The Storm

"Anyway, one of main effects that stuff has on me is making me terribly horny. Since you were at the party, I didn't see it as a problem. And it would have been OK except for Randy. As I was getting more and more amorous, Randy kept steering the conversation to the intimacies the two of us had shared before I met you. Looking back on it several hours later, he was leading me slowly down the garden path."

Sibyl paused, and we both waited silently for a time.

"When the "beer emergency" occurred," she continued, "Randy jumped immediately to the fact you were driving your Jeep, and therefore should be the one to go re-supply the party. It made sense to me, and as high as I was I knew I shouldn't be going anyplace until I sobered up some. That's why I was so quick to agree you should leave for the beer and also why I didn't go with you. It never occurred to me how long you would be gone, or how vulnerable I was at that moment. If anyone had asked me, I would have laughed at them…"

"I would have been wrong."

She paused to sip her cooling coffee. "I was surprised when Randy sent his wife off with you. They haven't been married that long and I didn't expect him to want to be away from her during a party."

"Your Jeep wasn't even out of sight before Randy asked if he could show off the cabin that had just been set aside for he and his wife. Thinking about it now, I can see it was a way of asking if I wanted to see his etchings. That just occurred to me. I sure wish I had seen it before!"

"We chattered happily along as he led me along the covered walkway. The door to his cabin was locked when we got there, but of course he had the key, and then we were inside. He made no attempt to turn on any lights, which would have told people someone was in the cabin. That might have brought visitors. I can see all of this now, hours later, but none of it occurred to me at the time."

She looked at me, "Peter, it sounds like I'm making excuses for my behavior, but that's not the case. This is what happened, and my drinking and smoking dope were my decisions. They are not an excuse."

I nodded slightly, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with her statement.

"After Randy shut the door, he took me in his arms, looked down into my eyes and said we had to do this for old times sake, a way to say goodbye. Then he kissed me."

"I tried not to respond, but he was very domineering and I couldn't get out of his arms. I was pretty drunk too, which made it all the easier for Randy."

"Before I realized what was happening, he was steering us locked together in an embrace across the room and into the hall. Nothing I did seemed to even slow him up, and my body was responding to his kisses and petting. He paused a moment in the hall and I believed he had realized I didn't want to do anything with him. His hands were still quite active, but it wasn't until I felt the chill air as he pulled my shirt off that I understood he was undressing me."

"Peter, I swear! I struggled but he just held me with one arm while unbuttoning my slacks. I was concentrating on pulling my arms loose so I could take his hand off my clothes, and by that time I was crying and begging him to stop. Then as he pushed the door open to his bedroom he stooped and pulled me over his shoulder. I shrieked and beat on his back, but the rain was so loud on the roof I knew no one could hear me. I could hardly hear myself. He just laughed as he pulled my pants down and off. He must have dropped them at the door, because when he stooped to put me down his hands were empty and I was stripped to my bra and panties."

"When I dressed this morning I was excited about putting them on. I expected to model them for you tonight, either at the party if we accepted the all weekend invitation, or when you brought me home after the party. I had been so excited when I put them on!"

"Peter, I really fought him then, as hard as I could. But he just pulled me into his arms and kissed me. I was so horny that I couldn't fight my body, but I wasn't going to give in to him passively and was pounding him on the head as hard as I could. He paid no attention to me, just reached around behind me and ripped the back of my bra apart, then shoved me backwards. I lost my balance and began flailing my arms trying to catch myself before I fell. Randy reached out and grabbed a bra cup in each hand, then pushed hard against my chest with his knuckles. As I fell backward he jerked back and to the sides, tearing my beautiful bra into two pieces. He jerked so hard I flew forward into his arms instead of falling on my back. Feeling my naked breasts rub against his shirt inflamed me as always. I kept pounding on his back, but it was hard fighting my body and Randy, too."

"Randy picked me up by the thong that almost covered me, and carried me to the bed. He bounced me up and down once, holding me in the air by the thong. Then dropped me hard onto my feet where my knees started to sag, then wrenched upward. For a moment I thought he was going to lift me off my feet again, but the sheer fabric of the lingerie gave way and I fell backwards instead, landing on my back on the bed."

"Holding me down with one hand, Randy began playing with my naked body, cupping a hand around my mound, teasing my button, and then driving two fingers into me, over and over again. As horny as I was, my body completely betrayed me. Within moments I was moaning and writhing, clawing at him. I was desperate for sexual release, yet still trying to fight him at the same time. He tossed me into the center of the bed, then calmly took off his clothes, folded them and placed them on a chair. I watched him doing this, my mind not fully understanding what was going to happen next. I thought I was going to go crazy with lust. I thought I had won and he was going to let me alone."

"Once naked, he walked triumphantly to the end of the bed. I realized what he was going to do and tried to roll over and off the bed. Instead he captured my legs, one at time, where he pulled off my shoes. Then he fell forward, and without pausing buried his face in my sex to begin licking and sucking me. Within seconds I was so overcome with lust that reason left me."

"I can't tell you exactly what happened after that, except that he was soon inside me, driving me toward orgasm. As hot as I was he would have had me orgasming immediately if he were close to the lover you are. Still, he was moving toward my peak."

"Peter, I was almost there when the lights came on. I saw you standing in the doorway and my reason returned."

She broke into tears again, her hands covering her face as the sobs wracked her small body. I wanted to reach across the table and pull her into my arms, but knew I couldn't do so. It was then that I understood I still loved her, despite what I had seen. I also believed what she had told me. There were rumors around about Randy. This sounded exactly like the kind of trick Randy would pull.

Reaching to her, I pulled Sibyl's hands away from her face. Her eyes red from weeping, her tear-ravaged face was distorted with her grief. "Sibyl, I'd like to try to work this out. But it won't be easy. If I had heard you were unfaithful and afterward you told me this story it would have been hard to handle but nothing sounds like your fault. But I watched you responding to another man's caress. I saw it, Sibyl. It will be hard to put that behind me, and I don't think I'll ever be able to forget it."

"For us to continue we somehow have to regain the trust we lost tonight. I'm saying we both have to regain the trust. You know what this has cost me, and you will need reassurance that I believe in you again. Until you accept that I can fully trust you, you won't be able to fully trust me. It's a two-way street. I've got some ideas we can try, if you want to hear them. They won't be easy; on either of us."

A sudden spark appeared in her eyes, "Peter I'll do anything I can to make you believe in me again. Please! Tell me what you are thinking."

"First, we have to stay away from one another for a while. Not long! But we need time to let the fire of the poisons burn down. I'm afraid if we don't we might just re-ignite the jealousy. And if we can't get beyond that, there is potential for hatred. I want us to stay away from one another for at least two weeks. Not even talk on the phone for at least a few days. I think at least a week, maybe all of the two weeks before we even talk. Then we can get together, maybe for dinner maybe for a picnic and walk on the beach."

"It's going to be tough to do, Sibyl. Both of us will be thinking about tonight, wondering about the other. But if our love is deep enough, strong enough, I think the separation will pull us together. Do you agree, or do you see that as unworkable? Can you think of anything easier that would work?"

There was silence in the kitchen, as we sat and tried to look one another in the face. The sound of the rain outside covered even the sound of her grandfather clock in the living room.

It seemed hours before Sibyl broke the silence. "Peter, I don't want to be alone for even a minute. But I understand. It even sounds wise. It will be hell for me to live through, but it is something we can do. Maybe it will allow us both to see things more clearly. I pray it will, I don't know what I would do if I lost you. I will pray that you forgive me."

After a moment I spoke, "If I can accept your story, Sibyl, no forgiveness will be necessary. Maybe a promise to be more careful of your surroundings."

"This next thing sounds irrevocable, but I don't mean it to be so. I hope… I expect our love is strong enough to see us through this. And at this point I'm not sure that the real problem isn't with me and my selfishness. That's something we will have to work out. But I want you to return my ring, our engagement ring… Now... Tonight."

Her eyes teared again, though she didn't make a sound.

"When we are through this, I want to be able to formally ask you again to be mine. The way this has hit me, you may want to think about whether you want to accept again. Until then, there will be no formal acknowledgement of our union. Nothing anyone can point to. We will know it isn't over; neither of us will comment whether we are now together or apart. But you won't have that bauble on your finger to look at for reassurance. In a way it is a mini-divorce, a separation if you will. But I do NOT expect it to be permanent. I still love you, and I am hoping that our love for one another will pull us through this."

"Luckily we haven't yet set a date for the wedding so no ones plans need be put on hold. I won't say a word about any of this to anyone. Can you do that, too?"

Sibyl gave me a weak smile through her tears as she slowly pulled the diamond off the third finger of her left hand. Looking me in the eye, she kissed the ring, then voicelessly it to me.

I took the ring, and still looking into her eyes I too kissed the ring.

After carefully putting it away in my wallet, I pushed my chair back and rose. "Honey, it's best I go now. I'll call you week after next at the latest; maybe earlier. Then we can plan dinner, maybe at one of Ivar's restaurants. Maybe go to that lodge in the mountains at the tiny town of Index. It is rustic, beautiful, and remote; and they have comfortable rooms in their Inn. It's a place I've wanted to take you; but we can talk about it when I call. I love you. I really do. Take care of my woman."

With that I turned and walked out the door, only turning just before the door shut for our eyes to meet. As I turned the Jeep back onto the road to drive home I felt that we could get through this. I was certain Randy and Constance would have difficulty saying the same. I felt very sorry for Constance. She was a nice woman and deserved better than the man she had so far been saddled with. At least she hadn't spent a decade with him, maybe bearing his children before she discovered how hollow he was at the core.

Five Months Later

Setting her coffee cup on the end table, Sibyl rested her head back against the lounger while she enjoyed the view from her living room window. So much had happened since that miserable storm. That week she had spent praying for Peter's phone call had seemed like a year, maybe two. She hadn't slept, couldn't eat. She had gone to work Monday and Tuesday, but called in sick for the rest of the week.

Only Constance, Peter and herself, and of course Randy, knew what had happened. Constance called her the day after her talk with Peter. Constance was worried about her after Peter called her and explained what had happened. Constance and Sibyl had been friends before that night, and Sibyl had been sure she had lost her friendship along with everything else.

To her embarrassment, Sibyl had broken into tears on the telephone. As soon as they had hung up the phone, Constance had left to drive over to Sibyl's and they had spent hours talking and crying together. Constance had insisted over and over again that it wasn't Sibyl's fault.

Constance had driven Randy home that night. As soon as she was in the apartment she threw some blankets into the living room and locked her bedroom door. Since Randy had turned their spare bedroom into an office, she made him spend that night on the couch.

The next day Randy and she had talked, which resulted in Randy going to his single brothers place until they could get things worked out between them. The brother, a quiet, studious man, wasn't at all happy to have his brother as a houseguest under those conditions. He had never been happy with Randy's partying ways and made it clear to him while Randy was living with him.

Early the next week Randy and Constance sat down in the brother's apartment. Randy was miserable, having faced the consequences of his Don Juan ways and was subdued. He readily agreed to marital counseling. He did love his wife despite his philandering and knew he had a problem.

It hardly seemed credible to Sibyl, but Constance believed Randy was really trying to mend his ways. After her experience she didn't think it at all likely, but she couldn't tell Constance that. Her friend did agreed it was too early to take Randy's reform to be a certainty. But Randy was getting another chance, and would be moving back in with Constance next weekend.

Sibyl hoped, for Constance's sake, that he was serious but at least Constance agreed he had a lot to prove. According to Constance, he knew her trust was very shaky. The old saw held true here, as always, only time would tell.

Peter had called her Saturday morning, just barely a week after that fateful discussion. They made a date for dinner the next Saturday. He picked hr up for the date, and took her to dinner at the Space Needle. It had been exquisite. Cozy, romantic, with an incredible view of the city, Elliot Bay and the sound. The night had been clear, the moon bright, with Mt. Rainier dominating the horizon beyond the city lights. To the West, the rugged, snowy Olympic Mountains added their mystery where they rose beyond the inland sea that was Puget Sound.

She had been afraid to hope, but leaving the car Peter had taken her hand and held it until they were seated. Peter kept the conversation light until dessert. Over dessert and an aperitif Peter apologized to her. Assuring her she had done nothing wrong, he explained it took him some lonely nights to realize what he saw had not been anything of Sibyl's doing.

They had talked every day since. Six weeks after their dinner at the Space Needle Peter had taken her to brunch in the little mountain village of Index. That afternoon they had driven into the Cascade Mountains behind the lodge and walked a short way into a tiny mountain lake. There, Peter had again proposed, and it had been more special than the first time. Despite Peter telling he her he wasn't sure what her answer would be, there was never a doubt in Sibyl's mind what her answer would be.

It had been so special.

Sibyl insisted on a simple wedding. Peter had urged they not wait and were married just a month later. After the Saturday afternoon wedding they had returned to Index, where they had spent the following week as guests at the lodge.

Checking the time, Sibyl jumped up to take the Roast out of the oven. Tonight was Peter's birthday, and he would be home in just ten minutes. This one would be very special to him, because tonight at dinner she would break the news that he was going to be a Daddy. She just had time to change into her new lingerie she had purchased for Peter's birthday.

When he walked in the door she handed him a brandy before sitting him down to the meal and her news.