Chapter 14: New Year’s Eve – Part 1

The next morning was the start of New Year’s Eve. Karen and I made love in the dunes at Lido Beach after our meditations. It was a tender and loving time I was glad to have with her in the midst of all the chaos going on with so many visitors at the house. When we finished, we lay together talking of our love for one another. Finally, she said, “You know my bucket is very full. I am a very happy camper and I think everyone else is too. This is the best Christmas holiday ever.” We kissed yet again.

At home the two of us shed our sweat suits in keeping with house ‘rules’ and started breakfast. Soon the naked nymphs and satyrs from the bedrooms started to appear. A naked Rachel came first, pressing into her sister with a warm good morning kiss and then repeating the process with me. “Thank you two for what you did with me last night. I know it was daring – I could have bolted,” she smiled, “but I didn’t and I will never forget it.” She had a big smile. This was a different woman than twelve hours earlier.

“Neither will we forget,” I assured her and the three of us hugged together.

“Carl and I WILL do THAT again. I don’t know if I’ve ever cum so hard, cum so many times, or been so nasty all at the same time. I liked doing everything we did,” she looked sheepishly at her sister.

“We love all the sex, Rachel,” Karen said as she kissed her sister’s forehead.

I put an apron on so I wouldn’t damage any of the equipment as I cooked the bacon and sausage – no, not that sausage!

Lynn arrived next, hugging and kissing each of us. She smelled of sex – an odor I was becoming very fond of. Mel joined us wearing the same perfume, then Bev and Robbie, and last was Carl.

After breakfast, we became civilized and played tourists. We went up to the Ringling Museum and walked around looking at the art and an amazing miniature circus. Nancy and I had been what were called Circle members, so we got some preferential treatment, since I’d maintained our relative expensive support to the museum. We also walked around downtown and ate outside at my favorite restaurant. The same waitress was there again; she sized me up with all these women together, rolled her eyes towards the sky and gave me a big wink and a smile.

After lunch we all went back to the house and changed into swimsuits for a walk along the beach. We drove the two cars full of people down there and started to walk. The air was still delightfully warm for year-end.

Lynn and I were walking along holding hands when Robbie broke off from the others and came up to us. “I have a question for you guys, can you slow down a minute?”

“What’s up?” I asked as we almost came to a stop to match his slow pace. The others continued on up the beach. Lots of people were out and about.

“Well, I’m not sure how to start this...” He floundered around for a second looking at each of us; I could tell he had something serious on his mind.

He finally found the words, “You know I love Mel with all my heart?” We both nodded. “And I love all you guys too, but Mel is really the most important person in my life right now ... and, well, I feel like it will be that way forever ... and, well, I want to ask her to marry me today.” He reached into the pocket of his shorts and pulled out a ring box and showed us a beautiful diamond as he walked backwards. The others were about fifty feet ahead of us with their backs to us. He said in a hushed tone, “This was my grandmother’s. It’s a family heirloom and important to me and everyone in my regular family.”

“Wow!” Karen said as she stopped and hugged him. “Oh, she will be thrilled. Go ahead, do it!”

“I agree,” I said with a happy grin as I hugged him too. A few of the others looked back at us but not Mel.

“Does she know about this?” I asked.

“No, this’ll be a surprise. I hope she says ‘yes’,” Robbie stuttered. “We don’t have to get married right away, but I want to be tied to her in a big way – I want us to commit to each other. I mean she’s got to graduate first. Maybe that summer.”

We both turned him around and pushed him ahead of us with love. Then I had a thought.

“Hey everybody, wait up!” I yelled. Lynn, Robbie and I trotted up to the others who’d turned around in response to my call.

“Come here I said,” gathering everyone together. I grabbed hands and pushed everyone into a circle. The cool waters from the Gulf of Mexico washed up over our feet. “Form a circle. We have a special occasion to observe.”

There were lots of questioning faces, but the group gathered together and circled.

I said, “Mel and Robbie into the center of our circle.” I paused and looked at Robbie. He understood and smiled at me. He took Mel’s hand, then, God bless his heart, he knelt in front of her. We were just above the surf line.

“Mel,” he said in a tender voice, “I love you with all my heart and soul ... and I never want to be without you in my life ... now and forever.” He reached in his pocket again and pulled out the ring box. As he opened it to her, he said, “Mel, I want you to marry me – sometime, maybe after you finish school or whenever you’re ready, but ... for now ... I...”

He never got to finish his sentence; Mel threw herself onto him shouting, “Yes, yes, yes! Oh, I love you, too. I will. I will.” She was crying with joy. The two of them kissed in our circle as they sort of stood on their knees in the encircling water.

She pulled him up so they were standing again and our circle started to close around them. She held out her left hand and Robbie took the ring from the box and slid it onto her ring finger. “We all cheered,” then encircled them with hugs, kisses and congratulations. I felt so warm towards Mel and Robbie; every one of us did. We all patted them on the shoulders or hugged.

We all stood there talking excitedly for a few moments then Robbie and Mel held hands as she looked at the ring on her left hand, and they took up the lead again as we continued our walk up the beach. It was such fun looking ahead and seeing the two of them in love. They both wanted to crawl inside the other. Mel kept looking at the ring on her left hand then she’d kiss and hug Robbie again.

At one-point Mel broke off from Robbie and came running back to Lynn and me. She jumped into my arms, locking her legs around me, as she kissed me. “Robbie said you knew about this and encouraged him. Thank you.” She dropped down and kissed her mother, too. We hugged her again. “I still love you guys – and I will keep loving you guys in all the ways we love to love.” She locked eye contact with the two of us so there was no doubt what she meant.

Mel went running back to Robbie yelling, “I’m engaged. I’m engaged. I’m engaged.” She threw herself into his arms again and they twirled around, almost falling into the water.

I said to Lynn, “Looks like you’ll get grandchildren after all, maybe even this afternoon.”

She laughed. “Not too soon, I hope,” she kissed me, too.

At the end of our long walk, we all headed back to the house. I opened a bottle of champagne and got our crystal flutes out; we all toasted Robbie and Mel as we stood around the patio. I then suggested they take their champagne into the guest room and do something to celebrate their new commitment.

The two of them looked at us all for a minute, both blushed, but then they bolted through the house in a gale of giggles. We didn’t see them again for an hour.

The rest of us sat around on the patio and enjoyed the afternoon sun and shared stories of how we’d each found the ones we loved and gotten engaged. Our heads were all in a romantic frame of mind.

We were still talking when Mel and Robbie rejoined us, both wearing that wonderful after glow and satisfied expression from great sex. As I looked at them, it became suddenly clear to me for the first time why you could always tell when someone had just had sex.

Our group went in the pool – this time in our swimsuits since it was still daylight. We paddled around and somehow got to talking about New Year’s resolutions. Everyone started thinking about what they wanted to have happen in their lives or what bad habits they wanted to break.

Rachel was the first one to vocalize a couple of resolutions. “These last three days have been such an eye opener for me. My first resolution is to have LOTS more sex ... with Carl...” she looked around at the rest of us with a big grin, “AND all of you if you’ll have me.” Carl and I were both close to her and went and hugged her.

“Wait, I have a second resolution,” she said as we broke apart. “This visit has been a wakeup call for me. I have been taking so much important stuff for granted.” She grabbed my hand and kissed it. “Jim reminded me that you have to celebrate the great moments in your life even though they may be small ones. If you don’t, they’re gone too soon and you forget about them.” She hugged me. “So, my resolution is to love more and to celebrate more – with Carl, my kids, all of you, with everyone.”

Mel next said, “My first resolution is to spend more time with my FIANCÉ.” She emphasized the last word loudly and then kissed him passionately. “My second is spend more time with all of you. I hope you’ll have me back here over and over again.” She waved her arm at the house.

Bev said, “Well, I was going to make a resolution to fuck Robbie’s brains out more frequently, but I guess that slot’s been taken.” We all laughed. She went to Karen and held her hand, “I’ve been away from part of my family for too long. These visits were a wakeup call for me, too. If it’s OK with you guys, I’ll be back – a lot.” She looked across to Rachel and said, “Why don’t we all move down by these guys.” She looked at me, “Jim, what about you?”

“I’m just coming on my one-year anniversary of meeting Lynn – of falling in love with her, then Karen ... and Mel ... you ... and Rachel ... and even you guys. This has been the best year of my life, so I guess I’m going to spend the next year being grateful for the abundance of love and caring that the Universe has given me.” I thought a bit as the others watched. “I want to be more giving and loving to all of you in the year ahead ... and I guess I should extend that to the others we meet that are in need.” I looked to Carl.

Carl started, “Well, I know I’m going to have to get in shape to keep up with my highly-sexed wife.” Everyone laughed. “Guys don’t think about love or caring, we just sort of ‘do’ whatever comes next and drag our knuckles on the ground. But you each think about love and how to do it, how to make it a great experience for each other. I’m going to start doing that, too – I think I already have on this trip, but it’ll take me some work and guidance from all of you. I need to think about Rach more and work less, too. Lastly, I like the idea of moving here – maybe that’ll be an interesting goal to look into for the year.” He reached out to Karen who took his hand and kissed it.

“I’m blessed by you all,” Karen started. “I’m a sexual being and I love making love with you and I want to get better at that during the year.” We all applauded and she actually blushed. “I, too, want new relationships with my sister, her family, my mom, and particularly with Jim and Lynn. Sometimes I know I’m not the easiest person to live with and I promise to work on that. The other thing I want to do is find some way to help other people outside our circle - people in need in some way. I’ve been focused pretty close in and now it’s time for me to reach out to others.” She paused then shrugged to indicate she was through. “Lynn?” she said.

“I want to work on that sex thingy, too,” she started to everyone’s laughter. “I have some personal stuff to clean up this year – it frets on me. I mean my divorce and all. The other thing is that Jim got me back on my feet and he’s never once asked for money or rent or help with food or anything; in fact, I arrived here with $200 in my pocket and I still have it.” She came over and hugged me. “I need to feel as though I’m contributing to this family, so I want to fix that in some way in the New Year.” I started to protest but she put a finger to my lips so I wouldn’t talk.