Season of Joy

Gere held her closer and looked her in the eyes. The smile changed as his eyes fastened on hers.

"I am falling in love with you, Joy. You are the first woman I have come even close to desiring since...."

She didn't let him finish. They renewed their kiss just as intensely. Gere still held her by her ass cheeks and moved her back into a rolling cart that was up against the wall and set her on the edge of it freeing his hands to roam up her body.

He pulled his hand around to the front of her shoulders. She put her hands over his and guided them to her breasts. She threw her head back as Gere felt her soft breasts beneath his hands for the first time. Joy took a deep breath and leaned back opening her body to his strokes.

At that moment, a worker burst into the room, "Oh! There you are Ms. Harrison...oh excuse me." The young volunteer turned shades of red and stammered as she turned to leave.

"No...no! It's okay. I ...I'm...I'll be right there." Gere let her down, and she smoothed out her long blue gown.

Gere smiled, "You're needed elsewhere, but let's just remember where we left off when this shindig is over."

"Keep your hands off the bimbos," she jibed. And went through the door.

Gere smiled and waved her on, then waited until his erection subsided before he joined the Ball.

Gere tried to avoid 'the bimbos' but they sought him out, as usual. They were actually nice professional women, and not bimbos at all. He danced with them one at a time and as a group, then sat at a table with a few when Joy sauntered up and leaned over him from behind. She slipped her arms around his neck and down his chest possessively and looked at each one of the women, "I need to take him away now, he owes me this dance."

The women each got the message. Some smiled, some frowned, and some looked with envy at this diminutive white-haired beauty who seemed to have swept in and plucked the most eligible bachelor from them.

The couple danced close and slow even though the music was fast. It was obvious to all there was something going on between them. Most had never seen this woman and there was wide speculation as to who she was. They had never seen Gere so attentive to any woman since his wife.

Gere went to get them drinks when they sat out the next dance to chat a bit. While he was gone, several men tried to get Joy to dance to no avail and several women approached Gere as he waited for the bartender's attention.

"Who's your girlfriend?" asked a woman who was dressed as the Good Witch Glenda from wizard of Oz. The costume was a little odd in that she was about 70 years old and 40 pounds overweight.

"She's Joy Harrison, she's our new Arts Director. What do you think of her?

"We're all very jealous. Are you two....?

"Maybe..." Gere really didn't want their relationship to be the object of rumors but that was a lost cause by that time. It was a small city, and the word that Gere Dawson had finally been taken spread like wildfire!

When he got back to the table, there were several men trying to get Joy out on the floor. She graciously turned them down and shot a grateful look at Gere, signaling her relief at his return.

"We seem to be the topic of every conversation in the room," she said to him as quietly as she could over the blaring music.

"Yes, I heard the same thing."

"What should we do about it?

After a moment Gere scooted his chair closer and leaned toward her and answered, "Give them something to talk about." And he put his hand behind her head and kissed her luscious lips. He didn't make it so long as to be embarrassing but long enough to convey that 'yes, these two are an item'.

Joy turned all shades of red but she smiled. She liked his public display of affection. She gazed at him over the next few minutes watching him talk and shake hands with acquaintances.

"Yes," she said to herself, "there is no doubt I'm falling for him," and she was fairly certain he was falling for her.

By the end of the dance they had danced together exclusively for over an hour, their bodies close, in each other's arms, whether the music was fast or slow. Gere was trying to hide his erection and Joy was glad she was wearing a loose dress rather than shorts or a tight skirt, so she could 'help'.

The dance ended about midnight and Gere stayed to help Joy and her small crew clean up, emptying garbage cans, picking up trash and clearing off tables, stripping off the table cloths and securing the facility.

By the time they were done, they were exhausted and it was nearing 2 am. Gere and Joy were middle-aged and not accustomed to nightlife hours.

They each desired to take up their make out session from where they left off earlier in the evening. But their exhaustion canceled their libido for the time being.. Nevertheless, they bid each other goodnight with about ten minutes of hot kissing and private stroking.

Gere headed home and couldn't wait to get to his bed, but he had to release his sexual pressure before he could sleep. Joy decided she needed to soak in a tub where she too, fantasized about Gere and rubbed herself to a small but satisfying orgasm.

5.

Rehearsals for 'Amahl and the Night Visitors' began in earnest the following Tuesday. Joy had decided to attend at least the first rehearsal to be sure the small production had everything they needed to succeed....and she knew Gere would be there. They texted and emailed constantly but hadn't seen each other since the Ball.

The rehearsal went smoothly. All the players except for the boy who played Amahl were seasoned veterans and had sung the part before. It was a music rehearsal with the singers gathered around the piano, singing their respective parts and singing their lines.

Joy was amazed at the quality of their voices, they could have been professional had they chosen. She was quite impressed with Gere's voice. She had always loved the male baritone voice, it was so resonant and solid. The leading man in most operas was a tenor which she liked too, but there was nothing like a good baritone to make her tingle all over.

Gere walked to where she sat and took the seat next to her during a ten-minute break.

"You have an amazing voice!" Joy told him.

"That is quite significant praise coming from you, Thank you."

"We'll have to sing together sometime, "Joy smiled dropping her eyes coyly.

"What do you think?" Gere changed the topic.

"I think it is going to be a good production. All the cast are such good singers. The little boy... Timothy, has the sweetest sound."

"This is his first time, so we'll have to keep him from getting a case of nerves." Gere crossed his legs and rested his head on his palm. "You look positively gorgeous! It may sound a little funny but I miss you."

Joy put her hand on his leg and smiled sweetly, "I know exactly what you mean, I miss you too. Could we have drinks after?"

"I would love that," Gere was watching her lips move as she talked and fought the urge to pull her into his lap and kiss her soundly. He fastened his eyes on her "God, I want to kiss you right now!"

Joy smiled and rolled her eyes, then leaned toward him but simply said, "Maybe later."

The rehearsal was about to re-convene. The director John Baldwin, the choir director that Gere had brought to the college, clapped his hands from the piano.

"Attention cast, Let's start at the top and go straight through. We need to get an idea of the pace, musically, so, no stopping unless it is absolutely necessary."

They managed to get through the entire 55-minute opera in a little over an hour. Then Gere gathered Joy, and they crossed the street to Jared's.

"What are you doing for Thanksgiving?" Gere queried.

"I expect I will go to Mom's in Tacoma. You?"

"All my kids are going to their spouses family dinner. I was going to take Dad to a restaurant, but he was invited to join a lady friend. So, I guess I'll just sit this one out.

"Hmmm. That is too sad. Hey, why don't you come home with me? My Mom is a great cook!"

"No...I couldn't intrude in your family time."

"Nonsense, I couldn't stand knowing you were sitting alone on Thanksgiving. She wants to meet you anyway, it will be the perfect time to introduce you."

"You told your mother about me?"

"Of course!"

That made Gere smile, "Well, in that case, I'll be glad to join you and your family."

"Just Mom and me and maybe my aunt, she's my Mom's twin sister."

Gere and Joy had not yet had sex but their relationship was heating up little by little.

*******

The next rehearsal was Thursday evening. The appointed time arrived but Suzanne Murphy, the soprano who played the mother didn't show. Joy started phoning to find out the problem. She returned to the room with an ashen look on her face.

"What happened?" Gere asked.

"Suzanne died last night," said Joy wanly.

Everyone gasped. "What happened?" was on everyone's lips at once.

"She had an aneurysm in her brain while she slept."

There were groans and a few tears.

"What are we going to do?" asked one of the young 'shepherdesses'

Joy blinked several times and thought. She considered the alternatives that were before them.

"Can anyone else sing the part well enough to take it over right now?" Joy scanned the small cast for any suggestions. When no one offered anything, she sat down on the piano bench next to the pianist.

Leaning forward and leaning her elbows on the music stand on the baby grand she ran her fingers through her beautiful white hair. Gere noted how the light refracted from the moving strands of hair giving the effect of small lights flashing from her thick mane.

Joy sighed audibly. She knew the decision fell to her, but she wanted input from these people who had worked hard to learn their parts and had high expectations for the production.

"We have only two choices," she proffered finally, "We either cancel the production altogether or we find a new soprano to sing the part. Tell me what you think."

Jacob Raines, the man who was cast to sing 'King Balthazar' spoke up with his deep and resonant voice. Gere remembered how he had once sung that part in his career.

This was the first time that the small city was able to have a black man sing the role written for a bass.

In the past, it had been played by a white man in black make up ' no one liked the idea but the part called specifically for a BLACK man in the role as king Balthazar, it was an integral plot detail.

Jacob stood and gazed, looked around the cast then at Joy, "I think we all want to go on. I think Suzanne would want that. We should dedicate it to her memory, it was her idea to do it as our first production." There were general words of agreement that rippled through the cast.

"Who can we get to sing it?" asked Timothy Baldwin, the 11-year old who was singing the lead role. His dad was the director, who shook his head and put his hand on his son's shoulder.

John spoke up, "I think we should try to carry on, but I'm not aware of any local sopranos who know the part well enough to step in at this late date."

Gere had fastened his gaze on Joy. He was certain that she had sung the part before but even if she hadn't she was the only one he knew who had the professional training to step into the part.

He doubted that most of the cast even knew who they were singing with, but he did. He couldn't suggest she take the part until talking with her in private.

Joy looked up and saw Gere staring at her with a knowing smile on his face. She blushed and looked away. It was not her job to advance herself as a singer, she would be busy enough without that on her plate. But still the cast needed to practice and needed encouragement.

"Okay, Lets go ahead with the practice and I'll try to sing Suzanne's part well enough to let you all rehearse." She looked around the group and saw relief on the cast's faces. Last of all she settled on Gere who was smiling even more. She looked away quickly, She felt certain that everyone was watching the two of them.

The pianist started just before the singers began and Joy sang her first entrance. Suddenly the pianist stopped and Joy looked up to see what happened. Everyone was staring at her with their mouths agape. Gere was beaming.

"What?" Joy asked.

"Why don't you do it?" asked Zachery Poe, the tenor who sang 'King Melchior' the mostly deaf comic relief.

"Yes." "Yeah." "You should?" Chimed various cast members.

As a matter of fact, Joy had sung the role two times in her career, once in college and the other time when she was starting as a touring professional.

"Well, we'll see." Joy smiled sheepishly, "for now let's forge ahead." They started again and sang through the whole 55-minute opera in one sitting. Joy did marvelously throughout bringing applause from the entire cast when the final strains of music died away.

6.

Joy realized that living in Wenoka would be almost impossible without a means of transportation. She kept her rented car but the rent was coming due again, and she decided that she needed to purchase one. She liked Gere's Lincoln, but she didn't need a huge family SUV, so she went shopping and purchased a new Lincoln MKC.

Gere and Joy drove over the pass in Joy's new car. They were going to eat a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with Joy's mother and aunt, her twin sister Henrietta at Joy's childhood home.

As soon as Joy introduced him, he could tell he would like them both. They were delightful women who were open and accepting from the first moment, and they kept a sarcastic yet playful banter between themselves and those around them.

Jennette was an inch shorter than her sister, and they constantly made fun of each other's height difference. In fact, it was the only way Gere could tell them apart!

Jennette showed them to their rooms, surprising them when she told them both to deposit their bags in the same room.

Joy glanced at Gere with mock horror and enjoyed seeing Gere's mouth open and close without a word. "Mom, uhhh, why would you put us in the same room?"

Jennette's eye's trailed back and forth between the two and blushed. "I, uh, I uh thought you two were "together".

Gere and Joy burst into laughter. It struck them funny that she actually made air quotes when she said the word "together".

Joy moved close and spoke into her Mom's ear but her Mom was slightly deaf, so she still had to speak loud enough that she feared that Gere would hear her. Joy kept her eyes on Gere who tried to act like he couldn't hear her.

"Not yet, Mom."

"Well, why not?' asked Jennette loudly, making no attempt to keep their conversation quiet, "What are you waiting for?" she looked at Gere mischievously, "If he was mine I wouldn't wait around and let some other woman get her claws into him!"

Gere smirked in the background, enjoying Joy's obvious discomfort, Finally he came to her rescue, "We haven't had a chance to, mmmm.... advance our relationship to that point."

Jennette leered at him, then at her daughter. She headed to the door and began pulling it closed behind her while grinning that mischievous grin again, "Well, now you have." She closed the door and went downstairs.

Gere and Joy looked at each other and burst out laughing. Gere reached for her and pulled her close to him and took her into his arms.

"We seem to have permission," he said with desire welling up inside him, "and I've wanted to do this all day." He circled her with his arms, combed his fingers through sealing white hair and cupped his hand behind her head. He drew her face to his and kissed her hungrily on the lips.

While still kissing her, he dropped his hands to her wonderfully solid ass, picked her up and gently tossed her on the bed. Following her there, he lay almost entirely on top of her, keeping his weight from crushing her petite frame by holding up his upper body with his elbows. Their kiss turned up the heat immediately and her hands rubbed over his arms, chest and back and finally behind his head holding him in place against her lips.

"Oh God, your kisses drive me crazy!" Joy gushed, "If we keep this up, I'll cum in my panties."

"Then we better take them off of you."

"We don't have time, dinner is almost ready, I'm sure," but that didn't stop them from running their hands over each other's body while kissing passionately.

The weather had been quite mild and the couple wore fairly light clothing. Gere wore a pair of Dockers slacks and a button up plaid shirt. Joy wore a simple sundress with a light cardigan sweater, both in fall color patterns.

She wore the hem several inches above her knee which was quite short since she was so short herself. Additionally, the loose dress had fallen a few inches higher yet when Gere tossed her on the bed, leaving her thigh exposed almost to her panties. Gere's hand found her bare leg and began stroking the outside of her thigh from her knee to hem of her panties.

Joy was breathing heavily as she did her own exploring inside his shirt, unbuttoning it to his belt and running her palm over his abdomen. She was about to slide her hand down below the belt when Joy's mother called up the stairs that dinner was ready.

They both stopped and jerked their hands away like teenagers getting caught with their hands where they shouldn't. They laughed at their own reactions.

Gere examined Joy and chuckled, "you better fix yourself a bit, your hair is mussed and your make up smeared."

"Thanks a lot!" Joy declared in mock anger and sat at the vanity to repair herself. She put her face back together and the couple made their way to the dining room hand in hand.

"That smells wonderful," Gere commented, "I'm very hungry!"

"Obviously!" smirked Henrietta and giggled.

Joy turned gasped. Gere had her lipstick smeared on his mouth and cheek. His hair was tussled and his shirt buttoned incorrectly.

"Fix your shirt." Joy whispered as she blushed bright crimson and wet a tissue with her tongue and wiped the lipstick from his face.

Another person already sitting at the table, smiling at Gere's discomfort and watched gleefully as Joy dabbed at Gere's handsome face.

"Anna, this is my daughter, Joy and her friend Gere. They're here from Wenoka. Joy and Gere, this is Anna Franklin, our very good friend and a fellow 'Grey Caterpillar'.

Joy recognized Gere's puzzlement and leaned toward him, "It's their book club," she whispered.

"Nice to meet you," Anna said sweetly as Gere leaned across the table to shake her tiny hand. "We've met before," she said to Joy and gave her a cute little wave.

"Yes, I remember." Joy smiled as they all took their seats.

The table though small, had just enough room on one side for Joy and Gere with the other diners on each of the other three sides of the rectangular antique table.

Jennette said grace and began serving the potatoes. "Gere, take some turkey there and pass it to your left. Oh my...I forgot the gravy!"

"I'll get it" chimed Joy and immediately left her chair to retrieve the overlooked gravy bowl. When she returned after what seemed more than enough time later she adjusted her chair several inches toward Gere so that they were very close. She was seated at his left but now was so close that their thighs touched from time to time.

Gere passed each dish that came his way to Joy who passed it on until everyone had filled their plate. Gere became aware that Joy was eating left-handed and puzzled on it. He was about to mention it when she placed her right hand on his leg and began rubbing softly and slowly up and down, each time getting closer to his growing cock.

"I thought you were right-handed?" He leaned over and whispered to her.

"Ambidextrous." She said in reply with an evil little smile and squeezed his leg. When Joy returned after retrieving the gravy boat she had sat down and scooted her butt forward making her dress ride up almost all the way to her waist. She found Gere's left hand and placed it on her leg. Gere ran his hand up and down her smooth, silky thigh, brushing his little finger against the soft flesh under her panties. From the corner of his eye, he could tell she was blushing profusely and a soft moaned escaped her throat..