Apple Cove

Anyone portrayed as having sex is 18 or older.

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Apple Cove part two

I flew into La Crosse and was standing in the luggage retrieval area looking for Aunt Clara when I spotted him, still as handsome as ever, looking strong, staring at me without blinking. I saw my bag as it made the corner and bent to pick it up, while doing so a large calloused hand reached over the top of mine and pulled it out of the conveyor. I stood and turned, looking at me was Toby, I had been expecting Clara without knowing she had asked him to pick me up. I smiled, raised on tip toes and pecked him on the lips.

"Tobias Enderval, you haven't changed much, a little bit of grey in your hair and beard, but still handsome as ever. I didn't know you were picking me up I was expecting Clara."

"She's busy with all the arrangements for Ted's memorial service, she asked if I could pick you up, I wouldn't have turned that down for anything. You look lovely Claude."

I grinned and put my arm through his as we strolled through the parking lot, looking up I caught his gaze,

"It's good to be back, I must admit I missed the open spaces and country air. Are you still on the farm, how's your dad these days?"

He didn't show it, but I could hear the sadness in his voice, "Pa died four years ago, never remarried, I think he missed ma and didn't have much to keep him around. He knew I was doing okay, so, nothing to keep him."

We'd reached his truck by then, after opening my door he helped me in, always the gentleman, nothing had changed in that department. He asked if I was hungry.

"I'm not necessarily hungry, but I haven't had a sundae at Culvers since the last time I visited Clara and that has been ages. If you want to go for a sundae, I'm all in."

We made small talk while we ate, I didn't really want to get into a long conversation with others around, I decided I'd wait until we were on the road, it would be a forty five minute drive to Aunt Clara's, which would allow us plenty of windshield time to talk. Heading north on Highway 53 I broke the silence of our ride.

"You said your dad had nothing but you to stay here for. No grandkids?"

"Nope, never got married."

"Whaaaaat? You and Becky Trondheim were thick as thieves. Why didn't you get married?"

"Because I couldn't have you. Beck and I weren't thick as thieves, I dated her a few months after I heard you were dating a doctor, it never amounted to anything though."

Astonishment overwhelmed me, "Wait a minute, I dated Jeff because I was told you were dating Becky."

We stared at each other momentarily realizing we had been lied to years ago and I knew where it originated, with my mother. She didn't like the idea that I would leave home after graduating from nursing school, but even worse in her mind, that I would marry a farmer. I wanted to be mad, I wanted to hate my mother, it would all be to no avail and didn't warrant the energy needed to be angry. I also had to look at the fact that I'd had nearly twenty six good years with Jeff, three great kids and would hopefully be a grandmother again soon. Our daughter in Guam has a three year old with another due any moment, we drove in silence another ten minutes or there abouts.

"Why didn't your husband come with you? Did he have to work?"

"Jeff died almost a year and a half ago, pancreatic cancer, it was over fast, which was better than dragging on. I have three wonderful kids, the boy and his wife live in Washington State, our oldest daughter is in Guam with her Air Force husband and the youngest girl is at Ohio State. I retired last year, it wasn't the same after Jeff died, twenty five years a nurse was enough, all the bureaucratic crap coming down the pike was enough for me to call it quits. I have Jeffs life insurance, his 401K and mine, I'll be fine until I can begin drawing on those."

"Sorry to hear your husband died, your kids sound great, you said you have grandkids?"

"Yup, I have one at this point, the boy and his wife are in the process of trying, which is something I can't figure out. Geez, when Jeff and I were ready to have kids I don't think he more than hung his pants on the bed post and I was pregnant. It's a different world Toby, a different world. How about you, still milking cows?"

He chuckled softly, "Yeah, still milkin cows. I got a young married couple working for me as farm hands, he's real good with machinery and she prefers the cows, he'd rather being in the fields and she'd rather be in the barn, which works perfect for me. It takes the day in and day out pressure off me, I help where I'm needed."

I had to ask, "No girlfriends, no as they call it, *friends with benefits* on speed dial? I just can't picture you by yourself in that big house."

"I aint alone, I got a cat, his names Tom. He mostly roams around looking for females in heat, he comes meowing at the door two or three times a week, he eats, then he climbs on my lap and purrs while we talk about his dalliances with all the naughty kitties down by the creek bridge. I think that's his main breeding ground, although I've heard him in the barn a few times, damn they make a racket."

We were almost to Clara's, I had a few more questions, "If you have hired hands you must have expanded, how many are you milking now? Where do the young couple live, are they on the farm?"

"Yep, they live on the farm, about a hundred yards below the house near the driveway entrance. I bought a late model 16 x 70 mobile home and set it two years ago, this past spring we built a two car garage next to it for their vehicles and storage. As for cows, I expanded the barn to milk an even eighty, and that's where it's gonna end. I bought the Webers place next to mine fifteen years ago give or take a year, that gives us 417 acres, all but about thirty of it tillable."

As he was finished talking we were making our way up Aunt Claras driveway, it looked the same and yet it didn't, everything was there, it was just run down and not kept like Uncle Ted had always kept it. The little bake shop was still going and they'd added another warehouse to store apples, with a 20 x 30 walk-in cooler. Aunt Clara was on the porch rocking as we stopped, I piled out and made my way to her as Toby carried my bags into the house taking them to my room of so many summers ago. Toby sort of slipped away as Aunt Clara and I caught up, one minute he was bringing my bags into the house and it seemed like the next minute he was gone.

I knew that Ted had been having heart problems for a few years, Clara said it finally became too much of a battle for his body and it simply quit. She said she half sensed it was going to happen, she hated the idea of being without him but she expected it and had prepared herself. Over the past six months they had updated their will, made sure everything would be in her name and stuck ten grand cash in their home wall safe so she'd have money until the probate stuff was finished.

We talked of my siblings, both boys had died leaving only us girls, our youngest brother in Afghanistan and the oldest, golden boy, drank himself to death after catching his wife cheating with two of what had been his high school friends, he was manageable until he learned it had been going on for years. That took him over the edge and he never recovered. Thankfully she couldn't conceive, I say thankfully because otherwise children would have been involved and not just his lying slut wife of over twenty years. He was not blame free either, he had strayed early in their marriage which I think set up her eventual affair with those guys, there's no other way to describe the entire situation other than *ugly*.

After supper and a few glasses of wine I was looking at the clock wondering where the day had gone, I said goodnight and crashed, my day of travel had caught up with me. The next morning I was surprised Aunt Clara wasn't in the kitchen when I drifted that way just after seven, I was making coffee when I heard her slippers on the hall floor, looking at her funny I pointed to my wrist as if I was checking a watch.

"I don't get up with the chickens anymore Claude, quit doing that about a year ago, your Uncle Ted still did but I decided I'd had enough years of getting up at five. Now I read until I'm tired, usually about eleven and then go to bed. I get up when I wake up, most days about seven. Gloria and the other gals don't need me out in the kitchen, they do just fine without me pestering."

I ate a little breakfast and headed for a shower, my mind drifted to those many years ago when Toby and I would shower together, where I learned to give a blow job and swallow every drop. I found myself washing my crotch more than usual, actually allowing my fingers to slide beneath the washcloth and gently rub my clit. I had purposely stayed away from getting myself off after Jeff died, it only left me feeling more alone and empty, yet this morning I had an urge within that I hadn't felt since losing Jeff.

I watched myself in the mirror as I dried, wondering if I still had what it might take to grab a man's attention, I'd not had such thoughts since Jeff died, I suddenly realized that the someone I wanted to look at me would be Toby. I perused my body, I still had a flat abdomen except for the little baby mommy tummy that you never seem to get rid of after children no matter how hard you try, my butt didn't sag, my legs looked good, I wasn't overly enthused with the droop my forty eight year old boobs exhibited. They didn't sag, but they weren't solid and proud like they'd been the first time Toby put his lips on them, my daughter refers to hers as *perky*, I keep telling her to wait until she has babies and then come tell me how *perky* her breasts are.

My hair was okay, there were grey streaks, in my mind I had earned every single one of those grey hairs. Most of the older women I know had their hair colored on a regular basis, I'm not sure why I didn't, I basically said screw that, if people didn't like me natural then forget them, which included my nethers as well. I never did have a huge bush growing all over the place, it covers the mons and a little along the labia, not sure why but it seems to be losing color faster than the hair on my head, it's quickly becoming grey beard instead of black beard.

I slipped on a pair of black panties with little pink polka dots throughout, I seldom wore cotton any longer after having graduated to silk. I love the feeling, and the sexiness in my mind, somehow I felt more attractive, more desirable in silk under garments, Jeff bought me the first pair for Christmas one year and I was hooked. From that time on it was silk bras and panties on my body, along with Jeffs hands anytime the kids weren't around. Before I put the bra on I cupped my breasts lifting slightly, wishing they were still able to point straight ahead with no droop, but alas gravity and time are real things and I needed to accept what I had.

SItting on the bed I rolled up a pair of thigh high stockings, straightening and smoothing the wide lace tops, stockings were something I'd begun on my own several years before I was alone and had kept it a part of my every day wardrobe unless it was exceptionally humid. It happened quite by accident, thinking my daughter wasn't home I nonchalantly sauntered into her room while she was dressing, finding her in underwear and thigh highs. Considering I worked in scrubs every day I liked the idea of stockings without a garter belt when I wasn't at work because I hate panty hose.

Darned if she didn't buy me a pair of red sheers that night, when I put them on the next evening as we dressed to go out Jeff had me naked except for the stockings in mere seconds. Needless to say, with my legs raised, our arms around each other and Jeff in the saddle we missed our dinner reservation. Donning my cotton button dress I left it open just enough to see the bra that matched my panties if I were to bend in front of someone, with my hair and makeup done I made my way back into the household area. Aunt Clara whistled as I entered the family room.

"Holy cow girl, who are you hoping to impress today? You look hot in that outfit."

"What are you talking about? It's a simple cotton house dress."

"Who wears nylons with a house dress these days, not to mention makeup and your hair done."

"If you must know, I wear stockings every day unless it's too hot and sticky to be comfy, I also do my hair and put on a modicum of makeup every day."

She laughed, "Hot and sticky, you'll get that way a lot if Toby keeps coming round. You know honey, he's waited for you all these years, maybe you can find that same spark. I know you loved Jeff, but I can't imagine him not wanting you to go on with your life."

I sighed, she was right, the week he died Jeff made me promise to marry again if I found the right guy. What he said after that caught me completely off guard, "like that farm boy from so long ago", I wasn't aware he even knew about Toby and me. Apparently, someone in my family had passed along the info.

"You're right Auntie, Jeff made me promise I wouldn't live alone if I met the right guy. Do you really think Toby would still be interested in me, I'm a mom of three, I'm no longer a catch. My boobs droop a little, I have that little tummy thing you get when you have kids, I'm slowly getting grey, there are wrinkles on my face, I'm no longer the pink tittied girl I once was. DId you know we gave each other our virginity?"

"Yes honey, have you forgotten I watched you walk in bow legged and walking like you had a stick up your butt? I was the one who checked on you in the bathroom as cum and pee drained from your sore and swollen little kitty."

I laughed so hard, "That's right. I remember it well. Do you think Toby ever thinks of that night?"

"Claudette, no one ever forgets the day they lose their virginity. You can be dead sure he remembers, I saw the pining in his eyes as he carried your bags in, I know why he left so quickly, he was afraid he'd break down, something Toby has never done in public that I know of. No honey, the fire in that man's heart still burns for you, just be sure if you and he start something that you're ready to see it through, he couldn't take a second broken heart. It would kill him, literally."

My emotions were at Defcon 4 all day long, I couldn't stop my mind from thinking about Toby and what it might be like to be in his arms again, to have him caress and suck my nipples like before, to feel his long strong fingers snake beneath the elastic of my panties headed for the promised land, the sensation of him feeling through my pubic hair and down into a very wet, swollen with desire throbbing vulva. And his kisses, that man could kiss, my lips ached as I remembered those long steamy nights in the driveway with our lips locked together.

Bedtime rolled around and my mind was still in overdrive, Clara sensed it, putting her book down she lowered her reading glasses and got my attention.

"What's got you so bothered child? I haven't seen you this nervous or preoccupied since the night you were going to give Toby his first blow job."

"Oh auntie, my emotions have been all over the place since we talked this morning, I found myself looking in the mirror while I was naked wondering if I would still be attractive enough to garner his attention. Coming back here has opened up so many feelings, things I thought were in the past, and technically they are, at the same time they aren't. I'm confused and I'm not sure why."

"I'll tell you why, because you love him, you've always loved him, if my conniving nasty assed sister hadn't interfered all those years ago you'd be Mrs. Enderval today. I was so pissed when I learned the truth about what my she did, I wanted to disown her. You gave Jeff twenty five years of loyal devotion, you have three great kids, maybe it's time for you to start looking after Claudette and let your heart be filled with a new love. It won't be as it was, that was then, this is now, and Toby could never fill the space in your heart that belongs to Jeff, but then I don't think he'd want to. Sleep on it, we'll talk more after the memorial service tomorrow."

As well known as Ted and Clara were in the area I was not at all surprised to see the little two hundred seat church packed with the overflow standing in the hall watching, the ladies auxiliary put on a feed that only the women in little country churches seem to know how to do. Including Swedish meat balls the size of baseballs, mashed potatoes and a gravy I'd have killed for, I embarrassingly made a pig of myself getting a second helping, choosing to skip dessert so I didn't bloat. Toby was there and ate like the rest of the farmers, plates stacked high and another loaded with desserts when finished with those, I thought to myself a service like this would never happen in the city I'd left.

I stayed with Clara the entire time as she greeted and thanked folks for attending, she either held my hand or had a light grasp on my elbow for most of the day, she and I were ready to dive in and help with dishes but were scolded and sent on our way. We stopped at the grocery store where we ran into Toby who was with a young tall beefy gal, she wasn't chubby or overweight, quite the opposite, she was tall, thick boned, well muscled and cute as hell. Long curly blonde hair pulled into a ponytail sticking through the back of a John Deere hat, a light blue soft denim shirt and jeans, what gave her away were the farm boots on her feet, obviously the ones she wore to town since they weren't covered in traces of manure.

Clara was the first to see and greet them, Toby was smiling telling her how much he enjoyed the service

and was very sorry for her loss. The girl pushed the cart on ahead gathering groceries as she went, I finally caught Toby's eye as he smiled at me.

"Nice to see you again Claude, I suppose you'll be heading home in a few days."

"Actually, I'm hoping auntie will let me stay for a bit, I have nothing I need to go home for, the apple harvest is in full swing, maybe I can be of help to her. By the way, who's your friend?"

"Oh, that's Casey, she and her husband Ron are my hired hands, let me correct that. She's a registered herdsman, she takes care of milking, makes sure the open cows get bred and a host of other things while Ron takes care of the machinery and field work. They've both completed the two year dairy management course at UW Madison, I'm fortunate to have them."

I was puzzled, "How do those two cover everything that needs to be done with eighty cows to milk and all that acreage?"

Toby smacked himself on the forehead, "Stupid me, they don't, we all milk together in the morning, I fill in where they need me plus I have a guy who works with Ron, and Casey has two high school girls who milk with her at night. Both are farm girls and are used to hard work along with milking, I hire kids from the local high school as much as possible."

Clara and I excused ourselves and went about our shopping, seeing he and Casey again at checkout. I was about to unload the cart into the back of Clara's van when I felt a presence to my right, Toby then gently moved me to the side and put the groceries in the van, smiled and walked to his truck where Casey waited. As they drove away, I had turned backward in my seat watching them, none of my actions and feelings had escaped Clara. I drove in silence for a few minutes when Clara spoke.

"Still like him don't you."

She didn't know the half of it, "My God Clara, that man, he does things to me I didn't think could still be done, at least not like it was when we were kids experimenting with our bodies and emotions. Why can't I get him out of my mind, why does my heart race every time I see him?"

As we drove, I remembered the last time he and I had been together, I hadn't thought of that night in decades, yet here I was in a daydream and seemed to remember every detail. How he had carried me in his arms all the way from the house through the large sliding door of the haymow laying me down on a bed of hay bales covered with blankets and a quilt. How he kissed me tenderly and passionately as he undressed me, how he kissed my body all over while he undressed, how his warm breath felt on my blood engorged vulva a moment before his tongue licked from bottom to top stopping to lightly suck my clit. How my body had jumped when he did, how my hips pushed into his face, how he had me screaming in orgasmic bliss as I held his face tight to my pussy.