As Lindsey had suggested there would be, there was a welcoming committee waiting for us at the Wherry. The riverside lights were on and a couple of the lads were waiting on the riverbank, ready to take the launch in hand and moor her securely for us. And, of course, to be the first at the Wherry to congratulate us on our engagement.
There was a party atmosphere for the rest of the evening with lots of hugs and kisses and congratulations for Lindsey and me from all of our regulars and their women. Although as soon as Lindsey got the chance she slipped into the kitchen to call her mother on the extension and give her the news.
When I eventually found time to call my mother, you'd have thought she'd been told that I'd won the pools or something. She went blabbering on listing everyone that she was going to have to call to give the news to, until my father came on the phone and told me that it was about time, that Lindsey was something special.
After that the telephone would ring again almost the second that it was put down, with either Lindsey's or my relatives and friends calling to congratulate us and to ask if we'd set a date for the wedding. Neither Lindsey nor I had had a chance to contemplate the date at the time.
"You might want to think about late January or early Feb, luvver," Millie suggested after she'd heard me tell the umpteenth caller that we hadn't fixed a date yet. "I think Beverley's got some plans to rehash the private accommodation upstairs once you two stopped dancing around each other." She went on, "Be kind-a handy if it was done when you're away on honeymoon, wouldn't it? You know the pub's going to be quiet then as well."
I looked at Lindsey who smiled back at me and without much more discussion, the date was selected as the third Saturday in January.
The venue for the wedding was the next problem that had to be solved. After the pub closed that evening, Lindsey and I sat in the bar and talked on the subject long and hard; but we always returned to the obvious choice, what was now our local village church.
Lindsey's folks lived around the Bristol and Bath area. Most of my folks lived in and around London. If we got married in either of those places, the other's families would have to travel and most likely most of our close friends in the village wouldn't be able to attend because we had two pubs to look after there.
We were also pretty sure that because it was out of the season, we could turn up plenty of cheap accommodation for everyone around the village as well.
Having solved that problem to our mutual satisfaction - and after a kiss and cuddle - Lindsey went up to her room, whilst I went around to check the doors were all locked and then turned out the lights.
As I entered my room I heard Lindsey in the shower. I took my shower in the other bathroom. Bev's plans, I knew, were to make the owner's suite more private and install en suite facilities in all of the other bedrooms. The Wherry was a very old building and that was going to call for some major works. Beverley had broached the subject with me a couple of times and Millie was most likely correct - Bev probably was planning to have as much of the work as possible undertaken when Lindsey and I were on honeymoon.
I heard Lindsey leave the other bathroom whilst I was still in the shower. "Night, Lindsey," I called as I passed her room, but I was a little disappointed to find that she didn't reply. I almost opened her door and repeated myself, but thought better of it.
But then when I entered my own room, I discovered why Lindsey hadn't replied; she was lying there on my bed.
I'm not sure how long I stood there staring at her, without saying a word.
"Well, are you coming to bed, or are you going to stand there with your mouth open all might?" she finally asked.
"Lindsey, I thought that you didn't want to... you know, until we are married."
"And I still would like to be a virgin when I make my vows to you, Mack. But that doesn't mean that I don't want to sleep in the same bed as you. If you want to take me now, you can have me willingly. But Millie and Billie have been teaching me all kinds of things that we can do together without actually doing it."
"Teaching?" I asked smiling and probably in a questioning tone to my voice.
Remember, I was well aware of what Millie and the twins had got up to over the years. Apparently, so was Lindsey by then.
"Whoops, no sorry, I take that back." Lindsey smiled sheepishly. "Millie and Billie have explained all sorts of things about sex to me in the last few months. Mack, Millie is the only person I know who's bi-sexual... except maybe for the twins. Oh, bugger... you know what I mean. Don't look at me like that, Mack, please."
I have no idea what expression I had on my face by then. But it was obviously embarrassing Lindsey. I laughed, and went over to the bed to lie down beside her and kiss her.
"Sorry, kiddo, but you talked yourself into that."
She didn't answer; she just pulled me close and hugged me tightly.
I lay there hugging Lindsey, somewhat annoyed with myself. I'd let the conversation go in a direction that had embarrassed her and that prevented me from asking the one question that had been uppermost in my mind for months. The opportunity missed, I'd have to wait until the right situation cropped up again.
Lindsey's and my sex life developed by leaps and bounds over the following few weeks. We did just about everything except the actual deed itself, but, hell, I wasn't complaining. I'm going to admit to you that a couple of times we did come very close, but one or the other of us would shy off at the last minute. Lindsey wanted to be a virgin when she said, "I do!" and I was more than happy to oblige her by then.
I did have to demonstrate to her how to use her new razor though. Although thinking about it, I do believe she enjoyed having me carry out the operation for her, because she has insisted that I always do it for -- or to -- her ever since. Thinking logically, Lindsey must have been shaving under her arms and her legs, etc. for years. Possibly she enjoyed what I did right after the operation was over, much as Millie and the twins had done.
Lindsey happily demonstrated to me that Millie - and Billie, the terrible two were much like a single entity by then - had instructed her very well in the art of fellatio and she developed her skills very quickly once she started to practice them. Well, they say that practice makes perfect, don't they? Lindsey got in a lot of practice over the next few weeks and I noticed the very rapid improvement in her technique. She also very vocally praised me for some of the skills I'd developed in the preceding couple of years. But no mention was ever made of with whom I'd developed those skills.
