Chapter 38

Tokyo, in January, was fantastic. Tess was kept busy, but her schedule with TESLA wasn't unduly demanding, and we had time to see the city and, occasionally, to get away from Tokyo and visit other beautiful and historic places. It was a far more enjoyable foreign travel experience than any we'd had, during the season.

Tess played some golf, but it was mainly to socialize with the TESLA brass, and to continue her trial period with their equipment. I was pleased to hear her say that she was completely sold on its quality, and that she might well have chosen to use their clubs, even in the absence of any contractual obligation to do so.

We hadn't had much time, on our way to Japan, to stop and visit with Kim and Roland. They were living together now in Roland's home. Soon the tour schedule would interfere greatly with their time to be together. They were storing up the good times now, against that late-February day when the whole Tour grind would start all over again.

Tess didn't regard many of her TESLA obligations as work. The golf outings with the executives were fun. The commercials, produced by two different sets of crewmen and directors -- one Asian, one European -- were sometimes hard work, but Tess' natural affinity for cameras of all kinds was making it a big blast, as far as she was concerned.

I could tell that the professional production crews were in love with her. They liked her work. They liked her style and attitude. It didn't hurt that they were mostly men, and most men liked women built like my Tess.

I wondered if they pictured her, on Orient Beach, knees bent just a little, facing the camera, freshly shaved pudenda looking as smooth as a baby's bottom -- only a whole lot tastier.

Well, for Pete's sake! Of course they did. They were skilled professionals, but they were mostly guys, weren't they? I knew when they looked at her, that's what they were seeing.

More importantly, Tess knew, too, what they were seeing, and thinking. To a man, they treated her with the utmost deference and respect. But Tess could tell, all the same. She knew how men responded to her. Her older brother, and his boyhood chums, had been the first to teach her, a dozen years earlier.

Some women, knowing what Tess knew, would be disgusted. Appalled. Soured on the entire male sex forever.

Tess loved every minute of it! The availability of her nude photographs to the world at large had magnified the pleasure she derived from the responses she got on a daily basis from men everywhere. Interestingly, she became less concerned with impromptu displays of what I used to call "too much Tess".

She knew they'd seen her then; it wasn't necessary to show herself to them again, now.

Kim's amateur psychology hadn't put out Tess' fires -- not by any means -- but the fires had been stoked. They were smoldering now. They would flare up, a little, whenever a man's eyes fell on her, and Tess could see him, getting that look.

As husband and Nearest Man in a Pinch, I continued to reap the benefits of her smoldering libido.

Kim, these days, was mostly out of our life as a sex partner, but I was getting laid just as frequently as ever.

We got a call from Kim, three days before we were scheduled to head back to the U.S. We'd already been invited to visit them on the way home, and had accepted. But this call was special.

"Roland and I are getting married!" Kim said. "In February. In Hawaii -- ten days before the Hawaiian events. We're going to honeymoon there -- at Turtle Bay!"

Tess, of course, was filled with joy at the news. It wasn't exactly unexpected. Tess had known -- we both had known, for weeks -- that Roland was preparing to pop the question.

There wasn't much doubt about the answer, either.

I'd done some growing up, over the past months. Tess and I were closer than we'd ever been, and we'd been close, now, for more than a year and a half. I'd miss our threesomes with Kimmy, God knows. It had been good sex, but it was more than just good sex. It was special. The three of us, together, had been special. Kim and I, and our Wednesday nights together, had been special. She was going to be Roland's wife, and she was overjoyed at the prospect, but she knew, I think, that I loved her, too.

I was confident that the feeling was mutual. Maybe Roland had been to places inside Kim's body where no man had gone before -- boldly or otherwise -- but Kim and me? We'd been good together. Damned good! Nothing would ever change that.

We set aside three short days to be with them in Portland before continuing on home to Chapel Hill. Both women would soon have to get very serious about tournament preparation. I was going to caddy for Tess for at least one more full season on the tour.

After that, we'd consider the future. We already agreed that, probably, I should go back to school, get the advanced degrees.

By the time I had a shot at being "Dr. Will Everett, PhD", it would be about the appointed time for me to also become "Daddy."

We were on the verge of buying a house we'd found in Chapel Hill. It was a good ways away from Henderson Manor, and didn't look anything at all like Tess' childhood home. It wasn't nearly as big or as fancy, but it wasn't a "starter home," either. It was 'way better than anything I had ever dreamed I would call "home."

When we got to Portland, we readily accepted, this time, Roland's offer of accommodations. We were full of news for them about Japan, and The Contract, and Tess' pending appearances -- everywhere -- on television as spokeswoman for TESLA.

"In one of the commercials," she told Kim, "this good-looking man -- he's a dead-ringer for George Clooney, I swear to God! -- this man on the golf course says to me, 'Hey!... We're both using TESLA clubs!'... and I smile at him -- really flirty, and hold up my driver, push it right out, both hands, in front of his face, so the guy has to kind-of pull back a little, you know?... Like he's shocked?... And my driver has, where the TESLA logo is supposed to be, a big 'TESS-LA" logo, instead!"

"Everybody's gonna want clubs that say 'TESS-LA'," Kim said, laughing.

"Well, they're not actually selling them that way," Tess said, "but they're really hitting people over the head with the 'Tess' thing, at every turn!"

"No racy stuff?" Kim asked me. "No commercials with Tess in that red bathing suit?"

"Nope. All 'PG, ' all the time," I said. "... These spots would have gotten a 'G' rating, for content, but you know, just having Tess appear at all runs it up to at least a 'PG.'"

"I'm surprised they didn't at least ask," Kim said, "for Tess to do something... sexy."

"I'd have done it, if they'd asked," Tess said.

"No shit?" said I.

"And you haven't had any trouble from TESLA... about Orient Beach?" Kim asked.

"I think they were happy about it," Tess said. "They never actually admitted it, in so many words, but I think they were."

"Interesting!" Kim said -- staring directly into my eyes as she said it.

Our second day in Portland, Roland was off working, and Tess was grabbing a nap out back in the sunroom.

It was just Kim and me. Together again.

"You two have gotta hurry out to Hawaii," she said. "We're getting married early in the week, a whole week before the Turtle Bay tournament."

"You going to be able to concentrate on golf again, so soon after?" I asked her.

"Maybe I'll miss the cut," she said, laughing. "What a tragedy! Two extra free days in the sack with Roland, at Turtle Bay Resort... Tough duty!"

"Two weddings in three months -- less than three months! We're busy people!" I said.

"When you're a pro golfer, you gotta do everything important in your life in the off-season," Kim said. "Listen, Will. Tess is going to be my Maid of Honor, just like I was, for her. If you'd like to bring the girls -- your sisters -- out to Hawaii for the wedding, they could be my bridesmaids. You think they'd like that? I might have one friend, from back home, at the wedding; she would be one, too."

"Right in the middle of the school year," I said, "but, hell yes, I think they'd sit still for a trip to Hawaii in February. Thanks for asking, Kimmy!"

"And, Will. My Dad -- he's not going to be able to come. My Mom will come, and one or both, maybe, of my brothers, but... not my Dad."

"That's tough, Kimmy."

"So -- I'd like you to give the bride away!" Kim said, suddenly cheerful again, "You could stand-in, for my step-dad... Who better?"

"Jeez, Kimmy. The symbolism would be pretty -- heavy, there, wouldn't it? I've always thought it was kind-of Freudian, anyway -- this business of fathers giving the bride away. But, me! Wow. What does Roland think of that idea?"

"Roland thinks it's great. Roland's not into Freud, the way you are, Will. He considers you a friend, and he knows I'm crazy about you. He thinks it's all good."

"Well then, I'll do it!" I said. "Kinda sad, though, in a way. I guess this means I'd be giving you away, for real. For good."

"Well, that would remain to be seen, Will-ard," Kim said. "We're going to be together a lot, all year, on the tour. Seems to me we'll be seeing each other, a lot, for a long time to come."

"You still gonna stay with us, in the RV?"

"For the Eastern Swing? Hell yes! I wouldn't consider any other accommodations!" she said. "Course, if Roland came to visit, it would be pretty crowded, with the four of us, even in that big bed!"

I guess I might have turned a little pale, when she said that.

Kim noticed. That's because she probably had said it for that very reason. "I'm only kidding, Will. When Roland comes -- and he plans to, as frequently as possible -- we'll be making other arrangements."

"I knew that," I said.

"But, y'know, Will?... While you're at my wedding, giving things away, you might want to consider... giving my maid of honor away, too... Not for keeps, of course. Only temporarily. Maybe the night before the wedding? Or the second night, after? A special wedding gift for the happy couple."

"Something borrowed?" I said. I didn't feel shocked at Kim's suggestion. It was as if I'd been expecting it.

"That's right. Something loaned to the bride and groom -- for just one memorable evening."

"Wow. What a concept!"

"I know it would be a big step for you, Will. A big step. And, of course, Tess would have to consent to it, too... But I think she would -- don't you?"

"I think that, if Tess were confident that I was really down with the idea, she'd jump at the chance!" I said.

Kim giggled. "Roland's not the sort of chance that a girl wants to jump at, Will," she said. "It's best to just... ease into it, very slowly."

"You guarantee -- you absolutely guarantee -- that this wouldn't ruin Tess for me, for life? She's a big girl, Kimmy, but she's got just a little-girl pussy on her!"

"I know all about Tess' little pussy, Will -- remember?... And, yes, I absolutely, positively, guarantee you that she won't be ruined for life -- or even for the weekend. And I was thinking that, part of the time, while she's being my own special gift to Roland, I'd like to spend some quality time with you, Will -- just like old times... And I would expect you to show me a very good old time, too!"

"What about Roland? He was very deferential to me, when Tess and I were on our honeymoon. He never came near her. How's he going to feel about you -- being with me again?"

"It's not the same thing, Will. Roland knows we're old buds. He knows you have a special place."

I felt surprisingly sanguine about the prospect of loaning my bride of two months to Roland, the human Louisville Slugger. It really did feel, to me, like a gift. A very special gift for Kim and for Roland.

And for Tess, too. I wasn't unduly worried, anymore, about her reaction to the experience, afterward. I figured it would be memorable for her.

Something not to tell her grandchildren, someday.

I'd gained some confidence, in recent days. I figured, years into the future, that I'd be there at Tess' side, when she didn't tell the grandchildren.

I still had my little hang-ups, however. "Kim, we're not all four going to be together in the same bedroom, are we?"

She laughed. "No, Will. Not this trip. Maybe someday... But I'm thinking: adjoining bedrooms, where I can leave the two of them, and come to you. And I think we should instruct Roland to whisper to Tess -- at a very strategic moment, that the connecting door has just been opened, and that he thinks someone is there -- watching!"

"God, Kimmy! You should be afraid to pull a stunt like that! Tess may come on him so hard that she'll ruin poor Roland for life -- for you!"

She laughed. "I'm willing to chance it," Kim said.

THE END

EPILOGUE:

Tess and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary last week. We're looking forward to Christmas, which, as always, we'll share with our families. This year it'll be Christmas Eve with my folks, my sister Kat and her new husband, and my old-maid sister, Ellie, who's now coming up on 21.

Very late on Christmas Eve, Tess and I will say goodbye and head for Chapel Hill, where Christmas Day will be celebrated with the Hendersons, Mr. and Mrs. Roy, Senior, and Mr. and Mrs. Roy, Junior.

Junior's wife of two years, Charlene, is very pregnant with their first child.

This would be the time of year when, normally, Tess would be gearing up for another season on the LPGA Tour -- her seventh. However, she'll be skipping virtually the entire schedule this year. She, too, is very pregnant -- also with her first child.

Both mothers-to-be plan on breast-feeding, and that is very good news for those youngsters, because, as God is my witness, they'll never go hungry -- either one of them. Four more-massive mammaries, I never expect to see in the same room!

Charlene's due around the first of February, and Tess? Even sooner. If the doctors are on target, Tess will produce the family's first grandchild right around the time the new President is inaugurated on January 20.

About the same time that the furor died down after the scandalous ten-page magazine spread featuring the LPGA's hottest new rookie, the Association made it official, designating Tess as Rookie of the Year.

Just one year later -- my final season as Tess' full-time caddy -- she was the Tour's leading money winner and was named Player of the Year.