Joe's Legacy

Winnie's smile turned into a grin as well. She reached under the pillow on the bed and pulled out a negligee or something, then threw it in the general direction of the waste bin.

"Sounds like a good way to sleep to me. Look, Ray, I know you think that I was rushing things a little... Well, a lot actually. But the clocks ticking, as I said yesterday we've only got fourteen days left of this vacation. As far as Joe goes, he's happy for me to move over here."

"How do you know that?"

"Last night, after you left, I called him to ask him. They do have telephones in Thailand, you know."

"I thought you said Joe was in Vietnam."

"So did I, but when I tried to call him, I have this special number in Washington that I call and they put me through to him wherever he is. Anyway Joe was out in the field and they couldn't put me directly through to him last night, but he called me back from Thailand about eight this morning. The line wasn't very good and we lost the connection a couple of times. I heard the operator say Bangkok when they were reconnecting us. That's in Thailand, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I'm sure it is. I wonder what Joe's doing there?" I replied.

"I don't know - on furlough or something, I suppose. Anyway I told Joe that when our divorce was final, I wanted to come to England to live and move in with you. He said that if the children were happy then it was fine with him."

I was somewhat surprised that Winnie had told Joe that she'd hoped that we would be getting together. But then what else was she going to say? If she'd asked Joe if he was going to object to her moving the children to the UK, he would have undoubtedly asked why she wanted to come over here. And I suppose he would have wanted to know the identity of who his children were going to live with. Telling him that it was me up front was the logical thing to do, I suppose.

"Winnie, what do the girls say about all this? I assume that you have sounded them out about living in England?"

"They are cool with the idea, a little reticent about moving to a strange country I should imagine. But they seem to like England and they definitely think you are something special."

"That's flattering but why?"

"I'm not sure. Because you are different to the other guys I've had chasing after me, I suspect."

"In what way?"

"Well, for a start you're English. And well, because unlike most of the guys who've been hanging around me since Joe left, you haven't had the same goal in mind. I think the girls can sense that."

"What goal?" I asked.

Winnie looked at the bed and then looked back at me.

"Oh, I see," I said.

"Hey, Ray, please don't get the idea that I've been jumping into bed with every guy that I've met since Joe's been gone. I've only ever slept with two guys in my whole life. Joe and another guy, who I thought was a friend. But as it turned out he was only after one thing. Once I realised that he was happy to bed me but he didn't like the idea of taking the girls and me on full time, I got rid of him."

Winnie had a very serious and somewhat concerned look on her face.

"I can't say that I was in love with the guy, but my ego needed a boost at the time. It doesn't do much for your self-esteem when you find out the guy that you thought worshipped you has had a whole string of other interests. When I found out that Joe had been playing around on me since before we were married, I lost confidence in myself a hell of a lot."

"So why were you in such a hurry to jump into bed with me?"

"Because I love you, Ray, and I'm damned sure that you love me. When Sam and Jake came back from Italy and told me they'd spent most of the holiday with you, I couldn't believe my ears at first. Then they told me that you weren't married and had spent most of the time asking questions about me. So I knew... well, I hoped... that you felt the same way about me and I couldn't wait to come over here to see you. I even asked Joe for a divorce the first chance I had. He was fine with the idea; the bastard can't wait to get shot of his responsibilities to me. But we couldn't start the ball rolling until he came home on leave and could sign the papers."

Suddenly we were disturbed by the telephone ringing; it was Sam asking if they should take all the children and go on without us. Winnie told her we'd be down shortly. Then she gave me a quick kiss and said, "We're going to make this work, aren't we?"

"I certainly hope so, Winnie," I replied. "But I think it's going to depend on LeAnn and Reba in the long run."

"It's going to work all right!" she said as we left the room.

When we got to the hotel entrance, I realised the weather had turned to the threatening clouds I'd seen as I travelled, and they were unloading themselves; it was raining hard. I suggested a change of venue for the day and we headed for the museums at South Kensington. It was a pretty full day and very tiring for all of us, although the children seemed to fare better than us adults.

I didn't stay as late that night, even though Winnie had tried to persuade me to linger longer. I had some telephones calls that I had to make myself.

On arriving home I called my sister, even though it was pretty late, and told her about Winnie. Mags asked me if I knew what I was doing and had thought it all through. All I had to say was, "You know me, Maggie!"

"I sure do, brother. When do we get to meet her?" Margaret replied.

"As soon as I can arrange it, sis. The whole bunch of them are coming to my house on Sunday; perhaps you can bring the kids over and meet them."

"Oh, I might have guessed it. I know who's going to be doing all the cooking. We'll be over about nine. How many am I catering for, but the way?"

We went on to count all the heads that would be present and then Mags wished me good luck. I could always count on my sister to come to my rescue in times like that and she'd been bugging me to settle down with a 'nice girl' for years.

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It must have been four in the morning when I was woken by the telephone ringing.

"Hey, you limey bastard, what's this I hear about you fucking my wife?" the voice demanded.

"Joe, is that you?" I demanded.

"Of course it is, good buddy. Who else's wife have you been giving it to?" he replied.

"Joe, for a start I haven't laid a hand on Winnie. Well, not in that way anyway."

"Hey, man, you're kidding me. She's one of the best fucks there is! But then I guess that you're still playing the English gentleman, aren't you, my friend? You always were a little slow around the women."

"What do you want, Joe?" I said. I was getting annoyed with the bugger.

"Take it easy, my friend. I was just calling to give you my blessing. I know I haven't treated her right, but I'm damned sure that you will," he explained.

"Thanks, Joe," I said reticently.

"Look, mate. It's my kids I'm worried about. You will look after them, won't you?"

There was something about the way that Joe said those words that I had trouble getting my head around. I think it was the word 'mate' that told me this wasn't the usual Joe talking. Mate is an English term often used to a close friend. Joe knew it from when we'd been together as children, but I'd never heard him use it before.

"They'll still be your children, Joe. I hope you'll come and see them as often as you can."

"Ray, this is a crazy war out here; guys are getting killed everyday. I'll be lucky if I ever make it home again."

"Fuck, Joe, that's no way to talk," I said.

"Listen, my friend, I'm with a special unit and we... well, it ain't like any army unit I've worked with before. I'm going to be lucky if I can get out of here in one piece."

"Jesus, Joe, you be careful and keep your bleeding head down."

"I'll try, my friend, but don't be surprised if I don't make it. But now listen; I've got something important to tell you. If I don't make it, there'll be a guy; he'll call you and tell you he's got a present from Joe. You understand that? 'A present from Joe!' You will reply 'I've been waiting for it since Christmas.' Those exact words. Ray, you understand?"

"Yeah, I think so but why?"

"Ray, don't ask any questions. You just do as the man tells you and look after my three girls. Okay, good buddy, I doubt I'll be able to make it to the wedding. Good luck!" Then the line went dead.

'What the fuck is Joe up to now?' I thought as I lay there contemplating the strange call. In the back of my mind was a lot of worry; I really didn't know whether I could trust the guy.

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I mentioned the call to Winnie the next day, but I didn't mention anything about Joe's strange instructions about the mystery guy. I just told her that Joe had given me his blessing.

I don't think Winnie trusted him either though, because she said something about wondering what he was up to as well.

The Sunday at my house went off great. Margaret, her husband and children met all my visitors and I noticed that Winnie and Margaret spent a lot of time together talking. We four guys went down to the local pub for a quick get to know each other drink whilst the dinner was cooking. When we returned the women had things completely under control.

During the afternoon we all went for a walk on Stanmore Common where I tried to explain to the guys the intricacies of the cricket match that was in progress there. I don't think any of them understood what the hell was going on. But they clapped when the rest of the onlookers did.

One of my sister's boys managed to fall into a pond. It wasn't deep, so there wasn't much in the way of danger. Although some of the folks who were fishing got out of their prams a bit over him disturbing the fish.

"She seems like a good catch to me," my sister said when we got a quick moment only. "And what have you done to those two girls? They seem to think that the son shines out of your arse."

"I don't know, Mags," I replied, "but those two precocious little tykes pushed Winnie and me together on the first day, physically."

"Sounds like you've found yourself a nice ready-made family, Ray," Maggie assured me. "I hope that they settle down alright over here."

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The rest of the holiday we continued doing the tourist bit, although a couple of times Winnie and I did manage to get away on our own for a few hours. But all too soon it was time for them to fly home again.

It was a pretty tearful departure at Heathrow, even though I was going to fly over to the States in a few weeks to marry Winnie and bring her, Reba and LeAnn back to the UK for good.

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"Ray, Joe's dead!" It was Tammy who had called me at my office just two weeks later.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Winnie's still listed as his next of kin and some army colonel turned up at the house yesterday and told her that he'd been killed in a plane crash."

I went on to mention that we'd have to put the wedding back. Winnie couldn't go to Joe's funeral when she was married to me. I knew that the Americans nearly always fly their dead home.

"There won't be a funeral, Ray. That's one of the reasons that that colonel called to see Winnie. The plane he was on exploded and there weren't any remains left for them to recover, according to the colonel."

"Jake's not sure but he thinks that the plane might have been somewhere it shouldn't have been and they can't get in there to search for any bodies. Jake and Sam were at Winnie's house when he called. Jake asked him some awkward questions and Jake said the answers the colonel gave him didn't make much sense. You know that Jake was out there for a while before he got wounded."

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Whatever, after talking to Winnie later in the day, we decided that the wedding would go ahead as planned.

So just another couple of weeks after that I flew out to the States to marry the girl of my dreams. Margaret, her husband and children – my only close living relatives - flew with me. I was very flattered that my boss and his wife also flew over there to attend the wedding, although he had planned a holiday in Florida that year anyway. They changed the date so that they flew up for the ceremony.

When we arrived at the hotel we were staying at, I was further surprised to find that a couple of distant cousins and their families - who I hadn't seen in years - had come down from Canada to be with us. Maggie along with Winnie had arranged all of that.

Although with all of that family around it was impossible for Winnie to do the one thing that she had been hoping to do, rubbing herself up against me one night she told me that as she was now a widow, she had been hoping that we'd get together the first night I arrived.

"It was only Reba and LeAnn being so upset about their dad that stopped me climbing on the first plane heading for England. You wouldn't have any excuse, would you?" she giggled.

"Only, respect for the..." I began to say,

"Jesus, Ray, Joe played around behind my back; he didn't show me a drop of respect. Why should I give a damn about him? But you are right, maybe that's what stopped me calling Pan Am."

The wedding itself went off without any hassle. It wasn't as big as Winnie's previous wedding and certain of the bridesmaids who had been present weren't in attendance, but that was no surprise to anyone.

During the evening I made a point of returning to Winnie's side after I'd danced with anyone else for the first hour or so, but then Winnie dragged me aside.

"Ray, cut it out! You aren't Joe and I trust you completely, I know that you aren't going to disappear up to a room with anyone so stop trying to reassure me. Or is it that you don't trust me?"

"No, of course I trust you. I just thought..."

"Ray, we're married. If after the way I threw myself at you, you wouldn't bed me when I was still married to Joe, I know damn well you aren't going to misbehave. Now let's dance and then see if we can slip away for a little while. I'm getting really horny."

We didn't get a chance to slip away. I think Reba and LeAnn were feeling just a little insecure; whenever Winnie and I tried to slip away the two girls soon found us.

It must have been two in the morning before Winnie and I made it to the room we'd booked in that hotel. Tammy, Margaret and Sam were looking after Winnie's two for the night. I'm not sure which of them took the girls back to Winnie's house and spent the night there.

Once the bedroom door closed, my world took a whole new turn. As we were going up to the room in the lift, Winnie boldly pulled up her wedding dress, then after showing them to me removed her panties and pushed them into my pocket.

"I wanted to do that hours ago." She grinned, and then started rubbing my groin with her hand.

As I closed the bedroom door Winnie threw herself onto the bed. Lying there on her back she pulled up her dress and demanded. "Come on, let's have it. I'm as horny as hell."

"Should we take a shower first? Besides what about your dress?"

"Damn the dress, Ray, I don't intend to be wearing the thing again. Come on, I'm going insane here. Just fuck me. We can make love later."

The next few hours were the most tiring of my life. Not that me being tired stopped play though. Winnie was a dynamo in bed and she must have known every trick in the book. But then she'd been married to Joe so that wasn't really any surprise to me.

I have no idea what time Winnie decided that she wasn't going to get the little fella to stand up on his own again and settled for laying beside me, just holding on to him.

I know she woke me early in the morning by sucking on him again. We managed to do it twice before breakfast; once with her on top and once in the missionary position. That was a long one because we were kissing and cuddling a lot.

I must have been quiet as we ate breakfast, I don't know. I do believe I was wondering if I would be able to keep up with Winnie.

"I know what you're thinking, Ray," Winnie suddenly said.

"You do? That's worrying, if you can read my mind that is," I replied smiling at her.

"No, you're thinking how can a woman who likes sex as much as I do have been celibate for the last six years and only have had two men."

I didn't speak because I believe that question was in the back of my mind somewhere.

"I was a seventeen-year-old virgin when Joe talked me into letting him fuck me. And I have to admit I loved it. That was one thing in Joe's favour - he was bloody good in bed, he knew all the right buttons to push and when to push them. Christ, he was almost as good as you."

I assumed that reference was put in for my ego's benefit. I very much doubted that I could match up to Joe's experience.

"But I kind of lost the plot a bit, wasn't as careful as I should have been and... Well, you know I finished up getting pregnant. It wasn't very long after the wedding, before Reba was even born I think, that I realised that Joe was more likely than not playing around on me. Joe forgot one thing. He didn't have your staying power and he took a damn sight longer to recover. So it didn't take me too long to realise he was using his energy somewhere else."

"I guess I should have thrown him out right away but, well, I liked sex too much to cut myself off from the only cock that I'd ever known. It wasn't like I could come looking for you, was it? You were in London living with that girl Stephanie."

"How do you know about her?"

"Oh, Ray, you know when I met you I nearly didn't marry Joe. But what would you want with your friend's cast offs. A slut that had got herself pregnant by an arrogant asshole. But I had some friends in the UK who kept an eye on you for me."

"Winnie, I would have jumped at the chance to marry you even with Joe's baby inside you."

"Easy for you to say now, Ray, but what would your family have thought. No, I'd made my bed and I had to lie in it. Besides his wanderering ways, Joe wasn't a bad husband, although he must have fucked nearly every friend I ever had. Except for Sam; she told me he tried to, but she loves Jake.

"Anyway I had two choices, kick Joe out, or put up with his antics and enjoy the sex. Like a fool I chose to enjoy the sex. That is until some woman in town here got that STD they were on about all the time. Gonorrhoea or something like that, that some of the guys picked up in the brothels out there in Vietnam. From the stories that I've heard, it's resistant to antibiotics and can leave a woman sterile. That was it; I had no idea what Joe was going to pick up, especially after he was sent out to Vietnam himself.

"I couldn't take that kind of a risk with my girls' future, no matter how much I enjoyed the sex. So the next time Joe came home on leave, I just followed him and caught him in the back of a car with his trousers down. Then I threw him out. You know, he didn't put up much of a fight. He just told me it was my fault for being frigid and useless in bed.

"That was the bit that hurt the most, I loved him in a way and I definitely loved having his cock in me any chance I could get. And he said that I'm frigid.

"That's when I took up with the other guy. I'd been sleeping with him about a month - not often, a couple of times a week. I can't say he was getting the job done, but then Joe hadn't been doing that for a long time by then. Anyway the guy got a bit weird. I didn't mind that he wanted me to beg him to fuck me. Christ, I was doing that anyway.

"But then he started calling me his slut, because I was still married to Joe. Then to make things worse he wanted me to call myself his slut while we were having sex and even asked me if he could bring a friend along. Yeah, well, that was the last time he had me. I had to get Jake to have a word with him about pestering me. Everyone in town knows Jake's a crack shot.