Chapter 3: New Arrangements

In the morning, I woke refreshed. To use the cliché, 'With a Song In My Heart.' That sweet face inches from mine on the pillow and those marvelous breasts cushioned against my chest and side helped greatly. I immediately came erect, but I knew I didn't have a chance. It was mostly bladder pressure and we wouldn't have time to do anything before the kids woke up, anyway.

When I tried to move away, Rachael's eyes popped open and she said, "Oh no you don't! First kiss me. Then make love to me. THEN, maybe I'll let you go pee!"

I kissed her, gladly, passionately, lovingly. But I really needed to go! "Rachael, I've really gotta..."

I was cut off by her smothering mouth. "Oh, OK. I was hoping to get the benefit of that morning log. But if you just can't hold it, go ahead."

The aft head on Toy opens directly into the master cabin. I ducked in, unloaded the bladder and returned to bed, locking the cabin door as I did. "Look!" I exclaimed, in childish discovery. "It's still a log!"

Laughing, Rachael just grabbed it and pulled it to where she wanted it. With a push, I was where I wanted it and we tore off a quickie. Remembering last night, I inhaled a nipple when she started to get ragged in her breathing. At the last minute, I remembered to shove a pillow in her mouth when she started to moan. That did it. We both took off like fireworks and as soon as I felt her convulsions start, I felt mine echoing. 'Plug in' to post-coital caresses: four minutes, fifteen seconds.

By the time we appeared to start breakfast, the kids were all up. I'd known the boys were, because I heard them on the ladder outside the cabin. They had an early swim. Too cold yet for me.

As we ate, I could tell the twins were very well aware of what had happened between Rachael and me. Needing to talk with them, I quietly suggested that they help me stow everything on the boat, while Rachael and her two could explore the area a bit. My bright kids knew at once what I wanted and agreed cheerfully.

As soon as the three of us were alone, Sara started before I could say a word, "You're worried that, because you're doing Rachael, we'll start screwing each other, or Rachael's kids, right?"

"Well, that's a big part of it, sure," I answered. "I'm also concerned that word of this might get beyond the immediate family—like to your mother, or Ed. I can tell you that if that were to happen, life for us would change immediately. And you could possibly end up in your mother's custody. I don't want that and I don't think anybody else does, either."

"Dad," Sam said, "Sara and I have been lovers for two years now. It's an occasional thing. We date and enjoy our dates. We just help each other out now and then. We really love each other, but it isn't any lifetime commitment thing. As close as the three of us are, we've kept that from you ... So I think we can be discreet."

Sara added, "Oh, yeah. Before you go postal: I'm on the pill. Neither of us likes rubbers, so we tried foam for awhile. But when I found I could get the pill through the clinic at school, I did. Mom would have had a cow, so I never told anybody. I didn't think you would like to know I was having sex with some of my boyfriends, anyway.

"About keeping our mouths shut; Sam and I will have a talk with Ben and Leah. We'll make sure they keep secrets as well as we do. OK?" When I nodded, my eyes glazed from learning these two had kept something that important from me for that long, she added, brightly, "Was there anything else you needed to talk about, daddy?"

With a wry smile, I just waved them away. "Don't be a wiseass, Sara. Nobody likes a wiseass with boobs."

They didn't leave. "Dad," Sam said, "you didn't ask what we thought of your new 'arrangement'."

"Well?" I asked.

"Well..." Sara said, beaming, "we think it's fantastic! You need somebody. We have each other, when it gets down to it, but you haven't had anybody. And Aunt Rachael... ? Well! She's so cool! So utterly, actually fabulous! Sam and I hope she stays with you forever. You're a really awesome pair, you know!"

They both gave me big hugs, which I returned with interest. Then I had one last caution, "This isn't all arranged yet, you know. Rachael and I haven't really talked about what we want and how we want to do it ... Knowing you support us is a big help, though. Thanks, guys!"

With promises to talk to Ben and Leah during the day, they were off to swim, explore, and just play, on the boat, the shore, and the river.

I didn't feel like swimming and felt too lazy to walk on the island. So I climbed to the fly bridge, pushed the helm chair back, put my feet up and engaged in some constructive loafing. The river, the shore, the island—all were lovely in the summer morning light. A freighter was headed upstream for Portland and a loaded log carrier from Longview was on its way downstream, bound for Japan. On this holiday weekend, I could see a sailboat and three other good sized motor yachts from my vantagepoint. It doesn't get much prettier, or more peaceful, than this!

Taking the opportunity to think, alone, I pondered just what I wanted from the new relationship with Rachael. She was certainly a world-class partner in bed! I'd never had sex that good. And we were both only beginning to learn the other's likes and needs.

Important as it is, sex could only be a small part of our relationship. How did I feel? What did I want from the rest of it?

I wanted someone I could count on, no matter what. I wanted a life companion, a soul-mate. And I wanted someone I could admire and, yes, even look up to, as she looked up to me. Thinking about all the women I know, the only woman I'd ever met who could be all that and who could inspire me to give all that ... was Rachael.

With that realization, I was swept with emotion, compounded almost equally of joy and regret. Joy that I'd found my true mate—and that she loved me, too. Regret that we had wasted years and maybe ruined lives. Regret that we would never have children of our own, although I knew that all four kids would be our kids. Thinking about that, I realized that, once the kids were grown, it didn't matter. And if we could pull the fangs of Susan and her family, maybe it wouldn't matter at all.

I was a middle-aged man, madly in love. With my best buddy, my childhood friend, my 'sister' ... my mate!

I didn't expect Ed's reaction.

I felt the movement of the boat that told me someone had come aboard. In a minute, Rachael's pretty head appeared above the ladder and she joined me. From her eyes, I could tell she was in about the same condition I was. If this wasn't a woman in love, I've never seen one!

I'd rigged the awning over the fly bridge to keep off the direct sun. As soon as she was under it, Rachael flowed into my lap. With the bikini she was wearing, she might as well have been naked. I got as hard as if I hadn't dumped a load in months. Giggling at my reaction, she made sure she wiggled her behind against my hardness a few extra times, then kissed me wetly.

"Miss me?" she asked, brightly. "I sure hope so! I've been wanting this big thing for the last hour." With that, she shoved my shorts down enough to free the equipment, moved the crotch of her tiny bikini aside and sat on it. "Ahh! Lots better!" she sighed, clenching her muscles around me in that rhythm that never fails to get me going.

"Now, Al; I know you've been thinking about all this—about us. Are you ready to talk?" She finished with a rippling 'clasping' that made me gasp.

"Only if you don't do that again until we're done talking," I panted. With a canary-eating grin—feathers all over her face—she agreed she'd be 'mostly good' while we talked. What that meant was that she'd grasp me with her talented internal muscles enough to keep us both highly aroused, but not enough that I was incoherent.

As best I could, considering that all I wanted to do was screw her brains out, I described my thought processes and the conclusions I'd reached. When I told her that the 'bottom line' was that I'd discovered I was madly in love with my sexy best friend, she kissed me deeply. I quickly lost control, while Rachael was silently screaming into my mouth as I did.

We hadn't realized it, but while we were 'talking' our kids had made their way to the beach. From their perspective, our heads and shoulders were clearly in view. They couldn't miss the passion of our kiss, even if they didn't know what we were both experiencing. "Way to go, MOM!" Leah piped. While Sam chimed in, "OK DAD!" The other two said something similar. We broke the clinch, grinned, waved and said we'd join them all for a swim in a few minutes.

Straightening her suit and pulling mine back up, Rachael grinned and said, "Just so I don't leave any questions unanswered: I feel the same way. I feel like a teenager again. I'm crazy in love—for the first time, really. I say that because I know you and I know what our life will be like—in the fundamental sense of the important things. You'll never leave me. You'll never shit all over me like Ed has. You'll love the kids, like I love yours. You'll be faithful to me—I won't find you in a bar with a floozy. I LOVE YOU, AL! Get used to it!"