Remember, It's Our Honeymoon

by Mairsile Leabhair

  Vicky nodded at Aidan. She knew she was being too intense so she relinquished her hard edge, asking Joyce in a softer tone, “Joyce, are you all right? How are you coping?”

  “About as you’d expect. Ellen’s been my rock, plus she gives me all the sex I want.”

  Vicky ignored Joyce’s chuckle, “Let me talk with her, please.”

  Handing the phone to Ellen, Vicky heard Joyce say, “For some reason, I don’t think she believes me.”

  Ellen replied, “Can you blame her?” She took the phone from Joyce and said, “Vicky, how’s the honeymoon, are you having fun?”

  “Oh, yes, Ellen, Ireland is so romantic. But what about Joyce, what’s really going on, Ellen?”

  “The ER doctor said she picked up some kind of spore when she was in Little Rock helping with the tornado victims. It’s just like my wife. She always did attract the strange and crazy stuff like that.” Ellen laughed, lightly kissing Joyce on her forehead.

  “Ellen, I really think I should come there. Remember, I am a registered nurse and I can help you take care of her.” Vicky realized that she should have checked with Aidan first, so she put her hand over the phone again and said, “Honey, do you mind very much?”

  “No baby, I don’t mind at all.” Aidan was being semi-truthful. She knew what Joyce meant to Vicky and if the tables were turned, she’d want Joyce to drop everything to help Vicky in the same way, but she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of disappointment as well. Something always seemed to encroach on their alone time.

  “Don’t worry, Vicky. There’s nothing to be done but put drops in her eyes. Besides, you know Joyce, she won’t let anyone take care of her. She’s stubborn like that. Know what I mean?”

  Vicky heard Joyce grunt in the background, “Actually, I do, Ellen. Aidan is the same way.” Vicky grinned at Aidan, who cocked her head curiously, “Listen Ellen, please call me the instant you know anything, okay?”

  “I will, and don’t worry about a thing, just enjoy your honeymoon. Here’s Joyce back…”

  “Hon, you two just get back to your honeymoon. I won’t rest easy if I know you’re worrying about me, understand?”

  “Okay, Joyce. I understand. Just take care of yourself and do what Ellen tells you to do.”

  “Don’t I always? Listen, kiss the Blarney Stone for good luck, and you two have some fun.”

  Aidan waited until Vicky put the phone on the nightstand before she asked, “Do I need to book a flight back to New York?”

  “No, honey. Ellen insists that there’s no need, but thank you for offering.”

  “Oh, I have plenty to offer you, kid, and since we’re both awake anyway…”

  Vicky laughed, “Honey, is sex all you ever think about?”

  “No, baby. I think about you more than I think about sex, except when I’m thinking about having sex with you.”

  Vicky ran her hand down Aidan’s stomach and said, “Well, I hope that is what you’re thinking about right now.”

  “Oh, hell yeah. You read my mind,” Aidan said as she cupped Vicky’s breast.

  The next stop on the newlyweds’ tour of Ireland, mostly because it was along the road they were traveling down, was Fermoy. A small town on the River Blackwater, in County Cork, Fermoy was best known today for its regattas, hosted by the local rowing clubs. And the salmon fishing is said to be some of the best in the region. Aidan would have loved nothing more than to stay a week or two and partake in both activities. Unfortunately they didn’t have that kind of time. Instead, she rented a rowboat, and together the two lovers set out on a romantic boat ride that was as idyllic in its simplicity, as it was stimulating in its amorousness aura.

  Vicky sat across from Aidan on the row boat, her hand lazily dangling in the water, the warm breeze caressing her hair, and the sun radiating her skin to a rosy pink. Aidan pulled out her camera and snapped a photo of Vicky, serenely beautiful in her casual pose. As she leaned forward again to pull on the oars, she kissed Vicky tenderly.

  “You know, this is one of my dreams come true,” Aidan said as she pulled back on the oars and the small boat lurched across the river.

  “It is? Oh please tell me about it.”

  “It was right after I ran away, when I was fourteen.”

  “Oh, this is going to be sad, isn’t it?” Vicky remembered that horrible day, fifteen years ago, when she found the note from her best friend and lover. Aidan ran away to protect Vicky, but it didn’t turn out to be as black and white as she thought. Vicky still had insecurities because of it.

  “How can it be sad if it has a happy ending, baby?” Aidan wasn’t about to let anything spoil this tranquil moment. “So, I hitchhiked to Little Rock, but didn’t have a place to stay when I first got there. Too scared to go to a shelter, I slept down by the river, under a bridge. Remember how we’d sleep out under the stars when we were kids? It was kinda like that. It was actually quite nice, falling asleep to the burbling sounds the river made. Tucked up tight in the crevice just under the bridge, I could see the river below, but no one could see me. So I watched as barges carried their loads down the river and the riverboat carried its patron’s up the river. But the thing that was most idyllic to me and became a dream of mine, was when I saw a rowboat drifting through the water with two lovers, snuggled close, and kissing. It was you, I thought of, when I saw them, Vick. And now here we are, my dream has come true.”

  Vicky’s eyes glistened happily as she eased her way over to Aidan’s side, and together they sat holding each other and kissing, letting the rowboat drift in the water.

  “I am so in love with you, Aidan. Always have been and always will be, sweetheart. I know I’ve been really clingy lately, but‒‒”

  “Baby, I love your clinginess, and I completely understand the need to be close, especially here lately. I’ve been just as clingy, if not more so. Hell, I get nervous if I’m not talking to you, or near you after just a few minutes.”

  Vicky looked at her with wistful eyes, “You do?”

  “Yes, kid. I would think that there was something wrong with us if we weren’t clinging to one another, after everything we’ve been through in the last few months. So please, don’t worry, okay. It’s part of what I love about you most. That and everything else about you.”

  “You’re so sweet. I love your clinginess too. Makes me feel safe inside.”

  Aidan loved hearing that. After finding out it was her own father who had raped Vicky, it was important to her to keep Vicky safe. “So you won’t worry about it, right?”

  “Right, I won’t worry about it, anymore.”

  “That’s my girl.”

  “Aidan, would you tell me about your life on the street. I know you’ve mentioned some of it in your letters, but, I’d like to hear you talk about it. Would you mind, very much?”

  “Well, I don’t mind, but I think it’ll be dull as dishwater for you.”

  “You ran away at age fourteen and survived on the streets. How on earth could I find that dull?”

  Aidan grinned, “Ok, baby, here goes. Like I said, I hid under the bridge until I ran out of food. Then I didn’t have a choice, so I started hitting the trash cans and stuff like that. Finally, and this is the part I’m not proud of, I started shoplifting.”

  “Oh, Aidan.”

  “I know, kid. But I paid him back, every cent.”

  “Him?”

  “The guy who owned the gas station that I was pilfering from. He caught me stealing one day, and I thought for sure that I was going to jail. But instead, he made me work it off. By the end of the day, when he saw how serious I was about paying my debt, he asked me to work for him. He thought I was sixteen and a run-away, and I didn’t tell him that he was half right.”

  “Why didn’t he turn you over to social service?”

  “I think, because his own daughter had run away and I guess I reminded him of her.”

  “Is he the one who taught you about cars?”

  “Yes. And I’m proud to say that I
could change an oil filter faster than anyone else there.”

  “Why did you leave then?”

  “Well see, he only paid me in food and a place to sleep. And I was grateful, of course, but it wasn’t enough. I needed to make some money so I could send for you.”

  “Oh, Aidan.” Vicky’s eyes misted over. She knew that was the reason from reading Aidan’s letters, but still, to hear her say it, warmed her heart even deeper.

  “Oh. I just remembered something. Uh, I’m not sure you’ll want to hear this part though.”

  “If it’s about you, I want to hear it.”

  “Even if it’s about a torrid affair I had at age fifteen?”

  “Especially if it’s about any affair you had at any age.”

  ~*~

  Fifteen year old Aidan stood beside an expensive convertible, pumping gas. Oblivious to the expensively dressed woman inside the car, who was applying lipstick to her voluptuous lips. Aidan was more interested in the woman’s car.

  “Hey, toots, got a light?”

  Aidan looked up to see the woman standing beside her, with a cigarette in her mouth. “You can’t smoke here, lady,” she replied.

  “Well, that’s all right. The heat coming off of you is all the fire I need. You’re new here aren’t you? I haven’t noticed you before, which is an oversight I’m happy to correct.”

  “Huh?” Aidan didn’t see the cougar staring at her skintight T-shirt clinging to her tiny breasts, which made them look twice their size, and her tight blue jeans that showed how brawny her long legs were. She wasn’t aware that she displayed confidence and enticement, at least to the woman who was hitting on her.

  “You’re very beautiful, did you know that?”

  “Me?” Aidan sneered.

  “Yes, you. You have a strong, innocent kind of beauty.”

  Aidan was suddenly transfixed. She’d never had anyone tell her she was beautiful before, and she liked it.

  “Have you ever thought in terms of an older woman?”

  “Wow!” she said, more to herself than to the older woman, whose eyes shone bright with yearning. The woman was in her forties, noticeably rich and well groomed, and obviously enjoyed the younger girls.

  “I’m serious, sugar. You are very sexy, and I think we would have a very good time together.”

  “Uh, I don’t know.” Aidan ran her thin hand through her thick, auburn hair.

  “Let me take you to dinner tonight and we’ll talk about it. It’ll be fun. What do you think?”

  A free meal was more enticing to Aidan than the thought of sex with an older woman, so she jumped at the chance. She knew, if she wore a jacket, she could stuff the pockets with enough food to last for a couple of days. That alone would be worth it.

  “Just dinner, right lady?”

  “Sure, sweetie pie, if that’s all you want.”

  Aidan wasn’t sure what she wanted because she had not truly experienced the act of lovemaking before. She experimented, with Vicky, but that went unrealized and unfulfilled when Vicky’s mother interrupted them. Perhaps letting this woman teach her the fundamentals would better prepare her for when she was with Vicky again.

  “Okay, I get off work at five so maybe pick me up at six?”

  That evening, standing by the gas pump, waiting on her date, Aidan was dressed in one of the two pairs of faded blue jeans she owned, the other pair being to stained to wear other than for work, and the only shirt she owned that wasn’t a T-shirt, and an oversized jacket, one she had found in the trash bin and washed at the laundromat. And of course, her boots that Vicky had given her for her birthday. Now were pinching her toes together, because her feet were growing wider, even as her legs grew longer.

  The woman pulled up beside her and said, “Hi, toots, jump in.”

  Aidan climbed in and instantly felt underdressed. Her date was wearing diamonds and pearls, and a fancy dress with a matching purse. “Oh jeez, maybe we shouldn’t do this. I don’t have the right clothes for‒‒”

  “Nonsense. You’re positively gorgeous, just like you are. By the way, my name is Violet Carrington.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Carrington. My name is Aidan Cassidy.”

  “Aidan. That’s a unique name. I like it.”

  Violet took Aidan to a fancy restaurant in the next city. For a minute, Aidan thought she was being hijacked, but when they pulled up to the valet parking, and the maître d' opened her door for her, she relaxed and began to enjoy herself. She couldn’t have known that Violet choose that restaurant specifically because it was away from the city, away from where she lived and was well known, away from her husband.

  “What’s this?” Aidan asked when the waiter placed the Escargot in front of her.

  “Try it first, and then I’ll tell you. Eat it like this,” Violet picked up the scissor-liked tong and picked up the spiraled shell that held the snail floating in garlic butter, and with the special snail fork, extracted the meat, and chewed it delicately.

  Then Violet watched as Aidan gingerly toyed with the snail and then finally put it in her mouth. Teaching this young tomboy a little etiquette along with the ways of the grown up world was something Violet savored. To her, Aidan was a rare find because she seemed willing to try anything without much convincing. That would come in handy later.

  “Ew! I don’t like it.” Aidan choked as she grabbed her napkin and removed the contents of her mouth.

  Violet laughed at the face Aidan made, expecting as much. “Here, try this instead.” She handed Aidan a plate of Mussels Provencal, and again she showed Aidan how to crack open the shell and eat it.

  Aidan struggled to open the shell, putting it back when she couldn’t, and took one that was already opened. She looked at it closely, crinkling her nose at the smell. Looking up at Violet, who let hers slide out of the shell and into her mouth, Aidan followed her example and, as fast as she could, swallowed the mussel whole. Not that it tasted so bad, but she thought the look of it was not appetizing at all, and the feel of it was especially icky.

  “Uh, can’t we just have hamburgers or French fries, something normal like that?”

  “Normal is boring, Aidan. Normal is every day stuff, this is special, like you are.”

  Aidan’s eyes lit up, taken aback by all the compliments. She wasn’t use to such things, especially coming from an adult. But she liked it and very much wanted more of it. Maybe she really could be special, the kind of special Violet kept alluding to. She just wasn’t sure what she needed to do to be exceptional, but she was hoping Violet would teach her.

  And Violet knew this tough teenager was still very impressionable, and ripe for the picking. Just a few compliments, and Violet would get what she wanted.

  The appetizers consisted of new delicacies that Aidan had never tasted before, but at Violet’s coaxing, she gave them a try. They tasted horrible to her. But when the waiter placed a steak in front of her, she thought she was in heaven. Cutting into the tender sirloin, she halved it, then poured ketchup on one half and began to chew away on the absolute best steak she had ever tasted in her life. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head as she savored the rich flavor, and not waiting to swallow, she told Violet that this was more like what she was talking about.

  Violet laughed, “Slow down, toots, you’re going to choke on a bone.”

  “Maybe, but what a way to go. This steak is even better than making love,” Aidan joked, and then blushed. She had never actually gotten to third base with anyone before.

  “Oh, do tell?”

  “Uh, well I never actually, I mean we didn’t…”

  “It’s okay, sweetie, I’m your friend, you can tell me.”

  “Well, see, my best friend and I sort of were doing it, but then we got caught by her mother.”

  “Oh, that must have been an emotional scene. What did you do?”

  “I ran away,” Aidan replied sadly.

  “And I’ll bet you’re really missing your friend right now. Am I right?”
<
br />   “Yes, ma’am, something fierce.”

  “I can help you with that, if you’ll let me?”

  “You can!” What’s the catch? Uh…, how?”

  “I can teach you the art of lovemaking so that the next time you’re with your girl, you’ll be able to satisfy her in a quick manner, before you’re interrupted. And trust me, your best friend will be very grateful, and very satisfied.”

  “Grateful is good, I guess, but I just want her to be happy.”

  “Oh, kitten, with what I can teach you, she’ll be so happy, she’ll be over the moon.”

  Aidan liked the sound of that. She believed her best friend deserved the best, and if this lady could teach her to be the best, then she was eager to learn.

  “Okay, I’m game. What do I need to do?”

  Laughing, Violet suggested she finish her steak first, and then they’d go to a nearby hotel. But Aidan wanted to save some of it for her next meal, so she asked for a container to put it in. Half a steak, half a baked potato and all the rolls she could stuff in the box. She was satisfied that she could live on that for two, maybe three days, if she portioned it just right.

  Later that night, Aidan experienced her first true love making. Violet was very patient and very giving. Asking as she went along, if Aidan enjoyed that touch, or that sensation. Aidan, though only fifteen, had the presence of mind to pay attention to what Violet was doing, so that she could share her techniques with Vicky. But it was when the young waif climaxed that all concentration went out the door. And it was when her body showed her the ecstasy of multiple orgasms, that she understood and the world opened up to her in a whole new way.

  ~*~

  “I never saw Violet again, after that night, and it was probably just as well. But I’ve never forgotten her, or the understanding way she taught me how to be a woman.”

  “Oh, Aidan,” Vicky said with emotion, “That’s the sweetest story I’ve ever heard.”

  Aidan kissed her bride’s forehead and said, “See, not all of my street life was bad.”

  “I wish I could meet her. I’d like to thank her for teaching you the um, art of lovemaking.”