A few folks were asking for a sequel following the further adventures of Elaine and Ryan so here you go! I hope everyone enjoys it.
*****
I watched the darkening sky heralding a coming storm as I fought to get my key in the lock of my house. The wind was blowing hard enough to toss my hair into my eyes making my entrance into my home that much trickier. The door suddenly opened of its own accord causing me a moment of panic as the door handle with my key still sticking in the lock moved away from me. I felt my heart race in my chest, and my mind struggled to identify the intruder who had pulled my door open from the inside.
"Elaine! I'm glad you're home the weather was turning nasty outside."
I immediately felt foolish. It was just my boyfriend. I suppose I can be forgiven, Ryan and I had only been living together for a little over a month and I still wasn't used to his being there all the time. The wind gusted again almost blowing the grocery bag I was carrying from my hands, and Ryan reached out to take it from me as I darted inside pushing the door shut behind me. The inside of the house was warm and much quieter now that I had left the weather on the other side.
Ryan was walking toward the kitchen, and he sat the bag he had taken from me on the counter. He scanned the contents pulling items from inside as he smiled over at me.
"Good, you found the right ingredients. I will be able to whip up a truly awesome meal with this stuff," he observed before he looked at me all windblown.
"You know...I think I like this look on you. Have you ever thought of growing bangs?"
My hair was certainly longer than it had been when he and I met. I was growing it out in an attempt to look a little more youthful, perhaps growing bangs would help with that, but likely nothing was going to make me look young enough to be dating a man twenty-two years my junior.
"I've never considered it, but if you like it, well..." I left the thought unfinished.
"Just a thought, you would look beautiful no matter how you wear your hair."
"I hope you say that when it starts falling out," I replied with a hint of that same old paranoia I dealt with every day. The idea that the man I was in love with was young enough to be my son could be very disconcerting. Ryan smiled and stepped away from the counter coming over to slip his arms around my waist. A moment later I felt the soft but firm press of his lips to mine. I quickly slid my slender arms around his neck, and the kiss deepened into a more sensual one as I opened my mouth to accept his tongue. His strong arms pulled me tighter as our arousal grew. It wouldn't be the first time we didn't get dinner started on time because we were too busy making love.
My back met the wall behind me as Ryan slipped his head down to nibble on my neck and I sighed as the gentle waves of pleasure from his kisses started to work through my body. I never could resist him at times like this or fight against my desires. Once he and I took a hiking trip in a park outside of town to get some fresh air. We were enjoying the warmth of the day and the beauty of the woods when he pulled me off the trail and started kissing me with hot, deep French kisses. He whispered in my ear about how he couldn't help himself I looked so gorgeous in my hiking shorts, and he wanted me right there on that hill. I was scared and thrilled at the same time. In all my life I had never had sex in public, and it seemed so wild and dangerous. Ryan took me to the ground and even though I tried to resist at first out of a sense of decency he eventually got those shorts he loved so much off my body. I remember fighting not to cry out afraid that someone might hear us, but it was so hard when Ryan was making love to me. He was so strong, and his penis was so thick and filled me so well it was damn hard to keep my voice quiet. In the end, I couldn't contain it entirely, and I had called out his name rather loudly as we came together with my legs wrapped around his tight ass.
"Ryan...Sweetie...What about dinner?"
"I think I want to start by having you as an appetizer."
His lips found my mouth again, and I kissed him with a hunger that almost frightened me in its intensity. I couldn't get over how attracted I was to Ryan even after all this time. I would have let him have his way with me right there on that cold tile floor, but the phone rang shrilly in the background pulling us both back to reality.
"I should probably get it."
"Are you sure Elaine? I think we should let it ring."
I laughed but regretfully pushed him away. The truth was I was expecting an important phone call, and I didn't want to miss it. There was a bit of static on the line from the lightning that was flashing across the sky as I pressed the receiver to my ear. It turned out not to be the call I had been waiting for after all. If anything the voice on the other end of the line was an even bigger surprise. For the first time in months, I heard my daughter, Kelly, speaking to me.
"Mom? Are you there?"
I realized I had frozen at hearing her voice. We had not parted on the best of terms when she moved out. Kelly had left in anger over my relationship with her ex-boyfriend the very same man who had been about to bang my brains out on the kitchen floor.
"Kelly! Yes, I'm here honey I just lost your voice for a second we have a storm here, and it's all thunder and lightning outside."
"I see, well, I won't keep you long. I just wanted to ask if its o.k. If I crash at home for the night this Saturday? I'm going to be passing through town on my way to Shannon's wedding, and I didn't want to have to pay for a hotel."
Shannon had been Kelly's roommate her freshman year, and the girls were still close. She was set to marry her longtime boyfriend, Chad, in their hometown.
I hesitated for a second. Kelly didn't know that Ryan and I were living together now and I certainly wouldn't be able to hide him in the closet all weekend. It seemed to me though that we were all adults here and it shouldn't be that big of a deal, right?
"Sure, Kelly, Ryan and I would love to have you stay the night with us."
Now it was Kelly's turn to sit in silence. The connection crackled again with the discharge of some distant flash of electricity.
"He's living there? Ryan's living in our house?" she finally replied with no small hint of anger in her voice.
"He is living in MY house," I said trying to make it clear just whose home this was and that I didn't need anyone's permission to let someone live here.
There was silence again but when Kelly's voice returned it at least sounded more in control.
"That...is...interesting. So I guess I will see you Saturday then, thanks, Mom."
"All right Kelly and..." I started to ask about how she was doing, but she had already broken the connection.
The phone settled back into the cradle with a small click.
"So I gather Kelly is returning to her nest," said Ryan calmly.
"Yes, just for one night she is passing through on her way to a wedding."
"Was she excited to hear I was staying her now?"
"I think you can imagine how that news went over, Ryan."
He walked over to the kitchen cabinet and pulled out a frying pan washing some dust out of it into the sink.
"If it would make things easier I could spend the night with a friend, leave you two alone to work things out," he offered.
It was a sweet gesture, but I wasn't going to let my daughter dictate to me how I run my household.
"No, it will be fine. She is going to have to learn to get her head around the idea that we are together and that isn't going to change."
Ryan put the skillet on the stove lighting the burner underneath it. His strong hands reached for a cutting board on a shelf above his head.
"I suppose it would be even more complicated if she were to discover that we were talking about making this a more permanent arrangement."
My heart skipped a beat in my chest. This had been a conversation we had started, and I had backed away from several times. My letting Ryan come to live with me had been partly a concession on my part to mollify him while I continued to contemplate the more significant question that he refused to let go.
"I told you before I need time to think about it. I would think you would want to consider the implications very carefully."
"You make it sound like I'm taking out a home loan, not that I'm asking the woman I love to marry me."
There it was, the question I had been ducking for some time now. Ryan had brought it up first two months earlier, and I had been vacillating ever since. It wasn't that I didn't want to be with him. I loved him so much that it hurt. That didn't make answering him any simpler.
"Why couldn't I just be ten years younger," I thought, "O.K. maybe fifteen."
"Ryan, you know that it's not because I don't love you. There are just so many things that you would be giving up to be with me. I'm forty-three, and I know you want children. It would be very difficult for me to give that to you. Don't even get me started on how you might feel about me when I start going gray and wrinkly, and you're still a young stud!"
"I certainly hope you don't think I'm that shallow," said Ryan with a raised brow.
"No...I know you're not...but what about children?"
"There is always adoption if it comes to that, but I'm not dwelling on it. I want to spend my life with you Elaine, and I think you feel the same."
As Ryan's arms surrounded me in a comforting hug, I placed my head on his muscular chest. He was right that there were always children in need of a good home, but if we did marry I wanted to try at least to give Ryan a child of his own.
THE FOLLOWING DAY -
The call I had been trying to intercept had been from my doctor. I doubted that Ryan would have answered my home phone anyway he was still getting used to living with me and usually deferred to me to answer the landline I had always had in the house. Still, it was better not to take the chance that he would pick it up. He was gone when the call finally did come in with my test results.
I had gone in for a well woman examine with a particular emphasis on seeing whether I could still have children. The doctor had told me that the fact that I still had regular periods was a good sign. They had checked me over pretty thoroughly, and though they would make no guarantees, it looked like it was still possible for me to get pregnant without any special intervention.
"You understand that getting pregnant is one thing, but at your age, the bigger concern will be increased potential for congenital disabilities and possible miscarriages," cautioned my doctor.
I told her I understood the risks. I was still agonizing over what this meant to my decision about marrying Ryan when I pulled into my driveway to find an unfamiliar car parked in front of my house. The doors of the compact sedan opened as I exited my vehicle and I found myself face to face with my estranged daughter and a tall, broad-shouldered young man I had never seen before with her.
"Hello, Mom"
