Here is a short epilogue which serves to tie up the story of Danny, Jackie, and Delaney, and perhaps give the reader hope for what happens from here on out. My editor for For Want of a Snow Blower, pt. 3, hated the abrupt way the story ended so I wrote this for her, and everybody else, who cares about these characters. Fair warning, there's little or no sex in this short episode. I hope I've gotten the emotion right, though.
As always, please leave a comment after you've read this story. We authors love comments.
That fall after Delaney had gone off to college was a bittersweet time for Jackie and me. We each found that we missed her terribly. It was like mourning a breakup. At first we kept in touch daily via text and email, but we were all incredibly busy and as we got into the meat of the semester our contacts dwindled. We didn't want to push ourselves on her, and by Thanksgiving we were only hearing from her once per week, if that.
If there was one thing Jackie and I learned from our time as part of a threesome, though, it was how much we meant to each other. We were determined that our old problems with communication and intimacy wouldn't be repeated, and they weren't. On the night before her classes started for the fall, the two of us sat out on the deck with some drinks and established what we called our "rules of intimacy".
The first was that, no matter how busy we were, we would set aside some time every evening to talk about how our days had gone. When we both got home, we had a few minutes to get settled and then we sat down with a drink and filled each other in on what we had done. Not that we became alcoholics or anything; usually the drinks were water or tea. But the point is we were there for each other, our phones were off, and there were no distractions. For a half hour, we just took turns listening to one another.
The second rule was that at least once per week we had massage night. We'd make sure to go up to bed together, light some aromatherapy candles, put on some soft jazz, turn the lights down low, and take turns massaging each other. Sex wasn't actually the point of massage night, though often enough it ended up that way. The real point was to take time to help each other relax and feel good.
The third rule was all about sex, though. It was simple. We wouldn't go more than a week without some sort of sex. It wasn't like we were newlyweds again, but there wasn't any pressure, and having the rule made us think about sex and also made it okay to tell one another when we were horny. We were still busy as hell - especially Jackie - but when sex was always in the back of our minds we discovered we could always find time for it.
In fact, one of the innovations we came up with was "porn night", which didn't happen every week but nevertheless became a favorite. Simply, we'd hook a laptop up to the TV. One of us would select a hot porn video and watch it while the other knelt on the floor between their partners legs and gave them long, teasing oral sex. When he or she came, then we'd switch positions. The watcher had to coherently describe what was going on in the video or the oral would stop. Hearing the hot descriptions always made the one giving the head work all the harder to both turn on their partner and prolong their orgasm.
Frankly, we were in a great place as a couple, both personally and professionally, but as I said, we were still mourning the loss of what we had with Delaney. Sometimes I'd catch Jackie just staring out the window or sitting blankly at her computer, lost in thought, a sad look on her face. At those times I'd always remember what she said that Sunday morning when all of this began: she loved me, but she knew she couldn't go the rest of her life without significant relationships with other women. So, where were we going from here?
Just after Thanksgiving, during the first weekend in December, the O'Brien's held their annual neighborhood Christmas party. This year Jackie was able to attend with me. It was actually great catching up with all of the neighbors we sort-of-knew or waved to in passing. Having been here for almost a year and a half, we weren't quite as much of a novelty as we had been last year, when I had attended alone and seemed to be the center of attention all night.
Toward the end of the evening, just as the mood around the room shifted and you could tell people were going to start heading home soon, the O'Brien's made a big announcement. Delaney would be coming home on December 23rd. In honor of her having made the Dean's List as well as being the only freshman to make the varsity women's four in crew, we were all invited to a surprise party for her that night.
They explained that she would be heading back to train with her team on January 2nd, and since the whole family was going on a cruise the week between Christmas and New Year this would be the only chance that friends and neighbors would get to see her. They apologized for the timing and said they understood that many of us would already have plans of our own, but this was the only time they could fit in such a gathering.
Some neighbors enthusiastically pledged to be there, while others apologetically begged off. Jackie and I didn't respond immediately. We were scheduled to fly to Arizona to spend Christmas with my family early on the morning of the 24th, so we were technically available. We just didn't know what it would be like to be with Delaney but have to act like we were just another pair of neighbors.
Over the next week we talked about it several times. We almost talked ourselves into not going, as we didn't want Delaney to have to react to us as just "acquaintances" on the spur of the moment and with plenty of witnesses about. Eventually we agreed that we had to be there, though. We couldn't text her to explain our absence without ruining the surprise, and we didn't want her to wonder why we weren't there celebrating her success and welcoming her home with everybody else. Besides, we badly wanted to see her again.
The 23rd was my last day of school before break, but Jackie had been off for over a week by then. We were already packed and ready to leave the next morning, our refrigerator and pantry were almost empty, the house was spic-and-span, and the mail had been stopped. When I got home, there was little left to do but have our daily half hour debriefing (in which all we talked about was how excited and nervous we were to see Delaney again), clean up, and go.
The O'Brien's house was predictably beautiful, with a large tree in the den, garland and electric candles on all the window sills, ribbons and bells on all the doorknobs, and tinsel festooning the mantel. Jackie and I were among only a dozen neighbors who showed up, everybody else being caught up in their own family's holiday plans. We got ourselves some mulled wine from the bar and spent some time circulating and making small talk.
Delaney's plane was scheduled to land at six-thirty, and her mom was picking her up at the airport. Her older siblings were already home, two of them with their own spouses and small children. Her sister played hostess, greeting guests at the door, taking coats, and making introductions. One of her brothers was stationed at the bar, not so much to get people drinks as to make sure that all the high school and college students who would be there didn't. The O'Brien's weren't the type of hosts to wink and look the other way at underaged drinking.
Delaney's dad was outside on the patio, manning the wood-fired pizza oven they had installed there. Dinner was a make-your-own pizza bar set up in the kitchen with pre-made crusts, sauce, and cheese. We were all supposed to bring our favorite toppings, make our pizzas, and then take them out to Sean to cook.