THE BEGINNING - 23 YEARS AGO
The weather befitted the occasion, the sky a mass of heavy dark clouds with just a hint of rain in the gusty wind. Close by, but hidden from general view beneath a tree with low-hanging branches, an emotionless Theodore Bourne stood, showing scant interest as the coffins were lowered into the open grave. In their wills, Russell and Annette Simonds had requested that when they died, they be buried together. Theo guessed they hadn't thought they would both die at the same time.
No matter. He looked across the grave to Annette's parents, Philip and Amelia Hamilton. Between them stood their three-year-old granddaughter Jessica. The spitting image of her mother, her hair was already dark brown, and her pale blue eyes would only deepen in their sparkling intensity as she grew older. There was no doubt in his mind that she was going to grow up into a beautiful woman, just like her mother.
*
*
*
THE BEGINNING - 6 YEARS AGO
**** Channel 10 News - Update ****
"An update now on the fire in Maxwell County Forest, in an area close to the township of Bromsgrove. As we told you earlier, local Firefighters are on the ground battling to bring it under control, with more expected to be drafted in before tonight, as increasingly strong winds are making containment difficult.
So far, two people are known to have died with several more missing. And in breaking news, the Authorities have just released the names of the two fatalities. They are sixty five year old, retired engineer Philip Hamilton and his sixty three year old wife Amelia Hamilton.
We'll keep you updated when we hear more on this tragic, unfolding story.
"In other news, the State Legislature are due to vote today on Amendment 49. We'll bring you more on that story right after this commercial break ... ... ..."
*
*
*
PRESENT DAY
It was the persistent ringing of the door bell that finally roused a drowsy Jessica Bartlett up from her comfortable sun lounger. She'd tried to ignore it but it just wouldn't stop. Saturday was her alone day, her do as she pleased day, free from work and household worries. Her husband Rick was gone all day playing golf, so she was taking full advantage of the early summer heatwave.
So slightly irritated by this unseemly disturbance on what was her most sacrosanct of days, she gave no thought to the fact she was wearing only a skimpy bikini as she padded through the house to see who was calling.
Outside the front door Milo Sweeney wiped his face with his handkerchief. He was a big man, who dressed inappropriately for the weather that day was sweating profusely as he stood waiting for the door to be opened. He knew the female occupant was at home because he'd been observing her movements both in and out of the house for the last couple of weeks.
As his hand reached out to ring the bell again, so the front door opened. He looked at the woman stood before him, his breath instantly catching in his throat as he took in the vision of loveliness that stood before him. She was fucking gorgeous! And what a body!
"Yes," she said tersely, adopting a stance with hand on hip that was meant to display just how irritated she was to have been disturbed; but to Milo just showcased how incredibly sexy she was.
"I ... erm ... I'm a ... I ... erm-mm ..."
Milo paused, closing his eyes as he willed himself to find some words, anything that would make him appear less than the gibbering idiot that he was now showing himself to be.
He swallowed hard and then opened his eyes.
"Keep looking at her eyes. Keep looking at her eyes"
, he muttered to himself. But it was no use. His eyes - goddamn them to hell - were inexplicably drawn like a moth to a flame towards her large breasts. They jutted before him, tantalizingly just out of reach, barely covered and definitely not supported by the minuscule bit of cloth that constituted her bikini top.
Jessica smiled inwardly. Men - they were all the same. Show them a bit of tit and they all became mindless assholes. She shifted her stance, causing her breasts to wobble like jelly. She saw the panic stricken look on the man's face and shook her head in faux disgust.
"Who are you and what do you want?" she snapped irritably, finally deciding that she'd wasted enough time toying with her unwanted visitor.
Milo slowly tore his eyes away from her bountiful chest and looked up and into her eyes. His mouth gaped open as he stared into the biggest, brightest, bluest eyes he'd ever seen. They were mesmerizing. It was all he could do to not keep staring.
"Jessica Bartlett?" he croaked. He coughed to clear his throat. "Nee Simonds?" he added.
"Yes," Jessica replied, a slightly confused look appearing on her beautiful countenance. "But why ..." Her voice trailed off as she saw the man's arm stretch out towards her.
"Ohhh no," she gasped, her mouth now dropping open in horror. Her stomach muscles clenched as she saw the large brown manilla envelope in his hand.
"Oh my god," she murmured, her voice barely a whisper as she steeled herself against the words she knew were coming. God knows things had been tense recently between her and her husband Rick. They'd barely been talking for weeks. But this? Surely not? She hadn't thought for one moment that things were THAT bad that he wanted a divorce.
"I'm sorry, I can't do this, I need to sit down," Jessica gasped. She turned, giving Milo a wonderful view of her bare ass, the minuscule bit of fabric that was her bikini bottoms disappearing into the deep crevice between her large, shapely ass cheeks.
Licking his lips, Milo followed her inside as she slumped down onto the bottom step of the staircase.
"Are you all right? Can I get you a drink of water?" he asked, suddenly most concerned for the woman's well-being. He looked down at her, drawn again to the sight of her large breasts from this new viewpoint. They truly were spectacular. How he'd love to fondle them.
"No, no, I'm fine," she replied. "I'm just a bit shaken that's all. I didn't see this coming."
"Yeah, I can imagine," Milo replied, although truthfully he was somewhat mystified by her statement.
"Well, you might as well get it over with. No doubt you need to take a picture of me to prove I've received the documents?" Jessica said, finding a scrap of inner strength to cope with her ordeal.
"Yeah, yeah, that's right. A photo. Yeah, right." Milo handed her the envelope and pulled out his cell.
He took a picture. Then a couple more from slightly different positions. He would have liked to take more but sensed that Jessica was beginning to become suspicious as to why he needed so many pictures.
"Right, that's it then," he said, as he turned to leave.
"Wait a minute, aren't you supposed to tell me I've been served when you hand me the envelope?"
"What! Why would I ... Oh right, yeah, ha-ha," Milo laughed, finally realizing what she was saying, "I would if I WAS serving you. But I'm not. I'm only handing over some documents for you to look at. Anyway, got to go. Have a nice day," he added cheerfully as he closed the door behind him.
It took Jessica a couple of minutes to gather her thoughts. She finally mustered up the strength to haul herself off the stairs and staggered her way into the living room to the drinks cabinet. She made herself a stiff cocktail, mixing a shot of vodka with another shot of vodka in lieu of a mixer, which she drank very quickly.
So Rick wasn't divorcing her, which was a relief. It still didn't help solve their problems, although it was a tremendous weight off her mind. If they were going to go down that path, she didn't want him to take the lead. SHE wanted to be the one serving the papers on HIM!
Not that she actually wanted a divorce. Despite the fact they were both now twenty six years of age, they'd only been married for a couple of years, and she was certain that most marriages had problems in the early days.
Like many couples do, they'd met at college, Rick having transferred in from another state for the final year of his football scholarship. They dated semi-exclusively for that year, only taking their relationship to the next level after graduation. But even then, they didn't live together until after the marriage and honeymoon, which made Jessica wonder if it was that, which had caused their issues.
She'd always known Rick was a driven individual, keen to carve out a niche for himself in his work. But she hadn't realized that for him this meant long hours in and out of the office, putting together proposals, seeing clients, traveling long distances in his pursuit of clinching the big contracts that he said would get him noticed by the powers that be.
And when he was home, he was constantly out networking, which to her just seemed to mean he was either on the golf course or in a bar or club somewhere.
And it wasn't as if she had a career that she felt was worthwhile. From being a popular student and cheer-leader at college, and even doing a little bit of modeling in her spare time, her star had faded somewhat and she now found herself working behind the beauty counter at a large department store.
So she had begun to feel ignored and neglected, seemingly a periphery character in Rick's life, his interest in her only becoming apparent when he brought her out as arm candy; for those special occasions when he needed to impress clients or his bosses.
Not that she couldn't fulfil that role. Rick seemed ambivalent to the looks and stares his wife garnered when she was dressed to impress. At 5'6" in height, she actually looked taller, but that was probably due to the fact she had long slender legs and her dresses only ever came to mid thigh in length and sometimes even a bit higher than that.
Visually she was exceptional to look at. Her eyes without doubt were her best feature. A clear and startling bright blue, they drew you in, their luminosity enhanced by her long, dark brown, almost black hair. Her lips were full and heart shaped although her mouth was wide and generous when she smiled.
But it was her body that drew the surreptitious glances and leers from both Rick's clients and his work colleagues. Despite their size, her large 36DD breasts were remarkably firm and perky and with her penchant for wearing low cut tops she always had a fair amount of cleavage on display. Her 25" waist was, in her mind, her one weak spot. She'd have been happier if it was a couple of inches smaller. But her 37" hips were generous, which coupled with her full, round ass more than compensated, as far as the lecherous men who ogled her were concerned.
*
*
*
Jessica looked at her husband as he finished reading the documents that had been presented to her earlier that day, although she did notice he more quickly scanned them than read them.
"So ... what do you make of them?" Jessica said, nervously biting her lower lip.
