"Are they coming back?" Jerry asked. He was less interested in what Manny would do than in what her mother thought she would do. Trying to turn on a woman who was listening for the patter of little footsteps (big footsteps, now -- especially in Ed's case) was a losing proposition. Experience had taught him that.

"I packed the basket." Karen said. "I also suspect that Manny has gotten over her scatter-brained phase. Marriage does that for a woman. But I still have to finish up in the kitchen if we are going to have dinner tonight."

"I could be bribed to help." He pulled her back against him and kissed her neck.

"I'm too distracted. I'll see you in ten minutes." It was really twenty before she had cleaned up from the picnic preparation and sunk the ribs in their marinade.

While he was waiting for her, Jerry turned down the air conditioning and stripped. Then he lay down on the bed.

She often spent the week up here on the farm these summers. He missed her, but the reunions on Friday nights were worth it. This Friday, when he'd picked up Manny and her groom at the airport, he hadn't even imagined that the reunion would be different. With daughter and son-in-law in the next room, however, Karen hadn't felt comfortable with his advances. Well, she was bright enough to figure out a way to send them off without their feeling the least unwelcome.

And they weren't unwelcome, either. He liked Ed. He might not think that he was worthy of his daughter, but then, who was? And he was always overjoyed these days when Manny was back home. He just wanted his wife undistracted.

When Karen came in, he rose to help her undress. By the time that he had her down to her bra and panties, she was returning his kisses with real passion.

"I love you," he said.

"And I love you. It's just that with Manny right next door..."

"Well, she's far away, now."

"On a romantic picnic with her new husband. I know I never hurried back from those."

Karen had, in fact, made love with her husband on many romantic picnics. Jerry didn't want to think of Manny doing that. On the other hand, Manny had taken a good many solitary picnics in her life. If she took as long this noon, they had plenty of time.

And, having plenty of time, he used a little of it to kiss Karen's breasts when they were freed. He sucked a little on the nipple, too. She pulled his head into the suction.

"If you really want, we could take a picnic, too," Karen said. "Just because we are old married folk doesn't mean we couldn't be romantic, too. There is the northern pasture."

"I can be romantic right here." Indeed, to his thinking, the bed was better than a picnic blanket. They'd done enough of that when Manny was young. That last couple of years with Manny off at school had spoiled him.

She lay down while he removed her panties. "You know," he said, "she's not likely to come knocking on the door at the critical moment, any more. She has Ed to talk to."

"And, being a married woman, she knows precisely what the squeaking bed springs mean,"

Jerry didn't want to think about that. Not about Ed making the bed springs squeak under Manny. His Manny -- his little girl.

He knew they had hours yet. Still he locked the door before coming to bed. He did that even when the two of them were in the house alone.

He kissed her when he got back into bed. First, their tongues tangled, then he kissed the special spot on her neck. When she shivered, her breasts quivered. He went directly to her nipple, then.

She held his head against her. "I always think it's special when Manny takes a picnic to the spring."

Jerry wasn't so sure that Manny had been conceived there. That temperature business had been a hassle. He'd been barely breaking even as a single practitioner. Then old Jameson had offered him a partnership. He'd accepted, and they had immediately decided on a baby. Karen had started taking her temperature every morning.

He'd lain beside her for nights without end. He'd kissed her, but hadn't gone any further. Every morning, she'd take her temperature as soon as she got up. Finally, after nearly a week, it had spiked.

"Oh darling," he'd said.

"We planned the whole thing," she'd said. But it had been just as long for her. When he tugged on her arm, she returned willingly to the bed. He had stripped her and kissed her breasts just like this. Holding back had been hell, even briefly. He'd wanted to just sink his cock into her. But she'd wanted him, too. She had pulled on his shoulders and spread her legs.

When he was there, she'd reached down to put him at the right spot. Then, his last exercise in restraint, he'd entered her slowly. He had felt every inch, her warmth and wetness surrounding him.

When their pubic hair had ground together, he'd gone wild. He had pounded into her, and she had thrown herself against him. She'd clawed his back, and he'd spewed a week's accumulation of lust into her spasming heat.

Later, though, he had taken the afternoon off. They'd driven out to the farm, then still belonging to her parents. Going off down the path, he'd carried the basket and he'd carried the blanket, the purchase of which had been part of the planning.

Walking alongside her, he'd seen that she hadn't been wearing a bra. Walking behind her, he'd admired the play of her buttocks under the peasant skirt. He'd decided that the draining that morning had been less serious than he had thought. When they got to the spring, he had been ready all over again. Even though he'd had to skip breakfast, he was eager to deal with other appetites before they had lunch.