The marriage of Howard and Chyna took place by what might be called an unexpected piece of good luck.
Howard had been casually dating Chyna's older sister Maureen, and Howard on the chance that she might be free for the evening had called at her place. It was Chyna who opened the door to him and she informed him that Maureen had already gone out on a date.
Disappointed because he had hoped to release some of the pressure that had built up in his boiling, anarchic and self-indulgent Id, he asked Chyna what she was doing that evening. She said she was free, and Howard asked if she would like to come out for a drive.
Chyna, without being beautiful, or in the real sense of the word even pretty, was striking looking because of her colouring. Her hair was almost pure auburn. With it went dark tantalising eyes. Around five feet seven tall she was slender, but her breasts seemed a trifle too large for her slender figure and their nipples always seemed to be trying to escape captivity. She moved gracefully and someone of artistic bent had once said that her face resembled that of Raphael's mistress, Margherita Luti. Only if you looked more closely did you perceive the determined chin.
She was very young, and to be fair to Howard his intentions on this occasion were honorable. Failing a date with Maureen, Chyna would at least be company for the evening. She turned out to be something more than company.
For some time Chyna had been envious of her sister's relationship with Howard, casual though it was, and now having him to herself for the evening she was determined to make the most of it.
It was at her suggestion that they drove along the coast road, and her suggestion that they drove down a track that led to the beach. Parked in the scrub just behind the beach Chyna waited to see how things would develop.
Howard, without any great expectations, casually put his arm round her, to suddenly find a warm, soft female nestling against him. An hour later, as much to Chyna's surprise as Howard's, they had discovered that they had unleashed a sexual tiger, or more accurately, two sexual tigers with ravening appetites.
Thereafter it was Chyna that Howard dated, much to the chagrin of Maureen who, despite the casual nature of her relationship with Howard, did not feel happy about being supplanted by her sister.
Chyna's parents were also unhappy about the Howard-Chyna relationship, largely because it became obvious that the relationship was by no means casual. It was a love match, and they thought Chyna too young for such intimacy, and Howard being twelve years older than Chyna, was too old for her. They had a change of mind when Chyna announced that she was pregnant, and that she and Howard were getting married.
Married they were, and in due course Chyna gave birth to Rowan.
* * * * * * * *
Howard and Chyna were the fortunate few among their acquaintances. They saw their friends, in keeping with the contemporary marriage scene, get married and divorced, and then marry again and divorce. The love and lust that had at first drawn them together did not fade and Chyna often jokingly said that she spent most her married life in a horizontal position.
This was not strictly true for at least two reasons: First, Howard as much as Chyna was horizontal. This came about because often Chyna liked to sit across him as she bounced up and down on his penis, or she sat astride his face and he ate pussy. In addition Chyna discovered she had a taste for the male member and enjoyed sucking Samson. Why "Samson" is a mystery, but that is what Chyna had named his phallus early in their relationship.
The second reason why they did not spend all their married life horizontally was their prosperity. They spent time at work.
When they had begun dating Howard had been working as a salesman for Brock Tiles, a company that sold floor and wall tiles. In due course he took out a franchise with the company and it thrived.
Chyna, who trained as a dental assistant added modestly to the family income, and one beneficiary of this was Rowan, who was given the best education money could buy, and many of this world's good things.
This had not spoilt Rowan, who was often described as, "very laid back." As he grew towards manhood he was a good specimen of humanity. Lean, bronzed with broad shoulders and narrow hips, and there was about him a kind of infectious enjoyment and gaiety - a natural simplicity that endeared him to women.
Those were the halcyon years. The passion that Howard and Chyna had experienced at the beginning did not abate. If the horizontal joke was an exaggeration, it was true that for Howard and Chyna to be in bed together was to make love, and since they spent every night together in bed the outcome was obvious.
It was not however only in bed that their love making took place, and on one unguarded occasion Rowan had come upon his father and mother in close contact on the lounge room divan. He had been thirteen at the time and was theoretically aware of things sexual even though he lacked practical experience.
Unlike many children who come upon or even imagine their parents in the sexual act, he did not feel disgust; he did not think it was dirty; he thought it was beautiful, especially as the lovers spoke words of adoration and devotion as they entwined together. In fact Rowan was happy that his parents were still emotionally involved with each other.
It was true, the happy couple's fidelity seemed secure, as anyone who tried to seduce Chyna or Howard soon discovered.
* * * * * * * *
Chyna proved to be one of those fortunate women, in that as the years passed, what I have described as her "striking" appearance, took on an aura of mature beauty. After eighteen years of marriage Howard had the look some middle-aged men are fortunate enough to acquire, mature, distinguished good looks.
As I have said, those years of their marriage had been the halcyon years, and from Chyna's point of view there was no reason why they should end, but end they did.
For Chyna it came like a bolt of lightening out of a clear blue sky. It was true, Howard's libido had in recent months diminished, but she had naively put this down to his age. Certainly it could be put down to his age, but not for the reason she had thought.
The bolt of lightening was Howard's announcement that he was leaving her. At first she thought it was a not very tasteful joke, but it soon became obvious that Howard was serious.
He had started an affair with a rather plump lady, three time married and three times divorced, with four children; two courtesy of her previous husbands, and two via extramarital affairs she had engaged in.
She had one advantage that possibly appealed to Howard, she had reaped considerable assets from her marriages, and as Howard had said, "She's a good business woman."
Setting aside her sexually passionate nature, it can be said that Chyna was not a woman to give way in an emotional crisis. In this respect she tended to be like laid back Rowan, and so she calmly asked Howard what was wrong in their marriage to cause him to abandon it.