Chapter 7

Bill began having dinner with Annie and Caleb two or three time a week. Two nights after the big confession, he spent an hour with the boy helping him with the rigging on the model ship. It was close to being finished. Caleb would have done anything to get back into the man's good graces, and wound up hovering to the point Bill had to verbally nudge him away from time to time.

He and Annie went out the next three Saturday nights to dinner and a movie, or dancing at the Elk's Club. It was apparent to anyone who saw them together that they were probably destined for the altar. It was certainly apparent to Caleb.

He seemed to be handling it well. Annie spending so much time with the man was still hard for him to accept emotionally, but he knew in his mind that her attraction to Mr. Simpson was a good thing and that he had no right to resent it. Even so, if they were late getting home, his imagination would run wild and he'd picture them doing all the things he did with her, then he'd have to suppress his jealousy all over again. Sometimes he thought he'd go crazy, juggling all the conflicting emotions.

One night the first week of August, they were very late getting home. In fact, it was well after midnight and Caleb had fallen asleep on the couch. He tried reading but the later the hour got, the more his imagination ruled and the more he was certain they'd taken that inevitable step in their relationship. He figured he'd be able to tell by the looks on their faces when they walked in the door, so he did his damnedest to wait up for them, but he conked out a half hour before they got home.

Bill had already left for home when Annie rousted Caleb from the couch and told him he should go to bed. He was too dopey from sleep to ask any questions; in fact, the next morning, he didn't even remember her waking him.

But he correctly guessed from her airy demeanor at breakfast that something big had happened. He shoveled a big spoonful of Post Toasties into his mouth and chewed it up as he watched her flitting around the kitchen like a faerie. He couldn't resist pointing out, "You sure were late gettin' home!"

She just smiled and agreed with him, "Yes, we were, weren't we? I hope you didn't worry about us."

"No. I'm just sayin'..."

She'd been thinking all morning about how they were going to break the news. She knew they'd have to choose their words carefully when the time came. That should be in about another hour, according to the clock on the wall. That's when Bill was going to come over.

They'd had a nice dinner before going dancing at the Elks lodge. There, they had a few drinks and worked up a light sweat on the dance floor. Bill wasn't much for fast dances like the jitterbug, but for Annie's sake, he made a valiant effort. Fortunately, there were plenty of slow dances for him to reclaim his dignity.

After a couple of hours of moving around the dance floor, Bill suggested a drive out to the lake to enjoy the rest of the warm summer evening. They were surprised to see the parking area deserted since that was a favorite make-out spot for those hoping to steam up some car windows. Maybe the movie hadn't let out yet.

They got out and walked along the lakeshore, his arm around her waist. They talked about this and that, just enjoying each other's company. About half way around the lake, they were strolling past a lakefront cabin when he steered her right up to the porch and took a key out of his pocket.

"I take it you have the owner's permission to be here," she asked with a little laugh.

"I certainly do. I'm the owner."

"Really! I didn't know you had another house."

"It's not much, but it's comfy and cozy and I love spending quiet time here whenever I can get away from the office. I happen to know there's a bottle of that pinot noir you like so much in the kitchen cabinet. Would you care for a glass?"

"I'd love one. How sweet of you to remember."

He ushered her inside and turned on a small lamp with a dim bulb next to an old, overstuffed couch.

"Hungry?" he asked. "I could whip us up a cheese omelette."

"No, I'm still full from dinner, but I'm ready for some of that wine."

"Coming right up."

She kicked off her shoes, sat on - rather, in - the couch and propped her tired feet on the pinewood coffee table as Bill uncorked the wine and filled two stemmed glasses halfway to the top. He sat next to her and lifted his glass for a toast. "Here's to us!"

"To us!" Annie repeated as they clinked glasses and took a sip. "Mmm, this is so good! Thank you."

In response, he leaned in for a kiss, held it for a long time, then took her glass and set it on the coffee table beside his. The next kiss was serious, with arms around bodies and mouths open and tongues dueling. When they broke, Annie looked at him with her sparkly green eyes and gasped, "Wow, you know how to get a girl's attention, don't you?"

"I'm hoping to get more than her attention. I'm hoping to get the whole girl." He leaned in like he was going for a repeat kiss, but instead, leaned past her and pushed his hand down between the cushion and the arm of the couch. He brought out a little velvet-covered box, slid off the couch onto his knees, opened the little box revealing a ring sporting a substantial rock, and asked, "Annie, will you marry me?"

Just that fast!

She was caught totally off guard. At first, her eyebrows knitted and she looked at him like she wasn't sure what he'd just asked. The silence lasted so long that he thought he'd made a terrible miscalculation. He started to slide his butt back onto the couch, thinking of some way to recover from this embarrassing gaffe, and that's when she threw her arms around his neck and practically screamed "Yes! Yes! Yes, I will!"

"Whew!" he exhaled, "For a minute there, I thought I'd made a complete ass of myself!"

"It's just that I'm so surprised! I mean, I was hoping you'd get around to this, but I never realized it was so close." She hugged his neck again and gushed, "Oh, I do love you so, Bill Simpson!"

He felt a grin spread across his face and some rapid growth in his underwear. "Annie, you don't know how long I've been hoping for this moment. I've lusted after you since before you married Jerry. I never believed it would ever happen."

She held his face in her hands and looked into his eyes. "Bill, would you make love to me? Right now? Right here on this couch?"

In response, he reached around and started unbuttoning the tiny buttons down the back of her silk blouse. For the next minute, it was a mad scramble to shed every single item of clothing. Neither was disappointed with what they saw.

Bill was stiff and Annie was wet and neither had any thoughts of foreplay. Their need was too urgent. He guided her onto her back on the cushions, moved between her legs and entered her. It was the moment they'd both been craving for weeks. Once they were joined, the mad rush came to an end. They moved against each other slowly, softly, gently, savoring the delicious sensations, adoring the look of rapture on each other's faces.

He was absolutely intent on bringing her to orgasm, and refused to allow his passion to rush him. Several times during their lovemaking, he felt himself getting close, but each time, he was able to stop moving long enough to recover. But the moment he felt the telltale tremble of her body, and heard her gasp, "Oh my god!", he unleashed his pent up lust and powered into her with long, deep strokes, ending in his own epic eruption.

Their first joining was everything they'd dreamed it might be. The second was even better.

Later, as they walked back to the car, Annie brought up the question that had to be on both their minds; how to tell Caleb.

Bill gave her waist a squeeze and said, "I've been giving it a lot of thought, just in case you said 'yes'. Why don't you hold off telling him until we're both there? I can come over in the morning and we can all sit down and talk about it. No doubt, he's going to have some mixed emotions, but I think I have a way to make him want it to happen."

"I sure hope so, because I'm feeling pretty edgy about breaking the news to him. I know he's making progress, but he still has some pretty childish notions about our relationship. Oh, I know he'll pretend to be happy for us, but I'm afraid that on the inside, he's still going to see your gain as his loss. What do you have in mind?"

"Um, let me work on it. Is nine o'clock to early for me to come over?"

Caleb carried his bowl and spoon to the sink to rinse them out. "I think I'll go ride my bike for a while."

Annie glanced at the clock again and said, "Don't be gone too long, honey. I need you to be back in about an hour, OK?"

"What for?"

"You'll see. It's important."

"Um, I can just wait around if you want, read or somethin'."

"No, no, go ahead and ride your bike. You should be out in the sunshine on a nice day like this. Just be back in an hour."

"OK." He headed out the door wondering what was up.

He was on his third run to the highway when Bill Simpson's Buick passed him going toward the house and honked. Caleb turned the bike around and followed. When he walked in the door, Bill and Annie were having coffee at the kitchen table.

He sat across from them and asked, "Can I - er - may I have some coffee?"

"You may. Then Bill and I have something we want to talk to you about."

By that time, Caleb already had a pretty good idea what it was about, but he didn't hazard any guesses out loud. After he was seated and had made his coffee pale and sweet, Bill took the lead. "Caleb, do you have any recollection of your father?"