Tapestry Ch. 04

The relationships we have are threads in a tapestry, each woven together to show the life we have lived and connections we have with one another. It's been a while since I've posted to this series, since some stories which were supposed to appear under this umbrella (Thank You, Janie and A D.Va, the Faire & a Waffle) were submitted as standalone series.

This is the fourth of an open-ended series, and it features some secondary characters from Christmas Wrapping. It is not a direct sequel to any of the three previous Tapestry stories. Believe it or not, there is a grand plan—fluid as it may be—to bring the Tapestry stories together.

As with many of my tales, if you're looking for quickie sex, these are probably not the kind of stories you want to read. I love to hear from readers, so please leave a comment or send me an email.

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To most everyone who knew him, he was "The Master Chief." To her, he was simply "Timothy."

They met when she was in high school and he was on his first enlistment in the Navy. She was there with a friend and they tagged along with the friend's sister to a party with a bunch of older guys from the nearby Naval amphibious warfare base.

Katharine was young and wide-eyed, and she was easily hooked by the rugged good looks of the Marines. But there was one man who stood out. He was quieter, but still kind of cocky. The others called him a "squid" and he called them "jarheads." But there was some level of affection and mutual respect since they also called him "doc" a lot, too.

"You have beautiful eyes." His boyish good looks were complimented by his charming smile. She was immediately smitten.

"Yeah, well my tits are even better," she shot back, the cheap beer giving her a little bit of extra courage and spunk.

Regular people didn't have mobile phones then. It was when only doctors and drug dealers had pagers. They exchanged numbers, although he lived in the barracks and the only phone was down the hall in a common room. If he called her, there was the distinct chance that her father would answer, especially if he suspected it would be a boy on the line.

After the bonfire on the beach, Kathy knew she had to see him again. He had access to a car, a 1979 Honda Prelude which was owned by a friend who happened to be out to sea for six months.

So they arranged to meet after she got out of school, and their courtship began.

Kathy was seeing a guy, but they broke up after prom and before graduation. She was planning on going to the community college.

Her father was not pleased that a Navy man was calling on his daughter. He had served in armored cavalry during Vietnam and said he never saw anyone from the Navy out in the jungle or in the rice paddies. Still, he appreciated that Timothy was a volunteer, not a conscript, but that didn't mean he was going to make life easy on any boy who was interested in Katharine. Especially an E-3 from the Navy.

One night later that summer, they ended up alone on the beach with a sleeping bag and a couple of bottles of cheap wine.

"I need to have you," he mumbled, burying his face in her ample chest.

Kathy didn't reply, she was lightheaded not only from the alcohol, but the attention this older boy was paying to her. He was well-built and handsome. And he seemed like girls with a little bit of meat on their bones.

His hands roamed her wide hips and soft breasts.

Timothy's touch wasn't the clumsy pawing of other boys. He lingered in all the right spots. He knew where to kiss and stroke her.

"Then take me," she gasped.

The pair undressed one another under the moonlight.

"I want you inside me," Katharine lay back and spread her legs as Timothy reached into his wallet for the condom he had brought along for just this moment.

She cried out as he entered her virgin pussy. They were both young and inexpert, but what they lacked in technique, they made up with an excessive amount of enthusiasm and youthful ignorance.

Their first lovemaking wasn't the thing of fireworks or heady romance, but as they lay on the beach in one another's arms, Katharine thought she had fallen in love.

A week later, Timothy told her the Navy offered him several thousand dollars and a promotion to re-enlist early, but if he took it, they were probably going to send him to the west coast.

Katharine was heartbroken, but he soothed her tears by producing a ring and asking her to marry him.

It seemed he was as smitten as she.

They eloped the next day and were married by the Justice of the Peace. They didn't tell her parents immediately. In fact, on the night of their wedding, Katharine was grounded from the family car for being out past her curfew.

Of course, when they did find out, her parents were furious. But there was nothing they could do. She was eighteen, and whether she really knew what she was getting in to or not, it was already done.

Timothy's orders came through, she packed up her things and left her parents's house, following the man to whom she had given her heart. For her, it was a grand adventure, and she jumped in feet first.

They moved out to southern California where he was assigned to 2/5 Marines at Camp Pendleton as a Fleet Marine Force corpsman.

The transition from a high school student to military wife wasn't easy, but Katharine was smart and gregarious. She made friends, enrolled in community college and got a part time job in a pharmacy.

They lived off-post in a small apartment, and he bought a used car with his re-enlistment bonus.

Life wasn't idyllic, but they were both young enough that they didn't know what they didn't know, and they were happy.

Katharine made friends with the wives and girlfriends of the Marines Timothy served with, and they went out a lot together.

She noticed he had a wandering eye, but it seemed whenever he found someone else who caught his fancy, the sex that night was extra good. He was properly jealous of anyone who hit on her, going so far as to get permanently banned from a couple of bars for fighting to "defend her honour."

After they were at Camp Pendleton for six months, Timothy was sent out to sea for a deployment with the Marine Amphibious Unit.

Instead of moping around, Katharine threw herself into school and work.

The six month deployment passed quickly and she welcomed her husband home when he returned.

"I've missed you, baby," Timothy lifted Katharine in the air and spun her around joyously. The other sailors, Marines and their families mingled around the dock as the returning servicemen disembarked from the U.S.S. Tarawa.

Katharine squealed with delight as he playfully grabbed a handful of her backside.

"I've missed you, too, sweetheart," she breathed.

Taking her hand, Timothy led her to the parking lot and soon enough they were back at their apartment. In the car, he playfully pawed at her while waiting for stop lights to turn.

They weren't even through the door and Timothy was trying to get her clothes off.

"I've got something special for you, baby," Katharine winked seductively and nodded in the direction of the couch. "Sit down."

Her husband's giddiness was about to boil over and she sauntered over to him, pausing only to pick an envelope off the kitchen table.

Kathy's hand stroked her husband's cock through his uniform pants. "Do you love me?"

"You know I do, baby."

She suckled on his earlobe, making his skin crawl. Her next words made the blood drain out of his face. "Then why were you fucking whores in the Philippines?"

His heart pounded in his chest. And not in the good way.

Katharine sat there, watching him hem and haw for many long moments.

His eyes darted around, looking for some excuse. To his credit, he didn't deny anything.

It didn't matter anyway.

She slipped open the envelope and a stack of pictures fell out.

"Miranda gave these to me," she said, conversationally. "I like this one of you and . . . what's his name? . . . Rich . . . having a sword fight in this little cunt's mouth."

"Kathy, I can—"

"Get out." Through the calmness, there was an unmistakable threat of violence underlying her tone.

"Baby . . ."

"I said, 'Get out.' Or I will destroy you."

***************

Katharine let him stew for a couple of days.

She didn't answer the phone. The locks were changed. She put The Club on their car. Kathy had already made arrangements with some friends in the Navy Military Police to keep Tim away from their duplex.

Timothy stayed with some of his buddies, many of whom were in a similar predicament with their wives or girlfriends. He was lucky he hadn't unpacked his sea bag or he wouldn't have had a change of clothes.

Finally, in apparent magnanimity, she picked Timothy up from the amphibious warfare base one evening. Katharine was dressed in a perfectly tailored sundress that showed off her generous curves. She was all made up and her hair hung sensually low around her shoulders.

None of his friends spoke as Tim skulked out to greet his wife, his tail obviously between his legs.

The journey to the car had a distinct "dead man walking" feel to it. She didn't reciprocate his affections, nor did she allow him to kiss her or hold her hand. The Marines only looked on mutely as HM-3 Timothy Turner went home to take his lumps. Kathy drove. The short trip back to the apartment was silent.

"Kathy, can I—"

"Shut up," she snapped as they walked through the front door. "Sit down."

The kitchen table was covered in pictures taken by one of the Marines while on deployment. They were from brothels in Thailand and the Philippines.

Timothy's face was as white as a ghost. But there was no denying the he appeared prominently in many of them.

"Kevin Ramey's wife was passing these around," Katharine said after letting her husband absorb the totality of his situation. "Apparently, she's pissed that her husband likes to get his dick sucked by trannies in Bangkok, so she decided to spread the 'good news' around to everyone else in the company."

After getting caught red-handed, Timothy did the smartest thing possible: he kept his mouth shut.

"I will not be humiliated like this again," she said softly. "I will not have some smug, self-righteous bitch come to me with pictures of my husband fucking a bunch of whores and act like I should be sharing her miserable fucking life of self-pity. How many times did this happen?"

"Four." His voice normally-clear voice was little more than a whisper.

"And you were dumb enough to let someone take pictures? Who the fuck does that? How drunk were you? Don't answer that." Katharine gathered up the prints on the table into a stack. "Tomorrow morning, you are going down to the clinic and getting an STD test."

"I used a condom every time," he blurted out. "And I tested myself on the ship when we left port last . . . one of the perks of being the corpsman."

"I don't fucking care!" Katharine exploded and pounded on the kitchen table. "You are going to pay for this, Timothy, and you are going to pay publically. I don't know how the hell she got these, but I have had to put up with this shit for the past month after Miranda passed these around, so you are going to suck it up and take whatever I have for you! Do you understand? . . . Answer me, goddam it! Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Good." Taking a deep breath, Kathy took a moment to calm down. She reached across the table and took her husband's hand. "Sweetheart, you're a man and you have needs. And I know that spending six months at sea is tough on you . . . it's tough on me, too . . . but this will not happen again."

"It won't, baby, I swear to God!"

"That's right, Timothy, because I'm going to give you permission to fuck anyone you want."

Kathy smiled sweetly as Tim's jaw fell open.

"But there are conditions."

He only nodded.

"One: If you ever bring home a disease and infect me with it, I will kill you. Two: If you knock anyone up, I'm gone. Three: I will not be subjected to this kind of embarrassment again. Do whatever you have to do, but keep your screwing around secret, even from your buddies."

"Kathy, what are you talking about?"

"I've spent the last month thinking about this," she replied. "A bunch of your friends got served with divorce papers when they got back, didn't they? . . . I know that because I drove half of them to their lawyers's offices to fill out the paperwork and had them cry on my shoulder because our husbands are all unfaithful assholes. Understand this: I will never be divorced, Timothy Turner; I will be a widow first."

She may have been joking, but Tim believed her. Especially since she knew where all the guns in the house were kept, and she was a dead-eye-dick with the .357 Magnum.

"So I've decided that I'm going to let you chase all the pussy you want. Or all the cock you want; I really don't care. But that brings us to four: You will always come home to me. Have a girlfriend in every port if you want, but I will not have some crazy bitches calling here looking for you or any stupid shit like that, and when you aren't out to sea, you are staying in our home, and sleeping in our bed. I am your Number One, and don't you forget it."

"You always were." He looked away, the shame of his infidelity readily apparent.

"Good, because that brings us to my last rule." Katharine took Timothy's hands and locked her gaze onto his. "If it's good for you, it's good for me."

She paused, letting that sink in.

"If you can stand the idea of someone other than you sticking his dick in my pussy, you can chase all the skirts you want when you're away. If not . . . then you'd better get used to jacking off a lot over the rest of this enlistment. And then you're getting out of the Navy so I can keep an eye on you."

Silence hung over them for a long moment. Katharine didn't say a word. She only glared at Timothy. Unmoving.

He could barely meet her withering gaze.

"So . . . so you're okay with me . . . um, cheating . . . cheating on you?" he stammered once he found his voice.

"No. When I found out, I cried for a week," she sighed. "But I love you, Timothy. And I wish I could be with you all the time. I hate that you were gone for these last six months . . . but this is part of Navy life. And I've accepted that."

Tim's eyes got wide.

"I can't watch over you, and I can't worry about you all the time," she continued. "So I've decided to give you a pass while you're at sea or out on deployment. That's the only way our marriage is going to survive. Apparently, you can't keep your dick in your pants, so my choices are to either turn a blind eye, or leave you and have to go back to my parents because I am a stupid little girl who ran off with the boy who popped her cherry."

Since they'd been married and she started hanging out around Marines and their wives, Katharine's vocabulary has expanded, and not with words that are typically on the SAT or GRE.

"So we're going to try something different." She paused long enough to wipe her eyes and take a deep breath. "The next time you go off with the Marines to some armpit in the world on deployment or TDY, fuck anyone you want, but when you come home, there had better not be any trace of her or anyone else you put your dick in. It's not cheating if I let you do it. But I don't want to hear about your affairs second hand, and when we have children, they will not hear about them either. I will ruin you."

The threat hung over the room.

"And whoever I fuck will be gone when you get back. No one will ever be in our bed except you and me, and our children will not be exposed to my lovers," she continued. "But I will not be a miserable lonely girl pining away for her man when you're gone."

Timothy's head spun with his wife's words. He had mentally prepared himself to be taken to the cleaners. But now . . .

This.

"Baby . . . I can—"

"Shut up," her steely resolve melted and she reached for him.

Timothy pulled Katharine into his arms. He stood, his hands under her backside. She wrapped her legs around him. Nothing more was said about their arrangement, and both seemed to agree.

Or at least come to an understanding.

"Take me to our bed, and fuck the shit out of me," she whispered in his ear. "You've been gone for too long."

***************

Timothy didn't get off cheap. But it cost him less than a divorce.

Katharine gave him a budget and demanded that he get her a new diamond ring to replace her old wedding band. He also had to buy Kathy a new (for her) car. The '85 Celica convertible wasn't top of the line or expensive, but it was enough to show that he was trying to make up for his indiscretions.

All of his friends knew that Katharine had read him the riot act. She had a new wardrobe and Tim used a bunch of his leave to take her up to Santa Cruz for a proper honeymoon. Nobody dared give him any shit about giving in to his wife's demands because a good number of them were going through divorces or had to round up their belongings from pawn shops.

Ramey, the Marine whose wife let the cat out of the bag, quickly found himself single and transferred to another unit to keep the others from killing him in his sleep.

When his penance was done, Katharine and Timothy settled into a domestic routine that became standard for the remainder of their marriage while he was in the Navy.

She managed the home including their finances. He worked around the house when he could. As a young Navy sailor with a bright future, he was often away at training for something, and then soon enough, he was back out to sea.

The years passed quickly.

Katharine finished her degree at the community college and then pursued a four year degree in education. While Timothy was on a shore tour, Katharine became pregnant and gave birth to their daughter, Veronica. Anthony was born a couple of years later.

Timothy's career progressed steadily. He stayed in the Fleet Marine Force, going to technical schools, deploying overseas to the Persian Gulf and Bosnia, and doing everything he could to advance himself professionally. He was promoted to Petty Officer Second Class and then First Class. There were sea tours and shore tours. He earned a degree in health care administration and was selected for Chief Petty Officer.

He was stationed in hospitals, as a training instructor and out in the fleet.

Their family grew up all over the world, their lives measured in two year increments as Timothy's orders dictated their comings and goings. Katharine taught elementary school on some posts. Sometimes she was a stay at home mom.

She also took it upon herself to work with the wives and girlfriends of the sailors and Marines who served with Tim. She was a shoulder to cry on, a drinking buddy, and a babysitter for their children when life got rough. Being the chief's wife was a job unto itself, and like her husband, Katharine stepped into this role with headstrong determination, giving out pats on the back, empathetic hugs or a swift kick in the ass as the situation demanded.

Whenever Timothy came back from where ever it was the Navy sent him, he returned to a happy home. The children were on their best behavior and the house was perfect.

At least for a little while.

Each time he returned from a deployment, he had to meet his family all over again. During his sea tours, he missed a lot of soccer games, band concerts and dance recitals. The family had two modes: one with Daddy, and one without. But they managed. Mostly because they didn't really have a choice.

There were fights, usually over money or Tim treating his kids like sailors and not children, but it was handled in private and with lots of enthusiastic make-up sex.