Chapter 2

The next morning we were up before the sun was up. We sort of quickly showered ... making love along the way, dressed and were at O’Hare for the first flight of the day to New York. We went from JFK to City Hall and the Clerk’s office and had the marriage license in our hands within a half hour.

We then went to Anne’s place. We ate dinner had a drink and went to bed and made love all night long. We were going to get married in a day or two. We would be man and wife, spouses, a couple, joined in the union of marriage. We would be married.

We spent the next day in each other’s arms, loving and just holding each other. Around three in the afternoon, Anne called her mother and then my mother and told them to be at her apartment at her place at ten thirty. The mothers said okay and nothing more.

We were up at five and waited. Ten, ten thirty, eleven passed and nothing. Then at eleven thirty Carlton, the Doorman called and said the Anne’s Mother and “Others” were here and should he let them up?

Anne said, “Send them up,” and we waited. Soon there was a knock on the door and we opened it. There stood, Aunt Milly, Mom, Uncle Milt, who we expected but Sharon, Greta, Pete, Barb, Jack, Bart and all of the spouses and probably a lot of others who might have been related.

Mom and Aunt Millie stood in the middle of the living room and said, “Okay we are here ... what’s so important that you have to tell us.

I looked at Anne and she looked at me and we both laughed ... big surprise huh?

I stepped forward and in a rather loud voice said, “Anne and I are going to City Hall tomorrow morning at eleven o’clock and we are going to be married. If you want to Join us and celebrate our marriage ... you are welcome.”

At the point Uncle Milt shouted, “What I tell you Helen? We were right ... ain’t that right Milly? We all said that they would finally get it together. All I can say is I’m glad that they are going to do it legally.”

Then he turned to Jack and said, “I know ... and I told Helen here and Milly that they could get married here in New York ... and I didn’t even need you to tell me that.” He was looking straight at Jack.

Jack just laughed and said, “Dad, I never checked into that. But I know that if you say it’s okay, then it is.”

Mom was smiling and Aunt Milly said, “I guess that it’s about time. Seeing how you two have been fawning over each other all these years. I guess it was meant to be.”

Then Mom actually spoke up. “I knew that something was going to happen with the two of you. And I will say, I’m happy that you two are finally together.”

I was flabbergasted. I had no idea that anyone knew how I felt about Anne. I turned to her and said, “I guess that our wedding will be a bit bigger than we expected.”

She whispered, “Oh God, Georgie ... what are we going to do?”

I laughed, “Just go with it.”

Aunt Milly said, “Wait, we have to have something, breakfast ... brunch ... linch ... well something.”

Jack laughed and said, “Don’t worry. I know just the place. We can have everyone there and it will be great.”

Jack then turned to me and said, “Bet you didn’t think that something like this would happen, did you? Well too bad your wedding is going to be a gala.”

He roared and the all the others joined him. Everyone came over to us laughing and congratulated us, wishing us the best of luck, etc, etc, etc.

Then the ultimate happened ... Mom and Aunt Milly insisted that I go home with Sharon. The Groom can’t see the bride before the wedding. I actually started to argue and then I looked over at Anne. She was laughing and shaking her head. At that point, I knew that I had lost. I went home with Sharon.

It was late when we got there and after Greta and Pete were safely tucked away, my big sister and I sat with a very large bourbon and talked. It was mostly about her and Steven and his leaving. She didn’t think that another woman was involved and I didn’t say anything. We also talked about me and Anne. After our second drink, she was giggling and continued that way as the time passed and when we went to bed.

As I got to the guest room she came over and put her arms around me and giggled, “Georgie, I hope that you and Anne are the two happiest people in the world. You both deserve it.”

I hugged her tight and said, “Thanks, and I’m sure that Steven is just out there finding himself and will be back soon.” Then I kissed her on the cheek and went into bed.

So okay, I lied, so what.

I was up early the next morning, I went down to the kitchen and made some coffee. Sharon was down about a half hour later and we sat and drank the coffee. We talked about nothing and everything until Pete came running down the stairs, being chased by his sister. He had gotten her up, because Uncle George is getting married.

Greta could have cared, she didn’t want to be woken up, especially by her brother. They settled down and we all had breakfast. Then back up to get dressed. Pete wasn’t happy the he had to wear fancy clothes on vacation, “It’s not fair.” Greta laughed at him.

We left with plenty of time to get through the Holland Tunnel. Surprisingly, there was very little traffic and we sailed through. We were at city hall about a half hour early. We just sat on a bench and waited.

I have no idea when Anne and the others arrived, don’t know if she was on time or late, but she did giggle, “It’s the bride’s prerogative to be late.”

We got to the clerk’s office and no one else was there. When the Clerk saw the crowd, she laughed and said, “You can’t get married by the clerk, you need a bigger ceremony. She made a phone call and then sent us with her assistant up to the court rooms.

We ended up in front of Justice Helen Geldhoffer. She was a very lovely woman and was thrilled to be officiating at our wedding. The ceremony was beautiful, the Judge really did it up nicely. Finally she said, “By the power invested in me by the State of New York, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Then in her voice she sort of quietly said, “You may kiss.”

I took my wife in my arms and for the first time I kissed Mrs. George Hawkins. The crowd broke into cheers and applause. We broke apart and gave a little bow. Steven then informed us that he had made reservations for brunch in a restaurant he was acquainted with that was across the street.

We invited Justice Geldhoffer but she declined, as she had a telephone conference in a few moments and it was going to be a long one. Once again she congratulated us and we set out.

Brunch was great ... I have no idea what I ate or if it was even edible. But, I was with my Anne and everything was wonderful. After brunch and saying goodbye to everyone, Anne and I ... Mom, Uncle Milt and Aunt Milly went back to Anne’s apartment and we packed our bags. We were going to Bermuda for a long weekend ... our honeymoon.

By five thirty in the evening we were safely ensconced in our room looking over a pink sand beach. It was beautiful. We unpacked and headed down to dinner. After eating we went and walked in the pink sand holding hands and stopping to kiss every couple of steps. The weather was warm, but not really enough to go swimming. Our waiter told us that it was supposed to warm up and we should be able to swim tomorrow.

We got back to our room and I took Anne in my arms and kissed her. We walked out to the balcony and Anne said, “I don’t believe how easily this went off. Our mothers were perfect and other than being apart last night, things were great.”

I gave a small laugh and said, “It seems that everyone was almost expecting this. No one was even surprised. I never thought that we were that obvious. Hell, we haven’t even been together in over a year or so. And ... other than the night with the sherry, we have never even kissed.”

She put her head on my shoulder and giggled, “They probably thought that a lot more was going on than actually was.”

“Well we will definitely make up for that now,” I said as I scooped her up in my arms and carried her into the room and dropped her on the bed. I jumped on top of her and landed on my arms and knees not on her.

She gave out a scream and then wrapped her arms around me and kissed me hard and lustfully. I returned the kiss with equal ardor and we both started to rip the clothes off of the other. We were both naked in no time and were rolling around on the huge bed, kissing and wrestling.

Anne rolled me onto my back and straddled my hips. She took my erect dick in her hand and began to stroke it. She lifted up and guided it between her luscious wet vaginal lips. I pushed up, slipping into her with very little effort as she dropped onto my hips, impaling herself on my love spear.

She sat there, not moving, just looking down at me and smiling. “I love you, Mr. Hawkins.”

I returned her smile and said, “And I love you, Mrs. Hawkins.”

She then got a serious look on her face. “Oh George, I feel so afraid...”

I looked at her in a panic and said, “Afraid, my love? Afraid of what?”

She gave me small smile and whispered, “Afraid that I will wake up and find myself in my bed all alone. I just can’t believe that we are married and are here in Bermuda on our honey moon.”

I started to move my hips and said with a laugh, “Well if this is all a dream, I’m going to have to wash my pants and the sheets, because this is the most fantastic wet dream that I will ever have.”

Anne giggled and slapped me on the chest, “Georgie, you are terrible. Now love me and make me sure that this is not a dream.”

I surprised her by lifting myself up and flipping her onto her back, keeping my dick in her. She gasped and then giggled. “This is what you want? Well then I want it too, take me my love, my husband.”

I began to slam my dick into her and she responded by slamming her hips up into me. My dick was a blur as it jackhammered into my sweet Anne. We sucked, we rutted, we mated, we loved. I was with my Anne, my love, my wife and I wanted her in the worse way.

After a lifetime I felt the sperm in my balls start to boil over. I slammed my dick into my wife again and again. It was like I was possessed by a sex demon and Anne was the one I was to possess. I wanted her and I wanted her be mine and only mine.

She responded, she was my demoness, my mate, my love. Anne began to shake and shiver, her legs tightened around my hips like a vise. Her voice went to high C and she screamed out her love. I couldn’t stop, I kept slamming into her never wanting to stop. But finally, as with everything in this world, I felt the semen begin to start its trek thought my dick to fire deep in to my beautiful wife’s womb.

I think that I came into her for an hour ... not really but it was for the longest time that I ever came. I couldn’t believe all of the cum that I shot into my love.

After a life time, we both settled down and I lay in her arms holding her close. I lightly kissed her lips and in a few moments heard the even breathing of my loves sleep. I net her in dreamland in a few moments.

The rest of our time flew by. We did get a motor bike and went all over the islands. But we did spend a whole lot of time in bed, making love. We really didn’t get much of a tan, but we did lay out on the pink sand beaches.

Before we knew it, we were on a plane back to Chicago.

After getting settled in the apartment, I called the office and Carl was really happy that I did. There was a problem at the dam. It seems that some of the local insurgents had attacked the dam. The Federal Security Forces were able to hold them off, but they did cause a small bit of damage to the pump house.

The government was insisting that I return immediately and complete the project. They said that they would guarantee my safety. I laughed and said, “Tell me, if they don’t keep their guarantee, do you get your money back.”

Carl said, “At the very least.”

I broke the news to Anne, I kept it very tame, but I didn’t lie to her. We packed my backpack and took the next plane to New York. We first went to Anne’s place and then called everyone just telling them that I was going back to Tajikistan. Mom was upset saying, “Do you have to go back right away? You can’t even visit your Mother?” She’s good as laying a guilt trip.

In four hours I was kissing my wife at the gate and boarding the plane for the first leg to Dashanbe. It took over thirty hours to finally arrive and I left like shit. I was met by the Under-secretary of defense and was hustled into an awaiting helicopter. I didn’t even get a night in a hotel.

An hour and a half later we landed at the dam and I was met by Dmitry and the General Commandant. The General was a big man with an air about him that led you to believe that he would not take any guff. It seems that he was sent here with a contingent of soldiers to protect the Dam from the insurgents. I commented that I was surprised as there had not been any inkling of problems before I left. That didn’t go over well with the General ... excuse me the “General Commandant,” but he didn’t say anything.

Things around the Dam had really changed. Before I left the work was done and done on time but there was a sort of laid back atmosphere. Now it was totally military, there seemed to be a lot of tension and stress in the air.

My cell phone was taken ... for security reasons and all computers were confiscated. We could only use the computers that were issued by the government. The problem was that there was no internet ... for security reasons.

The government workers were housed on a compound around three quarters of a mile away from the dam. That’s were Dmitry and his family were located. The workers would be convoyed into the base in the morning and taken back in the evening. There were many times Dmitry would be kept at the dam, he would then sleep on a cot in my room. He would invite me for dinner and different events and sometimes the General Commandant would allow me off the base. But, it wasn’t too often.

I had to actually sit down at my desk and hand write letters to Anne. I found that this was really enjoyable, I would get very flowery and mushy. I am sure that she would laugh when she read them. I did receive a letter from her a while after I arrived, she told me that as she expected, she was asked to take over her company’s lab in Chicago, she was thrilled and said that she would be staying in our condo.

After getting that letter they stopped. We were told that the government was holding the mail as the insurgents were getting very active and it was feared that mail would fall into their hands.

We worked like mad men and had everything finished and running by the end of May. This was long before we ever expected. I told the General Commandant that I really wasn’t needed any more and requested that I be sent back to Dashanbe.

However, the General Commandant kept finding things that had to be worked on, I would get pissed saying that his people could take care of this and I wasn’t needed. He would naturally object telling me that he had to have everything perfect before he could advise the authorities in Dashanbe.

As the days became weeks and the weeks became months, the excuses became that it was far too dangerous to go back now as the roads have been closed and they didn’t have the helicopters to get me back as they were needed to combat the insurgents, “But don’t worry things well be better soon and you will get back to your loved ones.”

One day about eleven months after coming back to the dam, I had spent the day doing things that I had done and checked and rechecked a hundred times, it was starting to get dark. I was settling in for the night again I had another frustrating evening of dealing with the “General Commandant.” Once again I was given the run around, being shuffled around from one military bureaucrat to another. I did get to see the General Commandant, but all he told me was that there was no way I would be able to get to the Capital.

“The rebels have once again closed all of the roads and we can’t allow any travel until we have cleared them out. And it seems that they have obtained Surface to Air Missiles so flying out is impossible.”

I have been hearing these excuses for months. All I wanted to do was get home. To get out of this shit-hole and back to my world. It was almost a year since I left home ... almost a year that I had left my Anne, my wife. I wanted to get the fuck out of here.

I was sitting on my bed when Dmitry and his father came into my room and I knew immediately that something was going on. They looked very serious and we being very quiet. They closed the door and told me to get packed and to do it quickly and quietly.

I didn’t question them, I got all of the things that I wanted and put them in a back pack. We turned off the lights and quietly exited the building. Dmitry and I then went to our office and took a lot of papers and a couple of flash drives with important data on them.

I told Dmitry that we should also disable a small part of the transmitter. After we finished taking the things that we wanted and removing a chip from the transmitter, we left the compound through a hole in the fence and walked for a couple of miles to where Dmitry’s wife, son and mother were waiting in their car.

There was a trailer on the back of the car and it was filled with everything that they could possibly cram into it. They had all of their worldly possessions with them, including a couple AK 47’s and some hand guns, I was given an AK and a 9mm Makarov pistol. I threw my backpack on top and we tied it down. As we drove off Dmitry told me the whole story about the General Commandant deciding to set up his own government, a fundamentalist Islamic government and had declared that the dam was under his control.

The government in Dashanbe was holding off trying to oust the General Commandant by force, because of all the civilian workers at the site and also that the General Commandant threatened to destroy the dam if they attacked. This is what I had expected was going on and why we weren’t allowed off of the site. A couple of weeks ago, the General Commandant had Dmitry and I set dynamite charges around the dam. He told us that the rebels in the area were getting strong and if they attacked, he would destroy the dam rather than let it fall into their hands. Although we had disabled the section of the transmitter that would set off the charges, they could be manually detonated ... by someone who wanted to commit suicide.

Dmitry told me that we were going to his sister’s home. She was west of Osh, a small city in Kyrgyzstan. He said that I should get comfortable as it was going to take at least three days to get there.

“That’s if we don’t hit any traffic,” he said. That got a laugh from everyone.

I actually took four days to get to his sister’s. The roads were little more than goat tracks and the going was very slow. We stayed off of any main arteries, taking the back roads. We all took turns driving and would stop for the night as it was far too dangerous to travel in the dark. Mainly because of the roads but also there were probably bandits in the area. Not only bandits but if anyone saw a lone car on the road at night even some upstanding citizens might be tempted to relieve us of all our possessions and quite possibly our lives. This can be a rather brutal and merciless countryside.

After four very long, hot and dusty days, we arrived at Tanya and Alexander’s home. It would have been a more joyous occasion, if not for the circumstances of the visit. But, all in all it was a happy event. I slept in a bed and I actually did sleep through the night. Didn’t have to pull guard duty.

Three days later Alex took Dmitry and me into Osh and we got a bus to take us to Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan and the closest large city. The trip took a day and a half in a very hot, dusty old bus. When we arrived in Tashkent we were met by Dmitry’s uncle Emomalii and his family. We spent the night with them and it was a real celebration. They hadn’t seen Dmitry in years.

The next day we were taken to the Tajikistani Consulate and met with the Ambassador. He told us the whole story. It seems that the initial attack by the “rebels” was actually a sham. It was the General’s troops that attacked the dam, they had been dressed like the insurgents. He did it so that the government would have to send troops to the dam to protect it. He also wanted a reason to make everyone working there to think that he was following orders and the legitimate government was protecting the dam.

He told us that the General had put an arrest order out for us, so we should be cautious and stay out of the limelight. He didn’t think that we would have too much trouble in Uzbekistan or Kyrgyzstan, but we should be careful as there were fundamentalists around that may support the General.

We had the ambassador get a drawing of the dam and we indicated the exact placement of the charges. We also gave him the diagrams and flash drives that we had taken. This way if the government sent in commandos they would know exactly where the charges were and would know how to disarm the devices

After leaving the consulate we returned to Uncle Emomalii’s home. The next morning I took the first flight out of Tashkent. It was not quite the way I wanted to go, but it was out of here. I got on a Korean Air flight to Seoul. From there I caught a Delta flight to LA where I would change planes for a flight to New York.

I didn’t want to go to Chicago, I wanted to arrive at JFK early on Christmas Eve morning. I knew that Anne would be at her Mother’s on Long Island. I was going there and nowhere else. I wanted to see my wife, my Anne as soon as possible.

I had tried to call from Tashkent, later from Seoul but couldn’t get through, the international circuits were all jammed. Well, it was right before Christmas.

When I got to LA again all circuits were busy and as my flight had been delayed for hours the airlines had to reschedule my flight to New York, thus my time between flights was very short, no phone calls today. But I figured that I would be in New York in a few hours so it would be a surprise. As I said, my cell phone had been taken by the General’s men a long time ago.

I had no problem using my credit card in Asia and had purchased my tickets for the whole trip, but when I got to the states, no one would accept it and I had to show my passport and driver’s license so I wouldn’t get arrested. I still had a little cash, but I knew that I would need that for a cab.

I felt like death warmed over when we finally landed at JFK. It was about eleven hours later than when I should have landed. I went straight for a cab. Didn’t want to wait on the lines at the very few pay phones to make a call.

Finally, after about a hundred years, I arrived at Aunt Milly’s, I paid the driver and had three bucks left over after giving the driver a nice tip. I got out of the cab, threw my backpack over my shoulder and walked to Aunt Milly’s front door. I stood there for a minute or two, thinking, “I must look terrible, I haven’t showered or shaved since I left Uncle Emomalii’s in Tashkent. Well too bad, they’re going to get me the way I am.”

I rang the bell and waited ... nothing. I could hear the music and talking that was going on inside the house, so I rang the bell again and this time I kept my finger on it, after a moment I heard my angle’s voice say, “Hold on, Hold your horses ... I’m coming.”

The door opened and I gazed on the most beautiful woman in the world. I said, “Hello there, beautiful.”

Anne just stood in the doorway staring at me. Her mouth was moving but nothing was coming out. I heard a voice from inside yell, “Who’s at the door Anne?” Then she screamed, “Oh my God ... Georgie ... Georgie.”

She flew into my arms and was crying and screaming, “Oh my love ... my Georgie ... I knew that you would come back ... that you would come back to me. I knew it, I knew it, I knew it.”

She was crying and kissing me all over my face. She had her arms wrapped around me in a death grip. I dropped the backpack and held her as tight as I could. Finally she stopped screaming and just stood there holding me and sobbing and shaking.

By this time a crowd came to the door to see what the commotion was about. Sharon stood there with her mouth open, Barbra just said, “Oh Lord ... Oh my god.” Mom just gave a screech, her eyes went back into her head and she fell back into Uncle Milt’s arms.

I was flabbergasted, I didn’t know what was going on. “What in heck is going on? You guys all look like you saw a ghost.” I stammered.

Then little Pete found his voice and said, “But ... but Uncle George ... you’re supposed to be dead.”

I looked at him and said, “What ... I’m dead?”

“Yea they told us that you were dead ... we even went to church for you.”

“Wow you even went to church? Well, I guess that they were wrong ... I ain’t dead.”

He gave me a look like I was a complete dummy and said, “I can see that Uncle George.”

I hugged Anne into my body and put my face into her neck kissing her and whispered, “Oh my darling, my love, I’m so sorry ... I’m so sorry you had to go through that. Please forgive me.”

Anne just kept saying, “Oh my Georgie ... my love ... my darling...” over and over.

The place was complete pandemonium. Aunt Milly was running around screaming for smelling salts for Mom. Uncle Milt was holding Mom in his arms and calling, “Helen, Helen are you alright. Somebody get some water.”

Jack was standing there laughing, but tears were running down his face. The kids weren’t exactly sure what was going on. Their dead uncle ... wasn’t, I guess.

Steven was holding Sharon as she looked like she was going to collapse. Sharon’s husband had returned. It seems that he had not run off with another woman (as I thought) but had gone to a Trappist Monastery, to “find himself.” He returned after three months and they are doing just fine. I haven’t seen Sharon so happy in a long time.

Finally, things started to quiet down. Mom was revived and was hugging and kissing me, as were Sharon and Barb. Anne never let me go, she just held me as close as possible, with everyone else trying to hug and kiss me.

Eventually we all ended up in the living room, where Uncle Milt handed me a bourbon on the rocks. I took a sip, it was wonderful. This was the first drink I had in months. The General (I refuse to say General Commandant any more) wouldn’t tolerate alcohol.

I was sitting on the couch with Anne on one side of me and Mom on the other. Jack was explaining that about a couple of months ago Mom and Anne had been contacted by the State Department that the government in Dashanbe had reported that after all the work had been finished on the dam all of the civilian workers at the dam had been sent to Dashanbe in a truck convoy. The convoy had been attacked by the rebels and everyone had been killed. There were no survivors.

I was surprised that we hadn’t been told this by the Tajikistani Ambassador in Tashkent.

Everyone was devastated. Anne came back to New York and was inconsolable. Unlike before she stopped eating and lost weight. Mom and Aunt Milly would force feed her telling her that she had to eat. She was just starting to slowly come around. There had been a Memorial Service for me last week and the place was packed.

My boss, Carl and his wife had flown in and attended. He told everyone that the company would take care of Anne, that she had nothing to worry about.

Then all of a sudden, Anne pushed away from me, she stood up and said with a smile, “I think I should give Georgie his Christmas present, don’t you Mom?”

Both Mom and Aunt Milly nodded like crazy. I looked at her like she was nuts and said, “Anne, I don’t want any Christmas presents. I have everything that I want right here.”

Anne started to giggle and got up and said, “No my love, I have this present just for you.”

She got up and went out of the living room. Mom said in a small voice, “Anne is so happy ... she has had this present for you and she really has to give it to you.”

I turned to Mom and said, “Damn it, Mom, the only present I want is Anne in my arms and now I don’t have that.” She just gave me a smug smile and said nothing more.

Everyone was asking questions and I was giving half answers, not really paying attention. Mom just sat there, she had a smile on her face and she would reach over to me and hug me every once in a while. Anne was gone for what seemed forever and I said to Mom, “Where is Anne? Is she making that present?”

Mom giggled and said, “She has to get your present ready, and no she is not making it.”

Sharon laughed and said, “No that’s already been done.”

After about six months or about twenty minutes later, Anne quietly came into the living room; she was behind me and said, “Close your eyes, George.”

I sort of ignored her and said, “Where were you? What were you doing?

She said, “Please, Georgie.”

I closed my eyes and said, “Okay, they’re closed.” Then I said, “Wait ... how do you have a Christmas Present for me if you thought...”