Nobody Ever Dies

She said, "I'm humiliated by whatever I did that night. I'll have to carry that stain for the rest of my life, and I will bear it with shame. I was a naive fool trying to deny my own sexuality. But I know myself much better now and I also know that it would never happen again"

Then she looked at me searchingly and said with challenge in her voice, "The way I see it, whatever I did that night pales in comparison with the fact that I lived with a man who I loved enough to marry. Heinrich was very demanding and more than a little bit kinky and even worse, I came to enjoy it."

My wife was being brutally honest, which is what a person with any integrity would have to be at this juncture. She was telling me that the old Becks, the nerd girl who I'd known and loved, was a thing of the past. The person in front of me was a different woman, one with a refined appetite for the carnal arts, courtesy of a very dirty old man. I had the sinking feeling that I was the inexperienced one now.

My wife was no longer ashamed of her passions. Instead, she had embraced them. She and her second husband had obviously done some extraordinary things, and now she had a connoisseur's appreciation of the act of love. That was something I would have to accept or simply walk away from.

I won't lie. It shocked me. I'd already realized that Becks' other marriage, with all that it entailed, was going to be the stumbling block and I knew that it was the one thing I would have to get over. That is, if we were to ever going to get back to the intimate bond that we once had. But it was also clearly my problem. Becks had no role in the decision process.

Nevertheless, as much as I might experience insane jealousy over the thought of my beautiful Becks giving herself to that debauched old goat, I didn't ever consider her actions to be unfaithful in any sense of the word. I mean seriously!! it would be utterly childish to view what she was doing as a betrayal since she didn't even know I existed.

Even so, I'm not Ironman. So, I said with my angst embarrassingly obvious, "Could you be a little more specific about what you just said?"

She grimaced and said gently, "You have to realize, I woke up in a circumstance where I didn't know who I was, why I was there, or even where THERE was. I was terrified. Then over a period of several months, Heinrich healed me, and helped me adjust to the emptiness that was inside me. So naturally, I came to see him as my rock and savior."

I asked uneasily, "So, do you love him?" She knew what I was asking.

She reacted angrily, "GOD NO!!! The way I felt about him is a mere drop in the ocean compared to the way I feel - and have always felt - about you. I didn't know that you existed when I fell in love with and married Heinrich. But still, in order for you to understand how I've changed you have to accept that I spent three years as the wife of a different man."

So there it was, right out there in the open. I truly appreciated Becks' honesty because it gave us a basis to move forward. I knew that her marriage was the crux of the problem and I had already wondered, in the dark of the night while we were sailing here how I would react once she actually said that out loud. Now it was time to face the facts.

Our getting back together wasn't like bumping into the ex at the supermarket. Becks had left my life in the worst possible way, a betrayal. Then she had re-entered it as another man's lover. There was no way to untangle that knot. It was just too fraught with painful complications.

So, the obvious answer was to cut through it. Two people who were natural soul mates would have to build a completely new set of memories from this day forward... as if they'd only just met. It was the only solution that would accommodate all the outrageous circumstances.

For three years I'd believed that Becks was dead, and during that time she hadn't even been aware that I existed. In that time, a totally farfetched series of events had made me fabulously wealthy, with all the attitudinal and lifestyle changes that implies, and Becks was now a sophisticated woman-of-the-world with clearly evident and highly refined erotic tastes.

So in truth, we actually WERE complete strangers who coincidentally just happened to share an inherited set of magical feelings. Neither of us were the innocents that we had been before. But we had an infinity of days in front of us to establish a new normal.

Maybe we could build on that? It might be easy, or it might be impossible. It depended on our capacity to start over based strictly on the people we'd become.

Becks was very smart. So, I knew that she would understand what I was saying when I gazed intently into her beautiful eyes, stuck out my hand, and said, "I want to introduce myself. My name is Erik. We're total strangers right now. But I think that we can build a life together. All we have to do is found it on an old love. Do you want to accompany me on that voyage?"

She gave me the same quick eager affirmative nod that she'd given me the first time we met -- both times before -- and said simply, "Forever."

*****

My wife was an absolute terror that night, wilder than I remembered her. It was really our first night alone, at least when we weren't dodging the Majorcan authorities, or on the ocean. So, I wanted to make it memorable. I got a reservation at La Montgolfiere Henri Geraci. It was the nearest Michelin starred restaurant and money can buy anything.

Because of her vivid coloration, Becks has always favored bright shades. At least she hadn't changed in that respect. So, she was wearing a brilliant emerald Balenciaga that we'd picked up that morning. It showcased the cleavage of her exquisite breasts and her gorgeous slim figure.

Looking at Becks across the table, I could sense the profound disconnect between the graceful and sophisticated woman I was dining with and my beloved nerd girl. My new wife was a spectacular belle-femme-du-monde, who fit seamlessly into lavish surroundings. Me ... A lot less so. But I was learning.

The waiters, being French, hovered a lot during the meal. But Becks never took her ardent gaze off of me. It was like she was still reassuring herself that she wasn't dreaming. We talked about our future as we dined, and I could feel the past receding into the place where it so rightly belonged. We cabbed back to the marina wrapped in a cocoon of cozy intimacy.

Then my wife did an amazing thing. She'd just made a stylish step down from the dock to the Hylas's deck while wearing four-inch Manolo Blahniks. That transition is hard to do in Docksiders. More incredible, I'd never seen her walk in anything but two-inch pumps before.

The minute she hit the deck, she gave me a kittenish smile, unzipped her dress, and dropped it at her feet - right there in front of God and everybody in the marina. I knew it was close to midnight, but seriously!!??

She stood there posed like Venus de Milo in nothing but sexy black undergarments and taupe hold-up stockings. She held that pose for a second. Then she got an amused look, stepped out of her puddled dress, reached over, grabbed me by my BVLGARI tie and dragged me bodily down the companionway.

Watching those beautiful tight buns twitch in a thong while I followed along was a very hard thing to do -- if you catch my drift. Of course, the fact that Becks was wearing a thong was one more reminder that the new version had a few added features.

As soon as we got below, she turned aggressively and dropped to her knees, still giving me an amused, off kilter smile. She dumped my pants and proceeded to gobble my cock like it was a very hot day and it was the last popsicle on earth. Becks v1.0 had never done anything close to that in our entire marriage.

This new incarnation of my wife had clearly learned a lot of new things under the good doctor's tutelage. Predictably, I was hit by a blast of pure jealousy. But I could also tell that this version of Becks was trying to make a point. She was the new enhanced model and I had better just sit back and enjoy the ride.

I was about to cum when she pulled off, grabbed my cock in a steely grip and dragged me toward the bunk. That stopped what was about to happen in its tracks and since she had ahold of my favorite appendage, I had to follow, or I would have parted company with it. Her frenzied aggression was a new thing too. But I suppose you learn to do that if your husband is in his sixties.

When we got to the bunk, Becks threw both of her arms around my neck, put her right hand behind my head and dragged me down to a hot kiss. Her wide sensual mouth opened underneath mine and I could feel her tongue probing. The sensation made her moan loudly.

I threw my arms around her and hugged her to my chest. Her beautiful boobs pillowed out between us. She was breathing rapidly now, caught up in the feeling. Her moans were getting louder. She freed herself momentarily, unsnapped her bra and let it slide sensuously off her shoulders. It was a show designed to stimulate me. The old Becks would have never done that.

Becks boobs are truly magnificent, full, perfectly shaped high and proud, with two big pink nipples sticking out like a pornographic cartoon. I had seen them thousands of times before. But it is like watching the sun rise over ocean -- proof that there IS a God.

I had an overwhelming desire to suck on one of them. So, I sat down on the bed and pulled her to stand between my legs. Her breasts had gotten noticeably bigger since I had last enjoyed them. I hefted their weight in each palm. They were like ripe mangos. She let out a loud groan and threw her head back overwhelmed by the sheer sensation.

Becks 1.0 liked to get right to the action. This version was willing to let me stimulate her as long as we both pleased. So, I sat there on the bed and drove her wild working on her nipples. She was crushing me to her left tit and making rhythmic ugh-ugh-ugh noises as I nursed that swelling red-hot nub.

I'd set her on fire. Never in our extensive sexual history, did I remember her being so turned on. She was just dripping. The aroused woman pheromones were giving every hormone in my body a massive erection.

Finally, she'd had enough. She pushed me back and scrambled up on the bed straddling me. She pushed her dripping thong aside and roughly inserted me into her white-hot passage. As I slid into her, she flopped on my chest, like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

She was also rendered totally inarticulate, making unearthly moaning, gasping, and grunting noises instead and hugging me to her delectable chest. It was like she was cemented to the front of me. She must have come twice while I was moving up into her and we hadn't started fucking yet.

When I hit bottom and started to move, she accelerated into a brave new world of wild cries, frantic bucking, and hyperventilating. She alternated from lying on my chest to leaning as far back as she could with her hands gripping my knees as she ground her clit into me.

That set off more hyperventilating and she started yelling, "OH GOD ERIK!!! I DREAMED OF THIS!!! YOU FEEL SO GOOD!!! FUCK ME, JUST FUCK ME!!!"

I was watching her beautiful tits bouncing up and down as she ground on me. Her expression was one of insane desire. She was making savage groans and cries and she was so wet that I could feel her hot juices dripping down my leg and onto the sheets underneath.

Her final orgasm devastated her. Her tight passage began to pulse uncontrollably, and she shrieked with the sensation. Her hips were a blur of back-and-forth activity, and her abandoned cries were like the breaking of the surf.

She yelled, "YESSSSSS, OH GOD YESSSSSS!!!!" and with that, we arrived at the end of the line in such a violent fashion that I expected to be enveloped in clouds of steam.

She went totally still as I came in her. It was a weirdly spiritual moment, like she had reached sexual Nirvana receiving it. Her passage was still milking me, and she was panting heavily. But she sat straight up straddling me with her strong legs gripping my hips.

She was having a hyper-rational moment. Her face was beatific. Still astride, she put her hands on the bed above my shoulders and leaned way down, tenting her thick raven hair around us. She opened her eyes and focused directly on mine. I could see the incredible strength, vitality, and essential wisdom in those striking blue eyes; as well as something else.

It was the simple statement that she only had room in her heart for ONE special man. And that man was me. It was the vision of her steadfast loyalty and her absolute commitment. The lessons we had learned through our rebirth would make us devoted life companions. And that newfound wisdom would drive our decisions.

Chemistry is a funny thing. The attraction never goes away. Life had taught both of us the price of choices. Some people just know things. Others have to find them out the hard way. But we both knew the rules now. And we were together forever She said with profound emotion, "I love you Erik, You will never have a reason to doubt me."

It's a cliche that life is a journey of discovery. But then again, platitudes exists because they're true. That was the case with us. It took a few bad decisions and an unimaginable tragedy to get us to point where we understood each other. It would be a partnership now; her, and me. We would live life to its fullest and Erik and Becks, would battle the infernal minions of the Burning Legion together - forever.

EPILOGUE

Monterosso al Mare is the largest of the Cinque-Terre, ports. Those are the "five jewel" fishing villages along the Italian coast, sixty miles south of Genoa as the crow flies. Like the other four picturesque towns, it is isolated by steep hills that have been cultivated in olives, grapes, and lemon trees since the time of the Romans. It's a perfect place for people who want to get away from it all to sit and talk.

We'd been sailing unhurriedly along the Mediterranean coast from France into Italy, stopping at every interesting place that we encountered. We'd anchor and take the Zodiac in to sample the history, food, and culture, often accompanied by a big spotted cat.

Becks and Bastet had bonded to a point where that treacherous feline never left her side. Cats!! Unlike my wife Rebecca cats have absolutely no sense of loyalty. Still, in many respects, my dark-of-the-night "talks" with Bastet had made me into a tougher and much more pragmatic man

At the same time, Becks and I had evolved a relationship that fit perfectly on a sailboat. Nobody else existed, there was just us and the ocean. It had been almost six months since we'd begun our voyage of discovery and what we'd found was ourselves. Or at least the new and improved version of each other. I guess you would call that "growing up."

We were at a table outside Enoteca da Eliseo in the old town part of Monterosso, enjoying a superb example of the local grape. Becks fabulous legs in Ralph Lauren mulberry silk cargo shorts were threatening to cause a civil insurrection among the Italian guys, who kept wandering by in packs. Becks was loving the attention.

She'd come a long way from the shy crypto nerd she'd been a mere three-and-a-half years earlier. Her vibrant and sunny personality was still the same and her almost unearthly intelligence was just as it had always been. But like the fine wine that we were enjoying - my wife had deepened to an exquisite balance, of complexity, power, and the elegance of a legendary vintage. She knew how to enjoy life.

She kept cutting me playful glances as she slowly uncrossed and then recrossed her legs. She knew what she was doing to the male population. The old Becks would have been embarrassed. The new one thought it was some sort of sport.

She read my expression and said, "Don't look at me that way. You've changed just as much as I have." I laughed out loud. She was right of course. People might tell you that money doesn't buy happiness. That may-or-may-not be true. But it certainly makes the time go by in pleasant and relaxing ways.

I said, matter-of-fact, "Well, the woman who you've become is a lot less conflicted than the 1.0 version. Don't get me wrong. The other one could rock my world. But Becks 2.0. is an entirely different experience."

She gave a sultry and knowing laugh and said, "I've stopped fighting it. I love being a woman, with all the advantages that gives me. That other person was just a dumb girl. She wasn't worldly enough to understand or relish the power a woman has."

That was part of the new normal for us. I suppose others have had the experience. You close the door to one room and move into another - and when you do, it's like the former room never existed.

That was the case with us. The other room contained betrayal and tragedy. But that had happened to two other people in an utterly separate life. We were totally changed, with a different and much more luxurious reality.

Then my wife's mood turned serious. She said, with a hint of nervousness in her voice, "I'm afraid that this is the last glass of wine I'll be having for a while. I hope you won't mind."

I said, "Why should I mind. You can drink whatever you want. But I prefer wine.:

She said, continuing to sound cagey, "This might affect you too."

Now I was puzzled. I said, "How in the world would your choice of drinks have any impact on my life?"

She said. "What if I told you that I have to stop drinking because I'm pregnant?"

That took a second to register. I admit it, I'm dense. Then it dawned on me, and the roller coaster swooped to a new, totally unimaginable height. It's one thing to share your life with the woman you love. It's something else entirely to raise a family with her.

Becks was looking at me with barely suppressed glee. I stood, grabbed her out of her seat and hugged her as I said with more genuine emotion than I thought I'd ever feel, "I love you!!" And in the fullness of time, another door opened in my life. But that was another place and it's another story.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know this is a long one and I would have serialized it if it wasn't for this being in Randi's event. For the folks who plowed through the whole thing, thank you and I hope you enjoyed it. I like these two characters so I might continue their advantures in the Mediterranean. If any of you have an opinion about that please let me know. I try to answer every email.