Epilogue

2030

Taylor Harriman looked over her shoulder and smiled at her husband. He was carrying their two-year-old son Carlton to their Lexus while she was carrying the monstrously large baby bag he needed. It was Jackson’s mother’s birthday, and they had gone home to celebrate with a dinner at his parent’s home. The entire family had been there, and it was nice enough, though Jackson’s older brother Randall had been an ass.

Randall had been drinking down in the family room with Jackson and their other brother Dennis. Dennis was also married, but Randall was working on his third divorce and spent much of the time blaming his ex-wives and current wife. He also kept warning Jackson and Dennis how they were going to end up just like him.

Taylor had been listening from the top of the stairs when she heard her husband speak up. “Randy, first you had trouble with Christine, then you had trouble with Celia, and now you have trouble with Margie. You know what the common link is? It’s you! You’re just an asshole!”

Dennis popped up next. “Yeah. Maybe if you weren’t a drunk and a gambler you might keep a woman around more than a few years. As it is, once they get to know you, they realize just how big a mistake they’ve made.”

Randall wasn’t having any of it. “You can both go fuck yourselves.” Then he sat down on the couch, finished his drink, and fell asleep. The rest of the family left him there during dinner and dessert.

Jackson spoke to his wife later when Randall began snoring. “I’m sorry, babe. He’s always been an asshole.”

She smiled and said, “Don’t be sorry. He’s not your problem, and from the sound of things, he’s not going to be Margie’s problem either. That’s too bad, too, since I like her.”

Jackson grinned. “He’s on his third ex-wife and I’m still working on my first.”

“You really don’t want to go there! Just for that, you are on diaper duty for a week!”

“Oooh! That qualifies as mental cruelty!”

Taylor snorted and smiled at her husband. That wasn’t going to be a problem. It seemed to her that she loved him even more now than when they got married.

At the end of the evening, when Randall began stirring alive, they decided to head back home. It was a forty-five-minute drive, and while it was dark, the weather was good, and the roads were clear and dry. Jackson loaded Carlton in his car seat in the back and then stepped back. Taylor put the baby bag in, double-checked their son, and then climbed into the passenger seat. Jackson went around and got in the driver’s seat and started the car. It was time to head home.

Taylor looked at her husband and smiled. Jackson was a good man, and she remembered what that woman on their honeymoon cruise had said to her. “There’s not enough good men in the world, so when you find one, do whatever it takes to keep him.” God knows, after seeing Jackson’s older brother, Randall, she had to agree that they weren’t all good. What was her name ... Judy! Taylor couldn’t remember her last name, but she was an older woman and very plain spoken ... and funny!

She remembered so much of what Judy had told her. She had been happily married forty lusty years and very frankly told Taylor some of her hard-won wisdom. For instance, “Everybody says that a woman can have it all. She can have the perfect family life and the perfect professional life. Nuts! Nobody can have it all, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a lot. Not even guys can have it all, and they don’t bear children. Concentrate on your husband and children and let the rest of the world do its thing. Nobody has ever been on their deathbed complaining they wished they’d had just one more day at the office.” After seeing some of what her counterparts at Delta went through, she couldn’t agree more.

Another thing Judy had told her was to make sure she took care of herself physically. She told how she had gained five pounds after each of her three children, but she never worried about it. She wasn’t a teenager anymore. So she put on fifteen pounds? So what? It was more important to stay healthy. Judy had stayed active and kept her hourglass figure, just with a little more sand top and bottom. Her husband had certainly seemed attracted to her, even with them both in their sixties. When Taylor and Jackson decided to have a baby, Taylor had joined a local gym. She didn’t try to keep her weight where it had been before the pregnancy. She just tried to stay active and healthy, both for herself and the baby. Her hips were an inch or two broader, and her bras were a cup size larger, but Jackson wasn’t complaining.

Finally, she made sure that their sex lives stayed good. Yes, Carlton took up time and energy, but he wasn’t the only male in her life. Jackson was just as important, and he at least provided her with orgasms! As soon as their son started sleeping all night, Taylor took his father to bed and kept him up all night in a much more pleasant way. She made certain Jackson knew that she enjoyed his cock as much as before she had a baby.

Taylor looked back at her son, and he was sound asleep. She reached over and took her husband’s hand. He looked at her and she smiled. “I love you.” she said.

“I love you, too.” Then Jackson grinned at her and said, “Take off your bra.”

She protested, “Jackson!” but it wasn’t a very harsh protest. It wasn’t like he hadn’t asked this before, and she almost always agreed. “Just pay attention to the road.”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

Taylor looked outside but all she could see was darkness. Nobody would see her, and she smiled. She had worn a very pretty black and gold dress to the birthday dinner. It wasn’t new, but she couldn’t remember wearing it to a family function before. It had a U-neckline that showed some cleavage and was made from a stretchy black fabric with a stretchy black and gold lace over that. Below her bust, it was black satin with gold stitching and ended three inches above her knees. Jackson liked her to wear it, and he really liked it when she wore it with stockings and not pantyhose. That really wasn’t an option when having dinner with her mother-in-law.

Taylor pulled the stretchy top down below her breasts and reached behind her. She had worn a strapless bra, so she unhooked it and pulled it off. She debated tossing it in the back, but she’d probably hit Carlton and wake him up. She tossed it on the floor at her feet and pulled her top back up.

“Did I say anything about pulling your top up?” said Jackson.

“Just you watch the road.”

“And lose the pantyhose and panties.”

“You don’t ask for much, do you!” Taylor groaned as she contemplated what she needed to do. In addition to the pantyhose, she was wearing ankle-strapped high heels. She would need to take them off before she ever took off her pantyhose and panties. In addition, if she took off her seat belt to make it easier, the alarm would go off and wake the baby! She bent over and began unbuckling her shoes. She slipped them off and looked around, finding they were almost halfway home.

To remove her pantyhose and panties, she had to take off her seat belt. She lifted her butt off the seat and hurriedly pulled her dress up to her waist. Jackson looked over and smiled. His wife groaned at him and peeled off what was left, before dropping back down and scrambling for the seat belt. “Happy?” she asked.

“Getting there. Now put your shoes back on.”

Taylor groaned again. “You are pushing your luck! If I’d known we were going to play this game, I’d have worn pumps.”

Jackson laughed and reached over to fondle her left breast and tweak her nipple. Taylor moaned as he touched her and then bent over to look for her shoes and put them back on. “Satisfied?”

“I will be.” he teased. “Touch yourself.”

Taylor looked outside and saw they were only ten minutes or so from home. She put the seat back as far as she could and reached between her legs while Jackson continued to touch her breasts. Part of the problem with touching herself was the same as it was with removing her pantyhose. She was almost six months pregnant! The loose nature of the dress’s skirt, which normally gave it a flirty appearance, worked to give her a sexy look even though she was knocked up. She whimpered as her first orgasm swept over her.

When they pulled into their driveway, Taylor pulled her top up and tried to look like she wasn’t a wanton slut about to screw her husband to death. She got out of the car and grabbed her underwear and hosiery and stuffed it in the baby bag. Then she went up the walkway with Jackson carrying their son. When they got inside, he whispered to her, “Don’t change.”

She smiled. “I already figured that part out.” Carlton was carefully deposited in his crib, and they quietly backed out of the room. “I need the bathroom. I’m peeing for two!”

Jackson nodded and let his wife head down the hall of their rancher to the master bedroom, while he used the bathroom off the kitchen. He stopped and grabbed a bottle of chardonnay from the wine cabinet and used a corkscrew on the kitchen island to open it. Taylor joined him when she came back from the bathroom. He noted that she had touched up her hair and makeup. “God, you look beautiful.” he said.

“Thank you. I can share this with you, but that’s it. I’m back on the wagon tomorrow.”

Jackson nodded. Taylor was very good about avoiding booze, but she’d had some wine with their dinner already. He pulled down a pair of wine glasses from the overhead rack and took them into the living room, with Taylor following. He set them on his end table and sat down in his La-Z-Boy. Then he patted his knee, and his wife settled onto his lap, sitting sideways. She held the glasses as he poured the wine and set the bottle down. She handed him his glass. “What are we drinking to?” she asked.