My Late Wife
My name is William Preston Carstens. I am fifty eight years old and for the last two years I have been a widower. My wife, Janet Anderson Carstens died leaving a mystery that I have been attempting to unravel.
The basics of my life are fairly simple. I was born, raised and educated in the Chicago suburbs. My parents were professional people who lived quiet and respectable lives and raised four children who followed in their footsteps. I was the youngest of the family. My sibs had all chosen careers in white collar professions and I was no exception ending up as a CPA and Tax Attorney.
While not necessarily an academic and career path noted for romance and excitement, I did manage to become involved in and then move on from three serious romantic relationships by the age of twenty six. By that point I was established as a soon to be senior associate in a prestigious Loop tax accounting firm. It was at my firm that I met the woman who was to become my wife, Janet Anderson.
Much of the work of our firm involved litigation in the County, State and Federal Courts. Litigation involves sworn depositions and sworn depositions require court reporter qualified stenographers to keep verbatim records of legal proceedings. Firms that only handle a few depositions per year employ contract stenographers on a free lance or agency basis. Firms like ours who are doing multiple depositions every day have contract stenographers on premises full time as if they were permanent staff. Janet was the latest edition to this group.
As the Associate charged with many of the more routine depositions, I ending up working with all of the support staff but I found myself drawn to the new employee from day one. Janet was of medium height and wore her brunette hair back in a modest bun like most of the female staff. Plain garb and sensible shoes were mandatory but nothing could conceal Janet's basic beauty and personality. In the first month that she worked for us I probably hadn't exchanged 25 words with her so when I got up my courage to ask her out I was surprised when she said.
"Of course Mr. Carstens. I thought you would ask me out for last weekend but this Saturday will also be fine. How about 7:OO o'clock and what shall I wear?"
"Its William or Bill after work hours and 7 is a little late because I have tickets for the Symphony at 7:30. As far as dress goes, the night crowd is usually garbed a level or two above business casual but on you just about anything will look fine. After the performance we can pick up a bite and perhaps a drink?"
When I picked her up at 6:30 I was met at the door by her father who in two minutes extracted my lineage back to the Mayflower and determined that he knew both my father and one sibling and was welcome to date his daughter. On the cab ride to the performance Janet said.
"You handled Daddy quite well. He can be overbearing but his heart is in the right place and now that he's got your lineage he'll leave you alone. Mom will be working on me to pick our Bridesmaid's colors but that's my problem."
"Wow you guys work fast. We haven't even had our first kiss yet."
"Well, I'm wearing smear proof lipstick."
Our first kiss was fresh, minty and with just a hint of tongue and invited several followup kisses.
"Nice first kiss Janet." "Even better second and third William."
We held hands for most of the symphony and had a delightful snack and drinks after at a quiet neighborhood bistro. Over the course of the evening we established that she had a night school degree from Northwestern in English and a Steno associate from a junior college. Living with Mom and Dad was only till she built up enough assets to afford the security deposit on an apartment.
When I took her home we made out on the Family Room couch and determined that there was definite interest in a Zoo date for Sunday afternoon. By week three we had determined that my efficiency apartment Murphy Bed was uncomfortable but still appropriate for the next stage of the Bill and Jan saga.
In the office, Miss Anderson was a prim, proper and professional stenographer. In private she was the sex goddess and the lover of my dreams and I knew, the future mother of my children. Neither of us were apparent innocents sexually and together we had a chemistry that was mind blowing. By month two we were in a two bedroom apartment together and by month six we were walking down the aisle.
Demure little Janet was the most incredibly and sexy human I had ever met or hoped to meet. I had never thought of myself as a highly sexed individual or as some sort of great lover. However with Jan I became the Incredible Hulk of the bedroom. Maybe she was feeding me some secret potion or something but the intensity and frequency of my orgasms shot through the ceiling and stayed there.
Throughout our courtship and the first years of our marriage we kept a chart of the frequency of our intercourse. Out of a twenty eight day cycle we had sex on the average of twice a day for at least twenty one of those days. That works out to over five hundred encounters a year. Not bad for a tax accountant and a stenographer who looks like a librarian in the office.
Eventually our frequency slowed down a bit with the addition of three children to our family unit. Childhood changed her participation in the workforce but never totally ended her part time occupation as a stenographer. Even through pregnancies and early child rearing she took occasional assignments as a free lance stenographer for remote depositions. Upon reflection I don't think there ever was a year in which she didn't have at least five thousand of so in contributions to the family income and her retirement program. Once the kids were all day school she returned to almost a full time schedule.
Her income came in very handy as the kids got older and college loomed over the family. I was making really good money and so was Janet and it was a good thing because our three kids were very bright and even with scholarships and kids part time jobs we could be faced with massive tuition bills. However, with all of us busting our asses we made it through just fine.
