Chapter 5: La Dolce Vita

PAUL Hilley and Janey appeared in front of the club just as I was making my way back inside to find them. Hilley was glowing. Janey looked more comfortable and tender than I had ever seen her. I learned a long time ago not to ask questions, Janey would explain when appropriate. We took the tram back down to the beach. It was late, perhaps 1 AM. I paddled back in the dinghy while Hilley zipped past me to the boat with her mother occupying her usual spot sitting in the middle. When she is wearing her club gear Janey does not like to get splashed sitting in the bow.

I tied up the dinghy and went into the cabin. The two of them were sitting inside and the sight of those two stunning beauties still dressed to kill was giving me feelings of both pride and misgiving. The pride came from the fact that I had such gorgeous and accomplished life companions. The misgiving came from the way Janey was treating our daughter, like Hilley had graduated to some new status as a woman. I knew what that probably meant.

Janey and I have no secrets. So, I knew that Hilley had already experimented with sex. I might add that cold blooded experimentation is something that she gets from me, not her passionate mother. The way that they were interacting tonight indicated that Hilley must have taken a next step, which Janey was helping her work through. There are many things that I respect about my wife. But the one thing that might be her matchless virtue is her total command of the art of being a woman. I was relying on that ability here.

People who have children understand the unqualified bond between parent and child. It is all-consuming and it never changes, even if subsequent life events cause separation, and sometimes even estrangement. Whatever was going on between the two was happening out of range of my male hearing, in some sort of realm that only dogs and women hear in. Men would sit over a beer and talk about it but women are MUCH more sophisticated creatures.

Hilley will have many challenges in life. And the best thing I could hope for was to ensure that she had access to all of the wisdom Janey could provide. I could do what Janey was doing for a boy child. But I am not capable of understanding life from a female perspective. Janey, however, is a master of womanhood and she has seen and done it all, both good and bad. So, I knew that she had the experience, intelligence, personal strength, and integrity to guide our daughter.

And my trust in her capabilities in that area was absolute. The two of them were glowing at each other. Even the Mau, which had come out of Hilley’s room, was involved in the love fest. My response was the sensible male one, which was to pour myself a double of JW Blue, sit out on the covered part of the quarterdeck and contemplate the lights of the town, which were 400 feet over my head. I could hear them talking in the cabin below but I could not make out what they were saying.

There are times in your life when you think about all the “would have’s.” Tonight, I was speculating about what would have happened if I had chickened out of the teaching opportunity at Wharton. Or if I had just said “fuck it I quit!” after watching Janey’s highly erotic interaction with the other men in her life.

Any rational guy would have just assumed that he was being a romantic fool pursuing a dream woman like her? With her incredible face and body Janey was the most stunningly sexually attractive women I had ever met. And I was attracted to her even while she seemed to be fucking every good looking stud on the Penn campus. And even more ironically, I thought that she didn’t like me during all of the times I was watching her exceedingly hot extra-curricular activities.

It wasn’t like I had ever lacked for women. Having a ten figure bank account makes you attractive to the opposite sex, even if you look like Quasimodo. I was only 32 and not a bad looking guy. I had dated supermodels, Hollywood starlets and New York society princesses. All of whose names you would recognize. I had probably fucked a couple hundred of them from the time my older cousin took my cherry when I was 13. But I had never met a person I was as drawn to as much as the woman who would eventually become my wife. Oddly enough I felt that way before I had even interacted with her.

As an engineer I know that there are chemical and electrical things going on inside all of us. And I put our instant connection down to some kind of innate alignment of those things. But it could just have easily been karma, kismet, or divine intervention. Whatever you want to call it, it didn’t matter to me as long as I managed to capture the heart of the fair maiden in the end.

I completed that thought as I finished the last of my drink. So, I poured myself another double. Johnny Walker Blue is very easy to drink. It has more subtle smoky taste and smoothness than any liquid in the universe and I could afford the five hundred bucks a bottle. I prepared and lit one of my Cohibas, my Havana cigar girl being otherwise occupied with her mother, and continued my train of thought.

We live in North Italy but we have never been back to Rome. It was the inevitable problem that people have when something noteworthy like the City of Rome is in their back yard. It is a day’s drive down to there but there are always other places to see. This time I planned on spending a serious amount of time exploring the City.

I finished the cigar and noticed that the contents of the bottle had disappeared. I also noticed that I was rip roaring drunk. I don’t drink much in concentrated doses and apparently the emotion of thinking about Janey with other men had fueled a slight overindulge.

I knew I had to get to bed before I ended up spending the evening sleeping in the sail locker; or someplace like that. So, I rose unsteadily and put my hand on the railing leading down into the cabin. Or I thought I did. Instead, I yanked out a short length of wood that we had been using to prop the cabin hatch open.

Removing that support immediately dropped the hatch. That heavy fixture hit me in the ass and very suddenly propelled me face first into the lounge ... at the feet of two very surprised women. The cat levitated itself eight feet into the air striking the overhead. From there, it landed on my back and sank its claws into my ass as it accelerated into Hilley’s room.

Hilley shrieked. Janey burst out laughing and my daughter joined in. I slowly focused on them with a resentful look on my face and declared, “I AM NOT DRUNK!!” That set off more gales of unkind and entirely unwarranted laughter. I picked myself up with all of the dignity I could muster and lurched my way to my room.

I stumbled over the coming of the door as I went inside and landed on the bed in a heap. I put my arm around my bed partner, who was a little fatter, hairier, and smellier than I recalled Janey to be and drifted off into peaceful sleep. I knew I would hate myself in the morning.

JANEY Hilley and I were discussing her latest adventure. It was vitally important for her to understand that what occurred tonight was a rite of passage into womanhood and absolutely nothing to feel either guilt or shame about. The only learning that I wanted her to get out of the event was how to better stage-manage evolving situations so that whatever happens during them fits her personal sense of propriety.

It is easy to get caught up in the moment when you are feeling passion. Nobody knows that better than me. And when I have those feelings, I trust Paul to steer us to a place where the two of us get the maximum pleasure out of the occasion. I told her that absent a man in her life like Paul, she would have to be responsible for doing the scene setting for any sexual situation that she finds herself in. I told her that the ability to do that was all part of learning to be a woman.

My main point was that sex is a gift that she should never fear, or suppress - just manage better. I told Hilley that as far as I was concerned, she had done an admirable job of taking the first step. But it was also clear that if I had not walked up when I did, she would have fucked the guy right there on the patio floor. I told her that I knew that that was not what she wanted to do.

She agreed that the cement patio of a dance club was not the place where she wanted to have her first real sexual experience with a man. But she told me that she did not know how to control the situation as it was occurring. She said that what the feelings she was experiencing at the moment blew away any rational thought.

I absolutely knew what THAT felt like. So, I said, “The trick is to set the scene in advance so that when you get past the point of no return you are in a safe place.” The subtext was that she should have been more careful about where she chose to get involved with the guy.

I told her that the feelings themselves will be less all-consuming once she had experienced them a few times and that will help her control how things progress. I told her, “Men are simple creatures, easy to manage as long as you understand that you have to be in charge, not them.”

I didn’t share any information about her father’s and my little sidelight sexual adventure, which was taking place at the same time as Hilley’s trip to the patio. That was because I am aware that telling her that her mother had fucked her father INSIDE the club while she was about to have it happen OUTSIDE would probably humiliate her into a lifetime in a cloister.

But it was a perfect example of how the two of us, Paul, and I, are able to hang onto our feelings long enough to get to a place where we can satisfy each other in creative ways, without turning what we are doing into a live sex show.

At that point there was a loud “Whoomp!” and the man of my dreams landed face first at my feet. I was startled for a second and then concerned that he was hurt. The cat literally hit the roof, came down on Paul’s butt and proceeded to do the cartoon thing where you could see its wheels spinning as it jetted into Hilley’s room. Horus commented from his cage, “Ooops!”

Paul raised his head and said petulantly, “I am NOT drunk!” The little lady in my head fell over laughing - adding sardonically, “He’s drunk!” I broke out in gales of laughter. Paul doesn’t get drunk often but apparently, he had been sitting up there on the quarterdeck drinking while Hilley and I were talking and had gotten a few unfortunate steps over the line.

Hilley looked stunned. Then she too broke out in a wave of giggles. Paul picked himself up with the kind of studied dignity that only a drunk can achieve and lurched toward our room. He stumbled over the raised sill of the door as he entered and disappeared from sight. I heard a crash from the direction of the bed, a loud sigh, and the sound of snoring. Still laughing I went to the open door to see my hero sound asleep with his arm draped over an equally loudly snoring Labrador. I turned off the light, closed the door and went back into the lounge.

I said, “It looks like I will be sleeping in the spare cabin tonight. When I told her who Paul was sleeping with Hilley went into paroxysms of laughter. That got me back to laughing. At which point I heard loud laughter coming from inside the cage hanging over Hilley’s head. Apparently, Horus had learned a new trick.

We parted for the night. She actually kissed me on my cheek. I could not express how ecstatic that made me. I went into the spare cabin, dropped my clothes, rolled back the sheet, and settled in for the evening. All-in-all it was one of the best club experiences I have ever had.

PAUL I awoke early the next morning with the dog sleeping next to me. I knew it was Athena because Janey doesn’t snore quite like that and she definitely doesn’t not smell like an unwashed Labrador retriever. I popped one eye open and yep - there she was ... Athena that is - lying on her back with her legs tucked up next to her body, tongue hanging out and a puddle of drool on the pillow.

I eased out of bed, with my head pounding. I had to get a drink of water or I was going to die. I was still wearing what I had on last night so modesty was not a problem. I cracked the door open and the dog woke up. She scrambled up and looked at me, tail wagging. I said, “Time for your morning constitutional Mademoiselle?” wag-wag-wag-slobber-slobber-slobber-drool.

We went out on the deck and the dog did her duty in the little sanitary box we had laid out for her. As I walked past his cage Horus said, “Hello.” That must have wakened Janey because she appeared as I was watching the dog do her business. Janey was wearing the colorful one piece Monica Wise suit that drives me wild. It shows off every asset she has like the frame does the Mona Lisa.

She said, “How are you doing big fellow?” I made a groan that I thought would raise sympathy. It set her to giggling. We sat down at the table on the covered section of the quarterdeck while I absolutely murdered two big bottles of water and four Aleves. I said, “What got into you last night, besides the usual thing of course?”

She gave me one of the hottest looks she has ever given me and said, “I realized something last night.” I said playfully, “And what’s that?” She said, “I realized that it is time for me to step aside and let our daughter do the clubbing.” I said, “And that realization was what motivated you to fuck my brains out?” She said casually, “No, I saw for the umpteenth time how much you love me.”

I said, “And what caused that epiphany besides my devotion to watching you shake your booty.” She said, “That’s just it. You have sat there for 23 years and watched me do my thing and never complained, or tried to change how I act in any way. I DO dance very sexually you know.”

I said grinning, “Believe me, I have watched you dance and I KNOW how sexy you are. That’s why you are not going to do any dancing in public settings without me sitting there to protect my investment.”

That clearly caused her some anxiety because she said with considerable consternation, “You DO know that my body is yours and yours only?” I laughed and said, “I admit that I am dense but not THAT stupid.” She said, “Well perhaps not QUITE that dense, but I DO love you with all of my heart.”

I said, “I know that, but what motivated you to decide to pass the torch.” Janey said, “I looked at our daughter and I saw how totally gorgeous and dynamic she is and I just felt like it was time for HER to take over the job of keeping you men in line.”

I said sincerely, “You are still the most beautiful woman in any room and so your retirement might be a bit premature. But whatever you decide, please keep in mind that there will never be another woman like you. You are legendary my dear.”

She launched herself into my arms and we kissed with the passion we felt for each other. At that point Hilley and the Mau appeared from below. She usually ignores us when we are doing “obscene” things like kissing but she actually said, “And what is THAT for?”

Janey said, “Oh nothing, your father was just re-assuring me that I am not totally prehistoric.” Hilley laughingly said, “Yes you are, you must be 45 if you are a day.” I helpfully added, “Your mother is 46 thank you, and she is getting better with age.”

Hilley gave Janey a look that communicated that she couldn’t believe that anybody that old was still getting around without a hip replacement and she and the Mau sauntered off below to fix breakfast. I turned to my beautiful life companion with a look on MY face that communicated that it must be nice to be that young.

We exited Santorini through the northern Ola-Therasia channel rather than the much wider one to the south. From there, we were headed into the Sea of Crete slightly south of west on a course designed to take us around the far southern tip of Greece in the channel between the islands of Cythera and Elafonisos.

Then we were going to haul across the Gulf of Laconia and around the absolute tip of the Greek mainland and turn almost due northwest across the open Mediterranean and through the Strait of Messina. There we would turn north and sail up the Italian boot to Civitavecchia, the modern port of Rome.

The sailing was fantastic all the way, with a following wind out of the southeast. The entire trip took five full days under sail and for a change the weather through the mixing bowl northwest of Crete was hot and sunny. The crew spent most of their time in bikinis that left very little to the imagination and as a result Janey and I had some very hot and sweaty nights during the trip, even though the air conditioning was turned up full blast.

However, the sex with my wife was almost mitigated by the sight of my daughter in a skimpy bikini. I know that the entire point of a bikini is to expose as much flesh as possible to the sun, while keeping the wearer “legal.” I am used to Hilley in a one-piece suit, which I still have a problem accepting. But I nearly had a stroke when she came on deck dressed in a bikini that was exactly the same as the one Janey used to wear. And Janey in a bikini can set off civil insurrection among the males in some countries.

My sweet daughter’s body was no less spectacular than her mother’s in a taller, equally voluptuous, more athletic way. She turned to take the wheel and her beautiful firm, muscular little butt was more-or-less nude in its entirety. I had visions of powdering those naked little buns as I changed her diaper and the sight of the incredibly round woman version caused me to flee forward to where Janey was working.

I sat down on the hatch of the sail locker looking forlorn. She put down her scrub brush and looked concerned. I gibbered with panic creeping into my voice, “Have you seen Hilley lately??!!” She looked puzzled and said, “She’s right behind you at the steering station.” I said, “NO, have you SEEN her lately.” Janey said, “Excuse me?”

Trying to keep my voice down I said, “She is parading around back there with practically nothing on!!” Janey looked incredibly amused and said, “It’s the same suit I used to wear when we were first married.” I said, “Well on you it looked hot but on her it looks totally obscene.” Janey seemed even more amused and calmly asked, “What causes you to think that?” I said in a strangled tone, “There is so MUCH of her showing.”

Thoughts were running through my head of the sweet little girl and her teddy bear, or the one who used to kiss her daddy all over his face, or the one standing there in her white dress with the big bow, or the brave little girl and her spear defending herself from the kidnappers, or the little tomboy emerging from a hole under the villa covered in mud holding up a sump pump like it was a trophy. Then, all of a sudden, I was confronted by the only person in the world who might arguably be more sexually attractive than her mother. I was SO upset.

Janey ceased looking amused and said tenderly, “Grow up my love, she is an adult now and proud of it. And you should be delighted by the woman she is turning into.” I said rather pathetically, “I AM proud of her but she didn’t need to grow up so damned fast!!!”

JANEY I truly love Paul with all of my heart. And he loves our daughter as much as I do. But he is a man and men are simple minded creatures. Forget all of her many other gifts, Hilley is absolutely spectacular in a bikini. Women pay small fortunes to have the boobs hips and ass that she has.

Hilley, with all of those assets topped off by her perfect thick mane of auburn hair and her uncanny blue eyes is spectacularly physically attractive. When you throw in that wide sensual mouth, which promises infinite passion you have a package of female sexuality that lays men at her feet.

I fear nothing in the bedroom, or up against a wall, or anywhere else for that matter, because I see sex for what it is, a gift. But sex can be a loaded gun if you don’t understand how to use it properly. My saving grace has always been that sex is a tool for me, designed to get what I want. And since men are so easy to manipulate in sexual terms all you have to do is learn how to use that tool like a craftsman, which I did.

I have been dealing with men and in the way they value women all of my life. I know that all of them think with their lower brain instead of the much smaller one in their skull. So, the sight of my beautiful and accomplished daughter in a bikini will not make them appreciate her genius IQ, or her superb athleticism. It will only make them want to fuck her.

Unfortunately, Paul has NOT had a lifetime of fending off the male population. And he is beginning to realize what kind of reaction Hilley will engender in the beady little “minds” of his cohorts. Since he loves our daughter to distraction the fact of her extreme physical attractiveness makes him crazy with anxiety, with perhaps a touch of grief for innocence lost as additional seasoning.

I sighed with resignation at the thought of managing my daughter’s emerging sexuality while keeping her father from going off the deep end worrying about her.

PAUL We docked at Civitavecchia at midmorning of the sixth day out of Santorini. The sail over had been easy enough but it still took work and so I was happy to see one of our black Suburbans waiting for us in the parking lot after we had landed.

Ada’s husband Fritz had driven down from Como to pick up a couple of passengers. The “Noah’s Ark” thing was charming and interesting when we didn’t have a choice. But now that we were back on Italian soil, we planned on getting back to the original complement of crew.

That meant that we could stand down the dog and the bird. Hilley could not be convinced to part with her cat, but cats are relatively easy to keep around as long as they are not hunting anybody’s precious pet. I had expected just Fritz. But as we maneuvered into dock the doors of the Suburban erupted into a cloud of children and BOTH Ada and Fritz appeared.

Five little apple cheeked Huns came streaking across the dock toward us, neatly spaced from ten to two, with their mother following carrying the sixth. All were overcome by joy at seeing us. The kids adore Hilley and so they headed for her like five little heat seeking missiles.

Ada was carrying the newest addition, which had come along since we had begun our journey. The baby was a 2 month old Teutonic bruiser of a girl, much like her mother who is best described as “sturdy.” Ada DOES possess two of the largest jugs in human history so every one of her children was breast fed until the next one came along. Needless to say, her tits were now approaching dirigible status.

We originally hired Ada as a governess/nanny for Hilley when she was seven. But her good humor and obvious love for our child soon promoted her to quasi-big sister status. Her valiant fight at the crossroads in the woods of the Tiergarten saved Hilley from being kidnapped and that alone made her special to us.

Her husband was a shy, polite, mountain of a man whose enormous hands could fix anything, no matter how intricate. His patient nurturing of Hilley’s curiosity for things mechanical and electrical was what started her off in the direction she is now headed academically. It also turned her into one of the most beautiful and interesting female garage mechanics I have ever known.

The herd all descended on the boat and Hilley and Ada plundered the rest of our supplies to make us some kind of hearty Schweizerdeutsch thing that was both delicious and filling as in... “I may never eat again” filling. We then loaded kids, babies, the dog, and the bird into the Suburban for the trip back.

Janey sat with her bird on her finger and chortled at him for a couple of minutes before putting him back in his cage. It was a tender moment. The dog hopped in without looking back since she thinks of Ada’s kids as litter-mates. Janey actually had tears in her eyes when she rejoined us.

Hilley was holding her cat in one arm. The cat was lounging there looking as imperial as Caesar Augustus himself. Fritz drove past us for the long ride home. The windows are blacked out everywhere else on the Suburban but you could see happy hands waving against the glass. I had hired a car service to drive us the hour into the Regina Baglioni.

That incarnation of the Baglioni hotel chain was an easy choice since it is located right on the Via Veneto, which is arguably one of the top shopping streets in the world and literally ground zero for La Dolce Vita - mainly because that is where Fellini shot the movie. Civitavecchia is an hour north of Rome and the drive in is down the A12/E80. We cut over at Centro Tre Denarii to get on the S122 which in Roman times was known as the Via Aurelia and was the main road out of the City to the north.

We passed by the Vatican and crossed the Tiber at Castle Sant Angelo, which had been the tomb of every Roman emperor from Hadrian to Caracalla before it was converted into a fortress by the Popes. We ran along the river to where the Ponte Cavour crosses it and then we turned east into the northern areas of Rome. The area we were headed would have lain just outside the Servian Walls on the edge of the Quirinal, which was the most northwesterly of the Seven Hills of Rome.

I selected the Regina Baglioni for several reasons, not the least of which is the fact that it has a penthouse suite that promised to blow Janey’s mind. We have endless wealth at our disposal but even I winced when I saw what it would cost me to spend three days in the place. Even so, Janey is a romantic at heart and the City of Rome has always been a place she muses about. And there was absolutely no better view of the entire City than the one she would get from the eighth floor terrace of that particular suite.

Another primary advantage was that there were several extra bedrooms. That would ensure plenty of privacy for the two of us. The concierge staff took our bags up to the room. Both Hilley and Janey were dressed for a day of shopping and it was still well before noon. So, they were snorting and pawing at the ground to get started.

Without even bothering to go up to the room, they set off south down the Via Veneto, past the American Embassy with the determination of a “search-and-destroy” mission. I knew that the only thing they were going to destroy was the inventory levels at Versace, Bulgari, Dior, and Ralph Lauren.

I thought I would tag along for a while. I am not a big fan of shopping but Janey will model things for me and I love to see things draped on that beautiful body. For our first stop we walked the kilometer over to Versace. We could have taken a cab but it was an absolutely perfect August day and after spending two months on a boat the walk was stimulating.

There were closer fashion houses, like Bulgari, but we went to Versace because Janey likes to shop there. She likes Versace for its couture but the main reason that she likes that house is because they know how to dress REAL women like her and Hilley.

Neither of my girls are fashion model skinny and any fashion house where Beyoncé Knowles is the “face” is a place that will get their attention. Versace’s Atelier collection in particular looks stunning on Janey and that was what I was there to drool over. We went into the store, which looked a little too hip-happening for my tastes and secured the services of a personal sales assistant to help with the presentation of the couture and the fittings.

Both of my women disappeared into the fitting room. Janey made an appearance first in a “bandage” dress that was strictly for important formal events. It showed parts of her that would stimulate a stone idol, but it was also a study in sophisticated class. How those two conflicting qualities could exist at the same time must be part of the fashion designer’s art. The engineer in me told me that it had something to do with the strategically placed cut outs.

I looked at the price tag, which Janey never does. It read $4,500. She dropped that one on the clothes pile like she had just bought a t-shirt. Then Hilley came out in something that was so sophisticated that it had me tearing out what was left of my hair ... metaphorically speaking that is.

It was some concoction of skin tight vinyl looking pants and matching vest with a long cloth coat on top that swished around so that you only got flashes of her magnificent body. She paraded around like a catwalk veteran and then stopped and posed in front of me.

I was gibbering to Janey about it being, “Too adult!!” Both of them laughed at me. The assistant who was arranging the fittings even smiled. Janey then came out in some kind of vinyl looking short dress that molded to her curves. It was clearly designed to go with the punky looking black 5 inch Versace sandals she was wearing along with it.

When she turned around there was no material above her very round hips. Her incredible smooth muscular back was totally on display right down to the dimples in her ass. My little voice was saying, “If you throw her on the floor and fuck her right here, they will never let you back in the store, so down boy.” She threw that on the pile. This one was cheaper, only $4,300. But the sandals were an extra $1,200.

The sandals DID have some kind of fur, like mink, where her toes went. The rest of the shoe was mainly Janey’s foot. How she could walk in those, let alone dance, was beyond me. How they could get away with charging twelve hundred bucks for something that insubstantial was also a mystery. Then Hilley appeared in a form fitting thing made out of the same vinyl material as her last outfit. It was a sort-of hip-hop version of an ubiquitous “little black dress.”