One Thing at a Time

"Yeah? What do you want, Lurch?"

"Lurch. That's a new one," the human giant said without emotion.

"Listen...killer. I'm responsible for Vikki's personal safety. You should know that I take my job very, very seriously. This isn't a threat, mind you. It's just a friendly notification that you should think long and hard before you ever decide to even approach her. I suggest you show up in court for the final hearing on the restraining order and be a good boy. A very good boy."

"And if I don't?" an already-drunk Michael asked.

Jimbo lifted his jacket just enough so the younger man could see the SIG Sauer tucked away in a holster.

"Any other questions?" Jimbo asked.

Realizing he'd lost, Michael shook his head.

"Good choice. And, Mikey? You don't ever want to see me again. Understand?"

"Yeah, whatever."

And with that, Vikki could relax and try to start her life over.

The following month brought many changes to her life. She, along with Tim, Marla, and Jimbo, all appeared in court for the final hearing on the restraining order. Michael showed up drunk and got testy with the judge and spent three days in jail sobering up for contempt of court, but he didn't say a word to his soon-to-be ex-wife, as Vikki also filed for divorce while she was there with an attorney Marla recommended.

She got all of her dental work done, and while there was significant improvement cosmetically, there was a ton of it in terms of her health. And also in terms of her health, access to something as basic as three meals a day allowed her to go from looking emaciated to healthy.

She was eating dinner with Tim one evening when he told her she looked good.

"Thank you. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to have someone say nice things to me. I hope to never take that for granted."

"You're not the kind of person who'll forget. Hopefully, you'll learn to put the unpleasant things in a safe somewhere deep in your mind and throw away the key. But you'll never forget how you were deprived of so much, and that will ensure that you appreciate the little things in life."

"May I ask you something?" Vikki said with some trepidation.

"Of course."

"Why have you never mentioned you were married?"

She saw him quickly look down and felt terrible.

"Marla told me. I'm so sorry for what happened. I know it's none of my business, but...I...I care about you, Tim, but if I'm out of line, I understand."

"No. It's not that."

Vikki waited patiently to see if he might say more. It took him a minute or so, but he did share some of what happened with her.

"I try not to wallow in self pity. I'm alive, after all, and they're the ones who lost their lives."

"Tim," she said as she reached over and put her hand on his.

"I lost my wife and my daughter...and my faith. All in one day."

"Your faith?"

He told her about his 'fervent prayers' and the belief that God 'hears and answer prayers' which was met with the deaths of the two people he loved most.

"I wasn't praying for myself. All I asked for was for them to live. It felt like I'd wasted years believing in something that wasn't real. It was a huge...slap in the face or a wakeup call, or...something like that."

She saw a tear fall from his eye, and when it did she got up, bent down, and hugged him.

"I really am sorry, Tim," she told him as put one arm around his shoulder and stroked his back with the other.

"And then you came into my life," he said, forcing himself to smile as he sat up straight.

"Me? I...I'm no substitute for a wife and a daughter. I'm just a broken woman trying to survive one day at a time."

He looked up at her and said, "Not to me, Vikki."

She pulled her chair next to him and sat back down.

"You're the kindest, most loving man I've ever known," she told him in a heartfelt way.

"You're easy to be kind to," Tim told her as he managed a little smile.

"But you're nice to everyone, and Marla told me about the way you help people, and...."

"She told you that?"

"Oh. Was that not okay?" Vikki asked, now feeling like she'd done something wrong.

"It's fine. I don't want people to know, but you're not just any person."

She noticed the way he looked at her, and just when the realization hit her, he looked away as quickly as he had before.

Vikki reached over and took his hand from his lap and held it.

"Tim? Do you have...feelings for Marla?"

"What? No. I mean, she's a wonderful person, and does great work, but feelings? No, not at all. Why?"

She put her other hand under his and held it tight.

"Because I...I like you, too, Tim."

He raised his head and looked at her, his eyes trying to see if he was being deceived.

"You...like me?"

"How could I not?" Vikki replied with a sweet smile that made him blush ever so slightly for the first time in decades.

"And...I think maybe you like me, too."

"Why would you say that?" Tim asked almost indignantly, unwilling to look at her.

Just as sweetly as before she asked, "Again, why would I not like you?"

"Vikki. I'm broken, too. And I'm also 42 years old, and you're...very young. I think maybe you're confusing kindness with...love."

"I don't think I am," she said gently and sweetly as she tightened the grip on his hand. "I used to dream about meeting a kind, gentle man who would make me feel safe and loved."

"And you have all the time in the world to find him."

She leaned her head over to get him to look at her, and when he finally did, she smiled and told him, "What if I already did?"

"Vikki. Please. You need to be realistic. I'm not...."

She leaned a little further and kissed him softly on the lips, pulled back, and smiled again.

"I am being realistic. Maybe you're the one who isn't. Or maybe you're just in denial."

When he didn't say anything she felt a little bolder and asked, "Can you honestly say you don't have any feelings for me at all? No romantic feelings whatsoever? Like the kind I have for you?"

"No," he quietly replied.

"No, you don't have them, or 'no' you can't say that?"

He fidgeted a little then looked at her and said, "I do have those kinds of feelings for you, but you need to be practical and...."

She slid over on his lap and put her arms back around him.

"No. I refuse."

"What?"

"I refuse to be practical. I'm listening to my heart for once, and it tells me you love me and will never hurt me, and while my brain makes a lot of mistakes, my heart is never wrong. And I'm not wrong about you."

He looked up and her, and she saw the love in his eyes he'd tried so hard to hide.

"Are you going to kiss me or just stare at me all day?"

"I like staring at you," he said, a smile finally appearing on his face.

"I like staring at you, too, but I' much rather kiss you, and if you don't kiss me right now, I'm going to kiss you again!"

"Okay, okay. I give up," he said as he pulled her to him and kissed her passionately.

"I'm ready to give up, too, Tim," she said after their tongues touched and flicked during the most intense kiss either of them had experienced in a very long time.

"Are you sure?" he asked with concern.

"I'm sure that I love you, so yes, I'm sure I want to make love with you. Now stop asking questions and take me to bed already!"

They both laughed and stood up as Tim took her hand then put his arm around her.

"I've had those feelings since the first week you got here," Tim confessed.

"You were just too much of a gentleman to say anything because I needed time to heal."

"That, and I'm nearly 20 years older than you," he reminded her. Again.

"Okay, listen. Will you please stop with that? I don't know what else to say to make you believe that I don't care about how old you are. Besides, 42 isn't old. At all. Got it?"

"Okay. I got it," he told her before kissing her again.

"Good. Now may I please...get it?"

Vikki giggled for the first in ages and couldn't wait to get undressed and share herself with this wonderful, older man she'd fallen in love with.

As she lay in his arms afterward, Tim realized he hadn't thought about the tragedy since he kissed Vikki. Or was it when she kissed him? He looked at the top of her head and smiled then kissed it. She purred quietly and ran her hand along his stomach and down to his leg as she thought about how this was the first time sex had been love making in about four years.

Michael was almost always drunk or close to it, and he took what he wanted. IF he could manage to make the plumbing work. She'd lost track of the times when he'd manhandled her only to give up when 'Herbie the Love Bug' as he called it, wouldn't cooperate. He'd either roll off of her in a huff or pass out on top of her, but either way, she was spared the disgust of having him inside of her.

With Tim, even making love felt like a fairy tale. He didn't look like a prince, but to Vikki, he was her Charming and she was his Snow White. At least in her mind. She didn't love him because he looked like Ryan Gosling. She loved him because he was thoughtful and kind, and to no small extent because he'd rescued her from a life of fear and self loathing.

She hadn't been out of the morass that was once her life all that long, but she was nevertheless able to see clearly now. Tim was right. She probably could find someone younger and maybe even more attractive even though she was no supermodel herself. But she didn't need someone else. She didn't need anyone else. Tim Galloway was more than she'd ever hoped for, and she already knew he loved her dearly.

As her hand strayed from its path, she smiled when he responded to her touch. Lovemaking was just one thing she would happily and willingly do for this wonderful, older man that she, too, so dearly loved, and when she thought about it, she knew there were very few things she wouldn't do for him. She also knew that he would do pretty much anything for her, too, so giving of herself--and herself, for that matter--to a man she loved, wasn't a chore. It was a willing act of love.

As she slid lower to take him in her mouth, she heard Tim groan. She smiled as she parted her lips and took his shaft as far as she could, using her tongue and puffy lips to make it all that much more enjoyable. She had no doubt her turn would come, and she also knew that she would...cum...at least once and probably twice. She laughed to herself as the phrase 'win-win' came to mind as she tried deep-throating for the first time in her life. She gagged, he laughed, and she tried again with slightly better results.

Two days later Vikki moved into the master bedroom with Tim. He watched her get dressed the following morning, and as she looked at herself in the mirror he realized that she had no clothes of her own. During breakfast he told her that she should go shopping and buy some nice things for herself.

"I'm fine. I don't need anything," she insisted.

"I'd feel better if you'd let me do this for you," he told in a way that touched her deeply.

"Oh, my. Gee, I can't remember the last time I bought something for myself."

Tim got his wallet out then slid a credit card her way.

"Go ahead, honey."

She watched the credit card, but when he called her 'honey' for the first time, she teared up so fast it scared him.

"What's wrong?" he asked, his face showing deep concern.

"You just called me...honey."

"Is that bad?"

"No. It's wonderful...sweetheart," she told him as she moved closer and kissed him.

"So you'll go?"

"Yes. I'll go. I saw a Target and a WalMart, and I won't spend much. I promise," she told him as she took the card.

She went to move away but he gently took her arm.

"Oh, no. You are not buying your clothes at a WalMart. Or a Target. In fact, I think I better go with you to make sure you get some really nice things."

He smiled at her then said, "And spend a ton of money."

He kissed her, and the tears that had formed began falling. He knew why and held her and told her he loved her. As he did she said something very quietly.

"You may have lost your faith, but I believe."

"In God?" Tim asked, neither of them moving.

"I'm not sure about that, but I do believe...."

She moved her head back a little and looked into his eyes.

"I believe in you."

When he teared up again, Tim joked that they were gonna take away his man card if he didn't knock that off.

"Losing something so precious to you could make any man emotional, and it's just one of the things I love about you, Tim."

"I think you're right, because I was never emotional before...that. I felt emotions, of course, but the last time I cried I was maybe 16 when my first girlfriend dumped me for a football player."

"Well that was her loss!" Vikki told him. "Any woman would be lucky to have you."

She tilted her head a bit then laughed as she said, "But--no woman can have you anymore--because you are mine. All mine."

"I am," he told her. "And I love being yours."

"And I'm yours...honey. For now and forever."

Tim had to blink fast and pull away before he got emotional yet again.

"Come on. Let's go shopping."

"But the dishes!"

"They're not going anywhere, but we are. Now...chop-chop!"

Vikki hadn't been in a mall since she was 19, and Tim happily followed her into nearly every shop in it. She was fascinated by everything, and he lost track of how many things she showed him that she thought were 'so cute'. He offered to buy her every one of them, but she told him she would never waste money on something she didn't need.

But before they left he had an idea of the kind of things she didn't need but really wanted and took her back to two different stores and bought the things she'd put back. She tried to insist she didn't need them, and Tim told her agreed.

"But I need to buy you things that you don't need, and you are just gonna have to get used to that."

It took a lot of cajoling on his part, but he was able to buy her most of a full wardrobe of dresses, shoes, blouses, jeans, skirts, and sweaters along with a fair amount of jewelry.

Each time a clerk rang up the total, Tim heard her gasp and cover her mouth. He'd smile at her and say, "Honey? Do you have your credit card?" and she would reluctantly hand it over.

At one point Vikki said, "I feel terrible for asking, but could I maybe get my hair cut sometime?"

Tim loved her long, carefree hair but immediately made a beeline for a salon they'd passed three times. It wasn't busy, and very nice woman took care of her.

"What should I do with it?" she asked once she knew they could fit her in.

"You've had enough of being told what to do, honey. You decide."

She kissed him on the cheek and told him thanks. When she got up in the chair the woman taking care of her said, "Your father seems like a very nice man."

Vikki tried not to sound macabre as she said, "Yes, he was. He passed away several years ago, but he was very nice indeed."

The woman's eyes opened so wide it made her laugh.

"Oh, my. I'm so sorry. So...the other man. Is he..."

Vikki nodded and saw the look on the stylist's face as she threw her hands up and said, "I am so, so sorry. For that, too!"

Vikki did laugh when she told the woman it was okay and laughed even more at her reaction to hearing Vikki say, "He's not my father although I do sometimes call him Daddy."

When Tim returned an hour later he wouldn't have recognized her had she not been wearing the same clothes. Her hair was an even lighter shade of blonde and it now fell to just below her shoulders. The '70's part in the middle was gone, and in its place was a side part, and there were some wispy bangs that made her look sexy and sophisticated.

"What do you think?" Vikki asked as she turned around in a circle for him.

"Wow! Just...wow."

"You like it?"

"No. I love it. And I need to get you out of this mall ASAP."

"Why? What's wrong," his sometimes naive girlfriend asked with concern.

"Um, because every guy who sees you is gonna want to be with you!" he mostly joked.

She put her arms around him yet again and laughed.

The woman who cut her hair was watching and smiled then laughed when she heard Vikki said, "I love you so much...Daddy!" before she kissed him. On the lips.

Tim gave her a puzzled look as the 'beauty technician' smiled at him. He only shrugged his shoulders then told Vikki to 'pay the man'.

Vikki Kennedy never wanted for anything again the rest of her life, and that wasn't limited to things. What truly mattered to her was love, and Tim Galloway, who asked her to marry him seven months later, gave her more than she could have ever dreamed of.

When they married six months after that she vowed that she would never allow them to slip into complacency. She learned to take care of herself and got Tim to start going to a gym with her. She loved cooking and made some of the most amazing, healthy meals he'd ever eaten.

She also made sure to keep things fresh and even a little spicy in the bedroom and often had some little surprise for her beloved husband. One time it would be a sexy negligee. Another time it would be a pair of fur-covered handcuffs and a little paddle. Then she would lift her skirt to reveal a pair of edible underwear and, well, she wouldn't want anyone to know about the other things.

Suffice it say that Tim never got bored with her bedroom antics. She was the imaginative one, and he was the generous one, so they would go on cruises or vacations where he would provide transportation and accommodations, and Vikki would provide...everything else.

There were endless happy times for the unlikely couple, but none more so than the day Vikki Galloway told her husband she was pregnant. She was 27 and Tim was 46, and both of them were over the moon.

Tim never told her that he secretly wished for a boy nor the reason why. He knew he would love another daughter just as much but he wondered how often he would see someone else every time he looked at her. It wasn't a huge thing, but when a sonogram revealed a tiny twig, he silently breathed a sigh of relief, and even said a prayer of thanks.

David Kenneth Galloway was born on his father's 47th birthday, a beautiful little boy who weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces.

Tim Galloway stopped tearing up after that day at the breakfast table with one exception. When he saw his beautiful, younger wife holding their son, he lost it. Tears streamed down his face and he didn't care if the whole world knew, because he had a son. And...the most beautiful, amazing woman in the world who loved him more than life itself.

She often said that he'd saved her, but Tim knew that it was Vikki who'd saved him.