© 2023 Duleigh Lawrence-Townshend. All rights reserved. The author asserts the right to be identified as the author of this story for all portions. All characters are original, any resemblance to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental. This story or any part thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the expressed written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a review or commentary.

For readers of Stormwatch and We're A Wonderful Wife, this story is the genesis. On the Stormwatch timeline this is one year before Stormwatch - A Blizzard in Buffalo and it falls during the same time as We're a Wonderful Wife Ch. 10 and twenty years after The Pilot's Conjugal Christmas.

In her first day on vacation Doctor Adrianna (Andi) Roberts and her twin girls ended up stuck in a ditch during a Western New York Lake Effect Blizzard. She was rescued by a man she once met in the past, Doctor Paul Jarecki. He took Andi, Sandy and Madeline to his cabin and as they waited out the storm they opened their souls to each other and love bloomed. Proving that great minds think alike, they proposed to each other and somehow was able to convince Paul's brother, the pastor of a local church, to conduct the ceremony on Christmas Eve. Now, the blizzard is over and it's time to start making wedding plans.

_______________________________

Andi's Dream

Altar Bound

After a very quick look at the exterior of the huge house that Paul said would soon be Andi's, the family hopped back into Paul's truck and drove through the village, soon they pulled up in front of what Andi considered a modern church. No steeple, and the doors on the side, a church should have its doors on one end or the other Andi thought. People were walking up to church from the recently plowed lot in small clusters. Paul hopped out of the truck, helped Andi down then they led the twins through the parking lot to the church.

As they turned up the walkway a beautiful, tall, slim, black woman with long flowing raven hair came out of the church, a huge smile glowed on her face and she held her arms wide. "Is this her mon frère?" she cried to Paul in a delightful French accent. When he nodded in the affirmative, she threw her arms around Andi and gave her a huge warm hug "Ma belle-sœur."

"Andi, this is Macy, John's wife."

"We talked last night," gasped Andi, Macy's hug was tight and loving and Andi was having trouble breathing.

"It's so good to meet you!"

"And these are my Love Bugs, Sandy..."

"Bug bug."

"And Madeline..."

"Bug bug."

"Oh they're so cute!" Macy crouched down and hugged the twins who were reveling in the attention. "They're so tiny!" Macy mouthed up to Andi.

"There wasn't room in mommy for two of them, so they moved out at 28 weeks." Andi didn't add that her ex-husband Frank's slapping her around for being fat as the babies grew put the babies at more risk than her own tiny body.

Macy walked with them up to the church door. "Sorry you ended up in a Lake Effect storm, especially down here in the Snow Belt. How was being holed up in the cabin for a long weekend?"

"Well..." Andi began to blush in spite of herself.

"Oooo girl!" Macy grinned, "we'll talk later."

Andi didn't realize it, but Paul was highly active in the Springville Congregational Church, and she was happy that he is involved. Inside the building she found a warm welcome and a hand to shake every time she turned her head. So many names! And Paul knew them all; "This is Tammy Schatz, she's the president of the Women's Ministry, this is August Di Domissio, we all call him Gus, he's a deacon on the board with me, this is Lou and Nanny Sagget, this is..." wait, did he say, "on the board with me?"

"You're on the board? You're a bigshot in this church?" asked Andi.

"Big shot? No! I'm a deacon, the word deacon is Greek, it means waiter, we're here to serve the needs of the people of this church. An Elder is a big shot, or a short pastor is a big shot." Paul pulled her close and gave her a quick hug. "And speaking of needs of the church, here's the shepherd of this flock, my baby brother John."

John was a shorter, younger version of Paul and had a smile as big and as bright as his wife Macy. John's eyes popped wide open "Hello Andi! You didn't tell me how beautiful these girls are!" He crouched down, "You must be Sandy and you must be Madeline!" He got an appreciative giggle with each correct identification.

"He's lucky," Paul whispered to Andi, "he's always been lucky. See how he got the girls names right on first try?"

"I told him about the freckle," Andi whispered in reply. Madeline has a small freckle on her neck below her left ear.

"Wait, what freckle?" Paul had been differentiating the girls by their attitudes, which was successful about sixty percent of the time.

Soon enough it was time to head into the sanctuary. The service started with a hymn from the choir and being the Christmas season, it was a well-known Christmas carol, one with verses that Andi never heard before. Soon the carol was over, and the worship director invited the congregation to "Shake hands with another sinner."

Andi was shocked at what happen next. In most churches she has been to, the congregation would turn and shake hands but here they left their seats and milled about, shaking hands, hugging, even an affectionate kiss on occasion. And Andi and the twins were the stars of the lovefest. This was a congregation that sought out visitors and got to know them and when a deacon walks in with a beautiful woman and two darling little girls, this had to be checked out.

And Paul walked away leaving her to these adoring strangers. Macy came and joined Andi for support, but Madeline had disappeared. Andi looked around in a panic until chuckling spread through the congregation. Greetings came to a stop as the congregation moved back to their seats. Andi was nearly in tears but Macy grabbed her arm and pointed to the podium. There was Paul standing at the lectern getting ready to read announcements and next to him was Madeline holding the hem of his blazer. "Wow!" he said into the microphone, "I didn't have to ask you to take your seats, it's a Christmas Miracle! Good morning!"

"Good morning!" they replied. Paul then went over the announcements for the week, upcoming activities, news items from the differing committees, and bible study. He then asked if anyone had anything to share and Lorrain got up and spoke about the fellowship meal next week (soup, salad, and Christmas cookies). When all the announcements were complete Paul stood smiling at the lectern with a little girl who looked lost and alone. Andi's heart was breaking for Madeline. She tried to coax Madeline back, but the little girl wouldn't move, so Andi told Sandy to go help Madeline. Without a second thought Sandy ran up to the podium to be with her sister. The ENTIRE congregation went 'Awwwww!' as Paul scooped them both up. "I would like to ask this congregation..."

"Point of order!" called out John from his seat in the congregation with Macy and Andi.

"Uhhh, yes John?"

"As I am well aware of which it is that you wish to ask of this Congregation, I believe it would be in order to open a short congregational meeting of the impromptu variety."

"That's good," said Paul regarding his brother's Damon Runyonesque delivery, "And you, my brother, are absolutely correct. As head of the Church Board I would like to open a very short impromptu meeting of the congregation. Kathy, are you able to take minutes?"

"Yes, I am," said the church secretary.

"Then that being said, we meet the charter requirements and I call this meeting to order." He paused and collected himself. "These are my love bugs. This is Sandy..."

"Bug bug"

(Awwwww)

"... and this is Madeline..."

"Bug bug"

(Awwwww)

"... and the reason why I called this meeting is because I would like to officially become their Poppa. To do that I would have to marry their mother, which, as circumstances would have, I also fell madly, completely head over heels in love with."

"Really?" Sandy asked loud enough to be picked up on the mike and chuckles rippled through the congregation.

"But unfortunately, there's a problem," said Paul to the congregation.

"Really?" said Sandy, Madeline placed her hand on her forehead, rolling her eyes upward, and bemoaning "There's always a problem."

Paul said over the laughter, "We did not rehearse this. What the problem is, is that someone in this relationship promised someone else in this relationship that we could get married in a church on Christmas Eve. So..." he took a deep breath, "would you folks mind if we tailgate on our Christmas Eve candlelight service for a few minutes and borrow you the congregation, and your pastor for a quick wedding ceremony?"

The congregation murmured a bit until John called out "We need this in the form of a motion."

"So moved!" called out Paul's friend and co-chair of the board Gus Di Domissio.

"Second!" called out Ernie Kraft, a local farmer and longtime trustee on the board.

Paul fell into his board chairman rhythm, "It's been moved and seconded and now open for discussion. Is there any discussion?"

"Will you pay the usual usage fee and pay the pastor his fee?" called out Marty Kraft, Ernie's wife and church treasurer.

"Yes, I will, I'll have the check for you after the service today."

"Then it is fine by me," said Marty.

"Any other discussion?" called out Paul.

"Do you intend to complete the pre-marriage classes with the pastor and his wife?" asked Macy.

Paul looked his sister-in-law in the eye with a smile. "We fully intend to take all of the classes required by our governing rules."

"And what if the pastor's wife is busy?" she said feigning arrogance.

"I'll make coffee cake."

"We'll be there," she grinned. Paul's coffee cake is to die for.

"Call the question!" called out the sound man Larry Snow, another trustee on the board.

"The question has been called," announced Paul, "all those in favor of allowing Paul Jarecki and Adrianna Roberts to wed here at Springville Congregational Church, December 24th, at the end of the candlelight ceremony, and use Pastor John Jarecki as officiant please signify by saying aye."

"Aye!" called out the congregation.

"All opposed please signify so by saying aye."

Silence.

"Motion carried" there actually was a smattering of applause. Paul was worried because in the church constitution, all motions must be passed unanimously, therefore at board meetings it's not unusual to break for prayer before voting on a contentious proposition. "Ok, lovebugs, go get your mommy."

"Bug bug."

"Bug bug."

And off they ran to the arms of their mother. "There's one other thing." John approached the lectern and handed Paul a perfect rose and a small jewelry case. Paul took the two items with thanks went to the pew occupied by Andi, the twins, and Macy. He knelt, handed Andi the rose, and said in a hushed voice, "Adrianna Roberts, will you marry me and make me the happiest man in the world?"

With shaking hands Andi took the flower and opened the jewelry box. Inside the box was a small note that read "I.O.U. 1 Engagement Ring" and under the note was a cherry Lifesaver, her favorite flavor. It took a moment, but she made the connection - a flower and a lifesaver.

"Oh my God, did I say that out loud?"

Paul nodded and smiled.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" she cried, she threw her arms around Paul's neck and burst out in gales of laughter.

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After the service they returned home, a large Victorian that Andi had only seen the outside, the large front yard and porch with iron fence around the perimeter, and in the back the large five bay garage with arched doors to look like a Victorian horse stable. She saw the hot tub and further back the large built in pool. Near that was a huge grape arbor that provided shade as a gazebo in the summer.

"Come on you, let's look inside." He offered her a hand and she got out of the Ranger, then tried to collect Sandy and Madeline, who were chattering about a red bird they saw. "That was a cardinal," he explained.

After a moment of TwinBabble® with her sister, Madeline looked up at Paul, her eyes suddenly glowed with innocence "Can we keep her?"

Andi had seen that look numerous times; it was their "I want" look of faux sweetness. It was the beginning of a manipulative streak that their future boyfriends and husbands will have to contend with to varying degrees of success and financial hardship. She thought of warning Paul, but she decided to see how he handles it for a while.

Paul crouched down "First of all, that red bird is a boy, he wears bright red because his girlfriend likes those colors, and second of all he's a wild bird, he would be sad in a cage. But we can put up bird feeders and you can watch him, and his buddies all you want."

Madeline brightened, but Sandy asked, "Won't he be mad?"

"The bird? No, he'll love it."

"Not the bird," she pointed to the house, "the guy."

"What guy?"

Sandy huffed in exasperation "The guy who owns the hotel," she said as she pointed at the front door.

Paul grinned. "I suppose we'll have to ask your mommy." The twins looked confused, so he explained, "This is my hotel and I am going to give it to your mommy to live in forever."

The twins took that bit of information in stride and abandoned Paul, they turned to Andi and began to ask her if they could put up bird feeders, but she didn't hear a word they said. The reality of what she just heard struck home, and it all came crashing down on her. Dr. Adrianna Roberts, so deep in debt that she skips meals so her daughters can eat properly, whose student loans coupled with her ex-husband's debt has left her so far in the red that she works several second shifts a week at a second hospital, now suddenly owns a house that she dreamed of when she was a child.

She heard a roaring and a ringing in her ears, her entire body began to tingle like your arm does when it "falls asleep" from the lack of blood circulation, she felt an ice cold sweat break out over her entire body. Suddenly it was like she was looking at everything through a long tunnel, and at that minute she was gone. Her functions suddenly ceased.

Paul realized immediately that Andi was going to faint, as a cardiologist he's seen it often enough to know what her body was going through, a sudden drop of blood pressure causing oxygenated blood to stop flowing to the brain causes an entire shutdown of the brain and in turn the body. He was able to catch her in time to keep her from hitting her head. It wasn't a glorious, beautiful catch like in the movies, but he had her, and that's all that counts. He was able to shift her in his arms, so he laid her gently on the porch and set her legs up on one of the Adirondack chairs there on the porch. This allowed the blood to flow back to the heart and she came back to consciousness quickly.

Andi's eyes fluttered open and she saw Paul smiling down on her. "Welcome back," he said.

"Oh God, that felt so weird," she gasped. "What's my heart rate?"

"I didn't check, but I looked through your purse while you were out, you can't afford me."

"I suppose I'll have to marry you to get a medical opinion," she smiled weakly.

"I also looked down your blouse, I accept your offer," and he scooped her up off the porch and carried her to the front door while the girls asked over and over what happened. Rather than explaining he asked them to open the big front door.

They stood at the front door with a big oval etched glass window edged in stained glass. Sandy turned the big antique brass doorknob and it opened easily. The door swung open and Paul carried Andi across the threshold. She was confronted with the master staircase of her dreams; it swept up to the second floor where it joined the balcony that ran along 3 of the four walls up there. Over the stairs hung a huge crystal chandelier suspended by a chain from the ceiling over 25 feet above the floor.

"Welcome home Mrs. Jarecki," said Paul softly.

"It's so beautiful!" she gasped, and she buried her head in his neck and wept.

It took a long time for her to recover from her shock, but eventually he set her down on her own feet, and she started to climb the stairs slowly. She drew her hand up the banister slowly admiring the polished wood that glowed with an inner luster. "It looks smooth but it isn't slippery at all, is it anti-skid?"

"Yep, something Gus found," answered Paul. "He said it was to keep kids from trying to slide down the banister, but I think it's more of a high-end safety device for someone like me on the edge of old age." Gus Di Dimissio was Paul's best friend and a contractor who helped Paul rebuild an old, abandoned Victorian mansion. Springville was once filled with mansions like this, the village was a popular place for the rich of nineteenth century Buffalo to summer in and escape the heat of the city.

She was drawn up stairs by some force and she knew that the master bedroom and two smaller bedrooms on one side would be for their use, the others would be for guests. The twins ran the length of the balcony and selected the last bedroom as 'theirs.' Paul thought it was odd that with all these bedrooms to choose from they would share a room. Andi didn't think anything of it and mentally selected the room between 'theirs' and the master that she and Paul would share as the nursery.

Nursery? Where did that come from?

She walked into the master bedroom and looked around, the only furniture was the bed, a queen-size adjustable with no headboard. "Only a queen-size in this big room?"

"You're so tiny, I don't want to lose track of you."

She smiled at that, then she noticed the tub. It was a 72" claw footed beauty, plenty of room for the two of them. Grinning she kicked off her shoes and climbed into the tub fully clothed, there was all kinds of room in there. "Come here Sandy," she called leaning over the edge of the tub with her arms out. Sandy ran right over, and Andi lifted her inside, then she hoisted Madeline in there with her. "There's enough room for you too, daddy."

"Yeah, come on in!" yelled Madeline, and there was room enough, but he chose to tease the girls.

"You're too dirty, maybe after you take a bath," Paul grinned, and he reached for the faucet inciting screams from the children. The faucet was an impressive array of plumbing with a hand shower that hung like an old-fashioned telephone receiver. He didn't turn it on, but he held the hand shower up like he was going to spray the little girls who squealed, covered their heads and yelled for him to stop.

In the same area of the room was the shower, there was no shower stall, just like in the cabin, just a wall to deflect splashes and no door. The showerhead was mounted in the ceiling and there were six body sprays associated along with a hand shower. Paul walked over to the shower, turned it on, then demonstrated the different modes the shower used with an electronic control panel. Andi's eyes opened wide as she thought about all the possibilities...

Climbing out of the tub and exploring further Andi fell in love with the cavernous walk-in closets, and she found built in fire safes in both closets. The other bedrooms were not nearly as big and the shared full bath between them was a good size, larger than the lone bathroom in her Denver condo. After inspecting the bedrooms on the second floor she just noticed that she didn't see a staircase going upward from the second floor. "How to you get upstairs to your office?" she asked.

"Follow me," said Paul, and he showed her a closed door on the wall at the top of the master staircase. Opening it, he showed her a hall that was lined with closets and storage shelves, and at the end of the hallway was a staircase that went up and down from the second floor. "This hall goes between the two master bedrooms and gives plenty of storage, and it leads to the back staircase. This staircase goes from the basement to the attic. Going down it opens to the kitchen or the media room in the basement."

Andi started down the stairs with Sandy and Madeline leading the way. They went all the way to the basement where Paul showed them the media room with the big comfy reclining chairs, and next to that was the gym with treadmills and exercise cycles both in pairs, and free weights on racks and a lifting bench. "Back there is the changing area and the shower room/steam room. It's a really cool shower room, Gus worked on the controls for weeks.

Leading them through a storage area they came to another set of stairs. "These stairs are directly underneath the main staircase and come out between the dining room and the library," and he led them up to the first floor. Andi was amazed at the house, but it felt so empty. There was truly little in the way of decoration other than the beautiful Christmas decorations in the parlor and the living room. The living room amused her, it was done up to look like an average living room from the late 50's early 60's. Paul even had a wooden console built to house a flat screen TV which looks like a console TV from the 60's, although the knobs don't do anything. That is a shame, Paul would have liked to teach the twins what it was like to be an "organic" remote control. The living room is fully furnished with 50's vintage furniture including a low back easy chair and matching couch, futuristic looking end table and a cobblers bench coffee table. The Christmas tree in the room was pure 50's chique, a silver aluminum tree with rotating base and color changing flood light.

But other than the living room and the parlor there was extraordinarily little in the way of decor. The library was a huge room with walls covered with bookshelves and a tall window looking out on the side lawn. One wall was covered with books and had a beautiful fireplace. But for furniture, there was only a roll top desk and matching chair. There was a love seat pushed against the wall that Paul explained was normally in front of the fireplace. The parlor was the same, one wall had a tall window looking out on the front lawn, and on another wall a fireplace. For furniture there was only a love seat and a matching couch. The bedrooms all had a bed and a dresser and nothing else. The formal dining room had a formal dining table, chairs, and a sideboard.

"This is quite a house you have here Dr. Jarecki," said Andi as she inspected the kitchen which appeared to be the only room he used. The restaurant quality gas stove was huge, it had a big oven and there was a cavernous microwave above it. She teased him that the refrigerator was big enough to be a walk-in, but inside there was only cold cuts, some cheese and a six pack of Pepsi. On the table in the breakfast nook stood a stack of folders and a laptop.

"So do you Dr. Roberts," he said with a smile, then he said "That's just it. It's just a house," Paul suddenly had a hopeful look on his face, "it's just a big wooden box. We, you and me and the girls, we can make it a home."

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"... then I told him flat out before we went into the sauna that there would be no activities that could potentially get me pregnant until there's a bouquet, a ring, and a preacher. And then I'm the one who jumps right over the line, I pull off his towel, get a view of the... scenery and I say to myself "maybe just a flower and a Lifesaver."

"Stop, please stop," Macy was laughing so hard that her sides hurt. If Paul's "scenery" was similar to John's "scenery" then she full well understood Andi's dilemma. Macy and Andi were sharing coffee in the breakfast nook.

"I guess I said it out loud..."

"You didn't!" gasped Macy between bouts of laughter.

"Well in church he presents me with a flower and a Lifesaver, that YOUR husband handed him... in CHURCH!" Andi tried to look indignant, then started laughing again. "I haven't laughed like this since..." she looked concerned "Oh God ...since pre-med. God how I missed laughing like this. Did I mention our bet on the Broncos game on Saturday?" Andi and Macy were talking over coffee in the breakfast nook as part of their pre-marriage counseling.

"Not yet, and I hope you will," Macy leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, "in this neck of the wood's, it's never a Broncos game, it's always a Bills game."

"Either way, we bet one orgasm per score. He owes me seven, I owe him eight AND a full body massage."

"Now that's a kind of bet I can agree with," grinned Macy as she poured more coffee. "I may even watch some post season ball with my ma chérie."

"I used to love sex and everything about it. Maybe I liked it too much." Andi sipped her coffee. Macy nodded in agreement, but she never had that experience, her introduction to sex was bad and it remained bad for quite a while. Poor John, so patient for all those years...

"Then I met Frank, and we ended up married. He beat all of that out of me," Andi said into her coffee cup. Macy drew near and put her hand on Andi's shoulder. "I poured everything into becoming the best doctor in Colorado because he took so much out of my life. The harder he hurt me the more I poured myself into my job. Then the twins started making their presence known. Thank God Frank left me. He left me broke and broken, but he left me and was gone before the twins were born."

"Oh baby, I'm so sorry."

They were interrupted for a moment as the twins roared through the kitchen leading Wonka, Paul's chocolate Labrador retriever, on a leash. "Then I got stuck in a snowbank and met Paul, and he took us in, and in less than 24 hours I was madly in love, and to my shock and surprise, so was he."

They paused again while the twins raced back through the kitchen leading Wonka. "You asked me what being snowed in all weekend was like? It was all warmth, and love. Gentle touches and kisses that didn't demand, and it's still going on. Meeting you and John, and everyone at church, I've met more smiles this weekend than I have in ages." Then in a confidential whisper she added, "He made me come without touching... uh... any of the goodies."

"Serious?"

"He got close, but I was in heaven before he could hit the launch button."

"If we could put that in a bottle..."

Both women chuckled over that possibility then Andi continued "We slept together every night... not slept together slept together, we cuddled together and fell asleep watching the fire..."

Macy took a long sip of coffee and watched Andi over the top of her coffee cup and let the curvy little doctor stumble and stutter. "Ok, I get what you mean," she finally let Andi off the hook.

Relieved, Andi went on. "The very worst I felt this weekend is when I woke up this morning and Paul wasn't there. I was lost, devastated," she paused for a moment. "The second worse I felt was when I came down the stairs in a torn flannel nightgown and Paul's bathrobe dragging the ground, my hair all going everywhere, and the cabin is full of strangers!"

It took a long time for Macy to regain her composure from laughing, and her laughter was contagious, soon Andi was laughing and the twins joined them. "What is the best you felt this weekend... with your clothes on," Macy asked when she was finally able to return to drinking her coffee.

"I guess when he let me plow the driveway. He trusted me and I felt so confident because of that trust, and I never drove a hydrosomething transmission before. That's a cool tractor, I can't wait to use the backhoe."

Macy was shocked. "Backhoe...? Wait, you drove the orange tractor?"

"Uh huh. Yeah, he showed me how to plow out the drive, drift the plow, raise it up as I hit the pile... it was fun, I plowed the whole driveway and cleared out the snow on Trevette Road, and poor Paul, all this time the twins are crying and he's..."

"Wait, wait, wait," Macy interrupted, "Not the gray and red one? The old Ford?"

"Nope. Definitely the Kubota. He showed me what he wanted then took the girls to see the chickens."

"Not the little green one?"

"I didn't see a little green tractor."

"Girl, c'est l'amour, that's love. No one touches the Kubota. Not even John."

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"Paul! Look at me! I could have lost my job over that!" John was clearly angry with his brother.

"You would not have lost your job."

"If that had gone bad, if Andi had complained in any way, they would have stormed my office, demanded my resignation, and voted you off the board."

"You're exaggerating. I may not have known this congregation as long as you've known them, but I've known this congregation long enough to know their limits. And the only thing I know better," Paul looked up from his work and glared at his brother, "is Andi. I tell you J, this girl is the one. She is my soul mate; it's like we can read each other's minds, no - better, we can read each other's heart. We heal each other."

John threw up his hands, "That's not how it works!"

Paul spoke slowly and angrily. "You say that only because you married a... a..."

"Look me in the eye and say it. I DARE you," snarled John.

Paul put his hands on his brother's shoulders and held him at arm's length and stared him dead in the eye. "You married... a Canadian."

John screwed up his face and hissed "You've always resented me for that."

Paul pulled him in close and hugged his younger brother. "It's ok, it's ok, we're going to wake up from this dream and we'll be back in Tiorunda, there will be 4 feet of new snow and we'll still have to go to school."

"Cheektowaga sucks." John was still angry with their hometown, especially the school system. "Lake Erie could overflow and flood all the way to Manhattan and at best Cheektowaga Central Schools would get is an early dismissal."

Growing up in Western New York unites school children of all ages and races around the radio in the morning, listening for the school closings after a snowstorm. Some school systems are famous for closing the moment that snow begins to fly, Alden and Depew were the leaders of that category. But some wouldn't close until lives were being lost. Williamsville, Sloan, and Cheektowaga Central were the worst offenders.

As they broke the hug Paul said "You know I would have taken any and all heat if Andi didn't like her Lifesaver. If anyone would have raised a stink you know it would have been the Konjakowski's."

"The whole famn damily" added John sadly.

"However, we have an ace in the hole," winked Paul, "Stan, the Konjakowski clan leader himself, wants his spring buck. I agreed he can spend the whole season in the cabin if he needs it, and he can slaughter any buck he wants and he can play fetch with Wonka until his arm falls off from throwing that damn Frisbee. He won't jeopardize that." Paul held up his project, a harness he modified, and said "Let's see if this works and then take the girls to Giardini's for an early dinner."

"You want to go all the way into Cheektowaga?"

"We have some furniture shopping to do, let's see what the girls think, ok?"

The brothers climbed up from the basement and Paul called Wonka, who came at a trot with Sandy and Madeline in tow, they had two leashes on him, and the giggling twins were being dragged. "Good boy, now stand." He bent and put the harness on Wonka, it was Wonka's service dog harness, but Paul added a small handle on each side. "You guys hold here," said Paul as he showed the twins the handles. They latched on immediately. Soon Wonka, Sandy, and Madeline were walking together flawlessly, and they walked into the kitchen to show Macy and Andi who loved the idea.

"Hey girls," said Paul as he stepped into the kitchen. "I was thinking, let's go oot, and aboot, and get some poutine for lunch, eh?"

"That is never going to get old, is it?" said Macy coldly glaring at Paul.

"I don't get it," said Andi confused.

"My darling wife is Canadian eh?," said John. "Your betrothed was simply speaking to her in her native tongue."

"When she left her parents and two brothers the black population of Quebec dropped by twenty percent," grinned Paul as he rubbed her shoulders. "But we love you, you're our favorite canuck."

"You watch that canuck stuff," said Macy as she rose from the kitchen chair and gave her brother in law a kiss on the cheek, "Je vais vous rapporter aux ressources humaines!" (or I'll report you to human resources)

"Daddy," said Andi, "the girls and I are getting hungry, can we go to that place you were talking about, Giardini's?"

"You called it," said John in a mild state of shock.

"Yeah, we gotta get beds for the girls, car seats, and maybe some toys to tide them over until Santa comes," said Paul.

"Then we have to stop at the cabin and get our clothes, all my suits for the conference are in the cabin," agreed Andi. "The girls miss their stuffies."

"Wonka can be our stuffie now," said Madeline, still clutching the handle on Wonka's harness. 'Stuffie' is the name they use to call their stuffed toys.

"After dinner John and I will stop by the cabin and pick up your clothes and stuff so it will all be here for you when you finish your shopping spree," said Macy, "besides, I want to see how that sauna works if you know what I mean."

Forty-five minutes later they pulled off the 33 on to the Harlem Road exit and they were right there in Tiorunda. Paul drove through the wooded neighborhood made out of split-level duplex houses, some were converted to single family units in the past, one had even added a second story. It was a very gentle looking neighborhood, shoveled driveways, neatly trimmed hedges dividing the properties, but Paul said "we didn't live here in this area, this was originally officers housing. John and I lived over there," and he pointed out a series of slab faced two-story buildings, each containing four apartments known as a "fourplex." Broken storm doors, bicycles abandoned in the snow, and overflowing dumpsters were the order of the day. Black and Hispanic faces watched them as they drove by.

"Back in the day this neighborhood was all Polish, Italian, Irish, and Greek. We tell ourselves that we kept the neighborhood cleaner back then, but we didn't. It's always been the same since the Army Air Corps turned this housing area over to the Town of Cheektowaga. Now they call it Cedar Grove Heights, but it will always be Tiorunda to those of us that grew up here.

He exited the neighborhood on to Genesee Street and Andi was amazed at all the restaurants of every ethnicity that made up Cheektowaga: Italian, German, Greek, Hispanic, Ethiopian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, and more. Finally, they pulled into Giardini's Italian Family Restaurant. A quick scan of the parking lot showed that John and Macy were already there, so they went into the restaurant. With more fanfare than Andi was expecting, Mama Giardini stormed out of the kitchen crying "My Paulie!"

and smothered him with hugs and kisses.

When he pried himself loose, he turned Mama around, "Andi, this is Anna Maria "Mama" Giardini, we've been friends for..." Paul paused at the warning finger Mama raised to him, "...uhhh for a while. Momma, this is Doctor Adrianna "Andi" Roberts."

"Such a nice young girl," Mama said to Paul, shaking Andi's hand. She looked at Paul again and smiled shaking a finger at him, "Mama knows!" she smiled and turned and smothered Andi in her ample bosom, hugging her and almost weeping said "You're going to be such a beautiful bride!" She released Andi who was left gasping and smiling from the onslaught and bent and pinched the twins cheeks saying, "You two bambinas are going to be such beautiful brides maids!" before turning back to hug Paul even more.

"Who told you we are getting married? Did John spill the beans?" Paul asked between hugs.

"No, Johnnie is a good boy, he can keep a secret. I saw it in your eyes darling. Such joy!" Mama Giardini turned to Andi. "I've never seen my Paulie so happy, so content! Sei un angelo! You're an angel! when is the big day?"

"Christmas eve at the candlelight service in John's church, can you come Mama?" asked Andi.

"Il giorno in cui Dio ci ha dato Gesù bambino! The day God gave us baby Jesus? You can't keep us away." Then drawing herself up to her full five feet in height she said, "I will fill in for the mother of the groom, Dio riposi la sua anima." (God rest her soul)

Mama led them to their table where John and Macy were waiting, the twins were given bibs and boosters, and the feast began. They were served family style, plates and bowls of different Italian delights were placed on the table; there was Bruschetta and Italian wedding soup, Panzanella salad, lasagna, spaghetti, cavatini, chicken parmesan, and for dessert some delicious cannoli. The dishes were set out, and after grace the dishes were passed around for all to load up their own plates.

The conversation was warm, light, and happy. Mama Giardini pulled up a chair and joined them in the conversation and was fairly successful at convincing the twins to try the dishes they weren't familiar with. At one point in the meal, she dragged her son (and owner of the restaurant) into the proceedings. Donnie stepped out of the kitchen and Mama called out loudly across the restaurant "Donnie! Come here, Paulie has news."

When Mama calls, her children come running, and Donatello Giardini dropped whatever he was doing and came over. Paul and John dropping in for dinner isn't all that unusual, but when they call ahead and make reservations for a party of six, that's never happened before. "What's up Paulie?" said a rotund balding man with a smile as big as Mama's.

In answer Paul simply held up his hand that was clutching Andi's small hand.

"Hey Paulie, all right! These little ones come with the deal?" He tickled the cheek of Madeline who was chewing on a crust of bread. She giggled and hunched her shoulders up.

"Christmas eve, at John's church," said Paul as he kissed Andi's hand.

"I am so there!" called out Donnie as he walked over to the bar and the bar tender handed him a bottle of wine. He screwed in a corkscrew and pulled the cork with a loud pop, then he poured wine in Paul, Andi, Macy's, and even John's wine glasses. A waitress brough the twins small plastic wine glasses containing grape juice.

Dannie lifted his own glass of wine high and shouted "Attenzione! Mi paesano Doctor Paul Jarecki, the man I grew up with, and this darling, gorgeous woman Doctor Adrianna Roberts are getting married! SALUTE!"

The entire restaurant raised their glasses and cried "SALUTE!" followed by a sip of their proffered drink, and after some applause and a lot of laughing and blushing on Andi's part the dinner returned to normal. That is, except for the twins who continued to "SALUTE!" until their grape juice was gone.

Mama was in her glory sitting at the table regaling Andi and Macy with stories of young Johnny and Paulie. Laughter reigned the afternoon and even the regular customers listened in as she spoke of the little scams and hard work the boys put in to raise a little pocket money when they lived in Tiorunda. "When their dear mother passed away, may she find joy in heaven, I stepped in to be their momma."

"Aww, how sweet! Paul never told me," sniffed Andi.

"That's because it was only six years ago," said John.

"Hush you!" Mama gave John a 'dope slap' on the back of his head, "A boy needs his mama!"

The whole table erupted into laughter. "Bien dit maman, well said mama," laughed Macy.

"Grazie cara ragazza, thank you dear girl" smiled Mama. "And Mama Adrianna, you have..." She meant to tell her that she had quite a job to do cleaning up the twins who obviously loved the red sauce and were covered with it, but when she looked in Adrianna's eyes she saw something. "...you will someday know how a boy loves his mama. I see it in your eyes."

"Mama Giardini, we don't plan to..."

"Hush little one," said Mama Giardini cradling Andi's chin "You know the way to make God laugh? Tell Him your plans. Now go! Your babies need beds."

Andi felt like a part of a family in a way she never felt before. "Can we eat here every night?" she asked Paul as she washed Sandy's face.

"You kind of do," answered Paul as he attempted to clean the red sauce from between Madeline's fingers. "She's the one who taught me to cook." He thought back to the day, so long ago, when Mama caught John and himself, starving, freezing, eating scraps from the waste bin. She dragged them in the restaurant and put them to work, they started washing dishes and soon escalated to pots and pans. For their work they ate like kings and brought leftovers, fit for royalty, home to mom and dad. When their father finally got his feet back under himself, he presented Mama Giardini a gift for her charity and love, a brand-new industrial strength restaurant quality dish washer.

It took almost as much time to clean up the squirming twins as it did to eat dinner, but soon they were off to shop for the girls. They found a pair of beds that the girls would like, and they observed their activities in the toy aisles in case Santa needs some help picking gifts.

A few hours later Andi and Paul gazed on the twins sleeping side by side on their new beds. Bunk beds would only cause issues, separate rooms were out of the question entirely, the only solution was twin beds. "Look," whispered Andi, "Madeline is on the left. She's always on the left side of Sandy if she can arrange it."

"Or is Sandy always on the right," observed Paul.

"Why do you hate this house so much?" asked Andi, "it has everything you want; rainforest shower, steam shower, sauna, hot tub, swimming pool... Wait... I think I see a pattern developing." She smiled and kissed him. "They're all ploys to get me naked and wet, right?"

"I don't hate it, I just don't like the echoes, the shadows, the empty. In my cabin I feel attached to something, here I feel so alone. In my barn I got that old ford tractor running and it felt like an accomplishment, here I put in a hot tub and I feel like I'm building an extremely comfortable coffin."

Andi put her arms around his waist and held him tight. "Did you feel like that when you put the beds together for the twins? You looked like you were enjoying it."

"Yes, it was fun, even with Sandy and Madeline's help."

"Then maybe you weren't building a coffin, maybe what you were really doing was feathering a nest."

Their kiss was long and sweet, then as agreed, Paul tucked Andi into bed in the master suite, he grabbed his robe and headed down to the media room in the basement and stretched out on the couch. They agreed and vowed to remain chaste until they were wed and sleeping in the same bed was too much of a temptation.

About an hour later Andi still couldn't sleep so she crept out of the master suite wearing only her floppy old flannel nightgown and quietly drifted downstairs. In the basement she finally found his couch in the dark and slipped under the blanket with him and wordlessly snuggled up tight and went to sleep. It was then that Paul was finally able to slip into sleep himself.

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Andi's sleep was filled with dreams of love and loving, of being lifted up on clouds of affection. Slowly her dream shifted, and the twins were infants again, and she was nursing both of them at the same time, her breasts heavy with milk, her babies suckling and drawing their life-giving nourishment from her. She felt something sweet, loving, and pure, something sensual, maternal, and nurturing. Not a scream and a shout, but a sigh and a purr.

Her dream shifted, she was back in the sauna in the cabin and she felt hands touching, stroking, caressing. Her feelings shifted from sensual to erotic and she bathed in the sensations. There was a high voltage connection between her nipples and her clit. She gasped and found it hard to breathe, there was a cock, pressing against her from behind, not against her soaked pussy but against her virgin anus. She could feel the cock throb against her little rosebud and she thought not about pulling away but pushing back, to open to the sizeable thing and to swallow it with her virgin ass.

Her eyes suddenly flew open and she was on the couch spooning Paul again. His hand was cupping her breast, but it was her hand holding it there. His cock was erect with wanting, pushing against her. Paul wasn't humping her, but he was holding her tight. She eased out from under his arm and turned around and studied his cock, it's head poking out past the waist band of his pajama pants. "Poor thing," she whispered, "let me set you free." She untied his pajama pants and pulled back the waistband exposing his cock.

It was dark in the media room, nearly pitch black, but there was just enough light from the adjacent room to allow her to see his throbbing cock. "You want inside me so bad. I want you in me too," she sighed, her fingernails running up and down his cock. Its throbbing becoming more urgent with every stroke. She was fascinated, she had never seen a man get this excited from her fingernails. In pre-med she had degraded herself so much, yet as she fucked her way through pre-med, her grades remained high. 'Aggressively high' is how her counselor described her grades (as she blew him). But her grades were legitimate, she has that high of an intellect.

Paul's cock was practically jerking now from the light ministrations of Andi's fingernails. "Soon, very soon you're going to be mine, and we're going to have so much fun," she whispered, then she remembered what Mama Giardini had said. Paul started to groan in his sleep, his hips arched and his testicles tightened up. "Do you have a son waiting in there for me?" she whispered, then her mouth gently closed over his cock, her tongue laving on the sensitive underside.

The only warning she got was when Paul groaned "Oh my baby!" in his sleep and her mouth filled with a gusher of his semen. Drinking eagerly Andi realized that Paul has a taste that she fully intended to drink exclusively. Spurt after spurt she swallowed, and she enjoyed her man, as much as she enjoyed calling him daddy. As his cock softened in her mouth he moaned "Oh my baby," one last time.

"He must be dreaming of me," she hoped as she gently pulled back and knelt on the floor next to him. She eased back down, sitting on her feet, her nightgown bunched at her waist. She felt herself and found her thighs soaked with her fluids, her clit was trembling and as she touched it she gasped. She planned to masturbate next to the couch, but she was wound up so tight by her dreams and the musky taste of her man's cum still lingering on her tongue that her next orgasm was going to be a screamer.

She rose and wandered into the adjoining room and found that it was a gym. There were free weights, a couple of interesting benches for leg work, all designed to use the free weights. She also noticed that there were two treadmills side by side, two exercise bikes side by side, and two arm bikes side by side. "You really were feathering a nest," she whispered. There was a large screen TV, a very nice sound system, and off to the side a shower room. There was a dressing area with hooks and bars for hanging different items of clothing, a bench, and shelves for whatever product one might feel necessary. The door leading into the shower was glass and inside Andi found that the shower was nothing like what she expected for a gym. The walls were dark marble or faux marble, she never really could tell the difference. But so was the ceiling and the benches. She could see the faucets but no shower heads.

This bore considerable investigation. She shrugged off her night gown and stepped into the shower. There was a control panel marked 'Steam' so she hit a few buttons but other than some gurgling behind the walls nothing happened. She looked around more.

The area wasn't large and there were two sets of complicated water controls so obviously this amazing shower was set up for two people. She went up to one set of controls and played with it and she discovered that the shower head was actually in the ceiling behind a panel that looked like a speaker cover. Water rained gently from the ceiling or blasted like a fire hose. She was able to manipulate shower temperature, intensity, pulse rates and suspected that there was a lot more. She also noticed that there was also a 'speaker cover' panel for stations that ran from about shoulder level to nearly the floor. By playing with the controls for both showers she found that one shower was set for a normal person and the water jets would massage the shoulder blades, mid back, and glutes. The other shower was clearly set for Paul and was aimed too high for Andi.

Andi also noticed that there was a panel in the floor that shot water straight up. "This bears intense research," she thought as she stood over the water jets. She manipulated the water temperature to her favorite setting and set the pulse intensity and speed up very high. By spreading her legs and shifting her hips the water jets were soon pulsing against her labia and her anus. She spread her lips and let the water hit directly against her clit and suddenly she was transported to a world of pure senses. Her clit was thrumming with sexual need, her nipples were suddenly harder than ever before.

The water jets were relentless, it was far too much stimulation but she couldn't stop. Her breasts started swelling as passionate pressures built. Her legs began shaking, her breath came in short gasps, she was on the edge of cumming. It had never happened so fast, her head spun, but she couldn't stop, she was frozen in place, taking all the stimulation. Her hips were rocking gently back and forth directing the stream to her asshole, her pussy, her clit, and back. She couldn't believe how receptive her ass has gotten and her breasts ached for a man's touch, not any man...

"DAAAADDDEEEEE!" she screamed as her orgasm crashed over her. At that same moment the steam generator completed its preparations and blasted hot white steam into the shower, the noise filled her ears as waves of blissful release crashed through her small frame. She collapsed to her knees bringing her clit that much closer to the water jet. The noise, the heat, the water, and that jet spanking her clit launched her to a higher plane of ecstasy. She rolled over to her side and began to convulse as her body and mind were awash in sheer sexual joy. "Oh God" she said over and over as the convulsions slowly ebbed.

Awakened by the sound of the steam shower, Paul rose from bed and found his pajama bottoms untied and pulled down. His cock tingled as if he had one of Andi's fantastic blow jobs. He wandered into the gym, undressed and entered the steam shower where he found Andi laying on the floor in convulsions. He dropped to the floor and began to check her over. She was semi-conscious and convulsing and he began to worry. He started to scoop her up and found out that she was laying on the floor jets. She must have tried to masturbate with them. "Andi! Can you hear me?"

"Oh god!" Her eyes were literally spinning, but when she calmed down, she sighed "God that was good! I wish you were a part of it."

Paul scooped her up and they sat down on the marble bench. They sat with Andi on Paul's lap kissing until the heat got to them and she slid down to sit next to him, reached over and cupped his balls. She smiled and reminded him of their bet. "We're even now, seven to seven. When I woke up you were in such need, so I helped. I can't believe how much I am coming to love the taste of your cum." She swirled a finger in her pussy and brought it up to Paul's face. He took a deep smell of her perfume then sucked her finger clean.

"My baby is delicious too," he said, which drew shivers down her back.

"I love balls, I think they are the best part of a man's body. Do you know why?" her dainty hand circled his balls and hefted them.

"Tell daddy why sweetheart." This was the first time he called himself Daddy for her and it struck her heart and clit at the same time. His hands were busy too, one gently squeezed her breasts, the other slid gently up and down her back.

She mewled with pleasure and continued. "This part of your body is made exclusively for me, it serves no other function but to impregnate me, to give me your sperm, your DNA for my bodies purposes. That idea is so hot to me, that at any time after we are married you can plant your seed in me. And you know what? There's a baby boy in here waiting for me." She gently massaged his testicles.

"What if there's a girl in there too?"

"We'll love her too, but I want that little boy. Is that weird?"

"Not at all. If he's just as delightful as Sandy and Madeline then personally I can't wait to see him."

Andi remembered her dream. "I used to nurse Sandra and Madeline at the same time. Even back then when they were newborn preemies they had to do everything together. Did you know that a mother of a preemie has a different milk than a mother of a newborn at term? My milk for those girls was different, more fat, more glucose, much more protein. If they were born at term, my milk would have been different for their more developed bodies. God knew... And I loved the sensation as I nursed them, I think God did that too. Not a big old screaming orgasm, but a nice, gentle little feeling that made me want to feed my babies naturally as often as I could."

"That certainly is wonderful."

"My mother isn't. I told her about those little feelings while nursing and she said I was sick and needed to switch to formula."

"Let's not worry about your mother and worry only about important things, like the wedding.

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To: The Staff and Management of University Hospital Pulmonary Division

From: Dr. Adrianna Roberts & Dr. Paul L. Jarecki.

Re: Wedding Announcement and Invitation.

Dear Friends and Colleagues

It is with extreme joy that we announce the betrothal of Dr. Adrianna L. Roberts to Dr. Paul L. Jarecki. Paul, Andi, Sandy, and Madeline will become one family united in joy.

The wedding ceremony will be held at 6:30 EST, December 24 ^th at Springville Congregational Church, 417 Old Forge Road, Springville NY. A short reception is to follow at the same location.

The ceremony will be live streamed on StreamFix.com, just search for ANDI&PAUL

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Dr. Sinclair Armando read the invitation with the same joy that everyone else in the hospital read it, the entire hospital saw it because moments after the email hit the server it was shared from friend to friend and friend to department and on and on until most of the people in the hospital got the announcement. He was incredibly happy for his very favorite and absolute best pulmonologist. Every day she would walk the halls of the hospital or lecture in the university, so competent but her loneliness and sadness was always right under the surface. Her only joy was the twins, which he asked about constantly because it was the only time she smiled and let her inner warmth show. He picked up his phone and called his secretary...

"Juanita, when is Dr. Roberts due back? So soon? How many days of vacation has she accrued?...

"That many...

"How many personal days? My goodness, how does someone with twins accrue that much time off and not use any... hmmmm...

"Ok, call scheduling tell them that Dr. Roberts will not be available until April first, she will be on her well-deserved honeymoon, I'll fix it with HR. Oh, and Juanita - let's start making preparations to search for a replacement, just in case..."

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With the seminar pushed back a day because South Boston NY, like many other "Snow Belt" towns and villages were still digging out from the storm, Andi and Paul made plans to take Andi's car back to the airport and she would use Paul's car. It was still in the garage and she hadn't seen it yet, and all she knew was that it was a Ford product because of the keys she saw hanging on the key rack.

They started the day with a bicycle race on stationary bikes. They programed the same course in both bikes and raced, but it was soon apparent that Paul was more used to the bikes and he outpaced Andi immensely, so they stopped after a couple of minutes and picked another program. This one ran at the same time for both bikes but allowed each rider to pick their own pace so in the end, the winner was the rider with the most mileage. The twins were in the media room watching children's programming on the CBC, a French/English version of Sesame Street. Full of breakfast cereal and farm fresh milk they would be locked on to a strange new version of an old favorite for at least an hour. If they found it strange that the second language being taught was French rather than Spanish, neither girl mentioned it.

"Oh, I am so going to beat you some day," Andi declared on wobbly legs at the end of the race. Paul had outpaced her by miles. They headed to the treadmills to cool down.

"Believe it or not, I want to see that happen," said Paul as he showed Andi how to program a cool down into the treadmill and they both began their 3-minute cool downs.

The TV in the gym was tuned to a music only channel on the cable system, it was playing Christmas music and Andy Williams was belting out "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" but Paul didn't notice because Andi had taken off her t-shirt and sports bra and was holding her breasts up so the fan would dry her sweat under her beautiful breasts. "That's the song I want for our first dance," she said.

"What song?" Paul was not paying attention to anything but Andi.

Andi looked over and saw that his eyes were glued to her delightfully wobbling boobs. "Oh my God! You're a doctor. You've probably seen a million tits." She used her t-shirt to wipe the sweat from under her breasts.

"I'm a cardiologist, I'm interested in what is going on behind those breasts. They're not mine to admire or even notice so I don't notice them. Having said that, I've never seen a pair of breasts of such beauty attached to a woman so ultimately loveable."

"That's sweet," said Andi with a mock exasperated sigh. "For that I'm going to give you free access to these girls for the rest of your life, starting Christmas day. Now try to keep up with me - this song, I love it. I want this to be our first dance as man and wife."

"But it's a Christmas song..."

"I know! It expresses my feeling about Christmas for the first time in forever. When my dad died, so did Christmas. For a couple of years, we had no money and there was no Christmas, then mom married Harold, a lapsed Jew, and Christmas was just... stupid. Even our tree, all the decorations were blue or white, Harold called it a Hanukkah bush. Christmas just became a day off with presents."

Still watching his Christmas presents bobbling on the treadmill next to him Paul said, "Christmas isn't about money or Christmas decorations," Paul couldn't really understand what she was getting at.

She looked at Paul with a quizzical frown. "Paul Jarecki, of all the Charlie Browns in the world, you're the Charlie Browniest. When you showed up with the tractor to rescue the girls and me, you were God's gift to me, the greatest Christmas gift I had ever received but I didn't know it at the time. But every day since then it's been Christmas, Christmas, Christmas over and over - the decorations, the pine boughs, the candles, the ribbons, the tree, the movies, the music, they're just decorations, it is about the love... Oh My God, the love! And now I understand completely what Christmas means and what the song means thanks to you."

"It's a waltz, can you waltz?"

"I think so," and with that the cool down ended he scooped her up in his arms and they were off to the steam room to get all steamed up again, but the score remained tied 7 - 7 when they got back out.

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"What's the matter?" Paul asked. He had been up in the twin's room and had just wrestled the twins into day clothes and brought them downstairs to get on their snow pants, boots, mittens and caps on for the ride in the country. They came into the kitchen to find Andi at the kitchen table apparently in shock, slowly putting her cell phone down.

"I just got off the phone with Dr. Armond, head of the Pulmonary unit at University Hospital. He just told me that HR was going to take all my unused vacation days, it's what they do if you don't use them up in the prescribed time. But he spoke with them and they will let me keep them if I use them all up right now."

"How many do you have accrued?"

"Not counting the ten I've scheduled for after this seminar? Ninety-three."

"So, you're on vacation until April?" Paul dressed a squirming Madeline in a mis-matched snowsuit. "That's awesome, did he say anything else?"

"He said that for a wedding present... if I find a practice in New York he would write a glowing reference and personally help transfer my license to practice from Colorado to New York ... if I want."

"And you said...?"

Andi looked at the mis-matched twins. Both had one green boot, one red boot, Sandy had green snow pants, and Madeline had red snow pants. Sandy had a red jacket on, Madeline had a green jacket on. Both were wearing one green mitten, one red mitten, Sandy had a green snow cap, Madeline had a red snow cap. They both had a white scarf with holly leaves at the ends. It was so bizarre, so jumbled, but so perfect. It was so Paul. Andi took a deep shuddering breath full of peace and contentment. "I said yes."

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The plan of the day was simple, go to The Cabin, check on the chickens, take eggs to Gerry and Irene Hirsh and exchange for milk. Take milk to Brad and Dianna Clemmons and exchange some for pork chops. Go back to the cabin, pick up Andi's rental, go to Cheektowaga, drop off Andi's rental and meet with Lucy Kocsis. Andi and her best friend would then go dress shopping for the wedding and maybe take the twins. Paul would return to "Madeline's House" (Madeline had claimed the Springville Victorian as her own) and prepare the porkchops for dinner. If he had the twins, he would decorate the house some more for Christmas; if he didn't, he would decorate the house for Christmas a lot more. It goes just a lot quicker without their "help."

The drive to the cabin really isn't very far from "Madeline's House," maybe 10 miles, and as expected, Trevette Road wasn't plowed yet, but the path Paul plowed was still wide enough for the Ranger. "Why did you plow the entire road in front of the cabin?" Andi asked.

"So the county can't block up my driveway. OUR driveway," he corrected himself. "When the county plow comes along, if there's no snow in the street in front of our driveway, there's nothing to plow into our driveway." They got out of the Ranger and the twins made a beeline for the barn.

"Chook, chook, chook!" they began calling out and they smiled at each other in delight when the chickens squawked as they entered the barn. "Chook, chook, chook!"

"Ok girls, let's do this fast so we can get in the snowmobile!"

They went from cage to cage as quickly as possible, Paul collected the eggs, pulled out the nastiest straw and replaced it with clean straw from a bale, he then refilled the feeder and the water bottle for each cage. Sandy held the big basket with the eggs and Madeline held the water bottle. They were soon done, collecting well over a dozen eggs and they headed down the big staircase to the lower level, Andi nervously at the ready to catch any falling twins. In a few moments, the Snowcoach was connected to the Yamaha.

Soon they were sailing across Tommy Steinbach's property, weaving between patches of young aspen and pine. Like Paul, Tommy and his cousin Jeff Schaffer bought the property and were letting the cleared fields reforest naturally. Paul kept the speed below 25 MPH as required by Andi, but the twins demanded "Faster! Faster!" Shortly they were on the field that was normally Gerry's corn field and it was a straight shot to the farmhouse.

When they arrived there, Gerry and Irma came out each carrying two glass half-gallon jugs of milk, Paul stowed the milk in the Snowcoach and handed the Hirsh's some empty glass jugs to be refilled, Meanwhile Andi gave Irma one dozen eggs, that Irma put in her own basket.

"The chickens pooped on the eggs!" said Sandy angrily.

"Chook, Chook, Chook!" added Madeline.

"Wellp, farm animals' poop on everything. Be thankful it wasn't a cow," said Gerry. The twins gave him confused looks and Gerry said, "You'll find out soon enough."

They headed back east toward The Cabin following the tracks they laid and they only stopped at the cabin long enough to put the remaining eggs and two half gallons of milk in the Ranger, then they headed across Paul's property weaving in and out of new trees, a few remaining old growth that must have served some purpose on the farm that was originally there.

Finally, they crossed through a gap in the barb wire fence that is the dividing line between Paul and Brad's property. The family sailed smoothly across virgin meadow, the big forest on their right, Trevette road with its 3 to 6 foot covering of snow on their left. Occasionally Paul would make a smooth sweeping turn left or right just to entertain the twins.

Soon enough they reached Dianna and Brad's farmhouse. Dianna and Brad stepped out and immediately Dianna started gushing over the twins. "So precious!" she coo'ed and took pictures of them wrapped up and strapped in to the Snowcoach.

"What's that smell?" Madeline wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Eeewwww," agreed Sandy who covered her nose with a mitten.

"That's what hogs smell like," said Brad, "It's the smell of money! They smell a site better when you cook 'em up, and your daddy is a great cook."

The twins were not impressed and held mittens over their noses until they were far from the farm.

Just before they left the farmyard, Paul pulled to a stop and asked Andi if she wanted to drive. "Oh God yes!" she gushed. Paul stood on the side rail allowing Andi to slide forward, then he sat down behind her. He showed her the brakes, the throttle, advised her how to lean into the turns and they were off.

Seeing that their mother was driving the Twins started shouting "Faster Mommy! Faster!" but it was no use, she stayed on her self-imposed 25 MPH speed limit... most of the time.

Over the growl of the engine, Andi yelled to Paul to hold her tighter, so he increased the pressure of his arms. She asked him to hold her tighter again, and he did. She asked a third time to hold her tighter and he did, afraid he was going to crack one of her ribs. "Now never let me go!" she cried out and opened the throttle.

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They drove directly to the airport from The Cabin, Paul driving the rental and Andi in the Ranger. After turning in the rental at the Enterprise rental turn-in lane, they drove to a Your Host diner on Union drive and Lucy Kocis was there waiting for them. Lucy is another pulmonologist from University hospital but has moved on to the Erie County Medical Center (ECMC) here in Buffalo and has been tight friends with Andi for years.

"Aunt Lucy! Aunt Lucy!" cried the twins jumping up and down at her feet.

"Madeline! My favorite 3-year-old!" said Lucy as she swept Sandy up into her arms.

"I'm Sandy and I'm five" said Sandy with her best attempt at a snarl.

"You're Maddie."

"Don't call me Maddie!" shouted Madeline from the floor. She stomped her foot in anger.

"I didn't call you Maddie, I called Sandy Maddie."

Lucy is five foot six with light brown hair, an incredibly slim yet athletic build, and a very plain face. So plain that it is unique. She's a runner, an Olympic caliber bicyclist, and a Jill-of-all-trades winter athlete. She can ski alpine and Nordic in all disciplines. Paul wondered if she could skate, because other than riding a toboggan down a hill, his only winter skill was skating. True, he likes to cross country ski, but that's just an amateur moving about on his own property, not an athlete with visions of gold driving them on. Other than hiking, his only other summer sports skill was swimming, slowly, on his back watching the clouds go by. Actually, he's a pretty good swimmer, he just likes to watch the clouds.

They went inside the Your Host, a chain of diners across Western New York, and ordered coffee and hot chocolate for the girls. "Shopping won't take long," said Andi, "I can't afford much."

"Use this," he said as he placed a metal credit card on the table in front of her. "It'll cover whatever you get," said Paul as he sipped his coffee. He waited for a reaction from Andi. She merely stared at him for a long time then suddenly realized he was not kidding her.

"Then we may be out there for a while," grinned Andi nervously.

"Fine, get something pretty." Her face was a mask of surprise as she leaned in for a kiss. She missed Lucy's scowl, but Paul didn't. When Andi left to go to the bathroom, Paul leaned over and said softly to Lucy, "Is there a problem here?"

"No problem," said Lucy into her coffee cup, "but my best friend isn't a gold digger and she's not for sale."

"Look, I understand that you don't trust me, sometimes I don't understand this whole thing myself, but I'm not trying to buy Andi. And to be honest, she doesn't know what my assets are, so if she's a gold digger she's either clueless about how the game is played or I am going to have to fire my accountant." He leaned over and spoke softly to Lucy, "I know gold diggers, I've had a few try to worm their way into my wallet, and you're right, she isn't one. If I had any idea that she was, kids or not, the moment the storm was over I would have dropped them off at the corner of US 219 and US 39." Lucy glared at Paul and he leaned back and sighed, then he shrugged. "We fell in love, what can I say?

"Say you'll never EVER break my best friend's heart," Lucy glared at Paul and her expression only changed a bit when Andi returned from the Ladies room.

After a discussion over coffee concerning where they're going to go next, the twins were divided. Sandy wanted to go look at dresses with her mommy, Madeline wanted to go home and get supper ready with her new daddy. "Fine, let's do it that way then," said Lucy and they headed out to the parking lot. Paul transferred Sandy's child seat (the one on the right) to Lucy's car, but as it came time for the girls to separate, they stood between the cars whimpering and holding each other's hand.

Paul crouched down and whispered to Madeline, "if you want to go help Mommy pick out a dress, that's ok. If I need help with dinner, I'll call Aunt Macy."

"You sure poppa?"

"I'm extra sure Love Bug."

"Bug bug."

And she kissed him on the cheek. "You can call me Maddy if you want." She whispered loudly. Lucy and Andi looked at each other in shock and Paul put Madeline's child seat in Lucy's car. Madeline absolutely hated being called Maddy, but she made this exception for her new daddy.

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Andi and Lucy were sipping mimosa from champagne flutes while Sandy and Madeline were sipping Sunny D from Paw Patrol sippy cups at one of the nicest wedding shops in Orchard Park. "I don't think she's getting it," said Andi as she looked at herself in a series of mirrors. She was a vision of white lace and satin.

"Looks nice to me." said Lucy signaling for more finger sandwiches.

"What part of "I don't want to wear white" do you think they're missing?

"You can wear any color you want, and white is a combination of all colors. At least on the spectrum it is."

"It is not, it's a lack of colors, and I can't wear white," Andi pointed to Sandy and Madeline who were making short work of the finger sandwiches. "The secret's out."

"Oh stop, you look beautiful."

"I look like a snowdrift. And besides, all of these dresses have to be made, altered, fitted, refitted, and re-altered. With a week and a half left I need to buy off the rack. But you did give me an idea," she gestured for more finger sandwiches and mimosa. When more snacks arrived, Andi asked the salesgirl "Do you have a white shawl?"

"Shawl?" the salesgirl was a bit confused until Andi explained what she was now planning. The salesgirl just grinned. "Hold on to your eyeballs, because we're going to knock them out!" and in a matter of moments she wheeled a rack of shawls, capes, and cloaks for Andi to inspect.

After they finished the drinks and sandwiches, they strolled out to Lucy's car with a box containing a white satin cape bespeckled with hundreds of rhinestones. Then they went to an upscale apparel store and found a dress that was exactly what Andi was looking to wear in her wedding, and two matching dresses for her tiny bridesmaids. Then they argued over what color of a dress Lucy should wear. Andi insisted on red or green to match the season and Lucy said that she refuses to wear a dress. Lucy has always been a 'tomboy' and her femininity has always been rough and ready, playing sports preferring to beat the boys at their own games. She tried to get Andi more interested in women's sports, but Andi decided that she played all the softball she wanted in her youth. The only outdoor sport she still played was archery.

In the end Andi and Lucy compromised, Lucy agreed to wear "sort of" a dress and her idea gave Andi what she wanted Paul and his best man to wear. Lucy doesn't mind wearing skirts, she finds them comfortable, but what Andi had selected for herself and Macy didn't fit Lucy's body image.

When they finally got home, they found another car in the driveway and they couldn't get into the garage. Andi parked near the back door and they carried their bags, boxes, and treasures into "Madeline's House" where they found Paul, John and Macy waiting in the kitchen sipping egg nog and laughing over tales of Christmases long gone by.

After giving Andi a kiss and each giggling twin a hoist in the air and a kiss, Paul did the introductions. "Lucy, this is my brother John, pastor at the Springville Congregational Church, and this raving beauty sitting next to him is his professor, the Reverend Marie-Claude Solange Dagenais, did I get the faux Quebecois accent right this time Macy?"

"Spoken like a true east side Buffalo pollock," she said with an amazing west side Buffalo accent as she rose and gave him a faux slap in the head. Relaxing to her normal, beautiful Quebecois accent she introduced herself "I am the former Reverend Marie-Claude Solange Dagenais, now I am just Macy Jarecki, sister-in-law to this galoot. Did I say that right dear husband?"

"It's pronounced jamoke dear, as in Hi, eyeyam John, dis here jamoke's kid brudder," as he shook hands with Lucy.

Lucy, for her part, was surprised that she was being accepted with such warmth. Didn't they know that she was here to protect Andi, and to do that she would probably have to stop this wedding.

After introductions the adults retired to the formal dining room, while the twins retired to the breakfast nook with their Happy Meals, crayons, and their Barbie Wedding coloring books that Macy had discovered and believed would help the twins understand what was going on with their momma and poppa. The formal dining room was awash in holly garland, pine boughs, red ribbons, and candlelight. A fire burned in the dining room fireplace and a small nativity scene was centered on the mantel. The doorway to the parlor framed the beautiful blue spruce which stood guard over the front window.

After a prayer of grace, the adults tucked into a treat that Andi had never heard of - stuffed pork chops. They were served with roast fingerling potatoes and white asparagus. By earlier agreement, John, Paul, and Macy (mostly Macy) kept the conversation light during dinner; they spoke of the weather, and the local characters that make Springville such an interesting town to live in, but also they spoke of the Buffalo Bills and their hopes for a Superbowl season next year. This is a conversation that has been held around dinner tables in Western New York since 1969.

Finally, after dessert, when coffee was served, it came time to talk about the herd of blue elephants in the room: Melony and Frank. "Look, ask my counselor, Melony has been out of my life for over 10 years, I'm good now," insisted Paul. "Her ghost isn't going to screw up this relationship."

"What about Donita?" asked Paul's counselor, Macy.

Paul bristled at the name. "Donita was a mistake; I was seeing her too soon after Hurricane Melony. I was lonely and tried to fill my life with someone I thought I could talk to." When Andi shot him a questioning look, he blurted out, "Ok, how was I to know she barely spoke English? Besides, if it weren't for her there would be no Wonka. I got him just because he understood me better than she could."

"Macy's just hacking on you Paul," said John as he patted Lucy on the shoulder. "Donita was a fiery Mexican senorita, and she was quite a handful for Paul. But she could cook, and she taught Paul some really awesome Mexican dishes."

Paul turned to Andi. "It wasn't a sexual relationship either."

At first Andi was relieved to hear that, but then the thought of a woman turning down Paul's advances... there had to be something wrong with a woman that didn't what to have sex with someone as wonderful as her fiancé. "Why not?" she asked.

"I don't hablas espanol. I didn't know how to ask her," Paul said with a shrug.

Andi gave him a withering look then raised her left hand, made a loose fist, then with her right hand extended her index finger and shoved it into the fist of her left hand. "Oh sure, NOW someone tells me," groaned Paul to the laughter around the table. He continued, "I've been completely relationship free for at least five years now, I should have all the toxins out of my system."

"And what about you?" John asked Andi. They really hadn't started pre-marriage counseling sessions yet so he was interested in how she felt about her ex.

"I've been over Frank since the day after we got married," she groaned. "I feel like I was railroaded into marrying this guy by my mother, and he turned out to be a real zero. It's a nice night and I don't want to ruin it by talking about him, sorry, but that's how it is."

While Paul whispered in Andi's ear words of encouragement, Lucy said to John and Macy "Look, she started counseling with a shrink at Colorado University Hospital within a week of him leaving her, he was a real piece of garbage."

"Any problem with us having access to your records from CUH?" Macy asked Andi, "that way, during counseling, we won't have to drag out painful memories."

"No," said Andi, "not you." She looked at Macy with a sorrowful look. "You're already in Paul's head and have been for a decade. I think adding my foibles and problems is a bit much." She turned and pointed at John. "You can have access to my records, and you may confer with Paul's counselor and discuss findings, but you can have exclusive and sole access to my records."

John took a small well-worn spiral bound notebook out of his pocket, found a blank page and started making notes. "So it shall be written, so it shall be done."

"I was thinking that it may bring us closer as sisters..." Macy started but she was interrupted...

"Wait a minute!" said Lucy a bit more forcefully than she had expected. "Andi babe think this through. Do you want your psychology notes handed over to a... a..."?

"A country bumpkin circuit preacher?" John asked. "A concerned busybody?"

"I... er... what?" Lucy didn't know why but she suddenly realized that her anger was making her irrational. She took a deep breath and blurted out "No, but they're not going to turn over her records to just anyone."

Rather than argue that point, John took a different tack. "Look, Lucy, we completely understand that you are trying to protect Andi, but so are we. We want to help, and we are going to need your help to do it."

John and Macy tried to convince Lucy not to worry for her longtime friend. "But can you protect her against that scum Frank Rosetti?" demanded Lucy angrily.

"I can," said Paul confidently, "and I will."

"And how is that?"

"Andi ruled out using a rifle, it's a shame, because I'm a really good shot..."

"He really is," added Macy.

"...so I'm changing tactics. I've been looking into this guy's goings on, digging up some pretty damning dirt on this scumbag, I've been digging since Andi slipped and mentioned his last name and I've got more than enough to work with. But give me a couple more days to investigate this guy further so I can build a better mousetrap. I'll let you know my plan by Thursday." Andi gave Paul a sideways look, she clearly did not want Paul getting involved with Frank in any fashion. Lucy was clearly not happy with Paul at all, but Paul said, "Wait until Thursday when I tell you."

"Ok, enough of this, let's take a break and talk about everyone's favorite topic," said John.

Macy nudged John and pointed to the twins who had quietly joined them and were lying next to Wonka in front of the fire, coloring their Barbie Dream Weddings. For some reason both of them were coloring Barbie's dress red. "We should talk about Christmas instead," she said.

Chuckling, John got the conversation back on track by skillfully maneuvering talk back to Christmas past. "Paul, you start."

Paul looked at his brother incredulously. "What? Christmas in Buffalo or Christmas in our house?"

"Why not both?" said Macy with a grin that showed she enjoyed stirring up trouble.

"Ok, Christmas in Buffalo; open presents as you open beers, shovel the driveway, drink some more, nod out in front of the TV. Did I about cover it?"

"Yeah, that about covers the highlights, don't forget about the bitching and whining that all the bars are closed," said John trying not to laugh.

"Yeah, I forgot that part. I think that's the Buffalo version of caroling. Ok, for those of you that don't know, Christmas in a Polish home is heavily influenced by the Greek Orthodox church. If you look in my mom's living room there is what appears to be a Russian cathedral, it's actually a szopka, a nativity scene. Poles all over Western New York make, sell, purchase, and display the szopkas, as many as possible. For us it's what we love, so it's what we do.

"Boże nar or formally Boże Narodzenie is the Polish word for Christmas, it translates to Birth of God. Lots of people have an advent calendar, the American version starts on Black Friday, the more popular one starts on December first. The Polish advent calendar actually starts on December sixth, the Feast of St. Nicholas, and for us Poles, that's when the Christmas season starts. Children get a present from St. Nicholas on that day, but he doesn't actually play a major part on Christmas day. A major part of the Polish tradition is gingerbread, not the rock-hard stuff you make cookies and houses out of either. That coffee cake you're eating is piernik, the traditional Polish gingerbread."

He took a breath and continued. "Polish Christmas trees are very similar to American Christmas trees, in fact glass ornaments are actually a Polish tradition. The difference is that in Polish families, the lights on the Christmas Tree are not turned on until Christmas Eve evening, just before Wigilia, the traditional Christmas Eve meal. It's a meatless meal but there is a lot of fish in the meal. After dinner the gifts are handed out, and then there is Pasterka the "shepherds' mass" at midnight."

"What do you do on Christmas Day?" asked Lucy.

"Watch football and drink beer," grinned Paul. "That's really about it, Christmas Day is pretty much a family day, punctuated by another Mass in the morning and there's the oplatek, the Christmas wafer, it's a wafer made of flour and water, unleavened bread. We break it and give pieces to our loved ones.

No big fancy meal or anything? asked Lucy.

John hopped in. "A lot of Polish celebration occurs on St. Nicholas day, December sixth, Christmas Eve, Boxing day, and the feast of the Epiphany on January sixth, which is actually the twelfth day of Christmas. Christmas day is traditionally quiet. The traditional meal is "hunter stew" which is cabbage and a variety of meat."

"The big celebration is actually Wigilia, the Christmas Eve meal, it's insane," added Paul. "Twelve courses, not vegan but no red meat or poultry, just fish and vegetables, mostly root vegetables. And the desserts! It's crazy! It takes a week to prepare!"

"Which is why we go to Mama Giardini's and let her cook for us," said Macy, which caused John and Paul to break out in raucous laughter.

"What's so funny?" asked Andi.

"Momma hasn't lifted a spoon in over 20 years," said John wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.

"And she said it with a straight face," gasped Paul as he pointed at Macy.

Macy smiled as she sipped her coffee, "I had to practice saying it without laughing." She saw the disbelieving look Andi gave her and said "I did! You saw her the other night, that's all she's done since Donnie took over the restaurant. She's now famous for not cooking."

Andi and Lucy just shook their heads as the Jarecki's laughter, not understanding a chortle of it. "Yep, our folks tried to keep all of those traditions alive with us," said John, "but the Wigilia is not one of them. Too much work! Paul did it a couple of times, but we eventually decided to do it at Giardini's."

"Paul's Wigilia was excellent however," said Macy in memory of meals past.

"I want one!" demanded Andi. "Let's make that our anniversary tradition, please?" she asked clinging on Paul's arm and giving him her heartbreaking best puppy eyes.

Paul thought for a moment and finally said "Next year. This year is far too busy, and after you taste it then you can decide if you want to do it every year. Deal?"

"Deal!" and they shook hands on it.

John leaned over and said quietly "You're going to make the pickled herring roll-ups, aren't you. That stuff is so nasty there will never be another Wigilia in southern Erie county for all of eternity."

"Oh, you know it."

"It's going to be awesome!" Andi gushed. Then she looked at Paul and with an evil grin added, "I'm going to invite Mama Giardini! I'll even make the lutefisk!"

"Busted!" said John out the side of his mouth.

"Oh, you know it."

Lutefisk is the Christmas feast of the Nordic people. It's air-dried salt cured cod that is pickled in lye until it becomes as hard and flat as plywood. To make it edible it must be soaked in water for 5 days, the water being changed out every day. Then it must be soaked in a water and lye solution for 2 days to re-hydrate, then soaked in clean water again for another five to six days to be purged of the lye. In the end it becomes a stinky, gelatinous blob, that the Norwegian and Swedish population of the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Montana love to eat. Major Paul Jarecki, Flight Surgeon of the 27th Bombardment Squadron at Minot AFB, North Dakota, once had it on a bet. He ate it, he didn't vomit, and he walked away with $500 in his pocket and a profound knowledge that there actually is something worse than his grandma's pickled herring roll-ups he suffered through every Christmas eve.

"Macy, tell us about Christmas in Quebec."

Being a Québécois Macy spoke of the Christmas traditions of French Canada, "To us the Christmas celebration starts on Christmas Eve with le Réveillon which means... ehhh... wakeup party? That is as close as it gets, I suppose. Réveillon starts with midnight mass, and traditionally the children would be asleep until about eleven at night when maman woke us to get dressed and we walked to midnight mass in the snow. At exactly midnight in every service, Catholique or Protestante we all sing Minuit, Chrétiens. After service we go home for the dinner which features a tourtière. Then there is singing and dancing and at sunrise we open some gifts, but most gifts are saved for Le jour de l'An, New Years Day."

"What is tourtière?" asked Andi, as she watched her girls gather up their crayons and lead Wonka upstairs.

"It is a very pretty pie made of beef and pork and onion and potatoes," explained Macy. "John calls it meatloaf wellington."

"And Minuit, Chrétiens?"

"You know the song," said Macy, and she began to sing:

Minuit! Chrétiens, c'est l'heure solennelle

Où l'homme Dieu descendit jusqu'à nous

Pour effacer la tache originelle

Et de son père arrêter le courroux

Of course Andi recognized the melody, in the English speaking world it's known as O Holy Night, but it was Macy's voice that transfixed Andi, it was so clear and so beautiful that Andi actually gasped. "Will you sing for our wedding?"

"Oui chère belle-soeur, but not at the ceremony, we wish to keep it short. I usually sing at the dîner de Noël, the Christmas dinner. Est-ce correct?"

Andi just nodded, and everyone started to speak of their plans for Boxing Day except Andi who never heard of Boxing Day before. As everyone spoke of the joys of Christmases past Andi fell into a funk and it became a deeper and deeper funk. Her joyful Christmases ended in a pool of blood in the Iraqi desert. She still had her real father's dog tags, Daniel Roberts, Captain, US Army. One was bent and she's told herself for over 20 years that it was bent in handling when it was sent to her, not by shrapnel from the IED that blew her father to pieces. Her mom became distant and arrogant after that, and when she married Harold - "father"- she just got worse. Heather and Harold Driscoll. She wasn't the mom Andi once had, especially when she needed her most.

Andi was ready to cry when she heard Paul saying through her misery "My all-time favorite Christmas tradition is a new one based on an incredibly old one. Baby tell them about the Missile Toast."

She started slowly, her voice unsure of herself but Paul's nods and smiles she warmed up to the story telling of hanging the bell and how she told her version of the tradition. By the time she spoke of Madeline and Sandy sagging to the floor in relief that they would be in for good luck there was laughter all around. "And the girls get mad if you say anything but "Missile Toast."

"The best part is why you did this, tell them baby," urged Paul.

"Well, Paul and I had kissed a few times and I decided that this was a pretty good thing, one that I want to keep doing forever, but I needed a way to get the twins to encourage it." That caused enough laughter to cause the twins to come down and join them, dressed in their new Christmas nightgowns they looked like Christmas pixies.

"I have an early Christmas present for you dear." Paul kissed Andi on the cheek "Excuse me while I go get it," and he got up and stepped into the kitchen with Lucy following him. He grabbed a couple of items off of a high shelf and turned to face Lucy, and she was not happy.

"What kind of a scam are you playing on Andi? I know you're up to something, are you planning to hijack her credentials?"

"Lucy, I'm not sure what you mean. Everything you've heard, everything we've said has been the truth. There's no 'scam' being run, we're not 'hijacking' anything. What Andi and the twins and I have is true, pure, and loving and we'd like you to understand this, be happy for us, and join us."

She sneered at him "You may think you're smart, but I can see right through..."

Paul held up a finger. "Doctor Kocis, please don't think you have cornered the market on intellect. My brother has a Doctor of Theology, but his major was psychology. He is the Reverend Doctor John Matthew Jarecki and an accredited psychologist. He is licensed to practice in New York and Florida. His wife Macy got her Doctor of Theology and taught at the École de théologie évangélique du Québec and got her doctorate in psychiatry at the prestigious Université du Québec en Outaouais, her title is the Reverend Doctor Marie-Claude Solange Dagenais-Jarecki, and she's licensed to practice in New York, Florida, and all Canadian provinces and territories. And me? I am a retired United States Air Force Colonel where I was flight surgeon for multiple combat units, before retirement I specialized in cardiology, after I retired, I got a fellowship in Pulmonology from the State University of New York at Buffalo. That was so much fun I got my degree in Juris Prudence from UB's law school and am licensed to practice before the bar in New York."

Lucy sputtered and fumed. "How do I know, you can be anyone, you were out there in a cabin tappin' her for four days, she's probably a zombie now..."

"Tapping? Wait, what? There's been no sex between Andi and I, we have taken a vow of chastity until our wedding. We got close, but Andi set limits and I respect them. Here at home, we do sleep under the same roof, but she's upstairs in the master bedroom and I'm in the basement on a couch."

Lucy was silent for a long time. "I don't know what to say. I love her so much; I want to protect her and the babies."

"I know the feeling. We almost died out there in that blizzard, she didn't trust me and wouldn't let me help her. I was prepared to let her see me die to prove I was trying to help and not to harm her. I'm not sure what that would actually have accomplished, but love is blind, deaf, dumb, and stupid. In fact, she didn't like me for a time even after I got her warmed up and fed."

"What changed her mind?"

Paul thought and finally shrugged. "I think it was the dog."

Lucy followed Paul into the dining room asking "Wait, what dog?"

"Wonka stop!" cried the twins and knowing exactly what that cry means, Paul ran into the parlor to rescue the Christmas tree at the front window from Wonka's thirst. He never understood why dogs prefer Christmas tree water.

Emergency taken care of, Paul returned to the dining room sat down next to Andi and handed her an envelope. "Merry Christmas early and Happy Wedding early."

"What is this?" she said as she opened the envelope and extracted an official looking document. "I don't understand, what is... why are you giving me this?"

"It goes with this," he said and handed her an automobile's ignition fob.

Her gasp nearly sucked all the air out of the room, with a shaking finger she pushed the remote start button and outside an engine sprung to life. "No!" she cried, her eyes shooting wide open. She planted a kiss on Paul that caused Macy to mutter to her husband "I don't think we are meant to see that." John wordlessly agreed. Then Andi dashed outside as fast as possible followed by Macy and the twins who were just trying to see what the excitement was all about.

"I'll get her coat" said John and he joined Paul and Lucy on the front step and watched Andi investigate the car in the driveway from the inside. A brand-new Ford Explorer Platinum, with every bell and whistle Ford could put on a car before calling it a Lincoln. It even had custom child seats already installed in the back.

Lucy was looking at the document that Andi had dropped, it was a title showing her as the sole owner of that brand-new Explorer. Paul's name was nowhere on the title, the car was all Andi's.

As they watched Andi explore every switch and button inside the car John whispered to Paul, "You haven't told her yet?"

"No, not yet, she'll find out on Christmas morning," and then he went down the steps to watch Andi discover all the features of her new car.

When Paul was out of earshot Lucy asked John directly "Just what is she going to find out Christmas morning?"

"The exact extent of Paul's financial state. Dad had bought several Ford dealerships, and when he died, they toddled along without him until they were all on the brink of collapse. Paul was made CEO of Jarecki Motors and he was able to keep those dealerships solvent. He did not want to do it, he wanted to be a country doctor at the Springville Hospital, but 300 people were counting on him for their jobs. He actually became a lawyer just so he could navigate the legal jungle behind a business. He now has over thirty five hundred employees and dealerships from here to Albany. That's what he's retiring from." John tapped her on the arm with the folded automobile title. "And don't worry about Frank, that jamoke isn't going to know what hit him."

John went inside and Lucy stayed on the front stoop a little bit longer. Snow started to fall gently, slowly spiraling down from the heavens. Lucy looked up and down the street, every house had Christmas lights glowing, which were reflected in the custom metal flake paintjob of Andi's new car. She didn't want to believe that someone that nice was still walking the earth but living proof that nice guys still exist was being hugged by her best friend right now.

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After a test ride in Andi's new Explorer it was decided to head over to the Crikit House, a local country bar that has a dance floor, and teach Andi to waltz. Paul slipped on a pair of cowboy boots and grabbed a beat-up old Stetson hat, but Andi didn't have any western garb. She slipped on a pair of Sketchers then kissed the twins goodbye before demanding that they behave for Aunt Lucy while she and Paul, John, and Macy go out for a little while.

At the Crikit House Andi recognized a few people from church, particularly Ernie and Mary Kraft who sat in a corner nursing their drinks and watching the basketball game on the TV behind the bar and the couples on the dance floor during commercial breaks. As they sat down a waitress came up and took orders.

"I'll have the usual," said Macy.

"Same here, make mine a double. Get one for my lady, she may like it" said Paul.

"Same here," said John and soon the waitress returned with a dish of "bar kibble" and four cloudy yellow drinks.

"This is delicious!" said Andi after an exploratory sip. "What's in it?"

"Sprite and lemonade," said the over perky waitress.

"That's it? Nothing else?"

"They don't need anything else. Y'all dancin' tonight Mister Paul?"

"We sure are, Andi wants to learn country dancing. Andi, this is Krissy, she waits tables here at night and is majoring in nursing at Erie County Community College in the day. Krissy? Can you tell our DJ that Andi wants to learn to waltz please?"

"Sure will, Mr. Paul." And with an exaggerated wiggle of her hips Krissy made her way to the DJ booth and relayed Paul's message. The DJ gave Paul a thumbs up from across the room and soon the strains of one of the most famous country waltzes ever recorded were filling the air. Paul stood and held his hand out to Andi who self-consciously took his hand.

"I've never done this before," she said nervously.

"A girl will always remember her first time," said Paul without a hint of sarcasm or caustic wit. She stood and he gently drew her close. At the edge of the dance floor Paul began to teach with soft suggestions; "Hold my left hand with your right, put your other hand on my shoulder. Good. Now just watch my eyes and catch the rhythm of the song - hear it? ONE two three ONE two three ONE two three, now let's try it...

I'll always remember the song they were playin'

The first time we danced, and I knew...

Andi held his hand, and the music filled her head, the rhythm that Paul counted out now filled her entire body and they moved gently together...

As we swayed to the music and held to each other

I fell in love with you...

"Just follow me," Paul whispered and now they started out on to the dance floor, moving gently together, so close, she could feel the warmth radiating from his body, his smell, his cologne and the unique smell of him filled her head. And now Anne Murray sang...

Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?

Would you be my partner every night?

When we're together it feels so right

Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?

Before she realized it, they were circling the dance floor, swaying, and stepping with the rhythm of this beautiful love song, was it possible to love this man any more than she did at that moment?

I'll always remember that magic moment

When I held you close to me

Andi realized that they were doing it! Waltzing around the floor, her body in tune and in time with Paul and the music, the joy she felt wanted to escape with a cry, a laugh. She looked up at him and deep into those blue eyes and began to feel so safe in his arms, so much so that she never wanted the song to end.

As we moved together, I knew forever

You're all I'll ever need

She slowly realized that the floor was packed full of couples young and old, some dancing with the skill and the unity of partners that have been dancing together for decades like John and Macy who swirled around like Fred and Ginger, and others like her who were just learning the joy of this centuries old form of lovemaking.

Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?

Would you be my partner every night?

When we're together it feels so right

Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?

And now Paul's leading got more fanciful, and she followed him step for step. The stubbed toes of just moments ago were gone and she realized she could dance. All of her life she felt she was a clumsy nerd, graceless and spastic, now here she is moving in unison with the man she loved so deeply. Then she heard it, the singing, Paul was singing to her just as every other man on the dance floor was singing to his wife

Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?

Would you be my partner every night?

When we're together it feels so right

Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?

Without realizing that she had done it, Andi threw her arms around Paul and squealed "Yes!"

There was a series of chuckles around the dance floor and the song finished with applause. When Andi looked up she noticed that they were all looking at her. She blushed and tried to shrink as Paul led her back to their drinks. Mary and Ernie Kraft were out on the dance floor too, and they came up to Paul and Andi. Andi had mentioned her nervousness about dancing at their wedding.

"Looks like Andi really takes to dancing," said Ernie, "you might want to get this filly some dancing shoes."

Andi thought of the wedding dress she had hidden safely in her closet and hoped she could get cowboy boots to match. "You did so well!" said Mary Kraft "Macy told me you never did this kind of thing before."

"I was raised in the city a total nerd, I didn't dance like this, when I did go to a school dance, we just kind of gyrated at each other, the Zombie Dance."

Back at their table Andi gulped down her sprite and lemonade. She could barely contain her excitement. "I can dance!" she said to her future sister-in-law, "I never thought I could dance before, I mean, not like this with touching and holding and leading and following..."

"I think you created a monster here Paul, next thing you know she is going to want to do the Texas Swing," laughed Macy.

"Don't look at me, this was her idea," Paul declared his innocence.

"I didn't know," shrugged Andi, "I picked a song, and he says, 'this is a waltz' and I'm like 'so what?' So, we're down here waltzing." Andi was bubbling and bouncing like a teenager in her excitement.

"You're going to have to introduce her to Veronica," said John.

Paul chuckled trying to picture Andi and Veronica together, "that would be interesting to say the least."

"Who is Veronica?" asked Andi.

"Veronica von Köster is a neighbor of ours," said Paul. "She lives just a block or so up third avenue and she is a ballroom dancer and at her company's party she puts on an exhibition of ballroom dancing. She uses our library for practice with her dancing partner."

"She taught your fiancé how to dance," said Macy.

"I want to meet her," said Andi trying to hide her instant jealousy.

After taking a break they waltzed quite a bit, 'Waltz Across Texas,' and 'Lets Fall To Pieces Together,' 'The Tennessee Waltz,' the sad 'I See It Now' and even the soulful old bluegrass tune 'Kentucky Waltz.' As they danced Paul gave her suggestions and tips, like how to nudge him to a different direction if there's something in the way. She found out that the whole fable that Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astair did backwards and in high heels was hogwash. When a man is leading in a dance, HE's the one moving backwards, drawing his partner along with him. To avoid obstacles, she is watching over his shoulder and guiding him, a true team effort. The looking over Paul's shoulder was a feat which Andi couldn't do very well without a trampoline, so there were a few bumps with other couples out on the dance floor.

Andi was bouncing in her seatbelt all the way home, she let Paul drive because she was too excited. When they got home, they snuck up the stairs a quietly as possible, but Lucy was up waiting for them. As Paul and Andi prepared for bed Lucy gave them an update on how the twins reacted to what was essentially Paul and Andi's first date. They cried a bit but soon settled down and watched TV in the living room, they even went to bed without complaint, but they spoke their private language, TwinBabble®, most of the night.

"They were upset," said Andi. "The more TwinBabble® they speak the more upset they are. I'm pretty sure that the twins realize that no one understands their private language." She sighed. "I'll talk to them about it in the morning."

"You have the first day of the symposium tomorrow, you're there all day," Paul reminded her.

"That's right," frowned Andi, "do you want to try?"

"I'll give it a go, good night dear." And with a long kiss Paul took his leave for the couch in the media room, way down in the basement.

Lucy and Andi talked for a few more minutes, then Lucy went back to bed. Being in a strange man's house made Lucy nervous so she had a tough time going to sleep. She read for a while, then watched the 11:00 news. She got up and wandered around, when she passed the master bedroom, Andi was snoring she was so tired. Lucy finally got to sleep but was woken by a loud car racing down the street. She looked at her watch - 4:30 in the morning. There was no way she was going to get back to sleep. She got up and walked around and passing the master suite she noticed that the bed was empty.

Lucy looked around a bit then headed down to the basement. Using her phone as a flashlight she found the media room. She covered the light with a corner of her robe to dim the light. In the media room she discovered Andi under the blankets with Paul, snuggled up close, sleeping with a blissful smile. A movement caught Lucy's attention and she looked at the other end of the couch and sticking out from under the blankets were the twins.

Lucy shrugged, found a blanket in the linen closet, and stretched out in a recliner and for the next two and a half hours she had the best sleep she had in ages.

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Lucy was awakened by loud music and shouting children. Wiping the sleep from her eyes she staggered to the source of the racket and found herself in Paul and Andi's gym. The couple were seated on exercise bikes pedaling furiously while the twins stood on either side of their mother cheering her on at the top of their lungs.

"Go mommy!"

"Mommy win!"

"Go, go, go, go GO!"

Rock music blared over the speakers, the big screen TV showed a winding country road, the shrieking finally reached its peak when Paul and Andi threw up their hands and slowly their peddling stopped.

"Yay mommy!"

"Mommy wins! Mommy wins! Mommy wins!"

Paul and Andi each scooped up a chattering girl and gave each other a kiss. "How did you do?"

"Eighteen point 75 miles," grinned an exhausted Andi.

"That's a full mile better that yesterday!" Paul gave Andi another kiss.

As they drifted to the treadmills to begin a three-minute cool down, Lucy drifted upstairs to find some coffee. Pouring a cup from a pot that Paul obviously made (so good!) she dragged herself downstairs again. Normally Lucy is a cheery person 24/7 but she is starting to ride an emotional rollercoaster. She didn't want to tell Andi, but she received a call from Frank Rosetti. He said that he was planning to come to the wedding and spend time with the twins.

Andi and Paul were heading to the shower, they had the twins undressed and were getting ready to give them a shower. Paul saw Lucy standing watching them in her gray pajamas and her gray oversized bathrobe and her gray mood. "Hey! We're gonna shower up, care to join us?"

Lucy's eyes shot wide open at the thought.

"Seriously," continued Paul, "I'll wear a bathing suit and I'll only look at Andi."

"Don't say no," said Andi, "You look like you need fun. You haven't had fun until you've tried to shower with these two imps. Come on, please?

"Come on Aunt Lucy!" the twins demanded.

"Not till I see proof of the bathing suit," she slurped her coffee and waited. Paul sat down on the bench and grabbed something off the towel shelf. He pulled it up his legs then up under his towel. Standing he dropped his towel and showed he was wearing a Speedo. The bulge in his swimsuit told Lucy that Andi would be enjoying Christmas Eve quite a bit. "That's a start, now don't watch! That includes you Miss Nosey pants." Lucy crept up to Sandy and began tickling her.

Paul entered the shower room and began adjusting the shower, the whole room became one large warm shower. True to his word he kept his back to Lucy the entire time and spent most of his time down on one knee tickling and washing down the twins or gazing at Andi's voluptuous little body when she came into his line of view.

Eventually the shower began to fill with steam and Andi called to the twins "Come on you two, let's go get dressed."

"I want to stay with poppa," they whined.

"No, now come on before you get cooked."

"But I want to get cooked! Poppa's a good cook!"

"Out!" then to Paul, "Just stay there, daddy, I'll be right back. And Lucy is still here, she's sitting on the bench."

"No problem baby."

He remained motionless facing the back corner of the shower waiting for Andi until he heard Lucy. "Ok, come sit down, we need to talk, and you can turn around."

Paul turned and saw Lucy seated on the marble bench wrapped in a bath towel. "How did I do?" he said as he sat down.

"What do you mean?" Lucy put on her best faux, who, me? face.

"This test, how did I do?

Lucy went "Pffft," and waived her hand in his direction. "Passed with flying colors, damn it."

"Damn it?"

Lucy took a deep breath and sighed. "Yeah, you only have eyes for her. You kept your word. You are a man of honor."

"So, what must we talk about?"

"You need to look at her divorce decree, I think Frank has been shortchanging her on child support, big time. Also... I don't think the twins are his."

"The decree and child support are easy, I can act as her attorney, no problem there. What's this about the girls?"

Lucy looked scared. "You need to get her to talk about the poker games. It won't carry as much weight coming from me. And you need to do it now before you talk to Frank."

"Can you still watch the kids?"

"That's what I was here for sport, you are an unforeseen, unplanned, bonus."

"I'm going to spend the day digging up dirt on Mr. Rosetti. If we can get a DNA test..."

"The mobile crime labs can now process and analyze DNA..." said Lucy.

"Good to know," they spoke until Andi walked into the shower, the steam generator just filled the room with fresh steam, and she came out of the fog glorious in her nudity. Her erect nipples leading the way she eased on to Paul's lap and kissed him long and hard.

He kissed her neck, fighting the urge to grab her breasts in front of Lucy, but he was aching for his woman. "I missed you so much baby!"

"Seriously guys, get a room..."

"This is our room," chucked Paul.

"Speaking of rooms, I'm setting up a map for when we christen this house... does the pantry count as a room?" asked Andi brightly.

"I think it does, nice catch."

"I'm afraid the canned goods will hurt baby's bum," Andi pouted.

"Daddy will protect baby's beautiful bum..." Paul teased her.

"Ok guys, this is verging on the felonious," snarled Lucy.

Andi laughed, "How did prince charming do?"

"He did splendidly, not an attempt at a peek."

"That's a shame," said Andi, "If you're into athletic girls, she's really hot. You're not into athletic girls, are you?"

Lucy scoffed, stood, threw her towel over her shoulder, and went off in search of the twins. She was wearing shorts and a sports bra with the shoulder straps down under her towel the entire time. Paul could see her chiseled abs and muscled thighs. "Oh, hell no, she'd kick my ass."

"How long do I have before I have to leave for the symposium?"

Paul checked his watch, "About an hour I suppose."

Bonelessly Andi slid from Paul's lap on to the floor, grabbed the waistband of his speedo and smiled. "Lift your ass daddy, baby wants to experiment."

Paul raised his hips and Andi pulled his speedo down to his knees, his hard cock sprang free slapping against his stomach. "Lift your feet." She whispered. He did and she pulled his speedo off completely. "I need you." She scrambled up on to the marble bench and slowly laid back, sucking on her little finger. "I need you bad." She slowly spread her knees exposing herself full to her man.

"Anything my baby wants," Paul leaned over and planted a kiss on her pussy. He heard a hiss of an intake of breath and he kissed again. "Baby shaved for me," Paul whispered as his tongue swiped over her nude mound. She had left a triangle of hair but her labia was bare and inviting, her taste was intoxicating.

"Was baby bad for shaving?"

"No, it lets me do this..." He covered her pussy with his mouth and sucked gently, pulling her clit free from its hood, he started flickering the tip of his tongue against the bud of her desire.

"I want you so bad, I want you inside of me, I want to feel your cock spread me open and push my cervix..."

The words inflamed Paul, both knew that this wasn't going to happen until Christmas Eve, he could barely hold himself back.

"Yes! Push your fingers in me, yessss - push into my ass... ohhhhh so soon I'm going to beg you to fuck me there... after your sperm has soaked my cunt I'm going to give you my ass, I'm still a virgin there, it's all yours ohhhhhh..."

Her teasing talk gave way to gasps ang groans of delight as her man licked her pussy and clit gently but mercilessly. As her juices started to flow, he was able to slide two fingers in and out of her pussy and ass, his other hand crept up, grabbed an erect nipple, and twisted eliciting more groans and cries from the tiny mother. Her hand wound though his hair and held his head in place, directing where she wanted his tongue, her other hand was twisting the other nipple with even more rigor than he tweaked hers.

Her entire body started shaking as his tonguing began to take its toll. Her head rolled from side to side and she moaned "I love you," over and over. Suddenly her dam burst. She planted her feet on the bench and her hips arched up, but Paul continued to suckle her clit and finger fuck her pussy and ass, driving her on. Her mouth and eyes were open wide, but she was unable to mouth a word, so all-encompassing was her orgasm. And explosion went off in her and suddenly she screamed and collapsed to the bench. She pushed his head away and curled up in the fetal position, shuddering for a long moment. All Paul could do was hug her until she returned to earth.

"Oh daddy," she gasped kissing him desperately, tasting herself on his lips, "you do that so good to me." Andi's mind was awash with pleasures only hinted at in women's magazines. "Now it's my turn to make you happy." She gracefully rolled off the bench and knelt between his legs. His balls were so swollen! "Did I do this to you? I'm so sorry."

She opened her mouth wide and very gently sucked his balls into her mouth one at a time. "Oh God I love your balls," she gasped then sucked them back in. The feeling Paul was experiencing was a combination of ecstasy and agony. His balls ached with need and every time she touched them it hurt worse, but the warm wetness of her mouth, her silky-smooth tongue stroking the sensitive skin of his scrotum was heavenly.

Then her tiny hand began to stroke his cock gently, maddeningly, all the while her tongue, that marvelous tongue massaged his balls. Then gently he felt a probing below his balls, her free hand was exploring, touching, looking for something... and she soon found it.

Her fingers, dampened with her own natural lubrication began running around his anus, sending snaky thrills through his body. Her tiny fingers tried to gain access, but he was clenched tight, not knowing what to expect.

"Come on daddy, let me in. Let me touch you inside with my fingers, like you are going to touch me with your big hard cock on our wedding night."

Paul groaned and tried to relax, then slowly his anus did allow her finger to enter. He felt her probing around, then a second small finger followed and soon Andi found what she had been looking for; the male G-spot, his prostate. Paul let his held breath out with a shuddering "Oohhhhh..."

Andi paused and looked at him, his eyes wide and rolling. "I think you're going to like this," then her mouth happily opened wide and resumed loving on his testicles.

Paul was in nirvana, her hand sliding up and down the length of his cock, her mouth possessing and sucking his balls, her tongue laving over his testicles, and her fingers fucking his ass, stroking his prostate. Suddenly all of that stimulation hit him like a sledgehammer, his face grew flush, his heartrate suddenly shot up, his orgasm exploded on him, stronger, more powerful than any orgasm in the past. His toes curled and he lost control of his hips, they shot up off the bench, stabbing and thrusting the air with his ultra hard cock. His semen exploded out of him, high into the air to land on his chest.

Andi covered the head of his cock with her mouth and drank her man's offerings. Her tiny hands continued to stroke his cock and prostate until after long last, the waves of sheer ecstasy subsided and her mouth was suddenly too much stimulation to bear.

He pulled her mouth off his twitching cock and pulled her up to kiss her warm swollen lips, he could still taste himself on her mouth. When their lips parted she smiled and said, "Did you like that?"

"Oh my God baby, I'm still shaking. I've never cum like that!"

She slid her body around on his, his first spurts now smeared between them. "You came so much! I may not have to eat for the rest of the day." And she kissed him fiercely.

He rolled her gently to the floor and lay atop her looking down into her deep brown eyes. She looked up into his blue eyes feeling so lost in them. Her legs lifted and wrapped around his thighs of their own volition. If Paul tried to penetrate her and violate their vow of chastity there was no way she would stop him. They kissed again and her arms automatically pulled him tight, her breasts felt so at home crushed against his hairy chest. She felt his cock brush against her pussy, she wiggled her hips inviting him in...

"Not yet baby, but soon we will finally seal our love," he smiled.

"I..." her mouth went suddenly dry. "I'm not on birth control, I... everything in my life has suddenly changed, and now I'm going to have sex for the first time in years, with someone I truly love - that's never happened and I..." her face screwed up in confusion.

Paul leaned forward and kissed her. "I will let you know how I feel. First, this won't be the first time I've had sex in a long time, but it will be the first time I had sex with someone else in the room since Melony left for Korea."

Adrianna kissed Paul and giggled "Me too."

He continued, "I love babies, I love your babies and I would love to have our baby, but I won't insist on one until you want one too."

"I can't decide," she whispered, "it's very confusing. Maybe... l think let's let God decide."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I am. Just letting God take the reins took a huge weight off my shoulders and..." she gave him a coy smile and wiggle of her hips.

"And what baby?"

"Just the thought of being fertile and unprotected and your sperm inside me... it's becoming a turn on. A real turn on," she wiggled her hips again. "If you cum in my pussy like you just came on and in my belly, I'll have a litter! Can you support a litter of kids?"

"I can go back to washing dishes for Mama Giardino," he rolled them over until she was laying on top of him.

"God, I'm so kinky... I'm getting turned on about the idea of getting knocked up on my wedding night," she kissed him fiercely again. "I've been thinking about other kinky things..."

"Like what? Share with me, I may be kinky too."

"Besides gluing myself to my fiancé with his semen in the basement while we have friends in the house? How about if I give you my remaining virginity and let you put your big hard cock into my tiny ass on our wedding night?"

"That sounds like fun," gasped Paul. He was so turned on he could hardly breathe.

"You would think so, men are such pigs," she said with a grin, "how about if I return the favor and get a strap on..." her lips drew close to his, "and fuck you in the ass." She punctuated each breathy word with a kiss then leaned back to watch his reaction.

He didn't even think about it "Yes. I will do anything with my baby just as long as it doesn't endanger or injure anyone. Oh, and I don't want to take more than I gave my baby, I don't know how I could live with a wife that's better hung than I am."

She broke into a huge happy grin; it was so good to find someone whose kinky matches hers. "Come on kinky daddy, let's wash up, I have to go to work."

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Andi strode purposefully through the house, her reading glasses near the tip of her cute nose. Like the twins pointed out to Paul once, when Andi has her reading glasses on, she's all business. She kissed each of the twin's goodbye and made them promise to be good for poppa and Aunt Lucy then headed out the door. Paul had just finished punching in the address of South Boston Hospital where the conference is being held into Andi's GPS. He hopped out of the Explorer, held the door open for Andi, and as she buckled in, she swapped out her reading glasses for aviator style sunglasses.

"Hey baby," said Paul softly.

"Yes daddy?"

"I'm worried about Frank, I'm afraid he's going to make a stink and I want to protect you legally and financially as well as physically."

"That's what Lucy was hinting at, we talked this morning. She's worried too. Of course, I want you representing me."

That's what he needed to hear. "I'm on the case, darling."

"I gotta go, I'm going to be late."

They kissed and then Paul asked, "If the reading glasses personify Dr. Roberts, who is that behind the shades?"

Andi blew him a kiss through the open SUV door window, then pushed the sunglasses down. She peered over the top of the aviator sunglasses and gave him a wink. "Andi Granatelli." And she was off.

As soon as she was gone, he went to work. Paul spent most of the day in his home office up on the third floor. Officially it was the attic, It used to be a bedroom with bath, he loved the huge round window he could look out of and watch the seasons turn. Besides, after a hard day of work he found it easier to go down a flight of stairs to bed rather then up one. Almost every one of his calls turned up something on Frank Rosetti, it was embarrassing. Didn't this guy know how to hide anything? Paul decided he was being charitable by calling him a Jamoke, he was a Denver scumbag trying to be an East Coast badass and failing at every turn.

Financially he was in dire straits, which was going to be good to know. But it wasn't until he started interviewing Frank's business partners and his poker buddies that he found out about the Regal Dream. The Regal Dream was a 72-foot yacht that Frank owns, or did own, that was now repossessed due to the fact that Mr. Rosetti failed to keep up with the payments. Paul then called the bank that now owned the Regal Dream and asked them a few questions.

The bank wouldn't answer any questions, but the next few calls went to many of Frank's associates who had no problem talking to Paul. The reason why Frank couldn't keep up with the payments was because Frank thought he was a world class gambler, and he sucked. Frank also thought of himself as a legal marijuana kingpin when in reality his grow houses put out low grade ditch-weed. Paul's stomach turned when he found out how foul this man really was, and his "poker buddies" had no problem ratting on him. One call led to another, and another and another until Paul called the Denver county DA's office and asked a few questions about specific Colorado laws.

Then Paul called Frank.

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Andi's reaction to the seminar was "meh" and "no surprises" to which Paul responded, "That's because you haven't been to my session yet."

"I didn't see you on the schedule... oh wait, there you are. 'Sleep Apnea and the Military' So? Every sector of society has sleep apnea."

"Trust me, it's an eye opener."

"Ahhhh - I get it, 'eye opener,' that's very cruel." Andi hugged him tightly. She knew that the health of the men and women serving the nation was still a priority of his.

The medical conference was starting to bore Andi. As a sleep specialist she already know everything they were speaking about, so she lost track of days, and ended up being caught by surprise when the speaker of the day turned out to be Paul. She tried to catch his eye, but he was doing an old speaker's trick. He looked like he was making eye contact with his audience, but in reality, he was looking just over their heads.

With a minimal introduction, Paul proceeded to throw a live hand grenade at his audience. "As we all now know, five percent of the US population is at risk for sleep apnea, but not veterans. A recent VA study showed on average that 69.2% of veterans were at high risk for sleep apnea, and this risk actually increased with PTSD symptom severity. I am Doctor Paul Jarecki, United States Air Force Lieutenant Colonel retired, and these veterans, these sufferers are my brothers and sisters.

"We just spent several days telling you of the dangers of sleep apnea, now imagine a sufferer operating a high speed fighter aircraft. Imagine a fighting man or woman going into combat with an average of 3 hours of sleep a night. Think of the soldiers that operate the artillery, load the bombs and missiles on the airplanes, maintain the ships at sea, or work for hours in the air traffic control towers.

"It's said that 'accidents happen,' but in the military, accidents cost lives. And the loss of life doesn't stop when the soldiers return to civilian life." He spoke the next words slowly and loudly so the doctors that were listening paid careful attention to his words. "Twenty-two veterans will commit suicide today." He let that sink in before he continued. "While the VA claims the number is eighteen veterans killing themselves every day, another twenty-two will kill themselves tomorrow. And the day after. And the day after that. And on and on and on... how many of these are due to the mental ravages caused by sleep apnea? We will never know, but for me, one is far too many."

For three hours Paul lectured on the horrors of battlefield PTSD intensified by the mental ravages of sleep apnea. For Andi, who has been working with near terminal patients for years, who has lost so many patients to COPD, actually thought she had her emotions tempered strong as steel. But seeing these young men and women that gave so much for her safety and security to die a slow, agonizing death or to end it all with a 'swallowed bullet' (suicide) was truly heartbreaking. My father... my real daddy... did he have sleep apnea? Or maybe people in his squad? Would that have been a contributing factor in his death? The thought burned in her stomach for the rest of the afternoon.

That night she cried herself to sleep in Paul's arms again, gasping "I didn't know..." over and over.

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"Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy!" the twins and Wonka came storming in the kitchen with stories of what they had done with Aunt Lucy but foremost on their mind was the fact that they hadn't fed the chickens and Wonka runs too fast.

While Andi was crouched down talking with the girls, Lucy mouthed the word "Chickens?" to Paul worried that they knew about tomorrows visit to the cabin. Paul just smiled, shrugged, and prepared to serve a dinner that featured roast chicken which should allay any suspicions that beans had been spilled.

"Mommy!" called Madeline, "come see the dancin' girl!"

"She's so cool!" chirped Sandy and they grabbed her by the wrist and pulled mommy to the library. As they entered the library Andi saw a tall, elegant blond and a slim dark haired man dancing perfectly even though it was absolutely silent in the room.

"She don't use music," said Madeline.

"I see that pumpkin. Who is she?"

The twins shrugged but Paul came up behind Andi and waved at the dancing couple. They stopped dancing and took the ear buds out of their ears and the tall blond woman stepped over. "You must be Andi," she gushed. "I'm Veronica and this is my coach Mitch, we use your dance floor for practice. Paul has done nothing but talk about you since he crawled out of the attic."

Andi was stunned by the breathtaking beauty of the woman. "Yes, I uh... Paul mentioned that you're a neighbor?"

"Yes, I live just up Third Avenue. We should get together before Christmas, maybe meet up at Worzil's for dinner?"

"What is Worzils?"

Veronica glared at Paul. "You haven't taken her to Worzil's yet?"

"We just dug our way out of the snow!"

Dismissing Paul, Veronica said, "Worzil's is a neighborhood pub on the corner of Main Street, it's owned by a woman so it has a proper selection of wines."

"The moment we get a chance," said Andi. "Life is so full right now with this seminar and visiting friends and pre-wedding classes..."

"I forgot," gasped Veronica. "Forgive me. Whenever you get a chance, and bring the babies, they're darling!"

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After dinner Paul and Andi and the twins drove into Williamsville and as they drove the discussion was about Veronica. "She looks like a model," said Andi.

"She was until she got her MBA, then she dropped modeling to set the business world on fire."

"Wow," said Andi feeling inferior. That woman was tall, slim, and breath taking with her beauty. Andi felt like a "schlub." "How come you're not dating her?"

"To be honest, it never crossed my mind, we're buddies. We meet at Worzils, I help her start her snow blower, she helps me pick flowers for my window boxes."

"You're afraid of her."

"No, we're friends, and the moment I realized I was falling in love with you I was incredibly thankful that I didn't fall for her first, not even a little bit."

"Good answer." Andi crossed her arms under her breasts hoping to look angry, but if anything she felt horribly inferior to the tall, radiant blond.

They pulled into Williamsville and eased down Main Street to stop at a fine jeweler on old Main Street not far from Tiorunda. Mr. Wetzel was a jeweler of some repute and Paul had called him earlier in the day and asked him to prepare some wedding/engagement ring sets they may look at.

They entered the shop and the twins were drawn to the glittering jewelry in the glass cabinets. A gray haired, mustachioed gentleman greeted them. "Mister Wetzel, I'm Paul Jarecki, and this is my fiancée Doctor Andi Roberts and we're hoping that you can dazzle us."

A sweet, old-world craftsman, Mr. Wetzel placed a black velvet covered panel on the glass countertop, "I think I might have something you will like," and he adjusted a pair of small spotlights, then removed the velvet cover showing several sets of rings glistening in the light for Andi's approval. Andi immediately noticed that there were two cherry Lifesavers laid out for her approval also. She slugged Paul in the ribs and only looked a little worried when she did that, but when he smiled, she started laughing, "You jerk! You put this sweet old man up to this."

"That he did Doctor Roberts, that he did," said Mr. Wetzel with a sweet smile.

Andi was torn between several pairs until Mr. Wetzel showed her a set that was a mother's ring/wedding ring/engagement ring combo that he would weld together. Then she saw a mockup of the Mothers ring - Blue topaz for the girls, Pearl for herself, and red opal for Paul. "Red, White, and Blue - we were meant to be."

"And as Dr. Paul asked, there's room to expand."

"My soon to be husband is a 20-year USAF veteran, I'm an Army brat, these colors are perfect for us." It turned out that Mr. Wetzel was a mechanic in the post war German Luftwaffe and had worked on German owned British made Hawker Seahawk fighter bombers until he went back home to Koln and joined the family jewelry business.

Finally Andi chose the set she loved the most and Mr. Wetzel took the engagement ring from the set, eyed it carefully and said "Fine, now you go, walk Main Street, look at the Christmas lights, have a Danish and coffee at the diner on the bridge, come back in one hour." He held up a long slim finger. "One!"

They took his advice and walked up Main Street and found the diner he mentioned. It was next to the bridge over a wide body of water and was a reproduction of a 1930's lunch counter that was built out of a New York Central Railroad dining car. They sat at the lunch counter, the twin's chins on level with the countertop. "Two coffee, two chocolate milk, and three grilled Danish," said Paul. "We'll take a spiced apple cider also."

"Coming right up!" said the cook who could have been the short order cook in any black and white movie.

Andi had never had a grilled Danish and enjoyed every sinful, eye-rolling bite. Hot, sweet, buttery, with the bottom grilled crispy brown, it was heaven. The coffee was hot and delicious, and the twins loved the spiced hot apple cider, something they never had before.

Afterwards they walked along Main Street, a light snow drifted downwards, the Christmas lighting in the village was beautiful. Every lamp post was wrapped in holly garland and a wreath encircled the faux-antique gas lamp. "It's so pretty!" exclaimed Andi, "but they didn't get much snow here. We got almost 6 feet in Springville."

"That's why the area we're in is called the Snow Belt," smiled Paul. "Check out that building, that's the oldest building in the village, it started back in the seventeen hundreds as a stagecoach stop back when this area was considered the wild west." Through the windows they could see diners enjoying a late dinner in authentic colonial décor, and a huge fireplace with a cheery fire.

They stepped inside to glance around and found themselves standing at what appeared to be a hotel register desk from 1770. The colonial ambiance was intoxicating and the simple holiday decorations made this a festive, historic joy. "This looks like a hotel," said Andi.

"We are," said the clerk at the desk. "We have ten rooms upstairs."

"Can I make a reservation for dinner for tomorrow evening?" asked Paul.

The clerk looked through a book. "I can get in a party of four at..." his brow knit. Their dining room wasn't large and they were very popular.

"Just two, would that be possible?"

"Yes, two for six thirty?"

"Perfect. Thank you."

They stepped back out into the gentle snow and Andi clung to his arm. "We haven't been out yet, just the two of us. I want something special for us."

Andi whispered, "Thank you." The twins will be angry, but they have Aunt Lucy to play with. Just past the Eagle House, at the bottom of a hill was a huge water mill painted red with white trim and festooned in white Christmas lights.

As they crossed over a rushing stream on a bridge decked out in Christmas lights, Andi asked "What river is this? Is it the Niagara?"

Paul chuckled, "No, we'll go up to Niagara Falls later so you can see a real river. This is Ellicott Creek. Creeks here in the east are pretty big. The Mississippi starts out about this size up in Minnesota."

"M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i!" cried the twins.

Paul looked down at a smiling Madeline and was about to say something when Andi quietly said "Shhhh, don't make a big deal about it. They're normal pre-k little kids who can read and spell and add and subtract up to three-digit numbers." He looked in Andi's eyes and she continued "Please? We'll talk later. Let's enjoy tonight."

He kissed her forehead, "Sure, baby." They walked along Main Street, Andi clinging to his left arm, Madeline clutching his right hand, Sandy holding Andi's left hand, and he thought he was in heaven. The village's Christmas decorations, the decorated store windows, the music coming from hidden speakers on the light poles, this was the moment he had been waiting for his entire life. Sure, he's old enough to be these girl's grandfather, but he's going to enjoy being their father, and maybe, if he's lucky enough, he'll actually see a grandchild or two before he's called home.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Andi asked.

"I can picture what this area looked like in the 40's," said Paul, "the cars they drove, the busses they rode, the Wright Aircraft plant back on Cayuga road where they worked. There used to be a trolly that ran down the middle of Main Street and would take you downtown to Buffalo City Hall." He sighed. "I'm nostalgic for a timeline I never took part in," and he shook his head.

Andi realized that with his overcoat and his fedora, he would look right at home in 1942. She thought of the big Victorian nest he had feathered for her and the girls, from the outside he took pains to have it painted just like it would have been painted when it was new in 1875. That was when Springville was nearing its centenary, when the steel barons ruled Buffalo, and Springville was world renown not for the natural spring water that flows from every hill, but the spring steel of unsurpassable quality that was produced there.

The hour was up when they entered Mr. Wetzel's shop and he was all smiles, as was his wife who always joined him on occasions like this. He held up the engagement ring and gave Paul a jeweler's loupe and pointed out the high points of the 1.5 karat diamond that would soon take up residence on Andi's hand. He put a ring gauge on Andi's impossibly slim finger, then checked the ring gauge of the ring itself. "And now the fit!" he announced and turned to Andi.

Andi reached out for the ring and Mr. Wetzel appeared as if he were going to hand it to her, but he stopped and said "No! Is too important for me." He turned to Paul. "It is your responsibility." He handed the ring to Paul who went to his knee, knelt, took Andi's hand, and slid the engagement ring on her finger. As he did there was a flash and Mrs. Wetzel preserved the moment with her camera. Andi sank to her knee and kissed Paul and as she did the twins gathered in for a family hug. "I love this part, papa," sighed Mrs. Wetzel as she took more pictures.

"I also, Liebchen." The Wetzel's were both ear to ear grins as Paul helped Andi to her feet and the twins bobbed and clamored to see the diamond now on their mommy's finger.

"I want one too!" said Sandy.

"You can't have one, you don't like boys," said Madeline in a matter of fact tone.

"I forgot."

They said their goodbyes to the Wetzel's and piled into Andi's car. After the twins were safe in their car seats Andi stood at the passenger door waiting. Paul took the hint and opened the door for her, as she turned to get in the car she suddenly stopped, turned, and threw her arms around Paul hugging him as tightly as possible. "Oh daddy..." she sighed, "my love..."

Paul put his finger under her chin and urged her to look up, and when she did, their lips met for the most loving, passionate kiss she has ever experienced in her life. The snow continued as they kissed and when they broke the kiss she looked up at Paul, her eyes glistening and practically spinning in love. "Where have you been my whole life?"

"Looking for you," he whispered, and they kissed again. When finally, their lips parted, she found her head was spinning with love for this man. She held him tight until she felt him easing her arms away. "Come on baby, we're getting covered with snow and our audience is getting upset." It was then that she realized that the twins were yelling that they were getting cold. Then she noticed that she and Paul were indeed covered with snow.

"Let's warm these guys up," she said with a nod to the twins.

He realized that she wanted to look at her ring as they drove, so Paul took the command seat, and they were off. First they swung by Tim Horton's, a popular Canadian coffee and donut shop and got an extra-large "double-double" (double cream, double sugar) coffee for each adult and a small hot chocolate for each twin, then Paul turned on a local station for Christmas music and they spent the rest of the evening looking at Christmas lights.

"I don't know why, but this is my favorite area," said Paul as they drove slowly up Cayuga road. "The houses here are all well over a hundred years old, and there's no HOA to stipulate the decor, but look!" All of the houses were large colonial houses, all were painted white with black window shutters. Each house had their front door painted red. The Christmas decorations were nearly identical, the houses were illuminated with white spotlights, many had also illuminated the tree trunks on the trees in their front yards with white spotlights. There were occasional wreaths and green garlands on the houses, some houses had red window boxes and some of those where decorated with pine boughs and red ornaments, but what made the neighborhood beautiful was that each and every window had a single lit candle. The simple beauty of those electric candles made the entire neighborhood look more festive than a thousand multicolored mini-lights on each house.

"It's beautiful!" gasped Andi, but Paul wasn't sure if she was talking about the houses or the ring on her finger.

"Boring!" called out the twins from the back seat. Their tastes in Christmas decorations tended to lean toward the inflatable displays that covered the front lawns of other neighborhoods. They continued their journey home weaving through the festive neighborhoods in Williamsville, Cheektowaga, Depew, Orchard Park, and finally back to Springville.

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After getting the girls settled in bed Andi went looking for her fiancé. The Victorian house is a mansion on insurance and tax rolls, it is over 5000 square feet. What makes it a mansion is the three fireplaces. Coming down the main staircase Andi had a choice; turning to the right put her in the living room, decorated in 50s/60s style with the aluminum Christmas tree, or to the left into the parlor with it's pure Victorian decor and huge Christmas tree in the front window. The choice didn't matter, he wasn't in either location. She looked in the formal dining room, kitchen, pantry, finally she looked in the huge library, a room she thought that would be better served if it were divided off into 2 or 3 rooms. There was a fire in the fireplace and Paul had pulled a loveseat in front of the fire, and in that flickering light she saw his silhouette kneeling in prayer.

She quietly sat down on the love seat and waited quietly until he finally looked up and smiled. "What 'cha praying for dear?" she asked.

"Lots of prayers, mostly of thanksgiving for being blessed with you. But also, for strength," he sat down next to her and put his arms around her small shoulders, so timid, so fragile. "There are things we need to talk about. I was talking with old friends of Frank and..."

She immediately shuddered and tried to pull away, but he held her close. "I don't want to talk."

"Just this once baby, and then it's over. One and done."

"It's about the poker parties, isn't it," she sniffed. Then she stiffened with resolve. "No. You'll hate me."

Paul lifted her delicate hand and kissed it close to her engagement ring. "I heard their side of the story before I put this ring on your hand, and I did that with no reservations. Now I need to know your side of the story before I talk to Frank tomorrow." At the sound of Frank's name, she stiffened. "Maybe we can make him pay for what he did."

She sat feeling miserable for a long time, conflicting emotions over a half decade old tore apart her stomach, she thought she was ready to vomit. Finally, she started to speak in an incredibly soft, very quiet voice, barely heard over the popping and sizzling of the fire. "I suppose you need to hear it all, it's only fair..." She twisted her hands together, twisting her engagement ring like she was considering removing it. Finally, with a resigned sigh she began:

"I told you that I was a bit of a wild child, and once I discovered that if someone else touches my pussy, it's a hundred times better than when I do it, there was no turning back. I forget when or to who my virginity went, some frat boy in the dorm at Denver U. most likely but God how I partied...

"When I started studying in earnest, when I was able to see the prize all of that stopped. I don't even think I masturbated during med school and when I was an intern, I was 100% focused on getting my residency. I started seeing guys casually and my mother introduced me to Frank, she said he was the answer to my prayers. She said that he could help me pay off my student debt, and somehow, we ended up married. I still don't know how.

"It was tolerable, I rarely saw him, he was out doing things... mostly gambling. And sex... meh... it was sex. No love, no... there was no... Oh God!" she cried, "Oh sweet god no! I just... I suddenly realized, you're my first real love... I just realized it... even my high school crushes were nothing like this... I love you so much and now I have to do this to you..." she wept against his chest, deep heart-breaking sobs.

Paul pulled her up onto his lap where she buried her face in his shoulder and shuddered as she tried to hold back the tears. "This is hard, this is bad stuff," Paul whispered in her ear, "but every word draws me closer to you, and I never thought closer was possible." She shuddered and sniffed; her weeping ceased until Paul said, "You truly are my greatest love." Those words caused the dam of her emotions to burst. Paul was afraid her wails would wake the twins, but soon he was weeping along with her until she regained herself.

"Frank somehow found out about my college days, probably through that rat bastard brother of his Vinnie. Anyhow, he started introducing toys to our bedroom." She stopped for a moment and stared at Paul to accent what she had to say next. "I like toys. Toys are fun. I still have a nice collection back in Denver. Everything he did with me and to me I like, or intend to like... with you, not him. He was ... ewww."

She sat up straighter and put her hand on his cheek, tears still streaming down her cheeks. "I'm not into horoscopes and sooth saying, but astrological signs seem to me to be strangely right on the money. I'm a Gemini, Frank is a Scorpio, that's the worst match in the astrological calendar I'm told, and I believe it. You on the other hand are a Libra and we are supposed to be the absolute best match on the calendar, especially sexually." She kissed him and whispered in his ear "I intend to fuck you to death, and I pray that you have the same fate intended for me."

Paul smiled, "I sure do."

She leaned back smiling through her tears, then leaned on her man again. "Frank and I got into bondage just to break the boredom, I guess. He loved to tie me spread eagle to the bed, naked and blindfolded. I found it boring mostly, but at least I couldn't see him. He would be gone for a while then he'd show up and fuck me, I was supposed to beg for it, and he'd hit me if I didn't. He loved hitting a small tied up woman.

"Then he started playing poker. We would go to one of the casinos in Blackhawk and get a room. First, he would parade me around the casino floor in a dress that he picked out which showed off my tits, then we would go to our room. He'd leave me there naked, tied doggy style to the bed and blindfolded." She began to gulp for air, "He would leave me for a long time playing at a private game in the hotel. Then after a while he would show up and grab my ass and I was supposed to be all turned on. I was expected to beg for it, I was ordered to call him Master and beg him to fuck me, and he'd do me, and he would beat me bad if I didn't call him Master. If I did good, he would only smack me a few times, if I did bad, he would beat me, hitting me where it wouldn't show. Then he would go back to playing poker. He said it brought him luck."

"Did you ever wear a wig?" Paul asked.

"All the time, his favorite was a long shocking pink thing, but sometimes black, he said it made me look like a short Elvira. There was blond, red, candy apple red, I still have them in Denver."

"I hate to ask this, but I have to..." Paul gulped down the huge lump in his throat, "did you ever get the feeling that it wasn't Frank?"

Andi looked completely shellshocked in the fading light of the fire. There in that big empty library she stared out into open space, focused on the middle distance where only dust motes floated. "Yes," she whispered, "most of the time." She was exhausted, there were no more tears left. She buried her face in Paul's chest. "Do you hate me? Can you ever forgive me?"

"Of course, and now it's over. No more questions." She went limp with exhaustion and began to weep quietly as Paul scooped up his shuddering angel, amazed again at how little she weighs, how fragile she is. He carried her upstairs, weeping the entire trip. He laid her on their bed, the one they will be sharing in a few days, and held her tightly until she faded off into sleep. Occasionally the shuddering would return in the night, a small helpless whimper would escape her lips and break his heart for her, but she always returned to sleep. He eventually found sleep also, around dawn.

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The sound of the twins being the twins at the top of their lungs woke Paul who was still laying on top of the blankets fully dressed. He splashed some water on his face and found his way to the kitchen, in the breakfast nook he found Andi bright eyed and chipper. She was brushing out Madeline's golden hair one handed because the twins and Lucy were dominating her left hand inspecting her engagement ring from all angles. So fascinated were they that they didn't notice papa as he headed down to the gym.

He grabbed some shorts out of the laundry and hit the treadmill replaying what she said last night over and over, his anger and disgust building, and his plan for what was going to happen with Frank coming to fruition. The anger that he felt for that man kept swelling up in his chest, but what good would it do Andi if he let his anger take over. It was time for planning. The sound of women gushing over a new engagement ring brought him back to reality and let him know that Macy was here.

Andi found him on the treadmill wearing only a pair of shorts and his running shoes. "Bye honey!" she called, "Headed for the conference."

Paul paused his workout and stepped down. "Have a good day baby," kissing her he held her tight. He was sweaty from his morning jog and that was fine with Andi, her man was the best perfume she could wear. "You're so chipper this morning, did a few demons get purged last night?"

"No, they're still there, and they probably will be for a long time, but a good cry helps a lot."

Just the fact that a woman can cry away horrors like Frank was a mystery to Paul. "That was a great cry. Should we bring that up with John and Macy?" Andi and Paul were meeting with John and Macy for pre-wedding counseling again this night, a requirement for being married in Springville Congregational Church.

"I suppose," she sighed and rested her head against Paul's chest, running her fingers through his salt and pepper chest hair. She was thinking of slipping her hand lower and under the waist band of his shorts and to hell with the conference when she heard something. A gurgling? What was that? Then it was gone. A gurgling heart can be normal but it can indicate a valve disorder or a heart murmur or indicate heart failure. "Are you ok daddy?"

"I'm fine baby."

"No, I heard..."

"This is what happens when you buy something twenty years older than you. We creak, we groan, some things rust over."

She has heard these kinds of things from people who were denying serious conditions, but he is not her patient and she doesn't have a stethoscope handy. His only medical relationship with her is sperm donor, which got her back to thinking of slipping her hand under his waistband...

"The pastor's wife is right over our head and she's going to take our babies chicken feeding and egg gathering and you're running late dear." After a kiss, Andi was on the road headed for the conference and once he had finished up with his shower he headed upstairs to brief Macy on the planned events of the day. It was time to talk with Frank.

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Frank Rosetti walked into Giardini's Italian Family Restaurant like he owned the place. He was short, stocky with dark hair and a permanent five o'clock shadow and chest hair fountaining out of his t-shirt collar. A man, clearly a member of the wait staff, walked up to Frank who said "Caio."

"Ciao, posso trovarti un trattore?" replied the 'waiter' whom everyone called Larry.

"I'm not really hungry, I'm looking to meet a guy, name a Paul Jarecki," said Frank as he looked around the restaurant. There was an older couple in the dining area and a couple of guys at a table near the bar. Nobody looked like a doctor in this small crowd, but it was 10:00 AM and the restaurant just opened.

"Doctor Jarecki, yes. He has reserved a table in our smoking lounge for your meeting. He told us that you enjoy a good cigar."

Frank grinned, his taste in cigars can get awful expensive if someone else is buying. "That's very thoughtful of da guy. Lead on." He still had the stub end of his well chewed morning stogie in his hand.

As he followed the waiter past a table on the way back to the smoking lounge a rough looking character at the table caught the waiters eye, the waiter acknowledged with a slight nod. The rough looking character looked at the man across the table from him who had his back to the door. "That must be the fellow," said Gus Di Dimissio. "Larry asked Frank if he could find him a tractor, and Frank said that he wasn't hungry."

"I didn't realize your Italian was so good Gus," said Paul as he slipped on a blazer. A blazer can add legitimacy to anything a man wears.

"Like we Italians like to say; "La madre dei cretini é sempre incinta," the mother of the idiots is always pregnant," smiled Gus.

Paul took a deep breath, "Here we go," and he grabbed his backpack and headed to the smoking lounge. The smoking lounge was a private establishment physically separated from the restaurant and accessible through a covered breeze way. It was a separate business, a cigar bar, and the alcohol came from Giardini's. Paul stepped out of the back door of Giardini's Italian Family Restaurant, crossed the covered breeze way, and entered the lounge, a well-ventilated humidor with several tables, recliners, and couches. Glass doors lined the walls and hundreds of different cigars were clearly seen. Paul walked right up to Frank, stuck out his hand and said "Frank Rosetti? Paul Jarecki, how ya doing."

"You tell me doc; you called this little pow wow."

Paul eased into a comfortable overstuffed chair and set the backpack close to his side. "Well, you were in the neighborhood, there's the wedding coming up, I figured we'd smoke the peace pipe and talk some guy talk."

"You a heart doc smoking a cigar?" Frank laughed.

"No one lives forever, am I right?" Paul waived the humidor attendant over to their table. "What do you say Frank, Arturo Fuente Opus X? It's on me."

Frank raised his eyebrows at the mention of one of the most expensive cigars available, $100 a piece if you can find them. These are not a cigar you walk into a store and buy off the shelf, you call ahead and order them. "Don't mind if I do," Frank grinned.

The attendant brought the cigars over to their table, "Shall I cut sir?"

"Please do," said Paul, and the attendant snipped the cap off each cigar with a well-practiced clip and offered each man a three jet lighter. After toasting the foot, they lit the cigars properly puffing and enjoying the smoke.

Frank looked at his cigar "this tastes like... like..."

"Jalapeno, you caught that! Few men do," Paul leaned forward conspiratorially. "It's the Dominicans, I don't know how they do it, but when you get Dominican filler, binder, and wrapper, you get a puro, a cigar that's just," he took a reassuring puff, "just miles ahead of the others. Am I right?"

"Right you are," chuckled Frank who set his old, chewed stogy in the ash tray. The attendant came up with a clean ash tray and asked if he could take the old one. Not looking up to acknowledge the attendant, Frank said "Sure, take it."

The attendant took the ashtray containing Franks chewed cigar, left a clean tray, and departed unnoticed. As Paul and Frank talked cigars and chuckled like old friends the attendant stepped outside and was met by Lucy Kocsis who took the cigar with latex glove covered hands and placed the cigar into a ziplock plastic bag then carried it across the parking lot to an Erie County Sheriff's office CSI van that was parked just up a side street.

The black-haired CSI officer in the high-tech van took the cigar and sat down with it and started to do her magic. "If this wasn't for Paulie, there's no way I'd be doing this." The technician looked up at Lucy. "He's from the old neighborhood, and he's the first boy I ever kissed. Man, I should have held on to him tight. Of course, that was the sixth grade - who knew? He was a bum like the rest of us."

"This is a favor for Paul? I thought you were driven by the 'what Momma Giardini says goes' rule," said Lucy as she watched intently.

"Well, yeah, that too. Actually, it's more like 'Momma gets what momma tells her kids to get for her'," said Officer Jankowitz, formerly Annabella Giardini. She had already processed the swabs that Lucy had brought and was reviewing the output from the computer. "Are you sure these are from two separate women? You didn't make a mistake?"

Lucy leaned over Annabella's shoulder and looked at the output. The results looked identical, and Lucy smiled. "Yep, they're identical twins."

"Really!" gasped Annabella. "I've heard that identical twins had identical DNA, but I didn't realize exactly how identical it is. I've never actually seen it for myself before, thanks for this opportunity."

"It's a shame it's off the books."

Annabella nodded, causing her raven locks to sway. "But at least I know now."

About 10 minutes later Lucy left the mobile crime lab clutching a readout from the CSI truck's sophisticated equipment. She went over to the breeze way between the lounge and the restaurant and tapped softly on the lounge door, then turned around and walked into the restaurant. She strode up to the bar and sat down next to the spot where the waiter gets his drinks. She was almost trembling when she ordered a vodka and Sprite.

At the same time the attendant heard the gentle tap and caught Paul's eye as they were starting to talk about boats, and Frank talked long about his pride and joy, a Riviera 72 named the Regal Dream, which has recently been repossessed by the bank, a fact that he didn't share with Paul. The Riviera 72 is a sports motor yacht, four luxury cabins, salon, galley, flying bridge that can be made into a cabin, more bells and whistles than the Orange Blossom Special. "I'm planning to cruise the entire Caribbean after Christmas," said Frank.

"I know it's early, but - drink? It's on me," smiled Paul.

Frank grinned; this was like taking candy from a baby. He's going to drop a writ for child custody and Andi is going to scream. Ol' Doc Paul here is going to write a big fat check to make the writ go away and the Regal Dream is his again. "I'm a bourbon man but hell, it's Christmas. Christmas calls for Crown Royal, on the rocks. Am I right?"

Paul turned to the attendant "My friend will have a Crown Royal on the rocks, and you know what I like." The attendant nodded and stepped out the door, walked into the restaurant, walked up to the bar and ordered a Crown Royal on the rocks. The bar tender placed the drink on the attendant's tray and Lucy, who was sitting at the bar put her vodka and Sprite on the tray also and out the attendant went holding his tray high. Gus saw the attendant walk by carrying drinks and saw that one was a vodka and sprite. He got up and followed the attendant a few moments later. On the other side of the restaurant Ernie Kraft, big as a bear, excused himself from his wife and followed Gus.

The waiter, known to Gus, Ernie and Paul as Larry, stepped into the lounge and set the Crown Royal on the table next to Frank then handed the Sprite and vodka to Paul. For his part Paul didn't know what drink would be coming out for him. Paul considered the vodka and sprite that was in his hand. His other option would have been a Cape Cod, cranberry juice and vodka. The bright red color of that drink indicated stop, go to 'plan b,' and his plan b was weak at best. This colorless drink festooned with lime and a cherry indicated that it was all clear, the green lime said to proceed at full speed, the cherry was something Lucy added. Andi loves cherries and Lucy added it as a reminder hoping Paul would remember not to hurt Andi in what happens next.

And so, it began.

Frank took another puff of his exquisite cigar noticing that the jalapeno taste had faded, and he was now getting notes of chocolate and leather. "So, this is all well and good Doc, but what's your angle?" asked Frank.

"Angle?" asked Paul innocently.

"Don't fool me Doc, everyone has an angle. Here we are, cigars, drinks, boats, what's your angle?"

"Oh, that, yes..." Paul acted if he was reminded of something important. He pulled a folder out of his backpack and pulled out a document "Here's a letter I typed up for you to sign, stating that you acknowledge that the twins, Sandra and Madeline Roberts are not your children and you will not attempt custody at any time. Just sign right there at the bottom and we'll have it notarized and filed with the clerk of Erie county, and that's it." He placed the letter on the table with a pen.

Behind them a woman stepped into the lounge, she had a large briefcase which she sat on an adjoining table and started to open her brief case as Frank scoffed the whole thing away. "Pfft, I ain't signin' this, I ain't signin' nothing. I wanna tell you..."

"First, let me tell you a story of a fellow who sucked at poker," said Paul, the humor drained from his face. Any hint of human charity was gone from his eyes. "This fellow was so bad at poker he tied his wife up and left her naked and blindfolded in a hotel room and he would send men in there to have sex with her to cover his losses."

"Oh, that's bull..."

A hand clamped down on Frank's shoulder and Ernie Kraft held a finger up to his lips and in a voice that was both simple and forceful said "Shhhhh. Doctor Paul is talking."

Another huge hand clamped down on the other shoulder and Gus Di Domissio said "You should listen..."

Paul held up a recorder and pressed the play button. The fellow that Paul recorded was jovial and genuinely enjoyed telling his story.

"So, Frank sucked, I mean really sucked. He had more 'tells' than I could catalog. He's into me for about nine grand and I ask him how he's going to pay up, check this out. He says he's got a high price hooker waiting for him in his room, and she's a real kinky bitch, just grab her tit and she'll make all your problems go away. So, I go into his room and there's this tiny little woman in a bright pink wig tied spread eagle to the bed. Nice tits however so I grab one and she says, "Fuck me master." So, I does it, only later I saw all the bruises."

Paul was shaking, his face turned hateful. Ernie's hand clenched harder. "I have more testimony, lots more, including your brother Vinnie all saying the same story."

"So what? We were kinky, is that a crime? Maybe here, but not in Blackhawk Colorado."

"Actually, What you did in Blackhawk is a crime in Colorado Frank," Paul pulled more documents out of his backpack, "enticing men to have sex with your wife for monetary gain is prostitution. Enticing men to have sex with your wife while she is incapable of preventing such actions is rape, enticing men to have sex with your wife while she believes this man to be you is rape. That's, let's see, ten, fifteen, twenty five, thirty five, oh let's round down to thirty years. Ouch. Sucks to be you."

Lucy held up a document and began to read to Frank. "Also, we did a quick 23 and Me kind of thing on you and the girls and found that wow! You're close to pure Italian and Sicilian, not bad, especially in this neighborhood. The girls however are mostly Nordic and Scandinavian with a bit of Irish on the maternal side, and extraordinarily strong Russian paternal traces, not a trace of Italian in their genes. Looks like you're not related to the girls you call your daughters."

"I didn't give no DNA to no testing!"

"You should be careful what you do with your cigar stubs," sneered Lucy.

"Dat test will never hold up in court!" Frank roared.

"Of course it won't, but the minute you claim in court that these are your daughters I make a motion that the assertion be verified by a DNA test, and we introduce evidence that the girls real father is one of your poker buddies."

Paul leaned in close, "look Frank be reasonable. What you did to Andi was a Class A felony, you can be charged at a minimum as an accessory to rape and prostitution and then we'd start looking through Denver for everyone who played poker with you and charge them too and then we get to play a game of Let's See How Long Frank Lasts In Prison." Paul tapped the document. "Signing this just states the truth, you're not related to the twins and you have no case to try for custody. I walk away happy, and you walk away free. You should be happy knowing that I'm going to make Andi and the twins happy. It's a Win Win situation all around."

"Fuck you," said Frank but after a slight pause he signed the letter.

"Language! There's ladies present." Ernie squeezed Frank's shoulder even harder.

"I'm a lawyer too," fumed Frank, "I going to end up owning everything you have!"

"In that case, let me show you how I'm going to make Andi and the twins happy," Paul pulled two large photographs out of his backpack and slid them across the table to Frank. The first showed the Regal Dream being lifted out of the water at a boat yard in Port Canaveral Florida, the other shows craftsmen preparing to paint a new name on the stern. "She's mine now, her refit will be quick, and her maiden voyage is in two weeks."

Lucy took the letter Frank signed to the dark-haired woman who took out her notary stamp, notarized the letter, scanned it into the Erie County Clerk's database with the scanner/copier/printer that took up most of the room in her case, then printed two copies of the letter which she handed to Lucy. "The original will be in the County Clerk's office by close of business today. Good day gentlemen." With that she closed her briefcase and left.

Paul handed a copy of the letter to Frank who was shocked into silence. "You best be going too, but look, stuff happens, and it piles up, and it's hard to get out from underneath. Work on it, then come around this summer, and we'll talk, a real talk. Until then we will pray for you."

Before Frank could say a word, Gus said to Frank, "You know, there's an old Italian adage that goes Camminare in silenzio assicura sicurezza, it means "walking in silence ensures safety." I think that's good advice, don't you?"

Frank left quickly, but he took the hint and didn't say a word. Then the men remaining, Paul, Gus, Ernie, and the attendant, who turned out to be Larry, the sound man from church gathered together in the middle of the room and put their arms on each other's shoulders and began to huddle. Ernie gestured for Lucy to join them and she did. What she expected to be a back patting congratulatory kind of thing turned out to be a prayer huddle. They prayed for Andi's healing from the barbaric treatment she received from Frank, they prayed for Frank too, that he turns over a new leaf, and that when he gets over this episode he starts to walk a path that would make Andi proud that she was part of his healing.

Afterwards Paul, Gus, and Lucy relaxed and puffed their cigars in silence. It was over. Frank could have driven Andi out of her wits and jeopardized the wedding and their future, but Paul shut him down. "You did it," said Lucy, "You said you would protect Andi and you did it." She lifted her Cape Cod and they touched glasses.

"You got the Cape Cod just in case?" asked Gus.

"No, when I put the vodka Sprite on the tray and Larry took it away I didn't have a drink. I like Cape Cod's, they look Christmassy." She looked at her drink and they sat in silence again.

Gus had picked up Franks Opus X with an "I'm not going to let a good cigar go to waste" and Lucy surprised them both by grabbing a Gurka Ghost from the humidor and lighting up. They all sipped their drinks in silence until Lucy turned to Gus and asked, "Just how old is that 'old Italian adage'?"

Gus looked at his watch. "I guess it's about an hour now," which brought out well needed chuckles.

"Got any more 'old Italian adages'?" she asked.

"Una donna è solo una donna, ma un buon sigaro è un fumo. A woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke."

"That's Rudyard Kipling," she smiled and held up her Cape Cod, "from his poem 'The Betrothed.'"

He tapped her drink with his drink, which was originally Frank's untouched Crown Royal.

"I think it's going to be a very merry Christmas," said Paul as he picked up some papers off the table.

"You got some plans boss?" asked Gus.

"Tonight I'm taking my fiancée to the Eagle House in Williamsville. We're going to try the Welsh Rarebit, I think she'll like that, then I'll have the haddock casino."

"Ooo, that's good stuff," said Lucy.

"I hope so," said Paul. "Gosh that's a pretty place. Oh yeah, Lucy, will you be joining us for Christmas?"

"I have second shift at ECMC on Christmas day."

"So, come spend the night at our house with John, Gus, Macy, and the twins on Christmas eve after the ceremony, I'm sure Gus will welcome the company."