Shepherdess without a Flock Ch. 04

All of the characters in this work of fiction who engage in sexual activity or the consumption of alcohol are over the age of 21.

This chapter contains (in no particular order) depictions of heterosexual sex, lesbian sex, interracial sex and masturbation.

Although this chapter contains characters from The Happiest Day of Her Life, it is not necessary to read that series to enjoy this chapter.

In the previous chapters, Dani Van Cleef, a newly ordained Presbyterian pastor, agreed to fly out to the home of Frank Melar, a rich heir, after meeting him once. The two had passionate sex but realized they would not be able to maintain a long distance relationship. Dani returned to work at her church. She found herself at odds with several of the Church Elders. One of her confirmation students accused her of being a whore. Two of the elders, Melissa Masters and Dave Amoroso, broke several commandments and did everything in their power to get Dani voted out of the church. They succeeded. One of Dani's former confirmation class students, Sierra, called for help a few hours after Dani moved out. Oh, and there were a bunch more crappy and poorly lit drawings that did little to help illustrate things.

Votes and polite comments are always appreciated. Thank you for all who voted for, commented on and favorited the previous chapters as well as those who marked me as a favorite author. This is the final chapter of this series. Thank you for reading it. I was feeling a little immature and decided to do something different this time. The drawings are all in pencil and crayon. I didn't stay within the lines, either.

Special thanks to my Beta Reader, FangsAnarchy, for her help and encouragement. It's good to have a friend who can tell you when a scene needs more or when something doesn't fit with the story. Thanks for everything, Fang!

I'm sorry this has taken so long. I wish I had a good excuse. I simply got bombarded by life. I hope you enjoy it. You may need to re-read the first three chapters to get everything straight.

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Dani drove along Black Horse Pike, unsure of what she would say to her former student once she arrived at the diner. She had asked the students of the confirmation class to talk with their parents about sex. It seemed fairly obvious that Sierra did not do so. There was a balance scale tipping from side to side in Dani's mind. She loved helping others but she was still stung by the rejection of the church. She needed to be there for this young woman but the pain in her heart was still very raw and she didn't want to add to that pain. She knew Sierra had nothing to do with her being voted out but the dark cloud was hanging over this tiny town just down the road from her.

As she came closer to Williamstown, Dani felt a weight growing on her chest. Just a few hours earlier, she thought she was free of this place. She thought the burden was lifted from her shoulders. This was not how she wanted to spend her evening. She could think of any number of places she would rather be. The scale tipped hard towards driving away.

Dani knew she needed to speak to her former student and parishioner. She certainly couldn't leave the poor girl to fend for herself. It just seemed very ill timed. The people of her church had voted her out by a very wide margin. An overwhelming majority was against her. The diner they were going to meet at was within walking distance of the church. There was also a strong possibility that someone from the church could be there.

That would be a lovely occurrence. Dani wondered how she would explain why the recently voted out whore of a Pastor was meeting with one of the church's teenagers. That would go over exceptionally well. Dani imagined a concerned church member calling the police and reporting corruption of a minor.

Dani was contemplating jail time when she saw the large sign for the diner. Her hand was slow to put on her turn signal. There were so many other options open to her. She could follow Black Horse Pike to Atlantic City. She could turn left on Sicklerville Road and head towards Cherry Hill. The scale tipped back in favor of doing the right thing. She signaled for a turn and went to the diner.

Sierra was pacing in the parking lot. She smiled when she recognized Dani behind the wheel. The Pastor emerged from her car and the teenager ran up and hugged her. Dani rolled her eyes but Sierra did not notice this. Dani was under the impression that this display was an attempt to mollify the Pastor. It was an interesting tactic, if that was what this was, since Dani was no longer Sierra's Pastor. She did not hug Sierra back. She simply placed a hand on Sierra's shoulder. She led the young girl into the diner and they were led to a booth after a short wait. Sierra seemed happy to shed her heavy coat. She was wearing a long sleeved tee shirt underneath.

"So," Dani said finally, "Scott is pressuring you to have sex. I'm assuming you didn't have that talk with your parents."

"I tried to, Pastor Dani. I really did," Sierra replied. "They just wouldn't understand."

"First of all, I'm not your Pastor anymore. I'm here as a friend, not as clergy. Please call me Dani. Second of all, as a friend I have to tell you that your parents already know about sex. After all, you exist. That's pretty big evidence that they've had intercourse. You can talk to them about this..."

"Eww!" said Sierra.

"And there it is!" exclaimed Dani. "You're too embarrassed to talk to your parents about sex. So it suddenly becomes my job. Ok. Sierra, you have to stop being timid."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you have to have real conversations with people. You can't shy away from them. You have to talk to your parents. You do. You even have to talk to them about the icky parts. You also have to talk to Scott. If you're not ready to have sex, and my being here would indicate that, you have to tell him. Tell him you're not going to stand for his bullshit ultimatums. If he cares more about banging you so he can prove to his buddies he's really a man than whether or not you're ready, it shows how immature he is. You don't need that. The more a guy rushes a girl to have sex, the crappier it's going to be. My first time was horrible. I didn't want to have sex ever again."

"What about your second time?" Sierra asked.

"My second time got me branded a whore and ultimately got me kicked out of my first job as a Pastor," Dani said directly. "So, lesson learned. Not only do you have to be careful about who you have sex with, you have to be careful who knows."

"Wait," said Sierra. "The sex you had after your father's funeral was the second time you'd had sex, like, ever?"

"Yes," Dani admitted. "We did it more than once, though, so it's not like I've only had sex twice. I've just only had two sexual partners."

Sierra asked, "So, you're not a slut?"

"Never do that. As easily as you did that to me someone could someday do it to you. This should be a good lesson for you. 'Shaming the slut' is wrong. It's even worse when you don't know the whole story. The elders used finances to get me voted out but I suspect many of those who voted think I am a slut. I doubt I'd be kicked out this quickly over money. I'm not even close to being a slut and yet they tried to shame me," Dani relayed with a bitter smile. "There's another lesson learned for you, though. Patience. Here I am in my twenties and I've been with two men. It's not impossible to wait for the right sexual partner."

No sooner than those words left Dani's lips than the waitress, Sandy, walked up to take their order. Sandy had obviously heard the last thing Dani said but chose to act professionally. Dani was silently thankful for this professionalism.

"Do you ladies know what you want?"

"Yes, please," said Dani. "I'd like a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato and a lemonade."

"Uh, I'll have a burger, fries and a Diet Coke," said Sierra.

Sandy thanked them for their order and went quickly to the kitchen to place it. Dani did not get right back to where she'd left the conversation. An Eagles game was playing on the large television screen in the dining room and Dani watched the birds complete a pass play before she spoke again. It wasn't live. One of the sports networks was showing a close game from last season. Sierra was uncomfortable with the silence.

"So, you think I should wait to have sex," Sierra said. It wasn't a question.

Dani stopped watching the game and said, "Of course I think you should wait! My God, Sierra. Didn't you listen to me in confirmation class? You're not ready. You're not even ready for the gossip that follows. Not to put too fine a point on this, but I've had two lovers and you know all the things I've been called. The more you tell people that your love life is none of their business, the more involved they choose to be. It's hard to be a woman. You can be attacked by a rumor and they use your denial as proof."

"Why didn't you tell the church you've only been with two men?"

"Because, as I said, my denial wouldn't mean anything to them. Besides, it's none of their business how many men I've had sex with as much as they think otherwise," Dani replied. Sandy came over with their drinks and, again, acted professionally even though she obviously heard Dani. She set down the lemonade and the Diet Coke without a word and walked in the general direction of the kitchen. Dani continued as though she never paused. "Frankly, it's none of your business, either, but you need to understand the consequences of having sex. Name calling is the easy stuff. It can get a lot harder to deal with than being called a 'whore.' I don't think you want any of that and I'll tell you again that you're not ready. Scott's not ready, either. He has, I'm sure, buddies who are putting the screws to him about losing his virginity. They'll tell him that he isn't a man until he has sex. This is dangerous. Partly because sex is not going to mature him. He's going to stay a boy even after he loses his virginity. The other reason this is dangerous is because boys do crazy things to keep from looking bad in front of their friends. You should find out if Scott is already telling tales about you."

"You think he would?"

"He's a guy," Dani said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Some guys think that if they convince enough people that they're having sex with a woman, the woman will just go along with it and have sex with them."

Sierra looked puzzled and asked, "Why would they think that?"

"Do I know how guys think? Men have, throughout history, tried to outsmart women and trick them into having sex. Apparently, they never thought about being open and honest with us. Either that, or they chose the wrong women to be open and honest with the first time and came to the conclusion that we're all like that. Even in the Bible, men are underhanded when they think it'll get them laid. King David saw a woman taking a bath. He found out she was married. Did he do the honorable thing and back off? Absolutely not. The woman's husband was one of his soldiers so he sent the poor bastard to the most life threatening duty there was and consoled the young widow by sleeping with her."

Their food arrived and Dani ate in silence. Sierra followed along and did not speak while eating. This gave her the opportunity to think about everything Dani said to her. She knew in her heart that she wasn't ready for sex. She wondered, silently, if she would have the courage to dump Scott and accept the gossip he would spread about her once she did. She thought about Dani who never verbally denied being a slut. She just went about her business and tried to show, in her actions, who she really was. It was obviously a colossal failure since Dani was now unemployed. There was something noble about that, though. She stuck to her principles and didn't let people think they had to know about her private life even though it cost her a job.

Sierra thought it over.

Dani didn't ask Sierra to tell her what decision she'd made. She just wanted Sierra to think about it all. Sierra respected that. She wasn't pressured to have all the answers at that precise moment. She was given the time and freedom to make the best choice possible.

Since Sierra walked to the diner, Dani drove her home. Sierra lived on South Main Street, so Dani had to pass the church. Dani avoided looking at the building. Had she looked, she would have seen movement in the window of her former office. She might have even seen two hands and a pair of breasts pressed against that window.

She never looked, however, and Sierra was lost in her own thoughts and didn't realize they'd passed the church until after they approached the firehouse. Sierra lived between the firehouse and the Catholic Church just down the road from First Presbyterian. The proximity to her house snapped her back into reality. They pulled up in front of Sierra's house and she thanked Dani for the ride and for the talk. Dani waited outside Sierra's house for the girl to get inside before she drove back to her hotel in Blackwood.

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Dave and Melissa continued to have sex all over the office that once belonged to Pastor Dani. To Dave, this was the final insult to the uppity bitch who tried to change his church. To Melissa, this salacious act was much more. This was not only a reclaiming of her church from that whore in black robes. This was a baptism of the office of Pastor. This was Melissa stepping into the role of Pastor and using the supply preacher as a puppet. She would be the power behind the throne. She would lead this church back to its former glory. She would mold her church into what it should be.

If anyone got in her way again, Melissa now knew she had the power to get them voted out. It was the best of both worlds. She was the leader of the church without having all eyes on her.

Dave had Melissa pressed against a file cabinet and was fucking the daylights out of her. Neither one of them knew how long they'd been going at it. Dave just knew he was very close to cumming.

"Oh, God. I'm almost there.... Uh... I... I'm gonna..."

Melissa pushed Dave off and turned so she could jerk him off. She aimed his dick at one of the walls and he shot his load. Melissa watched in fascination as the spunk dripped down the wall. She walked over to the desk and collapsed on it. She'd had her orgasms. She'd had her moment of clarity where she realized she could run this church from behind the curtain. She smiled, naked on the desk, as she thought of all the power at her fingertips.

Dave looked at the woman he was cheating with. He mistakenly assumed the smile on her lips had something to do with him.

Melissa had all but forgotten Dave was still in the room. He was a cock to fuck. He was a means to an end. He was nothing else to her.

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Dani spent two nights in the hotel and then she drove to Long Island. Frank Melar, the man who had reawakened her sexuality, was getting married and Dani would perform the ceremony. Frank would be, there was no other way to say this, marrying two women. Dani searched her soul before agreeing to be the officiant. This was not simply polygyny where Frank would be married to two women. This was polyamory. All three people were in love and would be married to each other. Polygamy was illegal, obviously, but Dani saw the touch of God in this union. She was willing to go to jail in order for this wedding to happen.

She knew Frank well enough to give him the benefit of the doubt as far as meeting his fiancées. She also found a church in his area and started the preliminaries. When Dani spoke to Frank on the phone and listened to the way he talked about the women he intended to marry, she could hear the love in his voice. She could not explain it but when Frank talked about his fiancées, there was a voice in the back of her head telling her she needed to perform this wedding. That voice was what stopped her from advising Frank to marry one of the women and to consider the marriage open. The more her friend and former lover spoke, the more she heard what she interpreted to be God's plan. As wrong as it sounded on the surface, there was something right about this wedding. She heard the love and she would have the opportunity to see it firsthand.

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Dani had made an appointment to meet Gene St. Vincent, the Pastor of Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church the Friday before she was voted out of First Presbyterian Church of Williamstown. Pastor Gene was nine years older than Dani but she thought he was sexy as hell. He was African American and had a deep voice that made her quiver inside. He was the sort of Pastor who got right down to business but wasn't above using profanity if the situation called for it. Dani was glad to know that she wasn't the only one. Pastor Gene was an impressively sized man despite being an inch or two shorter than Dani. Pastor Gene had a presence. Dani wasn't entirely sure why she was attracted to him, she only knew that she was. She melted a little when he spoke.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Dani," he said with a warm smile. "You said over the phone that there were issues to this wedding that could only be discussed in person."

"Yes, Gene, there are," replied Dani. She tried not to appear like a young woman who was crushing on him at thier first meeting. "There are several issues. One is that two of the participants are of the same sex."

"'Two of the participants'?" asked Pastor Gene in surprise. "Exactly how many participants are there?"

"That's another issue. There are three," said Dani. "A man and two women and the three would be married to each other. If you cannot allow the wedding to be performed here, they have a house on the beach less than a mile down the road from here and I'll happily bless the wedding there."

"Why on earth would I allow this farce of a wedding to happen here?" asked Pastor Gene in a demanding voice. "It's a clear violation of church law!"

"Oh?" asked Dani. "Which law does it violate? Church law instructs us to follow the examples of God. You know as well as I do that Christ said several things which implied he had nothing against polygamy. Consistently in the Bible, God and Jesus selected people who were not accepted by polite society. Whom did Christ select to be his twelve closest? No fewer than five fishermen, a tax collector, a zealot and at least two scholars whose works were shunned by the priests and scribes. These were outcasts and now we call them Apostles. We shouldn't be so quick to shun this.

"These three people love each other. God is love and God came to us in three persons. I feel the love of God in this union. I can't explain it."

"Have you met with the three of them?" asked Pastor Gene.

"No, just the man," admitted Dani. "I'm actually on my way to see them for premarital counseling."

"Well, I'll admit I feel better that you'll be counseling them, Dani. You have a very exciting and interesting interpretation of the Bible. I will let you use the church building for the wedding if, after the counseling, you still feel God's presence in this marriage. But make no mistake, I am not condoning this. This is your blessing to bestow. If anything goes wrong, if there are any lawsuits or arrests, I'm not getting involved. It's all on you."

"Understood," said Dani.