NEW STORY TITLE: CASTAWAY (EROTICA)
A perfect life isn’t so perfect…
Read and Enjoy…
“James, where the hell are you? You said you’d be home an hour ago?” my wife Caitlin yelled into my ear. “Are you even close?”
“Honey, I tried to tell you, I hit some rough weather, and had to detour around the storm some. I just finished puttin’ the plane in the hangar, and about to drive home now. OK?”
“Yeah, just hurry up. I miss you, and your dinner is cold now.”
“Honey, I will make it up to you, I promise. Right now, I am going to drive as fast as the speed limits allow me to. I gotta get home to my woman!” Ok, so I was overdoing it a bit, but come on, my wife needed to hear me grovel right about now.
“Grrr… You owe me for this, Mr. Holmes. Next week, you are all MINE!” She was referring to our coming anniversary getaway vacation that we had planned on for months. “No laptop, no work calls, nothing! I mean it! You aren’t even allowed to TALK about work, got it?”
And my only acceptable response at this point, was the age old answer that all husbands get used to, “Yes, dear.”
That’s Caitlin, my wife of nineteen years. She is my first love, with my love of flying coming in second. We had dated for almost two years, were engaged for another year, before we finally got married. I think the final push for her had been when she got pregnant with our daughter, Madison. I had proposed to her, while out to a really nice dinner, and she had accepted in front of a full house. There had been clapping, and of course a great big hug and kiss afterwards. Whenever we talked about setting a date though, she would get squeamish. I don’t know what she had been scared of at that time, but she would always just tell me that she wanted the timing to be right.
I knew I would have her for the rest of my life, so I wasn’t worried about the date that it became official. Well, fast forward six months and she came to me and said she was pregnant! I was elated, and we were the happiest couple we knew. We discussed setting a date again, and finally decided to get married that July. She was due to give birth in December, so we figured she would be showing by then, but nowhere close to the time for our child to be born.
The day before the wedding, my wife was going to be spending the night with her parents at their hotel room. Something about the bride not seeing the groom until we got to the church… silly superstitions. I went along with it, because it was important to her. Before she left to go for the evening, we had a conversation that I will remember for the rest of my life. She came up behind me and hugged me tight.
“Jim, I love you.” She hugged me tighter, almost as if we would never see each other again. “I love you more than you could possibly know. I can’t wait until I am ‘Mrs. James Holmes’, and plan to spend the rest of our lives showing you how much I love you.”
“Honey,” I said as I hugged her arms with my own, “You’ve already shown me. You show me every day that I am the luckiest man alive. I have loved you with all my heart since the day we met, and plan to show you how much I love you every day of our lives.”
She turned me around and we stayed close, looking deep into each other’s eyes. We both said “I love you,” at almost the exact same time, giggled, and then moved in for a slow, passionate kiss. She left and I had a fitful night of sleep, without her next to me in bed. God help me if I ever had to get used to sleeping alone again.
The next day, the ceremony was everything she dreamed it would be. We had a big church wedding, with both our parents attending. Her father walked her down the aisle, and you could see the pride on his face. He also looked close to tears, but knowing him, he would never admit to being close to crying. He was the strong silent type, a man of a different generation, I think. He had served in the military, a Marine for life. He kissed her on the cheek, and sat next to her mom. She wasn’t even trying to hold back the tears of joy, and wept openly, smiling happily.
My parents sat on my side, and had previously told me how proud they were of the fine young man I had become. Now they just smiled, and I am pretty sure my mom cried some when we gave our vows. We had written our own, as we both thought we needed to express our undying love for each other better than the standard vows ever could.
Caitlin was beautiful. No, that word doesn’t do her justice. During the walk down the aisle towards me, she was glowing like an angel. The white dress was long and flowing, and she looked absolutely radiant. I was so focused on her face, and the happiness it could barely contain, that I think I lost track of time. Here I was, standing in my rental tux, next to an angel. She stood at about 5′ 6″, and had a perfect body. I am not talking about a supermodel body, but she had the sexiest curves of any woman I had ever met. She had slender legs that met at her waist, with hips that flared out nicely. Her nice round ass was both toned and curved just perfectly for her size. Her tummy was that perfect little rounded version of flat, that showed she liked to eat but not to the point of being overweight. The perfect curves continued up to her gorgeous breasts that were firm and stood proudly.
Her face is what did me in though. She had the softest skin, like touching mink fur. Her long flowing brown locks would sway in the breeze, when she would turn her head. Right now, she had it all done up to perfection. I always got pulled in by her eyes. Those beautiful blue pools of love, always both caring and soul searching at the same time. She could peer into your soul, your inner being, with those eyes. They truly were a gateway into all that was her love.
What she saw in me was anyone’s guess. I was through and through, an average guy. I was a little taller than her, standing at 5′ 9″, and was about 180lbs. I was smart, at least I thought, but no genius. All I knew was that I loved her more than myself, and hoped that was enough.
She was standing by my side, when she nudged me to turn to face the minister. That snapped me out of my reverie, and I heard a few chuckles from the crowd in attendance. I mentally dared any of them to NOT stare at a beauty like this standing next to them. We stood together, holding hands as we listened to the minister say some very nice things about the sanctity of marriage, about loving one another, and of making a life together with someone. It was all very poetic, if a bit canned. This was one of the reasons we had decided to write our own vows. I went first, as we had agreed on. Ok, we didn’t really agree on it, or even discuss it. She decided that I should go first, and I just went along with it. Anyone else out there that is married knows, that was not the last time in my life I would say, “Yes dear.”
I took out the index card I had written my vows on, and began. “Caitlin, before I met you, I thought I was a happy person. Since meeting you, life has never been the same. I cannot imagine living without you, nor would I want to. You complete me in a way that no one else can. You are my center, my reason for being. I promise to spend the rest of my life making you happy. I promise to always care for you, no matter what, and that I will always be here for you, and only you.” I looked her in the eyes, and finished with, “I love you, and thank god every day that you agreed to spend the rest of your life with me. I promise that I will love you forever.”
I know I heard a few sniffles from the crowd, and never felt closer to this woman in front of me than at any moment of my life. She had wet eyes, but also had a huge smile on her face. I would remember that beautiful smile for the rest of my life.
It was her turn to read her prepared vows. “James, you have no idea how lucky I am, to have met a man like you. I count my blessings every day, that I have found someone that loves me so completely. You always seem to say the right things. You always seem to know my own thoughts and emotions. I think we are the most connected people on the planet sometimes, almost as if we are one person. I wake up every morning, look at you, and just know that the day will be great. I go to bed every night thanking god that you will be by my side again after waking up. I love you James. I promise to always stand by you, and help you as you help me in life. I swear to god and these witnesses, that I will always love you, and only you. You are my life, and the words ‘I love you’ hardly describe the amount of love in my heart, that I will share with you forever.”
I know at that point I was tearing up. We had not read these vows to each other before the service, so that we could make it as heartfelt and sincere as we possibly could. I am so glad I went along with it, as the moment was perfect. After that point I barely heard the minister ask for the rings, having us put them on each other. She said some more words, but I really didn’t hear anything else until she said, “You may kiss the bride.”
Isn’t it funny how the little things can bring back so many memories? Anyhow, back to the present. My wife had been referring to our coming trip to celebrate our 20th Anniversary. We were going to the Cayman Islands for a week, spending most of it on Grand Cayman in a Tiki-hut style bungalow, right off a long private beach.