This is my first story. It doesn't have a lot of sex, it is more about the emotion and how people can get wrapped up in events and ignore the consequences.
Thanks to Kenji for editing and direction. Please forgive my swapping between US and British English, it's just who I am.
Be kind in the comments, these stories are just a bit of fun to improve my own writing skills.
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School was never a place I enjoyed. I was never on the sports teams, never part of the 'in crowd', and to be honest, not that bright. I never had any trouble, but I never did anything exciting. My burning ambition was to leave. I did have one big talent, I was good with my hands, and I had a sixth sense when it came to installing electrical equipment.
My name is Brandon Michaels, and my dad has worked as an electrician for most of his working life. He is not qualified, but makes a good living.
When I graduated school, I applied for an apprenticeship at a large electrical supply and installation company. They sent me to their internal college in the midwest to qualify as an electrical engineer, and paid my fees with a bursary to survive. College was a lot of fun, with some parties, some girls, quite a bit of drinking, but mostly--a lot of work. I excelled, not only in the installation and maintenance, but in design and estimating. I graduated in the top five of my class, and was offered a job at a new facility in the same state as the school. The job was in design and estimation, supporting sales and purchasing. It was a desk job, but the salary was way beyond of what I was expecting. When I was offered the job, I was told that this was an entry-level position in the management team, and I could expect promotion.
I arrived in the town five days before I was due to start. The company had organized a short-term lease on an apartment. I moved myself from college, and mum and dad brought my stuff from their house, plus some kitchen utensils and small appliances.
My new job started on the Monday. The new facility was overworked and undermanned, so I worked long hours. With only my boss and I in the department, we worked hard, and I gained experience very quickly. The boss was only a few years older than me, and he said his role was to train me to take over a similar department in a bigger facility in a different state. Our office quickly developed a reputation for high-quality work.
At the end of my second week, I was invited out to a club with some of the salespeople. We sat in a booth with two tables in it. At the other table, there were four girls. After a few drinks, the salespeople were asking the girls to dance. All four were asked, but only three accepted. The one that didn't was sitting next to me.
I looked at her, and said, "I can't dance, but would you like to try anyway?"
Her face lit up, and she replied, "I thought you would never ask."
We danced a few fast numbers, and when a slow one came on, we just stood there; neither one of us wanted to leave, but neither wanted to make the first move. I closed my eyes, took her hand and pulled her in. She quickly pulled herself into me, and we slowly danced. I discovered her name was Joanne, that she lived locally, and that she worked at a call center for a large IT company, giving support to users.
Joanne and I were very similar. Neither of us were ever going to be models, but we hadn't been hit with the ugly stick, either. She was about four inches shorter than me maybe five-six, with smallish boobs, but when she danced close, her nipples were like two hat pins. She was quiet, but had a wicked sense of humor. At the end of the night, I asked could we meet again for dinner. I was happy when she agreed to meet the following night. We swapped cell numbers to make arrangements, and I left feeling like I was going to enjoy my new location.
Joanne and my relationship progressed quickly, and we married three years later, both aged twenty-four. We both had good jobs, but decided to rent an apartment near the center of town. She was happy with that, and I was expecting a promotion to a new state any time soon.
The first and only argument we had, happened two years after we were married. I was offered a promotion to a senior-management position at a new facility in Arizona. It was a big opportunity for me, but Joanne refused to move. She was born in the town, and had no intention of moving anywhere else. Due to the age structure in my current location, I would never get the same opportunity. I thought long and hard, but decided we were both well paid, the cost of housing was very low in our town, meaning we actually had a very high standard of living, and I loved Joanne too much to upset her. So I declined the promotion, and life carried on.
We were two months short of our fifth wedding anniversary, and very happy in our lives. We had a great social life, had a very good deposit saved for a house, and like most people our age at twenty-nine, our sex life was active and enjoyable. A new subdivision had just started on the outskirts of town, and we had picked out a site that we would like to buy. With the deposit we had saved, we could buy the property and the mortgage would be less than our current rent. We took an option on the site, and were due to sign the contract in five months, when building started.
One Sunday night, we were at the in-laws for dinner. My mother-in-law was approaching her fifty-ninth birthday, and Joanne was starting to make gentle enquiries as to what she might like for her birthday.
My mother-in-law stopped eating, looked her daughter in the eye, and said, "I don't want anything for this birthday, I want a grandchild for my sixtieth."
The room was completely silent, except for the sound of my mother-in-law's knife and fork scraping on her plate, as she resumed eating. Joanne and I just looked at each other, stunned.
To be honest children had never entered our equation of life. Joanne had always been on birth control, and neither of us had expressed an interest in starting a family. The drive home was in total silence, until we entered our apartment complex.
As I parked the car, Joanne said, "What do you think of mum's birthday gift?"
We both got out of the car, and as we started walking up the stairs to our door, I said, "Well, it certainly could be fun wrapping it."
The night was strange, as we sat watching TV in silence, but Joanne practically raped me when we went to bed. She was bouncing on me cowgirl when she shouted, "Please get me pregnant!"
As we lay in the afterglow, I asked her if the idea of a family excited her, and she said it did. She said she had wanted to move our married life to the next stage for some time, but she didn't know what she wanted until her mum spoke. I had to admit the idea of becoming a father just felt right.
We decided we should go on a holiday for our fifth wedding anniversary. A search of a couple of travel sites found a nice, all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean. The resort was not a swingers' resort, and did not have a nude beach. It did allow topless sunbathing, and I knew Joanne would not sunbathe topless, but also that she didn't mind being around women who did. Our wedding anniversary was on the Thursday night. The resort had a couple of restaurants, both of which had excellent reviews, but you had to pay extra for one that had outstanding reviews on TripAdvisor. I booked that for the Thursday night, when I booked the rest of the trip.
There were three flight options. We could fly from our local airport to either Dallas, Colorado or Atlanta. From there, we could fly to the island. The Atlanta flight was the shortest, but meant leaving very late at night on the return trip. We went for the transit through Dallas, as it was daytime flights, and with time zones, we would leave midday on the Saturday and be home for 7:00pm that same day.
The plan was for Joanne to continue taking her birth-control pills until the Wednesday. We would enjoy the pool, beach, and other facilities in the resort. On the Thursday, we would go for a tour of the island, then go for our dinner and return to the room early to start 'making our baby'. We would then do the same on Friday, and be home in time, and wide enough awake, to keep going on the Saturday. We were both excited about the holiday, and for the family it was intended to start.
As the day of the holiday approached, Joanne was insatiable. I was not complaining. We both packed our bags. She put her birth-control pills in her wash bag and said, "I can't wait to flush these down the toilet." I told her to bring a spare set in her hand baggage in case her bag was lost. We didn't want to start early, and we could flush all her tablets in one go on the Thursday morning. What a ceremony that was going to be.
The flight was as good as could be expected and we arrived in the hotel, with all our luggage around 7:00pm. The travel time was eight hours, and we had a three-hour time difference, so we were both a little tired, but ready to start our holiday. As I checked in, the first hint of trouble arose. I heard a French voice call out of a crowd, "Over here to reception."
As I turned around, an immaculately turned-out man, in his early fifties stood behind me, but he was looking at my wife as if she was the dessert after a very expensive meal.
He picked up Joanne's hand, kissed it, and asked, "And what is your name, mademoiselle?"
Joanne blushed in a way that instantly said this man had just placed a spell on her, and stammered, "Joanne."
The immaculate stranger said, "Well, I am Felipe, and I hope we can spend plenty of time together while you are here."
I turned around fully, and said, "Thank you, Felipe, but my wife and I are hoping to have some quality time to ourselves."
Felipe, still holding my wife's hand to his lips, turned his head and said, "But sharing such beauty is what holidays are for."
As he said this, I felt an arm entwine mine and a woman's voice said, "I am Elizabeth, and I am Felipe's wife. Come and tell me about this fabulous resort."
I untangled Elizabeth's arm from mine, as the receptionist handed me our key. I took Joanne's hand out of Filipe's, and said, "Nice to meet you. Joanne, let's go find our room."
As we got into the elevator, Joanne had a faraway look. I asked her what was wrong, and she said, in a whisper, "Nothing, but I could look into those eyes and listen to that voice for hours."
As the doors opened, I said, "I hope not, you are mine and I intend to make full use of the facilities you offer." She smiled at me, and offered the opinion that she was seriously hoping so.