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Wiped by the intensity of our lovemaking, I once again found myself fighting the desire for sleep. Lately, I had been feeling so exhausted and hormonal.
I knew that it had to be because I was weaning Mandy. After all three years ago, when I had weaned Mazie, it was the same. Since I had gone almost two years with only a handful of periods, it was almost like my body had to throw itself back into its monthly routine with a vengeance. Luckily, Mandy was almost fully weaned, and by Christmas, I hoped to start feeling like myself again.
Breaking me out of my dreaminess, Dale kissed me softly before saying, "Do we have time to relax in the Jacuzzi?"
My bone-weary body almost belted out the Halleluiah chorus at the idea of the warm, relaxing waters bubbling around my sated body. "That sounds perfect."
With three hours left until my departure, I prepared the bath while Dale scheduled our room service so that it would be delivered within the next two hours. This way we would be forced from allowing our attentions to wander too far into the world we inhabited whenever we were together. Otherwise, I wouldn't make it back in time for Mandy's night time feeding.
The tub was genuinely exquisite and appeared to be designed by someone who knew that a lot of kinky splashing might occur in this jacuzzi. The evidence was in the small drains set up around the stepped edges to prevent overflow.
"By my calculation future Mrs. Wilson, we have exactly 1 hour and 45 minutes before we should start dressing," Dale said kissing my jaw.
"Hmmm, I like that name. We should probably start talking about setting a date. Once we tell our family on Sunday, it will be the first thing they ask," I said, while he held my hand to help me step into the jacuzzi.
"I'm glad you brought that up," Dale said, before disappearing back into the room.
"Where are you going?"
"You'll see," Dale said secretively. "Now close your eyes."
Feeling Dale sloshing into the tub to sit beside me, I was surprised when he began to slip a ring onto my finger.
Opening my eyes in shock, I zeroed in on a beautiful rose-gold and filigree engagement ring that had delicate paisley designs on either side of a modest princess cut diamond. It was the most breathtaking ring I had ever seen.
Dale was currently shifting nervously, subconsciously begging me for a response. "If you don't like it, we can always find something else, but I remembered looking at your wedding album last month, and I thought that I'd find something that was completely different from your previous wedding ring. That way it was something that completely belonged to us." Taking a long breath, he quickly added, "Please, say something."
"Dale, it's perfect! It's so unique and purely exquisite," I said straddling him so that he could feel how arousing his gift was.
Completely overtaken by the moment, Dale quickly adjusted himself and thrusted into my center with the eagerness to claim my body as his...only his. Moving swiftly and aggressively, within minutes I felt my body clenching him, and our bodies exploded in orgasm together. Completely caught off guard by its force, I began to feel a stabbing in my lower stomach muscles as if I'd strained something.
Catching my face’s dramatic change from joy to discomfort, Dale was quick to go on alert. "What's wrong, did I hurt you?"
"No, no, it's not that!" I reassure him, laughing it off while the pain began to recede. "The orgasm was so intense that I think I pulled a stomach muscle. Haha. Maybe I should train for another half marathon. I haven't done much exercise since before Mazie was born, and I loved the last one I trained for."
Distracted by my change in subject, Dale lit up! "You want to train together? I can get a second treadmill for the basement, and we could run together."
"Which is a perfect way to segue back to our original topic. When would you like to make it official?"
"Before we talk about a wedding date, I think we should address another topic. What do you know about morality clauses?"
"Historically I know that they were used for religious organizations and those in the public eye, why?"
"Well, our district has a morality clause for all high-ranking administrators in the school system. I can't officially live with someone who isn't my legal partner and not being with you every day is killing me," he said expelling a heavy breath. "So, if you're okay with this, I'd like to do a quick wedding at the courthouse as soon as possible, and then plan a small family wedding for the weekend after Christmas," Dale shared apprehensively.
Looking at my beautiful ring and the love it represented, my response was natural. "What are you doing for lunch on Monday and Wednesday?"
"Are you sure?"
"Dale, being away from you is torture, if marrying you Wednesday will expedite bringing our family together, I am on board."
Then Dale crushed me against his chest and kissed me. "Well soon-to-be Mrs. Wilson, I will meet you at the courthouse on Monday at noon to apply for our marriage license, and we'll plan to take a long lunch on Wednesday afternoon to make it official."
The remaining hour was spent cuddling, discussing the fine details of moving in together, and periodically adding warm water to our cooling Jacuzzi bath. By the time the alarm on Dale's phone went off to signal our need to get dressed, we had ironed out the following:
On the drive back to Geoff 's I allowed myself to bask in my happiness completely. Not only did I feel like the luckiest woman in the world, but after Tuesday night, I wouldn't have to sleep away from Dale.
Sneaking my ring into my pants pocket when I arrived back at Geoff 's, I found everyone thoroughly passed out in the living room. Hopefully, that meant that the girls had a good day. Covering Geoff and Mazie with a few throws from the linen closet, I grabbed Mandy out of her pack-in-play and made quick work of our nighttime routine. Thankfully, Mandy was disinterested in nursing more than a few moments, so I was able to retreat to the spare room with plenty of time to get ready for my nightly call with Dale.
Huh, that was déjà vu.
I probably stared at my engagement ring for a good 20 minutes straight before I made an executive decision to place it on my right hand. This way I could still wear it, but it would prevent Geoff from asking too many questions tomorrow before the girls, and I could head out to Dale's house for our first ever joint family dinner.
At 10:00 pm that night, Dale and I had our normal evening conversation, but exhaustion from the day's exercises and being abnormally sore in my lower abdomen, I reluctantly cut it short.
Thankfully, after Wednesday we could have our nightly talks in bed together.
It was with thoughts of Dale and our future together that I fell asleep in a euphoric stupor.
Unfortunately, the next morning my euphoria was cut short by Geoff 's surliness. His attitude always put everyone in a funk, and by the time I had the girls loaded to leave, he was downright egregious. Because this weekend would be my last overnight, I made sure to double check all of the drawers in Geoff 's spare room for any missed items. After all, Geoff had a history of hiding my things to teach me a lesson about sloppiness.
I was two seconds from my escape when Geoff pulled me aside for a "heart-to-heart" after he had kissed the girls goodbye.
"You're really not coming to the weekend visits anymore?" Geoff was excessively bothered by this, and you could tell by the way he was clenching his jaw.
"No, Mandy's almost weaned, so there's no need."
"So, you're going to abandon your children for the weekend so that you can what? Go shack up with Mr. Wilson?" Noticing the shock in my face, he added, "Yeah Mazie told me ALL about the sleepovers you've been having at his house. Don't you think that's setting a poor example for our girls?"
Unable to mask my anger, I broke my one-year moratorium on yelling at Geoff. "What right do you have to judge me, Geoff Jenkins? Dale Wilson and I aren't some fling."
"Poor naïve Kelly. When will you ever realize when someone is taking advantage of you? This Dale is only using you because you're convenient and you happen to be around to scratch an itch while the girls have play dates," he said with a satisfied smirk. Geoff always knew how to word arguments to have the most potent punch. But this time, he wasn't going to win. He didn't have to understand that though.
"Maybe you're right Geoff. I'll see you when I drop the kids off in three weeks for their next weekend," I said trying to keep my voice from exploding in volume.
"I am right, and you know it, Kelly! Regardless, I will say this Mrs. Jenkins; if you continue having overnight sleepovers with this Dale Wilson, I will call the school board and complain. My daughters don't need to see their mother acting like a desperate whore. And he should be ashamed of himself for taking advantage of you."
Breathe, Kelly! Breathe!
Don't give into his pettiness.
Attempting to give off an air of calm, I replied, "Okay Geoff. I promise not to have another sleepover with a man until I'm married. Happy?"
"A little, but I also want you to think about what kind of mom you want to be to the girls. Are you REALLY going to be the type of mother who abandons them all weekend when they are so used to having you around? Wouldn't you feel terrible if I were in the restroom and Mandy wandered into the street to get struck by a car?
If that happens, your daughter's death will be on your head." And then the bastard walked away waving goodbye to the girls.
Getting into the car and placing a fake smile on my face, I made quick work to get the hell away from Geoff Jenkins and the place we had all called home for so many years. There was no way I was going to fall for his ridiculous mind tricks anymore. They were one of the reasons I stayed with him for so long. He truly believed that the responsibility of the children's wellbeing was on me and that it was my job to monitor the kids even when he was watching them.
But that life was behind me, and thankfully after Wednesday, I wouldn’t be Mrs. Jenkins ever again.