Chapter 58: Cut to the Chase

December 20, 1987, McKinley, Ohio

Despite my thinking that there was only a small chance that Kari would want to continue the relationship, I’d slipped the scissors into my pocket before she’d arrived. Even with that advance preparation, a number of questions flooded into my mind. All that aside, I knew the last thing I should do was open my mouth to speak!

Kari’s laugh could have several meanings, from simple surprise, to an invitation, to rejection, and I had no way of finding out without saying something which, I was sure, would lead to her leaving and never returning. Of course, that might happen if I misjudged the situation the other way. That said, she was on my lap and had French kissed me. In my mind, having displayed the scissors, the only proper course of action was to use them, though I’d move slowly to give her a chance to object.

I grasped the hem of Kari’s sweater, waited two heartbeats, then slipped my thumb and forefinger through the rings of the scissors. Kari was still laughing, and didn’t protest, so I moved the scissors next to my other hand, waited another two heartbeats and began cutting her sweater as I’d been taught to do. This time, though, I wanted to remove it, not just gain access, so once I cut through the collar, I cut along her left shoulder and down her arm to the cuff, then did the same with her right arm, allowing the tattered remnants to fall to the floor.

Kari was no longer laughing, but instead was looking intently at me as I moved the scissors to the left shoulder strap of her bra and cut through it. I did the same with the right shoulder strap, then slipped the scissors under the material between the cups. I cut through it and the blue cotton bra fell away, landing on the floor.

To go further, I needed her to stand up, so I helped her from my lap, and positioned her in front of me. Again from my training, I knew how to cut away her jeans, and positioned the bandage scissors on the waist of her jeans, just over her left hip. It was a bit tougher to cut through the denim material, but the scissors were meant to do it. It was slow going as I cut all the way down to the bottom, then shifted so I could cut down the right side.

The tattered jeans fell mostly away before I finished cutting, leaving Kari in just her panties and socks. I cut each sock away by cutting from the top to the toes on the front of each foot, then very carefully inserted the scissors into the crotch of her blue cotton panties. I cut across them, then moved the scissors to her left hip and quickly cut through the lightweight material.

Kari’s panties fell away, leaving her completely nude in front of me, her gorgeous breasts heaving with her aroused breathing. I purposefully looked her over from head to toe, taking note of her round, firm breasts which were topped with tiny bright red nipples, her flat stomach, her soft patch of fiery-red pubic hair, plump labia, and long, muscular legs.

Kari did a quick pirouette, providing me with a good look at her cute, tight butt, then sat in my lap and looked into my eyes, then moved her lips to mine and we exchanged one of our usual searing French kisses. I moved one arm under her legs and the other around her back, stood up, and carried her up the stairs to my room. I laid her on the bed and she smiled, then sighed deeply. I turned on the CD player, which had a Mozart CD, then turned back to face Kari.

I recalled my wedding night, and the last thing I wanted to do was have a repeat, but I didn’t see any alternative to simply removing my clothes. I unbuttoned the single button of the rugby shirt that I kept buttoned to ensure my baptismal cross didn’t slip easily out, then pulled it over my head. Kari watched intently as I continued undressing, removing my socks, then my sweatpants, and finally my navy blue briefs.

There was a hitch in Kari’s breathing at the sight of my erection, her eyes went wide, and her mouth formed an ‘O’, which made me immediately think about it being wrapped around my member! I moved over to the bed and got in next to Kari. I almost asked what she wanted, but talking had caused problems, so barring Kari objecting, I was simply going to treat this as a teaching opportunity.

But I actually had to ask a VERY important question, one I simply couldn’t avoid. Well, I could keep quiet and simply use a rubber, but I really didn’t want to. I turned on my side, put my hand on Kari’s right shoulder and encouraged her to turn on her side, facing me.

“Birth control?” I asked.

“I’m on the Pill,” she whispered.

I smiled and touched my lips to hers. She parted them and as our tongues gently danced, I ran my hand gently over Kari’s hip. We kissed for several minutes, then I broke the kiss, gently nudged Kari onto her back, and kissed along her collar bone. Kari shivered, though not from being cold.

I scooted down a bit, opened my mouth, and touched my tongue to Kari’s tiny, bright red left nipple. She gasped, and when I closed my mouth around her breast and began to suck, she moaned, and put her hand on the back of my head. After a minute, I switched my mouth to her right breast and gently strummed her left nipple with my thumb. I suckled for a minute, then began kissing my way down her breastbone and over her stomach.

I touched my lips to Kari’s soft pubic hair, then nuzzled my nose in it, my nostrils filling with Kari’s musky scent. Kari clearly understood my intentions, as she spread her legs to allow me to move between them. When I kissed the inside of her left thigh twice, Kari lifted her hips, making her desire clear. I kissed the inside of her right thigh twice and barely touched my lips to her plump labia.

When Kari raised her hips again, I slipped my hands under her butt and planted a series of light kisses all along her plump, glistening labia. After several dozen kisses, I opened my mouth and ran my tongue along Kari’s labia, getting just a hint of her musky flavor.

“Please,” she whispered.

I obliged and gently pushed my tongue between her labia, coating it with her intoxicating juices. I savored the flavor as I swirled my tongue in her warm, silky tunnel. Kari moaned softly until I closed my mouth around her clit and sucked while teasing it with the tip of my tongue, causing her to gasp. She put both hands on my head and began gently bucking her hips. Perhaps a minute later, Kari groaned loudly and her body shook as she had her first orgasm.

I gave Kari two more orgasms before I moved up, rested my glans on her pubic hair, then leaned down to French kiss her. She put her heels on my thighs and pushed her hips up, making it clear what she wanted. I started to reach down to position myself, but stopped and reached over to pick up the tube of lubricant Lara had purchased. I moved to a kneeling position, and Kari looked confused, so I felt I had to say something.

“Lubricant,” I said, “to make your first time easier.”

She nodded and watched as I removed the cap from the tube and squirted the gel onto my palm. I closed the tube, put it back on the dresser, then grasped my shaft and spread lube over it, making sure my glans was properly coated. When I finished, I positioned my glans against Kari’s labia, propped myself on both hands, and entered her with a firm thrust.

“Ungh!” Kari grunted.

Two additional firm thrusts, and two more grunts by Kari, and I was fully embedded in her silky confines. I remained propped on my hands, but lowered my head to kiss Kari, grinding my pubic bone against hers, but not otherwise moving. As we kissed, I felt her move her legs around my thighs, and when she began flexing her hips, I took it as a sign to move, and began moving with slow-paced rhythmic thrusts.

Kari moved with me, meeting each thrust by lifting her hips and tensing her internal muscles, creating a delicious friction. I lowered my body completely onto hers, and Kari responded by tightening her arms around me and moving her legs so they were just below my butt.

Kari broke the kiss as her breathing quickened, and a few seconds later I felt ripples along my shaft and she groaned, having her first orgasm from screwing. She had two more in relatively quick succession before I altered my movements to gain my own release, which arrived just over ten minutes after I’d first entered her. I pushed fully into her, ground against her clit until she came, then groaned as jets of cum splattered her spasming pussy.

When our mutual orgasms had passed, I kissed Kari softly, then carefully withdrew. Almost nothing had been said, and it seemed as if silence was the right course of action, so I moved off her and onto my back, then gently encouraged her to turn to cuddle. She turned, put an arm and leg over me, I put my arm around her, and Kari put her head on my shoulder and sighed deeply.

As we lay together, I realized I’d created a significant problem — Kari had no clothes to wear to go back to the dorm! There was a simple solution, and that was to lend her my track suit, though she’d have to turn up the legs and arms, as I was several inches taller than she was.

That challenge overcome, I considered what to do next. A glance at my watch indicated that Rachel would wake up in about forty minutes, and then she’d be up for a few hours before I put her to bed for the night. I could invite Kari to stay, though with Lara arriving around 7:00am, Kari might want to leave so as not to let on that we’d been together. I’d follow her lead on revealing that, with one exception — Clarissa.

My refractory time had always been short, and that hadn’t changed. Oral sex, either giving or receiving, always got me hard, so I encouraged Kari to move onto her back and began round two by suck her left nipple into my mouth.

“Again?” she asked breathlessly.

I responded by moving my hand to her clitoral hood and massaging gently while continuing to suck her nipple. Round two was very similar to round one, though it ended a bit more energetically when Kari began moving her hips forcefully in response to my thrusts. Once again we shared mutual orgasm when my cum splashed her insides, and then we cuddled silently until Rachel stirred.

“The Tsarina needs attention,” I said.

Kari reluctantly moved onto her back so I could get out of bed. I put on my robe, went to the nursery to change Rachel, then carried her downstairs to make her a bottle of juice as a snack before her 10:00pm feeding. I considered my best course of action, and despite my daughter’s extreme preference for the rocking chair, I carried her back upstairs, changed the CD in the player, then got into bed. I used pillows to prop myself against the headboard, and Rachel scowled, which caused me to laugh. Despite her obvious unhappiness, she accepted the bottle.

“Why did you laugh?” Kari asked, moving to sit next to me, her beautiful, firm breasts on full display, though she’d pulled the covers up over her legs and groin.

“Rachel scowled at me because she really prefers the rocking chair. She accepted the bottle, so she’ll be fine.”

“So you two can communicate?”

“After a fashion,” I replied. “But it’s kind of one-sided — she lets me know what she wants and I do it!”

“Not that you have a choice!”

“You’d be surprised,” I said, shaking my head. “We have a battered toddler in the ICU.”

“Parents who do that are just plain evil!” Kari exclaimed.

“I agree. That mom is in the county jail.”

“Mom? Not the dad?”

“That’s who social services had arrested. I don’t know any details beyond that, and I only know that because an ICU nurse told my Resident.”

“I guess that kid is going to be in the hospital over Christmas?”

“Yes. If he were in the ward, he’d get a visit from Santa Claus arranged by the chaplain, but that can’t happen in the ICU.”

“You’re OK with Santa Claus?”

“Why not? He’s an Orthodox bishop!”

“Now you’re pulling my leg!”

“No, I’m not! Santa Claus comes from the Dutch «Sinterklaas», who is based on Saint Nicholas of Myra. He had a reputation of aiding poor families, and legend has it that Saint Nicholas slapped the heretic Arius at the First Council of Nicaea in AD325. He did that because Arius was making stuff up and claiming it had always been taught. I once joked with my mom that if HER church wasn’t cool enough to have Santa Claus punching heretics, that wouldn’t be MY problem!”

Kari laughed, “Santa Claus punching a heretic? Really?”

“Yes.”

“You called it a legend, though.”

“Remember our discussion about parables? What matters is the truth conveyed, not the actual factual events. There is no contemporaneous record that Saint Nicholas was even AT the council. But that doesn’t make it false. So I can say to you, here, in private, that it’s a legend. What I say during Sunday School or in the nave during services would affirm the truth of the events, as depicted in the icons or reported in the hymns.

“Remember, for me, the truth does not lie in the contents of the story, but in the meaning of the story. I always like to say that it doesn’t matter if there actually WAS a ‘Good Samaritan’ because the truth there is not found in the details of the story as if it were news, but in the truths being taught. As my bishop once said — let the Protestants and their scholars fight over the literal truth of each word, while we worship the undivided Trinity who has saved us.”

“I’m not sure I understand or even could understand what that last bit means.”

“Which was my point about why you should read, among other things, Stranger in a Strange Land, and probably a few theology books. But start with Heinlein. He’ll help you.”

“So, is this what it would be like being married?”

“At times, but more likely, you’d be alone with our kids much of the time, at least for several years.”

“You keep harping on that.”

“I have to,” I replied. “The last thing I want to contemplate is a failed marriage.”

“Can’t that happen, anyway?”

“Having watched my parents divorce after the very idea being unthinkable for my entire life before that, I can’t give any answer but ‘yes’. That said, why go into a relationship without doing your best to ensure success? You have a lot to think about, and I’m not going to want any kind of commitment from you in the near term. As I said, though, if you decide you can’t handle it, you need to tell me right away. There is one question you do need to answer now.”

“What’s that?”

“Are you spending the night?”

“Do you want me to?”

“Yes, though Lara will be here at 7:00am tomorrow so we can have breakfast before I leave for the pediatric practice. I don’t have a problem with her knowing you stayed, but if you want to keep this private, you’ll need to leave before she arrives.”

“There’s a small problem...” Kari said, laughing softly.

“I’ll lend you a track suit. You’ll have to roll up the legs and arms, but it’ll fit otherwise. I can drive you back to campus if you want, either this evening or in the morning.”

“I’ll stay. And I think it might be best, at least for now, if I leave before Lara arrives.”

“Rachel is up between 5:00am and 5:30am, so that won’t be a problem at all.”

Rachel had finished her bottle of juice, so I put a cloth on my shoulder and moved Rachel so I could burp her. Once that happened, I put her down on the bed between Kari and me.

“It’s strange to see a guy doing that,” Kari said. “Not that I object, but most guys don’t do it.”

“My dad didn’t, as far as I’m aware, and my grandfathers absolutely didn’t. I do it out of necessity, but I would also have done it had Elizaveta lived, though she’d have objected.”

“Why?”

“She had very clear ideas about which things were in her domain, and men intruding in those domains for any reason was simply not acceptable. I basically needed permission to enter the kitchen for any reason.”

“You’re joking!”

“When we had what we called our Dinner Club with three other couples, the men were never allowed into the kitchen. You can ask Serafima or Alyssa about that! My mom wasn’t like that, nor was my grandmother, but my friend Tasha’s family certainly was, as were a number of other families. The thing is, no matter what I thought about Elizaveta’s opinion on the division of labor, she correctly made the point that Doctor Mike wouldn’t have time to do those things. And that’s why Serafima arranged for the girls to come on Saturday to help out around the house, and why Lara does some light household tasks while she’s caring for Rachel.”

“I hadn’t thought that through, obviously. Your wife is going to basically do everything.”

“The only way around that is hiring a nanny and having maid service. I’ll make enough to afford those, especially if my wife works, which I think will probably be the case.”

“A maid, a butler, and a nanny?” Kari asked with a smirk.

“I don’t know of anyone in either Hayes or Harding Counties with a butler! Nannies and maid service, sure, but no butlers! I think I’d need the kind of money Lara’s family has, and even they don’t have a butler!”

“She’s rich?”

“Her family is, yes.”

“Which explains how she could not work.”

“She’s working on her teaching degree and postponed her final student teaching gig for a year. She’ll student teach starting in August, then apply for jobs for the next school year.”