Author's note: Hi all. This quite an opus. Not sure how pages it runs to, but I decided against writing and publishing it as separate chapters as I felt that it could disrupt the flo of the narration.
The woman that this story is about is a real person, although most aspects of her personality and the story itself is complete and total fiction.
If you read carefully, you will notice that as Estelle changes her personality, so does her use of language. This was intentional...
I hope you enjoy the story and all comment are welcome.
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I called Edward at his hotel, to let him know that I had arrived and settled into my room. He told me that he was on his way and would arrive in a few minutes. I told him my room number and then switched off my phone.
This was procedure we had followed for the past four years. I would meet Edward in which ever town he was performing in. I would check into a separate hotel and he would join me as soon as I had called him.
What I didn't know was that this weekend would change my life in a way I never thought it would. It would also change the course of my relationship to Edward as well.
Maybe I should give you a little backstory before I continue with this tale.
PROLOGUE:
My name is Estelle and I met Edward in the Fall of 1998. I was 45 years old at the time and he was ten years my junior.
Just to describe myself a little: I am around 5 foot 7 inches tall and have auburn hair which I keep at neck length. I like to keep myself fit by taking long hill walks near where I live and this ensures that my stomach is still flat, my boobs don't sag too much, my bum is still relatively firm and my legs are almost cellulite free.
We met on a ferry coming back from Holland. At that time I worked as an assistant carer at a school for the mentally and physically impaired and we had taken some of the lesser impaired studens to Europe on a short weekend vacation. We teachers/carer had drawn straws and I was one of the lucky ones who didn't have to remain on duty watch. So I was free to move about on the ship as I wanted.
I was sitting in the lounge, drinking a glass of red wine. There was a band playing and I was watching a handsome young man playing the keyboards. He was dressed in a pair of tight white trousers, a black t-shirt, over which he wore a black blazer. He hadn't noticed me as I was sitting a few rows back from the dance floor and the stage. But I had my eyes on him for most of the night.
I was also married at the time, to a much older man and things between us had become quite stale. Not just in the bedroom, but in our marriage as a whole. We had three lovely children between us and I couldn't be anymore proud of them if I had tried. But after they all left home, for university and new jobs, I began to realise that I had lost my identity as a woman. I had spent so much time being a mother and wife that I didn't know who I was, or what I was capable of.
Sex between my husband and I was practically non existent and the odd times that we did make love, his idea of foreplay was to lay on top of me and rub his half erect excuse for a penis up and down my vaginal slit and then he would have to force his way inside me. A couple of minutes of rough pumping and he would grunt and come, roll over and fall asleep. I would then have to take myself off into the bathroom, clean his mess out of me and finish myself off with my vibrator.
How I longed to be held tenderly, kissed and made love too.
The band finished playing and a DJ began playing dance music from a booth at the side of the stage. After the curtains closed, the band came into the lounge via a door at the side of the stage. There were five of them and they took a table just a couple of seats away from where I was sitting. I heard them order drinks and then they began talking. Mostly about girls thy had met in the past and shows they had performed and the people that had come to see them. I heard them making fun of Edward because apparently he had a girlfriend and didn't like to hang around after the shows to meet girls. When I heard that, I decided that any ideas or dreams I had about seducing the young keyboard player were in vain. If he had someone, he certainly wouldn't be interested in me.
I looked across at the band and saw that Edward was looking straight at me. His eyes were sapphire blue and his hair, although cropped short, was blond. He smiled at me and almost nodded his head. I smiled in return, out of politeness and then turned my attention to the last of my glass of wine.
The music was becoming too loud for my taste and I had made up my mind that Edward was off limits, therefore I decided to go to bed. As I was leaving the lounge, I suddenly felt a desperate need for the toilet and knew that I wouldn't make it to my cabin in time.
There was a "ladies" right near the entrance to the lounge, so I made use of it.
As I was coming out, I saw Edward standing by the window, looking right at me.
"It's a bit early to be going to bed," he said.
I was surprised to see him there and not sure of what to say.
"Well," I said. "The music is not really to my taste and I thought it was best to go to bed."
He moved away from the window and walked closer to me.
"It's not my cup of tea either," he said. "Give me a good rock song anytime."
He held out his hand and introduced himself.
"Hi, I'm Edward. All friends call me either Ed or Eddie. Personally I prefer Edward."
I shook his hand and replied, "Hi Edward, my name is Estelle. People shorten it to Stella, but I prefer Estelle."
He smiled again and said, "That's a beautiful name, for a beautiful woman."
Wow, I thought. Compliments this early? He was definitely brought up properly.
I thanked him for the compliment. He told me that the boys in the band made fun of him because he always went to bed after a show.
"I make them believe that I have a girlfriend, which I don't. I just want to be alone after all the noise of a gig. Do my own thing. Does that sound odd or wrong to you?"
I told him that he should do what he felt was right and not be swayed by the crowd.
We both suddenly realised that we were conducting our conversation outside a toilet and Edward suggested that we took a night cap in the piano bar.
He offered his arm to me and I laid my hand upon it and he led the way to the piano bar.
The bar was more of a cocktail bar than anything else was much quieter than the lounge. The pianist was playing subtle melodies to a small crowd sat around the piano. Occasionally they would applaud him after a tune, but mostly they were into themselves and chatting to one another.