Seeking Inner Peace at Christmas

"Because people have taken advantage of you and I empathize with you; but the main reason is because I'm now feeling good for the first time since the day after Thanksgiving. You're helping me more than I'm helping you, I assure you. I thought that I might never been able to return to my surgery practice and normal life; now I may be able to."

There were more tears when our last stop was at another bank -- not the predatory lender one -- where I deposited $100,000 in an account for Gail.

After another fun dinner with the kids Gail manner-of-factly asked "When are you leaving us?"

"Tomorrow I'm flying back to the Washington, D. C. area. You've helped me so much the last three days that I think that I can now approach my former life again and find the inner peace that I was seeking."

"I thought so," she said with a wan smile. "That means that I'll have to fuck your brains out tonight since it will undoubtedly be my last sex before my next delivery."

"Woe is me," I snickered.

That night we did not make gentle love; that night I did not tell Amanda that I loved her and she did not tell Trent the same thing. That night was the most purely sexual experience I've ever had. There is nothing that Gail would not do to please me -- as long as it had no chance of hurting the child growing inside of her -- or that I wouldn't do to please her. I never had four orgasms in a ten hour period before; she had too many to count but swore that it was more than twice as many has she ever had in a similar time period.

The next morning I hugged Sally, Jimmy, and Evie goodbye -- they seemed genuinely sad to see me leave. Gail walked me out to my car. "I have your cellphone number; can I call you time-to-time to report on things and maybe ask your advice."

"I'll be disappointed if you don't," I smilingly replied.

Then we exchanged a passionate loving kiss and hug. When we broke away we both said probably the most honest "Thank yous" of our lives. I admit to having a tear in my eye as I drove away. I stopped off at the columbarium on the way to the airport. This time it was with joy in my heart that I said my goodbyes, not with the self-pity that characterized my previous visit.

When my plane was half way to Washington, D. C. I analyzed my situation. I did have inner peace; I could go on in life; I could be a productive member of society again reveling in all of the good times I had with my family members who had passed rather than being stuck in a self-destructive quagmire of feelings.

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That is the end of my story because I achieved my goal of inner peace; however, for those of you who require something more you can read the summary in my epilogue.

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Epilogue:

Gail and I did talk on the phone weekly. Every time we talked we both were stronger and in a better place. The attorneys I hooked her up with got the title to her house transferred to her free and clear without any further payments in exchange for refraining from suit. Trent's employer and its insurance carrier ponied up $2,000,000, $1.5 million of which went to Gail tax free, the other $500,000 to the attorneys.

Gail delivered her baby boy without complications; I admit to choking up when she named him Robert Downing. "How could I name him anything else," she chuckled.

About two years after I returned from my trip seeking inner peace I married my former sister-in-law, Amanda's younger (by two years) sister Allison, who had been divorced for six years. Gail and her brood came to the wedding with her boyfriend Chris, who is a real standup guy. Gail was doing better than great, as were all four kids.

The entire time of her visit Gail had on the diamond tennis bracelet that I gave her. "You still wear my Christmas present?" I asked.

"I haven't ever taken it off since the day that you left us," she warmly smiled.

For some reason little Robert took to me, followed me around whenever he could, and cried when he had to leave; think that that didn't pull at my heart strings.

Allison and I are on our honeymoon in Hawaii in the middle of January. Last night we made love in the moonlight on a secluded beach. I called her Amanda; she didn't mind.