The Resurgence of a Weary Man

This is part 4 and the conclusion to this story. Tom is a character that began as a stand -alone story and as it proceeded I wanted to bring it into the SF Bay Area environs and characters from the later chapters of "The Epiphanous Spouses". This is not a story of great wrongs and retribution. There is no bitch burning and from my perspective there is no judgement of right or wrong. These are people who might do what others would not or not do what others might rush into.

There were no real people harmed in the writing of this story and it is not a collection of my experiences in any way except in understanding the emotions involved. I am going to leave anonymous commenting open for now but will probably delete those comments that are not constructive and adding to any fruitful discussion.

Part 4

Mildreid was gone when I woke up at 6AM. It was another work day for me and by 7:30 I was out of the apartment and on my way to the office. I left a note on the table for Janet and Helen. Seeing Helen with Janet was a big surprise and I would have appreciated a heads up but I was sure the surprise was intended.

The earlier evening really was the first time I had ever seen Helen drink shots. Even when we were young, it was always wine or maybe a beer. Liquor was a rarity and only then as a cocktail of some sort. Worse still, if she had been sober there would have been no way either of the young men to her side would have ever touched a bare nipple not to mention running a set of fingers over her exposed pussy. There would have been at a minimum a set of reddened cheeks.

I suppose I saw it all as pretty darn funny in hindsight. Mildreid told me later that she had asked Hans and Dietrich, the barkeep, to make sure things did not get too far out of hand and that it was she that had started the shots at the insistence of the young fellows. Obviously they were looking for pussy. Mildreid was just looking to be entertained by two drunken middle aged American women who couldn't hold their liquor.

In any event, I left my two visitors to their own devices with local tourist maps and a spare key. I had a company to run. Mildreid was all business when she showed up with not so much as a hint of the prior evening festivities. These Germans were a different breed of people all together. Even Ingrid, as flirty as she is, approached her job with straight forward professionalism.

Later that afternoon I received a call from my friend David Stone. He and his team had arrived in Mannheim a couple days earlier and wanted to invite me and whatever guests I wished to bring with me to a weekend retreat outside the small town of Heddesbach. It's a rural getaway community not far from Mannheim-Heidelberg that Mildreid was familiar with from her youth. I readily agreed and let him know I'd have three guests with me. All the arrangements were made.

When I arrived home that evening, Helga had prepared a delightful meal and set the table for everybody. I asked her to join us which she graciously accepted. I should note that it is highly unusual in European customs to have any domestic hired help join at the table but I had squashed that customary view right at the start. At first she didn't know how to react to that but by the time I got a couple glasses of wine into her, she began to see the light.

"Janet, Helen, you are both looking a good bit more alert than last night."

"Why thank you, Tom. I can remember about a third of the night so if I missed something extraordinary, I'm sure you'll fill us in." Janet smiled as she spoke.

Helen just looked sheepishly around the table.

"I'm afraid I don't even remember how I got here." She said.

"And that my dear is probably a good thing." I replied.

Helga was just smiling and staying quiet. I found out later when Helga arrived, both women were still passed out, stretched naked across their respective beds. Later, they both walked out bedraggled and naked while standing in the living room looking at each other and burst out in crazy laughter.

I'm not sure how they spent their day but they apparently left around 10AM and had just arrived back before I came in from work. All of us picked up after dinner and when Helga had left, the three of us sat down in the living room

"So, Ladies, how did the two of you come to the decision to travel together?" I asked. It was a question mulling around in my mind all day.

Janet stepped right up to it.

"Well, Tom, I just didn't want to travel alone and since Helen didn't have anything planned, I asked her to travel with me here to see the sights of Europe!" She actually had a straight face when she said it.

"Besides, you have a really big place here and you know it's no trouble."

Helen just sat there, legs crossed, sipping a glass of Riesling with only a hint of a smile on her face.

I wasn't going to argue with her because truthfully I really didn't mind. It's just that when I got to the point of fucking Janet later, I didn't want to worry about my former wife listening to me do it. At that moment the door buzzer sounded and Janet bounced up announcing she would get it. OK.

"That's Mildreid. She and I are going out. I don't know when I'll be back so don't wait up." She laughed.

Mildreid just stood in the foyer smiling. She has been doing a lot of that lately.

"Before you go, you need to know that all of us are going away this weekend after work tomorrow, you too, Mildreid. We have been invited by David Stone and his team to a weekend retreat in Heddesbach, so don't get too smashed this time."

With that, they just giggled and out the door they went. That left Helen and I alone together. She got up and came over next to me and sat down.

"Tom, I hope you are not mad that I came over with Janet. She insisted really but I know I could have been firm and said no."

"Helen, I'm not mad, just surprised. How are the kids?"

We talked a while longer catching up on family matters and I then invited her for a walk through the neighborhood with me. The old city of Heidelberg is a Baroque lesson in historical architecture. Much of it had been bombed heavily in WWII including the Heidelberg Castle but the old city had been restored and rebuilt for the most part. The Castle was still pretty much a ruin but it had its charms, especially when lit up at night.

We window shopped with her on my arm for a while before we turned into a small Gastehaus café to enjoy a Weißbier, a Riesling for her.

"Helen, this is what I always wanted for us after the kids left, to be able to walk around Europe, enjoy ourselves and live life as we desired."

"I know, Tom, and I blew it bad, didn't I?" She actually laughed lightly at that.

"Yeah, you did but so did I. We don't need to dwell on that. You know I don't hold any animosity toward you. Hell, we've enjoyed some good times together."

I smiled more for myself than anything else. We had gained an amicable relationship over the past couple of months, even with my absence, and I felt good about it. When I looked at Helen, I saw my soulmate since my youth even though there was a large crack running right down through the middle of that image. I didn't see innocence anymore. I saw remorse and repentance yet I didn't know how to move forward. I had just fucked Mildreid the night before and it was certain I'd sink into Janet, if not tonight, then certainly over the weekend.

The problem was that none of that was who I really am. I've told Janet this and Helen already knew. I'm a monogamous man by inclination. Being single meant I didn't have the obligations of marital monogamy and then there was the 'arrangement' Janet and I had during our long separations.

Mildreid was the fruit of that deal and I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy her immensely. Hell, if I were living under different circumstances, I could fall in love with the woman. For that matter, I probably already was or at least I was completely smitten by her. Ingrid and the English tarts were just a sexual diversion, Ingrid not even being a choice really. I didn't remember fucking her at all although she provided the absolute best blowjob I have ever received, bar none. The diversions were not in the picture.

Whatever the image, Helen was still my first picture of beauty when I thought of a woman and would always remain so. Janet was hot, sexually exciting. Mildreid was sensual and enchanting, hypnotic with her charms. As for myself, I was a fit, successful businessman pushing toward 50 who didn't want to make choices and if I did, I wouldn't know how to choose in this regard. For now, I turned to Helen, my former wife.

"Helen, let's go home."

We walked back to the apartment, her arm in mine, right past the tavern. I asked her to wait a moment while I went in and made things right with Dietrich. I gave him a 100 Euros and noticed out the corner of my eye that Mildreid and Janet were holding court with an animated German couple and three men. I didn't get her attention but as I started to turn to the door, I saw her wink in my direction with that shit eating grin on her face again.

Helen did sleep with me that night although we didn't have sex. We just lay together whispering to each other in the night. Both of us were dog tired and it felt good to just lay there without any obligations. I don't know when we drifted off to sleep but I woke alone in my bed at 6AM as usual.

Late that afternoon, the four of us, Helen, Janet, Mildreid and I, drove to the retreat estate in Heddesbach where David and his wife Marylyn greeted us warmly. In addition to the Stones, we were introduced to Kiera Wilson and Millicent Ethredge who were two of David's on-site team for their acquisition. Three other team members would be arriving later.

Millicent was a tall statuesque absolutely beautiful golden haired woman and attached at her hip was almost the opposite, Kiera, a dark haired, tattooed young lady a few years younger yet with her own magnetic beauty. Where you saw one, you saw the other most of the time. Mildreid took an immediate liking to both of them and they disappeared down the halls of this huge dwelling.

I introduced Helen to David and his wife and along with Janet, the three ladies headed off in another direction leaving David and I to converse.

"Three women, Tom?" He chuckled.

"I only started with one." I replied and winked back at him.

"Yes, I know. I've been there and done that too."

Janet had told me once that David and Marylyn had a storied past that was not only salacious but inspirational for its drama. She didn't share a lot of details and I didn't really want to ask. I did know that Pam and David had briefly been lovers but that was the extent of it. Yet, they are all close friends with Pam considered a member of their family for all respects. I resigned myself to ask David about it over drinks some evening.

We gathered together for dinner in a great room and were treated to a feast in proportions. By the time all were finished, everybody was into the libations and feeling no pain. The rest of David's team had shown up along with a few people from his new German subsidiary.

"Tom, are you doing OK this evening?"

It was Marylyn, David's wife at my elbow. She and Helen had taken a liking to each other and were being halfway pursued by a couple of older German gentlemen seeking to monopolize much of their time. She had escaped to my side and left Helen to her own devices.

"Come on, let's step out to the patio. I need the air." She said.

That's what we did. I glanced over at Helen and both men had her off to the side of the room imbibing her with drink. I wasn't sure where Janet and Mildreid were off to but we were all adults.

"Tom, you've been divorced for a couple years or so?"

I nodded and noted it felt like it had been forever.

"Oh, that's probably a good sign then. You still love her, don't you? Oh, you don't have to answer me. I'm meddling but I can see it in your faces."

"Marylyn, well, of course I do still love her. We were together 25 years. You can't just shut that off." I smiled at the reaction on her face.

"Oh my, don't I ever know that! Tom, David and I have been where you are, probably worse. The divorce trigger just didn't get pulled successfully, not that I didn't lob that grenade. David just shoved the pin right back in it and tossed it in the trash! You might not believe it but from what I've heard just from the couple years or so that we've known each other, what Helen did doesn't even begin to compare with what I put David through."

She wiped a tear away from her eye and I hugged her shoulder.

"Marylyn, the story of our lives hasn't been written yet so until it is finished, I never rule anything out. Until a short few months ago, I thought everything was wrapped up in a neat little bow and short package named Janet Carr.

Now, I show up with three women on my arm. Life is a conundrum, yeah?"

We both laughed at the irony with her telling me to enjoy it while it lasts. I thought that was good advice.

If it was good advice, I needed to keep it in mind for both the goose and the gander. I wandered around the party and noticed both Janet and Helen being entertained by the same German men along with a couple more. There was a lot of familiar touching and flirting going on and the drinks were flowing. Janet caught my eye and graciously excused herself and approached me.

"Jealous, are we, Tom?"

"Does it show?"

She laughed gently.

"Well, just a bit but the question is 'are you jealous for me or for Helen'?"

"Can it be both?" I asked.

"Oh, that could be interesting, you know. I should ask nonetheless. Since I am feeling especially horny this evening, are you going to take me to bed tonight given we haven't been together for weeks now? If not, the itch is only going to grow and you know how I get when I'm like that."

"I do, Janet. Believe me I do. How are you going to disappoint the boys? Gently or with a flourish and what about Helen? Is she getting the same itch?"

"Oh Tom." She purred. "She only has an itch for you. She might let them touch but they'll never enter, well, as long as she doesn't get drunk under the table again. I'll be gentle with them but for now, you run along. I'll come to you a bit later and you never know I might have a surprise." She teased with a smile.

She rubbed my arm softly at that point and I knew then the evening was going to be interesting. Glancing at the flirting scene, Helen was absorbed in the conversational ministrations of her suitors and hardly paid mind to the fresh drink Janet slipped into her hand.

Mildreid was fully engaged with her new friends Millicent and Kiera. They were engrossed in conversations with two young fellows who looked like a couple of green behind the ears new college graduates. I learned later that was exactly what they were. They were new hires at Phoenix and came over as part of David's team. I don't know if they thought luck was with them or not but if it was, they were going to be two very lucky fellows indeed.

Mildreid glanced over at me before turning back to the conversation. I wandered around the house. We had full reign of the place and it was a grand old home with two separate guest houses and quarters above the old garage or carriage house. The owners or managers, a nice older couple, stayed in the Carriage House quarters and they were rarely seen.

Coming through one of the halls, I came across a billiards room with a fully stocked liquor cabinet. They had rum and coke in the small fridge. I racked up a set and as I broke, David made his presence known.

"Nice break! Do you play nine ball?"

"Of course, whenever I can." I replied.

That was the start of the rest of the evening for me. We started playing $20 games, well 20 Euros being where we were. I think we each made out fairly evenly but I found a new ground for our friendship. He was good, actually better than me. As soon as we finished our last rack, the ladies found us, some of the ladies. Marylyn came in with Janet and Helen. The three missing girls were still caught up with the boy-girl games back in the study although I did learn later that Millicent was very happily married with two cute little girls and a devoted husband at home so strike one for the two suitors.

By midnight, the gathering broke up and I excused myself to go to my suite upstairs. After stripping off my clothing and hopping in the shower to get comfortable, I returned to the bedroom and the lights had been replaced with the soft glow of candles on the side tables. Lying on my bed wearing absolutely nothing were two lovely middle aged ladies, each about the same size and obviously giggling drunk. One of them rubbed and patted the soft sheets between them and the other crooked her finger in my direction and between the two of them, they consumed the evidence of my burning passion until the wee hours of the morning.

Mid- morning, I woke from a deep slumber to discover Helen slowing fucking her mouth up and down my very aroused morning wood. We looked into each other's eyes without saying a word as she brought me to completion and swallowed every bit of my ejaculate. She then nestled into my shoulder and arms as I drifted off to sleep again.

When I woke again it was to an empty bed and the windows had been opened and curtains drawn back. I watched the naked form with her back to me, her bare ass framed in the sunlight as she brushed her hair in the sunlight. It was a view that had been displayed to me countless times over the years.

I started to say something but she put her finger to her lips and gently shook her head.

"Don't say anything. It just needed to happen."

When she turned back, Helen walked to the closet and slipped on a light blue dress, unusually short above the knee along with a pair of open toe pumps and smiling toward me, walked out the door and down the hall.

Later that morning, I joined David and Marylyn for brunch on one of the verandas. Janet, Helen and Mildreid had gone into the village with several of the other guests to a big soccer tournament leaving the three of us and a couple other stragglers.

"Hard night, Tom?" Marylyn asked coyly.

"For some of it, yes." I replied. David just chuckled.

"Well, there were certainly a couple happy faces here earlier." Marylyn teased.

"A Gentleman never breaks his confidences, my dear." David said to his wife.

We enjoyed the brunch and I graciously accepted the gentle ribbing from my hosts. Since the others would be gone for most of the day and perhaps into the evening, the three of us decided to hike into the countryside using the many trails in the area. By the time we returned it was dusk and the others had still not returned from their foray into the village.

After a light dinner, David and I retreated again to the Billiards room and resumed our play from the night before. During a break, I struck up a different conversation.

"So who has been working behind the scenes to get Helen and I back together? I'm guessing you have to be privy to something."

He looked at me for a moment over his preferred stout.

"I think it was all three of them, meaning Marylyn, Pam and Janet. From what I understand, Janet came to Pam for advice as she always does and Marylyn was there that afternoon. The three of them got to talking and, well, hell, you know how they get. They are all convinced that you still love your wife or ex-wife and think it in your best interests for them to see where it goes." He laughed at that last part.

"Now, my advice to Marylyn was to not get involved but I might as well have been dancing on the moon. She would have no part of it and reminded me of Pam's role in getting my own marriage on track. I couldn't argue with that but I told her to keep me out of it. That doesn't mean I haven't enjoyed watching the events unfold."