Saving My Marriage – part 11
Introduction:
On vacation to save my marriage, things get crazy as my wife finds her wild side
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After paying for my purchases, I asked the clerk to bag the items that the girls knew about separate from all of the items that I was surprising them with. I trundled out to the car with bags in hand. I unlocked the trunk and went to drop the bags full of surprises in. I found my wife and I’s carry-on bags, along with what I assumed to be Steph’s as well. Stowing the black plastic shopping bags behind the carry-on bags, I wondered what other surprise the girls had planned that required additional clothes and toiletries. I shut the trunk and hopped into the back seat of the car with the other shopping bags.
It seemed like forever before the girls came out, but I figured it might take Amy a while to wrangle herself out of her new latex outfit. Before they hopped in the car, they opened the back door and dropped in a handful of new shopping bags then climbed into the front seats. “Alright now, no peaking at our purchases… they are a surprise.”
With that, Steph took the keys from me and started the car. We pulled out of the parking lot and started heading downtown. We took a turn that had us heading for the coastline and the large docks. After finding a place to park, I noticed that we were at the ticketing station for a ferry. Interesting. Amy and Steph got out of the car and asked if I would retrieve our carry-on bags from the trunk while they went to go get tickets for the ferry. Steph tossed me the keys and off they went. I opened the trunk and realized I was in a quandary. How was I supposed to carry all of the shopping bags without giving up the surprise? Looking around the trunk lid, I saw that Amy and Steph were at the back of the line, but it was pretty long. I quickly unzipped their carry-on bags and frantically started sorting out the lingerie into each of their bags, feeling pretty confident that I remembered which ones went to each of the girls. I zipped up the bags and slung their straps over my shoulder. Slamming the trunk, I double checked the car for anything else that we might have left inside. They had already grabbed the bags from the back seat, so I hurried up to stand with them in line.
We finally got our tickets and headed over to the ferry. It had already started boarding and it was the last one of the day… we had just made it in time. We found seats on the top deck so we could look out over the water as we travelled, and as soon as our butts hit the seats, the ferry was underway.
As we coasted along the crystal blue water, we could see some amazing sights. There were old husks of wrecked and abandoned ships peeking out the water, the remnants of an old Spanish fort sitting upon the crest of a hill as we left the port, and as we slipped from the port and around the bend, there were shouts and clapping as some of the other riders noticed a small pod of whales cresting off to the side. Amy and Steph quickly jumped up and ran to the railing to watch the whales. I sat back and watched them pointing out whales to each other. As the pod moved further away from the ship, they stood leaning against the railing. Amy reached out and took Steph’s hand and entwined her fingers into Steph’s. She then leaned her head over and put it on her shoulder as they continued to stare out over the Caribbean Ocean.
A few minutes later, they wandered back over to me. Steph sat down on the bench next to me. Amy announced that she was going to head below deck and see if she could find any bottled water. I looked over at Steph, and I could see her watching Amy walk towards the stairwell. It wasn’t lust in her eyes, but just happiness. I knew I wanted to say something, but wasn’t really sure exactly what to say, or how to say it. When she turned to look at me, she must have seen something my face.
“Okay mister, spill it.” I gave her a quizzical look. She reached up and softly ran her fingertips across my eyebrow. “You always get the funny look on your face and scrunch your eyebrows when you have something on your mind. So what is it? Is something bothering you?”
I took a breath and looked for the words. Steph dropped her hand from my face and clasped my hand, tangling her fingers into mine just as I had seen Amy do with her a few minutes ago.
“I guess I was just thinking about how amazing it has been since Amy and I met you. You have really changed her, you know. The thing is, I brought Amy on this vacation because I wanted to save our marriage. I still loved Amy, and I hoped deep down that she still loved me too… but our marriage has been in a rough place for a long time now. Amy and I both grew up with nothing. Divorced parents struggling to stay afloat, trying to provide for us as best they could. Awhile back my mother passed away. It turns out that over the last twenty years or so, she had made some really good investments and had saved a bunch. We ended up inheriting millions of dollars… but Amy and I swore that we would not let it change us. We would not become those people that suddenly become wealthy and turn stupid. But it did change us… for the worse. See, instead of becoming frivolous and silly, we buckled down. We began to work three times as hard to make it. We ignored the money that we inherited and let it sit there. We were determined to do it on our own. We put so many hours in at our work, we keep our nose to the grindstone. And it has been killing us. We gave up our dreams to make the almighty dollar. Amy used to work at a health clinic for underprivileged families but took a Unit Manager position at a hospital because the pay and benefits were so much better. Now she puts in 60 hours a week. I used to teach history at the college but when a Dean position opened up I went for it and quit teaching. I spend all of my time now in meetings and buried under a pile of paperwork just because it pays more.
All of this time we are spending away from each other has ruined our time together. We are always so tired and Amy had no interest in intimacy. We would often go three or four months without making love, and when we did, it was obvious that she was only doing it out of some sort of duty instead of actually wanting to be with me. She was miserable and I blamed her. I had blinders on – it was just as much my fault as hers. I gave up on romance. I gave up on wooing my wife every day.
I tell you all of this because I want you to understand. I want you to understand just how much of an impact you have made on Amy. You only met a few days ago and I can already tell that you are her best friend in the world. The weight has lifted from her and she is happy again. I can’t express how much that means to me.”
Steph gave me a small, sweet smile and brushed a small tear from my cheek that I had even realized had slipped from my eye. She leaned over and gave the tip of my nose a little kiss.
“Okay, enough of that.” I straightened up and put on a brave face. The truth was that I never really understood what was on my mind until I expressed it with words. Steph could tell that I was not necessarily comfortable sharing, so she helped change the subject.
“Hey, I have a little surprise for you. Look inside your bag.” I reached down and unzipped my carry-on and found sitting on top of some clothes and my toiletry bag was a book. I lifted it out and looked at the cover. It was from a local author and detailed the military history of the island. “Amy has told me how much you love history and miss teaching. She said you were particularly fond of military history. I come to the island maybe six or seven times a year and I found a copy of this book a while back and absolutely loved it. I even met the author and we have become good friends. When I saw this particular copy in the bookstore earlier, I just knew I had to get it for you.”
I read the author’s biography on the back of the book. It said that that he was a native of the small town we were staying in, a local small business owner, and a part time professor of history at the nearby college. I glanced at the picture. It was the old gentleman who owns the bookstore! I looked at Steph and smiled. She seemed to be waiting for something else and she kept glancing at the book in my hands. I turned it back over and opened the cover. There, on the title page, was an inscription:
“To my new friend Caleb,
May your love of history continue to grow and may the island treat you as well as it has treated me.
Stay Thirsty My Friend,
Gabriel”
I laughed at the inside joke – when I met him earlier today, I had told Gabriel that he reminded me of the Dos Equis spokesman in the commercials… the most interesting man in the world. I gave Steph a big hug and thanked her profusely for her thoughtful gift.
As we waited for Amy to get back, Steph and I talked about our love of history, our other interests, and some of our dreams. It turns out that Steph’s grandparents had immigrated from Portugal to the island when they were first married after World War II and lived there most of their life. Her father left the island to attend an art school in Italy, met her mother there, and after getting married they moved to the United States. They were both professors at the university just up the road from our hometown. Steph had been visiting the island regularly since she was a little child. First to visit her grandparents, and then to keep to the tradition alive after they passed away. She has been saving money to move to the island someday, but just had not made the leap yet. She was also a nurse, like my wife, and was excited to learn that her nursing license was valid here on the island because it was an American territory.
Amy came walking up to us with cold bottles of water for each of us. She sat on the other side of Steph, leaned back against the bench and tilted her head up towards the sun. Steph decided to join her in sunning herself, so I cracked open my new book and dove right in. It seemed like only minutes, but I had already finished a chapter of the book when the ferry began to lazily turn and bring itself up to the dock on a small island. We gathered our things and stood next to the railing, watching as a crew set up the gangplank and the riders began to disembark. As the crowd thinned, we made our way off the ferry and towards a row of taxis.
We climbed into the back of a yellow cab straight out of the 1950’s and it sputtered to life. Steph leaned up to the driver and gave him our destination. He pulled from the curb and made his way through the maze of streets until we pulled up in front of an old colonial style home, probably from the plantation days, that had been turned into a hotel. We got out of the cab and made our way to the front desk. After checking in, we made it to our room. It was elegantly decorated and had a large, king sized bed in the middle of the room. We dropped our bags near the bed and I flopped face first down onto the large down comforter.
“Nope, no time for a nap buddy. Up and at ’em!” I groaned and rolled off the bed. The girls untied their sarongs and placed them on the nightstand. We headed out of the room and back through the lobby. The taxi was still waiting outside and we climbed back in. We rumbled off and made our way down a small road that ran along the coast. About thirty minutes later we turned off onto a bumpy dirt road that wound through a thick forest. As the trees broke and I could see the sky again, I noticed that we were next a small beach that wrapped around a thick cove. We hopped out of the taxi and he was off again after Steph paid him his fee. I looked around at the beautiful cove and I noticed a handful of people standing at the water’s edge with a bunch of kayaks. Two of them, a man and a woman, broke free from the group and started walking towards us.
“Amy? And you must be Caleb.” The man reached out his hand and shook ours. “I am so glad you were able to make it. My name is George, and this is my girlfriend Valerie. We will be shoving off in a few minutes; come on over and meet the rest of the group.” We walked over and introductions were made. It turns out that this was a group of ecology students from the nearby college. Steph had known them for years now and asked if we could join them on their excursion this afternoon.
We all climbed into kayaks and shoved off into the cove. As we paddled, I noticed that we were headed towards a small break in the forest on the far shore. We had to fall into a single file line as we slipped past the exposed roots of the trees. Amy and Steph were in a two-person kayak in front of me, and Valerie was the last person in line right behind me. Soon the small inlet became incredibly thin and we had to pull our paddles into the boats. We moved through the trees by reaching out and pulling ourselves along by the huge roots that crept out of the water.
“This is a mangrove forest. The roots hold the trees above the water like stilts. This allows the water to flow through without pushing the trees over. These areas will often flood with the tide and the roots slow the water flowing through. Mangrove trees help protect the coastline from erosion. ” Valerie continued to tell us about the local wildlife and plants as we made our way through the winding stream. After a while, we broke free from the narrow passage and came out into a large, still lake. We dropped our paddles back into the water and began to move throughout the lake. Instead of cutting up, laughing, and horsing around, we all fell into a silence as we just floated slowly along. The scenery was breathtaking as we watched birds flying overhead, swooping down to try and catch fish, and were surprised when a smaller bird flitted down and landed on the front of George’s kayak.
After about an hour, we made our way back through the mangrove forest and into the cove again. We followed George as he began to paddle towards the cove’s entrance and out into the Caribbean Ocean. We cut around the rocky outcropping and paddled through the small waves until we reached a pristine beach. As we pulled our kayaks to the shore, George explained that the beach was only accessible from the water and they weren’t sure if anyone ever came there. They had discovered it the last time they were here and there were no signs of activity. The other couple on the trip, Grace and Jason, pulled a small shopping bag out of their kayak. Carter, the only single guy with us, pulled out a small cooler from his. Everyone gathered around and sat on the beach together. George explained that they didn’t want to start a fire and possibly mess up the beach, but we all wanted to have dinner together and watch the sunset. Grace opened up her shopping bag and began pulling out thin brown boxes that I recognized immediately.
After serving in the Army for six years, I had eaten my share of MREs (Meals Ready to Eat). Jason explained that he found them at an old Army Surplus store that he discovered. He had grabbed a bunch because he thought they would be good for when he went camping or hiking. They passed out the meals and everyone else began to look at the writing on the boxes, trying to figure out what they had and seeing if there were any instructions. It was obvious that this was a very new experience for them.
I took charge and went through a demonstration on the best way to open the box without destroying it, how to prepare the meal, and then the most important part: how to fairly trade away the things you didn’t want for something that was good and how to try and make the meal taste somewhat edible. As everyone made their food and began to eat, we all sat in a line along the beach watching the sun set over the Caribbean. The sky was painted an incredible orange with hints of blue and purple watercolored through the clouds. It was breathtaking.
As the colors faded to a deep purple and black, we policed the area and made sure we didn’t leave a trace. Garbage was bagged up and stowed in a kayak, the cooler was put back, and we were ready to go. George began to hand out chem lights on black cord to each of us. We snapped the casing and shook them up. As they began to glow green, we hung them around our necks and climbed into our kayaks. As we made our way out into the water, we followed George’s light that he had hung on his back. When we reached the entrance to the cove, George began to back-paddle to hold himself in place until we all caught up. “Okay, Amy and Caleb, your two kayaks are going to lead us in. There should be enough light from the stars and moon to see, so I want you to put your lights away. Give it time for your eyes to adjust and then head in. Now you are in for a real show.”
We followed his orders, and after our eyes adjusted I looked at Steph since she was paddling the kayak for her and Amy. She gave me a smile, gripped the paddle tight and said “You are going to love this… try and keep up.” With that, she began to paddle for all she was worth and the kayak shot out. As soon as they broke past the small waves of the Caribbean and hit the smooth waters of the cove, the wake flowing behind their kayak began to glow a pale blue. Every time the paddle hit the water, there was a flash of blue as well. I began to follow them into the cove and was amazed to watch the water glow blue every time it was disturbed. Steph slowed the kayak and coasted to a stop at about the middle of the cove. I reached them a few seconds later. I turned to watch the three other kayaks make their way over to us. We all grabbed a neighboring kayak and pulled us into a small group. George and Valerie handed us all roped and we lashed the kayaks together so they wouldn’t float away.
“So, what you are seeing are billions of bioluminescent phytoplankton. They are microalgae and over a thousand can fit in a drop of water.” I reached down and slowly ran my hand through the water to watch the glowing ripples. Reaching down with both hands, I cupped them and brought up a pocket of water. I leaned over and showed Amy.
“It looks like I am holding a little galaxy in my hands!”
Steph shifted in her seat and draped her legs over the edge of her kayak. She got a real serious look on her face, looked at Amy and I and said: “You know, I really love you guys, but I think this is where I get off.” With a smile and a laugh, she flipped herself out of the kayak and into the water. Suddenly their kayak started to rock back and forth. Amy tried to catch herself, but she tipped into the water after Steph. They both came splashing out of the water, heads breaking the surface and sending waves of glowing blue water out from them.
Amy doggy paddled up to Steph. She looked her deep in her eyes. Very seriously an seductively, she said: “I really love you…” Steph started to lean in for a kiss. “But, payback is a bitch!” With that, Amy grabbed Steph’s shoulders and pushed her under the water. I was laughing at them when they came back up to the surface. When they came up this time, they were in each other’s arms. They leaned in and began to kiss deeply. The other’s in the group playfully gave wolf-whistles and clapped for them. They broke their kiss, turned towards the group a little and brought up a hand and gave sarcastic pageant waves. They then swam over to the side of my kayak and leaned their arms on the edge, kicking their legs to stay afloat.
I turned towards them and rested my arms on my knees, leaning down and putting my chin on my forearm. “You know, you two should just get a room.” I said with a smirk.
“I don’t know, being this warm water with our own little light show is pretty awesome. You should try it some time.” With that, they both reached up and grabbed my arms and pulled. I toppled head first over them and into the water. When I made it back to the surface, I kicked over towards my kayak. Right as I was about the reach it, Steph slide over and got between me and the edge of the kayak. I had to reach over her shoulders to get my hands on the boat. She pushed backwards into me, her ass grinding into my crotch. “See, the water is nice!”
Amy kicked from the edge of the kayak and swam up behind me. She reached around my hips and grabbed Steph’s waist. Pulling tight, we became a tight little sandwich with me in the middle. Soon we all broke away and everyone was swimming around the cove.
I had just swam over to my kayak and pulled myself in when George called out to the group that it was getting late and we should head back. I had settled back into the kayak when the others began to get back into their kayaks. We untied them and made our way to the shore. As everyone was stowing their gear and I was helping George load the kayaks onto the trailer attached to his pickup truck, he patted me on the shoulder.
“Hey guys, there is no point in calling for a taxi and waiting out here in the dark… that is crazy. If you don’t mind riding in the back of the truck, we can give you a lift.”
Carter, Grace and Jason loaded up in to Carter’s Jeep and started to head out the dirt road. I climbed up into the back of the truck and then helped Steph and Amy climb up into the bed of the truck. We took a seat with our backs against the cab of the truck and we were off as well. The little bit of dirt road we had to make it through was bumpy and the trees made it almost pitch black. It didn’t take too long to get to the paved road and we were on our way. While it was a warm night, the wind from driving down the road caused the girls to shiver and goose bumps to raise up on their arms and legs. I wrapped my arms around their shoulders and pulled them in close. They turned towards their sides and shimmied their legs underneath my bent legs for warmth. They both snuggled up close to me and placed their heads on my shoulders, faces turned into my neck to keep the wind off as much as possible. I could feel their body heat neck to me, and their warm breath on my neck. It was two parts relaxing and one part erotic (my neck is one of my biggest weaknesses).
I leaned my head back a bit and watched the stars in the ebony sky as we hummed down the road. Steph slid her arm across my chest and placed her hand on Amy’s upper arm and gave it a squeeze. She held it there and pulled us all a little closer. “I really do love you guys. Thanks for a wonderful evening.”
Amy wrapped her arm across my stomach and held onto Steph’s hip, pulling us all even closer together. “We love you too! This has been amazing.”
As we huddled in the back of the truck, snuggled for warmth, I continued to gaze up at the Milky Way and reflected on how lucky I am. My wife and I are in a beautiful paradise, our relationship blossoming again, and we have made the best friend either one of us could hope for. I sat there, wishing it would never end.
****************** (to be continued) ******************************
