My thanks to Randi for the invitation and to Literotica for being here for us. And thanks to Randi for her editing. NOTE: Although a certain amount of research has been undertaken, I make no guarantee as to the accuracy of any technical or legal points in this story. Which is fictional, of course! I hope you will enjoy this and every other Magical Mystery Tour story.
It sometimes seemed to Greg Baker that much of his life was a mystery, or that his life had often been touched by mysterious coincidences or mysterious events.
He hadn't expected to do well at school, but, mysteriously, he had. He hadn't expected to continue with his educational success at the local college, but, again, rather mysteriously, everything had fallen into place and he had received his PhD during his 25th year.
He wasn't the youngest ever PhD graduate, he seemed to recall some poor child prodigy had beaten him by 12 years or so, but he was more than happy with his PhD at age 25.
He was also mystified, yet very happy, that he had met (or rather, re-met, it's a little complicated) and married the blonde and utterly gorgeous Tawny Mason when he went to work for the largest employer in their rather modest city, Augmented Future Sciences, which was a major player in the world of computer software.
Actually, they had sort of known each other since junior high and throughout high school. Although they'd been friendly when they saw each other, they'd never actually been close or best friends.
During that time Tawny had dated fellow student, Scott O'Shea. In fact, they were still dating when they entered the first year at the local college. It was rumoured that he had popped the question, and that she had accepted and then, suddenly and mysteriously, Scott O'Shea had joined the Marines and left town, never to return.
Tawny was heartbroken, and for a while her grades slipped, but with the help of her friends and some of her tutors, she pulled through. The topic of Scott O'Shea was still not open for discussion. It was almost as if he had never existed.
Tawny did not date anyone, at least not seriously, during the rest of her time at college, and whilst she wasn't a party animal, she knew how to have a (reasonably) good time.
When she entered the world of work and commenced her employment at Augmented Future Sciences, this was when she met (or sort of re-met, it's still somewhat complicated) and fell in love with Greg Baker. It was a mutual attraction, if the truth was told.
"Greg and Tawny, Tawny and Greg. Mrs. Tawny Baker, Mrs. Greg Baker," she mused to herself on their way to their honeymoon in the San Francisco Bay area. She loved her marriage to her handsome smart young husband, whom she also loved. As many people will acknowledge, loving marriage as a concept and loving one's spouse are two entirely different matters.
She did love her husband and their marriage, until she didn't, but that was to be 10 years down the line.
They'd decided not to have children straight away, although to be honest, that had been mostly down to Tawny who had said: "Greg, I want to have children with you, but not just yet. Let's enjoy ourselves and explore ourselves as husband and wife and also establish ourselves in our careers first, okay?"
"After all," she added, "It's not like it is as bad as it was in the olden days; birth is now no longer as risky as it was in even our parents' generation, and the average age of new moms is rising year-on-year, so we've really got no hurry, have we?"
Although he was a little disappointed, Greg acquiesced to her suggestion. After all, he ruminated, "It was her body and there would always be enough time later."
Really? Not really, but there was no way for Greg to have known at that point.
Career-wise things were progressing well for Greg. Good things were still coming his way in that mysterious way things kept happening for him. He was in the right place at the right time and was unexpectedly, as least unexpectedly to Greg, perhaps he had self-confidence issues, thrust into the role of the project director of a team that was developing some truly high end and revolutionary award-winning SAAS packages.
As for Tawny, her career within Augmented Future Sciences was also progressing well; she was the Personal Assistant to Hal Smith, who was the director of another development team. Lest any wrong ideas spring to mind, Tawny had also been a maid of honour to Hal and his boyfriend, Jeremy, when they tied the knot.
Whilst Greg had a youthful female Personal Assistant, she, Donna, was living with her older female lover, so Greg was not tempted, either. Not that he would be, as Greg was a good guy, a real straight arrow, too. Was he also a bit naïve and gullible? Perhaps so.
It was during the latter part of the tenth year of their marriage that, had Greg been able to spot them, there were signs that not all was well with his marriage to Tawny. As had been pointed out previously, Greg was somewhat naïve and perhaps a little gullible. Besides which, Tawny was being smart, and she wasn't cheating on Greg. Well, not as such. Not exactly, that is to say.
They lived in a large house on well-to-do Castle Oak Road, amidst several dozen similar homes. They had only been built for a few years and were homes for the up-and-coming executives who were ready to make their mark on corporate America.
All at once, Tawny began being very solicitous of Greg. Although their sex life had entered a seasonal doldrums, she was always getting Greg snacks and drinks and so forth. "Greg, honey, is there anything I can get you? Greg, honey, are you feeling okay? Greg, honey, I made you your favourite dinner, Greg, honey, I cleaned your dress shoes, Greg honey I..." well, the picture is clear, even though to Greg's chagrin, there was still little or no sex.
Greg was both pleased and somewhat bemused by her attentiveness as it reminded him of an old 1950s advert when a doting wife was depicted as having her smug looking husband's pipe and slippers ready for him when he returned from work each evening.
There seemed to be about Tawny, something on which he couldn't quite put his finger. It was as if she was bursting to tell him something, but couldn't quite broach the subject. The over-solicitousness lasted for approximately a month until one day they were both sat in the lounge drinking tea when their doorbell rang. Greg glanced at the clock, frowning in puzzlement. "It's almost ten o'clock," he said. "Were you expecting anyone, Tawny?"
"No," replied Tawny, depicting an attitude of nonchalant, studied calm. "I can't imagine who it might be. Are you going to answer it?"
Greg went into the hallway of their house to answer the door.
As he opened the door he had half expected some religious types pushing their religion, but was met with three large heavily armed figures in black military assault clothing, wearing face masks.
As they crashed through the door, he was punched in the guts and propelled into the lounge. Tawny gave a theatrical gasp as Greg was thrown to the floor.
The leader of the trio grabbed Tawny, and made to pull her toward the door, but Greg suddenly leapt from the ground with a roar, lunging at the armed man. For his trouble, Greg had the side of his head struck with the barrel of the automatic pistol that the man was holding. Before Greg could react to the sudden pain he crumpled to the ground as the butt of the pistol was smashed downward in a vicious strike to his head.
As he lay on the floor he felt a kick to his side and he began to slide toward unconsciousness, his last conscious thought being: "I've failed my Tawny." He was aware of a jumble of sounds and feelings, but he was unable to process them as he faded out.
