The Path to Peace

Before we knew it, it was the afternoon, and we each had things to do. We broke up without my having any sex at all. As we were getting ready to leave I approached Scott, "Would you like to come by my apartment tonight. It's been a while since I've been with a man, and I need to talk to Sally tonight."

He gave me a big smile, "I'd be happy to. Eight o'clock OK?"

"Sounds perfect, see you then," I replied.

Scott arrived a few minutes late, but by 8:30 I was well on my way to heaven. We were both still horny from the morning so it didn't take long for him to climb on top of me with his penis pressing against my vaginal lips.

"Fred did a good job on the plans," Sally offered.

"It is very exciting," I agreed. "Now I just have to find out from Mike and Annie where it'll be built, and then figure out how to pay for the place."

"You worry too much. You've got to learn to relax a little."

I laughed, "That's easy for you to say, you're dead. I've got these people counting on me. I don't want to let them down."

Sally calmed me down, "The smarted thing you did was to send Annie and Mike looking for the location. You delegated it to someone else, and they got the job done. Less pressure on you."

"I know, but it was hard."

"In time it will become easier. You'll get used to it." She did reassure me.

We chatted a while longer, then when we were done Scott and I chatted for a while. I fel asleep and when I awoke he was gone.

Changes

Giselle's court date arrived. I picked her up so I could brief her on the way to court. She was very nervous.

"You've got to relax." I tried to calm her down.

"I can't. They could give me jail time. This is really freaking me out."

I didn't want to tell her what Sally had told me, but I did want to calm her down. "Giselle, they can't do anything to you if they don't convict you. Take my word for it, it won't happen. The case will be thrown out of court for lack of evidence."

She looked over at me, "Are you sure?"

"Yes. Now, this is important. When the judge throws out the case you need to ask that the record be expunged."

"Why," she asked, "what'll that do?"

"That will make it as if the arrest had never happened. You don't want it on your record that you were even arrested for prostitution."

"Will they do that?"

"If the judge feels that there was no reason for the arrest, he can. That's different from not enough evidence to convict. But, I think in this case you've got a shot."

She asked me one more time, "You're sure I don't need a lawyer?"

"Relax. Just don't say anything unless you're asked a direct question by the judge. After she throws out the case, then you speak."

"OK."

We went into court. Giselle sat at the defense table looking lost and all alone. I sat behind her so I could whisper encouragement. The prosecutor, sitting at her table, kept looking at her watch, then around the room. She was clearly looking for the police officer.

We rose for the entrance of the judge. He was an elderly man, with gray hair and a gray face. He immediately addressed Giselle.

"Ms. Norbert, I see you are representing yourself here. Do you really think that's wise? The state will provide you with a lawyer is you want." Giselle, nervous as anything, still managed to sound poised. "No thank you, your honor."

The judger sighed, then, turned to the prosecution. "Ms. Clary, is the prosecution ready to proceed?"

The prosecutor stood, looking around the room once again, then said, "Your honor, my complaining witness, Officer Tyndale, seems to be running late."

"You're saying he isn't here?" the judge didn't sound happy.

"Not yet your honor," Ms. Clary answered nervously.

"Do you have any other evidence to present?" the judge asked.

"Uh, yes sir, we have the entire incident on tape."

"Ms. Norbert," the judge turned to Giselle, "do you have any objection to the playing of the tape?"

The judge was trying to prod Giselle to object. If she had it might have delayed things long enough for the officer to arrive. I whispered to her "No objection."

"No, your honor, I don't object."

The prosecutor smiled, confident that the tape would be enough.

The judge indicated to Ms. Clary, "Bailiff, please roll the TV over." As he did the judge instructed, "Go ahead, play the tape."

Ms. Clary put the tape into the VCR. All that appeared was snow. She suddenly looked very nervous. She grabbed the remote control and hit fast forward. We were treated to sped-up snow. After a few minutes the judge asked, "Ms. Clary, is there a problem?"

"Uh, your honor, I, uh, can't seem to find the video," she stammered.

The judge looked really annoyed now. "You have no witness and no tape. Do you have any evidence?"

"Well, if you could give me a few minutes to find the officer," Ms. Clary pleaded.

"Ms. Clary, you know I run my courtroom on schedule. I will give you fifteen minutes to produce the officer. We'll take a break." He banged his gavel.

Ms. Clary got up and hurried out of the room. Giselle and I sat where we were, waiting."

When the fifteen minutes was almost up Ms. Clary came walking back into the room, not looking very happy. Almost immediately after, the judge returned, calling the court to order. He immediately asked, "Ms. Clary, is your witness present?"

She rose slowly. "No, your honor. I have been trying to locate him, but I haven't been able to."

"Do you have any other evidence to present?" he asked.

"No your honor."

"Well, considering the lack of evidence I have no choice but to dismiss the case. Ms. Norbert, you are free to go."

Giselle rose and spoke, "You honor, can I ask that the record of my arrest be expunged?"

"On what grounds young lady?" he asked.

"On the grounds that there was no reason for the arrest in the first place. I did nothing wrong and was shocked when they accused me of prostitution. They have no evidence and no witness. So, why did they arrest me in the first place?"

Ms. Clary quickly stood to protest, "We do have a witness, Officer Tyndale and we had a tape."

The judge glowered at Ms. Clary. "Your witness seems to be missing, along with your tape. I have to agree, you haven't even presented any reason for an arrest. The police should consider themselves lucky if they don't get sued by this young lady." Turning to Giselle, he continued, "I will instruct the police department to expunge any record of this arrest. As far as the legal system is concerned, you were never even arrested, unless you want us to keep the record for some civil action."

Giselle answered, "No sir, I just want this to disappear."

"Very well, it's done. Ms. Clary, the next time you appear in my court you had better be well prepared. Court is adjourned."

Giselle and I hugged. On our way out of the court we ran into Ms. Clary. She informed Giselle, "You got luck, Ms. Norbert. I just found out that Officer Tyndale was in an accident this morning, which is why he didn't show up."

"Is he OK?" I asked, concerned.

"Actually," she continued, "he wasn't injured. It was a freak thing. His car skidded on an overpass and ended up hanging over the edge. He couldn't get out until they made sure it wouldn't cause the car to tip over the edge. They finally hooked his car up to a fire truck and pulled it back."

"I'm glad he's OK." Giselle said. "If you talk to him, tell him if he'd like to continue out date to give me a call."

I smacked Giselle on the arm. "Let's go, before your mouth gets you in trouble."

We left the court and headed to Sanctuary. "Remember, what I told you" I said, "from now on you follow the rules."

"Definitely, " she agreed.

We headed to Sanctuary because Mike had called the night before. He would be there today. I had called everyone and told them the news. I expected that they would all show up at some time in the afternoon to hear about what Mike and Annie had found.

As Giselle and I were finishing lunch Fred arrived. Then in quick succession in walked Joe, Grace and Scott. A little after two Annie and Mike finally arrived.

Mike, Annie and I sat at the table. Everyone else stood around, listening. After we got through the pleasantries, Mike got to the interesting part. "Well, as you know, we had been traveling for about 3 weeks. Needless to say we were a little discouraged. We saw this sign outside an old Victorian farmhouse that said 'For Sale'. We were going to pass it by because it wasn't on a big piece of land, though it was on the beach. We could see that at one time it had probably been the farmhouse for a big farm on the other side of the road that is now a development.

So, we weren't optimistic, but we remembered what you said about exploring every possibility. We knocked on the door and a very nice older woman answered. Her name is Martha. She's the owner. The house has gotten too big for her, so she's moving to a senior retirement community about 50 miles inland. Martha showed us around the house. It's a beautiful old house with about 10 bedrooms. We made all the usual noises about liking the house, but Annie and I were both thinking that there wasn't enough land to meet our needs."

Annie continued, "I wanted to be polite, but I wanted to find a way to tell Martha we weren't interested. I asked her how much property she had, expecting to be able to say we were looking for something with more land. That's when we got a shock."

Mike took over again, "She said 'All together about 50 acres.' Annie and I looked at each other, then asked her where. There was a big housing development and other houses and buildings around. Then she said 'Well, the island is about 49 acres and the house is on an acre'. I asked 'What island?' She asked me if the real estate lady from town had sent us down. When I told her she hadn't, then she understood my surprise. She not only owns the house, but also an undeveloped island about half a mile off the coast. It's small, but juts straight up from the water like a plateau 50 feet above the waves."

"Well, we were astounded," Annie again took over, "suddenly we're thinking this might work. It was late in the day, so we arranged to come back the next day. She said her handyman would be around and he could take us out to the island.

We stayed at a hotel in town. Before we went back we stopped at the real estate office with the listing to make sure she was telling us the truth. Sure enough, Susan, the real estate broker, confirmed everything Martha had said. She even showed us pictures of the island. So, Mike and I drove back to the house. Martha's handyman, Tom, took us out to the island. It has one small area where a boat can dock. The rest rises up, with cliffs all around. It's totally undeveloped, but beautiful. We both fell in love with it."

"So," Mike continued on, "when we got back to the house we sat down with Martha and Tom and asked 'how much.' Well, it's not cheap. They originally wanted 2 million for the entire deal. We finally agreed to $300, 000 for the house and 1 million for the island. I promised them a down payment by the end of the week."

I was so excited. "This sounds wonderful. I'll figure out the money. Any pictures?"

Annie reached into her purse, "Here. We've already got these. We'll have more tomorrow."

It was everything I had hoped for. "Fred, judging from these pictures, can you build the Sanctuary there?"

Fred was looking back and forth at two pictures. One showed the boat dock area and the other the flat plane on top where the building itself would be built. "I don't see why not," he answered, "but I've got to see the place in person. I'd like to fly a survey team out there the beginning of next week."

"Now I've just got to find the money. I'll talk to Sally a little later and see if she has any ideas." I knew Sally had promised that she would get us the money, but I didn't have a clue where it was going to come from.

Mike put his hand on mine and asked, "Can we go talk in private?"

"Sure," I answered, "is over in the corner private enough.

Mike looked at Annie, they both nodded and the three of us went over to the corner.

Mike looked a little sheepish when he started, "Helen, Annie and I are in love. It actually started a few weeks before we went on the road trip. Being together like that was wonderful. I asked her to marry me last night, and she said yes. But, we don't want to hurt you."

I was smiling and crying at the same time. "I'm so happy for both of you. You're not hurting me. You know how much I care for the two of you, but as friends. This is so wonderful."

The three of us did a group hug. It felt so special, two of our members wanting to get married. "I have two questions for you," I said as we broke the hug, "One, I understand you're in love. Is there a reason you're getting married rather than living together?"

Annie fielded that one, "As a sign of commitment to each other. We understand that we will each still enjoy sexual intimacy with others. This marriage is not to stop anyone from having sex with other partners. We're just making a commitment to love and support each other. Support in the emotional sense. And, someday we'll want kids. This creates a family unit to raise the kids in."

"I'm not marrying Annie to possess her. We look at marriage like a partnership. "

I understood exactly what they wanted, and I was even happier then before. "OK. Question number two, have you set a date, or a time frame?"

"Not yet, " Annie said, "Neither one of us has a large family, but we do want to invite the family we do have, and of course all of the members here." Annie looked like she had something else she wanted to say, but she turned to Mike, prodding him.

He asked, "Helen, would you perform the ceremony?"

I was stunned. "Mike, I've never even thought about that."

He explained, "You are the head of our church. It's only right that you perform the ceremony."

"I would be honored," and scared, I thought.

Mike called Fred over. "Fred, if all goes well with the survey and purchasing the land, how long till Sanctuary is built?"

"Well, with the logistics involved and everything else, I'd say a year," he answered.

Mike turned to Annie, "Wouldn't it be nice to have the ceremony there, at Sanctuary?"

"Oh, yes, that would be perfect. Helen, could we? Would you do it there?"

I was perfect. I nodded, "Of course. Fred, you'd better be able to deliver on time. Now, I'd better go talk to Sally about funds."

Annie looked at me, "Can we help you? Sort of a thank-you."

"Sounds like fun. Mind if we announce your plans to everyone else here before we start?" I answered.

"Go ahead," Mike offered.

"Listen up, people. " When everyone was looking at me I continued, "Annie and Mike are getting married! " There was a boisterous round of 'congratulations' mixed with applause. "The ceremony will be when we move to Sanctuary."

Everyone came and crowded around the three of us. There were kisses and hugs all around. After about 10 minutes I said to Mike, "Time to go talk to Sally."

As I walked to the mattresses Mike and Annie followed. It was a strange situation for me. This was my first time making love with two people at once. It was made even better because these were tow of the people I cared about most.

The rest of our members sat down in a semi-circle around the mattresses to watch. In addition to enjoying the beauty of the three of us giving and receiving pleasure, they all knew that the conversation I was about to have with Sally would affect them all.

Mike opened my robe as I opened his. The site of his already erect penis was beautiful. Though Mike and I had made love many times, the sight of his erect penis, the first I had ever had inside me, never failed to stir my passions. Without even thinking about it I slid to my knees and took him in my mouth while he was still standing. As I slid him in and out of my mouth I suddenly felt a tongue start to flick around my vaginal lips. Annie, not wanting to be left out had laid down behind me and slid her head between my legs. The feeling of receiving oral pleasure from one person while giving it to another was outstanding.

We continued this way for a few minutes, but I didn't want Mike to cum in my mouth. It wasn't that I didn't like it when a man did that, but today I really wanted to be holding him to me as he ejaculated in me. Pulling him out of my mouth, I said "I want you to fuck me now."

"OK. You be on top," he answered.

He lay on his back, his erection pointing up. As I lowered myself on to him Annie lowered herself onto his face. As I started to ride up and down on Mike, Annie reached out and caressed my breasts. I could tell from the look on her face that Mike was working furiously on her clitoris at the same time. We were all going to orgasm at the same time it looked like.

"Looks like you're having a really good time," Sally observed.

"You know it. Want some?" I offered.

She gave me a deep kiss, but then broke away, "After we talk."

"OK. So, I'm sure you know all about the location Mike and Annie found," I started.

"They did a good job. We made sure they had the opportunity. We were glad they listened to your advice and kept open minds."

"So it was pre-planned," I stated it as a fact.

"Yes and no. If they hadn't stopped to look at it God would not have compelled them. They have free will. It was more of a test then a pre-ordained fact."

"Would it be OK for me to tell them that?" I asked.

"Sure. We don't want you starting to keep secrets from them now. It also won't hurt them to understand that it was important to have faith."

"OK, so, where are we getting a million and a half dollars?" I wondered. "Another lottery ticket?"

"No, that would create too much notoriety. Lottery winners always end up in the spotlight. It also sends the wrong message. Actually, you're going to inherit the money," Sally informed me.

"Inherit the money? From where? My parents don't have that kind of money, and please don't tell me they're going to die and leave me insurance money."

"I'm sorry to tell you that your Grandmother, you mother's mother, is dead," Sally told me.

"Uh, she died before I was born," I didn't understand what Sally meant.

"No she didn't. She disowned your mother when your parents got married. She never forgave your mother, or father, for getting pregnant with Nick before they were married."

I was stunned. "Wait a minute, my grandmother has been alive all these years. Why didn't my mother tell me?"

"Your mother was very hurt that her mother cut her off. To her, she was dead. It happened a long time ago, and by the time you were old enough to understand your mother had no interest in rehashing things."

"But now you said she'd dead. When did she die, and how?" I asked.

"Actually, she died just this morning. She went in her sleep peacefully."

I was at least glad about that. "I'm sorry I never got to meet her. I guess I should call Mom, but how can I tell her?"

"Your Mother will get a phone call very shortly. Don't be surprised if she doesn't call you to tell you. Sometime next week you'll get a phone call from a lawyer. He'll tell you that you are one of the heirs to Martha Walters' estate."

"Who are the other heirs?" I was curious.

"For the last few years she has regretted her decision to cut off all contact with your mother, but she was too stubborn to relent. She left everything to you and your brother."

"I hate to sound mercenary," I had to ask, "how much did she leave me?"

"Well, your bother got all the cash, stocks, securities, etc. The things that are essentially cash, or can be converted to cash." Sally paused, then, went on, "you she left her real estate holdings."

"What real estate? Where did she own a house?" I asked.

"Actually, your grandmother is the same Martha that Mike and Annie negotiated with to buy her house and island."