Chapter 17

We washed and dressed to wait for Gramma and Missy to come home, waiting on the sofa with small talk abounding. I could tell she wanted to tell me something, funny how you pick on those things when you're on the same wavelength with someone, so I came out and asked her.

"You have something else to say and you're holding it back, what is it?" I said looking her straight square.

"God, you know me too well already! I didn't want to talk about this so you wouldn't get to umm ... excited. I don't need you greeting my Mother with a big stiffie in your pants." She said uncomfortable and slightly embarrassed.

"I'll control myself, what is it!" I asked, a little perturbed.

"If I didn't like uh ... bottom sex, I wouldn't ask for it. I'm uncomfortable with all of the terms for it, because they sound dirty, naughty, whatever you want to say. It was OK when we were just getting rocks off, but now we "make love" all the time. I know you worry about hurting me. There is a pain factor to it, but it makes the reward more intense. I guess pain and pleasure are two sensations closely related. It's not pain like hitting your thumb with a hammer or banging your head on the cupboard. It's a burn and sting right in the area where my most intense pleasures come from, and once it irons itself out I really get off. The orgasm is from inside me and it's intense, very vaginal. I know the tightness and grip bring you pleasure, so we can't lose. It's not something I want to do every day, but it's also not something I do to just make you happy, despite me. I wouldn't let that happen because I know you wouldn't hurt me. So let me take care of being clean and having enough lube, and then let the two of us enjoy it. If I have a real problem any one time, I'll say so. I promise, OK?"

"Alright, I'm just afraid you do it because I enjoy it. I enjoy a banana split, but if I have more than one a year, it's a lot. I'll never demand it of you and I prefer to just let it happen." I explained, I hoped fairly.

"You know it will never happen if I don't want it." She said, rather curtly, pissing me off.

"What point do you think I've tried to make all along with this? I can't believe you even had to SAY that! We've been there a couple times and that's more than I've ever had that in such a short time." I emphasized.

"So, that first time with me was your first in a long while?" She asked with a cute smile.

"You get hurt when you get nosy, and I don't lie. No, it was the first in a short while. My last affair before I committed myself to you involved that." I told her, looking away.

"Why do I ask questions like that? God, I'm sorry. I thought I was doing something so special that you would never stray. I didn't need to do that, did I? I had you already. I mean, NOT that it wouldn't have happened anyway. Oh shit, I'm in quicksand." She said trying to work her way out of this, and I only knew one way.

I turned to her and planted my lips tightly on her mouth and gave her a long deep kiss, slowly pushing her back into the sofa with her responding in kind showing me that my words and deeds made no difference. Of course just as we hit the cushions on the sofa, the front door flew open with Missy running in.

"I was right, you ARE smooching. Get a room! Hahahahaha."

Dianna bounced up and grabbed Missy and stood up and turned a pirouette.

"Do you know WHY I'm smooching with Dean? For the same reason I'm going to smooch you, I love you, and I love Dean!" She said kissing Missy over and over with sloppy kisses as Missy tried to fight her off as she giggled and wriggled.

Dianna finally put Missy down and she came over to me.

"Were you smooching with my Mommy the whole time we were gone?"

"Yes, the WHOLE time, and it sure made me hungry. Are you ready to eat?" I said picking her up as she hugged me.

"YES, I'm hungry! No more smooching for you!" She said as I put her down.

Dianna knelt down and hugged Missy tightly, telling her "No we didn't smooch the whole time you were gone. We looked at the ads like Dean said and we did a lot of talking. I haven't been able to see him a lot, I've been traveling so much."

"Why have you been traveling so much, Mommy?"

"I'm getting all the work done now so I can be at home with you to go to school, and to meet you off the bus in the afternoon. How does that sound?" She asked her.

"It sounds good to me because I don't have a key to get in the house. You better be here when I get home." Missy said in a tone reminiscent of a young Shirley Temple, who no one probably remembers.

I looked over at Di's mother and asked, "Is Basil Roma good for you, do you like Italian?"

"I like it, but I can never afford that place." She sort of snapped at me

"Not to worry, I'll get the check. I want us all to go out to a nice place where we can talk and eat."

We all got into my car and made the short drive to Basil Roma and avoiding any serious talk, except small talk, about the movie they had seen and about furniture changes Dianna wanted to make at the house. Once in the restaurant we got situated with drinks and I ordered a large anti-pasta and soon we were all noshing on the goodies in the salad after we had ordered dinners.

"We wanted to have all four of us to be together tonight so we could break bread and talk about some of the future Dianna and I have planned" I said as Dianna shot me a look of fear, or was it anger?

"We have grown very close in the past 3 months we have known each other and it has become quite clear to us that we have special feelings for each other. Now, we don't plan on jumping the gun and getting married and making anything permanent, but we would sure like to try and see if that arrangement could work out. We want to know how the two of you would feel if I became part of Dianna's little family to see how it might work out." I said without a pause so no one could interrupt me or change my mind from what I had planned to say.

Dianna was somewhat in shock and she couldn't look at her mother or her daughter. She only looked at me with the face that clearly said "What the fuck are you doing?"

Dianna's mom was in shock for a minute but Missy looked to her mother and then to me asking, "Do you mean you're going to sleep in our house and be coming home with us every night, eating dinner and everything?"

"Yes, Missy, just like that."

"Mommy, Mommy, can we. Can we do it? Dean can be my stepped daddy." "STEP Daddy, and NO, he wouldn't be that unless he and I got married. But," she said looking to me still in shock that I sprung this, "Dean could do things with you LIKE a step-daddy might do. Then if everyone is happy with the way we all get along, then Dean and I would get married." She explained.

"Hmmm ... married, that's what we did in the old days. None of this practicing." Her mother piped in under her breath, loud enough for Di and I to hear.

"Had I practiced before ... I might not have an ex, Mom. I might have learned things before they happened." She said quietly enough that Missy didn't pay attention.

The waiter came back to collect our salad plates and the remains of the anti-pasta and left us a plate telling us, "You dinner will be out in just a few minutes, please enjoy this fried dough, compliments of the Chef to clear your palette."

Missy tugged at her Mother and said "I hafta go to the bathroom Mommy.", so Dianna got up and took her, leaving me with her mother.

"How many women have you lived with, trying to find the right one?" She said, not in a real snotty tone, but suspicious, none the less.

"Officially living together, no one. I've thought about marriage one other time, but Dianna and I really seem to fit." I said, ready for any questions.

"How do you feel about Missy?"

"She seems very sweet, very smart, and I enjoy her innocence with the situation at hand, her Father, and her Grandmothers. She understands more than we all think. She loves it when I interact with her, she really needs another adult, a man, in her life. I totally realize that with Dianna I get her daughter and her career." I explained.

"You get her Mother too. Let me tell you right now, if anything happens to either of them on your watch, you'll have me to deal with." She said as a warning, but somehow she managed a sweet tone, but I knew she was serious.

"I can assure you, that I adore your daughter, and she adores me. Missy is something added to my life that will be exciting and thought provoking. Yes, I've been a run around in the past, but Dianna has cured me of that. I've never felt so taken, so loved, so secure with any woman. I have a good solid career, I make good money, and if I became the sole bread winner in this situation, we would do just fine. She wants to milk all she can from her career while she still can, and I can live with that, as long as it doesn't interfere with Missy's development or school. I won't pretend to be her father, or even the step father for now, BUT, I'll do everything I can to make her life happy and better." I professed to her.

"I have a good feeling about you. I was afraid when we got back from Florida and you had your fill of her, you might flake off. I've always thought when she met someone else she should go through a trial period with them, but now that it's here, I'm not so happy about it, but I do know it's the best way. You won her over, now you just have to win me over. They're coming back. Don't you tell her one word I said? I'll see if I can trust you." She said with a smile as Dianna and Missy got there just as the waiter came out with a large tray of our food.

"I suppose my Mother gave you the 3rd degree?" Dianna said.

"No, she told me about Disney World and the new things they've added, as well as a review of the Ice Age movie." I said with a smile.

"Thank you for not grilling him Mom." Dianna said as she patted her mothers hand, while Mom was giving me a knowing look.

While her Mom and I got veal parm, Dianna got the saltimbocca and Missy spaghetti with meatballs. We were all overwhelmed at the presentation and began to prepare to eat our Italian delights when I looked to Missy who was overwhelmed by the size of the meal and the adult presentation of it.

"Missy, would you like me to cut up your spaghetti and meatballs? There's an awful lot there, I think you have your lunch for tomorrow as well. I'm sorry they didn't have a Childrens Menu that you liked.

"I wanted grown-up food, not hot dogs and chicken nuggets." She said smiling as I took a knife and cut up her food and then took a lobster bib from the basket on the table and tied it around the front of her.

"This will keep your pretty clothes clean." I said as she quickly shot back, "And out of trouble with Mommy!"

I signaled the waiter and asked if they had a booster seat and he said they did and went to get it.

When he came back it was obvious he had children as well. "If you get up young lady, I'll be able to get you onto this to make it easier to eat. We use this for people not as tall as the rest of us."

I got up and pulled out her chair and let her down and then put her atop the seat and pushed her in. She looked at me with adoring eyes and said, "Thank you Dean. Mommy said you were sweet and I think so too."

That got a chuckle from all of us and Missy, feeling much more adult than child, quietly ate, and enjoyed her dinner with us, causing nary a fuss.

The rest of dinner went smoothly and after dessert while we all sat and appreciated our full stomachs Missy spoke up once again.

"So when we go home, you're going to stay with Mommy and me, all night?"

"Yes, if you want me to. I love your Mommy and want to be with her." I answered before Dianna could chime in. I wanted the innocent honest answer.

"I think I would like that. You make Mommy happy."

"Do I make Missy happy?" I asked, risking putting my foot in a hole.

She looked down at her plate and then up and away, making sure she didn't make contact with her Mom or her grandmothers eyes. (Very perceptive for 5 going on 6 – she wanted to make her own answer).

"I would say, ... YES, because you don't act like I'm not there. You know I'm part of Mommy." She said proudly.

All three of us were floored by her answer and I looked to Dianna to see if this was something she had rehearsed. She just shook her head and was in as much amazement as me.

Dianna leaned over from her seat and with tears in her eyes she hugged Missy tightly. "You know I picked Dean because I knew he would be good to you." She whispered, but I heard, even if I wasn't supposed to.