The Milkmaid Pt. 03

***

Due to my recovery, I didn't go back to school for those last few classes and exams that fall. Jessi helped in my recovery and with the milking, taking great care of me and being a much needed help to Dad. She started giving me "special therapy rides" to improve my condition and my attitude as soon as my condition allowed it. As I got stronger, I started giving her my own special massage therapy, in return, almost always with happy endings for all.

When her Bronco was repaired, Dad lent Jessi the money to pay for the rest since her stash was confiscated as evidence. Joe Hadley wasn't too happy with her since his office had been trashed when Owen Bartelli or his men broke in to find our address after one of his dealers had spotted Jessi's ride in front of the garage, but I think he was even more upset when Jessi reminded him of the downpayment that he'd conveniently forgotten and showed him the receipt to prove it.

With the danger over, Jessi stopped by her old apartment and retrieved her belongings, or at least what was left of them. She was also eventually paid for most of the missing hours she'd worked when the government seized the club and shut it down. She and her coworkers filed as creditors, received their payouts, and went their own ways. She never saw any of them again.

The state took temporary control of the local sheriff's department due to the corruption and was able to get a number of convictions before a new sheriff was elected. Because of that, Junior Pardee, Sturbin's police chief, was assigned by the governor to oversee the local part of the investigation. Chief Pardee later told Jessi and me that since the drug ring was, by far, the biggest around, it was probably the source of the drugs that Jonathon Toliver used to overdose, though he'd never be able to prove it in court. There was nothing we could do for Jonathon, of course, but I liked to think that the events of that terrible November evening saved some other lost souls who might have taken his same path.

Chief Pardee gave us one other bit of news that didn't appear in the newspaper. The state police attributed the stolen S&W revolver to Owen Bartelli, since he had a key to the girls' apartment. The chief said it was returned to its rightful owner some months after the trial was concluded and the appeals had run their course.

It was about that time when Jessi received a letter from the State Police. There'd been a reward offered for information on the drug ring. With the code they'd given her for her initial tip and our testimony, she became eligible for a share of the reward. Her check was for $14,658.79, after state and local taxes, of course. She paid off the loan to Dad, bought a few new clothes to replace what she'd lost, and put the rest in her savings for the future.

Kate and Dad married in the Summer of '88, a few months after repairs were completed on the house and about two years after Ellie, my mother died. Kate moved in with Dad, and they moved Jessi into Kate's old house for the "room" part of her pay. Dad adjusted her hourly rate to remove the "board" part, allowing her to do her own cooking and shopping and giving the newlyweds the extra privacy they desired. When I was home, including in the summer, I stayed with Jessi, since my heart was always where she was.

For their wedding present, Jessi and I searched numerous antique shops before finally finding what we were seeking. The door knob and lockset for their bedroom wasn't an exact match to the one that Owen or Timbo had destroyed, but it was close enough that it restored the home's character in comparison to the modern set the contractor had installed.

I was allowed to take exams and finish the incompletes in the spring and went on to graduate with honors in the Spring of '89. For the rest of my schooling, I was careful to never take courses that let out late on Friday afternoon, and I went home every weekend to see my beautiful fianceé...when she didn't make the trip to see me.

***

Chapter 8

"Jessi, how do you like being a milkmaid?" I asked one morning a few weeks after I graduated. I'd looked at a number of agricultural jobs, but Dad and I had discussed the idea of expanding the operation of Buice Dairy Farm to give me more responsibility and to help increase revenue to support his family and my soon-to-be one. Jessi and I planned to marry that fall.

She smiled at me. "It's hard work and the hours can be long, but with your Dad taking mornings and us taking evenings, it's not too bad."

"How do you like being a cosmetologist?"

She shook her head. "Nick I haven't been a cosmetologist in almost two years. I even let my license lapse."

"But do you like it? Like it better than being a milkmaid?"

"It's definitely different," she said. "Both types of work can be hard, but they each have their own rewards."

"You told me once that you always wanted to open your own shop, didn't you?"

She nodded, remembering her dream, but looking surprised when I took her hand and told her to come with me. We made the short drive "downtown."

With most of Sturbin's major drug problems having been eliminated, things had improved greatly in the area. There'd been a revival of business in town and announcement of a new factory just west of town promised more in the months and years ahead. The railroad had promised to relocate the switching siding to the west of town to avoid the nightly crossing closures, the state had agreed to help build a new police station, and the Sturbin Steamers girls basketball team had placed third in the state playoffs just months earlier.

I parked in front of a small building with an awning in front, just down from Sturbin High School. Getting out, the building looked much different than that night two Novembers before when it looked dilapidated and abandoned, with a scuzzy drug user, or perhaps dealer, having taken shelter in it. The owner of the building had replaced the broken front door, done some other repairs, painted, put up new blinds, and stuck a "For Lease" sign out front. He'd lent me the key for the day when I expressed interest in it.

"I've spoken with the owner and we can get it fairly cheap," I told her as I pointed to handwritten signs I'd put up around the interior of the space and then to the easel where I'd posted a drawing of my idea.

Jessi looked at it, smiling but shaking her head in disbelief.

"With the new stores that have opened along the street and with the regular drive by traffic, there's lots of potential customers. If we do some advertising in the local paper and on the radio, we can attract more. It's not exactly agri-business, my degree, but a lot of my studies apply to regular business, too. Sturbin can use a nice, full-service salon, if you're really interested and want to renew your cosmetology license. We'll have to borrow the money for the equipment, but if we buy used, it looks reasonable. I found a place that handles it."

She was looking, saying nothing, leading me to wonder if I'd misunderstood her or if she'd lost interest. When she still maintained her silence while looking at each sign and the plan, I added, rather lamely, "You don't have to decide today. You can think about it..."

She looked at it all, completely poker-faced as if holding a pair of deuces, before she finally grinned and shook her head. "Nick, I can't believe you did this for me! It could really work, though I will have to work on your layout a bit. You're missing some important things, but there's still plenty of room for it all. I love it! And I love you!"

She almost danced around the space, looking at each sign, looking out the front door, and out the storefront before locking the door and closing the new blinds. My breathing slowed as I watched her approach and put her hands around my neck.

"Nick, I think we should see if this place feels as good as it looks. I need to feel you, here and now, my love. Make love to me."

I looked around doubtfully, for there wasn't a stick of furniture in the place, but there was a stack of drywall the landlord had saved for buildout purposes in the back corner, so I decided to make do to give Jessi what she wanted. We removed each other's clothes next to the drywall and then I sat down on it, helping her to sit on my lap facing me with my clothes acting as pads under her knees. We kissed hungrily as she lightly raked her nails back and forth across my back while I massaged her breasts. When she moved to kissing my head and ear, I cupped her left breast, pushing it up a bit to kiss her nipple before lightly sucking it into my mouth, enjoying its essence and enjoying seeing the sensations it was giving her.

Arching her back to let me at both breasts, she started rolling her pelvis against me, rubbing her little nub on my hardness. I moved my hands around to her buttocks, where the bruises were long gone and only a few small scars remained. I loved her firm ass, and I massaged it with all my might.

She moaned as I couldn't resist my urge, leaning around and running my fingers up and into her slit from behind. She was wet and needy, rolling her ass back as far as she could, allowing me to slide my middle finger deep into her. My index and ring fingers touched at the tip as I stretched them forward to catch her clit. When they found the right spot, I quit thrusting and concentrated on holding the fingers still and running my hand in tiny circles against and inside of her. Jessi buried her head against my neck and shoulder as a warm growl started deep in her throat while she continued to push herself back against my hand.

"Ohhhh!" she cried out as she came, being more vocal than I'd ever seen her before. Realizing what she'd done, she compensated by adding in a whisper, "Oh, my sweet, sweet Nick! I love you so much."

"I love you, too, Honey," I said, holding her against me, relishing the touch of her skin against me and the thought of having helped give her so much pleasure.

When she was ready, she repositioned herself and moved my penis, placing it to her opening before lowering herself down on me. She proceeded to move up and down as I started rocking in and out of her. Even with my clothes as pads on the hard stack of drywall, it seemed to wear on her quickly so she finally rested herself on my legs as I did most of the rest of the work while she alternated her pelvic muscles to grasp and release me. Before long, it started to build in me and eventually, I cried out, "Oh, Jessi! I love you," as I came again and again inside her before we sat holding each other.

"Never again on drywall," she whispered, leading me to pat her back.

"Yeah, I love the position, but I'm sure it's hard on your knees. Sorry about that."

"No, Nick. It's not my knees. When you slipped out of me..." she giggled, "I think we made a mess all over it."

"Oops! But you do know, drywall gets painted. Nobody will ever know."

Jessi looked over her shoulder, where we'd discussed having a small employee break room and laundry. "Nick, we'll know. We'll have to tell the workers to put this piece right over there where we can always see it and remember our first time in my new salon."

"First time?"

"Yeah, you don't honestly think this will be the last time here, do you?"

***

We dressed and were about to exit when there was a loud rapping on the front door. I opened the blind and unlocked the door to greet Chief Junior Pardee standing outside with a most humorous grin.

"Hi, Chief. What's up?"

"Nicholas, my boy! I got a call that there was a scream and might be a murder or something happening in here so I came to investigate...but when I saw your truck, the blinds closed, and listened for a second...well, I decided to take a little walk and catch this little emergency on the way back by."

He was grinning as he looked back to Jessi. "Hope you're having as wonderful a day as it sounded, Miss Jessica.

Jessi turned bright red even as she grinned, but she came up and gave Chief Pardee a big hug. "Chief, my hero! This is going to be my new salon in a few months. You'll have to stop by to see me."

"No, dear," he said, rubbing his bald pate, "but I'm sure my wife will be a regular customer."

***

Epilogue

Jessi and I married that fall as planned, and her salon opened a few weeks later after we returned from our honeymoon. Her remaining reward money covered part of the salon's buildout cost. She closed the salon daily at 4 PM so she could continue her evening job as my regular milking partner at the dairy. That changed after we had our first child a couple of years later, but by then, she had a sizable clientele from Sturbin and across the county, with several employees and an assistant manager who could close later in the evening.

Some years later, we converted the old hay barn into a special events facility for weddings, receptions, parties, and the like after building a new, larger barn. With the resulting increased demand and with our town growing rapidly, Jessi needed a larger, upgraded space to match the salon's image so she decided to move to a larger building in town. That allowed her to add more spa-like features and to offer packages for wedding parties and special "girls' night out" events, too. These combined to attract clients from the surrounding counties and, as we increased our advertising, to become an important destination for people from all around our part of the state.

When Jessi moved the salon, we had the workers carefully cut out one particular piece of drywall from the first salon and install it in a special spot in Jessi's office in the new salon. Sometimes, years later when the kids were old enough, after the milking was done, we'd run up to the salon to "take care of paperwork." When Jessi finished her bookkeeping, we'd make love in front of that "special" drywall just to remind ourselves of that wonderful time so long before.

Of course, by then, Jessi had a very nice leather couch sitting in front of it!

The End

_______________________________

Author's Note:

Thanks so much for reading this story! Please consider scoring it and leaving a comment to let me know your thoughts (good or bad). If you enjoyed it, please consider checking out some of my other stories and following me to keep track of those and future offerings. "Hayin' Time" and "The Valentine's Dance" are currently my other farm-themed stories.

While this is a work of fiction, Jessi's accident was partially inspired by two actual events. Many years ago, I came upon an accident where an SUV had turned a corner too fast and flipped over on its side with the driver standing on the side of the road looking at it wondering how he'd gotten in that mess (I knew the moral to that story immediately on smelling him: don't drink and drive!). In a second event a few years back, I witnessed a driver swerve an SUV the wrong way as it exited a freeway ramp. It rolled similar to Jessi's Bronco.

Historical References:

This last section is just for those who might be interested in certain historical references in the story and a few of the 1980s pop-culture references. Please skip if you're not interested!

"The Incredible Hulk" was a U.S. TV show, based on the Marvel comic, starring Bill Bixby as David Bruce Banner, Lou Ferrigno as his huge, green-skinned alter ego, The Hulk, and Jack Colvin as Jack McGee, the reporter pursuing the creature. It ran from 1977 to early 1982, with several follow-up movies in later years.

First Lady Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" message was introduced in 1982 and became a full-fledged campaign over the following years. It continued to the early 1990s.

The American Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 22.6% when the American stock market crashed on Monday, October 19, 1987. Most other world markets experienced similar falls, sparking fears of another depression similar to the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The Ford Bronco was a 2-door (3 if you count the rear) full-size SUV manufactured between 1966 and 1996, with it being reintroduced in 2020. Perhaps the most famous example of the Bronco was the white one used by O.J. Simpson in a slow-speed police chase in the Los Angeles area on June 17, 1994.

"Miami Vice" was a popular and very trendy police show from 1984 to early 1990. Detectives Crocket and Tubbs, played by Don Johnson and Phillip Michael Thomas, were undercover officers fighting the drug war in Miami. The show was quite popular with young people due to its stylishness and use of current hit music. There were sometimes viewing parties on Friday nights on college campuses and many students wouldn't go out to party until after the show was over.

The Colt 1911, designed by John Browning, was known as the M1911 by the United States military. It (and its 1926 upgrade, the M1911A1) was the U.S. military's designated sidearm from 1911 to 1985, when it was replaced by the Beretta 92 (Model M9). During World War II, Colt couldn't produce enough of the pistols to meet demand so the U.S. government procured additional lots from Remington Rand and a number of other companies. Remington Rand produced approximately 900,000 M1911A1s during the war, the most of any manufacturer.

Mount St. Helens is an active volcano in Washington state. It is most famous for its explosive eruption, the largest in U.S. history, on May 18, 1980, that killed fifty-seven people and did massive damage in the surrounding area.

Bill Medley's song "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" was actually a duet with Jennifer Warnes and was used as the theme song for the 1987 film "Dirty Dancing." The film was released in the U.S. on August 21, 1987, with the song having been released about six weeks earlier. The song was very popular and had a lot of air time, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart in November 1987. Bride.com says it was the top wedding song of 1987, has been used countless times since, and has supposedly contributed to untold encounters and conceptions over the years.