As I drove through the leafy, upmarket suburbs of the city I'd been born and raised in, I had concerns playing on my mind. First, was my impending marriage to Marcie Beaufort in one month's time. The Beaufort's were wealthy and well connected, while Marcie was a senior solicitor in a well-respected local law firm. The marriage was a great match for me in regard to my career prospects. However, I needed to play-things the right way. No controversy, with the wedding guest list including influential people who would be watching and judging a man from a family they did not know well. Some would likely have heard of my fairly easy-going, playboy lifestyle, prior to meeting Marcie. Alcohol and younger women being the primary distractions. I'd looked to cut back on both, but it hadn't been easy, as reflected by my second concern.
Some weeks earlier I'd had a brief indiscretion with Marcie's younger half-sister Abby. While both sisters were attractive, their personalities were poles apart. At 29 years old, Marcie was reserved, driven, career orientated, and had high expectations of herself and others. Abby, the daughter of their father's second wife and ten years younger, was a carefree socialite, with seemingly few ambitions outside of partying and drinking. My natural personality was far more aligned to Abby's. Her age, personality and dislike of her sister had contributed to our one time encounter. Now it sat there, a potential ticking timebomb, which could derail my desire to marry into the Beaufort family.
As if those concerns were not enough to worry about, there was a third thing playing on my mind. This being Marcie's reaction to my leaving for two weeks and travelling south to assist my Grandmother with her garden. My being gone for a fortnight, so close to our wedding, did not sit well with my future wife. As a result, my desire for a little intimacy from her, prior to leaving, seemed extremely unlikely to be met. I had a strong sex-drive and feared my next sexual encounter would not be until we were on our honeymoon, over four weeks distant. However, I was nothing if not a shrewd operator. I turned into the Beaufort's tree lined driveway, determined to give it my best shot.
As I got out of my car the one person I did not wish to see walked out the front door. Abby looked her usual tempting self, in jeans and a tight T-Shirt. My cock reacted as it always did upon sighting her, but my brain knew to keep the interaction brief.
"Hi Seb, how you doin today?" she called, before putting two fingers in her mouth, simulating oral sex.
"Good thanks Abby," I answered, ignoring the crude gesture, and walking by rapidly.
"I hear you're off down south," she called back to me, in a false southern accent.
"Yeah I got to... "
"Go down and help your Granny out. Yeah, I heard. Dorothy told me. Marcie sure is pissed about that. Anyway, we're all heading out. Leave you and Marcie home alone. You'll have to make the most of it. Maybe you'll get some of this today," she laughed, repeating the action of a moment earlier.
This was a typical exchange with Abby. Always cheeky and full of sexual inuendo. I'd always had a weakness for younger woman. My girlfriend prior to Marcie, Felicity, had only been 18-years-old when we'd first started going together. At 19-years-old, Abby fell into the 'Felicity' category. The fact she had a naughty streak made her all the more attractive.
Next through the door came the two women's step-mother Dorothy, their father's third wife.
"Can you tell Marcie I'll be back at three pm."
"Sure, see you later Dorothy," I called to my future mother-in-law, who got into her late-model, European car, before driving away.
As usual the interaction was brief, because Dorothy was suspicious of me. Without a doubt, Marcie marrying someone like me, would not have been in Bob and Dorothy Beaufort's plans. I knew this, and Marcie knew it as well.
I walked on into the large sprawling house and found Marcie arranging cut flowers at the kitchen bench. She was wearing tight shorts and a thin camisole, which did nothing to dull my aroused state.
"Hey baby," I called cheerily, as I went up and kissed her on the cheek.
Marcie didn't turn or greet me, immediately bringing up the matter of my trip south.
"There's still plenty that needs doing before our wedding day, Seb," she stated earnestly. "I've taken a day off work today to get things done, while you're going on holiday. Are you intending to stay down there with your Grandmother the whole two weeks.?"
"I told you, Mum says I need to go down and help her out."
"Oh yeah... 'Mum says.' How old are you? You're nearly 33-years-old and that's the type of thing a 13-year-old would say. The fact is your Gran's been down there ten years, and you've never cleared her garden before. Why now?"
"I got no choice Marce. Gran might want to move to a smaller place soon, and the house wouldn't sell. That garden is a jungle."
"It's, 'I've got no choice,'" my fiancée corrected me, ignoring my weak excuse.
I hated it when Marcie corrected my grammar. She did so often. However, I let it slide on this occasion, because I wanted to fuck her before I went south.
"Well, I've got no choice. You've seen the garden. It's a wilderness. Evidently she's got a list for me to work on during the day, while she's off at work."
"Yeah well, I've got a list for you. Jobs to do right here. Don't tell me the garden suddenly needs taming. You're going because your mother wants to mess with my wedding plans."
"Nah, c'mon Marce. Mum loves you."
"No she doesn't. She doesn't like me and I... well, I find her hard going, let's just say that."
I shrugged, making a face to indicate I basically agreed with Marcie. The two women were both control freaks and barely tolerated each other. I was the youngest in my family, with three older sisters. They'd all spoilt me. Even aged thirty-two, I was still my mother's baby and it was true, she was having trouble letting go. In addition, mother thought the Beaufort's were snobs and looked down on her. She was not happy with my marrying into their family.
The fact was my trip down to Tennessee had been entirely orchestrated by my mother, but Marcie did not know the full story. While our family wasn't wealthy, my late Great Uncle Arthur, Gran's brother, had gone to California and made a small fortune. Widowed with no children, he'd left family members money, on the proviso they undertake some small act of compassion and kindness to others. He'd stipulated what these acts should be; mine being to assist my Grandmother, his sister, with her overgrown garden. He'd even stated the length of time, this being two full weeks. Once carried out my bequest would amount to eight-hundred-thousand dollars.
For a man with barely a dollar to his name, this amount of money was not to be scoffed at. However, no matter the financial reward, two weeks in the middle of summer, pruning trees, cutting hedges and pulling weeds, was not my idea of fun. My first thought was to merely get a gardener in. However, as executor of Uncle Arthur's Will, my Mother vetoed this idea. She'd insisted I go south and do the work myself, just as Uncle Arthur had intended, right at the time Marcie wanted me at home assisting her.
The obvious course of action was to inform Marcie of the monetary rewards that would come our way, from my two weeks of toil. I'd intended to do just this, until Marcie had got in first, with her own announcement.
"I've had my law firm draw up a pre-nuptial agreement, which you'll need to sign," she'd announced in her usual matter of fact manner.
"Is that really necessary," I'd replied.
"Yes it is. You're a sexy man and I love you deeply, but my family view you as a penniless, playboy. They feel I need to tie up all loose ends. So you'll sign?"
"I guess," I'd reluctantly agreed, deciding at that very moment not to inform Marcie of my impending windfall.
I decided that the eight-hundred grand would be for me alone. However, this decision left the door open to Marcie blaming mother for my trip south.
"The thing with your mother is, I'm taking her youngest child and only son away. Her baby! Abby said..."
"Abby said what?" I interrupted, suddenly concerned about Marcie and her younger sister speaking freely together.
The two sister's contrasting personalities meant they rarely spoke at length on any topic. When they did, it was usually to disagree. In light of recent events, I didn't want that changing now.
"Abby said you've probably got a woman down there."
"Abby would say that, wouldn't she. She'd say anything to upset you. You know that," I replied, keen to move the conversation off Marcie's sister and onto my immediate needs. "I saw her and your mother on the way out just as I was arriving. Bob's at golf, so I was wondering if..."
