Chapter 13: A Deepening Relationship

The next two weeks were busy. We won a medium-sized account but lost a slightly bigger one. I visited the customer in Sydney, but I could not convince him to stay with us. His argument was that the competitor had a lower price. I showed him that just the change from one system to the other and the re-programming of practically all software was more expensive (and significantly so) than the reduction in the cost of equipment. It didn’t help, and I wished him good luck. Later I found out that money had changed hands, and when he came back grovelling he had to pay dearly.

Our proposal to NT came along nicely and I was proud of our people; especially what Jim had done. What had been a Hail Mary pitch had turned into a very decent business proposal, and if NT were to accept it the deal would become a shiny feather in our cap. My boss approved the proposal document and set a few limits on what I could negotiate. The CEO, Sir Allan Moise, was smiling and satisfied - after all, there was finally some real new business coming in - and I asked my people to set up another meeting.

My relationship with Maureen was wonderful and painful. Wonderful, because when talking at night, we saw how close we were in soul and heart. Painful, because we saw how far we were from each other in physical distance. I told her of the upcoming presentation to NT and even at long distance I heard the glee in her voice.

“Leave it to me, darling.” was all she said.

I had tried to make the presentation as soon as possible, but there were some inexplicable obstacles, and when the date was set I saw Maureen’s hand in it. A Friday morning!

We flew to Brisbane on Thursday afternoon and met our local colleagues for dinner and rehearsal. They had been involved in the planning, were happy with the proposal and were looking forward to the meeting. Maureen called me at night and wished me goodnight, telling me that tomorrow I could give my goodnight kisses on the appropriate places. She had also already prepared her bedroom for my visit. When I asked what her mother had said to this, she just told me, “I didn’t ask.”

Off we went in the morning to the meeting at NT. The receptionist was friendly, rather pretty and served tea while we waited the obligatory ten minutes. Then we were ushered into the Board Room, austere like the rest of the building, where four directors of the company were waiting. Everyone introduced themselves and then Eileen walked in. Actually, it was not Eileen, but Mrs. Monahan. She had dressed again in a severe business suit, elegant and impressive. She definitively was a stunning beauty when she wanted to be, and she seemed to want this all the time. Maureen was not yet in her class; after all, she was only half the age of her mother, but she would never be outclassed.

“Mr. Winter, thank you for coming for this presentation. I believe that you have been introduced to my friends and I remember you and your colleagues from the last meeting. I also have been told that you have other commitments this afternoon, so it might be a good idea to begin.”

She said this with a friendly, but decisive voice and I could not help comparing the executive before me with the woman that had walked topless in front of me two weeks ago. What a difference - and what a stupid thing to think about at this moment!

“Mrs. Monahan, thank you for inviting us once more. We spent a lot of time on this proposal, and you will see that it has improved significantly. I’d also like to thank your people who gave us input where we needed it. We believe that it’ll show you that there is a great future for your company, not only in this region, but all over the country. You will be a real Nationwide Transport, and you will make life for your competitors rather unpleasant.”

And then I went into my presentation. It went well - points were raised, questions were answered, doubts were resolved. At the end, we looked at her and I said, “This is the proposal we can make to NT. It will require you to make some major moves in reorganizing your company, and we believe that everything you might require to make your decision is included in the document I have handed over now, but if there were anything you still need to come to a decision, we are at your disposal.”

And to my surprise, the negotiations started immediately. What support would we give in case something went wrong? What warranties were we willing to give for performance? Who in my company would be the contact point?

And on and on it went, until I finally got up and said, “Mrs. Monahan, we have given you our final proposal. I believe we are wasting your time discussing these details now. May I suggest that you have your staff study the document and if there are any unanswered questions left, we could arrange another meeting. This doesn’t seem the right moment to discuss half a system analyst’s time for seven days - we are talking about strategy decisions.”

She looked at me with a funny kind of smile and, to everyone’s surprise, agreed.

“You are right, Mr. Winter. Let us look at the proposal once more within NT, and we will advise you not later than Thursday about our decision. By the way, my secretary advised me that somebody called and advanced your afternoon meeting to one pm, and you will be picked up at the hotel. I had planned to offer you lunch, but I understand your meeting is urgent. So perhaps your colleagues will accept to have lunch with me and my staff. We will certainly meet again, and I can repeat my offer then.”

I didn’t know about any afternoon urgent meeting but could imagine who had organised this - I just marveled that her mother had agreed. So, I thanked her again, praised her staff for the wonderful cooperation they had given us, told my people to enjoy lunch and that I would see them in Sydney and left to get to the hotel.

When I walked into the lobby, there she was, dressed in a conservative white blouse and dark blue skirt (but there were two faint points in her blouse that told me everything), and wearing the ring I had given her. She embraced me chastely - a kiss on my cheeks. In a low voice she told me to hurry. “Wait until I get you home! There are some people here I know and I don’t want to start any rumors. Pay your bill and get into the car!”

Picking up my things, I did as I was told and we walked to her car. I helped her in and when I sat down on the passenger side, she roared off. She drove for a short while, turned into a small side street lined with trees and turned off the engine. “Now, my love, I can give you a decent kiss.”

She did so with great enthusiasm and my response was not far behind. Then she sighed and took my hands and placed them on her breasts. “These missed you so much, you can’t imagine. Hold them and kiss me again.”

It took us some time to come up for breath again and she said that her immediate desire had been diminished, but not quenched. So off we went to her mother’s house, where she took me directly to her bedroom.

It was pretty and full of light streaming in from the two windows looking out to the garden. There were the feminine touches - colourful cushions on the white linen on her bed, a sideboard with a photo showing us sitting in Luigi’s restaurant (with the Grange bottle placed prominently on the table), lots of books on two teak shelves, a comfortable easy chair before the sideboard, and the big poster of ‘Norma’ on the wall

In the middle of her bed sat a big stuffed teddy bear, visibly old, loved, and used.

“James, you remember Mr. Bear. He’s been with me since I was a child, and during the past few years, he was the only comfort I had.”

She handed him to me, and I held him close. I kissed his forehead and handed him back to Maureen. She looked at him, at me, and back at him.

There was a serving tray with sandwiches and a bottle of sparkling wine beside the chair, but she ignored it. She turned to me and slowly opened one button after the other on her blouse until it was completely open.

“Will you help me, darling?”

Turning around, she asked me to open the clasp of her bra. Letting the blouse and the bra fall to the floor, she embraced me tightly. Then she slowly opened the zipper on her skirt and pushed it down, leaving only a tiny little G-string hiding her pussy. Then she started on my clothes, and in a few seconds I was standing before her, completely nude. She took me by my now erect shaft, led me to the bed and lay down.

“Take me now, my love! I want to be yours! I missed you so much!”

I pulled the G-string down and looked at her from her luscious red hair to her smiling lips and her huge golden-green eyes, her heaving breasts with the puffy areolae, her open legs asking me to come in, and her face smiling contentedly. I was where I belonged, in the arms of my love and ready to love her. I pushed forward and placed the tip of my penis to her opening, and she widened the spread of her legs even more. She was wet all over and as my shaft was eager to be within her, it needed only one push and I slipped in - I was in heaven again! I loved her gently at first, but she wanted more, so I increased my speed and force. Suddenly, she heaved up and pulled me in with all her force, and following her lead, we both exploded at the same moment. She had said that she wanted to be filled up and she definitively was now.

After a while, my penis slipped out and a gush of our liquids followed. She rolled over, covering me, smiled and said, “Now this is what I call a hello-and-be-welcome greeting! Let’s do it again.”

She looked at my shaft, now somewhat reduced in size, and mumbled that something wasn’t right. She shifted down and looked at it more closely.

“I remember you, darling, but you were much larger the last time I saw you. What happened? Do you need some tender loving care?”

She touched my penis gently and started to rub it, still covered in our juices. It seemed to wake up and wanted to say hello to her. “Hello to you,” she seemed to reply and gave the tip a kiss. This made my shaft wake up completely and ask for the complete treatment. She didn’t hesitate and engulfed it in her mouth, massaging the shaft and the tip with her lips and her tongue.

Suddenly she sucked it in deeply and my penis commanded a deeper pleasure, to which she agreed. She sat up, reached down to our joined body, and directed my penis right back to her opening. There was no hesitation at all now and I rammed it in. She moaned and sank down on my chest, pushing me further into her. I embraced her tightly and felt her shudder when she came, and that made me come also. She stayed in my arms for a while, moving a little on my penis and prolonging the pleasure.

“Well, I needed this urgently, and it seems you needed it too. By the way, how was your day?”

I stared at her, not believing the change of subject, but there she was, still on top of me with me inside her, and asking how my day went?

“Do you want details or are summaries sufficient? The presentation to your mother went well...” and I started to move again. She closed her eyes and mumbled that this was unfair but continued to move with me. I put my hands on her breasts and started to twirl her nipples between my fingers. Remembering that she was very sensitive there and moving up a bit more, I sucked one breast into my mouth and massaged the other one with my hand. Now she whispered, “This is definitively unfair, love, but continue, please!”

When I bit down gently on one nipple and pulled the other one out a bit, she shuddered and came again.

“Please, James, just lie with me for a while and hold me tight. My urgent need is satisfied at least for the moment, and now I need your love, your arms around me, protecting me, your heart caring for mine, and your body close to mine.”

After a while she looked at the watch and said, surprised, “It’s already 4:30. We must have slept a while without realizing it. Get up, Mother must be waiting!”

We had a quick shower with no fooling around, and changed into comfortable clothes. Maureen wore a blouse tied beneath her breasts and white tennis shorts, showing a lot of skin in between. Coming down to the sitting room, we saw Eileen sitting there reading a book. Eileen had also changed into some white shorts and a silk blouse, transparent enough to show most of her lacy bra.

She looked at her watch.

“Mr. Winter, how was your one o’clock meeting? Was everything satisfactory? Did you get what you wanted? Any complaints about the service?”

Maureen blushed deeply and responded that I had received everything I wanted, and that she was even paid a bonus for her services. Then she blushed even more and ran into the kitchen.

I felt a bit uncomfortable myself but took my time greeting her. I bent down and kissed her on her cheek as well.

“Hello, Eileen, I missed you and it is wonderful to see you again, and this time in your personal world, away from business.” She smiled and took my head in her hands, pulling me down.

“James, welcome back to my home. I love to see you here!” Her kiss was an invitation to explore what she expected from me, and I enjoyed teasing her tongue. She agreed to play, and only a discreet cough reminded us that there was another person in the room. “Hello, Mom. Busy already?”

Eileen glanced at her. “Didn’t you say that we’re all family now, and that family can kiss each other?” Maureen nodded, but added that kissing was one thing, open seduction was another matter completely.

Eileen protested. “I wasn’t seducing him, just saying hello. However, if you are opening that door, may I come in, James?”

I wanted to get out of that discussion as fast as possible.

Maureen saw me floundering and decided to help. “Mom, I’ll make tea, but please behave while I’m out of the room!”

This gave me a chance to discuss a subject dear to me. Eileen got up, told me to wait a bit because she would help Maureen to prepare the tea. Apparently, in Australia, serious discussions require tea. After a few minutes they came back with the tea and some finger food. I recognised the service; it was a Rosenthal Red Rose tea service and I had seen it before in my grandmother’s home.

Eileen smiled when she saw me looking at the cups. She said, “You see, we already have some of the best German things in our house, James.”

Maureen laughed. “And I’m adding another good German thing to it!”

Now everyone smiled, but I had serious matters to discuss. I asked Eileen to sit down beside me and after the tea ceremony had finished, I started to speak.

“Eileen, I’ve told you before that when I saw Maureen for the first time, I thought that she was an obnoxious and rebellious girl, and her first remarks confirmed this. What raised my interest were first her huge, beautiful eyes and then the stubbornness she showed in the way she dismissed me. She was quite right, but it annoyed me, and I cannot refuse a challenge. So, I decided to show her how wrong she was, and when I left her that night at the hotel, I thought that ‘obnoxious’ could be replaced by ‘interesting’. The next day I added ‘pretty’ to her description. By the time she left Sydney I was seriously drawn into her net. When we met here in Brisbane, I added ‘beautiful’, ‘charming’ and ‘fascinating’ - I had fallen in love. Her second visit in Sydney did me in - there was no running away from her. I knew that it was not anymore just falling in love with a woman, but loving that woman, and that I wanted to be with her for the rest of my life. I asked her to marry me and to my intense joy, she agreed. Eileen, my courtship was like viewing a DVD in fast forward, but at no moment I felt wrong or sorry.”

I got up and went on my knees before her.

“Eileen, you are Maureen’s mother and I would like to ask your permission to marry her.”

She looked at me a bit stunned and then started to laugh, “James, I’m certain that nothing I could want or say would stop you from taking my daughter away. Remember what I told you about the blessing, or curse, in our family? She’s yours now, for better or for worse, and there is nothing I can do. So why ask me?”

“Eileen, darling, first you are her mother and I do not want to create any differences between us and you. We will have children in the future, and I want to have a grandmother for them who will help to educate them and perhaps even spoil them occasionally. Secondly, you are also a top businesswoman, intelligent and respected. You would be an example for our children. And last, but not least, you are a stunningly beautiful woman, and I want to please my eyes with you for a long, long time. I want us to be family, trusting each other. And if what you said about the blessing is true and I am the lord and master of my wife, I want you to make certain that I never will abuse that faith that Maureen has in me; I’m certain that you can and will tell me whenever I step out of line. Let me promise, however, one thing - and I always keep my promise - I will always keep Maureen safe and happy.”

She had stopped laughing and gazed at me for a long time.

“James, what I see in you and Maureen, is the same relationship that my husband and I had - love, happiness and trust. Actually, it’s quite cute to look at you two; there seems to exist no other person in the world outside of you. It’s charming, but please consider other people too. You gave me some background on your relationship with Maureen, let me tell you about my side.”

“When I realised what had happened with Maureen, I asked my people to investigate you; that was my duty as a mother. Professionally, you came out well - young, intelligent and a driving executive, ready to move upwards fast, respected by your colleagues. When it came to you as a person, there was practically nothing - reserved, quiet and no real friends. I was worried, but Maureen persuaded me to meet you and see for myself. James, you had changed Maureen from a rebellious and grungy girl...” Maureen protested, “I wasn’t grungy!”

Eileen laughed and repeated, “Grungy is the right word, my dear. Well, in any case, you changed the grungy girl to a happy woman, who came back to me as my daughter. That alone would have conquered me. The way you treated me, the respect you showed in the office and your class and elegance in my house, convinced me that you’re the man for Maureen. Yes, I gladly give you my permission to marry her. I also want to be a part of the family you described, and I promise that I shall be a good grandmother to your children.”

Maureen, who all this time had looked from Eileen to me and back as if she didn’t understand one word of the conversation, squealed, and kissed me. She then jumped up and kissed her mother too.

“Come here, James, give Mom a kiss; remember that you’re family now. Actually, give her another one since she stole the first one.”

Considering the subject and the semi-formality of the situation, I got up and gave Eileen a kiss on the cheek. Both she and Maureen looked at me and she asked, “Is that the best you can do?” So I kissed her lips chastely and Maureen stopped me.

“Do you remember what I said the last time? You can kiss Mother whenever you want or whenever she wants to kiss you, it doesn’t bother me. I know you, and I do know her. Let me show you what a real kiss is.” Then she kissed me, long and deep.

“Now go ahead and show Mom that you know better.”

I looked at her, asking for confirmation, and she nodded. There was a hint of what she had said during my last visit - that her mother needed attention, that she had been alone all those years without anyone to love or care for, and that Maureen wanted me to draw Eileen out of those years of sadness and grief. And who was I to reject kissing a beautiful woman?

I drew Eileen into my arms and kissed her deeply, with my tongue invading her mouth and my arm gliding down her back. She hesitated, but suddenly shrugged and leaned into me. She opened her mouth wide, inviting me in and her tongue battled with mine. She pressed herself against me, her breasts against my chest and I could feel her nipples hardening. We only stopped when we realised that we had to breathe. She looked at me and blushed, leaning her head on my shoulder. I looked at Maureen and she nodded and applauded smilingly, stepping close to me. We all stayed embraced and it was wonderful to feel the bodies of two wonderful women, their breasts thrusting into me, their hair tickling my nose, and both relaxed in my arms. They both looked at me and gave me little tender kisses on my face and my mouth. Their faces were the image of happiness and contentment.

At the end, I had to step back and I said that I wasn’t finished yet. I asked the two ladies to sit down again. Maureen didn’t wait for instructions though and plopped herself onto my lap. She moved around until she was comfortable and said I could go on now. Eileen had watched us smilingly, and I realised that in all my life I had never smiled so much or seen so much happiness. Maureen pulled my arm around her waist, telling me I could go farther up if I so wanted.