by Joachim Jean
“You haven’t forgotten,” he whispered, his throat choked with tears.
Having a job and reconnecting with Callie wasn’t enough for Danny. A new life meant connecting to the community, too. Looking in the local newspaper, he saw notices about Kiwanis events, baseball games for kids, fund-raisers and more. He got the idea that a quick way to become part of his new community was to volunteer. He picked up the phone and before he even had time to decide, found himself signed up to coach kids’ softball and paint school classrooms.
He even went out for drinks with a few of the Kiwanis men and got invited to their illegal poker game. Being accepted into this group of men helped Danny begin to enjoy life in Willow Falls. His favorite activity with Kiwanis was coaching a kids’ softball team. Eliza, Callie, Mac and the kids went to the games to cheer for his team. Danny liked hanging out with the Kiwanis men at fundraisers and picnics. His “fraternal” brothers liked him because he often volunteered to help, whether to build a playground, help start a soccer league or teach underprivileged kids to swim.
Eliza joined Danny on painting days and at picnics for kids waiting to be adopted. They went to Kiwanis socials together, he was proud to have such a smart and beautiful woman on his arm. Eliza never turned down an invitation to a Kiwanis function. The thought that she liked being there with him, made him smile inside.
Sally and Kaitlyn were home for the summer, doing volunteer work at the animal shelter and the women’s rape crisis center. Danny and Eliza spent most of their time at his house because Kaitlyn couldn’t get used to her mother’s relationship with him.
“I need another drawer,” Eliza called out from his bedroom.
“You women…you have so much stuff!” Danny said, returning to the bedroom.
“I suppose the Army taught you to travel light,” she said, folding her lingerie.
“Damn right! Besides, I don’t need much.”
“Good, then you can easily give me another drawer.”
“No problem, Sweetpea,” he said throwing his clothes from a top drawer into a bottom one.
“That helps,” she said, placing her lingerie in an available drawer.
“If you need more space, I can move stuff into the other room. What is all this, anyway?” he asked, picking up a white negligee.
“Things I need to entice you…seduce you…my handsome, sexy man,” she said, flirting with him, moving her hips against him provocatively and touching his face.
“Are you kidding? You never have that stuff on longer than fifteen seconds anyway. You don’t need anything to seduce me, just thinking about you naked always makes me hard.” He wrapped her in his arms and pulled her tight against his chest.
“Then I won’t wear these out,” she said, kissing him.
“As long as you have the essentials—toothbrush, comb and underwear…”
“I have the essentials, toothbrush, comb, brush, hair dryer, make up, perfume, body lotion, hand cream, nail polish, lingerie, shoes, socks—” she said, rattling off her list.
“You call those essentials?”
“Of course. Any woman would.”
“Even if you do take up a lot of space, I like having you and your stuff here.”
* * * *
“Where are you going, Mom?” Kaitlyn asked.
“Back to Danny’s house,” Eliza said, toting a shopping bag.
“You’re always over there.”
“That’s because you’re so hostile, you make us uncomfortable. I wish you would accept us as a couple.”
“How can I? He’s so young. With Simon, well, so what…” Kaitlyn said.
“Why should I live like that? After your father died, I shut down. So when Simon came along, I accepted feeling nothing with him rather than be alone. I’m not going to die with your dad. I’m entitled to a life, to love and Danny is loving. The age difference doesn’t matter to us.”
“This is getting a little too personal for me.”
“Look, you’re not a child. I’m a woman, not just a mother, but a sexual being, too, like you. I want to have love, real love, all aspects of love, like I had with your father. With Danny I feel alive again.”
“Too much information, Mom.”
“Every time I try to be honest you give me that. I give up. You are forcing me to limit my time with you. Danny makes me happy—doesn’t that mean anything to you?” Eliza said, frustration driving her close to tears.
“I’m okay with Danny, Mom. He seems like a nice guy,” Sally said, putting her hand on Eliza’s arm, trying to calm her mother down.
“But your sister isn’t. I’m hurt you can’t get past your own selfish feelings to try to understand. Your father died four years ago. I am moving on with my life. Deal with it,” she said, taking her bag and walking out.
Chapter Seven
Callie and Mac invited Eliza and Danny to join them at their lake house for the Fourth of July weekend. Because Kitty had an ear infection, the Caldwell clan had to postpone their arrival. Eliza and Danny had the house to themselves.
The administration offices were closed on Fridays during the summer, so they got an early start, arriving before noon, placing their suitcase in the attic guest room.
“Do you like to hike? Let’s go exploring,” Danny suggested.
They packed a lunch and found a trail heading around the lake. The trail forked and Danny picked the fork leading away from the lake.
“Let’s see what’s down here,” he said, taking her by the hand.
They walked for about fifteen minutes before they spotted a huge pond and a small, grassy clearing totally secluded in the middle of the woods.
“This is perfect for lunch,” Eliza said, spreading out the blanket and sitting down.
She laid out the food while Danny popped two bottles of beer. They ate their sandwiches while enjoying the scenery. Large evergreen trees mixed with oaks and maples to provide shade. Healthy light green ferns grew in abundant bunches, obscuring the path. Twigs and downed branches made small wood piles near the bigger trees.
“Do you know what all these plants are?” he asked her.
“Many of them, but not all.”
“I’m impressed. We lived in the suburbs, house up against house. I never had a chance to go exploring in the woods.”
“The birds here are especially interesting. After a while, you can recognize some of them by their calls. Hear that?”
Danny listened.
“That’s the call of a chickadee.”
“I prefer the sounds here to the sounds in the city. No horns honking, just chickadees chirping,” he said, stretching out, putting his hands behind his head.
“Hear that tapping? A woodpecker is looking for his lunch. He’s close by…” Eliza said.
“There he is on the trunk of that tree,” he said, pointing.
“I see him!”
They listened to the swishing sound of the gentle breeze passing through the leaves and the buzzing of bumblebees, the only sounds disturbing the quiet of a warm summer afternoon. They laid down out on the blanket, Danny eased Eliza in close to his shoulder where she could snuggle up to him. They fell asleep.
After a twenty minute nap, Danny woke up and sidled up to a sleeping Eliza. He propped himself up on one elbow, opened up the sunscreen and started applying the cream to her arms and shoulders laid bare by the halter top she wore. She yawned, stretched and sat up so he could apply some to the fair skin on her back. When he finished, he untied the halter and reached around to cup her breasts, giving them a gentle massage. He kissed her neck, then whispered, “Have you ever made love outside?”
“Are you suggesting something?” she asked, flirtatiously.
Danny stripped off his shirt and shorts, then undressed Eliza. She put sunscreen on his back and chest while he massaged her calves, inching his hands up slowly.
“The perfect day for a new experience,” he said, caressing her inner thigh and moving his hand up little by little until his fingers explor
ed her warm flesh. Leaning over, he kissed her hungrily as he gently eased her down on her back. He trailed his mouth down to her breast, teasing one peak while his hand moved up to caress the other. Eliza lost her hands in his hair and closed her eyes.
Before long, Danny reduced her to a moaning pool of molten desire. She touched him, stroking him and increasing his arousal, which matched hers quickly. Eliza straddled him and he eased himself into her. She put her hands on his chest while her hips moved on him and closed her eyes. He gazed at her body and slid his hands up to cover her breasts.
Eliza increased the pace until she melted in sweet release. Danny pulled her to him, holding her tightly as he rolled them both over. Now on top of her, he thrust hard and fast bringing her again to release. Groaning, he climaxed with her.
“I love you, Sweetpea,” Danny said softly, as they cuddled, basking in mutual bliss and lazy sunshine. “We’re only supposed to have fun but…I know I we agreed…I love you. Please don’t be mad.”
“I love you, too,” she admitted, touching his face.
She kissed him and he grinned letting out a war whoop that startled the wildlife.
“She loves me! Yeah!”
* * * *
She tried to hide her feelings from herself but with his admission of love, she could not be blind to her own emotions. She had to see he had gotten under her skin and she loved him, whether she wanted to or not. Eliza never knew anyone quite like Danny. He embraced life, eager to live each moment to the fullest; his energy became hers, he revitalized her, her life with him had more gusto than she thought possible. She couldn’t help herself…her heart was happy every time he smiled at her, said her name or touched her. She felt the heat of his love and she adored him in return.
* * * *
They ate dinner in a secluded booth in a corner of the local restaurant, The Eagle’s Nest, where they held hands and only had eyes for each other. Back at the house, they lit candles. Danny put At Last and Can’t Help Falling in Love with You on the CD player and took Eliza in his arms. They sipped wine, and danced slowly to romantic music in the moonlight on the deck.
He twirled her, hugged her and nibbled her neck to the music. The soft fresh breeze blowing off the lake could not cool their ardor, not satisfied by dancing alone. Her soft body next to his stoked his fire. Danny wanted her, ardently, urgently and completely. Slipping a strap of her sundress down, he kissed her shoulder, running his tongue lightly over the base of her neck to the hollow of her throat, then sliding his hands down over her hips, pulling them against his. As they swayed to sexy songs, he unzipped her dress, stroking her smooth back. Her dress dropped to the ground just before he released his boxers. Eliza slid her hands down over his smooth behind, pulling him closer. Danny pressed his erection against her, eliciting a soft moan from her throat.
His hands rested on her breasts, caressing and massaging them gently while he kissed her. They progressed to lovemaking on the sofa, where satisfaction claimed Eliza first, then Danny.
Awakened by the warm early morning sun peeping in their bedroom window, Danny rolled over and caught his breath at the sight of lovely Eliza sleeping next to him. He looked at her breasts, so perfectly formed and used his finger to trace their outline, waking her up. He followed with his lips until she moaned with pleasure, then his mouth took hers. He couldn’t get enough of her. She ran her hands up his chest, feeling his physical strength and the power of his broad shoulders. She pressed her hips to his, urging him on. Danny covered himself took her then and made slow, sweet love to her.
* * * *
Afterward, the lovers slept in. They were still having coffee in their robes when Jason came running in and jumped on Danny, knocking his robe open.
“Uncle Danny, how come you’re not wearing pjs?”
Embarrassed, Danny put Jason down and closed his robe quickly. “You guys are here early,” he said as Callie, Mac and Kitty followed Jason in.
“Aunt Eliza, are you wearing clothes?” Jason asked, approaching her. She ran up the steps to the guest room barefoot with Danny right behind her.
“Jason, it’s not polite to ask people if they are wearing clothes,” Callie said, chuckling.
Eliza and Danny dressed quickly. When they returned to the living room, it didn’t take much for Callie and Mac to figure out what had been going on.
“We got an early start because Kitty is feeling much better. The kids are up at crack of dawn anyway,” Callie said, kissing Danny on the cheek.
“We adore this place, the house is filled with love,” Eliza said as Callie hugged her.
“You two should know,” Mac tossed off, staring at Eliza.
“Mac!” Callie said, hitting him lightly in the arm. “Stop giving her a hard time.”
Eliza blushed to the roots of her hair while Danny laughed.
“Let’s go fishing,” Jason said, tugging on his uncle’s arm.
“Okay, buddy,” he said, kissing Eliza before taking Jason’s hand, grabbing two fishing poles and heading down to the lake.
Eliza poured coffee for Callie and found toys for Kitty. The two women sat cross-legged on the floor with the little girl.
“How are things?” Callie asked.
“What…?”
“You know what, Lize. Fess up. What’s happening between you two?”
“We’re dating.”
“Come on. Looks like a lot more than that.”
“Okay, it’s more,” Eliza confessed, reluctantly.
“Sleeping together, right? Are you guys in love?”
Mac entered on the tail end of this conversation. He put the groceries in the kitchen and joined the women on the floor.
“Are you sleeping with Danny?” Mac asked before she could answer Callie.
“Mac!” Eliza said.
“We’ve known each other a long time,” he said, taking a mug of fresh coffee from Callie.
“Still not an excuse for prying. Did I ask you if you were sleeping with Callie before you got married?” Eliza countered.
“You knew we were,” he said, looking at Callie then back at Eliza.
“But, I never asked.” She sniffed, shifting her gaze away from him.
“If you’re going to get so huffy, I withdraw the question. Besides, I saw enough raw data this morning to draw a logical, scientific conclusion as to what’s been going on between you two.” With a teasing smile on his lips, he imitated Jason. “Aunt Eliza, are you wearing any clothes?”
“Are you in love?” Callie asked.
Eliza blushed but didn’t answer.
“You are. My, oh my. Isn’t this great?” Callie asked, clapping her hands, with Kitty joining in.
“Isn’t it great, Kitty, Aunt Eliza is in love,” Callie said, smiling at the little girl.
“Is that true?” Mac asked, his brows knitted with concern.
“Mac, look at her,” Callie said, while Eliza’s face turned redder.
“Stop it, you two. So what if I am?” she protested.
“How can you be in love with him, Eliza?” Mac asked disappointment evident in his voice.
“Mac!” Callie said, putting her hand on his forearm.
“Each weekend is a new adventure with Danny. He’s like a kid in a candy store and he wants me to taste all the flavors with him,” Eliza said, her eyes shining. “You don’t know him, Mac, because you’ve built a wall. Danny is a great guy, you should let him in. I hope you do, because I’d hate to see your bad attitude wreck our friendship,” Eliza said, getting up and walking out on the deck.
Mac followed her.
“You don’t mean that…you’d end our friendship?” he asked, shocked.
“I’d hate to, Mac. But this thing you have about Danny makes it impossible for me to love you both. Why can’t you be glad for me? I’m happy for the first time since Bill died. It’s been four years, Mac. Don’t you think I deserve to be happy? Bill is the one who died, not me,” Eliza said, her eyes clouding with tears as she returned to the house
with Mac.
He looked out the glass doors at the fishing boats in the lake before pulling out his handkerchief and handing it to Eliza.
As her tears spilled over, he said, “I’m sorry…I never realized…I didn’t mean to…I don’t know what to say.”
Callie watched from the living room where she played with Kitty. Mac went over to Eliza and put his arm around her. She buried her face in his shoulder.
“You…my daughters…people who are supposed to love me are giving me grief because I found a man who makes me happy and you don’t approve. I don’t understand why you don’t approve. So he’s younger than I am. If that doesn’t matter to us, why should you be concerned?”
“You’re right. If Danny makes you happy, then he’s okay with me,” Mac said, hugging her tightly.
Danny and Jason returned from the lake.
“Why is daddy hugging Aunt Eliza?” Jason asked.
“Yeah, Jace, I’d like to know, too,” Danny said a tinge of suspicion in his voice.
“Aunt Eliza was sad, Jason, and she needed a hug from Daddy,” Callie said, giving Danny a look that told him to cool it.
Jason hugged Eliza, too, which made her laugh and dry her tears.
“Mac, did you make her cry?” Danny asked hostility in his eyes.
“I’m fine now,” Eliza said, taking his arm and steering him away from Mac.
“Just a misunderstanding, Danny,” Mac said.
“Did you catch any fish?” Callie asked.
“No. Uncle Danny isn’t any better than Daddy.”
They all went swimming, tried fishing again with no luck and played croquet on the small patch of lawn. Nap time came for Kitty; Mac read to her while rocking her to sleep. Eliza and Danny read a sticker book with Jason who delighted in pulling off the stickers and finding the right location for each one. Callie cooled herself off with an iced tea and put her feet up.