Northern Proposals

by Julia P. Lynde

  "Please don't make me wear this," I said.

  "Jade. This is important to me."

  I looked over my shoulder at her. "Please, Jade. It's important to me."

  "It's going to slide out in some embarrassing fashion."

  "No it's not. Face forward. If you turn around, I will punish you."

  I looked at the far wall. She left me. "Don't move," she said. And then she was rummaging through her bag of toys. She stepped back to me and reached under me. She wrapped a belt around my waist, then she reached between my legs. When she was done, there was a strap pressing snugly against me from front to back. She bucked everything.

  "You can't be serious," I said. "What is it?"

  "Chastity belt. It doubles as a means of holding things in place. Stand up."

  I stood up. She turned me to face her, then she applied a lock to the buckle.

  "You're not serious. You locked me into this."

  She smiled at me, looking into my eyes. "I won't do this to you very often. Just once in a while. Please, Jade, let me have this. I promise you'll enjoy what happens when I take it off. And you are going to be so amazingly horny."

  She pulled something out of the gym bag and pressed a button. I almost jumped out of my skin when the plug began to vibrate. She only let it vibrate for a few seconds before she stopped it again.

  "Please, Jade," she said. "I promise I won't embarrass you."

  "I'm going to walk funny."

  "I did tell you that."

  * * *

  Karen met us at the door to her agency, unlocking the door for us. We had arrived a few minutes early. We had dressed professionally for this. So had she.

  Jessica had hit me with the vibrating plus three times while I was getting dressed and twice more in the car, the last one lasting a long time once we pulled up in front of the realty agency. I was already squirming from it. Jessica was smirking about it.

  "Hello Jessica," Karen said, shaking hands. "Jade. I am so excited."

  "So are we." In more ways than one.

  She ushered her into her office.

  "Before we get started, may I ask a personal question? It has absolutely no bearing on what we do, and you don't have to answer."

  "You can ask," Jessica said.

  "Are you two a couple now? Your dynamic seems different."

  "We weren't when we met with you the first time," I said. "We are now. Is that a problem?"

  Her smile broadened. "Are you going to be open about it up here?"

  I looked at Jessica. She answered for us. "Karen, I don't know. There are a lot of bigots in this town. I don't know if I want to deal with them. Is it a problem?"

  "No. It's just."

  "You're gay," I blurted out.

  She began blushing. "No one knows. If you're out, maybe I could be."

  "It will cost you business," Jessica said. "It shouldn't, but it will."

  "The people who wouldn't do business with a lesbian don't do business with a woman, either," she said.

  I turned to Jessica. "I don't want to hide. We don't have to announce it in the paper, but if I want to hold your hand, I'm going to hold your hand."

  "There is your answer," Jessica said.

  "Thank you for answering," Karen told us. "My girlfriend is threatening to dump me. She is tired of hiding and she wants to move in with me."

  "Call her right now and tell her yes. We'll wait," I told her.

  "Email is better. She can't talk at work." Karen turned to her computer. She spoke aloud as she typed. "Honey. May I hold your hand at dinner tonight? I thought O'Callahan's sounded good. My treat. Yours. Karen."

  She looked up at me and I nodded.

  "All right," she said. "The Benson property, the cabin I showed you. I've told the selling agent I am writing an offer this morning. He is expecting a call from me by eleven and will fax the papers to the daughter in California. She is expecting them. Depending upon the strength of your offer, we could have a completed purchase agreement today. Have you decided what you will offer?"

  Jessica and I looked at each other. "I can't believe we talked about everything else, but didn't discuss the offer."

  "We spent the entire car ride talking about what we would do once it was ours," Jessica told Karen. "And not once did we talk about the purchase process. Do you have a recommendation?"

  "Do you feel the current price is fair?"

  "Should we tell you that?" I asked her.

  She smiled. "I am here representing you," she said. "I want you to buy the property you want at a price you think is fair." Her expression grew serious. "I do not enjoy presenting offers I consider unfair."

  I turned to Jessica. "Full price, but she fixes anything terribly wrong found in an inspection, except the shed. We're going to tear it down anyway." I turned to Karen. "I want a full inspection including well and drainage field. If the furnace is in bad shape, I want it replaced. You get the idea."

  "You will have to pay for the inspection," Karen said.

  "Of course."

  "Shouldn't we at least offer something under full price?" Jessica asked.

  "It's a cabin," I told her. "There's always something wrong. She's going to have to spend money." I turned to Karen. "It was furnished. Are the furnishings included?"

  "If you want them. They aren't worth much, and the owner would donate them to charity if you didn't take them. She doesn't want them, and it would cost her money to haul them away."

  "We'll take the furnishings then. So everything on the property is included?"

  Karen nodded. "She's already taken away the things that mattered to her."

  I turned to Jessica. She asked me, "Are you sure?"

  "It's a good price. She'll walk away happy. We'll know we got a solid cabin. We can afford it. And really, how much could we knock off? A few thousand? I promise you she's going to have to spend something. I don't know on what, but something."

  "All right," Jessica said. She turned to Karen. "What do you think?"

  "I think it's an excellent offer. And Jade is right. Cabins always have something wrong. But this was a house, not just a cabin, and it's in good condition as far as I can tell." She looked away for a moment, staring into space, before looking back at us. "I'm not an inspector. They always find something."

  After that, it was just a matter of doing all the paperwork. It was all automated, but she had to enter the information into the computer, then print it out and go over it with us. We signed everything then she asked for an earnest check.

  "Half from each of us, or do you need one earnest check for the entire amount, and we deal with it?"

  "Either is fine."

  We each pulled out checkbooks and wrote a check.

  It was a few minutes short of eleven by the time we wrapped up. "I'll walk over to the selling agent. We could have an answer very quickly."

  "We're going to O'Callahan's for lunch," Jessica said. "You could call or stop over there. We'll make sure we're near phones this afternoon."

  * * *

  Outside, we hugged fiercely. As soon as we were in the car, she hit me with the vibrating plug and kept it going during the three block drive. O'Callahan's was a nice restaurant on the shore of one of the other area lakes. She turned off the plug once we parked. It took me a minute or two to stop panting.

  I looked over at her and was about to ask her not to do it again when she hit me with three brief shots. Then she grinned and got out of the car, but she got me once more on the way into the restaurant. I gave her a glare, but she laughed.

  "Do you want me to stop?" she asked quietly.

  I gave her a pleading look.

  "I won't do it in front of anyone else," she said. "And I see you don't want to admit you don't want me to stop."

  I glared again. I wasn't sure I should make this so easy for her.

  We sat at a table, adjusting the seating so we were sitting at adjacent chairs. I reached under the table and found her hand. I tried not to think about how quickly
she was wrapping me around her finger. And her toys. Instead, I thought about the cabin we were buying.

  "I can't believe what we're doing," I told her.

  "Scared?"

  "No."

  Then I took her hand out from under the table and set it down on top of the table, resting between us, my fingers wrapped in hers.

  "Are you sure about this?"

  "You have better judgment about this," I told her. "If this is a bad idea, I won't argue with you. Marcy was concerned about it."

  "She's afraid everyone will know I'm gay."

  "Yes. Because she knows there are bigots in the world, and she is afraid for you."

  "She's afraid of her own reputation."

  I sighed before looking at her hands. "Your judgment here, Jessica."

  "I don't like hiding, either."

  I smiled.

  The waitress came over and didn't even acknowledge our hands. We asked for diet soda and asked her what was good.

  * * *

  Later, when we were just finishing lunch, Karen stepped into the restaurant. I looked up and saw her. I waved, and she walked over, beaming. I immediately took Jessica's hand again.

  Karen's first words were, "Congratulations! Your offer has been accepted with no revisions."

  Jessica and I began squealing. We stood up, hugged each other, then pulled Karen into the hug. Soon the three of us were squealing together.

  Our waitress came by. "Sold another house, Karen?"

  "The Benson cabin," she said.

  "Oh, I loved old lady Benson," the waitress said. "She used to hold picnics for the young kids, and she helped me learn to read." She turned to us. "You take care of that house."

  "We will."

  She left us our bill. Jessica handed her a credit card. We turned to Karen. "Is there a banker in town that wants our business?"

  "If you don't mind a little nepotism. It's my mother."

  We laughed. "So she'll be motivated to make the sale happen. Call her," I said.

  "I already did. She's expecting us when your lunch is done."

  We finished paying our bill and walked out, Jessica and I holding hands. "We can ride together or you can follow me," Karen said.

  "We can walk. It's two blocks," Jessica said. "And it's a nice day."

  "I would rather drive," I said.

  "Don't be a pansy, Jade. You need to walk that stiffness off." I gave her a dirty look, but we walked anyway.

  We got a block before I asked, "Will your mother mind if we're holding hands?"

  "No," she said. "When I said 'no one knows' earlier, that wasn't fully accurate, of course. My mother knows. She loves Lydia and has been telling me for two years to stop screwing around and let her make an honest woman of me."

  We got to the bank. Karen held the door for us then introduced us to her mother, Linda. We all went into a conference room. Karen gave her mother a bunch of paperwork then said, "Call me when you're done here."

  Linda took all our information and ran a credit and background check in front of us. We were there for an hour. "I am going to submit this to underwriting," she said. "We will order an appraisal. The tax value is greater than what you paid. Underwriting is going to approve this. We're a small bank and we don't allow a backlog, so you will have an answer the day after we get our appraiser out there."

  "When will that be?"

  "No later than Monday. Perhaps as early as today. "

  "Oh, I could grow to love small towns," I said.

  She laughed. "June isn't a good fishing month or the answer might have been longer."

  "So we can close, when?"

  "Late next week, if there aren't any problems. There is no title company in town though. We usually use one in Walker, but we can use one in the cities if you insist."

  Moving Forward

  "Take me," I told her. "Right here on our new bed."

  "Our new old bed," she said, sitting on it. "We're replacing this bed with something a little better."

  I laughed. "You mean something with more places to tie me."

  "Isn't that what I said?"

  "Take me, Jessica. Now."

  "If you take that tone with me, you know what's going to happen."

  "Yes, you'll do things to me that make you want you even more."

  She laughed then pulled me into her arms and began kissing me.

  She took me. Three times. But she got two orgasms of her own.

  Later we sat on our chairs on our deck looking across our lawn at our lake. I turned to her. "Jessica, I love you."

  "I love you, Jade."

  We held hands, and I brought my chair closer to hers so I could lay my head on her shoulder.

  It was late afternoon on the first Friday in July. Our closing had gone extremely quickly, surprisingly so. The daughter in California had paid to fix a few things, but the cabin had been in very good shape. She had even hired a handyman to install the dock in the water for us. We had gotten a good deal, but the daughter was pleased, too.

  We weren't quite exactly opposite the lake from Marcy's place, but we could see her dock. I looked over and there was motion.

  "Marcy and Jon are up?"

  "I didn't expect them this early," she said. "They must have taken the day off work."

  We watched as their pontoon boat pulled away from the dock. Then the ski boat did, too. Both boats headed in our direction. When they got closer, we could see Jon and the girls in the pontoon boat, and Marcy was driving the ski boat. They came to an idle off the end of our dock.

  "Well?" Jon yelled. "Going to help us dock?"

  We got up and ran down. Jon came in first. "You need bumpers," He said. "I brought ours, but you need your own."

  The girls started squealing and ran to their aunt, but then Laura ran to me instead. Soon we each were holding a squirming girl, and Jon was left to tie his boat up. He turned to Marcy, who pulled the motorboat in.

  "Both boats?"

  "We're leaving the pontoon with you," Jon said. "It's yours now. I have the title with me."

  We set the girls down and accepted hugs from Jon. Then Marcy joined us on the dock, and we got hugs from her.

  "I want a tour now," Marcy said.

  I took her hand and pulled her to shore. "I need to talk to you about the boat."

  "No you don't," she said. "Jon and I agreed. It's a gift. You are not buying it. Unless you don't want it."

  "Are you kidding? I love that boat!"

  "Have you made love on it yet?"

  I immediately began blushing.

  "Jon and I have, too. He was scandalized. Do not tell his sister. He would be mortified. His parents were staying with us, and we don't get much opportunity with the girls always around, so I told him to take me for a midnight trip. We got out to the middle and did it right out there." She turned around pointed.

  I laughed. "That's where we did it," I told her. "Marcy, we're going to be friends, aren't we?"

  By now we were on the deck, and I opened the door for her.

  "I do hope so," she said.

  Suddenly I realized what Jessica and I had been doing. "Oh shit. Keep the girls outside for a minute."

  "Why?"

  "We weren't expecting company. And we've already broken in the bed."

  She began laughing. "Go take care of it."

  I ran to the bedroom, finding all the toys. I couldn't find one. It had fallen under the bed. I stuffed everything away and into the closet, making sure the bag was locked.

  When I came back out, Jessica caught my eye and smiled.

  After that we gave them the tour. Jon seemed very impressed. Then we told him our plans, and that got him going.

  "What do you need?" Marcy said. "It looks well equipped, but there's always something."

  "Firewood," I said. "There must be someone in town that can sell us some."

  "It's not always dry," Jon said. "We'll give you some, but you'll need to have some delivered. I'll wander around and make a list. Do you have pape
r?"

  "Yes."

  Then, with two children in tow, Jon and Jessica started wandering around, Jon making notes.

  "We have tea or diet soda," I offered to Marcy.

  "A diet soda would be great," she said. I got two from the refrigerator, and we stepped out onto the deck. We sat down together.

  "It's a lovely cabin, and I'm glad you're so close," Marcy said.

  "We weren't sure you would be."

  "I know. Jessica and I don't seem to communicate very well. Everything I say comes out the wrong way. I know it's half my fault. I love my sister-in law, Jade."

  "She thinks you're a homophobe."

  "She does not."

  "She's absolutely convinced of it."

  We sat quietly for a while. "If it weren't for all the memories growing up, I might like your cabin more than mine."

  "They are both nice."

  "Yes, they are." She turned to face me. "I would like you to come to dinner tonight."

  "That would be lovely. Can we bring anything?"

  "I will make you a deal," she said, patting my hand.

  "All right."

  "I am a control freak about meals. If ever I want you to bring something, I will tell you. You don't have to ask."

  I laughed. "My mother would berate me endlessly if I didn't ask. I'm not sure I can bring myself to forego asking. Maybe we should bring some wine."

  "Actually, normally that would be lovely, but not this time."

  "Are you pregnant?"

  She laughed. "Yes, and it drives me insane if everyone else is drinking and I can't. Please don't tell anyone. I haven't told anyone, not even Jon. It's only three weeks, and I only know because I'm usually regular as clockwork. I'm going to tell Jon tonight. We'll tell Jessica and the girls tomorrow."

  "Another girl?"

  "I won't know for a while. I hope it's a boy for Jon, but he loves our girls, and if we have a third girl, he'll be very happy."

  The girls came racing around the corner of the cabin and ran down to the lake, Jon and Jessica following more slowly.

  "Jon is in heaven over this," she said. "I don't let him do much to our cabin. I want it to stay just the way I remembered it from growing up. He's allowed to do maintenance, but I won't let him change anything. He's going to take his handyman urges out on your place. And you wouldn't believe the boat he's planning." She smiled wistfully for a moment before saying, "We'll want to borrow this one occasionally, but he'll finish our new one over the winter."