"How romantic," Megan said, dreamily.
Andrea cuddled against him, and as she did, a sense of deep satisfaction settled over her, and when Jerry caught her eye and winked, she knew their love would endure, no matter what rough roads might lay ahead for them.
They arrived home in a flurry of excitement, grandchildren rushing up to greet Nana and Papa, husbands hugging wives, sons-in-laws giving Andrea a hug and shaking Jerry's hand. After the homecoming, Jerry carried their bags up to the master suite and heaved Andrea's largest bag on the bed, then excused himself to take Sammie for a ride on his shoulders.
Andrea had just opened the bag to get the gifts for the girls and grandkids when she decided to take a few minutes to make a slight change in her memoir.
Opening her laptop, she pulled up the file and scrolled to where she'd left off before all hell broke loose when the girls announced that she and Jerry would be going on an anniversary cruise and made one slight adjustment: I was three hundred miles from home, completely on my own to make my own decisions. Little did I know, my first day at college, that I was about to make the biggest mistake of my life...
She was about to change biggest mistake in my life to best decision in my life when she heard Bailey exclaim, "Oh, my gosh!"
Andrea rushed down to find Bailey holding up the octopus briefs, staring at them in disbelief. She looked at Andrea, eyes anxious, and said, "Are these Dads?"
"Oh for heaven's sake no!" Andrea said, mortified that she'd left the briefs in plain view. A hot flush rushed up her face as the scene of Jerry gyrating in them filled her mind's eye. From the way he'd been bumping and grinding he'd looked like the thing was stuck to him and he was trying to thrust it off.
"Mom? Are you blushing?" Bailey asked.
"It's menopause," Andrea said quickly. "I get hot flashes at odd times." She took the briefs from Bailey and tossed them into a bag of clothes ready for the thrift shop.
Bailey eyed the briefs in the bag. "Daddy didn't ever wear those, did he?" she asked, her tone anxious. "I mean, a man his age. That would be kind of perverted."
"Of course he didn't wear them," Andrea said, quickly. At least not for very long.
"Then where did they come from?"
"Where?"
"How did he get them?"
Andrea let out a nervous giggle while struggling to come up with a plausible explanation as to why a forty-three-year-old woman would have given a forty-eight-year-old man a pair of bikini briefs with an octopus hugging the crotch. "They were given to us for our anniversary celebration on the ship," she said impulsively. "You know how people give black balloons and cards with tombstones for people's fortieth birthdays? Well that's how it was for our anniversary celebration on the ship. People gave us hilarious gifts."
"Like these?" Bailey lifted out of Andrea's bag a black satin half-bra and thong set with ladybugs crawling over them, a little something Jerry bought at the lingerie shop on C deck the night before they docked in Charleston.
Andrea's flush deepened. "Well, yes." She let out another little nervous giggle. "It seems everyone had the same idea. There was this little lingerie shop on the boat. I can't imagine anyone wearing such a thing though," she said, her face feeling as if on fire as she envisioned the look on Jerry's face when he'd entered the stateroom with his hands behind his back and the twinkle in his eyes he got before the love play began. She'd pulled his arms from around him and saw the white-paper-wrapped gift with a gold-foil logo from the lingerie shop. From the small size of the box, she knew whatever Jerry selected was scanty and sexy. And it was. Her performance for Jerry ended with her tossing the bra over his head. After that, Jerry was the one to slither up the full length of her body, and what followed was pure ecstasy.
"Mom, if you take estrogen you won't get those hot flashes," Bailey said.
"Umm, well, I'll ask my doctor." Andrea knew estrogen was the last thing she needed. Her libido was as active as when she first married Jerry. And there was no question, testosterone had kicked in for him. Big time.
She hadn't realized she was smiling until Bailey said, "What's so funny?"
Andrea blushed again. "I was just thinking about... the cruise. It was just what we needed. Time to be alone. Thank you, sweetheart. That was very thoughtful of you girls."
"We knew you and Dad would have fun." Bailey held the bra against herself. "It is kind of cute with all the little lady bugs, but knowing how provincial you and Dad are, I would have thought you'd have buried them at sea."
"Well, yes, we thought about it, but then we decided it was a hilarious reminder of our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary."
"I suppose," Bailey said, wistfully, "as long as you promise you and Dad will never wear them. It would be totally humiliating to think my parents would be that... well... perverted."
"I tell you what, honey." Andrea scooped up the lady bug set, then snatched the octopus briefs from the thrift bag, and handed them to Bailey. "Just to ease your mind, take these and do whatever you want with them."
Bailey's face flushed. "I'll umm, just get rid of them... somehow." She walked out of the room, and Andrea returned to her laptop. She was in the process of deleting, biggest mistake, when she heard muffled giggles coming from the direction of the hallway. Setting her laptop aside again, she peeked around the doorway and saw Bailey standing at the head of the stairs while holding up the octopus briefs, and Megan and Stefanie looking on.
Stefanie took the octopus briefs from Bailey, looked at them in amusement, and said to her sisters. "Well you two I guess it worked. What could have been the wedding anniversary cruise from hell turned out to be the second-honeymoon cruise from heaven. I think we can safely say the divorce is history." Raising her palm, Stefanie got high fives from her sisters, then chatting and giggling, the three scurried down the stairs.
And Andrea realized she and Jerry had been completely and lovingly hoodwinked by their daughters. Returning to her laptop, she deleted a whole block, and wrote: Little did I know, my first day at college, that I was about to make the best decision of my life. That was the day I met Jerry. It was love at first sight, and twenty-five years later we're as happy as the day we married, thanks to our three wonderful daughters, who are also a trio of conspirators. But that's another story. To sum it up, I guess every marriage has its ups and downs.
###
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MY STORY
I was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, but gave up city life the first chance I got. I now write from a log cabin nestled in the evergreen forests of Oregon's Coast Range. Being published in both historical and contemporary romance with Harlequin and Avon-Harper Collins in the past, I vacillate between wanting to write both, but love whatever I'm writing at the time, which for now is contemporary cowboy romances that feature courageous, self-assured heroes with endearing flaws and the gutsy women who capture their hearts, women, these unsuspecting cowboys would lay down their lives for. Although writing's my number one love, over the course of my lifetime I've raised a wolf dog, laying hens, milk goats, and Tennessee Walking horses, built, plumbed and wired three houses, been a professional photographer, and written photo essays for national and international magazines. I've published 24 romances which include my 13-book DANCING MOON RANCH series, a contemporary western that spans 30 yea
rs and two generations. I invite you to visit my website and view the video trailer for the series. I love hearing from readers and learning about their lives, and I answer all notes. In fact, I've even met fans traveling the country who find time to stop in at my place or visit with me at a near location. And please, if you post a nice review, let me know so I can thank you personally:
http://www.patriciawatters.com/
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