From Riches to Rags (28 page)

“We can work out of our house,” she said, leaning closer to me.

“Our house? Do you mean like you take one half and I take the other?”

“I think we should buy it together and share the cost.”

“Oh…”

“And the house should have at least four rooms,” she said, leaning closer still.

“Four rooms? For just the two of us?”

“Sure, one room for the office, one room for guests, and one really big room for Norma to live in.”

“That leaves one room left for you?” I wasn’t being naïve, I was trying to get her to say what I wanted to hear.

“But it will be a master bedroom with plenty of room for two.”

I leaned close to her lips, close enough that she could feel the warmth of my breath, and said, “You’re not getting the kitten.”

“The kitten? Huh?”

“Just say you love her, Melinda, before you both fall in bed with me.”

“Norma!” I shouted.

“Norma, you’re awake!”

“Who could sleep with you two hovering over me?” Norma smacked her lips and I wasn’t sure if she were making a point or just had a dry mouth.

“Oh, thank God. We were so worried about you.” I couldn’t stop the tears from welling up inside of me.

“What happened? Where am I?”

“You’re in the hospital. You had pneumonia, Norma, and you were in a coma for days.” Melinda said as she got Norma a sip of water.

“My goodness, I’m in the hospital? I’m confused, why were you asking to see my knockers then, Melinda?”

Melinda looked at me and burst out laughing, which was contagious because I laughed with her.

Graduation Day — Melinda Livingston
and
Chris Livingston

The next day, I gave notice at the restaurant, and though I wasn’t going to miss the backbreaking long hours and the perpetual barbeque stains on my clothes, not to mention riding the bus to and from work, I was going to miss the people I worked with. Chris also gave her notice, and although she could have quit days earlier, she said she wanted to help out until after Christmas.

It was the last day. It was the end of the big test. The challenge had been taken and conquered. Chris took me to the Peabody for a celebratory dinner and gave me a certificate for completing the challenge. The certificate had a huge bold A+ across the top. I was damn proud of it too.

For the first time in a month, I had a sirloin steak. I was so hungry for steak that I ate it like I was making love to it, and in a way, I was. The steak aroused in me such a hunger, I feared it would be obvious to everyone around.

After my third bite of the succulent, caramelized, medium rare steak, I couldn’t take it anymore. “Chris, will you…, will you make love to me tonight?”

She dropped her fork and it clattered against her plate. She looked at me skeptical at first, but finally said, “No.”

I was crushed, “No? Why not?”

“Because, I want more. I’ve wanted more since the first night you moved in and I’m not going to cave until I get more.”

“More of what? More of a commitment? You already have that for the rest of our lives. I don’t understand what more you would want, unless…”

“Unless what, Melinda?”

“Chris, I hear what you’re saying, but I don’t think it means the same thing to me as it does you. Two months ago, I would say those three words to every woman I met, knowing that they were empty words, with no value in my heart. You are the most valuable thing I have in my heart and in my life. For me, committing my life to you carries more weight than my saying I love you. And that’s why it’s hard for me to say it, but I will remind myself that you need to hear it, so, I do love you, Chris, I love you like crazy and I am one-hundred percent committed to that love.”

Chris had tears in her eyes when she said, “Now see, was that so hard to say? I love you too, more than I can put into words. So I will say what I think you want to hear. Yes, I will make love to you tonight, Melinda Blackstone, because I am crazy in love with you too, and because I have been about to explode for a week now.”

We crashed through the apartment door, our lips locked and our hands probing. I was barely cognizant of Chris shutting the door behind us as I quickly shooed the kittens off the bed and pulled off my shoes. Chris wedged her thigh in between my legs and laced her fingers behind my head, pulling my lips to the cleft between her breasts. My hands instinctually pulled her T-shirt up so my lips could find her erect tips and suckle them. God, my mouth was so hungry for her that I barely realized she had pushed me back on the bed. Her thigh gyrated slowly, deliberately against me and before I knew it, I was already close to the edge. I grabbed her shoulders and rolled her over, cupping both perfectly round, incredibly soft breasts while I thrust my leg between her thighs. She groaned with pleasure and it reverberated deep inside of me.
God, I love this woman!

She opened her body to me so that I could discover every nuance that gave her pleasure, and as my hand fondled her breast, my other hand explored her secrets until her breath shuddered in heated anticipation. I pushed her to the edge and brought her back, then I pushed her there again until she cried for release. And just as our neighbor began to pound on the wall, she cried out at her climax, and I felt her pulsate and shudder in my arms as I held her close. And as the last spasms of pleasure rippled through her loins, I cried at the privilege of seeing her soul unveiled to me.

Epilogue

We bought a beautiful mansion overlooking the Mississippi River, were we lay in bed in the mornings and watch the barges carry their loads up and down the river. It took some persuasion before Chris saw the wisdom of having such a large house with all that extra space. I told her that even though we were both financially set for life, we would still need to entertain and raise funds for our scholarship program, and that would require space, lots of space. Plus, who better to entertain the big wigs, than her mother, Felicia, who would need room to work her magic, whether it is in the ball room or beside the swimming pool.

So, we now have a very large kitchen with all the stainless steel utilities, and I retired that old hot plate to the trash bin. Even though we now have an elegant formal dining room, Chris and I prefer the cozy breakfast nook, where hanging on the wall is my graduation certificate that Chris made for me, and the I.O.U. that I gave her for Christmas. In our spacious bedroom hangs the photo George gave us and beside it is the dream catcher from Meg, as a poignant reminder to me. Of course, we have a surround theater room and a game room, but that’s where I draw the line at my opulence. Well, except for our cars. I still have all my toys in San Francisco, but I kept the Lamborghini and Chris kept her Mercedes sports coupe convertible.

We moved Norma in with us and she has her own private wing, although she prefers a single living room and bedroom. We moved everything from her apartment into her new living room, and she still has plenty of room to add more. She was so happy to leave that dilapidated building where she felt trapped, not just because of the building, but of the drunks and drug pushers loitering around.

And speaking of drunks, her ex-boyfriend, Richard, disappeared the minute she moved out. I looked for him to see if he’d go into rehab where he’d be safe, but he wasn’t in any of his usual hideouts. I’m hoping to find him before they tear the building down.

The eviction letters went out in the mail on January first, so Chris and I will begin offering assistance to the displaced residents next week. And since my father put me in charge of moving them out, I established a fund in his name, that would provide for moving trucks and first month’s rent. He was none too happy about it at first, until the newspapers got wind of it and made him out to be a hero.

“Waitress, hey waitress! Can I get another glass of orange juice over here please?”

Chris was hollering at me as if I were in the next room instead of sitting right beside her.

“Yuk it up, missy.”

“Paybacks a bitch you know.” She said with an angelic grin.

“Don’t I ever. Do you want anything else while I’m up?”

“No, that’s all.”

I poured myself another cup of coffee and a glass of OJ and brought them to the table. No sooner had I sat down when she asked for something else.

“I’ve changed my mind, could you get me a cup of coffee too please?”

There were several ways I could play this game. Either get her a cup of coffee, kiss her to make her, stop or moon her to make her horny. I decided to do all three because they appealed to me, but then I was distracted when Blackie and Pluto came running into the dining room meowing to be fed. Norma followed in behind them, and opened a can of cat food, causing the kittens to spas and meow even louder.

“Good morning, my girls.” Norma said.

“Are you talking to us or the kittens?” I asked jokingly.

“You’re all my girls, dear.”

“Here, you sit down and I’ll get you some orange juice.” Chris said and Norma sat down beside me.

“Hey, how come you’ll wait on Norma like she’s a queen, but you make me fetch for you like I was your concubine.” Once I had stopped talking I heard what I had said. “Uh, never mind.”

Chris laughed and sat Norma’s OJ down in front of her, along with a plate of ham and eggs.

Norma looked at each of us with a smile on her lips, “I want to thank you both, for everything you’ve done for me, letting me live in such luxury. And I can’t thank you enough for what you did for my grandson’s family. Paying their medical bills was an answer to my prayers. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you.”

“Norma, you have given us much more than we can ever repay you for, so I think we should call it even, all right?”

“All right, Chris, I’ll try.”

Norma held her handkerchief up to her mouth and coughed. Her cough was greatly improved and her eyes were clear, but still I worried for her.

“Shall I run up stairs and get your medicine for you, Norma?” I asked.

“No, thank you dear, I took it before I came down. Now, what were you two talking about before I interrupted?”

“If I recall, we were listening to Melinda whine about not being waited on hand and foot.”

“I wasn’t whining,” I whined, “I was merely stating that—”

Chris leaned over and cupped my chin, “You are so cute when you whine,” she said, and kissed me hard on the lips.

“Uh, Norma, can you fend for yourself for a while, I need to have a high level meeting with my partner here, in the other room.”

“Of course, dear, go have fun.”

“Oh, we will, Norma, we most certainly will,” I said with a smile.

The End

Other books by Mairsile:

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Generations of Women Warriors:

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First in a series chronicling the life and times of women in a family, who fought in historic battles and loved in historic times, though both could get them killed. Temi, at age 17, finds herself pregnant, in love with a girl, and staring down a cannon, in this epic tale of growing up during the Civil War.
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