Samson and Sunset (44 page)

  That little kiss enticed me to get up
and go into the shower with my gorgeous husband; nothing like a hot
morning shower and some extra fulfillment to start out the day.

  As we got out and dried off, I said,
“Shay, you know, I promised my little Gray Angel, Patty, that I
would have her out for dinner one day and I’m going to do that
soon. I think I’ll take Kelly shopping with me Saturday and call
Patty and ask her if she wants to go with us. It would be fun, we
could even do lunch.”

  “If that makes you happy, princess,
call her,” said Shay.

  I sat on my bed in my robe and started
to dial Patty’s number. Oh shucks, she would be at work until ten
that night. I’d either have to call her at work or about 10:30
p.m., which her grandmother might not approve of. I asked Shay what
he thought would be best. He said he thought I should call Patty
after she got home from work.

  So that night, around ten ’til eleven,
I called the number Patty had given me. I was pleasantly surprised
that Patty answered.

  “Hi, sweetie,” I said. “This is
Kathrine Westover.”

  “Oh, hi Kathrine!”

  “Kelly and I are going shopping
Saturday and I was wondering if you’d like to go shopping with us.
Then we’ll do lunch. Patty, this shopping trip is my treat.”

  “Oh, Kathrine, I would love to go,”
said Patty excitedly. “What time would we be going? I could meet
you downtown…”

  “I would love to meet your
grandmother,” I said, “so if that’s okay with you, I’d like to pick
you up at home.”

  “Kathrine, I live in a trailer court.
It really isn’t a very good neighborhood,” she started to
explain.

  “Sweetie, it doesn’t matter where you
came from,” I found myself saying, “what matters is who you
become.” I smiled, thinking of Maggie saying that to me over lunch
with her big green eyes. “It doesn’t matter one bit to me,” I
added. “It’s you that matters to me.”

  The trailer court was actually about
four blocks from where I grew up. When we drove up, Patty and her
grandma came outside. Her grandmother, a hard-looking woman, was
smoking a cigarette. Probably an easy lay in her day, from the
looks of it.

  I got out and said hi to Patty. Then I
extended my hand to her grandmother. “Hello, I’m Kathrine Westover.
I was one of Patty’s patients. You have a wonderful
granddaughter.”

  “Thank you,” she said. “I’m Bertha.
Patty told me about all the nice things you did for her.”

  “I truly enjoyed my hospital stay
because of Patty,” I told her. “So we thought we’d take her on a
little shopping and lunch outing today.”

  I knew Patty was ashamed for me see
where she lived. I knew that feeling well. So I decided to put her
at ease and drive the four blocks over and show her my old house on
the corner of Oak Street.

  “See that house right there, Patty?
That’s where I was born and lived until I was twenty-one years
old.”

  Patty raised her eyebrows. She didn’t
say anything, but I felt her relax after that.

  We had a fun day, us girls. I got
Patty a few t-shirts and some new jeans, socks, nail polish, a
couple of good books and a necklace. She was so gracious and
appreciative. Then we went to lunch at Max’s Weiner Wagon and had
some of his famous conies, the best hotdogs on earth. I asked Patty
if she thought she could go to a movie with Kelly and me if we went
to a 4:00 p.m. matinee. I told her we’d be out by six and I’d have
her home by 6:30. It was fine with her grandma, so I called home
and asked them to hold supper for Kelly and me. All in all, we had
a terrific day.

  When we dropped Patty off at home, she
asked if she was still going to get to come out to our house for
dinner some time.

  “Absolutely!” I said.

  At supper that night Wes asked, “So
how was Patty Cake? I thought you were asking her out for supper,
Mom?”

  “Oh, Wes, I think that’s the cutest
name you gave her. Patty Cake. I think I’ll call her that, too.
Yes, I am going to have her out, but I was thinking dinner,” I
said.

  “Mom, I sure hope you’re not
match-making. Moms shouldn’t do that, ya know,” he said.

  I wondered if Wes had a crush on
Patty. I truly hoped not, as our Wes was a fast-mover: meet them,
date them and leave them… sort of the old Shay way, the PG-13
version.

  Patty was my sweet little friend; I
felt protective of her.

  “Wes, if I have her out for dinner,
it’s not for you, it’s for me; for all of you, so you can all get
to know her better. When you get to know her, you’ll like her as
much as I do.”

  “She’s shy,” Kelly said, “but I think
she was just a little uneasy because it was the first time she was
with us. She sure is a sweet little girl. I bet she’ll get over
being shy when she gets more comfortable around us.”

  Shay had something else on his mind.
“Hey, babe, did you get the outfit we talked about for tomorrow
night?”

  “I did, Shay,” I said. “I think I got
something you’re really going to like.”

  “Yeah, Dad,” Kelly said. “You’re going
to love Mom’s outfit. I can’t wait to borrow it!”

  I’d bought a simple dress with a white
background, tight at the neck. It scooped outward so my shoulders
and arms were bare. I was thinking, how cool to have open
shoulders, so Shay could put those warm, sexy lips on my skin. It
had a little red cord belt and little multi-colored flowers on the
fabric, with red being the most dominant color. It made the whole
dress pop. The skirt was short with a little flare. I was always
into a little flare because Shay liked twirling me on the dance
floor, followed, of course, by a Shay Man dip.

  Sunday night rolled around and when I
stepped out of the bathroom all ready to go, Shay just stood there
looking at me.

  “Princess, you’ve outdone yourself.
That’s what I call a sexy dress. I may have to take it off you
right now.”

  “Shay, we’re running late as it is,
so—hold that thought.”

  Kevin and Karen met us there. Shay and
I were dancing close and he was saying something about me “saving
most of my energy for bed when we got home,” while I was saying, “I
think we’ll have chicken fried steak next Sunday for dinner while
Patty’s there.”

  More dancing.

  “Oh Shay, I forgot to tell you I’m
asking Patty Cake out next Sunday for dinner.”

  Shay stopped dancing for a second and
sort of held me outward and looked into my face.

  “Callie, we have a problem here. We’re
on two different wavelengths, babe.” He started dancing me again,
saying, “I’m romancing the love of my life and she’s telling me
about the menu for next week. How do I get you back into this
conversation? I swear, woman, you’re giving that little girl more
time than you’re giving me.”

  “Shay Westover, are you jealous? I
swear you are, look at that expression on your face. You’re jealous
of a fifteen-year-old girl,” I said jokingly. “But, darling, I’m
sorry. You’ve got my full attention. I’m all yours, Shay Man. You
know no one could take your place.”

  We danced some more.

  “I guess I just thought about how much
fun I saw Patty and Kelly having yesterday, so I thought I should
invite her out as soon as possible.”

  “There, there, see what I mean?” Shay
said. “Just in this little conversation, you’ve talked about Patty
Cake more than you’ve talked to me! I swear, Callie, you and your
strays. Come here, woman.” He pulled me closer. “This is my time
and I want all of it, so conversation closed. Shut on everything
that isn’t you and me, babe, got it?” he said in a still-sweet
voice.

  He was right, so I closed my mind to
the outside world and let it become a Callie and Shay world.

  “I love your dress, princess,” Shay
said. “I can just put my mouth down on your shoulder and nibble
away.” He put his lips on my shoulder right there on the dance
floor.

  “Shay, you’re getting me all aroused
out here. I think we’re going to have to go home pretty soon.”

My body was starting to pulsate. A woman can
feel that little sensual heartbeat between her legs, the little
ache; your body just starts doing the talking. At this point, the
body knows exactly what it wants, what it needs. Mine wanted and
needed Shay. He could tell. He escorted me off the floor, put some
money on the table and said to Kevin and Karen with a little wink,
“My wife doesn’t have a headache, so we’re going home. See you guys
sometime next week.”

  While we were gone, Wes and Kelly had
turned back the bedding and sprinkled rose petals around the bed.
The petals were from a beautiful rose arrangement Shay had given me
the night before. I had asked where he had gotten them so late in
the evening on a Saturday night.

  “I got them a bit earlier. That’s what
I like about the hot house, and speaking of hot houses… Callie, I’m
going to bury myself in your hot house. Where the nectar is the
sweetest…”

  He ravished my body for the next
several hours, occasionally putting a rose petal near my nose so I
could breath in that sweet, deep scent. I’d feel rejuvenated after
smelling it and my sensuality would spring back into action. We
just kept going, until finally we ran out of toes and fingers to
count my climaxes on.

  “Wow, babe, I wonder if that sexy
little number you wore tonight had anything to do with this?”

  My Shay loved me in that dress so much
he commissioned a renowned artist to paint a portrait of me wearing
it. He called it, “Shay’s Princess,” and hung it in our room above
the bed.

  ***

That following week I called Patty on
Saturday morning and invited her out for Sunday dinner. I told her
we’d come pick her up. Shay had a few things to do around the
corrals to finish up, so he told Kelly and me to run in and get
her.

  “I’ll be showered and ready for dinner
by the time you get back,” he said.

  Shay and some of the hands had been
working on a big project. Kelly had been begging Shay to put
all-white fencing around the horse pastures and the orchard groves.
It was a big project, but Shay was glad he’d finally started it. It
was looking beautiful—it really added a touch of class to the
farmstead.

  Kelly and I took Mom with us to pick
up Patty Cake. I thought it would be fun for her to visit that side
of the tracks again, her old stomping grounds. She had many
memories there at 322 Oak Street.

  Patty was ready and came right out,
grinning with that cute face of hers. She got in the back with
Kelly and we introduced her to Mom. We told her to call Mom Grandma
like everyone else did.

Mom was melancholy as I drove her past the
old house on Oak Street. It was amazing how much our lives had
changed since we’d moved from there. I thought I’d drive past the
house on Redwood where Maggie had grown up. When I did, I near fell
over. I remembered the house from when I was little; I had played
with the little kids that came there to see their grandparents. It
had to have been Shay and his sisters.

  When I turned down the gravel road to
the circle drive, Patty’s eyes widened. She looked out her window
in silent awe. I knew how she felt. I’d been there, done that. The
Big House was pretty amazing.

  Kelly gave her the grand tour and I
went looking for Shay, who I found just finishing his shower. “Come
here,” he said. “Come here, Callie.”

  “No, Shay! I’m not stupid, you’re
going to pull me into that shower and I’m dressed and there’s food
waiting to be served.”

  We had a full house that day,
Sterling, Maggie, Mom, Hulda, Kelly, Wes, Patty, Shay and me. It
was wonderful having a houseful of loved ones. There is nothing
more sad in this world than a life without love, and it works the
other way around; nothing better than a loving family. I felt
blessed. These were my people. I finally felt like I belonged.

  Hulda and Mom outdid themselves.
Chicken fried steak and all the trimmings, plus brownie cake with
ice cream for dessert.

  After dinner, Kelly took Patty
horseback riding. She told me Patty really took to the horses. Then
the three kids were in the den playing the stereo, laughing a lot.
I wondered what could be so funny. They were having such a good
time it made me laugh with them just to hear them.

  “Mom, Mom, where are you?” Kelly
asked.

  “I’m in the living room, reading, what
do you need, sweetheart?”

  “Mom, Patty doesn’t have school
tomorrow and she doesn’t have to be at the hospital until one, so I
was wondering, if it’s okay with her grandmother and you, maybe she
could spend the night?”

  This was just fine with me. I was
happy to see them bonding. I told Patty I could take her home to
change into her uniform tomorrow and we’d drop her off at the
hospital. Her grandmother said it was fine, so we had an overnight
guest. Kelly had plenty of extra pajamas, so all went well. I know
the kids just had a ball.

  Shay and I were lying side by side on
the sofa in the den when the three walked through to the
kitchen.

  “Don’t mind the love birds,” Wes
remarked jokingly. “They can’t keep their hands off each nds off
other.” He rolled his eyes. “Like two lovesick teenagers. We’re
hoping they’ll grow out of it one day.”

  As they left, Shay whispered in my
ear, “I think we got us a playboy there, babe. He seems to have sex
on his mind quite often. Whenever he sees us together he seems to
think we’re having foreplay.”

  “Well, you started sleeping with girls
at fifteen. Do you think he’ll be any different?”

  Soon it was off to bed for Shay and
me—we were headed for a Shay and Callie night. We had no idea what
time the kids finally turned in. We were lost in each other, my
Shay Man and I.

  To bed early, to sleep late, I always
say.