A Hero's Reward (11 page)

They checked the hours of the phone
store online. He was almost dismayed to learn that they still had an
hour before it closed. At the same time, he was happy that they could
put some more of her life back together for her. They headed out
quickly and drove to the store.

Margaret confounded the clerk by asking
for a simple flip phone after explaining what had happened. The clerk
had already assured her that the replacement SIM wouldn't be a
problem. When he finally understood that she didn't want a fancy
smart phone or data plan or anything, or maybe just gave up on trying
to upsell her, he found a couple of flip phones still in inventory.
They were tucked away in the back of a cabinet. The entire process
was mostly painless and under fifty dollars. After he assured her
that the SIM card should be activated within twenty-four hours, they
left.

The Redbox was across the parking lot
in front of a convenience store and they walked over to it.

“Let's see, what nice long movies
do they have in here.” said Margaret in a teasing tone.

“You pick whatever you want and
I'm willing to watch it with you” Greg said, “even if
it's a 'chick flick'.”

“You mean those horrible things
that are the female equivalent of male 'buddy movies'? I'll pass,
thanks.”

Greg was astounded, Margaret was the
first woman he had met that professed a distaste for the classic
chick flicks.

“But this looks like a decent
comedy.”

Greg was surprised, the movie she had
picked was a comedy about a teddy bear that came to life, but it was
given a R rating.

“Are you sure? It's rated R.”

“We're both adults, I think we
can handle it. But I heard about this one, it's supposed to be very
funny although it does have some vulgar spots.”

“I said the movie would be your
choice, let's get it.”

They got the movie and headed back
home. After Margaret set her phone to charging, she asked Greg if
he'd make some more coffee.

“Could you make some of that
first stuff you had me try? I liked that a lot. I need to run
upstairs for a couple of minutes and then I'll be down and ready for
the movie.”

Greg set up another pot of Jamaican
Blue Mountain and set it to brewing. Then he went into the living
room and put the DVD in. He didn't know if Margaret liked previews or
not so he hit pause as soon as he could. A few minutes later, he
heard Margaret coming down the stairs and turned to ask her.

“Wow, just... Wow!”

Margaret was wearing a satin robe that
came to just above her knees. It was obvious that she was wearing
nothing underneath it as her nipples were clearly outlined and
tenting the fabric. There was no way that anything could be between
the robe and her flesh.

Margaret smiled again:

“I hope you don't mind, when I
was getting my underclothes I also stopped to talk to that nice
employee again. I asked her what they had there that was attractive
and maybe even sexy, but wasn't too risque, that she thought you
might like. She had pointed out to me earlier that if I liked you I'd
better do something to make sure that you didn't get snapped up by
someone else. When I thought about that and realized just how
devastating that would be to me I realized a few other things also.
Anyhow, this was what she suggested so I just put it in with
everything else. If I shouldn't have, I'll gladly give you the money
for it, it was only twenty dollars.”

“No, no, you definitely should
have. I may have a hard time concentrating on the movie now though.”

Margaret blushed again, but this time
she maintained eye contact with Greg. After a few moments of holding
eye contact she continued the rest of the way down the stairs and sat
on the couch.

“I was going to ask if you liked
watching previews or not before you stopped me in my tracks there.”

“Yes, yes I do. Thank you for
asking and not just skipping over them.”

“Well, let me get us some coffee
then and we can start the show.”

Greg went into the kitchen and tried to
get his head back to normal. Somehow Margaret kept managing to set it
spinning. He poured coffee for the two of them and brought it out to
her. When he sat down on the far end of the couch from her, she
turned sideways and slid across the couch so that she was leaning
against his shoulder and could still see the television. As Greg
started the previews with the remote he realized that he hadn't been
kidding when he said concentrating on the movie would be hard. Her
robe hung open slightly at the top, offering him a view of the slope
of her breasts. If she moved around very much at all it would
probably expose a lot more than just their slope.

The movie was amusing and drew some
laughs from them, despite being incredibly vulgar in a few spots.
Greg found himself surprised by a few of the things that Margaret
laughed at. Also, her laugh was much deeper now, almost as though she
had been trying to control her laughter the previous times he had
heard her. Now, she was just letting the laughs roll out with no
restraint. Amazingly, she seemed to stay very relaxed and didn't even
tense up when Greg slid an arm down around her stomach, slowly
sliding it up her torso until her breasts rested on his arm.

She snuggled more tightly against him
at several spots in the movie and he found his earlier estimate to be
correct. As she moved, the robe gaped more at the top and he found
himself able to see straight down to her sternum. He tried to avoid
looking as much as possible but, as he rationalized it, he was a
red-blooded American male. Looking at tits was almost as traditional
a pastime for men as baseball and apple pie. He could tell that they
were medium-sized and had a good bit of sag to them. She had, of
course, had a child, and from what he could see of her nipples, she
had breastfed him for a decent length of time. Greg had noticed,
during his first marriage, that a woman's nipples and areolae
darkened and grew larger with breastfeeding. They lost some of the
size in time after they finished breastfeeding, but tended to remain
larger than they had been before getting pregnant. From the looks,
Margaret had breastfed for at least a year and maybe two.

Greg caught himself as he was pondering
about her breasts and managed to tear his attention away from them
and back to the movie. If she didn't lose her courage, and it
appeared that she still had it in abundance from her current position
and actions, then he'd get to see them much better in just a little
while longer. Not only would he get to see them better but he'd be
able to do more than just see them then.

Once the movie was over, Greg took care
of putting it back in its case and shutting down the television and
DVD player. Margaret requested one more cup of coffee before bed so
he went to the kitchen and refreshed both their cups. They sat on the
couch, Margaret no longer leaning against him but looking straight at
him instead, and sipped their coffee.

“Greg, you need to know that the
only person I've ever done... that... with is my ex-husband. Knowing
what I do about him now, I think everything I thought about it was
probably wrong. But I don't know what's what. I mean obviously I know
about the act, I did manage to get pregnant and all. But I often
wondered if there wasn't more to it than I was experiencing. Most of
the time I heard someone talk about it they were saying how great it
was, but I couldn't understand that. I mean what's so great about a
guy being on top of you, then inside you for a little bit, then
rolling off of you. I felt like there was more to it than I was
getting and I almost had it in my grasp a couple of times but...”

“Oh Margaret, I'm so sorry. Are
you telling me that your ex always did the wham, bam, thank you ma'am
deal with you? Where he got to cum and you got nothing? That he
didn't do anything else to you at all?”

“Well, I'm still having some
problems talking about this but, I think what you're describing
sounds accurate. He'd tell me he wanted sex, I'd lay on the bed, he'd
get me wet by spitting in his hand and rubbing it on my... area, then
he'd push himself inside me over and over until he was done.”

“Well, the reason you never
understood what they were talking about was because you weren't
getting to experience the good parts. It sounds like Freddy was just
using you in more ways than you knew. I'll be happy to try to show
you the good parts you were missing out on if you're willing.”

“I knew there should have been
more to it than that!” she said angrily, “This is
something else he was denying me and never told me about.”

“Let me play Devil's Advocate
here, he may not have known.”

“Oh, I'll guess he knew. I did
hear him talking about some things with a few of his friends once
that I didn't understand at the time. Later on, I realized that he
had been talking about sex, but not any things he had ever done with
me. He knew, all right. Oh he's such a Bastard!” Margaret
quickly glanced about, “I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that.”

“What, the curse?” at her
nod he continued, “Curses are words, they have real meanings.
From what you've told me about him, that one fits him well. You won't
offend me using curses, I work on a construction crew. I've heard
them all and I've probably used most of them myself also. I've just
been watching my language because I thought they might bother you.”

Margaret shook her head:

“You needn't worry about me on
that score. I used to curse up a storm, well I at least used them
infrequently. Freddy told me it was unbecoming of a mother and a
wife, so I made an effort to stop. I'm thinking that there are lots
of little control issues like that still buried in me. That's why I
said you wouldn't want me after you got to know me.”

“Well, not to contradict you but
I know you better now and, if anything, I want you more than before.
I think we just sort of fit together, like two interlocking jigsaw
puzzle pieces. Now, in addition to other things, I feel the desire to
show you the things your ex denied you.

I'm also looking forward to continuing
to help you rebuild your life. Both the physical things like we did
earlier today and hunting down the little control issues and other
surprises buried inside of you. Helping you to find the ones you
don't want so you can remove them. We can, if you'll allow me to help
you, replace those to make things more the way you want them. It's
kind of like rebuilding a house which, as I've mentioned, is one of
the things that I do. Okay so normally on a physical level with
houses and garages and such but I'm more than willing to help you do
so mentally and emotionally.”

Margaret was seemingly near tears
again:

“Greg, oh Greg. I wish we had
actually talked to each other a few years back when you moved in
here. Why did I become a hermit and wait so long.”

“You might not have been ready.
Sometimes it takes a major shock to help people get over things.
You've had several recently so that might have been what it took to
get you moving on with your life again.”

Margaret drained the last of her coffee
cup:

“Is it bed time yet?” she
asked with a shy smile.

“I do believe it is, and I'll be
going to bed now. Would you care to join me?” Greg answered,
draining his cup after he finished speaking.

“I think that would be a very
good idea.”

Greg held his hand out to Margaret.
When she reached over and clasped his fingers, his heart began to
race. He'd told the straight out truth when he had said it had been a
long time for him. He hadn't had another woman since divorcing Emily.
A little internet porn, a box of tissues, and his right hand had
taken care of the intermittent urges. Now he had a woman that he
suspected he was falling deeply in love with accompanying him to his
bedroom.

“Wait, please.” Margaret
spoke.

Greg looked at her, unsure of whether
he should be dismayed or relieved.

Margaret grabbed both coffee cups and
left, entering the kitchen. She was back out in moments, carrying his
bottle of painkillers.

“Isn't it time for your next
dose? I don't want you to hurt yourself for me again. Especially not
if it means that you'd have to stop... doing what we'll be doing.”

Greg grinned with relief. Evidently
Margaret really was willing, and it sounded as though she were even
eager. He took the bottle of pills from her and opened it, spilling
two into his hand which he quickly swallowed.

“I'm surprised you thought of
that. I have to admit, my thoughts were very much elsewhere.”

“Well, it seems that I'm a
pessimist nowadays and I kept thinking of what could go wrong. This
was the only thing I thought of that I could do something about, so I
did.”

“Shall we?” Greg extended
his hand to her once more.

Margaret accepted his hand and they
walked to the stairs. They had to let go to climb the stairs but once
in the upstairs hallway Greg reclaimed her hand. He opened his
bedroom door for her and escorted her inside.

“I need to grab a drink of water
or these pills might give me trouble. Lie down on the bed and I'll be
right out.”

Greg stepped into the master bathroom
and ran a glass of water. As he drank it, he glanced in the mirror:

Am I ready for this? It's been a long time. Maybe I finally
found one that will be worth keeping. I hope so; she's so comfortable
to be with. I could see us together for a very long time.

Greg walked back into his bedroom, only
to find out that Margaret had switched off the light. He flipped the
switch back on and saw her. She was lying in the center of his
queen-sized bed, her robe was still on but she had untied the belt.
One side had slid off of her a little and there was a strip of skin
showing between the the two opposing edges of satin.