Many thanks to Literotica author 'englander1961' for her help, editorial services, encouragement and a title much better than my original, which has elevated her to the status of House Goddess of Sexy Story Titles. Effusive thanks to Holly, the beloved and erotic Sister Decadence for her encouragement, editorial review and kind words. Thanks to Literotica author 'KY ridgerunner' for the stories that planted the idea in my head months ago.
Thanks to John Hasty for his prompt and brilliant editing.
After you've read this, if you have any inclination at all to comment, please do so, either by email or on the comment board.. The best way for me to grow and improve as an author is to hear from the people who read my work.
I welcome constructive critiques and non-abusive comments. I will answer, in at least a semi-prompt manner, any email that comes with an email address.
If you feel you must respond in a hateful or angry fashion, you may put your head down upon your desk and do so, quietly to yourself, for as long as you feel it necessary. This story may not be copied to other sites without my permission.
* * * * *
Carol Riley sat on cushions on the floor of the living room, drinking a glass of wine and watching the rain fall outside.
It was 1 A.M., Sunday. Her life had so completely turned around in the space of four and a half days as to be almost unrecognizable to her.
If she was still with Rick, what would she be doing right now? Probably blowing him in front of his friends so he could show what a big man he was. There'd be another beating in her immediate future. With Rick there had always been another beating in her immediate future.
Instead, she was sitting naked in her living room, her living room in her house, Harry had said so, watching the rain through her wide open front door and listening to her owner make love with the woman she was pretty sure would end up his wife some day, a wife who would love him and cherish him the way he deserved.
And love and cherish their faithful pet, Baby Girl, the way she deserved as well.
Speaking of loving and cherishing, she was looking forward to some more of that once the two of them had their time alone. What was happening in the master bedroom was the consummation of something begun fifteen years earlier. She didn't belong in there right now.
Didn't mean she couldn't listen in and enjoy.
Carol giggled to herself. She was ecstatically happy.
* * * * *
Harry Grimes woke up from a brief nap.
It couldn't have been too long; the candles in the room hadn't visibly burned down at all.
He found himself in the middle of a plethora of miracles.
He had been well on the road to burning out, becoming a loveless shell of a man.
Miracle Number One: Carol Riley had rescued him. Her condition led to-
Miracle Number Two: reconnecting with Margo Wohler and her being willing to talk to him after they way he'd dropped her out of his life. And Carol's condition led to-
Miracle Number Three: reconnecting with Eddy Janak and him being willing to talk to Harry after the way he'd dropped him out of his life.
Miracles One and Two together led to Miracle Number Four: he and Carol were in a position to help Margo when she most needed help.
Miracles One and Two together also led to Miracle Number Five: his and Margo's realization of their feelings for each other and their acting upon those feelings.
Harry turned his head and looked at Margo, curled up next to him in the bed. There was Miracle Five, right before his eyes. The beauty in the bed next to him, happy, free... she loved him, she loved Carol, and they loved her.
Others might argue that these weren't miracles, but Harry didn't give a shit. He knew miracles when he saw them.
He carefully got out of bed and headed out in search of something to drink.
* * * * *
Margo Wohler stretched as she woke up. Her hands hit the headboard and as the stretch continued her legs hung off the end of the bed to her knees.
Harry needed a bigger bed.
She sat up on the edge of the bed and gazed around the room. Some of the effects from her fantasy were easy to explain, easy to find.
The whipping post, the pile of cushions on the floor, the cat o' nine tails, the bowls with crushed apples, lemons, limes and open heaps of spices, the metal bowl where they'd been burning pot like it was incense... the cd player? She reached over and popped out the disc. 'Nature's Secrets: Soothing Sounds of the Sea'. Those clever little rascals.
She sat and thought about her night, and the two lovers that awaited her elsewhere in the house. She wondered why she was feeling so secure, so safe? It was sad to admit, but that wasn't like her. Normally she'd awaken from a first sexual encounter a bundle of insecurities and paranoia, just about as neurotic as you could be without being a sitcom character from New York. It took her time to settle in, to feel like she belonged somewhere, but while this wasn't her place, she felt she belonged here, she felt welcome here.
And she felt that this could be her place too, if she wanted it to be.
Had Harry proposed to her while they were making love?
No, no he hadn't. They'd both had much to say to each other while they loved each other, but there had been no mention of that.