What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been

"Or," she began, "we can simply let the world know just how much we love one another."

"Nah. I like the dominatrixes."

"No dominatrixes," she said.

"That includes our Mistress," I said to her. "I love Lillian Ibanex and she's the only woman I want to be with for the rest of my life." She moved closer. We held one another and kissed. We rested in each other's arms until we eventually fell asleep.

When we awoke the following morning, Lillian said, "Mrs. Sherman is retiring today. You should stop by for the party. It's faculty and students alike."

"I think I'm the last person she would want to see."

"Yeah, I suppose so. Well, I have some administrative duties afterwards, but I should be home between four and five." I smiled. "What?"

"When you say 'home,' I know you mean our home."

She kissed me. "Yes. Most definitely our home."

She got ready for work. Before leaving, she said, "Here." I held out my hand and she dropped something in it. "Keys to the house. Go do what you have to do, but I expect you to be waiting on me when I get home this evening." I stayed until she left, then went back to my place. I talked to my landlord and gave my notice, then I packed some things and returned to her house. Our house. I rummaged through the freezer and found some pork steaks. I placed them in the sink to thaw, then I cleaned a little before watching TV.

I got a shower, then started dinner at four. When she arrived at five-fifteen the chops were just coming out of the oven. I made a loaded baked potato casserole and garlic butter baby carrots to go along with it. We ate, talked about her day and mine, and I told her to go take a long, hot bath while I cleaned the kitchen. She found me on the bed when she emerged from the bathroom. She sat next to me, we kissed, and then I said, "I need to tell you something."

She smiled. "Sure, babe. What is it?"

"When we were separated? I ... paid my debt to Edna."

"Sherman?" she asked.

"Yes."

She mulled this over a bit, then asked, "And since when did she become 'Edna' to you?" There was no anger in her voice. She asked it with the same tone one might use when telling another that his shoe was untied.

I explained everything. Not in detail, mind you, just the "accrued interest" and my need to feel something akin to love.

"How many times did you and she ...?"

"Well, I stayed the weekend," I told her. "About twelve times."

She sighed. "Well, I certainly can't be angry over it."

"I waited until you got home to tell you because I didn't want there to be any tension between you and she on her last day there."

"That was probably for the best," Lillian said. "Thank you." She leaned in and kissed me, and

when she drew back, she said, "I have a confession to make also. While we were apart, I had a threesome."

I held my hands out in front of me. "It's fine. We weren't together then."

"But I want to tell you about it," she said as she seductively moved closer to me. She nibbled on my left ear and whispered, "It was with Lisa ..." and then she moved to my right and said, "...and Kimiko."

I sat bolt upright. "Really?"

"We got drunk, I started crying over how things ended with you and I, and they sought to cheer me up. It was really sexy."

"I bet it was."

"But you're here now," she said as her lips met mine. She pulled the towel from her body as I removed my shirt. She pulled my pants down and burst into laughter. I was wearing my elephant undies. She pulled those from me and moved into a sixty-nine.

Once we had finished, she told me that one day soon I was going to have to out-do what I did to Edna with her. That was something to look forward to.

The next day, I informed my parents of my and Lillian's upcoming nuptials. The were happy for me, of course, but were concerned that we were moving too fast. "I can't ever imagine myself with anyone else," I told them, and there was no more talk of it.

Lillian informed her parents and Elena, her daughter, who told her father. He called and asked if he could come by and meet me. Lillian was against it, but I encouraged her to allow it. Robert showed up with his new wife. We talked some. There was obvious tension in the room, but nothing ever came of it. As he was leaving, he said to me, "Treat her better than I did. She deserves to be happy." I shook his hand, and they were gone.

February fourteenth was a beautiful day. It was seventy degrees with a light wind blowing. The ceremony was to take place in Summer's back yard, and she and the bridesmaids decorated it beautifully. It was a small gathering insofar as guests go. My parents—Dad was my best man—my employer, Mr. Johnson, and a couple of friends on my side, and Lillian's parents, Elena, who was maid of honor, her daughter Christie, who was the ring bearer, and a few faculty from the school on hers.

Kimiko was an ordained minister, so it was only natural that she officiate the wedding. She went through the ritual up to the vows, and then she asked Lillian and I to recite our own. Lillian went first. "Alan, it took me losing you to realize just how much you mean to me. I don't know if it will rain ten minutes from now, and I don't know if the Falcons will ever win a Superbowl—"

"Hell yeah, they will!" It was Lillian's father. We all looked and laughed. "Oh. Uh, sorry."

She smiled. "Anyway, what I do know is that I love you, and I know you will never experience a day when you don't know the depths to which that love runs."

I wiped the mist from my eyes, then began my vows. "I have always said that I will bow to no person because I serve no master, but right now, for all to see ..." I dropped to one knee. "... I bow to you, and I will do everything in my power to ensure that you allow me to be every good thing that you deserve."

"Oh, my God!" Lillian said as her hands shot to her face. She was crying even as I dipped further and kissed both her feet. I stood and took her hands into mine.

I looked at Kimiko, who was wiping the tears from her own eyes. She finally composed herself and said, Lillian—"

"I do," she responded as another wave of tears overtook her.

"Alan?"

"I do," and before she could even pronounce us, Lillian and I were kissing each other in a way that only our bedroom walls had ever seen. Kimiko stopped us, though, and reminded us of the rings. We placed them, then kissed once again.

The reception went well. Summer caught the bouquet, Lillian and I did not mush cake into each other's faces, and no one got shit-face drunk and caused a scene. We opened the gifts and were happy with them all, especially the Carnivale cruise Mom and Dad gave us.

When we returned home, Lillian and I made our way to the bedroom. She lay on her back and I serviced her orally. I moved up to enter her, but she stopped me. "I have a present for you," she said to me. "One final wedding gift." She reached into the nightstand drawer and pulled out the KY jelly, which she handed to me. I shrugged my shoulders. "Over the past few months I have been loosening my anus in time for this, our honeymoon. I think I'm ready, Alan."

"Oh, Baby," I said as I leaned forward and kissed her. I quickly moved down and ran my mouth all over her bum, then I straightened and applied some lube to my cock, then her ass.

"Be careful," she said. I centered my cock and gently pushed. Nothing at first, then I felt the head slip in. I stopped so she could get acclimated to me, then I pushed a little more until half my cock was inside her. I waited, then eased the remainder of myself into her. "Oh, Baby. Hold it right there. Don't move. Not yet." I waited all of two minutes, then she said, "Okay. Now."

I went as slowly as I could. I didn't last a minute. I continued, though, and twenty minutes later I was cumming again. Anal was doing wonders for Lillian, as well. She was cumming like a wildcat. Still embedded deep inside her, I moved to where my belly was against her back. I lifted her leg and continued to move slowly. Then she said, "Fuck it, Alan. Fuck it like you mean it." I increased my speed a little, but it wasn't enough. "Fuck me, baby. Fuck me harder. Fuck my asshole good." She was driving me crazy, and the more she spoke, the harder and faster I went, until I finally caught my third orgasm of the night. I was out of breath, as was she. We lay there, my cock still buried inside her holiest of holies. She started gently pushing against me. I gently pushed back. An hour later I had my final orgasm of the night, and after about thirty or more, so had she. We fell asleep, happy, together forever, in each other's arms.

The next two years were as such: I finished my Masters and began my Doctorate. During this time, we adopted three-year-old twins, a girl and a boy, whose mother simply got tired of being a mother. Lisa had lost everything she owned in a fire. Having nowhere to stay, we invited her to move in with us. Unbeknownst to me, she and Lillian held a conversation which I was finally made privy to. Lisa would quit her job as a barista and serve as our live-in nanny. Furthermore, she had agreed to be a surrogate for Lillian and I. Lisa is currently three months pregnant with our baby girl.

Life is good. In all honesty, I never believed in a happily ever after, but having lived it these past few years, it has made a believer out of me.