Chapter 39

I took off from Santa Ana at first light, refueling in Sacramento just before ten o'clock. I stopped again near Red Bluff to top off my tank and then landed in Salem a little before four that afternoon. I rented the same car as on my first visit, leaving another three hundred dollar security deposit. My guardian guided me to Diane's location. I was just pulling up in front of her apartment when she came walking out her front door. I parked and got out of the car, calling her name.

"Jimmy, I didn't expect you here so quick." She ran over to me, and then we embraced. It was more than an embrace, because both of us collapsed into each other. Whatever conflicted feelings Diane had felt before had somehow been resolved. I think each of us felt we were right where we needed to be as we held on to each other. Holding her like I was, I felt myself relax. I hadn't realized how tense I'd gotten just from worrying about how this next meeting would go. We each held on to the other, neither of us needing to say anything. Our bodies, and our sense of shared happiness were communicating everything that was important. "Did you start flying up here last night?"

"No, I left a little before five this morning. Do you have things you have to do now, or can we spend some time together?"

"I'm giving an hour long voice lesson in about ten more minutes. That's where I was going when you pulled up. Do you want to drive me there? When I finish, I'm done for the rest of the day. I've just been helping Ginny with some of her students this week. After tomorrow, I'm all done with the filling in for her I promised to do. Did you really come up here today to get me?"

"I sure did. I'm assuming that you meant it when you asked me to come up here for you?"

"Yes, I wanted you to come get me. I know we belong together now. I told Ginny when we rented the apartment together, I didn't know how long I'd even be staying here. She wants to use the other bedroom to bring her piano over here from her mom's house so she can give lessons at the apartment instead of at her mom's. Her mother can't stand all of the racket the new students make. I'm so glad you came, Jimmy. I was afraid you wouldn't try to contact me anymore after the fight we had that last time. My mother said you'd come. As soon as I got here, I was crying because I felt so bad, and she told me that you'd come for me. I don't know how she could be so sure, but she was."

"She knew I loved you too much to ever give you up. I never tried to keep it a secret from her, or from you either. Hop in and I'll take you to your lesson." I drove her to the student's house, waiting in the car for her to finish up and come back out to me. When she did come out, a little more than an hour after she went in, I asked her where she wanted to go. I knew where I'd like to go, and what I was dying to do too, but I didn't want to push her too quickly.

"Can we go out to the farm? I told mom I'd bring you out there if you ever showed up here again. I didn't tell her about you giving me back these last night, or about how I watched your movie." She cupped her breasts and squeezed when she said 'these'. "How did you make that movie play inside my head when you were so far away? It was the strangest thing. I could see and hear everything perfectly, even though it was all speeded up, but it still made sense to me all the same. I got sad when I saw some of those things, and when I saw how some of it affected you. I know it can't all be true though."

"It is all true, Diane, I told my guardian to let you see it all, I told him not to edit anything out."

"But I saw that part where you took that knife, Jimmy. You're still alive, and so is that girl because I saw her later in the movie. So, none of that part can be true."

"I can't explain that to you, other than to say that the guardian's brought us back to life, and then made an exception for us. You know it was the guardians who changed your boobs, and they are the ones who show you my thoughts and all the rest of it. I don't have any power myself, only what they do for me. They can do a lot more than you saw in the tape, a lot more."

"The other thing I didn't understand was why you wouldn't allow them to change me so that I'd love you? I heard him ask you to do that several times."

"Because I love you, Diane. I don't want to trick you into loving me back. I want you to love me, but only if it is your own decision to do it."

"It is. I do love you, and I really have all along. Even when I hated you, I still loved you too. Coming back here was the hardest thing I've ever done, because I thought I'd be giving up any chance for us to get together again."

We talked some more as we drove out to her family's farm. We decided to stay for dinner, and I got a chance to see all of the improvements that Tim and Clarence had made to the farm and the house. The porch now felt solid and safe to step on. The house itself had been newly painted since my last visit, and the barn had even gotten a fresh coat of paint, and some new boards to replace the ones that had either rotted through or had just fallen off before. Everything was working again, and was getting the proper care and maintenance. Still, the farm was never going to be a big moneymaker. I had set the interest rate low enough that they could afford to keep up with interest payments, but any pay down of the principle would probably be deferred until after the farm was sold someday. I didn't care. It wasn't like I needed the money for anything else. Diane told her mother, as soon as we got there, that she'd be going back to California with me.

"Are you two getting married?" Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at me as soon as Florence asked that question. Marriage wasn't something I had considered, not in any specific or planned sense at least. I loved Diane, I could even see myself spending the rest of my life with her, having children, and all the rest of it. This was something I hadn't once considered doing in my previous life. I had thought about it with Carolyn the year before, and now, I was going to have to really consider it with Diane.

"I expect we'll be discussing all of our options in the near future. Marriage is definitely one of the things we'll talk about. In the meantime, let's talk about what Diane will need to bring back down with her, and what she'll want to store up here." I could see that Diane was a little subdued by my answer. Apparently, she had hoped for more of a commitment from me. Florence didn't seem disappointed at all with my answer. I got the feeling she was just as happy we weren't rushing headlong into anything right away. Given the ups and downs we had been having, I could understand how she might be concerned. Clarence surprised me.

"If she gets in the family way, I'd expect you to marry her. If you can't tell me you'd do that much, I really don't want you taking her away from home again." This time, everyone was staring at Clarence. I got the distinct impression that his words had surprised everyone else too. I could see he was expecting me to respond to what he'd said.

"If I make her pregnant, I'd definitely want to marry her. I would marry her."

"Good."

Clarence was done with that conversation. Florence and Tim looked pleased with him for getting that all clarified for everyone's benefit. Clarence decided to go back outside to check on something. Tim soon followed after him.

"I knew you loved her, Jimmy, even when she had her doubts about it. I knew you'd be back up here to get her soon too. The minute she showed up here, her poor chest as flat as my ironing board again, I knew the two of you would be getting back together very soon. No man would have even thought about taking those beautiful boobs away from a girl if he didn't first love her to pieces." Florence was having herself a good time, laughing at what I'd done.

"I seem to remember taking yours away too, so I guess I must love you too then?"

"I was happy to be free of them, Jimmy. At my age, they'd just get in the way of me doing most of the things that need getting done around here. Clarry would have been chasing after me all the time, pestering me to show them to him or to let him squeeze them some more. Nobody around here would have gotten any work done except for poor Tim. No, you did me a favor by taking them back. If I was still twenty years old though, I'm sure I'd think differently."

"Well that's too bad, Florence, I was thinking about letting you have them back again."

"Well, I suppose I could dress myself up in baggy clothes during the daytime, and bring them out to play at night. No reason for us to spoil all of Clarry's fun is there?"

"Too late now. You can't keep taking both sides of that issue. Besides, I was going to put them on your back this time anyway. That way, you could be washing the dishes or cooking a meal, and Clarence wouldn't have to disturb you a bit while he played with them."

"Diane, I might have advised you wrong about him. Any man who could even think of something like that is going to be big trouble for you."

As soon as dinner was over, Diane started in making all kinds of excuses about why we simply had to leave right away. I supported each excuse by whatever means I could. When she told them I was really exhausted from such a long flight, I flapped my arms like a stork, and tried to look all tired out. She finally told them she had to get all her stuff sorted and packed so we could leave Salem at first light. As soon as we left the farm though, Diane started in after me to get myself a motel room for the night. I did what she wanted me to, first thing, but then, she said she wanted to check it and make sure I had everything I needed. She never went back to her apartment to do any of that packing or sorting she told her family she was so anxious to get started on. I wasn't complaining about it though.

We spent a good part of that night making the sweetest kind of love. It wasn't just the making up sex that a couple does after a big fight. This was more of an "I love you completely' kind of making love. The next morning, I took her over to her apartment and helped her pack and box everything up. Later on, while she was out giving first a piano lesson, and then later, a clarinet lesson, I was taking everything she wasn't bringing back with her, out to the farm for storage. With Tim and Clarence helping, we took everything in with a single trip, from the car to the closet of her old bedroom. Before I left, I got my knuckles crushed twice more by Tim and Clarence, and then got another warm hug from Florence. I then went straight back to my motel room and promptly fell asleep. I was awakened by the sound of the key I'd given to Diane being put in the lock of the door. Before I could get fully awakened, she was on top of me again. I fought bravely, holding my own for a long time, but I was over matched, and finally forced to give in. When defeat is inevitable, try to make the best of it.

That next morning, we actually managed to get in the plane and fly away from Salem. We managed to only make it as far as Sacramento, which is where we spent our next two nights. I spent a fortune in phone calls trying to let everyone know I had been delayed en route, and getting them to push back all those things I had been scheduled to get done. It was in a motel room in Sacramento, late on our second night there, when Diane somehow got me to propose to her. I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep up with the torrid pace she had been setting for me. Something had to give, and I knew it was probably going to be me.

"Jimmy, do you really love me? Tell me the truth."

"More than anything."

"But, you still don't want to marry me?"

"I never said I didn't want to, Diane. What I said was it was one of the options we'd be considering. We're both young still. It's a big decision, maybe the biggest one we'll ever make."

"If you asked me to marry you, I'd say yes. I've made my decision already. I promise you I'd make you a good wife too."

"There are a lot of important things we have to get worked out before we should even start talking about the two of us getting married. You finishing school is one important thing to me. We haven't even talked about where or how we want to live yet. Are we going to try to live together right away, or live in separate locations like we did before? All of that will take us time to work out, and we need to give it a lot of thought."

"If you did marry me, it would make me very proud and happy, Jimmy. I love you, and I want to be with you forever."

"Diane, I love you too. If you're already sure, will you marry me?"

"This is so sudden, Jimmy. Can I have some time to think about it?"

It was a lucky thing I still had a whole pocket full of phone change, because Diane and her mother spent a long time on the pay phone, discussing my proposal, the upcoming wedding plans, and telling each other about how each of them had been so certain, all along, that I'd finally see the light and make an honest woman out of Diane. Diane even made me come to the phone and confirm everything she was saying to my future mother in law. Florence informed me that she had been betting I'd make it at least down to Orange County before Diane could get me to propose to her. She said she was very disappointed that I hadn't managed to even hold out long enough to get back home. I listened to it all from her, making no comment as she spoke. They were both having such a good time, laughing together, all of it at my expense. I wondered how Florence was going to like what I was going to have the guardian do to her.