A Gift of Love

Twenty seven dollars and sixteen cents. That was the balance of their check book. The net worth of two people, accumulated over 20 years of marriage. The number had rattled through his sodden brain for the hours he should have spent sleeping. He had wanted to count sheep, but instead all he could count were the pennies stored in the credit union. Their total wealth could more easily be stored in a ceramic piggy bank than a commercial establishment. Sleep had eluded him. Twenty seven dollars and sixteen cents to be squandered on groceries for the next two weeks, there was none to invest in his love, a woman worth everything in the world to him.

It was only two weeks until Valentines Day. Christmas had felt like a failure to him, there had not been enough money to give her more than a single cheap present and his love was worth so much more. He was determined to show her the depth of his love for Valentines Day. Thinking of the ways he could accomplish that goal, and what he would do for her, had kept him from sleep.

John watched the first glimmer of early morning sun filter through the slight gap in the threadbare curtains, reflecting off the shimmering gloss of Vickie's long dark hair. Slowly, softly he pulled back the covers from her naked form, his eyes taking in each bit of her. Twenty years before, when he had first seen her naked, she had been a beautiful girl. Now, she was even lovelier. The sight of her winter paled skin took the breath from him. The soft swell of her breasts with their darker nipples caused an involuntary reaction in his loins.

Twenty seven dollars and sixteen cents. His true love was worth so much more but that was all there was in their checkbook.

He folded the covers back over her flat torso until the slight dimple of her belly button was just exposed. John rose slowly to his knees, trying not to disturb her sleep in the early morning. For several moments he simply looked into her beautiful face, watching her nostrils flare as she sucked in breath, smiling slightly as she made that cute almost, but not quite, snoring sound that he liked to hear. He imagined her beautiful eyes, now hidden by her sleeping eyelids. He loved her eyes even more than her pert mouth that so easily curled into a brilliant smile that lit a room.

He lowered his face toward her neck. His nose drank in the faint smell of the inexpensive perfume that lingered from it's application the day before. She always smelled so delectable. His lips touched the skin where her long neck met her curved shoulder. The smooth feel of her warm skin against his lips sent lightning coursing through his very being.

He kissed her skin softly working from her neck to her arm and then back to her neck. He listened to her breathing as his kisses worked up to her ear. She did not move a muscle but he heard her breathing change from the long rhythmic cadence of sleep to a more rapid pace. She was still asleep, or at least not quite awake, but the kisses had roused her from the depths of slumber. His kisses moved down her neck once more and then down her chest. He kissed each inch of skin as his mouth moved to her right nipple. He was intensely aware of his body, everywhere it touched her soft skin. The heat of their bodies touch sent a familiar warmth into him that circulated through his every fiber.

His lips sucked a stiffening nipple into his mouth as he was aware of her hand moving to run through his hair, pulling his face tighter as a soft sigh escaped her lips. He sucked with more vigor as his ardor increased. He felt the tip of his hard cock brush the skin of her waist as it rose to full attention. The feel sent violent waves of pleasure through him and he shuddered slightly.

Reluctantly he removed his lips from her left breast and kissed his way to the right, giving that nipple equal time as he sucked it into his mouth. The feel of her fingers running through his hair, encouraging his attention, made him breathe even faster. The slightly larger gap his knees made between her right arm and her body allowed her to move her heretofore pinned arm. She pulled it upward until her hand could close on his throbbing penis. She stroked it softly as her other hand pulled gently on his hair, moving his mouth up to meet her greedy lips.

Their tongues reached for each other and began a dance inside their mouths. They were both breathing faster as the need reached their cores. Vickie's arm wrapped around her man, pulling him close, feeling the touch of their skin as her other hand stroked him. John's hand was not idle as it traced the curves of her body sliding to her hip and then over her to find her moist entrance.

He heard her, felt her gasp as his finger slid inside her warm wet slit and gathered slippery juices to lubricate his finger as it slid along her stiff clit.

Vickie arched her back and thrust her hips to the rhythm of his finger as she pulled him even tighter to her. Their kiss became passionate as soft moans escaped her lips. Her hand pulled on his penis, guiding his whole body over hers as her legs spread. Knowing that the woman he loved, wanted him, needed him, increased his own desire. His soul was on fire with longing for her.

John broke their kiss as he rose to his hands and knees. His blue eyes gazed into the depths of her brown ones. He saw her desire for him in her unfocused orbs as he lined his cock up. The feel of her soft sopping pussy on the head of his dick made him tremble slightly. Her hands on his waist urged him forward but he took his time, slowly sliding into her. He gasped as he felt her welcoming pussy slowly engulf his cock. The muscles of her vagina clamped and relaxed on him, urging him inside her. He felt her hips moving but he held his position, luxuriating in the feel of that velvety pussy engulfing him slowly. He stopped when he was all the way inside her. His eyes had never left hers as they traded emotion between the connection of their eyes.

Her legs wrapped around his waist as she began to rock her hips. Her hands pulled him hard, urging him to thrust. John matched her rhythm, as they slowly sped up. His thrusts came faster and he felt her suck in her breath as she pulled herself up to meet the lunges of his hips. Her pussy clamped down on him and he felt her breath explode as her head rolled. His gaze never left her face as she came. John felt a wash of joy flow through him and a smile curled his lips. He actually felt her pleasure. Watching her release was all he really needed but not all there would be.

When she could breathe again, he slowed down, sliding slowly into her until her passion built again. He knew his wife and knew that her desire would return. In moments, her hips were rocking again and he matched her motion. Each thrust came harder. This time, he felt the pressure build. His eyes were locked on hers as he felt the connection of their souls. They were one.

He felt her need for him return as his desire for her intensified. The pressure inside him went almost unnoticed. It was not the feel of impending release for him, but rather the complete merging of the two of them. It was as if his love, his emotion, his very soul was trying to become one with her.

The feeling built as he matched her movements. He was determined to hold off until she came too. He watched her eyes close, her face twist. He felt the first contraction of her vaginal muscles and he allowed his own feelings to flow. He let the pressure come. He allowed his very being to well up inside his throbbing cock. He slammed into her and then stopped at the bottom as his face turned red from the breath that he was suddenly holding. The pressure built, not just in his cock but in his whole being. He gasped as he felt her pussy grab him again. He could hold back no longer. Her whole body convulsed in what he knew was a powerful release. The intensity of his explosion matched hers. Their bodies quaked and his soul exploded along with his cock.

Their mutual orgasm was as if they were connected, two souls merging, becoming one. The pleasure intense, draining, all consuming. The fire of their souls burning in each other quenching each others need. The moment lasted an eternity before it was over and they lay gasping for breath, his strength sapped, he sagged to her body as their lips met in a tender kiss that lasted for several minutes before he rolled off her and she moved to snuggle her body against his.

At that moment the alarm clock went off and Vickie began to giggle. She held her man softly in her arms. "Let it ring. I want to hold you for a few minutes. Damn, boy, you are way better at waking a girl up than that alarm clock." Her eyes were smiling as her lips met his in a soft kiss. The touch of their bodies warmed them but all good things must come to an end and she released him.

John reached for the alarm as she rose with a smile and headed for the bathroom. He lay back on the pillow as his eyes followed the exquisite form, watching the wiggle of her pretty butt as she walked away from him. He loved her even more than he had twenty years ago.

The feeling of failure that had been so close to him since Christmas slammed into him again, driving away the warm wonder that she had left him with in the wake of their loving. Vickie was his true love and she was worth so much more than he was able to give her.

Her face had beamed when she opened the single present from him at Christmas. She had at least pretended to love the cheap sweater that he had managed to get her from K-Mart. She deserved so much more! He felt close to crying. He would do better for Valentines day. He would show her the depth of his love.

Vickie had been a beautiful girl when he had first started dating her in their second year of High School. He watched her naked form as she walked and thought that she was even more gorgeous, more desirable than she had been then. The hard years she had spent with him had done nothing to dim her beauty. She deserved so much more than the life he had given her.

Thanks to him, she had not reached sweet sixteen without being kissed. In fact, he blamed himself that by her sixteenth birthday, she could not reach the sink to help wash her family's dishes. He had fathered the baby that she had carried.

There had been many options, besides the hard life they had chosen to share, but they had not even considered those. They had been young, but they had also been madly in love. They had loved each other, and the new life growing inside her too much to consider abortion or adoption. Instead, they had chosen a life of hardship and sacrifice to their own love and the life that that love had created.

They were married before either of them reached their seventeenth birthday. They had been offered the chance to live with both of their families while they finished school. Both sets of parents felt a certain animosity toward them. John's parents considered Vickie the temptress who had wrecked his life. Her father treated John with total disdain, the corrupter of his sweet innocent little girl. Living with them had not been an option, if they had expected to succeed as a couple.

They could have finished school, finished in disgrace. Vickie would have had to go at night since, in those days, pregnant girls or married mothers were not allowed to be exposed to the student body as if such conduct would rub off on the other girls. John would have been almost equally scorned by the administration while the boys might have held him as almost a hero. Instead, he chose and she was forced to abandon school.

Neither family was pleased when they were married. They had tried to talk them both into the other options. Neither family had truly forgiven them for their choice but both had reluctantly accepted it.

John had gone to work, bagging groceries. The money had been slim. The life hard. His money had barely covered the cost of their apartment. The grocery discount had helped, as had their parents. Youth had been a curse in the early years. They had been barely out of diapers themselves when Charley came along. It had not been easy raising him and the sister who followed only a year later. There had been no luxuries in their lives, unless one counted the 19 inch color television, but even that had had to come as a Christmas present from her parents.

John had been a hard worker and promotion and raises had followed along with the benefits that made it possible. Those raises had kept them treading water, rising income that had barely kept pace with the escalating expenses. What John realized was that his ability had seen him further than his education should have allowed. Twenty years later, he was the manager of the grocery department. What he thought, and what the company knew was that if he had accomplished more than his GED, he would be the store manager, if not a district manager.

The only thing that had never failed them was the love that they shared. John was even more in love with Vickie than he had been 20 years before. Their love had endured, intensified through the hard years There had been many times when they worried about having a roof over their heads and food for Charlie and Connie, never had they worried about themselves. Each night they had found comfort in each others arms. Never had they lost the desire for each other. Never had either of them allowed the relationship to become stale. They were not only lovers but best friends who met the challenges of life together and head on.

Vickie had never complained about what she did not have and neither had John. He felt only joy at the years they had spent together, but he loved her so much that he believed that she deserved more.

Ten years ago, Vickie had found employment as a receptionist in an Optometrist's office. A position that brought in only slightly more than minimum wage. Still every penny had helped in their war with the bills.

Two years ago, Charlie had graduated from High School with honors but he had not been able to garner enough in scholarship money to afford college. He had known that all along. He had never bemoaned their poverty, but like his parents he met the problems head on and solved them. Before graduation, he had enlisted in the Army. The last two years with Charlie gone had been difficult emotionally although they had not showed it. Both John and Vickie missed him, feared for him, especially when he volunteered for duty in Afghanistan.

John would have hardly believed it, but Connie had pulled off a full scholarship to play basketball! John could only shake his head. He knew Connie was good, but the touch of chauvinist in him had expected Charlie to win the athletic scholarship. Connie had never asked for money, but still they knew how hard it was with no spending money and they had sent her what they could.

The last five months had been strange. They had never known time to themselves in the 20 years they had been married. There had never been the time or privacy to wake each other with kisses. There had never been money for movies, or dinners out. They had seen two movies and gone out for dinner on several occasions. Each time was a joy, mixed with the guilt of spending money.

Vickie had celebrated one of the the happiest Christmases of her life. Her baby, Connie, had come home from school. The value of the presents she had gotten had not mattered. Most important to her was the look of love she could read in John's face and the joy of the love she felt for him and her family. She missed Charley, but his phone call from Afghanistan on Christmas Eve had lit her eyes with joy.

She had felt too much happiness to see the pain in John's eyes when she opened his present. For the first time, he had not shared his feelings with her.

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Vickie had one joy in her life. She loved to write. At first she had practiced her craft with paper and pencil, writing short stories for John (private ones), and more public ones for Charlie and Connie. When the grocery store had updated office equipment ten years before, John had rescued a working computer from the trash. It had even come with word processing software. Vickie was still using it. The only part of that system that had finally gone to heaven was the old daisy wheel printer. It had breathed it's last gasp just after Christmas. John would gladly have done anything to get her a new one, but it was no use. There was no way to connect one.

The old DOS programs needed to be tailored for a new printer, and that software was no longer being updated. No new printer would work. She needed a new computer.

Vickie did not complain but she did mention the problem at work. Her boss quickly agreed that Vickie could bring her disks to work and print her stories on the office computer/printer.

Anyone who read the words that came from her fingertips, knew that Vickie was good. Very good. She tried once to find a publisher for her romance novels and other works but failed in her attempt to find either a publisher or an agent willing to represent her. It was just a consuming hobby.

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John, too, had one love. A 1966 corvette that his father had given him when he turned 15. It was old then, and worse it had been totaled in a roll over accident. The plan had been to rebuild it. They had expected it to take several years but it had been twenty-one. It still rested in his father's garage, complete except for an engine. The original motor was so badly rusted that it could not be turned. He could not afford the engine but he could afford to polish the car once each week. He loved that vehicle, dreamed of seeing it on the road with him behind the wheel. His father had offered several times to buy him the engine, but John had known that he could never afford the insurance or the plates to operate it.

The corvette sat in his fathers garage, so beautifully finished that it was more a work of art than a mere car. A work of love and not just a simple refurbishment.

John knew that his dream would never come. As he watched his beautiful wife getting ready for work, he decided. He would sell that car that would never run and purchase her a new computer with all the bells and whistles.

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Dr. Judy Stone was an optometrist but also a fan of pulp romantic fiction. Vickie had worked for her for ten years and Judy had never once had any inkling of her talent, until she allowed her to print her latest work on the company computer.

It had been an accident. Judy had not intended to read the manuscript, unbidden, but when Vickie had gone to lunch with the document printing, the first several pages had stuck to a letter that Judy had needed. After reading the first few paragraphs she had been hooked. Judy had come back to the office after dinner and read the words off the screen till well after midnight. There was only a single chapter left to read when her eyes could focus no longer. She had gone home to sleep, just so she could concentrate on reading the conclusion.

This morning, as Vickie stood before the mirror putting the finishing touches on her appearance, her boss had come in early. Judy was scrolling through the words, now committed to the company computer.

Judy was just finishing the story when Vickie came in.

"Vickie, I need to talk to you. You have a couple minutes?"

"Judy, I work for you. I always have a few minutes for you when I'm at work."

Judy led her to her private office and closed the door. "Vickie, I owe you an apology. I read your novel on our computer. I read the first bit by accident, but I had to read the rest. I just wanted you to know that I read it. You have a lot of talent. Have you ever tried to have any of your work published?"

"I tried once, but all I got was a lot of rejection letters. Sent it to a dozen or so agents, but they all turned me down. Trying cost me too much. I couldn't really afford the postage or the paper and ink. So I just write for fun. I'm glad you liked it," Vickie chuckled. "I have about a hundred more at home you can read if you'd like. This one isn't my best, but I'd be happy if you read it or any others. You want."