Was I Man Enough?

"We talked it out, it's rather complicated and it's her story, you need to ask her for the specifics. But she was the victim of circumstances, I ended as collateral damage, and I've forgiven her. We will never regain what we lost, but I think we are friends again."

"Will you forgive me for not trusting you by telling you about my work?"

"I'm the one who ran away; it's me that needs your forgiveness."

She pulled me close for a kiss. I paused as usual at the war monument and I pointed out the name of my uncle Daniel.

"I'm named after him," I told her, "He was dad's eldest brother."

She looked at the different Davidson's on the plaques and said, "Your family's been here for a long time hasn't it."

I nodded, "There have been Davidson's on the parish register as far back as the 16th century, but I'm the last of them."

"You've got no relatives left then?"

"I've a half a dozen cousins but they're all from mum's side of the family so they are not Davidson's."

Her hand squeezed mine as we completed the walk across the green. Liz was standing by the door and she looked at us nervously and Mia's grasp on my hand tightened.

Liz broke the silence first, "I'm so sorry, I was just trying to give him his ring back," she sobbed. Mia went over to her and put her arms round her and the pair of them hugged.

I looked at the two of them as they hugged, complete opposites as far as looks went. Liz a statuesque blue-eyed blond and Mia lithe and willowy with long jet-black hair. A yin-yang symbol in the flesh that shared a common interest in me. Two women who I still loved, who I thought I'd never see together.

I lead them into the pub and we settled down at the same table. Mia took her coat off and under it she wore a pair of faded blue jeans that fitted her like a second skin and a loose cream silk top. Mia sat beside me. I ordered a round of drinks for us and we waited for Dave. He appeared a few moments later and tossed the car keys on the table.

He muttered to me, "I'll get Mike at the garage to have a look at it in the morning, it looks like it's only a headlight that's broken." Then he turned to Mia and introduced himself.

Mia asked him, "I didn't hurt you did I?"

"Not in a way that a good whiskey won't cure." And he looked at me pointedly.

I called over to Jimmy and ordered a large Glenrothes for Dave.

I said to Mia, "Liz and I had a long talk about what happened between us. I don't blame her for what happened anymore, and we both realise that there is no way we could go back to where we were before.

Liz said in a voice tinged with regret, "I'm just glad Danny still wants to be my friend after all that I put him through. If you want to know the whole story, I'll tell you but I'd prefer not to have to go over it tonight."

I said, "Mia, I think you have something of mine, I'd like it back please. There's something you wanted me to do with it."

She gave me a confused look, "I don't know what you mean......" and then the penny dropped and she fumbled at her neck. She removed the gold chain from around her neck and unthreaded the engagement ring from it. I took it from her open hand and looked at the glittering diamonds glowing in the flickering light from the flames of the fire. It was just as beautiful as I remembered. I took Mia's hand and turned it over and brought it to my lips and kissed it.

"Amelia Lee, will you marry me?"

She nodded her head unable to speak because she was so choked up. Eventually, she gasped out a whisper, "Yes."

I slid the ring on her finger and she gave a little whimper of joy. She gave me a long kiss and curled up against me .

"That's where it belongs," I said. Dave and Liz congratulated us although Liz's smile was again tinged with sadness at what could have been.

Mia whispered in my ear in a devilish tone, "I told you never to call me Amelia. So I'm going to have to think up a suitable punishment." I grinned at her in anticipation.

We sat around talking for a couple of hours, Liz and Dave kept Mia amused with stories of our childhood and growing up in the village. When we ate we introduced Mia to the joy of the classic steak and kidney pudding, followed by the hallowed sticky toffee pudding and custard.

I think that they both realised that sooner than they had expected the time was right for them to talk. Mia and Liz moved to one side and Dave and I gave them some room. Their heads were close together and they spoke in a low tone. Every now and again one of them would start to cry and the other would give her a hug.

Jimmy called last orders and the girls came back and sat down with us again. Soon we were making our way back to Dave's cottage. As Dave opened the door, he and Liz stopped.

"You need the time together so the house is yours, we are going to sleep round at mum's tonight. I'll be back around ten in the morning to see you."

He and Liz bid us goodnight and they headed off down the lane to their parents' house about five minutes away. Mia and I entered the cottage, and as I closed the door behind me, she turned to face me and her arms wrapped around me.

"You have really nice friends," Mia said then she kissed me.

"Mia, I'm so sorry I walked away," I said.

She put her finger on my lips, "Shush, and from what I saw you ran." I smiled at her comment. "I'm glad that you and Liz are friends again. Her story is so sad."

"So am I, it's because I've known her all my life that I think her betrayal affected me so much."

I led her upstairs as we talked and into my bedroom.

Interlude 4: Mia

My body burned with his soft touches. It was like little jolts of electricity every time his skin touched mine. My mouth was hungry for his. We sat side by side in the pub and I felt the fears of the past few days washing away.

Daniel still loved me that was all I could think about. I kept looking at the ring on my finger to convince myself that it wasn't a dream. Liz kept apologising to Daniel and me. Then she took me to one side and told me the whole sordid story of her, Gordon and Daniel. She opened her heart to me and I knew that deep down she still loved him, but she knew that she'd lost him to me. I felt such a kindred spirit with her that all I could do was hug her and join her in her tears.

We left the bar with Liz and Dave and walked down the lane towards the cottage. At the door Dave spoke to Daniel and then he and Liz walked off up the lane leaving us alone. He took me by the hand and led me into the cottage.

I don't remember how, but suddenly we were in his bedroom. I looked at Daniel and his blue eyes glinted in the light of the bedside lamp. A look of longing flitted across his face. The hurt and despair that I'd seen the last time we'd been alone was gone, my Daniel was back and I wasn't going to let get away ever again. His eyes pierced deep into my soul and my body was quick to responded

He raised his hand and he gently caressed my face and neck with the back of finger. Just the touch of him sent warm flashes through my body that centred in my womb.

I stood there frozen in place as he quickly shed his jeans and top. The front of his boxers bulged with the evidence of his need for me. But still I was scared to move in case it was still a dream.

He drew me to him and I shook with anticipation. I offered no resistance as he unbuttoned my top and slid it off my shoulders to flutter to the floor. My bra hid no secrets, my nipples taunt with excitement pushing at the translucent fabric, eager to be touched, desperate for his mouth. He found the clasp and it fell away. His mouth caressed one of my nipples and my knees bent and I wrapped an arm around his neck in support while I moaned in desire.

Daniel reached out and pulled me to him, his hands slid down my back and under my jeans and panties, cupped my ass cheeks. I felt his rigid length pressing against me. Then he unbuttoned my jeans and kneeling down slid them over my hips. He delicately kissed his way down my belly. Slowly, very slowly he began to ease my panties down.

Having my lover pull down my panties is an intensely erotic act. It opens me up to be taken sexually, and by allowing them to be removed, I agree implicitly to have my inner self penetrated by him. So it is best done slowly and relished by both partners. Daniel took his time and completed my fantasy leaving me wet and trembling for his next touch.

Daniel

My tongue hovered above her glistening slit as she stood trembling in anticipation in front of me. With my hands caressing the curves of her butt I dipped the tip of my tongue into the honey pot at the top of her legs. She quivered as I sucked on her clit, her small tuft of black silky soft pussy hair tickled the tip of my nose.

I eased her back and she sat on the edge of the bed and spread her thighs. I moved with her up the bed and she propped herself up on the pillows. I lay down with my head between her legs. I kissed my way slowly up the inside of her silky thighs, then up across the gentle curve of her abdomen to her belly button.

She stroked my hair and murmured, "Oh Daniel, I've missed you so much."

I kissed my way down the fine line of down that led to the tuft of hair on her mons. She groaned as my lips grazed the tip of her clit before dropping lower and sucking on her labia. Tasting the sweet elixir of love that formed glistening beads. Like a cat I lapped back and forth along her slit collecting the cream.

She shuddered and her hips rose off the bed. Pushing against my mouth as she came with a long drawn out moan. She collapsed back on the bed sighing contentedly only to cry out again as my fingers invaded her inner being.

"Oh God, yes," she groaned.

The tips of my fingers found that elusive patch on the wall of her passage that sent her writhing towards a second intense orgasm that left her gasping out my name.

"I want you," she gasped and my rampant cock agreed with her and demanded to be freed from the confines of my boxers.

She pulled me up to cover her with my now naked body. Her legs wrapping round the back of my thighs as she fed my throbbing cock past the slick gates and into the sweet slippery confines of her cunt.

I groaned at the sensations of being surrounded by her warm flesh. Her heels and arms urged me to move and move I did. Thrusting in and out of her willing body, moving in rhythm to her vocal urgings. Our cries grew in intensity as we forged ever closed to a mutual completion of our act of love. I came, she came and for a few seconds I think we both passed out.

I pulled the cover over the pair of us and she curled up against me, my arms clasped protectively around her. It had been a long emotional day for both of us and it wasn't long before we both drifted off to sleep.

We were woken by a rap on the door and Dave stuck his head around the door.

"Good morning sleepy heads, do you want tea or coffee?" He grinned at both of us as we struggled to wake up. "Nice arse, Mia," he said approvingly and she squealed and tugged the cover over her exposed rear.

"Tea for me," I said trying but failing not to smile, "and.....?"

"Coffee please," a red-faced Mia said.

"Coming right up," and his head disappeared.

Mia saw my face and burst out laughing. "Is he always as free with his comments as that?" She asked.

"Think yourself lucky, usually he'd have come in the room and the first thing we'd have known would be when he smacked what I will admit is a great arse. And then complimented you.

She spluttered indignantly.

"I'm sorry," I said. "Dave is a bit like the brother I never had. Some of my earliest memories are of running around naked in his parent's garden. Playing with a hose, with him and Gordon."

"Mum's still got the photo," Liz's voice said from the door. She brought over the two mugs. "You must have been four, I'm in the photo, but I don't remember it."

She handed Mia her coffee, "I need to apologise for my oaf of a brother. We needed fresh clothes and I told him not to disturb you."

Mia sat up carefully pulling the sheet up to cover her breasts. "No, it's ok, I'm just not used to getting compliments on my butt from others when I'm in bed with my lover."

"You're lucky you don't live with him," Liz said. "His sense of humour is to run the hot tap when I'm having a shower, the water turns bloody freezing."

"He's a bit of a practical joker," I warned Mia.

"Dave says he needs the keys to the car, he'll drop it off at the garage on his way to work."

"In my trouser pocket," I said pointing at the pile of clothes on the floor.

Liz said, "Mia we are about the same size, there's clean bras and knickers in the top draw in my room, help yourself. I need to go, Dave's dropping me off at work." She left holding the keys.

Dave shouted up the stairs, "I've left the key to my car on the kitchen table in case you need to go anywhere. We'll see you in the pub after work." We heard the front door slam.

Silence returned to the cottage and Mia slid down the bed and turned to face me. "Are all your British friends as eccentric as Dave?"

"He's one of the more sensible ones."

She nuzzled my neck, kissing me along the line of my jaw. "I so wanted to hate Liz for what she did to you," she murmured. "But I can't; I feel sorry for the way Gordon manipulated her. What she told me last night makes me want to hug her and tell her it wasn't her fault."

I caressed her back, slowly and gently ran the tips of my fingers down the soft curve until I reached the silky swelling of her buttocks. "I know what you mean. I've told Dave that I'll pay for any counselling she needs. There's a very fine line between love and hate and in Liz's case I've experienced both sides of that line and I know which side I prefer."

"Good," and she wriggled on top of me her hand reaching down between us to grasp my morning woody. "I've been considering your punishment for using my forbidden name," she murmured squeezing my hard cock. "Remember only my grandmother is allowed to call me Amelia!"

"Ohh," I gasped.

"Hmmm yes, I'm going to steal this and hide him away somewhere special."

"Where's that?" I groaned as her hand tightened round my shaft.

"Somewhere that's only yours for evermore," she whimpered as my fingers squeezed her nipples.

"And how often are you going to punish me?" I groaned as she ran the top of my cock along her wet slit.

"At least once a day and if I feel you deserve it, several times. Oh fuck yes," she cried out as she impaled herself, sliding down my shaft in a slow deliberate motion. My tip touched her cervix and the tight silky walls of her passage clutched at my shaft.

She rose up on her knees, moving up my shaft until only the tip nestled between her pussy lips. She looked down at me with a broad grin plastered across her face. "I love you Daniel," she whispered. Then she groaned as she started riding my cock. Her hair fell forward half covering her face half but not entirely obscuring the look of deep concentration. Her breasts swayed and her dark nipples puckered.

"Don't you dare move ... too much," she scolded me as I reached out for her mesmerising nipples. "You lie there and take your punishment like a man."

Her eyes opened and again she moaned, this time because the angle was perfect for the head of my cock to rub across her G-spot each time she moved.

"Oh God, yes," she moaned. The walls of her cunt tightened and she came, a trickle of pussy juice spreading out around the base of my cock. She hesitated her movements less coordinated than before.

"I'm glad you're taking your punishment so well," she hissed out. "But I think you need to suffer a bit more."

She bent forward this time as she began riding my shaft again. Her lips sought mine in a savage kiss. Her firm nipples traced a pattern on the skin of my chest.

"Christ," she gasped into my mouth as I started to move up to meet her. My hands grasped the perfect half-moons of her arse cheeks to control her movements, one fingertip rubbing around the puckered rose of her anus. We moved in harmony, my heavy desire growing in my groin seeking to escape into the welcoming warmth of Mia.

"I can't last much longer," I groaned as she began rolling her hips.

"I'm so close," she gasped.

A few moments later I felt the surge deep in my balls, and then I was coating the walls of her cunt with my cum. The sensation of me filling her pushed her over the edge and her orgasm racked her body. Her cunt tightening and milking the very last drop from me. She collapsed on top of me, her body giving little quivers as she recovered.

I caressed the soft skin of her back. She traced a fingertip down the line of my jaw, and we slowly relaxed. She slid off me and curled up by my side.

She looked at me and then the ring on her finger. She said in a coy little girl's voice. "Just how quickly were you thinking we should get married? Just so you know that in the rush to get here I forgot to pack my pills, and I'm at the most fertile point of my cycle!"

Epilogue:

Well, I couldn't leave it like that could I?

And yes, nine months later we were the proud parents of a bouncing baby boy we decided to call Andrew after my father.

We got married after I finished the book signing tour. Mia stayed with me for the full two-and-a-half months that it lasted.

Our wedding was held in the ancient Norman church in the village, the same church that multiple generations of my family have been married, christened and buried in.

We flew Mia's family over for the wedding. Roger and the rest of the partners and Mia's assistants came over as well. The practice paid for their flights, which we both thought was a kind gesture from Roger. The church was packed with my friends and relatives.

My offer on my old house was finally accepted after a bit of to and froing by the owners. Now, I've become what I'd always despised, a part-time resident of the village, but I didn't change my allegiance to the Plough; it was still my local. I'm still known as Danny in the village, only a few know of my alter ego as a famous author, and those that do are very close lipped.

Mia went back to work part time. She still takes the difficult sexual dysfunctional cases. But as she promised me that glorious morning in Dave's cottage I'm the only one to enjoy the pleasures of her body. She has her own team of surrogates she works with. Roger's talking about retiring next year and he wants Mia to take over as senior partner in his place. I'd bought her a twenty-five percent stake in the practice as a wedding present. I do wonder if I did the right thing in allowing Mia to stop her surrogacy work. I hear her on the phone occasionally discussing cases with her assistants, and I can hear the wistful tone in her voice. I think it's time for us to reevaluate her participation. I've been man enough to admit my failings and now it's time to move on and be a little more forgiving and adventurous.

As I note down these last few words I'm sitting on the edge of the dock looking across the lake at the log cabin of our neighbours, a British doctor Michael and his two wives Sally and Zoe. Dave married Mila, Sally's niece who he met on one of his many visits to see his godson. The last few times that he and Mila came to Colorado to stay, Liz came with them. Now, she and Mia are as thick as thieves. Mia invited Liz to stay the whole summer since she's dumped her latest boyfriend. Recently, Mia's been making the odd comment on how happy our neighbours are with their extended marriage. I'm no fool I can add two and two together and make five with the best of them. I think it's going to be an interesting summer.