In the two years since Ron's death MaryAnn went through the various stages of grief. First she cried herself to sleep every night for two weeks. Then she discovered the chat rooms on the Internet and immersed herself in cybersex, even phone sex. That was followed by a trip to New York where she, as she liked to term it, went wild in an interracial sex club. The forty-three-year-old blond she was the star attraction. First she made love with the owner then took part in an orgy with a friend and three other guys on a bed. Other adventures followed, including a trip to visit a dominant man who she'd met online. None left her with any regrets. MaryAnn was a woman who did as she pleased and only regretted the things she didn't do.
But she intended to continue doing them as a single woman! She had numerous lovers but refused to consider remarriage. She hung on to the memory of the man she loved more than life itself. She talked to her dead husband often and intimately. It was easy. During their marriage they enhanced their love by keeping no secrets. They didn't need to. They changed the boundaries of marriage and destroyed its deadliest foe, jealousy, with candor and honesty. Each had affairs. Then they did some discreet swinging. Then he left her forever.
She knew he would appreciate what she had done since he left. Their love always transcended jealousy. Her adventures since his death didn't bother her a whit, not even when she became a high class hooker on a couple of occasions. There was nothing eerie or supernatural about her weekly chats with Ron. She was a realist and had no illusions that the conversation was nothing more than introspection. One afternoon after her self imposed daily goal of writing was over she kicked off her shoes, lay back on the bed and said "Hello my darling. Here I am again with my imagination and libido still intact. Aren't you glad your old sweetheart is still having wonderful sex?
"You know, lover, I can think of only one thing I ever kept secret from you. This wasn't something I did though pumpkin. This was merely something I always wanted to do. "Oh God, did I want to do it.
"Give up? . . . Okay I'll tell you my last secret. Ever since, as a twelve-year-old, I saw Mom and Dad making it in that camp in Maine I fantasized about making it with pops. Yep, I wanted to boink my daddy. Even before you left me I would entertained the idea quite vividly now and then.
"No, I'll not tell you if the fantasy of fucking him was better than the fantasy of fucking you! Now behave you dirty bastard."
MaryAnn hardly even wondered what Ron's reaction might have been if she had shared her paternal fantasy with him. It wouldn't have been important to him. To start with, she had no intention of putting a move on her father, not even now. Her Mom had passed away a year earlier and both she and her dad were adults. Furthermore he was a ramrod straight traditionalist, much more than his wife had been, and light years more than she, herself, was. Admirals who had graduated from the Naval Academy simply did not do incest, not even if they are seventy years old. It was just a fantasy, and figured to stay that way. I
Later that day the phone rang, "Hello," she said.
"Hi little girl, I'm returning your call. What's up?" It was her father!
"Hey, pops. It's been a while, and I thought I'd call and see if you'd like to have lunch tomorrow."
"Sounds dandy kid. That Frenchy sounding joint near the old ferry landing is neat. The lobster bisque is wonderful and appropriately expensive. How's about tomorrow?"
"It's a deal old timer. I'll see you at 12. Okay"
She hung up and found her heart was racing. She loved her dad and the thoughts she had earlier came to mind. Did he ever think of her as she dud him? The next day she drove over the big blue bridge to Coronado and parked at the restaurant. Retired Rear Admiral Jacob Thornton was sitting at a widow seat waiting for his daughter. She gave him a quick kiss and sat down. "So the lobster bisque is good here eh? You been here before.?"
He replied, "Yes I was here with Jody Freeman, formerly Jody Jackson. You probably know her."
"Jody! Of course I know her. We were both in the same sorority, Theta Sigma Phi, at SC. I know her well. Good looker. You dating her?"
"Oh no, nothing like that. We're good friends who have been seeing one another. That's all." The old admiral looked uncomfortable.
"But you have seen her more than once? Hey, it's okay. I think it's great but guys don't just "see" Jody. She's a liberated woman and she bragged that she got it on with every man she went out with more than once." Then MaryAnn gave a big smile and added, "and you've dated her several times."
"Do you think this line of talking is appropriate MaryAnn? Are you concerned that I'm dating someone?"
"I'm sorry daddy, and no I'm not concerned. I think it's wonderful and I think it's neat that you and Jody are dating, and eating lobster bisque . . . and everything!"
