slapping their bodies together, his hips meeting that perfect ass, his cock penetrating deep. Jessy slipped a pillow beneath her head and screamed into it. "Fuck! Fuck! Oh shit!"

Tom picked up his pace. Normally, their lovemaking was slow at first, building in intensity and speed only at the end. This time was different.

Tom released her ass and reached for her shoulders, banging hard against her ass, pushing her forward with each thrust, his hands pulling her back by the shoulders. "Oh my god!" She cried.

When he felt the tingle in his balls, he grabbed her ponytail with one hand and pulled her head back. Screaming into the pillow was no longer an option. "Oh my god! Fuck me! Shit!"

Her pussy clamped down just as he shot his load. Jet after jet flowed into her. Her face was frozen in exquisite pain. When he released her hair, she fell to the pillow panting, eyes watering, drooling. Tom collapsed gently onto her back and whispered in her ear, "You are the girl of my dreams. I love you, Jessica."

She laughed easily. "I will never challenge you to fuck me again. Though that was amazing. Holy shit. I've never been fucked like that. I think you wrecked me."

He rolled off of her and pulled her on top of him. "If that means only blowjobs for the next couple of days, I'll try to cope."

She giggled and playfully slapped his arm. "You wish."

Then she brushed the hair from his eyes and kissed him. "I have never felt this way with anyone. Your family has become a second family to me. And you give me so much. I pinch myself to make sure I'm awake."

"Hey," he said. "No pinching. That's my job." He gently pinched a nipple.

"Oh! Sensitive," she said. She pulled herself up.

He stared at her breasts. "Those are the world's greatest tits. I think there should be an award for that. I know you'd win."

"As long as you like them," she said.

He dropped his head and pulled a tit into his mouth. Using just enough suction to hold the tit, he ran his tongue around the areola. Then he finally flicked the nipple.

"Oh my god! Will you stop? I can't come again. I'll fly apart!" She said.

He kissed her again. "We can't have that." Then he became serious. "I love making you cum. I love knowing I did that and helped you find that joy. I love knowing it was my cock or my tongue or my fingers that drove you over the edge. There's a kind of power there. I want you to be happy more than almost anything."

"Almost?" She said.

"Yes. I want to be the one that made you happy. I'm selfish. I admit it. I love you and want to be the one that makes you happy."

Fucking would need to wait. There were two more semesters of classes to take. Tom packed his car, and Jenny followed him to his apartment off campus. They would have one last night together before she had to return home and go back to work.

"At least I don't have a roommate," he said.

"Yeah, we have enough money that we could afford your own apartment for the year. I'm too old to be fucking in a college dorm." She said.

"Hey, everybody! Check out my old lady!" He said.

She shook a finger at him. "Somebody is going to have blue balls if he keeps that up!"

He held her close and said, "Just a few more months, then we can be together. I'm going to get a big diamond for this--" He held her left hand and saw no rings. "What happened?"

She looked at her hand and said, "My rings are in the safety deposit box with other valuables."

"Are you sure?" He said.

She shook her head. "You really have to stop saying that, you idiot." Then she laughed.

He cringed and nodded. "Yeah, it is pretty stupid."

"It was time," she said. "I loved Gray. He was what I needed at the time. He was good and kind and young, like me. We were innocent, blissfully so, and the time together was wonderful and too short. Gray will always be a part of my life. And you have not once shown you were jealous of him. For that, I will be forever grateful."

He held her left hand and said, "What would you think about a Christmas engagement?"

She smiled. "That sounds lovely. But if you can't wait, I'm ready to buy tickets to Vegas, just so you know."

They laughed.

"However it happens," he said, "I will be the luckiest man on Earth."

The End