The next morning, Amanda found herself with two dilemmas. The first was how to conquer her sexlessness. The second was what to do with herself all day. She thought her best bet might be to just stay home and loosen herself up all day, but Kerri flatly rejected the idea. "I've got some ideas, but they'll have to wait until later. Besides, you need to relax. You've been stressing yourself out about it too much, Mandy, and sex can't be had in a stressed environment. It's all about relaxing and chilling out. So however you change things, bearing down and concentrating won't help." These instructions left Amanda somewhat skeptical--what was she supposed to do, just drift into sex?--and a little bit nervous as well, since her powers of concentration were all she really had in terms of problem-solving. But of the two of them, Kerri would obviously know much better than Amanda herself would. Her best bet, it seemed, would be to just trust Kerri and see what happened.
Besides, Kerri had something much better to do with the day. She had the brochure ready by the time breakfast was over: "Horseback riding!" And then, at Amanda's skepticism: "Come on, it'll be fun. I'm sure you've done it before, and enjoyed it."
"Yeah, but, I was like fourteen," Amanda said.
"Exactly," said Kerri. "When are you going to get to do it again? The next time you're at a stable, it'll probably be your
daughter
who's fourteen."
"Oh, god, don't make me think about that," Amanda groaned. She and Patrick were not ready yet; it was as simple as that.
Besides, how the heck will we ever conceive?--unless things start going substantially different from how they've been.
But she wasn't supposed to be worrying herself about that right now.
"Besides, everyone likes horses," Kerri said, grinning. "Patrick, do you like horses?"
"Umm, sure, I... They're okay, I guess," said Patrick, clearly out of his depth.
"Winston, honey?" said Kerri with a secret grin.
"Sure, horses," said Winston, grinning back.
"So it's settled!" Kerri chirped.
Amanda said aside to her husband: "If this is some sort of plot, it's far too deep for little ol' me."
"It might not be anything of the sort," he said. "Maybe Kerri just likes horses. Besides,
you're
the one with the My Little Pony collection."
"Those are
collectable
," she replied haughtily. "They are not toys, they are an investment in our daughter's future."
So that was how they found themselves on a riding trail somewhere beneath a cloudless tropical sky. Amanda had brought sunscreen, and the Kollaths a picnic lunch, and between Winston's Eagle-Scout badge and Patrick's Marines training, they felt confident in their ability to handle any sort of crisis. And Amanda had to admit, it was nice to be out with horses. Hers was a gentle old nag named Spirit, and after Amanda had introduced herself and fed her an apple, they had been fast friends. Winston seemed to have his animal well in hand, and she was completely surprised at how well Patrick managed his horse, a proud gelding named Starblaze; it was
Kerri
who was having trouble. Her horse Blinkers seemed perfectly happy to ignore her; she was constantly having to rein him in and distract him from munching on vegetation at the side of the trail. As Kerri was easily distractable herself, Amanda thought it a match made in heaven.
Of course, handling the horses was an adventure in itself. None of them, for instance, were entirely sure how to use the hobbles, which left them the alternatives of either learning or eating lunch in the saddle. They learned, and though it took some vigilance and once horse (Blinkers, of course) nearly got away, they finally managed to get settled down for their picnic lunch. They had found a cozy little cove, a beach of pristine white sand ringed with undergrowth and a curtain of palm trees. Someone could come by via boat, or use the same equestrian trail, so their solitude was not guaranteed; but, for the moment, it was just the four of them (well, eight, counting the horses), and it felt like they might be the only people left in the world.
Maybe that had been part of the plan.
"Do you wanna go on," Kerri said, "or do you mind if we just stick around here a little. It's a really nice place. Get your nap on, work on your suntan... Just chill." Patrick and Amanda had no objections, so they spread out and relaxed.
Amanda, after making sure she had a liberal coat of sunscreen on, curled up in Patrick's arms and went to sleep, feeling sinfully comfortable--surely it must be against some law to be able to nap in your husband's arms, under this warm sun, here against the breath of the constant surf. But not too long after she found herself jostled awake, as Patrick excused himself, mumbling something about hunting down coconuts.
Amanda got an elbow under her to look around. Patrick was already shuffling off towards the trees that ringed the cove, sending up a backwash of sand with every step. All four horses were still there, waiting patiently. And Kerri and Winston... A shuffle of flesh, a flash of color; an arm here, a leg there, but it wasn't until she heard Kerri's moan that she flashed to an understanding of what she was seeing.
Then she scrambled to her feet and went after Patrick.
"What are they
doing
," she hissed.
"Well, if I had to guess," Patrick said, "they're embarking on the next step in our mutual and extended campaign of making you feel comfortable with sex."
"By doing it in front of me?!"
Patrick gave a weary shrug. "I'm sure it all makes sense in Kerri's head. It doesn't in mine, but then, nobody ever consults
me
on this sort of stuff."
Amanda looked back at her friends. Did they care that she and Patrick could see them? Probably not, or they would never have started. From this vantage point--looking down at them from an angle instead of flat on the ground--it was easier to see what was going on. The bits and pieces of color she had seen were the beach blanket and their cast-off clothing. After getting naked, it appeared that Kerri had simply rolled on her side, her rear facing Amanda and Patrick's towel, and slung a leg over Winston's hip so that...
"That looks kind of fun," Amanda murmured.
"I could've told you that," Patrick grumbled.
She shot him a look. "I thought you were going to try not to be bitter about it."
"Easier said than done," he said. "Especially when your friends start flaunting it in your face like this."
She stepped close to him and drew him to her. "I'm sorry."
"It's all right." His arms fell around her as if by rote. "I mean, it's not your fault."
"Do you want me to... Do what I did last night?"
He looked at her. "You'd do that?"
"Of course. Patrick, I'm not making these apologies just to be polite or something. Of
course
I want to be your lover. Believe it or not, I was looking forward to it too. And it frustrates me that I can't."
He was silent for a moment, thinking. "Well... I don't need you to do anything right now. But I'll keep it under advisement."
She kissed him. "I wouldn't want anything less."
Back on the beach, Kerri and Winston had changed position again. Winston was now lying on his back, while Kerri straddled her hips. She moved in time with him, his hips rising to meet hers as they moved down. Her hands ran up and down over her chest, his over her back.
"Have you ever done that before?" she asked.
He looked over. "Umm... Can't say I have."
"Would you like to?" she said.
"Well... Maybe not on the beach. Sand would get everywhere."
"It would?"
"Hon, sand's everywhere already," he said. "Now, imagine doing an activity that would cause it to get to
every
everywhere."
"Ooh," she said. "Okay, consider your point made."
After a moment, he said, "Doesn't it bother you that they're... Doing that? So brazenly?"
"I... I guess it should," she said. "But I know that... I know they're doing it because they want me to feel more comfortable with sex, and I do appreciate that. And besides, it... I mean, I've known for a long time that Kerri is a very... sexual woman, and that she gets up to... Everything. The idea of her doing something unusual... It's lost its power to surprise me. You know?"
"Hasn't lost its power to surprise
me
."
"I can ask her to stop," she said.
He actually seemed to consider it for a moment, which surprised her. But he said, "No, that... No.
Someone
should be enjoying their sex life on this honeymoon."
And that just made her feel guilty again. She turned away, her eyes downcast.
"Hey." His arms encircled her; she felt his breath against the back of her head, his chest against her shoulders. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way. Don't take it that way."
"Why not?" she retorted. "It's the truth. This honeymoon isn't going the way you wanted, from a sexual standpoint, and I know that. And it's my fault, and I know that too."
"Hon, it's
nobody's
fault," he said. "These are just the challenges that we're called to face together. And we'll face them. I didn't get married to you just to flake out if one thing went wrong. Remember what we promised? 'For better or worse; for richer or poorer; in sickness and in health.' This is just one of those sicknesses."
She snorted. "Some sickness." But his arms around her were a comfort to her, and his words as well--as he must have intended.
He knows me too well.
Down on the beach, Kerri and Winston had reached some sort of consensus. They had rolled over so that Kerri was on the bottom, receiving him; now, as she watched, Winston disengaged and moved up to straddle her chest. She took his penis into her mouth and began to move up and down on it rapidly, clearly intent on bringing him to his orgasm.
"Isn't that weird?" she said. "That was just in her... Down-there."
Patrick shrugged. "Well, some people really like the taste of cum. Maybe she's one of them."
"She's not going to get pregnant
that
way," Amanda said.
Winston let out a gasp. His whole body seemed to flex forward, his face turning upward as though seeking the face of God; for a moment, he and Kerri were frozen: he in the stiffness of his ecstasy, she as she received him. Then Winston gave a final groan and sagged back on his heels. Patrick watched with a level of detachment approaching amusement. "Do I look like that when
I
climax?"
"I don't know," she said. "Next time, I'll watch."
He kissed her ear. "You really are serious about this. About the fact that... you want to make it work."
She looked up over her shoulder at him, annoyed. "Do you think I would lie about that? You're not the only person who intends to see this marriage through to the bitter end."
He kissed her. "I'm glad."
By the time the kiss had ended, she had turned in his arms and was facing him, her arms around his neck. They had been this way so many times before, and she had always felt safe here. But now there was more to it. She wished she was ready to make love to him. Sex was one of the ways you showed your husband you loved him, she knew that much for certain, and she had so much love to show him...
"Hey, you guys!" It was Kerri's voice. "What are you doing? And, perhaps more importantly, what
aren't
you doing?"
They broke the kiss to look back down the beach. Winston and Kerri were coming up to them, hand in hand--still undressed, of course, but perhaps that was to be expected. Winston's penis flopped from side to side as he walked. Kerri, Amanda noted, was a natural blonde.
