Chapter 12

Nikki's turn

So I've been letting Dan tell our story so far, but he doesn't get to see what goes on in school, so he says for me to go ahead and tell some of this.

We had a perfectly lovely weekend. Dan says it was my 'debut' with his family. I told him that it wasn't just HIS family any more, they were mine too. All day Saturday I did little 'thank you' prayers about Grandma, for all the things she taught me about cooking and housekeeping, because I used just about all of 'em making Saturday a special day for Dan.

I know Dan loves me, and I've talked to his sister, my SISTER IN LAW, on the phone several times a week since she found out about Dan and me. But I wanted Dan to be proud of me with them. Well, maybe not proud, but at least comfortable.

Dan's family, MY family now, they all made a big deal about the food, so I guess THAT part went well.

It's funny. I'm an aunt now, and my niece is the same age as me and the same grade in school. I thought Dan was gonna die when Brittney, new niece, asked about me being fifteen and married.

I know it's strange, but I'm different. Dan and I, we're different. From the day he pulled me out of the rubble, I never felt like he was trying to take advantage of me. If I had, I'd've let them fly me out on that helicopter, or I'd've left when the roads opened. But that's just not Dan. He didn't make me feel like that. He made me feel at HOME.

That's all difficult for people to see from the outside. I think Sheriff Ernie saw it pretty quick, though, and so did Judge Lanford, and that's why Dan and I are married. But THOSE people wanted to see the good in our situation.

School, though. Let me tell you. First day there, I ran into this girl who I knew from last year, before the hurricane. She wasn't exactly a close friend, but you have to understand that we're in this school that's NOT our regular school. It's the closest one to the hurricane area that can still take high school students, and so here we are, a few of us from the storm area, and the WHOLE regular student body. So naturally, when she recognized me, she homed right in.

Her name is Kellen. She saw me and came up to me and said, "Hi, Nikki," like we were old friends.

"Hi, Kellen," I said. "Good to see you. Did your house get damaged?"

"Not bad," Kellen said. "Dad and his brother had to do some roof work, and we got a little water in the den and one bedroom, but we got lucky." She looked at me. "Where are you living? I know that apartment building's totaled."

And that's when it got started at school. "I'm not living there, Kellen," I said. "I'm living next door. THAT house is okay. I'm married." I showed her my ring.

"But you're younger than me. I didn't know you could even GET married," she said.

"We got a court order from a judge," I said. I was trying to read Kellen's face. I could imagine what she was thinking, and she came right out and asked.

"Are you pregnant? Did you have a baby?"

"Nope and nope," I told her. "Just very much in love."

"So you're living at his parents' house?"

I was letting her ask all the questions. "Oh, no," I said. "It's his house."

"Wait," Kellen said. "He owns a house? How old is this guy?"

"His name's Dan Granger, and he's forty-one."

"Oh, wow," she said. "I saw that house before. It's pretty nice. What's he do?"

"Engineer," I said. "and a good one."

The school people called my name, for me to come talk to them, and I told Kellen that we'd see each other around. That's when the people at the school office told me that they needed to talk to Dan, and after he showed up, I didn't go back to school that day.

By the next day, the news was all over, especially to the students who'd come to this school because of the hurricane. I had to answer the same questions a dozen times at least. Some of those people were a little rude, too. A lot of 'em knew about Mom and about us living on welfare and last year my clothes weren't really good. This year I was dressed nice.

I just smiled and answered the questions, except for the ones that were a little too personal. "That's something I don't talk about," I told them.

And between classes one of the teachers from the old school found me and asked if I was okay.

"Yes, ma'am," I said. "Why do you ask?"

"I heard you had to get married to a forty year old guy."

"Mizz Leslie," I said, "He's forty-one, and I didn't HAVE to get married. If you wanna meet 'im, he'll bring me to the open house night." Yes, they had one scheduled for the next week. Wanted to talk to as many parents as they could about the situation at the school. It was crowded. "Miss Leslie, Dan's a great guy. You'll see."

"No pregnant. No baby?" She looked so concerned.

"Nothing like that, Mizz Leslie," I said. "We got tossed together by horrible events and found out that we love each other."

"You're not exploited?"

"Oh, no ma'am. If he's exploiting me, he's really BAD at it." I giggled, and I think that made her feel better.

It was at lunchtime on Friday that this guy from the old school sat down at the table across from me. He's the one that said that about maybe Dan was with me because he liked young girls.

"You're MY age," he said. "If you an' me were together, it'd be normal an' all."

I actually think Derrick was kind of trying to, I guess, say that he might wanna be with me.

He said, "I read about older guys who go after young girls. They don't like 'em past eighteen or whatever."

I knew that was wrong, at least about Dan. Dan's not like that. He'd been married. We talked about it and about how he felt. I know his first wife was HIS age. And she left HIM. And it took him a lot to get over it. But I didn't tell Derrick that. I didn't see any sense in arguing with him, and it really wasn't his business.

That's the thought that got back in my mind on Sunday when I got all sad with Dan. Dan took it in stride, though. He saw that I was sad and asked me what was wrong. When I told him, he stopped on the shoulder of the road and told me that he loved me and it had nothing to do with age, and that he'd be with me until the day he died. And he kissed me and that kiss ... It was like a physical thing that repeated all his words. I believe Dan.

I really believe Dan. He's honest. That first day when the cell phone and computer started working, and he worked and every hour he put down in his book, he was there working. And if he didn't cheat there, I don't think he's gonna cheat in our marriage.

So Monday we got up and ate breakfast together. I filled Dan's travel mug with coffee so he'd have something to sip on while he was driving, and I waited for the bus. Of course we kissed before he left. He wears that cologne that I like at night and I can still get a whiff of it when he leaves in the morning. All day, when I close my eyes, I can remember that scent.

It was Monday and three school days were gone and classes were getting into 'serious' mode. We were crowded, and I don't know how YOU feel about it, but mandatory education laws make us have to put up with a lot of kids who'd rather be someplace else. Disruptions. Rude, obnoxious kids. I managed to get to the front of the classrooms where at least I'd get to hear what the teachers have to say. That was my pattern, mostly, even though last year I was a 'C' student. I found out that if I could hear the lesson and take notes, I didn't have to do anything else. I could make passing grades, and living with Mom, all I wanted to do was keep out of trouble at school so she didn't have to do anything with them.

Now I'm with Dan, and he tells me that I'm smart and that I have a mind that should go to college and that I really ought to pay attention. With Dan, I have somebody who cares, and I promised myself that I'd stop just getting by. This year I'm paying attention, and I'm trying. First hour for me is English and literature class. That's never been a problem for me. I love to read and I actually enjoy writing.

Second hour was algebra, and that's a little bit harder. I took Algebra I last year. Yep! 'C' average. I was going to take 'business math' because it's supposed to be a lot easier, but then the hurricane dumped me here at this school and their business math class is full up, so I was forced to do Algebra II. Dan says I need to take it anyway if I'm serious about college. We're reviewing this week, so I'm paying attention to make sure I got what I needed last year. What I didn't have last year is a husband who's an engineer, who's already way past this stuff, so I have help at home this time.

Third hour is history class. I know the key to doing good in this class. It works for science, too, which is biology, this year. All you have to do is pay attention to what the teacher thinks is important, then do a little memorization. It took almost nothing last year to make a 'C', so I think that if I put out a little effort this year, I'll do much better.

After lunch, I have a technology class, which is basically a room full of computers and a football coach trying to keep a lid on the class while we're supposed to be learning to keyboard and how to use some programs like Microsoft Office, and the class is almost a joke. Dan's already showed me some things about networks and routers and hubs and IP addresses and things like that. I'm not a computer nerd, but I think I could be. Mom never let me have a computer. She had other things to do with her money.

Science is fifth hour. Pay attention. Find out what the teacher's 'thing' is. Last year our science teacher was an ecofreak. If you wanted to do good, you needed to feed her back some of the things she went on about in class. Here we were in the middle of the Louisiana Gulf Coast, where just about everybody has family working in the oil and gas business, and this lady's going on about evil oil companies and how we should stop drilling. Then she got into the evils of commercial fishing. All the people down here that don't work in oil and gas, they're fishing and shrimping. She didn't get invited to anybody's homes for dinner, you know. I'm sort of waiting to see what this guy's thing is.

Last hour. I would've liked an hour of study hall. I got chemistry. That's usually a class for juniors. I'm a sophomore. But like I said, the school's a mess, overcrowded, and Dan said I should take it, so I'm taking it. Dan says that if I want to do anything technical in the future, I need this class. I do have to admit that the students in chemistry are a little more serious.

That leaves me with the bus ride home. Start out with a half a busload of high-schoolers, then we go by the middle school and load up on middle-schoolers, and then they drive half an hour south and start dropping people off. I get to ride almost all the way because I'm one of the last ones to get dropped off. Even with all that, I beat Dan home.

That gives me a little time to start on dinner. I am so glad that Grandma taught me how to take care of a house. And Dan and I worked up a grocery list so we'd have thing that would go together easy on days just like this, so I whipped up one of our soup recipes and then went into our office and spread the books out.

Algebra? No, I'll wait for Dan. English? Easy. Silly little worksheet. Circle adverbs and adjectives. Oh, come on. I can do this in my sleep. Biology was some reading. Chemistry? Wait for Dan. History. Read a chapter.

I leaned back in the chair and woke the computer up. It makes me happy. Dan has a picture of us on the desktop. He took it right after I got here, even before we were an 'us'. You know what? I look at that picture right now and I see two people that belong together.

I picked up the history book and read the chapter, then I did the worksheet for English. After that, I got up and checked on our soup.

Dan got home and we ate dinner. He told me about his day and I told him about mine and mentioned the chemistry and algebra lessons.

"I'll be glad to help, baby," he told me. "But I'm probably rusty."

"You're probably NOT," I said. "You just need to get your head into the game."

I took him into the office and showed him the problems and he explained to me some ideas that reminded me of the way things work in algebra, then we talked about the chemistry lesson, and THEN I pinched my nose.

"You worked outside today, huh, sweetie?" I asked him.

"Yeah. Am I that rank?" he said.

"Just a little," I told him. "A little bit less, and you'd be delicious." Are girls supposed to be turned on by sweaty men? I am, sometimes. But I also like how we feel when we're both squeaky clean. And if Dan's taking a shower, I'm taking a shower with him. Today was going to be good. My period was over.

Like THAT was an obstacle, anyway. Yesterday, Sunday, we went to the park and took a walk together. There's this spot on the bank, and while I was living at Grandma's, she liked coming to the park on nice days, and I'd go for a walk. That spot, on a high bluff over the river, was a perfect spot for young girls to daydream. I brought Dan there. Those times I used to daydream about being in love and being married, I didn't know what those things really meant, but when I brought Dan there, it all came back to me and I realized that he was what I'd been day-dreaming about.

I was just gonna suck Dan. I dunno, I feel really sexy when we do it outdoors and I love him, and the setting was just about poetic. We've done it in the back yard a few times, and it's exciting, so I had Dan sitting on the log where I used to sit and dream, and I had his pants down and I was going to do him. I love sucking my guy. It's powerful, knowing that I can do that to him with my mouth.

I really think I used to hate guys. I mean, the thought of doing the things that I imagined Mom doing, and some of those guys were just plain NASTY. I never saw her bring ONE home that actually looked decent. After all, she was picking them up in a BAR, and not a nice bar, either. I'd seen more of male bodies than I wanted to see. I think some of those guys thought that if I caught a glimpse, I'd get all turned on, but all I got was disgusted.

Until Dan. That first night that he came into the living room of OUR house, after he'd showered, he smelled good, and he was smiling like he was happy I was there, and I looked at him, and all those things I thought about guys, Dan wasn't any of that. It's like all of a sudden I knew that I'd just seen the man who would be with me forever.

And then we made love. Actually, it was a week later, but then I understood the magic that this little bit of him has for me and what I can do for him, and I love sucking him, so there we were in the woods. I was on my knees getting ready to make love to him with my mouth, because that's what it is for me, making love, between me and Dan, and we do it so many ways. But I sucked him for a little bit. I got those little tastes of salty stuff that he does when he's excited, and I knew I was going good, playing with his balls with one hand, just stroking him with the other while I licked and sucked and nibbled and I felt that feeling in my pussy, but I was having my period, even though it was almost over.

I had told myself that I wouldn't go all the way when I was on my period. Dan and I had talked about it the first time I had a period when we were together. I just thought that it would be nasty. But there we were in the woods, and he was as hard as he could be, and I wanted HIM in ME, and I just dropped my pants and hopped on. Actually, it didn't feel nasty. I mean, I had my legs wrapped around his waist and we came together and I know it was exciting for Dan because I felt him shoot and shoot and shoot. I thought it might be a gallon. After we started breathing normal, we got dressed and drove straight home and showered.