Cherie experiences love in the wilderness
Author's notes:
1. This is a work of fiction. The activities and practices described in this story are not necessarily either condoned or recommended. If you choose to do anything described in real life with real people you do so at your own risk.
2. All characters are fictional and any likeness to any living person is purely coincidental. The story is purely imaginary and, to the author's knowledge, bears no relationship to any factual occurrence.
3. This is the fifth chapter of the 'Mating Rituals' series -- it is a standalone story but will make more sense if you read chapters 1 to 4 first (and why would you not want to do that?).
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Yvonne invited her in and she took a seat in the comfortable chair. Their conversation began generally, Yvonne asking her about her life and her studies, then gradually and gently tried to uncover the festering wounds beneath. Finally she simply asked Cherie to tell her story.
"Gary was the most wonderful man I have ever met, apart from my father of course. We courted gently at first, he being very shy while I was recovering from a total betrayal by a previous boyfriend. We were both gun-shy, so to speak. Very gradually we grew to love and trust each other, even moving in together into my parent's home. Sex was fantastic. He was most certainly the best lover I've had, except maybe for my father."
Despite herself Yvonne could not suppress the surprise that showed on her face at this revelation. As a therapist she knew she was expected to be non-judgemental and totally unshockable, but the frank admission of incest still brought up her own feelings after being raped by her father. She quickly tried to hide the look on her face, but Cherie had noticed it and had stopped her story.
"Sorry, Cherie, I just have bad memories of a less than consensual intimate relationship with my own father," explained Yvonne, "However, I take it that your intimacies with your dad were both enjoyable and consensual?"
"Oh yes," enthused Cherie remembering the many times she and her dad had made love, including when he took her virginity.
"Then please continue with your story."
"After we moved into my parents' home we slept every night together in my bed or sometimes we moved into my parents' room and we all slept together there. Mix and match we called it. Then Gary and I went on a week-long ecology field trip where we slept together in our tent each night. We collected enough data to complete our dissertations and we would have both graduated a couple of months later. Gary had obtained a wonderful job, starting in a few months' time, and persuaded the management to employ me as his field assistant, so we would have spent time in the mountains, observing wildlife and making love every night in our secluded hut in paradise.
"However, I'm digressing and that became just a dream. Just thinking about these possibilities that never eventuated causes me to mourn his loss even more."
Cherie couldn't go on and took a tissue from the box and soaked up her tears as her shoulders heaved with the emotional grief that followed the loss of her beloved Gary. She pulled herself together while Yvonne maintained a watchful eye, noting Cherie's responses.
"Then came that wonderful evening when he proposed to me at the restaurant beside a lake under the full moon. Such a romantic setting . . . . "
Cherie paused, her thoughts returning to that evening, her decision. How she wished she could change that decision. It was all her fault. She'd brought all this misery on herself. Another tissue, more tears. With difficulty and a conscious effort she pulled herself together.
"After a few moments thought I accepted. I agreed to become his wife. He slipped the beautiful diamond ring on my finger." She held up her right hand where the ring sparkled in the lights of the office on her third finger. "We hugged and kissed in the moonlight then went home and made love all night long it seemed. Next morning we told Mom and Dad that we were going to be married and of course they were absolutely thrilled. Mom started planning the wedding there and then, while Dad suggested an engagement party would be the first necessity. We agreed on a date and sent out invitations. It was to be held at home. Oh how I wish it had never happened!"
Cherie shed more tears while Yvonne watched, encouraging her to really feel the pain of her loss. After a while Cherie continued.
"On the afternoon of the party it was very hot and sunny. Gary and I had spent the morning at the beach and on our return had parked his car opposite the house. We went inside but I decided I needed my sunglasses which I'd left in his car. I borrowed the keys, collected the glasses, and left the keys in my pocket, forgetting all about them in the excitement and activity of the afternoon.
"People began arriving; Gary and I greeted them at the door and accepted their good wishes and presents gratefully. It was a wonderfully joyful occasion. Mom and Dad were being perfect hosts, offering drinks and nibbles around and chatting with our friends on the back deck. As the evening approached the temperature dropped and Gary looked for his jacket, which he'd left in the car. He went to fetch it, apparently forgetting the keys weren't in his pocket. I remembered his keys a few seconds later and raced down the path to give them to him, but too late. He had just crossed the road and was standing in the far lane feeling in his pockets. I saw a car moving at normal speed along the road on the near of the road then heard the roar of a large engine and saw another car pull out to pass the slower moving car, which had blocked his view of Gary. Gary had just realized he didn't have his keys and must have been focused on the slower car so was waiting for it to pass before returning to collect his keys. The fast car sped past the slow car and ran straight into Gary."
Cherie stopped again, her body heaving as she saturated two more tissues. After several minutes she managed to continue her story.
"I saw the car hit him. Everything seemed to slow down. His legs shattered first and his body flew over the hood of the car and straight through the windscreen. He must have gone through head first as there was a fountain of blood and he hit the driver, probably killing him instantly. The car continued at high speed, veering to the right and stopping after it broke off a power pole then hit a concrete wall."
Yvonne noticed that Cherie had seemed to lose all emotion and was reciting the incident emotionlessly, almost like an automaton.
"Both Gary and the driver appeared to be dead. I ran to him, oblivious to the broken glass and live power wires arcing on the road, but there was nothing I could do." The emotion returned. "I felt so helpless," she sobbed, then tearfully added: "The police told me later that the driver had been drinking and playing poker with mates all afternoon and was heading to the liquor store to buy some more bourbon, so he was obviously drunk and should never have been driving at all."
Cherie broke down into uncontrollable sobbing once more. Yvonne waited until she had composed herself again, but then Cherie continued with the reprisals, regrets and grief.
"If only I'd said 'no'. If only I'd given him back his keys; if I'd taken my glasses with me when I went inside. It's all my fault and now he's gone and dead and we'll never live the dreams we planned, never bounce our children on our knees. Oh what do I do now? How do I go forward from this?"
Cherie sobbed for a long time, her shoulders shaking, body heaving as she released with the grief that was ruling her body. Yvonne watched impassively, as she was trained to do, observing, making a few notes, waiting for the emotions to decrease and resisting the urge to comfort her, knowing that this would only encourage her to stuff the emotions down rather than release them.
After a while Cherie seemed to run out of steam. Her sobs slowed, her grief appeared to lessen, so Yvonne began the very necessary therapy.
"Cherie," she began quietly yet firmly, "I want you to sit back in your chair and take in a deep breath then let it out."
