Chapter 51

Wednesday, Dec 27, 2028

“I think...”

I’d done a lot of thinking, most of the night. I hadn’t been able to sleep for thinking about Addie and Victoria’s Secret, wanting her to model a new maternity line, maybe even on TV, their annual special?

I was about to say ... but then thought better of it, “But what about you, sweet, do you want to do it? Really want to?”

She hesitated for a minute. We were still laying in bed, before the kids got up, were going to have another busy day. But first, this.

“I don’t want to leave the kids that long ... or you...”

She left a lot unsaid, but didn’t leave any doubt in my mind, the way she’d said that. “It’s an opportunity of a lifetime, you want to, don’t you?”

She nodded, her face almost in tears, “Yes,” was barely audible.

“I think then, you should do it,” I told her.

“The kids?”

A long-ago memory, I hadn’t thought about for years, but indelible, the kind of thing that’s always there, tucked away in the recesses of my mind since long before Adriana, “When I was a kid, around our kids’ age, maybe a little older, my dad had to go away for a long time. Know what I remember about it?”

It’s a rhetorical question, of course she doesn’t. “I don’t even remember him being gone, how long, where he was - nothing. I’m sure Mom prob’ly told me, but I don’t remember any of that. My only real memory of it was him coming home, how excited I was to see him. We drove to Boise and met him at the airport. I remember how excited I was on the trip, then running to Dad when I saw him.”

Addie was watching me intently, getting the gist of the story. “It’ll be a month, maybe two at the most. They won’t like it, neither will I. But like me when I was little, their lasting memory will be Mommy coming home, not the time you’re gone ... they’ll be okay. I’ll be okay.”

Addie was quiet, so I went on, “And the stores, you have good managers, they’ll be fine for a couple months...”

She kissed me, tears in her eyes, “You’re wonderful, you know that?”

I guessed the decision had been made, “When will you leave?” I asked her.

She frowned, “That’s a little problem. Tawns said they’d want me there Tuesday morning, so I’ll have to leave on the first.”

I frowned, New Year’s Day, day after Nicki’s wedding. “Guess we better get you an airline ticket, huh?”

She nodded. “Something else, too ... I’m going to call Nick, tell him it’s over. I don’t see how it can’t be, I’ll be gone almost till the baby’s born.”

That’s going to be hard for her. I know, just from my recent experience with Ginger. “How’s he going to take that ... guess the better question is how are you going to?”

She looked nearly in tears, “I’m going to miss him, I like him ... a lot.”

“Friends ... think you and him can just be friends?”

“I don’t know ... it’s going to be so hard.” Yeah, I’ve seen her with him. It’s been pretty damned hot.

“I think...” I started to say, pausing to think, “while you’re gone, we both need to be good ... except,” with a smile on my face, “when I can go visit ... then we be really nasty. Together.”

Addie smiled back at me, “You sure? I was going to suggest to Kayla...”

“No,” I interrupted, “no Kayla, no anybody besides you and me.”

She rubbed her tummy, “You know how I am when I’m pregnant, and posing in lingerie ... might be a long time in-between.” She hesitated, “But I know we can do it.” She was probably thinking the same thing I was, that month-plus that Samuel had demanded. We’ve already proven we can do it ―but knew how damned hard it was going to be.

“Mommy, I’m hungry,” Katie came bursting into our bedroom, demanding breakfast. Some things are just more important.

After breakfast, Addie called Tanya and told her we’d decided that she was going to interview for the modeling job.

Then the kids. How to tell them their mother was going to be gone for nearly two months.

Katie and Kevin were in Katie’s room, side-by-side, on her bed, their Boxcar Children book open and Katie making up the story as she turned the pages, telling it to Kevin.

“Kids, Mommy and Daddy have something to discuss with you, you got a minute?” Addie asked as she sat down on the edge of the bed.

I sat on the opposite side, and Addie and I exchanged a look of nervousness, both of us trying to hide it from the kids.

“How would you like,” Addie began, “for Mommy to maybe be on television?”

Kev perked right up, “You mean like we were for the store?” he asked excitedly.

We both laughed, “Well, sort of, except this would be all over the country...”

By the time we left their room, they weren’t so happy that Mom was going to be gone but excited that she was going to be famous. And we promised Daddy would take them to see her in the big city, maybe even to Disneyland. That got their attention, big time.

Our next three days were busy. The stores are always busy the week after Christmas, a very good thing for us, and Addie making arrangements to be gone January and February. One thing she sure wasn’t going to miss in LA was this incessant cold. It had been hovering between zero and minus ten, with nearly a foot of snow on the ground. Our kids were loving it. I’d have thought it would have slowed the stores down, but it hadn’t.

One thing Addie did was to call Michelle Romanoski, Tanya’s agent in Seattle. She was expecting the call, Tanya having told her the situation. They agreed that Michelle would represent Addie in the chance that VS did want to use her. It would cost fifteen-percent, but as Tanya said, would be more than worth it.

Sunday, it started to warm up, the first day above zero since Christmas. It was up to four degrees that morning. Addie complained that they hadn’t anticipated the cold when picking out bridesmaid dresses for Nicki’s wedding. Kevin and I put on our new suits (I thought about wearing the outfit Kayla helped me buy for that first date with Ginger, but my memories were still a bit too sensitive―plus, Addie vetoed it). Kevin was a proud and handsome little man in his new suit, matching Daddy’s.

Addie packed hers and Katie’s dresses in a garment bag to put on at the Church. Earlier in the week, Kayla had helped Addie with some minor alterations to fit her baby bump. I’d never known that Kayla was a seamstress along with her other talents. Even then, I still hadn’t seen Addie’s dress.

The wedding was at three, and Addie was supposed to be there by noon to get dressed and pictures. I took a Boxcar Children book to read to Kevin while we waited.

Nicki’s wedding was going to be in a beautiful little Church just on the outskirts of Mountain Home with a perfect view of the white Sawtooth Mountains in the background. It reminded me of the day we drove the Jeep to the Hanson Lakes, Addie wearing her micro-bikini and jumping into the water off that bluff, that young couple watching. How beautiful those lakes would be now under the heavy blanket of white snow. It made me want to invest in a snowmobile to go there. Not this year, maybe next.

Not that that had anything to do with Nicki’s wedding, the beauty just made my mind wander for a little bit.

I helped carry Addie’s things inside, and she and Katie disappeared down the basement. There were several other people milling around, no one I knew, so Kev and I sat in a corner with his book.

All our stores closed that day as Addie’s managers and several of her employees were planning to attend, even Susan and John, who now lived in the Tri-Cities. Thankfully, the snow had been on the ground long enough that roads were cleared and graveled. A lot of packed snow, but that’s just normal this time of year, so no one thought much about it. And it was still fresh enough to be beautiful.

We were there probably an hour when Samuel, Jonah, and another guy came in, all dressed up in their fancy black tuxedos, along with a beautiful woman wearing a short, red dress. I recognized her but couldn’t place her name. Samuel led his entourage over to where Kev and I were sitting, “Hey, man,” his smile was a mile wide, “you know my friend, Jonah, I presume?” Jonah extended his arm and we shook hands.

“We met, once, in Reno, then talked several times,” I felt like I knew him closely with all the one-way conversations over his virtual reality glasses.

“Glad to meet you ... in a little different atmosphere,” he smiled, introducing the woman beside him, “This is Ashanti ... lion tamer,” I guess referring that she’d tamed her ‘lion’ who was standing alongside, holding her hand.

Then I remembered. She was undoubtedly the most beautiful black woman I’d ever seen. No wonder she’d been able to tame her lion of a man. It was her that was my inspiration for sending Tanya’s picture to Playboy. Hell, she should send hers, too. She let go of Jonah’s hand long enough to extend it to me. “You know if it hadn’t been for your wife, I’d never had met this beautiful lady, so Samuel and I both have a lot to be thankful to her for,” Jonah told me.

“Addie ― Shanice enjoyed that time, a lot, I think,” I told him.

“Nah, let’s just call her Adriana, or Addie, from now on. Think ‘Shanice’ is in the past.”

“And this is Royce,” Samuel introduced his other friend, “another Navy Seal.”

We shook hands and I congratulated Samuel on his upcoming marriage. He was all smiles, clearly a man in love. I was happy for him, especially after the tragedy of losing his first wife so suddenly. I can’t even imagine how that must have been. And Lily would have a mom. And Livvy a dad. Good things can happen to people.

The trio wandered off, greeting some other people, I suspected Samuel’s parents.

A short time later, the door from the basement opened and four beautiful ladies brightened the chapel: Nicki; Aliyah, her older sister, who was her maid of honor (we’d never met, but what a pretty woman and pretty name); Jasmine, Nicki’s friend and bridesmaid; and Adriana. The bridesmaid dresses were spectacular; Addie and Jasmine’s light purple, Aliyah’s a darker purple. Long flowing chiffon and lace with a slit to about halfway between the knee and hip, the top a halter V-neck. Absolutely beautiful, two African-American, dark-skinned women, and Addie, along with two gorgeous little flower girls; Lily and Olivia. Aliyah’s little boy, who we hadn’t met before, was going to be the ring-bearer. Katie’s dress was similar, without the slit. She was going to be with her mom.

And Nicki, long flowing white gown, I’m not even going to try and describe, except that she was stunning. I watched Samuel, transfixed at the sight of his upcoming bride.

The next hour was fascinating, watching the photographer work. His job must be so rewarding, capturing images of such an event with beautiful, happy people.

Our parents came, both our mothers looking spectacular, their respective husband’s arms around their waists and sat down beside me and Kevin.

I watched Addie through the ceremony, wiping happy-tears from her eyes, especially when Nicki and Samuel said ‘I do.’ Her tears were really flowing when Nicki lifted her veil and kissed Samuel. I hoped she was proud of what she’d done, bringing these two together.

The rest of the day was just as happy; more after-ceremony pictures, Olivia caught her mother’s bridal bouquet, and Samuel made a very big deal of taking off his wife’s garter, showing off lots of leg. If Nicki’s face wasn’t so dark, it would undoubtedly have been bright red.

Later, after the bride and groom’s dances with each other and their parents, Addie was across the room talking to Aliyah. Jonah asked me if I minded if he danced with my wife. I thought that was rather humorous after as many times as he’d fucked her. I’ll never forget that trip home from Reno, Addie and Tanya telling us about their hours in company with Jonah and his brother.

I told him that he’d have to ask her, that Addie was in charge of who she danced with. A few minutes later, Jonah and Addie were on the dance floor, cheeks together, talking and laughing. It brought back a lot of memories with a lot more than ‘cheeks’ together. I remembered the time in his office at the strip club, Addie pressed face down on his desk, legs spread apart and Jonah’s huge cock slamming in and out of her, my view like it was me doing it through his 3-D video glasses.

Anyway, to make a long story much shorter, my cock was rock hard watching Jonah and Addie dancing tightly together, imagining what they must be talking about. Maybe that night in that glass cage, me controlling the vibrator in Addie’s over-sexed pussy. Until tonight, that had been the last time they’d been together.

Addie’s face was flushed and I’d have loved to feel between her legs to see how wet she was when she sat back down. “What did you and Jonah have to say?” I asked her.

She reached down, felt how hard my cock was at the moment, smiled at me, and answered, “He wanted to know if we wanted to visit their hotel room tonight.”

I took a deep breath, wasn’t expecting that. Maybe I kind of was. I looked over at the beautiful Ashanti. What red-blooded male wouldn’t want to sleep with her? “And you told him... ?” I asked, feeling her hand wrapping around me under the table.

She smiled, “Just that it would be up to my husband.”

She looked at me, waiting, her face unreadable. My heart rate had at least tripled in the last ten seconds. I looked over at Jonah and Ashanti, they were watching us, expectantly. Like I said before, who the hell wouldn’t... ? And if I’d ever had a wife-watching fantasy, it would be to actually be there when Jonah and Addie ... My dick was stone-hard.

“So?” Addie asked, “What does my husband say?”

“I think...” my brain wasn’t working very well. I wished I could feel between Addie’s legs, see how wet she was, thinking about a night with Jonah, the real Jonah, if she was as wet as I was hard, “it’s our last night ... for a long time...” I took her hand, squeezed, “I want ... you ... just you tonight.”

Addie smiled, kissed me on the lips, “Good answer, that’s what I was hoping you’d say, a perfect ending to a perfect day.” She stood, tugging at my hand, “Come, let’s go tell them.”

As the reception wound down, people started leaving, Mom and Dad left, both our moms and dads together. I could imagine the rest of their evening and night.

Finally, it was time for us to go home. Nicki and Samuel had left earlier and we’d spent time visiting with Jonah and Ashanti. I sincerely hoped that later― after the baby, there might be another opportunity for what they’d suggested.

On the drive home, Addie’s Odyssey driving itself, the kids asleep in their car seats, I commented to Addie, “Jonah seems a lot different than he had.”

She laughed, “It was all an act. I knew it from the first time we met. ‘Ho, me big tough guy, impressing the girl’,” mimicking tough guy Jonah in her low, semi-growling voice.

I laughed along with her, what she said made complete sense, “But his lovemaking?”

Another laugh from Addie, glancing in the back seat, at the sleeping kids, “You mean his fucking? He never ‘made love’. That was no act. The man knows how to use his dick ... and every other part of his body!”

She reached over, wrapping her hand around my hardening dick. “Don’t expect a lot of sleep tonight,” she said, her grin ear-to-ear.

Oh shit! That dress had been driving me crazy all evening, even flirting briefly with the thought of something else entirely, something so fucking hot!

And after we tucked the kids into their beds, Addie more than fulfilled her promise. Our last night turned out to be one to remember for a long time. Ahh, watching her take off that dress!

Nicki and Samuel were opening gifts the next day, New Year’s Day. We’d have loved to have been there, but with Addie leaving for LA early that afternoon, it just wasn’t in the cards. We’d just finished loading Addie’s things in the Odyssey when she got a call from Nicki. “Omigod, thank you so much!” she blubbered. I heard that through the phone, but Addie put it on speakerphone.

We’d put the note who to call in with the gift, but Addie reiterated, “Call Ginger when you decide when you want to go. She’ll make all the arrangements ... and call Kayla, she’s going to cover for you while you’re gone.”