A Friend from the Past

After returning to her parents, we unloaded all the items and put it in a room for her to go through when she had time.

I spent the evening with them and had dinner. Her mom sure could cook. Before we ate, I played games with Ashley. She found a couple of puzzles we brought back and asked me to help her put them together. God, I loved this little girl. There wasn't anything I wouldn't do for her. When I left to go home, she told me that she would miss me.

It was hard to say goodbye. Aliana had tears in her eyes when I was leaving. "I love you Aliana, and I promise I'll be back for you and Ashley. I'll call you every couple of days."

*****

Aliana went back to the lounge where she worked and told her boss that she would be leaving to move to Florida within a short time. He told her that he would miss her but wished her the best.

I called her at least every other day, since I missed her so much. I always had to talk to Ashley too.

Aliana did say the police came by twice looking for Darrell. She told them that she hadn't seen him and that when he got out of prison, she was in Florida. They said someone mentioned that the last time they talked to Darrell he was on his way to see her.

She told them, "He's a bastard and I went there to get away from him. I applied for a divorce, so if you find him please let me know so I can have the papers served."

She did tell them she was with me in Florida. We had talked it over and the main thing was that we never saw him. The local sheriff came and talked to me a couple of times. I told him I knew of the man but I had never met him.

Joe, our sheriff, was a friend of mine and told me to be careful. There was a warrant out for the guy for fleeing and he was considered dangerous.

"Thanks for the information, Joe. If I see or hear from him, you'll be the first person I'll call."

"Just be careful John. Tell your employees to keep an eye out as well."

A little over a month had passed when I was in the office and received a phone call. It was from Ashley.

"Ashley, honey, are you okay?" I was a bit nervous, this was the first time I ever received a call from Ashley.

"John, mommy said I could call you; is it OK?"

"Yes, of course it is. You just had me worried that something was wrong."

"Mommy isn't married anymore so you can marry her and we can come live with you."

"What? Honey, is mommy there? I need to speak with her."

"OK John, here's mommy, see you soon."

"Hello," said Aliana.

"Aliana, what's going on? Ashley said you're divorced? Is that true?"

"Well sort of, I'm so happy I had to share the good news with you."

"I don't understand. It's only been a little over a month," I said.

"I'll try to give you the short version for now. Remember the box of papers you told me to go through? Well, I listened to you and looked at them one paper at a time. It was boring but I felt I should do it. Most of it was old papers of Darrell's; I pitched those until I came across a divorce petition."

"What? He was going to divorce you?" I asked, confused.

"No, it was from a Lydia Stone. I took the paper to my lawyer and he had it checked out. Darrell was married to her before me. He called Lydia and you won't believe this story.

"He said Darrell beat her and she had him put in jail. Darrell convinced her to drop the charges and he would give her the divorce she asked for and wouldn't fight it."

Aliana took a deep breath before going on. I waited, letting her get it all out.

"She dropped the charges and he moved to Ohio from Pennsylvania. The only problem is, he never signed the divorce papers. This woman never remarried and didn't bother to check further. She was just happy to have gotten rid of him.

"It turns out that he was a bigamist when he married me. Harold, my lawyer, took the form to court and had my marriage annulled. So, if all those things you said about marrying me and adopting Ashley is true, we accept."

I had tears in my eyes. It couldn't have been much better news.

"Of course I meant everything I said. I'll come up in a couple of weeks and we'll be married. I'll fly up and we can rent a moving van and bring back whatever you want."

Crying into the phone, she replied, "John, I love you so much. I promise you I will be a wonderful wife."

"Honey, can you give the phone to Ashley so I can tell her."

I heard her move the phone away before calling out, "Ash, John wants to tell you something."

"Hello," said Ashley.

"Honey, I'll be up in a couple of weeks to marry mommy and then you and her are moving to Florida with me. Then I'll file the papers to make you my daughter."

"Really? Can I tell everybody?" asked Ashley.

"Yes, you can tell everyone you want." I laughed at her eagerness.

"OK, here's mommy. I have to go tell grandma."

She didn't even say goodbye, she was so excited.

"You sure made her happy," Aliana said, coming back on the phone. "Do you want me to make plans for a small reception? I figure we can go to the judge that granted my annulment to get married."

"Whatever you want, honey. Call Matt and tell him I want him to be my witness. You should find someone to be a witness too."

"Would you mind if I asked Marie?"

"Not at all. I'll call mom and dad and tell them the good news. You can get in touch with them later and give them the time, place and dates. Other than my sister's family and Matt, there's no one else up there to invite from my side. I've been out of Ohio too long."

After we said goodbye and hung up, I went and told everyone about my plans to get married. They were happy for me but were a little mad that we were getting married in Ohio.

"Man, we always talked about throwing you a big party when you got married," said Jim.

"Sorry guys but both of our families are in Ohio. We're just getting married by a judge."

"We don't give a hoot about watching you say 'I do', it was the reception we were hoping for," Bob added. "Can we throw you another reception when you get back?"

I had to laugh. These guys were married themselves and so were my office help. They all pleaded with me to let them throw a reception. They said it could be on the beach by the business.

"OK, we'll have a second reception the Saturday after we get back. I'm almost sure Aliana won't mind."

****

I was a nervous wreck for the next two weeks. I did my best to clean up the house and have a home ready for Ashley.

Jim and Bob told me to calm down, that I was almost irritating. They asked if I wanted a bachelor party and I told them I didn't think so, but I wouldn't mind the three of us doing a little fishing to get my mind off the wedding. We went and I damn near got drunk on beer. Didn't catch many fish.

I would have never believed I would be this nervous. A couple of days before I was to fly out, I received a call from Aliana. She said she had a surprise for me. I had no idea what it could possibly be and she wouldn't give any hints.

"Are you pregnant," I blurted out.

"What? No! I'm still on the pill. Do you want me to stop taking them?"

"That's up to you. It's your body. I love Ashley, you know that but if we had more kids, I wouldn't mind. God, I want you. I can hardly wait."

The time came for me to fly to Ohio. I was nervous as hell. Matt was there to pick me up and take me to my parents.

My parents were so happy to see me. They told me it was a surprise to find out it was so soon, so I explained about the annulment. Both loved Aliana and Ashley and welcomed them into the family.

I borrowed Dad's car and drove over to see Aliana. She greeted me with a kiss that could melt an iceberg. "There's a lot more where that came from."

I looked around and there came Ashley yelling "Daddy! Mommy said I could call you that if it's all right with you," said Ashley.

"Of course sweetheart, it's fine with me." It caught me a bit off guard but I sure didn't mind.

I looked over at Aliana. "So, you want more little feet running around?" I smiled.

"Yes, it's fine with me as long as I have you by my side," replied Aliana.

"OK, what's this big surprise?"

She handed me a sports bag. "What's this?"

"Open it and see," she said.

I unzipped it and it was full of money. "What the hell? Where did this come from? How much is here?"

"There is ten thousand dollars there. It's the amount you paid to help me," she said with a grin.

"Where did it come from? Who does it belong to?" I asked.

"Again, I owe it to you."

"I don't understand."

"You told me to take the time to look through all those papers. I mentioned to you how boring it was but then I came across those divorce papers. After that, I decided to double check everything.

"I came across two bank slips where money was deposited. It wasn't a local bank, it was in the next town. What drew my attention was my name was on one deposit slip and Ashley's was on the other. The bank official said he couldn't discuss it over the phone, so I went to see him."

"Aliana, if you didn't make those deposits, who did?"

She put her hand out for me to be patient before going on. "He asked for my identification; he then told me that a man came in a few months ago. According to the date of the deposit, it was three days before Darrell went to prison. Anyway, he wanted to deposit a large amount of money but did not want it in his name.

"The banker suggested he use a relative, preferably a spouse or child. The only problem would be that he would have to have the depositor's permission to withdraw the money. In the child's account, it would have to be a guardian.

"John, he used my name to make the deposits. Before he went to jail, he had me sign a bunch of papers. I was too scared to ask any questions. I figure that these accounts were some that I had signed.

"To make a long story short, these are mine and Ashley's accounts. I am the guardian over her and have full control till she turns eighteen. I guess Darrell figured his money was safe with me not knowing about the account and he would have withdrawn the money when he got out."

"Aliana, I don't want your money. Use it for you and Ashley."

"John, there was a hundred thousand dollars in my account and fifty thousand in Ashley's. I withdrew fifteen thousand, ten thousand to pay you back and five thousand to help us with the wedding and to get moved to Florida. I will never keep secrets from you. I guess Darrell supplied money for us after all. He just forgot to tell me about it," she said, leaning over and kissing me.

Figuring I'd use it for all of us, I accepted the money.

On Saturday, we went to the judge to get married. We'd gotten the license already and Matt and Marie were our witnesses. Matt's new girlfriend sat with Ashley and watched us give our vows. He'd asked earlier in the week if he could bring her along. Afterward, we all headed to a hall that Aliana had rented for the reception.

I was surprised to find out that all of Aliana's siblings were there with their families. They were all so happy for their sister and treated me well. They'd stayed away from her before because of her involvement with Darrell. Now they were a united family again.

Marie was probably as happy as anyone was for us. In the short period of time they knew each other since reuniting, they'd become close friends.

One of Aliana's sisters got us a good band on such short notice. I loved standing there and holding Aliana in my arms and swaying to the slow songs.

I picked up Ashley and held her in my arms as we danced to a couple of songs. I could tell life was going to be good.

At the end of the night, Aliana and I went to a swank hotel to spend our honeymoon night. Her parents took Ashley home with them and we told her we would see her in the morning. She was all tired out from dancing at the reception anyway.

As we entered the room, I removed my new wife's clothing piece by piece. Anytime some skin showed, I kissed it. Shoving her lightly on the bed, I stripped her and buried my face into her love tunnel, licking, sucking, tongue fucking her till she was moaning and squealing. I finger fucked her before rubbing my cock up and down over her wet pussy lips.

"Fuck me John! Give me your cock."

I couldn't wait any longer and pushed my hard cock slowly into her till my balls slapped her ass. I held still for a few seconds and then did a slow in and out motion feeling her need for me, moving faster as she began pumping her hips to meet my every thrust.

Then, I slammed in hard, held my position, and came as hard as I have ever come. Her pussy tightened with a grip that wouldn't let go as I felt her orgasm.

After we had rested, she slid on top of me. I loved watching her juices running down my cock every time she pulled her body up. It was one fantastic night and we knew it was just the beginning.

****

In the days that followed, we rented a moving van and put all of her belongings in it. We said goodbye to her siblings and their families, asking them to all come down and see us. We really hoped they would.

Then we said goodbye to my parents, Marie and her family, who all wished us the best. It was sad to be leaving our loved ones but we were happy that we were beginning a new life together.

We took a few days driving to Florida, stopping and doing a little touring in the different states. We vacationed during the day with Ashley and made love every night.

Late Thursday evening we made it home and decided to empty the moving van in the morning. Ashley loved looking out the door and seeing the beginning of the everglades.

"I'm going to love it here mommy. Are there any kids for me to play with?"

I answered her. "Yes, there are a lot of kids about your age that live around here. You'll probably be meeting some tomorrow. Right now it's time for you to sleep in your new room."

She went to sleep in her new bed, and Aliana and I went to our room, where we made love in our bed before falling asleep in each other's arms.

The next morning, we brought everything in and Aliana and Ashley spent the day putting things away. Aliana said Ashley wanted to help but it was more of a hindrance. It took her twice as long because she had to answer all Ashley's questions.

The following day we had our second reception on the beach. It gave Aliana a chance to meet some of our neighbors and friends who lived in the area. Even Joe our sheriff and a couple of his deputies showed up.

Ashley got to meet a lot of the other kids and they became friends almost instantly. We really did live in a nice area.

Jim, Bob, and their wives made up the guest list. They had the food catered in and an open bar as well as a couple of kegs. We gave free boat rides to the guests and even had an open area for night swimming. Overall, everyone had a great time.

About a month later, we took a honeymoon to Disneyworld, taking Ashley along.

Epilogue:

It's been a year since the wedding. We've registered Ashley in kindergarten. We've kept in contact with our parents, talking with them every week.

Anything that made my family happy made me happy.

One day Aliana came over to me and I rubbed her belly. Yes, she was six months pregnant. We made love so often that we couldn't even narrow it down to the day she conceived. All we knew was that it was a boy and he would be John Jr.

Falling in love with my old friend was more than I could have ever asked for. We hear that there aren't any perfect marriages but if there is, we are it.

*

Thank you for reading my story.

Comments are welcome and appreciated

DG Hear