by Amber Burns
She giggled and we carried on strolling, stopping for ice cream before heading home much later.
13
She stood in front of the three angled mirrors and turned so that she could see her reflection from all angles. She put her hands at her waist and looked at the gown she had on. It was snowy white, had fitted cap-sleeves and a beaded bodice that came down into her waist with a tulle skirt, flouncy and light.
“Daddy, what do you think?” She asked, turning around.
He sat forward and looked intently.
“Sweet pea, it looks beautiful, and you look like a princess, isn’t it a bit too, um, big, for a beach reception though?”
Annabelle started giggling.
“You’re right, I wanted to try on at least one big dress though.”
She picked up the skirt and started walking back to the change room where the assistant waited for her. She tried on about seven before she got to the one dress that made her dad clamp his hands over his mouth when she came walking out of the change room. When Annabelle stopped and turned to face the mirrors, a tear ran down her cheek as the assistant moved around her adjusting the skirts. From behind her she heard her father swallow back tears.
“Baby girl, I wish your mom was here to see you, you look so breath taking.”
Anna didn’t want to cry, and wiped at her cheeks now with the tissues handed to her by the assistant.
“Dad, this is the one, this is my wedding dress.”
The dress she had on fit like a glove, a soft ivory at the top, and a deep coffee color right at the bottom. In the front, spaghetti straps sat in a ‘V’ over each shoulder and the neckline plunged to sit low between her breasts. The bodice was a heavy beaded fabric, glittering with crystals. The beading got lighter as one’s gaze moved lower, and the skirts fell at her feet as a pool of chiffon and tulle. The layers were all cut at different lengths, giving an illusion of movement even when she stood still. At the back the dress was completely open down to the curve of her lower back, with the thin straps criss-crossing her pale skin.
Annabelle did a little twirl, and after staring for several minutes at her reflection, knowing it was an unconventional dress, she still knew it was the one. She went to take it off and slip back into her sundress she had arrived in. After they paid, with Annabelle trying hard not to think about how much she was spending on one piece of clothing, she took her dad out for coffee.
*********************
I held the nail steady as I picked up the hammer to send it firmly into the wood. When that was done I ran the palm of my hand over the smoothly curved surface and looked from the bow to the stern of the thirty three foot yacht that sat upside down on the stand in my backyard. It seemed like I hadn’t gotten much done in the three months since I decided to build my own boat, but I looked up at the roof that I also had constructed for the work. It was almost a barn with no sides; I didn’t want the wood to get wet. This had become my happy place since the kit I ordered from GLEN-I yachts arrived.
Annabelle was off dress shopping and had taken her father with her to let him share in something special, something that would have been an event shared with her mother… but couldn’t be. I stopped working for a moment and simply stood looking out past the house and out to sea, it was the perfect day. The afternoon sun sent rays down onto the lake-flat water through wispy clouds and there wasn’t even a breeze moving the sweet smelling air. I had a jasmine vine on the property that Annabelle had planted when she’d moved in and its flowers were just opening, perfuming the air with its heady scent.
I had now finished doing the actual building of the shell that would be the hull, and needed to sand it down before continuing with internal structures when I turned it over. I was doing everything by hand, and by the time Annabelle drove back down the driveway my shirt clung to my back and my arms ached from the consistent exertion.
She came walking up to me with a serene smile on her face, her hair trailing out behind her. Without being put-off by my sweaty state, she threw her arms around my neck and kissed me.
“I found the perfect dress.”
“Well hello to you too beautiful,” I said, my face buried in her hair.
She nuzzled me, “Hello you sweaty, smelly, hard-working boat builder. Come inside, let’s go shower.”
She stepped away and took my hand, pulling me toward the house.
“I think I need to get you a little sweaty and saw-dusty yourself first, future wife of mine.”
I lifted her onto my work bench with my hands around her waist, and noted that I had indeed guessed the height perfectly when I built it. Her dress surrendered easily as I slid it up her thighs, her skin silky soft under my rough and newly calloused fingers.
“Your hands have gotten so rough Mich,” she moaned against my lips.
She lifted her hips so that her panties could come off easily, and I took them, inhaled her scent off them, then stuffed them into my back pocket.
“Did you just sniff my panties?” She giggled.
I nodded, “And you smell divine.”
She reached down to undo the buckle of my belt, and then her fingers were at my zipper, releasing it oh so torturously slowly, one catch at a time. She buried her face in my neck and I felt her sharp little teeth nip at the skin over my collarbone and downward. I closed my eyes and shivered at the feel of her warm fingers encircling me, pulling my cock free of the constraints of my jeans and briefs. She massaged me, and I felt the workbench tilt as she shifted forward.
“I want you Anna, I want to be inside you.”
I let my hands slip down to her hips and took a step closer, she was so wet I slid easily into her, and the position she was in made for such a tight squeeze I dropped my head onto hers as I pushed all the way into her soft warm sex. She reached her arms around me and for a moment we simply held each other like that. When we started moving again it was slow, and with my thrusts she tilted her hips to accommodate me more comfortably.
With total abandon, she eventually leaned backward, placing her hands behind her and wrapping her legs around my waist. I watched her chest rise and fall and grasped her breasts through the thin fabric of her dress. Thinking again, I undid the buttons there, pulling the material open to reveal her pale skin. Annabelle groaned under my hands as I teased her rosy nipples, pulling and pinching gently. She giggled when I tickled her ribs by running my fingers lightly across her skin. I gripped her tightly and thrust hard, her giggles cut off and changing to moans. She dropped her head back and gasped, her breathing changed and her chest flushed pink and then she cried out my name.
“Mich!, Mich, oh God,” as she came.
The muscles of her sex tightened around me and shivers ran through me from my hair to the soles of my feet. My own orgasm was a big release, a rush of adrenalin, and felt as though a waterfall gushed from me. She clung to me after as I leaned forward over her, and gently kissed me.
We detangled ourselves from each other, and when she walked ahead of me to the house I saw my own fluids glistening between her thighs as she moved. It was such a deeply erotic sight, and evoked a sense of possession in me I could not clearly describe. When we stood together under the shower later, and she rubbed her back against me like a cat, I whispered in her ear.
“You are mine, all mine lovely woman.”
She may as well have been audibly purring.
“I am all yours. You’re so stuck with me Michel Deverroux,” she chuckled and turned to wash me.
We sat down later that evening, and I showed Annabelle pictures of a property I’d found for sale outside Beaumont, without telling her why.
“Look at these and tell me what you think.”
I handed her the laptop with the images. There were horses running across fields, and pictures of a spreading house, a barn, a large cottage as well.
“Michel, this is so beautiful, where is it?” she asked, turning to look at me.
I smiled, “It’s outside Beaumont, actually, it’s not to
o far from here. I was looking for a property to invest in, and then I saw that, it didn’t just strike me as a possible investment though, I really like the look of it. I was going to ask if you felt like taking a day trip to go and look at it in person?”
Her entire face lit up when I suggested that, and she practically started bouncing.
“Yes! Oh yes! When can we go?”
She set the laptop aside and jumped onto my lap.
“Well, why don’t we go tomorrow? Things have slowed down for you with tutoring, and your dad has closed the shop for a few weeks now, so we can pack an overnight bag and maybe escape for a night?”
I think my distraction tactics worked, because she murmured her agreement while I nibbled an ear, and kissed a trail down her neck.
“I think that sounds lovely, just the two of us, I need to get away from the stress of the house and insurance etcetera.”
*********************
The drive to Beaumont was heavenly, with Armand safely in the capable hands of Annabelle’s father for babysitting duty and the house locked up tightly. They set off early in the morning and headed across the lagoon toward the mainland, getting take-out coffee for the road from a local diner where they had breakfast pancakes.
“I am so excited!” Annabelle squealed in the seat next to Michel, her hand on his leg.
He laughed and took a sip of his coffee while his other hand sat relaxed on the Jaguar’s steering wheel. The car ran as smoothly as it surely had when it was brand new, so lovingly had Michel restored it and paid it tender loving care. As they moved farther from the coast the landscapes changed from dunes and undergrowth, succulents and scattered mangroves, to open farm land and horse country. The houses were further apart, and a different style, much bigger than those closer to the coast, and there were big red barns everywhere.
“I love this, I never got to spend time on a farm as a child and always envied my friends who did, it must be so nice,” she said, staring out through the window.
Michel smiled, “It’s not an easy life, but it’s very rewarding, and very different to living on the coast.”
She turned to face him.
“You know, if we like this ranch, or farm, whatever you call it, and we moved, we could keep your house on the coast and rent it during season, and maybe split time between the properties?”
Michel murmured something half to himself, then spoke louder.
“I would relocate completely, and bring your dad with us, so he is close to you. Rent or lease the property in Crystal Beach, and he could sell his. And we make our life out here, if that is what we decide. A farm is not something you can lock up and leave, there will be animals we’d be responsible for.”
Annabelle nodded.
“True, I don’t mind as long as my dad is happy.”
She slid down in the seat and let her head rest on Michel’s shoulder. He drove along, Tracy Chapman singing on the radio as they cruised into Beaumont and headed out onto the road that led to the property. Annabelle stirred against him, and sleepily sat up, rubbing her eyes.
“Are we almost there?” She asked, her voice groggy.
He kissed her cheek.
“Yes, almost, keep an eye out for a bed-and-breakfast will you? So that we can head back toward it later,” he asked.
She nodded, “Okay.”
Annabelle’s breath was knocked away by the view of the house as Michel turned into long, pole-lined drive. The paddocks bordering the drive were inhabited by Bay horses, Mares as far as she could tell. They looked up curiously as they heard the car, but then went back to grazing. In the background beyond the horses stood the house and barn, much more magnificent than it looked in the pictures.
“This is something else,” Annabelle said softly.
When she opened the car window the scent of hay and horses filled her nose, and Michel pulled off, slowly driving toward the house. On the wide porch, two people appeared, a couple in their fifties. When Annabelle and Michel exited the car, they came down the stairs to greet them.
“Hi, we’re Eva and Art,” the woman said, her voice soft with a typical Texan drawl.
They shook hands and exchanged pleasantries.
“Shall we show you the outside of the property first guys? It’s such a beautiful afternoon, and then Eva has baked a cake for afternoon tea.”
Art put his arm around his wife and they walked off toward the barn. Annabelle and Michel followed them around hand in hand, listening as they spoke about the different buildings and told stories of the animals. By the time Eva took over to show them the inside of the house they had both lost their hearts to the place. Michel wrapped his arms around her as they stood in the arched entry way to the large lounge.
“I don’t know about you, but I’d move here tomorrow if I had a chance,” he said, pulling her into a hug, right in front of the older couple.
She smiled up at him and answered with exactly what he had expected.
“I feel as though I’ve come home Michel, please can we buy the farm?”
Behind them Eva and Art laughed heartily.
“This place has a habit of making one feel like that little lady,” Art said.
Michel took the coffee Eva handed him, as did Annabelle, and then the men discussed business. Eva led her to a big plush sofa and the women sat down.
“Are the two of you from the area?” She asked Annabelle.
“No, we are from Crystal Beach, we are going to see about finding a bed and breakfast in town to spend the night in, have a bit of an escape from the coast.”
Eva seemed appalled by that idea and insisted they stay the night.
“Oh heavens no! I refuse, we have plenty of space, and that way you can truly get a feel for the place.”
She smiled so convincingly, and they were within earshot of the men. Annabelle watched as Art nodded his agreement.
“Oh absolutely, I insist,” Art said.
Michel shrugged, “I would like that very much. I have never been in a more peaceful place.”
The women disappeared into the kitchen to make dinner together after that was agreed on, and Annabelle found herself feeling oddly as though she was around an older sister, or mother-figure. She stood next to Eva and chopped peppers for a salad while the older woman rubbed olive oil and garlic into a whole chicken.
Annabelle smiled as Eva handed her a glass of wine once prep was done and the food was in the oven. They walked out to sit on the porch, on comfy wide sofas facing the paddocks and the drive, and Annabelle breathed out heavily.
“I feel so relaxed and so free, this is a whole different world to Crystal Beach Eva, why are you and Art selling the place?”
Eva took a sip of her wine and made a sweeping gesture taking in the paddocks and barn.
“We are getting a bit too old to cope with all the physical labor involved in a farm like this. It’s hard work, and we don’t want to keep hiring more people to work the place.”
She looked sad for a moment there, and Annabelle felt the fear of ageing, but then she thought of growing old with Michel, and it wasn’t so scary.
“We are looking forward to moving on to different things, don’t get me wrong, we are going to take some time off and travel cross country. We have been so stuck here, we haven’t done any travelling,” Eva said, smiling.
They sat around the large kitchen table to eat, because Annabelle had flat out refused to let Eva set the dining room just for them. It felt cozy and homey, with lamps glowing warmly throughout the house now that the sun had completely gone down, When the two of them walked into the bedroom Eva guided them toward, Annabelle swooned at the beauty.
A king-sized bed stood against the centre of the far wall, and it lay thick with covers and quilts, the pillows and blankets varying shades of red and beige. Annabelle could not resist, the second they were left alone in the room she ran across the floor and leapt onto the bed, flinging herself across it spread-eagled.
“Oh Michel! It’s so big!”<
br />
He chuckled, “I usually hope you’ll wait till I’m naked to say things like that…”
With Annabelle rolling around in fits of giggles he stripped himself and then proceeded to peel her excess clothing off too, drew her body close to him under the covers and held her tightly.
“Just think, we might be falling asleep in our new home for the first time,” he whispered in her ear.
She wiggled against him.
“I like that thought, although, there are other things we could be doing in our new home for the first time…”
Her ass moved against him and he pulled away.
“Let’s respect the fact that we are guests, and the owners of the house are right next door. Sound carries in these old houses,” he said, smacking her bottom under the covers.