I Hate Goodbye

We took a cab back to Mari's office where she called Gerard. She didn't know if he'd still be in on Saturday but on the third ring, "Gerard...oh I didn't think you'd be answering your phone...you did huh? What'd he say? I see. Yes I told him. Nooo...he's real unhappy...the word castrate came up when we were talking," she smiled to me. "Since it's quarter end I'll be here on Monday...I can meet the folks in Bruges another day. No news yet...you're nosey Gerard...right just like you decided to keep Mitchell's trip a big dark secret...tell Katherine she's a sweetheart...see you later...okay...goodbye." She put the phone on the cradle, "Have I told you how nosey accountants are..."

I just shook my head and rolled my eyes, "I guess I'll find out won't I?"

"I think I've had enough excitement for one day. What if we went back to the hotel and called our families?"

"Are you sure baby?"

I nodded, "Yeah I think it's time don't you?"

She got up and came over and sat in my lap, putting her arms around my neck, kissing me softly, whispering, "I do..." she winked.

"You do? So is that a warm-up to the vows?"

"Nooo...that's the interlude between the kiss and matinee time..." her nostrils flared a bit and her eyes sparkled...

"I like this...a little afternoon delight..."

"Not a little...I need some deep tissue massage from your one-eyed monster..."

I grinned, "Oh you mean junior..."

"He's not so junior..."

"Well he does need the wrinkles stretched off of him..." We kissed and lingered knowing full well we needed to get out of the office before anyone happen to catch the midday show...

"Let's get out of here," I smiled

"Okay baby," she stood easily and turned toward her desk, collecting her few things and we left for the hotel. We got to her room and decided we'd better call her Mom and Dad first then we'd talk to my Mom -- only after we'd cleared these hurdles together Mari would have to talk with her sisters Arleta and Darla. We got comfortable on the sofa, I ordered a late lunch with sparkling water as we sat down and began the process. In between eating and talking to her family and my mom we spent roughly four hours cooped up in the hotel room -- we needed some fresh air. She lay back in my lap and held onto my arm, breathing out heavily, "God this is exhausting!"

I agreed, "Yeah, family things usually are...there's so much to explain and understand."

"Is your Mom gonna be okay with us Mitchell?"

"Sure, she's just worried...she doesn't want to see me get hurt..."

"She didn't seem surprised that I'm black..."

I sort of chuckled, "Well...my ex wife is black..."

She sat upright, "What?!"

I nodded, "Yep...we never got that far in our conversations since I was still wounded by what she did..."

"God Mitchell there ARE some things a girl would like to know..."

"I'm sorry Mari, it just never seemed the right time to say anything. I didn't mean to hold back on you. Will you forgive me?"

She glared at me, "Damn! Just damn!" She stood up and walked around the room with her hands on her hips...she finally turned around and stared at me, "That explains why you have no problem touching me and why you stare at dark women and...and...well...say something!"

"I have no problem touching you and loving you because I'm in love with you it's not because I was married to a black woman. I had to be willing to make love to a black woman before I married my ex...so that logical line has no validity." "Humph," she snorted, "always using that math brain aren't you..."

I stood up and walked toward her with a smile on my face...

"What is so damned funny?"

"You are...I told you that we needed to talk out our details that we had a month and now you're storming around here like I cheated on you..."

"But I wanted to be your fir...Oops! Oh shit! Oh Mitchell..." she came to me quickly wrapping her arms around me tightly. I held onto her as she cried a bit, "Mitchell I don't know what to say about my behavior...I just got surprised...I thought you hadn't been with a black woman...well we never talked about it...I wanted a special thing between us..."

I pulled back, "I think love is pretty damned special..."

Her face took on a look of shock, "Oh baby it is I...I...I...I didn't mean it that way. Now I'm being a stupid teenager..."

"Mari!"

She looked up, her tenseness crumbled as she tightened her lips into a smile, "Okay I guess I am a bit uptight and chattering like a nervous Nellie..."

I took her in my arms and kissed her slowly - she responded with a sweet lingering kiss that got more fiery with each second...we broke our kiss and I led her back to the sofa, "Okay," I sat us down and took her into my lap, "we need to talk about a few things. I don't like talking about my ex because she misled me about our marriage all along and that still pisses me off but not like it did. I felt foolish for not seeing it."

"So how was she able to do that?"

"Her charms and her intelligence got my attention. Masters' degree working on a doctorate...that academic thing is subtle with its arrogance..." I confided a weakness.

"So how'd you meet her?"

"Well she was an Army nurse I met at a hail and farewell. Both of us were majors and it just happened. One of my 'so-called friends' tried to warn me off but I wouldn't listen. I thought he was being a bigot...well he wasn't. He was stationed in Germany at the same time she was and he knew her sexual preference. I didn't listen..."

"Oh baby I'm so sorry..." she stroked my face.

"Well I came home a day early after a temporary duty assignment and thought I'd surprise her. It was a surprise for both of us -- especially me being a day early and all and I caught them in flagrante delicto as my attorney called it. She begged me not to drag her through JAG (judge advocate general) else she'd get a dishonorable discharge for being a practicing homosexual. I told her to fuck herself and get out of my house. The divorce happened quickly and I didn't drag it through the court as a lesbian relationship - I just said irreconcilable differences and let her walk away. She calls me every now and then and I have told her to never contact me. She broke a trust. She tried to tell me that the marriage vows only pertained to male-female sexual relationships not female-female -- that it wasn't the same thing -- sort of like Clinton saying he didn't have sex with Monica Lewinsky because she gave him a blow job..."

I was looking down at this point and could feel Mari's eyes on me, I looked up and she kissed me, "I won't hurt you baby. Please forgive me for my little fit of anger. I assumed something that I shouldn't have...we know what assume translates into; 'make an ass out of you and me.' Well I made an ass out of me..."

"No you didn't. I know what it means to be the first...I wish I could have let you have that privilege with me...I do. Truthfully, as little as Juanita and I had sex you are the first to love me like this..."

"Sweet man I hate that we didn't get close sooner..."

"Please don't regret the timing. Everything has a way of working out for the best. I love you and you're going to be my wife and THAT is what matters."

"Was she pretty?"

"C'mon Mari don't do this..."

"I have a right to know don't I?"

I relented, "You do." I thought about my words, "No. She was beautiful. Very dark. Picture perfect. Stunning woman. My grandfather once said that 'beauty is only skin deep -- skin and what have you got?' Her inside wasn't very pretty once I got to know her better -- she was nice to me but it was how she treated others...the thing I love about you is how well you treat others..."

She was watching me carefully, being very patient as we talked through this. Whatever she wanted to know we would talk about...we did for three hours...

"Now I know why you told me never to make us late...you know about CP time," she teased me.

"Yeah I do. Look...I know we'll have some bumps along the way. We need to talk about those bumps quickly and completely or else we won't make it over the hills Mari..."

She patted and rubbed my chest then laid her head against me, sliding her hand up to my face, stroking my ear with her thumb unconsciously as she whispered, "You know how I get fidgety and talk fast when I get scared or nervous, please just slow me down."

"And you may have to remind me that I promised to tell you everything..."

She nodded, "I will, too," with a mischievous grin. She was quiet for a while then, "Tell me about Vietnam."

She caught me off guard, "What do you want to know?"

"About you and how you got wounded, your medals, how you deal with the war and all. You know Arkel struggles with PTSD so I need to know what to expect..."

I relented and shared some with her -- this would be hard but necessary, "Mari I don't know if the nightmares will ever cease...they're less frequent now but I think about what happened in Nam usually every week..." I was quiet.

"I don't want to say or do the wrong thing to hurt you. Sometimes I can't talk with Arkel when he retreats into his shell...I...I...well I don't want to be talking to your shell baby. Will you trust me to tell me your story?"

I nodded, "Yes. There are some things I need to say first. None of us ever feel comforted by words like 'it'll be okay' because we have seen shit that young men and just out of puberty boys shouldn't have seen nor experienced. Don't surprise us from behind or jump out to 'scare us' you might get hurt before we know it -- unintentionally. Sometimes we just need to talk without needing a response or an attempt to 'make it better'. Sometimes I will have to be alone and it's not personal -- it's heartache that I'm trying to get rid of. Sometimes I'll talk to my guys on the telephone for a few hours just to make sure they're okay and I may even have to pack a bag and go see one or two of them on short notice because they're hurting too badly. I don't want to scare you Mari. I'm just being honest..."

"Oh Mitchell I know. I remember your first veteran's day at the company and those guys gathered in your office -- you didn't know anyone except Dr. Edwards and you guys were hugging and crying and we, well we didn't know what to make of it...I'm going to do everything you need me to do because I love you and want you to be glad you came home alive. Arkel has told us over and over again how he wished he'd died."

I nodded, "Yeah. I know what he means. The dead have it easier." I looked at her, tears forming on her eyelids so I smiled, "thank you baby...you cannot imagine how good you've made me feel."

"I'm glad because I want you to know that I'll weather this with you if it shows up but I also want to know your story..."

"I'll let you read my file, which includes the citations for any medals and you can ask whatever questions you want..."

"Baby, I know you were there two years. Were you afraid?"

"I was. No one in their right mind goes through war being unafraid. The trick to it is doing what you're supposed to do in spite of your fear -- so we use fear as a force multiplier, well...we leverage fear to create a rage in us to jump up in the enemy's face and kill him...then when it's over if you've survived you deal with the dead and wounded and then your quiet time alone is when you come down. Some guys drank themselves into oblivion to numb the pain. It doesn't work, you get sober and the pain is still there and now you have a hangover and less money -- so drinking is stupid...but my sweet Mari I will tell you anything -- if you don't want to know the answer don't ask the question..."

She nodded. "So did you kill a lot of people?"

"Yes." I had to be quiet for a bit, the faces of the men who died in my command were in front of me. "I lost men in my platoon and my company who followed my orders and died in the process. That hurts too. I wrote the letters home to their families -- some families wrote back and thanked me others called me a murderer and I took both to my heart..."

She snuggled up to me, "Oh baby no...how awful," she sniffled and started crying so I held her close. We held each other closely lying back for a while just taking the tension off...of course we fell asleep. We woke to the telephone ringing. Mari answered it, "Yes? This is she. I did. Is it available tomorrow? Wonderful! What time should we be there? What clothes should we bring? Got it. We'll see you then. Thank you so much!"

I was awake now, "So who was that and we are we going?"

"A surprise for us. We're taking a narrow boat cruise on the Thames tomorrow," she gushed.

"You're full of surprises aren't you?"

"What do you think about it?"

"Sweetheart I'd roll around in the mud as long as I was with you..."

"Well you might have plans..."

"I'd change them just to be with you..."

"Mitchell you sweet man I've missed so much with us not being together for the past ten years..."

I shook my head, "We've been coming to this point; to be husband and wife. Mari?"

"Yes baby?"

"What if we got married over here and had a formal ceremony at your church back home?"

She swallowed hard, "Are you serious?"

"Yes. I can't wait and I don't want you getting pregnant and us not being married. I couldn't stand the talk..."

"It's not such a big deal anymore Mitch..."

"It is with me because it's your reputation. I never want anyone to think badly of you for any reason," I breathed out deeply, looking into her beautiful eyes as she leaned against my chest.

She smiled that coy, private smile I'd seen so many times before when we shared a secret this time we were alone not like the days on the company softball outings or in the pizza places after bowling in a crowd...it was just us now...gratefully alone.

"Okay. So how do we do this?"

"How about we go to Scotland? I have a former Army chaplain buddy who is getting his PhD at the university in Glasgow and serves a little church up there, I could call him up. Takes about fifteen days or so to file the necessary paperwork...and by month's end we could be husband and wife."

Mari's mouth was open, "How long have you been working on this? Have you talked with your friend? When were you going to tell me?"

I started laughing, "Alrighty then..."

"I'm doing it again huh?" She rolled her eyes, "God Mitch, I do that all the time. I worry too much."

"A certain amount of worry is good...we just need to get you to land the airplane," I teased her.

"I poked around the internet and found out it takes a bit longer here in London than it does in Scotland...plus we can have a friend perform the ceremony...and have a romantic little honeymoon in a castle or stone cottage on a loch..."

"Where there might be some fishing?" she was quick.

"You like to fish..."

"I like to eat fish you like to fish..."

"Oh yeah, now I remember..."

"Okay with one proviso."

"What's the proviso?"

"Let's wait on the engagement ring and just have gold bands..."

"I can accept that. Tuesday let's find a jeweler while we're out looking for furniture for your new home."

"Our new home..."

"Well we need to talk with Gerard first."

"Damn. I forgot about that...drat!"

"Kiss me sweet Mari. I need some of your sweet loving," I stroked her cheek and she slid up my body and planted her luscious, juicy lips on mine and it was on...her tongue lit me up and I responded quickly polishing her teeth, tongue and gums with my pussy-licker...it felt like she was trying to eat my face we were both sexually ravenous for some strange reason...the day had its ups and downs and this was seriously up. I massaged and squeezed her beautiful round ass...I loved its soft, pliable feel, even through her clothes. I slid my right hand under her blouse and found her bra -- she fooled with this one no hooks!

She pulled back grinning, "Gotcha Mr. fast hands..." she leaned back and unbuttoned her blouse, pulling it off quickly...she was wearing one of those sensual silken one-piece jobs...my jaw fell open as her nipples hardened quickly and poked through the fabric...her titties were squeezing out the top of the bra making her cleavage another delicious slit to lick and kiss and massage with my tongue.

She began to slide her fingers under the fabric and I stopped her, "Let me..." I was grinning like a horse eating briars as I slowly peeled off the bra starting underneath her beautiful fleshy mounds slowly reveal her gorgeous caramel skin, her breathing was speeding up and she was moaning under my touch. Her left titty fell out and I put my lips underneath it and licked all the way to the nipple as a shiver ran through her...

"Oh God Mitchell..."

"Mmmm baby you taste like honey..." I kept kissing and licking releasing her other titty and turned my attention to its nipple while I squeezed and massaged her left one...I suddenly caught the aroma of pussy juice so I pulled back and looked at her reddening face and dew covered upper lips with beads of perspiration on her forehead, "Let's get these slacks off of you," as I slid my hands down her ass and found the zipper, quickly sliding it down as she straddled my legs to stand and step back. She kicked her shoes off and slid her slacks and panties down in one swift move and the aroma of dripping wet pussy enveloped me as I stood to take off my pants...

She knelt before me totally naked and unzipped my trousers as I undid my belt. She pulled my painfully hard dick through my boxers and immediately sucked me down to my belly...she gagged momentarily but proceeded to tongue me like there was whipped cream on junior. She grabbed hold of my ass cheeks as my trousers hit the floor and began pulling and pushing my hips so I picked up the rhythm...soon I was face fucking her beautiful lips...my balls started tightening as I tried to pull out she mumbled, "no..un...unh," my cum was rising quickly and I couldn't hold it back, "OH GOD...CUMMING!" my load shot into her sucking, slurping mouth as she kept licking and sucking me clean...I tried again to pull out and she began stroking the shaft and sucking the head of my dick...wiggling the tip of her tongue against the opening and sucking it...finally she sat down on her heels, "Oh baby you taste so good...I don't know which I like best...well...yeah I do," she offered her hands to me as I helped her to her feet, kissing her salty lips she then whispered, "take me to bed Papa I need your baby maker in my belly..." I didn't need any coaxing...I took her into my arms and carried her into the bedroom and tossed her on the bed, squealing as she landed, "Ohhh!" and started giggling, "this is starting good," she licked her lips and lay back patting her pussy, "c'mon right here in mama..."

I'd never seen her this uninhibited, "Baby you are ten kinds of horny..."

"Mitchell I want your baby in my belly, don't waste any time with me come on..."

I didn't waste time talking as she crab-crawled backwards on the bed stopping with her head on the pillows...she pulled one from her head and shoved it under her sweet ass offering me her pussy buffet. I didn't need a plate, knife or fork I went face down in her steamy pussy...the room filled with our raw, sexual odors...my dick hurt like it had been hit with a hammer and licked her pussy with complete abandon. Every crease, fold and wrinkle got attention from my tongue as she served herself up completely to me. I licked two fingers and her anus enough I could fit one finger in and one in her cunt while I licked and manipulated her clit...she was writhing on the bed, her pussy running and leaking her voice was strained and calling out, "Yeah...yeah...that's it...oh...ah...ooo...keep going..." She began pant and her legs tightened around me head...I knew what that meant and within seconds she cried out, "AWWWWW YEAH!! CUMMING! OWWWW YEAH...YESSSS...that's...ohhh..." she exhaled and completely relaxed, her legs fell open and one fell off my shoulder...