Chapter 1

[Jack writes]

Next week, Sandy and I will celebrate our second anniversary. Our time together has been at least as good as I could have imagined. Sandy says that she loves me as much as ever and maybe more. I know that I love her more. I still keep finding out new things about her that delight me. Our lovemaking is as frequent and uninhibited as ever. Knowing each other better helps us to do things that please the other more. We still run and shower together. That may get old some day but it doesn't seem to be close to that time yet. We spend almost all our time together and that's always a pleasure.

Two months ago, we took and passed our Extra tests for ham radio. We had mounted a HF radio in the convertible and made many contacts as we traveled in the past almost two years. Traveling or not, we try to meet with Dad, Mom, Bert, and others just after breakfast our time. We have just had our new call signs confirmed via QRZ as NJ4SN for Sandy and NJ4JN for me. We are in the "4" region and wanted very similar calls. It took some looking to find these. When we applied, we got them both. We are still getting used to them.

We have also found that we love camping together. The first summer, we toured the northeastern United States and eastern Canada avoiding the heat and humidity of middle Georgia's summer. The Icom 7000 radio in the car with a long black antenna called a ham stick mounted on the rear deck did a good job of transmitting and receiving. You change out the black part of the antenna for different bands. It felt big on the car and made our traveling as hams very obvious. For VHF and UHF, we had mounted a dual band antenna also on the rear deck. When camping, we frequently would put up a wire inverted "v" antenna for HF. We have helped many county chasers while we traveled and had become well-known on 7.188 MHz as a mobile couple. Our trips were slow and lazy giving us a great opportunity to cover all the new ground thoroughly. Our traveling is always great fun. We have met new people, finding that campers are great people. We also met in person many of the hams who we had met on the air.

We still own both condos. When we're in town, we live in the one that had been Sandy's.

We're still loaning mine to my daughter though not for much longer. She is to marry Mark in two weeks. Sandy will be her matron of honor and Mark's brother, Ed, will be his best man. Pam and John will be attendants. I will give away the bride. We were a little surprised at the long wait but Pam explained that it was work. There were rules about co-workers even dating. Their boss, Ron, wanted to be prepared from his position before they married and the relationship could no longer be disguised.

Pam is very pregnant. She and John will make us grandparents in another six weeks. We're staying in town until after the baby is born. That will be the longest single time for us to be home since we married.

My former wife had moved to Texas after the house sold. We would hear a little bit about her through John and Becky. She seemed to be making a new life for herself out there until around six months ago. According to Becky, she will be in town for the wedding and is not doing as well as before. We have no details. It worries me but I stay out of her life.

Becky reports that she plans to return for the birth of our grandson also. I have explained to both John and Becky that I have no desire to even see her though know it's not possible to totally avoid her. After talking with Becky and Mark, Reverend Robert, and Sandy, I will walk Becky down the aisle but there will be no formal "giving away" of the bride. I will not sit with my ex either. I will sit back with my family who will be there in force. I haven't been in touch with my ex's family since the divorce and have made no attempt either. Becky is handling all of that. I have met Mark's parents and they are great people.

We are having fun getting the kinks out of the condo and establishing a routine again. Sandy has been teaching me to cook on a more sophisticated scale than I had ever known before other than as an end-user! It's fun to cook with Sandy because of the rewards for doing well! So far, we haven't burned anything.

We have also maintained close contact with Chastity and Gretchen. After talking to Sandy about it at length, we will offer them a chance to rent my condo at a rate that is lower than their apartment. Both have reached the point where I am no longer a target for their affections. I am now a pseudo-dad to both of them, particularly Gretchen. It took them a while to emotionally realize that my only romantic involvement was ever going to be with Sandy. Strangely enough, it took Gretchen longer to reach that point though I am now solidly on board with her. They both run with us frequently when we're in town. I am Poppa Jack and Sandy is Sandy Mom to them. Gretchen occasionally doesn't use our names and we're just Poppa and Mom. That's okay with us. She is a lovely young woman.

Everything of mine that we want except for the camper is now in our condo. We had switched some furniture and moved Sandy's painting that I had framed into our living room.

Sandy continues to paint and sells her paintings regularly through Ben and his frame shop. He has shown her paintings through some of his connections and even sold a number that way. One of the trips while we are in town will be to see him. We sometimes have supper with him and his wife, Teresa.

Church is doing fine and I have filled in for Don as Sunday school teacher a number of times. No one has thrown anything so I guess it has gone okay.

We celebrated our anniversary quietly but very enjoyably going out to dinner and dancing during the week. Sandy wore her wedding dress that she had modified. It looks very sexy on her. We enjoy the looks she gets from guys half her age. She was returning from the ladies' room when a young man tried to pick her up. She looked at him and smiled, "I'm sorry. I'm here celebrating my anniversary with my husband. We're about to be grandparents."

"Wow! You look barely old enough to be a mother, much less a grandmother!" She gave him a hug, kissed his cheek, and thanked him. It made her night and she made mine!

On the next weekend, we had an anniversary party with my children and our foster children. They liked being called our love children usually adding a wink and a smile. It was all in good fun but did get us an occasional funny look.

Now, it's time for a wedding! The two weeks flew by! Becky's, Pam's, and Sandy's dresses were all made by my wife. My shirts were now mostly all originals by her also. Becky is learning to sew and has become good on outfits made from patterns. Making something from scratch or, more usually, a picture is still beyond her. I have watched Sandy cut out a new dress without a pattern. It's an act of creation that is awesome.

Becky had decided upon blue as the bride's color and her gown was a lovely shade of light blue. Her gown emphasized her bust more than dresses Sandy usually made. I mentioned that to Sandy. She said, "Becky has a very nice bust and it's possibly the best part of her figure. She's right to emphasize it in a tasteful manner."

"What do you consider your best part?"

"Legs and butt. That's why my skirts are a bit short and fairly tight."

"Well, your gown looks great and it's the same pattern as Becky's, isn't it?"

"It's the same pattern but it fits my body with less cleavage and it's a little tighter over my bottom."

"It's such a delectable bottom, too!"

Laughing, we went out the door to the car and I drove us to church. It was a beautiful but chilly Saturday afternoon so the top was up. A late season cold front had gone through the day before leaving the air clear but unseasonably chilled. When I pulled in at the church, I went around to open the door for Sandy. She said, "Thanks for leaving the top up today."

"It's chilly. We have plenty of opportunities to ride with the top down." Holding hands and smiling, we went into the church. Once inside, the first person we saw was my ex. There was no way to avoid her. Keeping Sandy's hand in mine, we walked up.

She said, "Hello, Jack." She was using her sexy voice but looked bad.

I wondered what was going on. I said without emotion, "Hello, Mavis." I made to continue toward others at the church.

She said, "Jack, aren't you going to seat me? I'm the mother of the bride."

Chapter 2 »