An hour or so later the two of them were lying face to face on the bed, talking quietly while they recovered from what might have been their best session yet. They were hot, sweaty, and thoroughly sated, just enjoying the afterglow. “You know,” Jane smiled at her husband, “I think I’m well past both hands, and I’ll bet I get past toes before very long.”

“Huh?”

“Rick, you know I wasn’t a virgin, although I never had much sex before I met you. I know I have to be past ten sessions now, and if we keep going the way we have I’ll be past twenty before too long. By then keeping count won’t matter.”

“I’d never have believed it,” he grinned. “I was a virgin, and didn’t know what I was missing. At least I had an experienced woman to break me in.”

“It’s been a lot of fun. I’ve got more experience than you do,” she replied, reaching out her free hand and grabbing him around his scrotum. She squeezed down just enough to let him know it, and added with a huge grin, “And we’re going to keep it that way, aren’t we?”

“Just so long as you don’t start trying to extend your lead with someone like Bianca.”

“Not a chance,” she replied, releasing him. “I had that chance once and it didn’t appeal to me. I find I’m liking the way we have things just fine.”

“I do, too. Once again, I can’t believe how lucky I was that Sophia turned up someone like you rather than someone like her.”

“Luck of the draw, I guess,” Jane sighed. “I can think back to some of the women Sophia interviewed at the Mountain Grove before I started talking to her, and there were a couple there I’d bet would have been right up Bianca’s alley. At least Sophia spotted them. If she hadn’t on the first go-round, I’ll bet she would have found out before they met you.”

“Either way, I feel lucky about it. You know, considering what we were talking about before Bianca showed up this afternoon, I think that in spite of our differences, we’ve been a pretty good match for each other so far. I can’t help but wonder what it’s going to be like when we get back to the real world.”

“I can see some issues there we’re going to have to deal with,” she sighed. “But somehow I think we’ll be able to deal with them.”

“I sure hope so.”

Jane glanced at the clock. “I almost hate to bring this up, but it’s getting close to dinner. I suppose we ought to take a quick shower so it doesn’t look like we’ve been doing nothing but having mad, passionate sex for the last couple hours.”

“I suppose,” he agreed. “But there’s a part of me that would kind of like to show off the fact that we’ve been having mad, passionate sex for a couple hours, at least to some people I used to know.”

“Some of those people you knew in high school?”

“Well, yeah, but there are others. Mostly people who would never have believed I could talk to a woman, let alone marry her.”

“Maybe we’ll have to work on that sometime,” she laughed. “For now, the water temperature’s got to be pretty good. Let’s go take that shower.”

There proved to be hot water and plenty of it; the tropic sun had made sure of that. Even though they showered together, for once the shower didn’t end with another trip to the bed; both of them considered it, but the clock said dinner was getting too close and they were both hungry. Jane stayed nude as she dried her hair, while Rick just stood back and watched.

Eventually they had to get dressed. Rick pulled on a T-shirt and the running shorts Jane had bought for him earlier in the day, while she pulled on the conservative one-piece yellow swimsuit she’d bought. “Hey,” he said as he watched. “I kept up my end of the deal and wore that Speedo you bought for me. What’s that for?”

“Don’t think of this as a swimsuit,” she grinned. “Think of it as a party dress. I think it’ll go over just fine up at the main house.”

He stood back and looked at her. “You know, you might be right,” he said finally. “It does look pretty good on you when you think of it that way. I’d still rather see you in that bikini you wore this afternoon. Or, any bikini, for that matter.”

“I think you’ll still get plenty of chances to see me in a bikini the next few days,” she replied. “So long as you keep wearing that Speedo when I wear a bikini.”

“Jane, you drive a hard bargain,” he shook his head. “But you know, I think I want to get at least a few pictures of you in that outfit.”

“Why?”

“I don’t think I want to have a picture of my wife on my desktop at work if she’s wearing something like that bikini you had on this afternoon. At least if I have a few like that of you I’ll have the option.”

“OK, I’ll buy that one,” she smiled. “But I want to get a few of you in that Speedo, just for the same reason.”

“Works for me,” he agreed. “God, sometimes I can’t believe how open with each other we’ve become. I never thought that would happen.”

“I sort of hoped it would,” she said. “You know, Rick you really are a pretty nice guy. I just hope we can work out a way that you can be a little more friendly and open with other people.”

“It would be nice,” he agreed. “I, well, I’ve never been very good at it.”

“You have to reach out and try. You do have to say something to be friendly. Maybe not much at first, but a little. Practice a bit and after a while it’ll get easier.”

“I suppose. But Jane, I don’t think I want to get very friendly with Chuck and Bianca. I really don’t like her, and I’m afraid I’d say something to him I really shouldn’t. That’s their issue and it’s something they’re going to have to work out for themselves.”

“You know Rick, that’s pretty wise,” she smiled. “You understand people more than you let on, and that’s good. And no, I don’t want to be any friendlier with Chuck and Bianca than you do. We do owe them for the beer we borrowed last evening, but if we sit around the pool tonight let’s try to spend it talking with some of the other people.”

“Sounds good.”

“And you try to do some of the talking.”

He was silent for a moment before he replied slowly, “I’ll try.”

Fortunately Chuck and Bianca weren’t at dinner that evening; Sabrina commented that they’d decided to have dinner in town, without discussing why. Jane had her theories about that, but thought it was best to keep those ideas to herself.

Chuck and Bianca’s absence was more than made up for by a new couple, Bert and Pat Eggleston, who Lee had picked up at the airport that afternoon. They were both short and slight; he was three or four inches shorter than Jane, and she was shorter yet. They proved to also be newlyweds – they’d been married in a big church wedding on Sunday, so it almost made Jane think that she and Rick were an old married couple by comparison. After all, they’d been married more than twice as long . . .

Pat didn’t seem a lot less shy than Rick, but at least Rick hadn’t been blushing when other people considered what he and Jane had been doing when they’d been off by themselves in their cottage. Pat was just about embarrassed to death at the thought that other people might suspect it of them. Fortunately the rest of the people at the table sensed that she was very shy about it, so kept the newlywed jokes and innuendoes to a minimum.

Not a great deal about Bert and Pat came out around the dinner table, but in the more relaxed atmosphere following, Jane managed to learn a bit more about the couple. Jane had a wine cooler in her hand, which tasted a lot better than the beer the night before; Rick had a beer, but didn’t drink much of it. Bert and Pat limited themselves to soft drinks without caffeine, which suggested to Jane that the two must be pretty straight.

Jane, with a little help from Rick, pulled the story out of them slowly. The two were from a little town outside Topeka, Kansas – only a couple hundred miles or less from Jane’s hometown of Hartford – and were indeed pretty straight and rather religious, or at least came from pretty religious families. It turned out that their marriage wasn’t much less arranged than Rick and Jane’s had been, although the kids had known each other for years. Their parents, especially their mothers, and their pastor had been involved with putting them together, and Jane detected at least a hint of the fact that the kids felt they would rather have had a little more say in the matter themselves. Neither of them came out and said it, but Jane got the feeling that given a choice they would really rather not have been married at this time, and maybe then not to each other.

Jane and Rick didn’t get into how they’d come to get married – even given the circumstances, they were still a little embarrassed about it themselves. The conversation got awkward and stilted at times, but Jane and Rick agreed afterwards that it was probably better than talking to Chuck and Bianca.

Darkness comes quickly in the tropics, and not long after it was about as dark as it was going to get Rick and Jane said good night to the new couple and headed off to their cottage. They weren’t quite ready to go to bed yet, so decided to spend a little while reading – Jane, the book on World War II she’d bought in Las Vegas, and Rick the camera manual.

They didn’t get much reading done. After a few minutes with the camera, Rick looked up and said, “You know, Jane, I can’t help but think we got the better end of the deal.”

Jane looked up from her book; she’d been thinking much the same thing, but wondered what he was thinking. “How’s that?” she asked.

“At least we went into this deal with our heads up and made a clear decision on our own parts. It strikes me that Bert and Pat were pretty much forced into it.”

“Yeah,” she agreed. “And considering their families, they’re pretty well stuck with it, too. I think they’ve got more to work out between each other than we do. They’ll probably come to accept it as God’s will and work out the differences, though.”

“I suppose,” he sighed. “I sure saw enough of that ‘God’s will’ stuff at home. At least it wasn’t in my family.”

“I did, too,” she agreed. “My family was in it pretty heavily, too, but nowhere near that bad. It was part of the reason I wanted to get the hell out of Hartford and stay there.”

“They seem like pretty good kids. It’s just a shame they let their families roll over them so badly.”

“Sure is,” she agreed. “I’m thinking maybe they need some friends. Let’s try to be a little friendly with them.”

They both read for a while longer until they decided they had other things they wanted to do, things that involved getting their clothes off and turning the lights out. It turned out to be a pretty good evening that went later than either of them had intended, not that either of them minded it a bit.

“You know, Rick,” she said during a break in the action, “it’s only been a week since Sophia first brought up the idea to me of the two of us getting together. A week ago I would never have dreamed that in a week I’d be at a resort in Hawaii, making love to my husband.”

“Hell,” he snorted. “A week ago I’d never have dreamed that I’d ever have a wife to make love to. I’m still not sure I believe it.”

Even with going late the night before Jane woke up early the next morning. Rick woke up too, but was of a mind to sleep in a little, and she was of a mind to let him. Since the sun was still low it seemed a good time to get a little of it without it being too intense, so she pulled on the thong bikini she’d worn the day before and went outside, taking the book with her.

She’d only been able to read a few pages at a time, except for the long plane trip on Sunday, which now seemed like a long time ago, but she was making progress with it, paying special attention to the parts that involved the Philippines. There was more to the topic than she had realized.

She was deep into the Battle of the Coral Sea when she sensed someone was near. Hoping it wasn’t Bianca, she glanced up to see Pat, wearing a dowdy black swimsuit that made even Jane’s swimsuit/party dress from the night before seem racy. “How are you today?” she asked.

“Oh, I hope I’m not bothering you,” Pat said apologetically.

“Not really,” Jane replied as she put the book down. “Just something to do till my husband wakes up.”

“Bert’s asleep, too,” Pat replied. “He, uh, well . . .”

Jane had the idea that he must have had good reason to be tired, but as sensitive as Pat had been the night before she was determined not to make a tease out of it. “Guys like to sleep in sometimes, I guess,” she smiled.

“Yeah,” Pat said, in a tone that indicated to Jane she had more on her mind than that. “It’s, uh, not been easy to get used to. I mean, being in bed with him.”

“It kind of goes with being married.”

“I know that,” the smaller girl smiled. “But knowing it and . . . well, it’s not the same thing.”

“Is he having trouble getting used to it, too?”

“No. Well, yes, I guess, mostly because I’ve been having trouble getting used to it.”

Jane was starting to get the picture, but could see that it wasn’t a good idea to press too hard. “I shouldn’t even have to ask if the last couple nights were the first time you spent the night together.”

“It was,” Pat admitted. “There was a part of me that would have liked to have known what I was getting into, but, well, it just couldn’t have happened, so there’s no use in wishing about it. Now I . . . well, I . . . it just doesn’t seem right. He’d like me to be more, uh, enthusiastic about it, but . . .”

“But all your life you’ve been brought up to think that it’s wrong, and now that it’s OK, it’s hard to get used to, right?”

“Yeah, pretty much. It’s, well, it’s not easy.”

“I know it’s not easy, Pat,” Jane counseled. “You have to work at getting used to the new things in your life. It doesn’t come naturally. Rick and I still have some problems to work out, but I can at least say they’re not in the bedroom. We’ll figure it out.”

“You’re lucky,” Pat said shyly. “We have . . . well, I have . . . oh, nuts, what I’m trying to say is have you ever let your husband see you with no clothes on?”

“Not in the last hour,” Jane smiled. All of a sudden she was seeing what the problem was, and it wasn’t quite what she’d been thinking. “I’d have to stop and think about it, but we’ve probably been naked with each other more than we’ve been clothed since we’ve been married. But it would be pretty close.”

“You’re lucky you can do that,” Pat sighed. “I can’t . . . well, it’s just too . . . it doesn’t just seem right.”

“Hey look,” Jane said gently. “The rules change when you get married, you ought to know that. There are things you can do with your husband that you can’t do with anyone else. Have you ever been with him with no clothes on?”

“No, I can’t make myself do it.”

“And he wants you to.”

“Yeah, and well, it got a little, uh, uncomfortable between us last night. I woke up this morning and decided I needed to think it out, and then I thought maybe I could talk to you about it.”

“Look, I can’t tell you what to do,” Jane told her. “But I don’t think you’re the first woman to have this problem. You’re pretty shy, aren’t you?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Even with your husband?”

“Yeah, I guess. Like I said, I just can’t make myself do it.”

“If you can’t make yourself do it, you can’t, and that’s fine. But if you don’t at least try, I suspect you’re going to have other problems to iron out, and they’ll be more serious. Now, he’s not exactly asking you to get up on stage in a strip club someplace and show yourself off to a bunch of strangers, is he?”

“Well, no.”

“And he’s not asking to take a bunch of dirty pictures of you so he can put them on the Internet, right?”

“No.”

“What he’s asking you to do is to do something intimate, something special that’s just between the two of you, right?”

“I guess.”

“Like I said, I can’t tell you what to do, but it might be best all around if he could see you at least made the attempt. When you get down to it, it’s not a lot to ask, is it?”

“But I don’t know if I could do it.”

“How do you know unless you try? Look, I went to school with a gal whose sister married a guy who was in some real nutball cult. Supposedly, the only way they’re supposed to get it on, uh, let’s say have family relations, is if she has a sheet over her with a hole cut in it for him to stick his thing through. I guess you’re not supposed to have any fun at all if you’re a part of that bunch. Does that sound right to you?”

“Well, no. I mean, that might be going too far the other way.”

“This gal’s sister apparently thought the same thing, which is why she left the guy pretty quick. There’s a long story about that, she had to run and hide since this cult doesn’t do divorces, but there’s no point in getting into that. The point is, if you had to do it one way or the other, which one would you want?”

“I guess without the sheet. But I can’t . . . I just can’t make myself do it.”

Jane mentally let out a sigh. At least she’d made that much logical progress. “OK,” she said, trying a different tack. “Just a question. Did you pick out that swimsuit you’ve got on?”

“Well, no,” Pat sighed. “That was my mother. She said going to a beach resort was all right, she guessed, but this was something that was properly modest.”

“Are you sure she didn’t pack a sheet with a hole cut in it for you?”

Pat was silent for a long time before she said, “I guess it looks pretty bad, doesn’t it?”

“Maybe yes, maybe no. It all depends. You saw that outfit I had on last night, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, it looked kind of nice.”

“It was appropriate for the company,” Jane pointed out. “I’m not wearing a swimsuit like that now, partly because I wanted to work on my tan, and partly because I didn’t expect anyone but my husband to be around. If you think it’s tiny enough on the front side you haven’t seen the back, but it’s a different situation than last night, right?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Look, if you’d had the chance to choose your own swimsuit without having to get your mother’s approval, would you have chosen that one?”

“No,” Pat sighed. “Maybe a bikini, maybe not. It might have been a one-piece, but nothing as bad as this.”

“So you’re willing to be at least a little more immodest than your mother wants, right. Now, the big question. Supposing you knew it was just going to be you and your husband. Would you have been willing to go quite a bit more immodest? I mean, something like this?”

“Probably not that far,” Pat shook her head. “But, well, if it was just Bert and me, well . . .”

“OK, Just supposing. I’ve got a bikini inside I’ve never worn. It’s a string job, but covers a lot more than this one. Suppose I give that to you, then you go over to your cottage, put it on in the bathroom, and then wake Bert up and say, ‘Honey, let’s go swimming.’”

“It’d just about shock his socks off, after last night.”

“But it would say to him that you’re willing to at least meet him part way, wouldn’t it? After all, it’s just between him and you. I wouldn’t even see you in it; he’d be the only one to do that.”

Again she was silent for a while as she thought it over. “Yeah, I guess it would.”

“OK, good. Again, you don’t have to go any further than that if you don’t want to. And remember, you and he are the only ones who have to know. If you’re even halfway comfortable with it and he’s happy, that’s cool, right?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Now, again, just supposing. Let’s say it goes real good and you’re feeling a little brave. You could tell him you can’t undo the knot in the back for some reason and ask him to help?”

“That’d really knock his socks off.”

“And then, maybe, just maybe, you ask him to help with the other knots. Again, you don’t have to if you don’t want to, but let him play with what’s bare for a while before you make up your mind. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. But even if it only works partway, maybe you’ve made some progress toward the next time, or at least in patching up last night.”

“Yeah . . .” Pat said thoughtfully. “Are you sure you don’t mind giving it to me?”

“Not if you’ll give using it a fair try.”

Again Pat was silent for a while. “I guess I better try it,” she said. “It might not make my mother happy, but she’s not the one who has to live with him.”

“Your mother also doesn’t have to know everything that happened here. Pat, I think I’ve made it clear I’m not very religious. There are reasons for that we don’t need to go into right now, but I remember it says in the Bible, ‘A man shall leave his mother and a woman leave her home, and they shall travel on to where the two will be as one,’ right?”

“That’s not quite the King James Version, but right.”

“Then think about this. I take that to mean that a man and a woman have to build their own lives, and not let their parents build it for them, telling them what to do. Don’t answer, just think about it while I go in to get that bikini for you.”

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.