Samson and Sunset (41 page)

  “Callie, Shay; Maggie and I are moving
into our new house around the middle of December, and we would like
the two of you and the kids to move into the Big House and take
over. It’s time for you two to take your place as head of this
house. Shay,” he turned to his son, “you’re running this operation
now.”

  “Callie,” Shay turned to me, “what do
you think about that?”

  I sat there just totally unable to
speak.

  Shay laughed. “I think for the first
time ever, my wife is speechless.”

  “I’ve never,” I swallowed, “I’ve never
thought about who’d be living here in this grand house. I certainly
never thought it would be us… I’m blown away! I just don’t know
what to say. I never ever dreamed or dared picture myself in this
beautiful home.”

  I was as giddy as a schoolgirl. I
wanted to run and tell everyone, “I’m going to be living in and
running the Big House!”

  Shay looked at Maggie and said with a
grin, “I’d say Callie is borderline overjoyed, verging on
hysterically beside herself.”

  I jumped up and hugged both Maggie and
Sterling.

  That night I kept interrupting our
lovemaking every few minutes, saying things like, “I’m going to put
the gold sofa in the den!” More lovemaking, and then, “I won’t
change the paint or the drapes. Or maybe I will!”

  “Oh for gosh sakes, am I in this
little endeavor alone, chatterbox? Do you think you could shut long
enough to make love to your husband?”

  The next time I made some remark about
decorating, Shay put his hand over my mouth, flipped me flat on my
back and said, “Woman, shut!”

  Then he put those gentle lips of his
on mine and I forgot about the Big House and got caught up in my
Shay Man. He fulfilled my every need and more.

  After about an hour and a half, I was
lying happily in his arms.

  “Miss Callie, may I have the floor for
a minute?”

  “Yes, sir, you got it. The floor is
yours for one minute. I’m timing you.”

  “Callie, darlin’, I was wondering if
maybe your mother might like to come and live with us in the Big
House. You know that suite you decorated is just like new; no one
ever used it after us. I like your mom and I like being around her.
I think she’s lonely living in Hudson by herself and I really don’t
like her being there alone. We’ll have the room, so why not ask her
to live with us?”

  I sat straight up and looked at Shay.
I was staring at this wonderful man, thinking: how many sons-in-law
want their mother-in-law to come to dinner, let alone invite them
to move in with them? Didn’t I say this man never ceased to amaze
me?

  “Oh, Shay.” Now he had me crying. “She
will be so happy! Especially when she hears it was your idea! She’s
going to feel so wanted. She
is
lonely. I worry about that
too. Just think how happy she’ll be! She lived for years down on
Oak Street and now she will be living in the Big House! And just
think, darlin’,” I said. “Callie Westover is going to be the
mistress of the Big House. Mistress. Can you believe it?”

  Shay reached up and pulled me back
down to his lips, kissing me with his gentle sensuous mouth. It
looked like lovemaking was back on.

  ***

My mother was so happy when I told her Shay
had asked if she’d move in with us. She cried as many tears as I
had. I think it was her reward from God for all she had done all
her life for other people.

  Mom would keep what she wanted.
Martha, my big sister, would take what she wanted, and the rest
would go to auction. We wanted to have Mom all ready to go when it
was time to move into to the Big House. We planned to move in the
last two days of December, 1979.

  Finally moving day came.

  Shay let me do what I wanted to the
Big House. I didn’t make a lot of changes, but as Shay said I gave
it the “Callie touch.” We bought another gorgeous new bedroom set
for the master suite. I wanted to make our love nest absolutely
stunning and sensual, a place where Shay and I could consume each
other.

  Wes took Shay’s old room; he wanted
Shay’s old exercise equipment, said he needed to “buff up for the
girls.” Leave it to Wes to be thinking of girls. Kelly took
Debbie’s old room and I let her pick her paint and get a new
bedroom set and accessories. Hulda was staying on with us. Yonnie
was going to work full time for Maggie, but she promised she’d come
over to visit. We got Mom moved into that grand suite Shay and I
had lived in. Mom told us she felt like a queen.

  Hulda asked me for my ideas on how I
wanted the house run. Oh, she would find out how easy I was to work
for.

  We kept breakfast buffets in the small
eating area, and continued evening meals and big fancy Sunday
dinners in the grand dinning room. Sterling and Maggie had an
outstanding invitation, like Shay and I had, when Maggie ran the
house. Christmas Eve would now be at Sterling and Maggie’s, and we
would host Christmas day at the Big House with the formal dinners
and cocktails. This was how this family had worked for generations;
I wasn’t taking that away from them. The oldest son took over the
operation and the Big House.

  Every time I walked past a mirror, I
stopped and looked at myself and said, “Hello Kathrine. Do you
realize that you’re the mistress of this manor?” Even saying it in
the mirror, I couldn’t seem to convince myself of it. I was so
happy. I couldn’t imagine a better life.

  Every time Shay walked through those
bedroom doors it was like the room was on fire. My heart raced, my
breathing quickened. He was my master. He really did own me—body
and soul—but I wasn’t going to let that go to his head.

  Just when I thought it couldn’t get
better, Susie told me she was getting married to a guy from Hudson
and they were looking for a place to rent. I went right to Shay and
told him. Then I just looked at him with my Callie-eyes that said
it all.

  “Alright, alright. You can rent our
old house to Susie.”

  Now it was complete! I had my lover,
my children, my mother, my great in-laws and, now my best
girlfriend all living within walking distance. I extended Susie and
her new family an open invitation to Sunday dinners whenever they
liked. I was in heaven.

  ***

By mid-January of 1980 we were completely
settled in. One bitterly cold night, Hulda made pot roast with all
the trimmings for supper and cherry pie with ice cream for dessert.
I was sitting next to Shay as usual. He was barefoot, and he kept
running his foot up and down my leg under the table. With all the
family there eating, I had no choice but to show no reaction. But I
was getting turned on. At one point Shay dropped his napkin and
bent under the edge of the table to get it. While under there, he
ran his hand clear up between my legs. I swear the kids must have
seen me jump, and I knew then that he knew I was aroused. Gosh, it
was all I could do to keep myself in my chair.

  Finally I said, “Oh, I’m so tired. I
think I’ll shower and go to bed.”

  “Hey, Mom,” Wes piped up, “thought we
weren’t supposed to lie. Everyone knows you’re going to bed early
so Dad can nail ya.” He grinned, Shay’s grin.

  “Wesley Wilson!” I said with a flushed
face. “I don’t know where you come up with such talk. It must be
those kids you hang out with. I want you to stop being so
crude.”

  “Yeah, Mom, that must be it; my
friends. But I’ll try to be less crude,” he said, grinning, as he
left the table.

  I left also, flustered and more than a
little embarrassed. Shay was close behind.

  “How does it feel to get busted by
your own son?” he asked, walking into our bedroom suite behind
me.

  “You got busted too, big boy!” I
reminded him.

  We had the most wonderful steamy
half-hour shower with Shay lathering my whole body.

  “Hey, Callie, don’t buy anymore of
this perfumed soap, it masks your juicy pineapple scent. I love
that scent, woman, it’s like being in an orange grove, or on a
beach surrounded by pineapple trees. It’s my own personal Callie
scent!”

  Shay washed my hair and rinsed my body
off. As usual he got a little carried away with the shower hose.
Boys will be boys. Then he dried us off and towel dried my
hair.

  “Gosh, woman, you smell so good I
could eat you whole!”

  “Well, mind your manners, Shay
Westover. Didn’t your mother ever teach you to just take one small
bite at a time?”

  I raised each of my arms as Shay put
on my underarm deodorant, and then unscented baby lotion. I loved
being lotioned up by Shay. He was never in a hurry. I turned around
and he did my shoulders, back, bottom and down the backs of my
legs. Then I’d turn around: time to lotion the front! He’d start
with my neck, then the arms, then on to my breasts. Well, he was
sure taking his sweet time lotioning my breasts.

  He was arousing me so much I said,
“Move along, big boy.”

  Shay moved down to my stomach, around
my inner thighs and down my legs. Wow, what a rubdown! Then he
picked me up and carried me over to the bed. Once there, he stood
me up, opened the covers, and threw all the pillows down to the
floor; picked me up and lay me flat on the bed. Then he stood there
just looking down at me.

  “Am I going to lie on this bed alone
all night, or are you getting in here with me?” I asked him.

  Shay slid down on the bed on his
stomach, placing the upper half of his body across my chest. He
braced himself on his arms and then I saw those beautiful lips
coming oh so slowly toward mine. He kissed and caressed the upper
part of my body with the gentleness of a person having sex for the
first time, someone not quite sure if he knows what to do. It was
so cute. He ran his fingers around my breast area with a
cloud-light touch. I was so damned turned on. Finally, he lay on
his back and pulled me up in his arms. Then I got the enjoyment of
lying on top of that sensuous, gorgeous body of his.

  We were at this foreplay for over an
hour; then I was digging my fingernails into the sheets, into
Shay’s arms; my body twisting in ecstatic torment while my toes
curled under and locked.

  “Princess, I love seeing your body
twist around like that.”

  I had reached my limit of foreplay
about twenty minutes ago, and said without any hesitation, “Fuck
me, Shay, just fuck me!”

  “My, princess, don’t you have a
naughty little mouth.” He looked delighted. I had never used that
kind of language in bed before.

  Without hesitation or coaxing, he slid
that iron Shay-rod inside of my life. The sex was so intense that
when I climaxed, I cried out so loud Shay put his hand over my
mouth. He climaxed right at that moment, looking into my eyes. I
lay there panting. Shay slid over on his back, panting right along
side of me.

  “Shay, do you remember that time I
told you I’d love to bottle my climax, keep it forever, and never
let it go?” I whispered, between heavy breaths. “You said if I did
keep it forever it would probably kill me?” I took a few gulps of
air and sighed. “Well, I swear, that climax I just had was so long
and thrillingly agonizing that it near killed me. I would just love
to bottle that feeling, no matter what the consequence.”

  Shay had a contented smile on his face
as he reached down and grabbed a couple of pillows and put them
behind his back. I lay against him, my head on his chest. I needed
time for a lot of afterglow after that.

  We lay there for quite awhile, Shay
with his arms wrapped around me. Suddenly I noticed he had both of
my arms crossed over each other just below my breasts and was
holding them there firmly.

  “Shay, don’t hold my arms so
tight.”

  He didn’t loosen them. I always got a
panicky feeling if I felt pinned. I tried to wiggle free.

  “Sssshhhhh,” Shay said, “just calm
down, I just want to hold you. So stay real calm. Just take some
deep breaths.”

  “No, Shay, let loose.” I squirmed.

  “Callie, calm down. Everything is
going to be fine. I’m sure it’s nothing, but darlin’ I need to tell
you something.” His voice was soft.

  I lay still. “What?”

  “Darlin’, please stay calm. Callie,
you have a lump in your left breast.”

  I think all the blood drained from my
head. I felt faint. “Shay, no!” I cried. “Where? Where is it? Show
me!”

  Shay let go of my arms and lay me flat
on my back. He took my fingers and placed them on the lump on my
left breast. There it was, distinct. I began crying
hysterically.

  “That’s why I was holding you,
princess. I wanted you close to my heart and in my arms when I told
you.”

  I cried hysterically, sobbing into my
hands.

  “Callie, it’s not a hard lump,” Shay
soothed. “It’s soft and I can move it a bit. I found it while I was
lotioning you. Then I checked it when you lay on your back. It may
just be a cyst. Cows get benign lumps all the time...”

  “Shay, I’m not an animal. I’m a human
woman. I don’t care what cows get!” I sobbed. “I’ve always heard if
you get breast cancer in your thirties the survival rate is very
bad.”

  At this time there wasn’t much hope
for breast cancer victims.

  “Callie, we don’t know if it’s cancer,
please don’t get ahead of yourself.”

  I knew Shay and he was concerned. But
I also knew he would do whatever it took to keep me calm.

  “Shay, please go get my mom,” I said
through tears.

  Shay got up, put his jeans and shirt
on, and went to get Mom.

  When I told her, she looked scared at
first; then I saw her get control. “Kathrine, we’ll have it checked
out. I’m sure it’s going to be okay. You’ll just go in and have it
checked,” she said matter-of-factly.

  Mom was like Shay; they both stayed
strong and calm for my sake. I couldn’t sleep until about 3:30 in
the morning. I fell asleep in Shay’s arms, close to his warm body.
When I got up, it was 8:30 a.m. I showered and went to the
breakfast room. Mom and Shay both wanted me to eat something, but
there was no way I could eat. Shay told me he had called Doc Sam
and made an appointment for me for 11:00 that morning.