Thunder In Her Body (25 page)

                                                                     
C
HAPTER 16

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Let’s Get Married This Summer

L
ynette lay in Blaze’s arms occasionally watching the flat screen TV.  It sat next to the Navajo-red, painted Kiva fireplace which she enjoyed so much.  She liked to lay an arm across his chest and drape a big leg over his.  If she wasn’t in that position, then he was.  They just liked to be touching, to be wrapped around one another.  Both were very tactile and sensual people, which made them, among other things, great lovers for each other.  On this night, she’d donned a slinky, very low cut, pink satin night gown, with a split all the way up the side of the garment to just below the waist.  The slippery fabric slid along Blaze’s body as she moved next to him.  She could feel his hand fingering the fabric almost unconsciously.  She could tell he liked it.  When Blaze was making love to her, he was full out, totally into the act; no false modesty, no reservations, no holding back, as close to primal as a normal human can be.  He responded to her every wish, every need, and generally instinctively knew what she was asking for.  In turn, she enthusiastically allowed herself to access all the wantonness that resided within her; she let go of all inhibitions.  She felt him, read him, and provided answers to any questions his body asked.  They were both wanton lovers, and they had each found their worthy partner.  For a man of 49, Blaze was incredibly virile.  He could match her need generally more than once a day, usually more than once, every day if it came to that.  He often initiated the act, and he always responded to her invitation.  She couldn’t imagine ever saying no to him, no matter how exhausted she might be.  If nothing else, she would give herself to him and let him do what he wanted with her.  And if that ever, happened, and it surely hadn’t yet, she would let him enjoy
taking advantage of her.

She must have been here in another life, because she understood things that no one ever told her.  She understood men’s fantasies and believed they should be able to play them out with their lovers, so long as there was no harm done.  She had her own fantasies, but mercifully, Blaze fulfilled most of them.  She had difficulty understanding how prudish and selfish some women are, who only allowed their husbands to have sex, in the missionary position, and then only once a week!  She surmised that may be one of many, many reasons why some men cheated though if truth be told, that would fall somewhere down on the list, certainly not at the top.  It was good to be in the superior position, to control the action, to do more of the work than just lie there and moan.  It was good to change positions, to tease and fondle and manipulate one another.  Skin upon skin feels delicious.  Lips don’t just belong on lips, they belong anywhere the consenting partners want to put them.  Teeth are not just for masticating food, they can nibble and tease.  There was so much they had already experienced together and they both looked forward to all that they would experience as the days rolled into months and they grew into their aged years together.  What Lynette knew, and Blaze intuited, was that they would keep the spark alive and aflame in their relationship.  They would wake each day thinking how to make the other’s day special.  Not just in the bedroom, but minute by minute during the day.

Health reports from the clinics had arrived a few days before, and they were clean, no STDs.  Somehow, each of them knew that was the case, but now they were sure.  They’d taken a chance with each other, out of love and a bit of foolishness, but there was now no regret.  Blaze was positive that he hadn’t contracted anything from any of his temporary partners.  After what he’d endured with his ex-wife, he kept condoms with him wherever he went, and he kept a fresh set at all times.  No accidents, no reasons to expose himself to anything.  With his carefulness, there were things he missed; things he’d had to stop doing with his partners for fear of transmission, but now with Lynette, there wasn’t anything they couldn’t do together.  It gave him a tremendous sense of freedom.  Lynette hadn’t been to bed with a man since she and Roger broke up over five years ago.  She’d been in for regular physicals, and when she came down with a bad case of the flu, she had blood tests run to rule out anything systemic.  She’d been certain that the relationship she had with Roger was monogamous, and he’d been tested, so there was little chance that she carried anything.  But now, they were both sure and she, too, felt sexually free to explore whatever their desires and fantasies could conjure.

“Let’s get married this summer – soon!” Blaze blurted out from nowhere.  Lynette thought he was watching TV, but he was instead, thinking.  As always, thinking.  It was already June, so summer was just a few weeks away.

“Clare and Aaron aren’t going to, how do you say, jump the broom, any time soon, so we’re not preempting their event.  Let’s get married this summer.  Take a long honeymoon somewhere, anywhere you’d like to go.  If you want to, you can lease out your home in
Austin.  That way you wouldn’t feel pressured to sell it right away, or at least until the market rebounds.  You know what I mean?” he asked.

“Oh, heavens, that sounds wonderful,” she responded.  She was pensive for a moment.  “We need to visit with our children, Blaze.  There are introductions to be made.  It wouldn’t be right to just show up one day and say ‘Hi this is your new step-dad, or this is your new step-mom’.  We need to let them in on this, let them have an opinion about us, and voice those opinions,” she said now stirred from her totally “boneless cat” position.

“You’re right.  As usual, you’re right,” he agreed, kissing her on the forehead.

“You have a three-day class beginning next Monday, right?” he asked.

“Yep,” and for the record, this is the last class I’ve scheduled so far during the summer,” she replied.

His mind was working.  “Why don’t I fly back with you on Saturday, so I can meet your daughter…?” Lynette cut him off.

“Sweetie, for this class, I’m going to have to turn into a whirling dervish, and I can be really one-tracked when I’m in that kind of work mode.  It wouldn’t be much fun for you sitting around all day while I work, then watching me fall through the door in the evenings,” she rationalized.  “These three-dayers are killers.  I have to almost go into athletic training to keep up my stamina for these marathons.”

“But I wouldn’t be just lolling around.  If her schedule permits, I could meet her on Sunday – we could take her to dinner, that’s always an informal way to meet.  Then on Monday, I could drive on down to
Galveston and spend a couple of days with my daughter.  You know she’s at UT Medical Branch down there.  You could fly into Houston on Thursday, spend a couple of days down there with us getting to know her and visa versa, then we could drive back to Austin, spend a little more time with your daughter, Clare and whomever, then head back up here.  What’d you think?” he asked, purely out of courtesy, because he had it all figured out.  It made sense.

“Let’s do-o-o-o  i-i-t-t-t-t,” he shouted loudly, like Ty Pennington, the host on Extreme Home Makeovers.

“Ssshhh, you’re gonna wake Aaron and Clare”, she chided.

“Oh, hell.  They’ll just think you’re forcing me have another one of those screaming orgasm,” he laughed from way down in his belly.

“Dirty ol’ man that you are,” she pinched him.

“And you love it, don’t you?” he replied, rolling over onto her, finding the place where the pink satin gown separated.

LYNETTE CALLED HER YOUNGER daughter and spent about an hour on the phone telling her what these two or three weeks had brought into her life.  Janette already knew she’d met someone, when Lynette gave her another phone number to use, in case she couldn’t get through on the cell phone.

“You sure about all of this?” Janette questioned. “It’s only been a short time, Mom.  What do you really know about this man?” she asked rightfully.  Lynette assured her daughter that this man was special, the most special man she’d ever met; that he was a good man, kind and considerate and she’d fallen deeply in love with him.  She never mentioned that he was a man of means until Janette asked, late into the conversation.

“He’s done well for himself, Janette.  He’s invested wisely over the years, and he’s done well,” she replied, purposely down playing his apparent wealth.  “That’s not even a factor in my coming to love him,” she added.  “You’ll come to love him, I know you will, in time.  We’ll see you on Sunday,” she said happily, and hung up.

Then the sadness crept in.  Lynette had two daughters.  Janette, who owned her own home in Austin, even though she wasn’t in it much because of her job.  But it was always there when she dropped in out of the friendly skies.  She and Lynette were extremely close.  And Veronica, her older daughter, who for two traumatic years, lived with Lynette.   There had been a terrible scene, and Veronica, moved back to West Texas where her father and step-mother lived.  At about age 20, she was stricken with a terrible, misunderstood and often misdiagnosed disease.  It was a painful disorder and brought with it extreme depression – the debilitating kind.  Additionally, the doctors determined that Veronica also suffered with bi-polar disease.  Her depression and manic episodes drove Lynette to distraction, but she tried to nurture her as best she knew how.  Lynette understood much about these disorders, having started her state career as a social worker, but to have to live with someone who turned her world topsy turvey several times a day, began to take a toll on her, physically and mentally.  She never knew how her daughter would wake up on any morning, and her mood swings were terribly unsettling.  She wasn’t violent in her manic phases, but she drove Lynette almost crazy – literally.  Her deep, dark week-long depressions spread a smothering pall over the house.  Her home was no longer her sanctuary, it was Veronica’s to mess up, dirty up and demand constant attention.  Lynette went deeply into debt trying to keep her daughter going until she could begin drawing her social security disability checks and have the benefit of Medicare to take care of some of her health issues.  She paid off Veronica’s truck, bought medicines, paid for doctor and dentist visits, made sure there was plenty of food to eat, and even brought Veronica her meals in bed, on the days that she didn’t feel like coming out of her room.  Friends said she did too much for her daughter, but the caretaker in her said that what she was doing was right.  After all, Veronica was her daughter.  She helped her get into counseling but each time she seemed to make a breakthrough, Veronica stopped going.  So when on a hot July day, Veronica screamed at her and told her she hated her, that she was no longer her mother, that she was no longer her daughter, that she wasn’t even a part of her family anymore; that she was a despicable human being, Lynette snapped.  She called Veronica’s father and told him even though Veronica was mentally and emotionally ill, she couldn’t have this ungrateful person, who hated her, living in her home anymore, and Veronica would have to go live with him and his wife.  It broke her heart to do that, but she was at the breaking point herself.  Her blood pressure was raging, she had begun to have headaches again, most nights of the week she suffered from insomnia, her stomach stayed upset and she could see the deep circles under her eyes and the lines of tension creeping all over her face.  So she let her go, and, since her daughter disowned her, she had almost no contact with her from that time on.  She never understood how Veronica could hate her when she was the only person who was willing to take her in, when she hit rock bottom because of her several illnesses.  She accepted what she could not change, and the prayer of St. Anthony helped her to cope with the loss.

“Have you called Merrilyn, and told her what you’re planning?” she asked Blaze over breakfast the next morning.

“Actually, I’ve talked to her a couple of times, and she’s reeaaallly interested to see who you are.  She said you must be one hell of a woman to have my nose so wide open,” he laughed.  “I assured her you are, and you do, and I love it,” he quipped cheerfully.  She’s a great girl.  She’s gonna make a terrific doctor,” he said proudly
.

“Let’s drive into town,” Blaze suggested with his usual gentle smile, those pearly whites illuminating his gorgeous face.

“Sure, any particular reason,” Lynette asked.

“Don’t we need a few things from the store?  I can think of a couple, besides you’ve been cooped up here at the ranch for days…” he tried to say.

“Cooped up!  “I’m looking out over the
Bonanza ranch
, the colors out here change by the minute.  I’ve got two dogs to play with, horses to ride, fresh air to breathe, an added sense of freedom that I cannot articulate, and a man I love so much it hurts me most of the time, what do you mean cooped up?” she said in defense.  “I’m happy as a sissie on a troop ship,” she admitted.

“Senor,” she said in a sultry voice, “muy contenta, yo tengo muy contenta.  Comprende,” she asked.

“Si, mi esposa, but let’s drive into town anyway,” he insisted pleasantly, “we need to buy you an engagement ring.”

“Oh Blaze, I don’t need an engagement ring.  Look,” she said and she held out her hands, “I have two diamond rings.   A plain gold band will be just fine on our wedding day,” she replied seriously.

“You can have that plain gold band if that’s what you want,” he said equally as serious, “but I want you to have something beautiful, as beautiful as you are.”  He crossed over the living room, and held her at arms length, “you deserve the best that I can give you.  I want you to wear my rings, as a token of my love.  You can have the gold band as a permanent symbol of my unbreakable, undying love, and matter of fact, it’s probably a practical thing to have a simple band, with all the stuff we can get into on a ranch,” he agreed.  “But, from what you’ve told me, that one ring belonged to your Aunt Nellie, why not give it to Janette. Pass it on down in your family.  The other free-form ring has the stones from your first husband.  Wear it as jewelry from time to time, but I want my rings on your fingers,” he said with conviction.