Chapter 16

Dana's turn:

Two weeks since our first trip out of town together. All sorts of things have happened.

First, Ed came home from work one day and announced that he and I were to have dinner with some people he met at work.

"You never asked me to do that before. What's different?"

"These are a couple of contractors. Husband and wife. Both engineers. I'm not telling you anything more than that. You need to see..." he told me.

"Uh..."

"You trust me, don't you?"

"Implicitly," I said.

Dinner was equivalent in my life to Alice falling down the rabbit hole.

We walked in and got a table for four. Ed got a call that they were in the parking lot. He told them that we were already at a table. When they walked in, I had to make a conscious effort for my jaw NOT to drop. I expected man and wife, per my Ed's descriptor. Okay, in view of me and Ed, I need to broaden that 'man and wife' thing, but he also said 'both engineers' and the girl I was looking at was either amazingly young-looking, or she was close to MY age and therefore the product of a rift in the universe.

That would be Nikki Granger. Oh, and her husband, Dan. Questions? You bet I had questions.

By the end of the evening we had something exciting going. It wasn't 'Ed and I are in love' exciting, but exciting in another manner. I didn't feel like I was an island in the sea of humanity. There are others who are in my position. I'm just finding out what the beginnings of the path may be. They're already down the path, exploring the side trails, enjoying the scenery that seems to be waiting around the next bend in the road.

By the end of the meal my mind was running like a marble in a blender. I walked to the car with Ed, carefully avoiding just reaching over and grabbing his hand. After all, he's MY Ed and holding his hand is a comfort thing for me. We got in the car.

"Well, were you surprised?" he queried me.

"That's almost you and me, baby," I told him. "I bet she was a shock to YOU, though."

"Uh, you can't imagine. I thought it was a trick at first, but baby, she KNOWS her stuff. Just dove in like she's been doing this as long as I have. Knows everything she needs and what we can provide and a list of the best ways to do it."

I had to say it. "They got married when she was FIFTEEN. Right here in THIS city. That redheaded girl they showed us – Cindy? Married at fourteen."

Ed knows exactly what I'm thinking. "If there was a way, baby, we'd do it."

"Seriously?" I asked. Deep down, I guess I still harbor some of Mom's characterizations of men who used her and dumped her.

"Seriously. Seeing Nikki and Dan together sort of cements the reality that what I feel for you is good and it's possible."

"Not insane and temporary?"

"Dana-cutie, I will spend my life loving you."

"I watched the way Dan and Nikki communicate. More than words, you know. I wonder if we're that obvious."

"We try not to be," he said.

"It's hard not to smile when I see you, Ed. You're the missing piece in my life."

"My sentiments too, little one."

We got home early enough for the two of us to have one of those wonderful 'not-too-quickies' followed by a mutual shower. Since I think it's counter-productive to shower and then change back into the clothes I wore all day, I slipped into a clean set of scrubs that I keep at Ed's, you know, just in case, and waited for Gramma to get home from her bridge club.

Waited. As in "Ed, sit in our recliner." And then I pulled out my iPad and we looked at the website Nikki had given me.

"Look!" I said to Ed as we both cuddled.

"Must be true," he laughed. "It's on the internet."

There it was, the company roster. And there in the middle of it was Dominique 'Nikki' Granger MSEE. And her picture. And her redheaded friend. She says 'sister'. Cynthia 'Cindy' Richards MSEE. And others. The site showed the office, some project shots, mostly, including one or two of their team in various industrial sites. It was just what one would expect of a company's website.

I caught the headlights of Gramma's car when she parked. I kissed Ed a little 'I love you' kiss as we climbed apart from each other and I met Gramma as she was walking up to her door.

"How was dinner?" Gramma asked.

"Let's get inside and I'll tell you," I said.

Gramma's used to me being happy. I think she sees it as an indication of the positives that arise from the relationship between me and Ed. I'm not one of the lovesick, morose, estrogen-addled teen girls. I see some of THOSE at school. Gramma and I have talked about it.

"You sound excited."

"I am," I said as I closed and locked the door behind us.

I helped her out of her coat and hung it in the hall closet. By the time I turned back around, she was sitting. "Okay, now I am ready to hear what might have my Dana at an elevated happiness level."

"I feel like one of the Wright brothers who just landed the Wright Flyer and looked up to see a fighter jet streak past overhead."

Gramma gave me a wry smile. "My love of language. I don't know how you inherited such a thing. What event produced those thoughts? You were having dinner with Ed and some people he works with."

"Gramma, one of the people was an eighteen year old girl with a master's in engineering. A MASTER'S! And she's in a doctoral program in physics."

"Eighteen? Must be quite unusual. I never actually saw one, but I have read of such."

"I met one," I said gleefully. "And there's a BUNCH of them!" I let my expression turn a bit serious. "Gramma, she's from near here, and she's been married since she was fifteen. The other person we met was her husband."

Gramma's not a bit slow on the uptake. "I take it that he's significantly older than her."

"Yes, ma'am," I said. "Twenty-something years."

Her turn to ease a little smile onto her face. "And this is significant in what way?"

"I'm going to be fifteen next month. Ed's not nearly twenty years older than me."

"Oh, I see ... and how did this happen?"

I related the story Nikki'd given me. "Judge Lanford did some legal maneuvers."

"Judge Lanford was one of my students when I first started teaching," Gramma said. "I've followed his career. I consider myself fortunate to have contributed in some small way."

"You know him?"

"We don't exactly meet for coffee every week, but I do know him. But Dana, you're not exactly an 'apples to apples' comparison. You said your friend Nikki had no relatives..."

"I don't think he did it just because she'd be on the street, homeless."

"The idea does give food for thought. However, you've known Ed as a close friend..."

I sort of cast my eyes downward. She saw it.

" ... and more, dear, for a month."

"Nikki decided they belonged together in less than a month, Gramma."

"Just as you seem to have decided, am I correct?"

"I will be Ed's wife."

"And Ed says..."

"I will be HIS wife. You and I have had this conversation."

"I know, dear. I still worry that one day you will turn into the kind of teen girl my friends describe to me."

"I never was that girl, Gramma. And why would I want to be? Life is almost perfect."

"What would make life perfect? Right now?"

I smiled. Let's see if this works. "If I was going to spend another night with Ed."

"It's not about sex, is it?"

"Heavens no, Gramma. It's about friends and interests and learning and experiencing ... It's about life!"

She glanced around her living room. Everything was in place. That's me, in the time between when I get home from school and when Ed shows up.

"See if Ed can stand another night of you, Dana."

I squealed. A quick text to Ed. His reply. Then I was across the alcove to his door.

"What brought this surprise?" he questioned.

"I'm surprised, too," I said. "I told Gramma about our evening and meeting Dan and Nikki and how they were married and how much I love you and that WE would be married. She brought up the question of if I wanted to spend the night here." I looked at my Ed. "You WANT me here, don't you?"

"Yes. Very much yes. But I don't want to upset your Gramma."

"She suggested it. I told her about Nikki and Judge Lanford. I'll bet you didn't know he was one of her students, did you?"

"I don't know anything about Judge Lanford."

"Well, Gramma does. But she popped onto the fact that Nikki had no known relations around and I have Gramma."

"That could be a factor."

"Question," I said, gaining a heightened level of attention from him. I do that to Ed. Stop him in the middle of something and he's totally mine.

He looked into my eyes. "Yes?"

"Why are we standing here talking when we could be in bed?"

"Because if I get you in bed, you KNOW what's gonna happen."

"I knowwww ... and it's a BAAAD thing, right?"

"You're a horrible little thing that leads me around by my nose..."

I giggled. "It's not your nose that's poking out the front of your PJs." I gave the protuberance a little squeeze.

"You know how to get to me."

"I think I do."

I guess it's the stupid condoms that make me want him to lick me and suck me and kiss me and bite me all over my pussy. I love the way it feels when he's inside me, but honestly, those few little moments when I got him in me without the condom, THOSE were different. I have determined based on my mere few weeks of experience that I like it ALL, but until I don't have to have the condoms, I will be very happy if we have intercourse once and he eats me senseless two or three more times.

I knew we were gonna do it. He knew we were gonna do it. So we did it. Stupid condoms and all. And the shower afterward, because we didn't want any lingering odor of lust. After that, it's in bed together, snuggled close, and it's cozy and we can talk.

"So you'd marry me right now if you could?" I asked him.

"That's what I said. Are YOU ready to be with the same old boring guy for the rest of your life?"

"Bore me to death," I giggled.

"Anyway, if I could, I would."

"I believe you."

"I'd have to be a fool to think that I could toy with a fourteen year old girl who could make ONE phone call and ruin my life forever."

"I'd die before I hurt you, Ed."

"Awfully serious talk for a little grey-eyed blonde girl..."

I giggled, touching THOSE places on him. "Who's naked in your bed."

"If you start that up, we're gonna need another shower..."

"One week. I have seven more pills and then my stupid period and then..."

"I hate condoms..." he said, knowing exactly what I was thinking.

"And we can be completely spontaneous and I can feel that thing splashing inside me."

"And I can feel that hot wet velvet..."

"Okay," I said. I could feel the wetness spreading between my thighs, along with that delicious heat. "You did it, buster. You need to eat me."