Chapter 4

Mandy lovingly kept her hand on Bob's shoulder. He looked so peaceful lying there. Although the last few days had not been too peaceful for her and her silent wish was to climb next to her love and rest with him.

But that was not possible, at least not right then. "I don't want to dwell on the present," she thought to herself. So she let her mind wander back once again to her happy times with Bob. Her friend. Her lover. Her husband!

Mandy had never driven, never had her own car. Her Bitch-On-Wheels of a mother had told her that if she wanted a car, "Go Earn It! Your useless father didn't leave me enough to buy you even a broken down jalopy. Nothing. Nada.

"It's costing me plenty just giving you a roof over your head, feeding you and trying to find something for you to wear that doesn't cost an arm and a leg." Mandy's mother told her time and again, "Money don't grow on trees!"

After turning 16 and yearning for a car, Mandy was frequently told, "Where do you think the money for a car for you is going to come from?" Yet Mandy's mother always had a new, Top-Of-The-Line car, every year. There was always money enough for her to live with luxury and none for her daughter. If there was a super hero for the mean and nasty, her mother would qualify as the model for 'Super-Bitch!'

Mandy didn't want her mother hurt to devastation ... Just a little. Getting even in her mind, after lie after lie, and the deprivation she'd forced onto Mandy would never make up for it. Revenge wasn't part of her vocabulary. Getting her out of town was.

Stan Wilson was Mandy's 'Marshal Dillon'. It was as if he'd put her mother on the last stage coach right out of town. Mandy wasn't there, but she had heard her Mother never felt any regrets for the way she'd treated Mandy.

Mandy did have regrets though because she would've liked a mother. It was sad that she didn't have a mother figure. But Mandy often told Bob, he was all that was necessary in her life.

Not that she ever inferred Jason would not be welcome in their home. She had never met him and could only think that he had to be as nice as Bob. But as the years passed, their meeting had never materialized.

Mandy knew Bob had invited Jason over a couple of times but plans just couldn't be coordinated. She and Bob just never seemed to be in town the same time as Jason. As with everyone's lives, time slips by. No matter what, 'Time' conquers all. And in the end, no one survives its wrath.

She'd always wanted to meet Jason. Mandy knew he was 12 years older. After all, Jason's thirtieth birthday had been the day she knocked on the dirty window of that old rattle-trap of a pickup. She was looking for a way out but instead she found her future husband. It was just before her 18th birthday.

That memory made her smile. "Yes," she thought to herself, "Oh that glorious day!" It was the day Jason was 30 that she and Bob had met. Smiling at one of her favorite memories steadied her, Calmed her. Soon the memory of their 'First Christmas' as a married couple drifted into her mind.

Bob was such a nut at times. They had oodles of money. More than should be allowed. But they had decided that Christmas gifts should be reasonable. No Rolex gold and diamond watches. No diamonds the size of walnuts. No Rolls Royce. Just reasonable and tasteful things that could, should, and would be part of their everyday life.

For her stocking, Bob had bought her a dozen of her favorite Victoria's Secret lace thongs in a rainbow of colors. Each had been wrapped individually and Mandy had squealed as she opened each one. Then in the toe of her Christmas Stocking was a blindfold.

When she asked what it was for, Bob told her that there was a special surprise for her under the tree but he would lead her to the tree and would tell her when she could look.

The living room had a 15 foot vaulted ceiling. Their tree was huge. They had gotten it from a nearby tree farm and even had them help set it up in their house. With the tree topper ornament in place, it ended just inches from the ceiling.

As she had stood there in the Great Hall, looking at the bare tree after the workmen left, she had told Bob it would need a Gazillion lights. When they finished decorating, it had that and more. The tree lights sparkled off ornaments of all sizes and shapes.

She was delighted the way the tree had come out and was in awe with all the rest of the decorations in the house. They'd had such fun putting it all up. It took days of fun working together to do it all.

Because they had their stockings in their bedroom right upon getting up, Bob had walked her blindfolded and nude into the living room. Then he moved her around the room and finally said, "Well, I think this is a good place for you to see what I have for you.

"Now wait just a second. I'll tell you when to take the blindfold off."

Then Bob stepped away from her, she heard a click and Bob rushed back to her side and even through the blindfold she knew that a flash had gone off.

"You little devil," she told him as she reached for her blindfold.

"Nope, not yet," He told her. "Not yet ... Just a second more."

Bob moved from her side and she heard a little rustling. Then it got quiet. "OK," he said. "You can take your blindfold off."

Mandy almost doubled over laughing as soon as she could see. There on the floor under the edge of the tree was her 'Christmas Present.'

Bob was stretched out, naked, head propped up on one elbow, a two inch wide red satin ribbon around his neck topped off with a similar bow.

What really made her laugh was a slightly smaller ribbon tied in a simple overhand bow, right around his man parts and sporting a large Christmas Label, "For Mandy, With all my love, Bob."

Mandy fell to her knees she was laughing so hard. Crawling over to him, she placed a kiss to his lips, removed the ribbon covering his usual morning woody, and climbed on. She squatted down real tight against Bob's pelvis and ground herself into him. It sent sparks surging through them both.