David happened to glance out the window and was astounded by what he saw. Right away Rupert was barking, as David opened the door.

He’d gone to the store that morning and had the trunk of his car open, as it sat in the driveway. And there was a woman and a little girl, and the woman had loaded two of David’s grocery bags of food into a beaten up grocery cart that she had and they were preparing to walk away.

It was precisely then that Rupert found them. He was barking and now and again growling, and the woman and little girl, who was crying now. Were standing stock still and not moving.

“Rupert,” he called, “Away now.”

Rupert, a kind of large shaggy ‘57 varieties’ dog, woofed once and backed off. The little girl was clinging to the woman and the woman was looking at David with a kind of mixture of shame and despair on her face.

“Mommie,” the little girl said, through tears. “The doggie.”

“Is fine,” David said.

Then turning to the dog, still periodically growling, the man said: “Rupert, friends.”

It made the difference for the well trained dog, who now approached them with tail wagging and tongue hanging out of his mouth.

“He’s fine,” David said.

Rupert pressed himself against the legs of the woman and the little girl and this made the little girl giggle. She reached out a tentative hand, with David saying: “Go ahead; it’s fine.” Then she scratched Rupert on the head and the dog wagged his tail.

The mother just looked on, kind of preparing herself for what was to come.

“Hi, you two,” David said cordially, determined to not make this any more of a trauma for the pretty little girl.

The woman was obviously fighting back tears and David was aware of that.

“I guess I should explain,” the woman said.

Again, David noticed how visibly upset she was and decided to let the explanation take place at a later time. He didn’t want the woman to break down in front of the little girl, who was clutching her Mommie’s hand and staring at her with fright and bewilderment.

“Need groceries?” David said.

The woman only nodded then.

“Okay, let’s go,” he said turning and telling Rupert to follow.

He went to the car with the woman and the little girl obediently following him and the dog trailing behind. He had two cars, the one, a white SUV with the groceries, in the driveway, The other was a white cadillac, in the garage...

“I like white cars,” he said. The woman only nodded, still not sure about what was going to happen.

“Let me stow these quickly,” he said, “At least the frozen things, and we’re off.”

He did that quickly in the kitchen and went back to them. The woman was only staring at him, concern on her face and the little girl was now and again petting Rupert on the head.

“I’m David Freeze,” he said, smiling at them. “And you’ve already met my Rupert.”

“Pleased to meet you,” the woman said softly. “I’m Linda Welks and this is my Emily.”

“Hi, Emily,” David said.

He led them to the SUV then, and the woman just wasn’t sure what he intended but knew that she deserved whatever he was going to do.

He surprised them, however, by driving to the nearby mega grocery.

Emily was in the back seat with a very contended Rupert, who had his head lounging on her thigh. She giggled a few times.

Linda just swiveled her head and stared at him then.

“Groceries,” he said. “Let’s go.”

They got out of the car and she said a soft: “Don’t understand.”

“Simple,” he said, “You need groceries and here we are. We’ll get whatever you need.”

Now she did mop her eyes with her handkerchief, and said: “You’re so nice.”

“Yes, Mommie,” Emily said. “I like Mr David and I love Rupert.”

Rupert woofed, when he heard his name mentioned.

“Okay,” David continued, “Whatever you need.”

“I need to tell you,” she said, meaning an explanation.

“All later,” he replied, “Time enough. Groceries first.”

“Yes,” she said with a smile, “Groceries first.”

They went through the aisles of the store then and the woman, feeling more contented all the time, loaded a cart with the things that they would need.

“No frozen things?” he asked.

“‘Fridge really small,” she said, “Couldn’t hold many frozen things.”

“I see,” he said.

The store had a kind of sit down ice cream parlor off to the side and he led them in that direction. They parked the cart by the booth where they sat and he ordered ice cream for each of them.

“Mmmmmm,” Emily said, “Thank you, Mr David.”

He smiled, as Linda also whispered a ‘thank you’ to him.

“You’re so polite,” he said, especially to Emily who gave him a huge smile.

“Things went bad,” Linda said softly.

“I suspected that,” he said. “Let’s wait to talk about that until we have a bit of time only for ourselves.”

“Okay,” she said giving him a smile.

Linda Welks was, at that time, 28 years old but she looked, right then, older. The kind of time that they had been through, having been totally abandoned by Emily’s father, who’d brought them here and then simply left, with no information about where he was going. He simply left a note telling Linda that he didn’t think it was working out and he was off and away.

They had no family to turn to, and Linda hardly knew anyone in the town where they’d moved. One bad thing seemed to happen after another and they found themselves simply eeking out a living where they were living.

She had ash blond hair and was fairly petite. She did have a nicely rounded butt and small breasts with lovely pointy nipples.

All of these ‘charms’ were hidden by the hand me down clothes that she was wearing and their troubles had her looking a bit harried.

David Freeze was a hearty 32 year old at that time. He lived in an ultra big, many storied home that was his from his wonderful Mom and Dad.

The two of them had passed via an auto accident three years previously and it was then that David went to the local pound and got his ‘rescue’ dog, Rupert, though he always averred that it was really Rupert who rescued him, from the ‘flim flams’ as he put it.

He had gotten from his lovely parents both the business, which he continued to run, having been trained by his Dad, and enough of an inheritance that he was privately really a fairly rich man, though that was known to no one but himself.

The business, a manufacturing concern, was doing really well these days and David was living a life that was pretty fulfilling for him, despite living alone with his Rupert.

‘NO’ TO THE PLACE:

Once they had done their grocery shopping, with Emily now in the back seat with her pal Rupert again, simply enjoying herself, Linda gave him directions to where they lived.

It wasn’t really far away at all but it looked terrible. When he saw it, he was appalled. It was a smallish, trashy looking trailer in a fairly ratty kind of trailer park.

“Here,” she said, seeming a bit ashamed to admit it.

David simply followed his inclination at that point. It was a faculty that had helped him in business any number of times.

“No,” he said.

Linda only looked at him and said: “No? I don’t understand.”

“I mean only ‘no, not here, ‘“ he said. “Let me show you something.

“Mommie?” Emily asked from the back seat.

“It’s okay, love,” Linda said, turning and smiling at her daughter. “David just wants to show us something.”

He knew he was out on a limb now but she seemed to be giving him the benefit of the doubt.

He drove them back to his own house. It was his Momma’s pride and joy. It was big but then they liked big houses. It had a fully equipped side with the master facilities, library etc and another fully equipped side that had facilities for guests. When his Mom and Dad lived there with him, he had the guest side as his own, and, after their unfortunate accident, he simply arranged for selling off their stuff and moved into the master side of the house.

Between the master and guest sides there were common rooms: family room, workout room, living room, modern kitchen —-David loved to cook and updating the kitchen was a chore he simply enjoyed.

It was a large and lovely house.

Linda simply stared at him, as he pulled into the driveway and around the back, where the other white car was still in the garage.

“Here,” he said.

“Here?” Linda echoed, not sure.

“Let me show you please,” he said. “I apologize for seeming so ‘outspoken’,” he said. “I simply didn’t want to leave the two of you in that place.” He was turning a shade of red, as he said this. Linda noticed and it caused her to smile.

“Let me show you around,” he said, “We can do this, with you here until you get straightened out with a better place for the two of you.”

She was quiet but shook her head ‘yes’ to what he’d said.

He led them into the house then. To say that it was dazzling from its size and layout, especially in comparison to their small and beaten up trailer, would be to make an understatement.

“I want to point out,” he said, trying to get it in before Linda might object, “That there are two complete sides here. Over there is the master suite; that’s mine. Across here is the guest suite. It has four guest rooms and two of them have their own bathrooms, private bathrooms. And of course the whole house belongs to Rupert.”

The dog, when hearing his name, gave a loud bark and beat the floor with his tail. It made Emily giggle and Linda grin.

Linda was just staring around, amazed by the house. Emily was standing close to her Momma, not sure about what was really happening.

“I’d like to offer you the guest side for your own,” he said, and then held up a hand. “It’s how we’ll begin.”

“I know this is precipitous but I am a man who has always followed his best instincts and my best instincts now are telling me to do this. I don’t want to be scaring you or anything like that. I just want to help. Please let me,” he finished. He seemed completely flustered by what he was trying to do by the time he was finished.

“Momma?” Emily asked then, not sure what to do.

Linda, however, had made a quick decision. She went to David and put her arms around him. “You’re being a blessing is what you’re doing. We’ve been abandoned and on our own, struggling for a bit now and it hasn’t been getting any easier, until now that is.”

She held onto him and Emily joined in the hug. They opened their arms to allow her to join them in the hug.

“Are we going to live here, Momma?” Emily asked.

“Yes, sweetheart,” Linda replied. “We are for now. This side is going to be our side.”

“Goodie!” Emily said, jumping up and down now and clapping, getting a barking response from Rupert.

‘Here, let me show you the kitchen and pantries,” he said.

They followed him to the kitchen and Linda was, once again, reduced to silence by the loveliness of it.

“Let’s get the groceries,” he said. “Some of mine are still in the garage and yours are in the car.”

“Yes,” Linda said. “Forgive me but I am just trying to get my mind around how lovely this is and what you’re doing for us.” She was determined to take this offer, especially because of her concern for Emily.

She hugged him again, pressing herself against him. When the hug broke, as Emily, who’d been looking around the kitchen, came back, Linda said silently to him: “Felt good, that.”

He grinned at her.

They spent the next 45 minutes putting groceries away and giving Linda the chance to look the kitchen facilities over.

“Coffee? Tea?” he asked.

She opted for coffee and they sat down to have it and maybe talk a little bit.

As they were sitting, David said to Emily: “Have something to show you.”

He then got a very excited Emily set up on the Apple iPod that he had there.

He smiled at Linda, who was giving him a kind of joyful look, as he got Emily oriented.

“I have a few,” he said. “Partner in an Apple business,” he explained.

They told their stories then, as they had their coffee, with Emily having some milk and cookies.

They sat quietly for a moment, with Linda constantly glancing at him and smiling, as they drank their coffee.

“We were really abandoned,” she said softly, beginning to tear up.

He gave her a clean handkerchief and she went on with their story and the move here at the insistence of Emily’s father, who had left afterward and was never heard from again.

“Promised marriage,” Linda said. “Glad we didn’t make that mistake.”

“Family?” he asked.

“No, not really,” she said. “An aunt back east but that’s all. Never was very close to her though; didn’t really like her, bitchy kind of woman.”

He smiled.

“So here we are, and stealing groceries seemed to be the best idea that I could come up with. I’m sorry about that,” she said, wiping tears.

“But got my and Rupert’s attention,” he said with a smile.

“It simply doesn’t fit with my whole experience that I’ve, we’ve met someone as nice as you. It hasn’t been this way,” she said softly.

“Is now,” he replied.

“Yes,” she said, “Is now.”

She made a personal decision then and moved and went to sit on his lap, laying her head on his shoulder.

“Felt so nice before,” she said into his ear. “Feeling so nice now. It’s been so, so long but feeling so nice now.”

“Careful you’re getting me all excited,” he said with a grin.

“It’s how I’m feeling right now,” she went on. “As though this were what was really needed.”

She paused then and brushed his lips with hers.

“Forgive me if I’m forward,” she said. “I am so kind of under the influence of this right now.”

“Nothing to forgive,” he said. “Ms Gorgeousness.”

She giggled then: “Not Ms Gorgeousness at all but kind of used.”

“Well, I intend to get you back into gorgeous shape,” he said grinning.

She decided that she needed to think about this thing that was rushing so quickly and precipitously. He sensed her change of mood and they each sat opposite each other then.

“Tell me about you,” she said.

He spoke then about his Mom and Dad, about the business, which he was still running and growing up and finally inheriting this house.

“It’s extra lovely,” she said.

“And really big!” he said next.

She shook her head ‘yes’ to that.

“Needs some filling and refining,” he said, “Maybe you can help with that.”

He thought for a moment about all that was going on and said: “And it’s my turn now to apologize for making assumptions about you being here.”

Her answer was to kiss him.

They kissed and she clung to him, and only then noticed that Emily was standing in the doorway and watching them.

Both David and Linda opened their arms then and Emily streamed in their direction, followed by a very active Rupert. They all hugged for a bit.

“First, groceries away,” he said and they did that, with him showing her the cupboard spaces and all.

“Now we need to fetch your things,” he said, “From your place.”

“Not much, I’m afraid,” she said.

“We’ll shop and take care of that,” he said next to her. “We’ll plan to do that tomorrow, if you don’t mind.”

“I hardly know how to react,” she said.

“I’ll really try to take it slowly,” he said to her.

“Just continue to hold me,” she said to him. “It’s so reassuring.”

“And feels good,” he said. She grinned and agreed with that.

Once the groceries were away, he said to her: “Dinner? What would you like?”

“My Mommie’s a good cook,” Emily said, and Linda smiled.

“Well, how about if we plan dinner together?” he asked. “Rupert thinks I’m quite a cook myself.”

Rupert, at hearing his name, beat his tail against the floor.

They did it that way, with the two of them working on the dinner.

Linda was constantly aware of how shabby she looked; at least that was her notion. Their process had gotten harder and harder and she and Emily ended in the dreadful trailer with not much at all. That was why they, in desperation, were out and trying to steal David’s groceries in the first place.

They cooperated in the dinner cleanup, with Emily and Rupert off in another room.

“I feel so shabby,” she said to him.

“You’re gorgeous,” he said, “I am so struck by you and that lovely little girl.”

“Taking good care of us,” she said.

“And I intend to continue. We don’t need to make any decisions about the future. We’ll set things up in the present and get you all shiny and new. Shopping tomorrow,” he declared.

She clung to him again. “Don’t, don’t know what to say,” she said softly. “Never been this way.”

“Trying to not overwhelm you,” he said, reveling in the feeling of her against him.

For her part, Linda was enjoying the absolute solidity of him, as she leaned against him.

The thought went racing through his mind, as he felt her against him: thighs, pointy breasts. It’s all that he could do to keep from encasing her butt cheeks with his hands.

She looked up at him: “Know what you’re thinking!” she said.

“Shameful thoughts,” he admitted, grinning.

“Lovely thoughts,” she said. “Kind of reawakening a part of me that has been gone, dormant for such a long time. I like that.”

As she said this, she wiggled against him, pressing her advantage.

“Ohhh,” he said, “Make me have an accident.”

She giggled then and did it again.

“Okay,” he said finally, “Your things from that place.”

“Yes, things,” she said, “Just another moment of holding, and I promise not to wiggle.”

“Wiggle away,” he said. “I’m up to it.”