Chapter 25: Plans for the Way Ahead

When I woke up the next morning I was still wrapped in Dani’s arms. I could feel her breath on the back of my neck and it immediately made me smile a little. I knew that, here at least, I was safe and loved for who I was, and not hated because of who I loved. When my smile widened, I was reminded of what had happened when a twinge of pain went through my face.

I must have flinched, or made some sound, because I felt those arms tighten around me, then a soft kiss was planted on the back of my neck. I felt one of those warm fuzzy pulses go through me and smiled again, ignoring how much it hurt. I wanted nothing more than to see those amazing violet eyes once again, so I started trying to turn over. Dani’s arms loosened and I spun in place, then wrapped my own arms around her wonderful body and moved up until our noses were touching.

She opened those eyes, but we were too close for me to focus on them. I pulled back a little, bringing those wonderful violets into focus, then quietly said, “Hello, my love.”

She smiled at me, then frowned and brought a hand up to my face. Her fingertips barely grazed my cheek. “How bad does it hurt?”

I automatically tried to grin, then flinched again, and ended up saying, “Well, so far, only when I try to smile.”

A devilish twinkle entered her eyes and a crooked smile curved her lips. “Does that mean I should spank you until you cry, so your face won’t hurt?”

“No, but you could kiss me very softly and then maybe we could make some breakfast. I’m starving.”

“Okay. That I think we can do.” The kiss that followed made me feel so loved that I didn’t even notice the twinge of pain that it caused. When it ended, I hugged Dani tightly, then rolled away to get out of bed. “Leaving me that quickly?”

“No, but I’m really hungry for some reason. Can we please get some breakfast rolling?”

“Aren’t I supposed to be the slave driver here?”

“If I call you a bitch, will your next words be ‘That’s one?’”

“Maybe not, but you’d be risking a lot. I’ll still be here after your face heals.”

I pouted at her, then said, “I love you.”

“Like that’s going to get you out of it? Think again.” She was at least smiling as she said it, and reaching for some clothes, so I knew she was just teasing me. She patted me on the behind as she went by, and we both made for the kitchen. She kept telling me I was getting in the way as she made omelets for both of us, but since we also kept bumping each other’s hips I knew it was being done with love and good humour.

She kept studying my face as we ate, I think partly because I occasionally winced as some action of eating or chewing was giving me twinges of pain. I had never realized how many facial muscles were involved in the act of eating, and how many of them must have been bruised when Daddy had hit me.

Dani finally put down her fork and said, “I think Todd may be right.” When I raised an eyebrow in question she went on. “You should call that photographer and get some new photos done. I think by tomorrow your face is going to look a lot like those shots you had after the horse threw you. You might be able to mock up a new campaign with new images.”

“I guess this is my lot in life—poster child for abused women.”

“Hey, at least we all know that it isn’t actual abuse, the occasional whipping or spanking notwithstanding.”

I smiled as I looked at her. “I’m glad you added that last part, but then I did actually sort of ask for those. It was all part of learning who you are, and I’m not sorry I did that. It meant that I got to know you in a very deep and meaningful way, and even after all that I still love you.” She stuck her tongue out as her response, but I could see the love in her eyes and got another one of those warm and fuzzy feelings.

After we cleaned up the breakfast dishes, Dani said, “I should drop by the bar to check on some things. Did you want to come with me?”

“Actually, if it’s okay with you, I’d like to just hang here. I want to look up a couple of things, and I really don’t want anyone to see my face like this.”

“Are you sure? You know that no one at the bar will be put off by your looks, and Eve will fawn all over you.”

I started to grin in response to the last part of her comment, then remembered that it would hurt. “Don’t make me smile. I love you, but smiling still hurts.”

Dani couldn’t help chuckling at my predicament. She stepped up to me and wrapped me in a gentle hug, then kissed the side of my face that didn’t hurt. When she stepped back, she said, “I’ll leave you in your non-smiling misery. Do you want me to bring something from the bar for you to eat?”

“Sure, but something that doesn’t take much chewing.” That one made Dani laugh out loud as she grabbed her keys and headed out the door.

I spent the next several hours on-line, investigating various things as some nebulous ideas in my mind started to come together and gel into a potential plan. I knew that I would have to have a serious conversation with Dani, but I was also fairly certain that she would agree with what was starting to come together in my thoughts.

Dani arrived a couple of hours later, coincidentally just as I was finishing my on-line research. I closed up my laptop and got up from the kitchen table to help her with the bags she was carrying. In response to my querying look, she said, “Supper of the not-too-chewy variety, as you requested.” She chuckled as she handed me the bags, and I moved to empty their contents and put it all in the refrigerator.

She poured the two of us a cup of coffee, then moved into the living room and sank down on the couch. I sat down beside her, and asked, “Did you get all your stuff taken care of at the bar?”

“Yeah. It was mainly checking over invoices and payroll info for the bookkeeper. Everything is in good shape, so it’s all taken care of. Oh, and I told Eve what happened to you. She wants to cover all your medical expenses.”

“No need. The company has great benefits, so I’m fully covered that way. Besides, Julie would likely treat me for free.” With no more than a breath of a pause, I asked, “Can you ski?”

A complete look of puzzlement crossed Dani’s face. “Interesting segue.”

I waited for more, and I could see that she wanted some kind of explanation for the question. “You haven’t answered the question. Can you ski?”

“I suppose I’m not going to find out what this is about until I tell you.” I shook my head, still waiting for the answer. “Downhill or cross-country?”

I was fairly sure she was drawing this out just to goad me, but I answered her question. “Downhill.”

She let out a sigh as she could see she was still not getting details out of me. “Yes, I can ski. Quite well as a matter of fact. Eve loves to ski, and she took me every time she went on a ski vacation. When I was still in school, she paid for lessons, and bought me all the gear I needed. After I kind of became her bodyguard, it only made sense for me to ski alongside her, so I’ve done some great mountains, including some European destinations.”

“Great! And yes, I can ski as well. Mom and Dad paid for lessons for Todd and I, and we went on several ski vacations, although never to anywhere in Europe. I’ve skied various mountains in the U.S., and I still have all of my gear.”

“So, are you finally going to tell me what this is all about? Did you want to take a ski vacation somewhere?”

It was time to lay out my ideas, and hope that Dani would go along with them. I was fairly certain she would, but I was keyed up and nervous about how she would react. I moved a little closer to her on the couch, and took her hand in both of mine.

“You remember how we were treated, the day we got our rings?”

“You mean that old bitch in the jewelry store?”

“Yes, that one. I’m a little concerned that we may run into that kind of problem as we try to plan our wedding.”

“You mean people who don’t want to deal with gay couples?”

“Exactly.”

“So, does this have something to do with skiing? You seem to be jumping all over the place here. I’ve never known you to be scatterbrained, before.”

“Bear with me. I’ll get there. I spent a lot of time on-line while you were out.” Now, here it goes. “What would you say to a destination wedding? Getting married somewhere where being gay isn’t an issue, and might even be completely acceptable and normal?”

She cocked an eyebrow at me. “You’ve obviously got some kind of evil plan in mind. Out with it, or is a spanking going to be necessary?”

“The whole idea came from a comment one of my staff made. It was my first day back after we got our rings, and the gang noticed. To explain the ring, I ended up coming out to all of them. It went so well that one of my staff came out to the rest of us at the same meeting. I explained about the way we were treated at the first jewelry store, and that got into a discussion of places where we wouldn’t likely be treated like that.”

“Ah. Now I think I’m starting to understand. Where did you have in mind?”

“Canada. Specifically, the West Coast. There’s some fantastic skiing in British Columbia. One of the places I looked at is called Whistler. There’s an amazing hotel there, really high end. There’re all kinds of other hotels, and this really funky village full of restaurants and clubs. At the right time of year, they even have what they call ‘spring skiing’, where you actually can ski in a bikini. It sounds like a real hoot.”

Dani giggled at my enthusiasm. “I’ve actually done that. One year at Aspen they had a late winter heatwave and a bunch of us skied in bathing suits and shorts. It was a blast.” She squeezed my hand and asked, “So, are you saying you want to get married in Whistler?”

“It’s one possibility. Canada has really strong support for the rainbow crowd. They repealed all of their laws against homosexuality a long time ago, and they hold huge Pride parades and celebrations every year in all the big cities. One of their Prime Ministers even said, ‘The state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation’. That was apparently the start of the whole movement. Apparently, the West Coast is one of the most gay-friendly areas in the whole country. British Columbia legalized gay marriage twenty years ago, and the whole country did it two years after that.”

“Hmm. You might actually have something there.”

I paused for a second, then nervously added, “There’s more.” At her impatient look, I said, “If we go skiing in the morning, then we can drive to Vancouver, and go swimming at a nude beach right in the city the same afternoon.”

The look Dani gave me made me even more nervous. A second later she burst out laughing. I didn’t know quite what to think, but then she suddenly pulled me into a tight hug, still laughing. When she finally stopped laughing, she pulled back and ran a hand through my hair, then kissed me on the nose.

She was still chuckling when she shook her head and said, “I’ve created a monster. A few weeks ago, you were this uptight, straight, unemployed career woman. Now, you want to shout to the world that you’re gay, in love, and want to announce it by going to a nude beach in the middle of a foreign city.”

“Well, I wouldn’t call Vancouver all that foreign.” She started laughing again, I think at the expression on my face. I was beginning to wonder what had triggered this, but she pulled me back into her arms and hugged me fiercely.

In my ear, she said, “Damn! I love you so much. Just for the way you are. Don’t ever change. You keep me from getting too serious, you can be such a goof, but then you come up with these wonderful ideas.” She pulled back, then cupped my face in her hands and kissed me very tenderly. “I can’t wait to tell Eve that we’re getting married on a ski slope in Canada and then going swimming at a nude beach the same day.”

“Well, I didn’t say we would actually be getting married on the ski slope, just that we could go skiing and then go to the nude beach. After all, there are a lot of nice hotels where we could get married, indoors where it’s warm and not snowing.”

“Okay, okay. Point taken, but I have to say that the thought of getting married way up on a mountain is kind of intriguing. It might also solve the problem of whether or not we wear dresses or suits to do it.”

“Yeah, there’s that big question still hanging over us: what are we going to wear when we get married?”

“Do you want the big wedding dress? Or do you want a really nice dress, either in white or some other colour? Or not even a dress?” Before I could answer she added, “If we did get married on the ski slope, then I imagine we’d both be in snow pants and parkas.”

“Would you be wearing a dress? All I ever see you in is a t-shirt and shorts.”

She looked off to one side, seemingly remembering something from her past. “Well, I did have to wear a skirt when I was in school, after Eve rescued me. The school she sent me to had a strict uniform dress code.”

I couldn’t help the giggle that escaped my mouth. “You? In a school girl outfit? I think I would have paid money to see that. Did it have a little kilt and knee socks?”

“Yes. Smartass. You’re lucky I love you so much or I really would put you over my knee.”

“I’ll bet you rolled the waistband to shorten the skirt so you were showing some thigh. I’ll bet you looked really cute with those knees and those legs of yours.”

“You’re cruising. Yes, I got in trouble for having my skirt too short. I also got whipped by Eve when she heard about it, so I pretty much stopped doing it, unless I was trying to impress one of the other girls who I thought might be gay.”

“Ah, going for notches on your bedpost, even back then.”

She smirked at a memory. “Well, part of the place was a boarding school, so some of the girls lived there, and there were constant rumours about bed-hopping, and who was eating pussy, or getting their pussy eaten. I never lived in, but I did try to get with a couple of the girls who were supposed to be the real pussy hounds.”

“And did you succeed?”

She smiled wistfully. “Actually, I did once. There was one girl, a real striking redhead. She was tall, had great thighs and big boobs. She had her own room because she was a senior. She ate me out like it was her last meal, then sat on my face and rode me like the end of the world was coming. She made me scream, and I made her scream, and I was in absolute awe of her all through the rest of that year.”

I put an arm around her and hugged her to me. “What happened to her?”

“We got together a couple of times after that. I wanted more, but I think she had a bit of a harem going, so I wasn’t the only girl she was having sex with. Then she graduated, and was pretty much out of my life.”

“Do you know what happened to her?”

“I heard at one of the reunions that she became a high-profile, expensive lawyer, and is married and has a couple of kids. Lives outside New York City somewhere.” She gave a crooked little grin. “I haven’t seen her since school, so I don’t know if she still eats pussy on a regular basis.”