© 2025 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 express written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a review or commentary.

This is my submission for the 2025 Winter Holiday Contest. I like to think of this story as one of those bio-pics that were so fashionable in the 1950s; The Benny Goodman Story, Pride of the Yankees, The Glenn Miller Story, The Eddie Cantor Story. Meet William Dubois. Everyone calls him Billy, but on stage he becomes known as Bill Dubois. Billy is special, and I hope you find his story just as special.

A Harmonica for Hanukkah

The Bill Dubois Story

Billy Dubois put a Christmas album on the stereo; it was something the recording studios gave up on - sweet renditions of old-school Christmas music played well by top-quality musicians recorded as they played together and not as individuals in a sterile environment. Except for the lack of crowd sounds, it sounded live, but he has a version of the same album recorded with a live audience.

He shut off his reading lamp and basked in the relaxing atmosphere; the Christmas lights on the tree and around the front window twinkled merrily, the miniature white lights in the pine garlands around the entries to the living room and hanging under the mantle glowed softly, the windows in the little houses that decorated the mantle with a Victorian Christmas village glowed gently, and the fire crackled and snapped as it burned in the fireplace. Billy sighed with contentment as he reveled in the fact that he has the next six days off, and when the love of his life gets home, he'll take the roast out of the oven, the wine out of the cooler and they'll celebrate this holiday properly.

He wondered with a chuckle what Santa might see when he steps out of the fireplace in the wee hours of the night because Billy and Stéphanie celebrate their love there on the hearth every Christmas Eve. He leaned the recliner back and listened to the smooth sound of a big band playing the sweet French Christmas hymn, Minuit, Chrétiens, with a marvelous singer that he poached from the Air Force and a talented clarinet leading the band. He took a harmonica out of his pocket and played along with the song on the stereo when his phone rang. He flipped his phone over, hoping it was a call he could ignore, but seeing who the caller was, he answered immediately. "Hello, my love, my darling, my passionate snow bunny, when are you coming home so I can eat you up?"

"You shouldn't talk like that," said his wife of five years. "People might think we're not married."

"I don't care what people think, just you. Please don't tell me you called because you're going to be late."

"Yes, Sister Margaret wants to redo the entire spring schedule."

"Awww, it's Christmas eve!" groaned Bill.

"Nuns don't care."

"Tell her that if she lets you go now, I'll do a class for her."

"You should be trying to bribe me, not her," she said.

"What's to bribe, when you get home I'm going to lay you down in front of the fire, hoist your skirt up, yank off your panties, and dive face first into that..."

"I can't hear you, la la la la..."

"You're killing me darling," groaned Bill.

"What are we having for dinner, or should I grab a pizza and wings on the way home?"

"We're having duck," said Bill, knowing how much she loved the ducks that lived out front.

"DON'T YOU DARE!"

"I have a nice roast beef which will be done in one hour, so you better hurry with your schedule changes."

"Yes darling," sighed his wife.

After hanging up, Bill looked at the first harmonica he got for Hanukkah. It had seemed so long ago.

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St. Lawrence Outside the Walls Parochial School - Williamsville, NY

Stéphanie Powell was walking down the main stairway of St. Lawrence Outside the Walls parochial school in Williamsville, NY. It was an old building, a private school, and the school concentrated on academics above everything else. Saint Lawrence was an elementary/middle school including ninth grade, and from there the students would go to Bishop McNamara in Amherst or Holy Sisters of Antioch in Cheektowaga. Most of her friends were going to go to Bishop McNamara, but she was going to go to "Sisters" next year. She even had a t-shirt featuring the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, their unofficial mascot.

Stéphanie was 14 years old and filling out her school uniform nicely. Their uniform was a dark green skirt, light green blouse with a dark green tie-tab, dark green knee socks and a dark green cardigan sweater. At her age, Stephany was developing nicely, but she always wore her loose-fitting cardigan, hiding her developing curves. That was reserved for one person.

Being a ninth grader, Stéphanie was allowed to take shortcuts to go to lunch. She didn't have to line up with her class and troop off to the kitchen down on the basement level for lunch; she could take any route she wanted in this ancient building. She took the main staircase down to the main floor and ducked into the gym. From there, she could take one of two staircases down to the basement. The 'main' staircase led to the boys' locker room, furnace room, and cafeteria. The 'back' staircase went all the way down to the girls' locker room and the Sacred Heart Society room, which was once a bowling alley. Now, it's where the CYO holds their functions. She can get to the cafeteria from there without having to wait behind the third and fourth graders.

She stepped into the gym, which was a multi-function room. At one end of the gym was a stage; on the other end were bleachers. And there was Billy. He was sitting on the edge of the stage, alone, just him and his licorice stick. Billy could play any woodwind instrument and was a fan of Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman, and he played the clarinet to emulate their art. Billy was Stéphanie's "CYO Husband." They did everything together. They marched in the Catholic Youth Organization drill teams; they played in the CYO band (he played, she marched in the color guard) and next year they were going to run for positions on the CYO board, he for treasurer and she for secretary. Then college! She couldn't wait.

Billy wasn't big and strong, and to his mortification, Stéphanie pronounced him "cute" to the entire world. And worst of all, he was developing awkwardly. Right now, at fourteen, he was all knees and elbows, his dark hair untamable, and his voice was going in all directions too. When he saw Stéphanie, his voice would crack at the most inopportune times. It embarrassed him to death, but she thought it was sweet. They've been friends since kindergarten, but lately their friendship has been turning in a different direction. His feelings were changing; he was terrified at the thought of spending time without her by his side.

He didn't know it, but his feelings for her were catching up to her feelings toward him.

Stéphanie hopped up on the stage and sat next to Billy; his eyes were fixed on something in the middle distance as he practiced his fingering on "Benny" his clarinet. He looked at Stéphanie — blond, blue eyes, tiny nose, round chin, high cheekbones, and further down... he better not think about that. He didn't want to give himself a case of "lovers nuts" before school was out. "Did you find out where you're going to high school?" she asked. "We have to announce to Sister Angelica before Christmas break." Sister Angelica was the dean of students and head disciplinarian.

"We can't afford the tuition for Antioch," he said softly. Now he was looking down at a spot on the gym floor.

"So where are you going? Bishop McNamara?"

He shook his head softly, then took a shaking breath. "West." The word West referred to Williamsville West High School, a public school. Back in the fifties, it was the model of a high school. Seventy-five years later, it's a tired old suburban diploma factory on the border of working-class Snyder, New York. There was no dedication like at Antioch, the top high school in Western New York. West could be the setting for an S.E. Hinton novel of teenage angst, featuring income disparity, and starring gang beatings.

Stéphanie felt her blood run cold... all their plans... they were going in two different directions... he was going west almost into Buffalo; she was going east, out in the rural portions of Erie County. They would see each other only on weekends, if they were lucky. "What happened?"

"Reality," sighed Billy. "I'm only here because mom works in the kitchen, they get tuition breaks for employees' kids. That doesn't extend to Antioch and there's no positions open for her over there. Then..." he went silent for a long time.

"Then what?" asked Stéphanie.

"Dad asked for a raise and they laid him off." His dad was a top diesel engine mechanic for Campbell Truck, a huge heavy truck dealership.

"Oh no! What's he doing now?"

"He's driving tow truck for Matt Grunthaner and changing oil at Jim's Kendall Station."

"What about you?"

Billy shrugged. "I got a job assembling lawn mowers and snow blowers at the Ace Hardware on Monday, and Thursday evenings. There may be a paper route opening up after the holidays." Then he put on a smile and turned to Stéphanie; he was desperate to change the conversation. Billy may be slow when it came to interpersonal relationships, but he knew when Stéphanie was getting sad. "You're leaving for Colorado soon?"

"Tomorrow," sighed Stéphanie. "We're spending Christmas in Snowmass again."

"That sounds great. I want pictures, I'll bet you're going to be the cutest snow bunny in the Rockies."

"Stop!" she started blushing. She confused Billy. Aren't rich girls supposed to be egotistical? Didn't they walk around thinking that they were God's gift to mankind? Stéphanie's older sister Brenda was like that. If there was someone who lived believing their shit didn't stink, it was Brenda Powell. Yet somehow Billy liked Brenda with a puppy-dog joy. "Here," continued Stéphanie, "I brought you a Hanukkah gift." She handed him a small oblong box.

"I'm not Jewish," said Billy.

"Neither am I, but I'm not going to be here for Christmas and it's Hanukkah and I want to give you something. Open it."

"Here, hold Benny," and he handed Stéphanie his ancient, pawnshop clarinet and then unwrapped her package. "A harmonica..." said Billy. He turned the box over in his hands, and his face lit up with joy. "It's incredible, a real Hohner Harmonica! A Hohner Marine Band 1896!" He looked at the beautiful diatonic harmonica, then he lifted the mouth organ to his mouth and blew a few notes. "It sounds great!"

"Play for me," said Stéphanie. He started playing, fumbling at first, searching for the notes, then as he grew comfortable, she sang along. "Oh, holy night, the stars are brightly shining..."

"This is so wonderful, I love it... it means so much to me. Now I have something to play while Benny is sick."

"Huh? Benny is sick?" she studied the clarinet, but it looked okay to her.

"Here," he said, and he put the harmonica in his shirt pocket and took the clarinet and brought it to his lips. He played a scale octave. The clarinet hissed, and the notes sounded dull, muffled, and one note didn't play at all. "It needs new reeds, new pads, and a good cleaning. I can do it, but reeds and pads will cost about twenty dollars."

"I can do that for you, let me get the pads and stuff for you," gushed Stéphanie.

"No, you've done enough, dad says I can swing by the Kendall station after school and mount tires, I can make the money that way and when you get back from Colorado, Benny will sound as good as new." He smiled proudly as he fingered the clarinet's keys. "I'm auditioning for the Western New York youth orchestra on the thirtieth."

"I'm not going to be here to see!" groaned the pretty blond. "Please, let me help with the pads," said Stéphanie. "I have the money and..."

He set Benny down on the open case, then held her hands and looked so broken-hearted. "No. You already gave me the harmonica, and I have nothing for you, not for Christmas or for Hanukkah."

"You have something that I want more than anything," she said in a breathy whisper. She put her warm, soft hand on the back of his neck and gently urged him closer... closer... so close that their noses brushed and their lips met.

Was it Christmas magic? Their arms wrapped around each other and pulled each other close. As first kisses go, it was one of the best. The poor little rich girl and the working-class musician finally let their mutual attraction take hold. They were no longer friends; they were girlfriend and boyfriend. Too young to be lovers and too old to be buddies... two hearts beating in unison, two heads spinning with young love as their tongues gently explored each other. When the kiss ended, they sat gazing in each other's eyes, heads spinning. "Stéphanie, I..."

"Yes?" she asked. Her heart was pounding. She dreamed of the day he would say this.

"AHEM! And where be the mistletoe young lovers?" came the ancient Irish accent of the woman they feared the most. Stéphanie and Billy both turned in terror to look. Oh, no... Stéphanie almost broke down in tears. Her first kiss, and they were caught by not one but two nuns! Sister Mary Katherine and Sister Ann Rita. Sister Ann Rita was brand new; this was her first assignment as a nun, and she taught kindergarten because of her bubbly personality. Sister Mary Kate, as she is known, was old enough to be the head waitress at the Last Supper. It is said she could stop a charging rhino with one swing of her brass ruler.

Billy hopped down from the stage and said, "This was my fault. Stéphanie was completely innocent. If you're going to punish someone, let her go and punish me."

"Oh? Is that it, is it now Master Dubois," said Sister Mary Kate; her South Buffalo Irish brogue came on full force. "You're so irresistible that the lassies can't keep their hands from ya. Is that your story?"

"I kissed her, that's all you need to know."

"We watched the two of ye, we did, and it looked like a mutual attraction!" snapped Sister Mary Kate.

"And it was!" shouted Stéphanie. She jumped down from the stage and stood next to Billy and clung to his arm. "We've been best friends for ten years - ten years! Neither of us can remember a time when we weren't there for each other. When's the last time you had someone that close for an entire decade?" For some reason, that got Sister Ann Rita giggling. Sister Ann Rita was East Buffalo Italian, and the sight of a feisty woman standing up for her rights reminded her of home. Even if she was only fourteen years old.

"Come with me! Both of you!" demanded Sister Mary Katherine.

"Benny!" Billy turned to go back to the stage and get his clarinet, but Sister Mary Kate reached out and somehow caught his wrist and pulled him back, nearly pulling his shoulder out of joint. "My clarinet!"

"It will be there when I'm done with you, MISTER Dubois. A troublemaker you are, like your father before ye, and I'll have no more of it!"

"Sister Ann, can you get his clarinet?" asked Stéphanie.

"Leave it be, Sister," growled Sister Mary Katherine, "Or you'll be in as much trouble as these squabs, ye will. A right talkin' to from the monsignor is what they'll be getting."

Oh great, the monsignor! It was said that Monsignor Zimpher helped God carve the tablets He gave to Moses. It took twenty minutes for Monsignor Zimpher to amble the twenty yards over to the school from the rectory, and all that while, Billy and Stéphanie fretted that someone was going to steal Benny. The Monsignor gave them lecture #6 on being chaste until it was time to marry. It was the same lecture he once gave Dave Dubois, Billy's dad, after he was caught kissing Sue Boland behind the bleachers. The lecture must have worked because Dave and Sue now have five children, the oldest of whom was Billy.

All the while he blathered his way through the canned lecture, his dentures rattled and whistled, making Billy and Stéphanie giggle. "Isss there sssomething funny?" demanded the Monsignor.

Maybe they should have said, "No, monsignor," but Billy was raised to tell the truth, especially because it's most fun when it's painful. "Your dentures are whistling when you talk," said Billy.

"You sound like a nest of birds," said Stéphanie.

"Isss that sssso?" roared the ancient Monsignor. "I have already called your parentsssss." The whistle when he said parents was high-pitched and clear. Billy guessed it to be C above high C, which set him laughing. "Disssresssspectful urchanssss!" thundered the ancient monsignor, and he was still lecturing and whistling when Emett Powell arrived to pick the children up.

"Billy, go get your coat, I'm taking you home," said Stéphanie's dad. Emmett was a powerful attorney and a big-wig in Western New York politics. He was a mover and shaker behind the scenes, and he was known for a client list that included politicians on both sides of the aisle, bankers, doctors, and the church itself. "Stéphanie, we have to talk." Stéphanie was daddy's pride and joy. Brenda may have been mommy's girl, but Stéphanie was Emmett's darling.

"We have to make sure Benny is there," said Stéphanie as she led her father out of the Monsignor's office, leaving the ancient man sputtering and whistling in their wake.

"Who is Benny?"

"It's Billy's clarinet. He named it after Benny Goodman." She led her father, the high-powered attorney, through the school to the gym, where they found Billy looking around, side to side, with growing desperation. "He's not here?" asked Stéphanie.

"No, I left it laying on top of its case, and the case is still here." They searched the entire backstage area; Billy went to the lighting controls and lit up the stage. While the teens were looking behind the curtains, Emmett looked through the bleachers because something shiny had caught his eye. He hoped he was wrong, but it was a clarinet key that was broken off the clarinet. There nearby was the bell section. He noticed fresh-looking scars on the bleacher's wooden seat back, then climbed the stairs looking down the row of the bleachers. Ten rows up, he found the body of Benny, battered and twisted. Someone had taken Benny, beaten it on the wooden seat back then thrown it up in the bleachers.

"You two keep looking," called out Emmett. "I'm going to search the trash cans."

"Kay!" came from behind a curtain on the stage.

A minute later, Emmett walked into Sister Jane Gerald's office. He took the corpse of Benny from under his overcoat and laid it on her desk. Sister Jane, the principal of St. Lawrence Outside the Walls Parochial School, looked at the clarinet and said, "What is this?"

"A young musician was ordered by Sister Mary Kate to leave his instrument unprotected in the gym. While he was being lectured it was destroyed by some vandal."

"And what do you want me to do about it?" asked the nun, who was younger than Sister Mary Kate, but far less charitable.

"I was afraid you were going to say that." He took out his cell phone and hit a speed-dial number. "Bishop Ryan please, yes, it's Emmett Powell... I'll wait..." After a wait, the nattily dressed Mister Powell said, "Frank! Emmett here. Frank, you know I don't call you looking for favors, but we have a minor problem here at St. Lawrence Outside the Walls..."

First-name basis with Bishop Ryan? Sister Jane Gerald saw her educational career go up in flames as Emmett Powell explained what happened to the bishop.

Ten minutes later, Emmett's Mercedes-Benz AMG GT 55 Coupe pulled up at the Powell's enormous house in Williamsville. It was a massive gray limestone brick structure surrounded by a four-foot-high stone wall, with a large creek-fed duck pond taking up a quarter of the front lawn. A small island with a two-story pump house that was designed to look like a medieval stone tower sat in the center of the pond. The island was reached by an arching stone bridge, where Stéphanie and Billy dropped bits of bread to feed the ducks every summer since they were able to see over the edge of the bridge's stone side. The backyard was dominated by a swimming pool and a tennis court. Emmett has been trying to get Stéphanie and Billy to play tennis, but they prefer pickleball.

As they entered the gaily decorated kitchen, Emmett was trying to reassure Billy that sister Jane would find his clarinet and get it to him as quickly as possible. He made sure not to say "Benny." Lawyers are good at that.

"I should be going," said Billy sadly. The Dubois family lived over on Mill Street; it was a long walk home on a wet winter day.

"Stay," said Emmett. "I found a couple who were caught in the same situation, and I invited them over to have a talk with the two of you, maybe it will help."

"If you think it will help," said Billy. He took Stéphanie's coat and hung it up in the back hall with his, then sat down at the kitchen island and took out the harmonica. He blew into it and produced a few notes, then he inhaled through it and it produced even more notes ... blow... suck... blow... suck... then the scales, doe, ray, me, fa, so, la, tea, doe, tea, la, so, fa, me, ray, doe. Learning the instrument, getting a feel for the harmonica. Then he started to play.

Stéphanie sat next to him like she always did when he was playing the clarinet (or any other woodwind). She was his page-turner, but he didn't have any sheet music for her to turn. On this harmonica, he was playing by ear. "Gershwin?" she asked.

Billy nodded in response, but a stunned Emmett said, "Rhapsody in Blue. How long have you been playing that?"

"First time, I'm just noodling around." Then he started playing something slow and sweet. There were a few clinkers, but he straightened up the melody.

"That's Send in the Clowns," sighed Dr. Janet Powell, Stéphanie's mother, as she breezed into the kitchen. "It's a classic, and our guests have pulled up in the driveway."

"Yes dear," said Emmett. "Stéphanie, would you wait in your room?"

"Yes dad," and Stéphanie walked off to meet her doom.

"William, could you please wait in the parlor?" asked Janet. She always called him William.

"Yes ma'am," said Billy. He always called her ma'am. He and Stéphanie got up and headed off to their assigned locations, while Billy played an execution march on the harmonica, causing Stéphanie to giggle and give him a hip-check as they passed through the doorway into the living room. Then, with an aching, longing glance, they separated, and she went upstairs to await her fate, while Billy sat down in the parlor while a long-haired black cat with bright yellow eyes glared at him.

While he waited, he 'noodled around' with the harmonica. He really liked it and wondered if he could play some blues. Then he noticed a tiny face peering through the doorway at him. "Kevin, what are you doing here?" but the toddler just disappeared back into the doorway. Billy could hear his bare little feet slapping on the floor as he ran. It was his baby brother Kevin. Kevin was eighteen months old, and he adored Billy. Billy practically raised Kevin and his older sisters, Denice, who was five, and Mary Grace, who was seven. His younger sister, Karen, was ten and wanted nothing to do with Billy and did nothing to help him with her siblings.

Then, the person who was caught kissing at school years ago walked into the room. "Mom?"

Sue Dubois and Emmett Powell walked into the room. Billy's mother was still as beautiful as she had been when she was eighteen. She looked tired, but she loved her children and was sad that work separated her from them. Sue crouched down so she could look Billy in the eye while Kevin scrambled up into Billy's lap. "We got into a little trouble?" she asked.

Trouble? That confused Billy. He could be oblivious at times, and he didn't think he was in trouble... well; he yelled at a nun, and he made fun of the monsignor. But what was hurting most came out. "Someone stole Benny! I tried to get him back, but Sister Mary Kate wouldn't let me. You worked so hard to buy that for me, I'm so sorry mommy... I should have got it but it's gone... all that money gone..." and he was weeping. He felt so horrible. She worked so hard to get that for him, and she was pregnant with Denice at the time too. He felt so horrible as he wept on his mother's shoulder. Benny had been his constant companion for the past five years.

"Shhh, honey, that's just a thing. We'll get you another one. You may not be able to try out for the Youth Orchestra this year, but next year, I promise."

"You worked so hard, it was my favorite Christmas present. I'll pay you back, every dime."

"Now shush," She fished a Kleenex out of her school kitchen uniform pocket and dried his eyes. "We're not here to talk about that. We can replace the clarinet. Maybe we'll try to get a nice saxophone for you. We'll see what Santa has for you next year, and until then you can practice with the school's instruments. I'm here to talk about something more important."

Billy looked confused. What could be more important than the loss of something she worked so hard to give him?

"The kiss?" she tried to get a reaction out of him, but he still looked confused.

"I didn't force her; in fact, she said it's what she wanted for Christmas. She said it was the best present she ever got."

"What did you think about it?" asked his mom as she sat down on the loveseat next to her son.

"Well, Mister Powell is right here," said Billy shyly.

"It is his little girl you kissed."

"We kissed each other," insisted Billy. "I didn't force her; she didn't force me."

"And how did it feel?"

"It was nice," he said shyly.

"Really nice?"

"Yeah."

"Really, really nice?"

"Yeah."

"Did it make your heart go flutter and make you want to keep doing it more and more?"

"Yeah."

"That means two things. One is that you're doing it right," said Sue. "But the next is that you have to take responsibility."

"What? Me? I don't understand."

"Ok, you know girls are wired differently than boys. Kissing is very important to girls, they feel the same that you do, but they feel stronger about it. It's the first step in having a baby, and sometimes the girl gets carried away and can't stop herself, understand?"

"I think so."

"You, as the man, have to take responsibility. You have to be the one to be in charge and say, 'that's enough kissing for now,' and find something else to occupy your time. Do you think you can do that?"

"If it means we can kiss again later, yeah."

"Ok, we're going to keep an eye on you to make sure you can keep to your promise. If we find you in an all-night smooch-fest there will be consequences. Why don't we keep her to hand holding, hugging, and the occasional good night kiss?"

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Upstairs in her room, Stéphanie sat on her bed looking at pictures on her phone of Billy playing Benny. He looked so happy, so peaceful, and it broke her heart that Benny was gone. She just hoped Billy would find peace with his Hanukkah harmonica. Then, with a tap on the open bedroom door, Billy's dad walked into the room. "Hi Mister Dubois."

"Hey-ya Princess, what are you up to?" He was wearing dark blue work clothes, and it looked like he had changed into a clean uniform before he came over. Over his left shirt pocket was a white oval patch bordered in red, and in red script was his name, Dave. It was a mechanic's uniform, which made Stéphanie sad. He worked so hard at two different gas stations to keep his family fed.

"Dad said that he asked someone to come over and talk to us about being caught kissing by the nuns."

"Yes he did... that's why I'm here, and the other guilty party is downstairs talking with Billy right now."

Stéphanie's bright blue eyes flew wide open. "That was you?" she squealed.

"Yes, it was me, with a beautiful girl named Susan Boland." He took a picture out of his pocket and handed it to Stéphanie. It was a picture of joy, two cheerful, smiling teens wearing the cap and gown of Bishop McNamara Highschool graduates. They were hugging happily, their smiles radiating joy. She was the lunch lady at St. Lawrence Outside the Walls Parochial School, Billy's mom.

"You and Missus Dubois were caught kissing? Where? When?"

"It was right there in the gym at Saint Lawrence, but we were hiding. You know that hall under the bleachers where they store the folding chairs? We were hiding behind the carts full of folding chairs until Sister Mary Kate caught us."

"Sister Mary Kathrine caught you? She caught us too! When did she catch you?"

"We were ninth graders like you. Hmm... Billy is fourteen now, so it had to be seventeen years ago."

"Seventeen?" Stéphanie's eyes flew open wide as she did the math on her fingers. Her mother was standing at the doorway watching, and she did a little counting as well. Billy's birthday is in June, and graduation was in June...

"We married right after graduation. We had behaved up until then, but we came close a few times. We weren't the only seniors from Bishop McNamara in the pre-canna conference." The pre-Canna conference is a pre-wedding class.

"You weren't?" asked Janet Powell. She and Emmett graduated from Bishop McNamara several years before Dave and Sue graduated.

"Nope. Jim and Marylin Robertson was there, so was Rob and Karine Klien."

"So, you were...?" asked an amused Stéphanie. It entertained her to think that "old people" like her parents or Billy's parents were romantically inclined. Well, not Billy's parents. They were always kissing, and his mom seemed to be always pregnant.

"Mostly," said Dave. "We waited to say 'I do' before we went all the way. We got married in September, nine months and ten minutes later, Billy was born, and that's something you have to keep in mind. If something happens, you're going to carry the baby, and there's nothing to keep Billy from running off."

"Billy would never do that," said Stéphanie, full of the knowledge that Billy would never abandon her.

Dave nodded. "We all like to think so, but you know Billy, he looks at things differently. How typical would it be of him to do something crazy like run off and enlist in the military to make money for the baby? He would be leaving you all alone, terrified that he could be killed. Until you're married, it's all your decision. That's kinda scary to think about, isn't it."

Stéphanie nodded sadly. It would be exactly like Billy to do something crazy like that.

"Good, that means you're smart. And I'm sure you enjoyed your kisses with Billy, right? Want to do it some more?"

"Yeah," Stéphanie said sheepishly.

"So does Billy," said Dave, which made Stéphanie's heart soar. "Guys love kissing too, I'm sure that's all Billy is thinking about even though he's getting a stern talking to from your dad and his mom. When a guy really cares for his woman, like Billy cares for you, they get very excited when they get to kiss their lady. They don't want to stop. You as the woman must take responsibility. Girls mature faster than boys, both physically and emotionally. And I know it gets confusing with all those hormones jumbling around in your head, but you are the mature one. You have to be in charge. You need to keep an eye on him and when he starts to get carried away, you need to calm him down."

"But how?"

Dave shrugged. "Go for a walk around the block, go up to the pancake house and get some coffee, or get ice cream at Sadie Hawkin's drug store. Maybe if it's nice, jump in your pool, or if you're at our house, go jump in the creek. We take all the kids there on hot days. Think you can do that?"

"If it means we can kiss again, yeah."

"Ok, we're going to keep an eye on you to make sure you can keep to your promise. If we find you two in an all-nighter on the couch, there will be consequences. You need to tell him the rules," said Dave. "Do you know the bikini rule?" She shook her head slowly. Was he talking about atomic bombs?

"Imagine yourself wearing a bikini. Not a string bikini, but a modest one, ok? No matter what you're wearing, nobody's hands can go in the area that bikini covers."

Stéphanie wanted to protest, but she finally said, "Are we in trouble for kissing?"

Dave chuckled and said, "not with me and Billy's mom. But we understand how all these emotions and feelings can overwhelm you at your age, so we're here to help. And I want you to know, if you want to talk with someone, sometimes it feels weird to talk to your parents, you can always come talk to Sue or me."

"Will you tell them what I talked about?"

"We will, but we'll filter out all the mushy stuff, they don't need to hear that, ok?" Dave smiled and patted her shoulder.

Stéphanie pointed to his hand on her shoulder. "Bikini strap."

"You're learning."

<><><><><>

The two families had a big pizza party at the Powell's beautifully decorated house. They ate in the enormous kitchen and afterwards they relaxed in the family room and watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. A fire crackled merrily in the immense fireplace; the tree twinkled brightly, and outside the bay window, huge fluffy snowflakes spiraled down from above. The kids lay on the floor watching the show, and even Stéphanie's sister Brenda joined without complaining about it being a "baby show."

All too soon it came time to leave, and Billy and Stéphanie stood at the door saying their goodbyes. She would be gone for over a week, which seemed like a year to Billy. They stood in the snow on the front porch while Billy's parents strapped Kevin, Denice, and Mary Grace into their car seats in Dave's ancient Chevy Van. Without a word, Billy and Stéphanie grew closer and closer until their lips met. They both wanted to grab each other, pull their lover close and never let go. Their tongues sought each other's tongues, and a spark of passion ignited in the hearts of both teenagers when their tongues began that sinuous dance for only the second time in their lives. They were kissing, really kissing, while their parents watched, which made it even more exciting.

When their lips parted, their foreheads touched while each panted. "I'm going to miss you," whispered Billy.

"I'll be back on the second," said Stéphanie. "Will you play your Hanukkah harmonica for me?"

Chuckling Billy said, "I'll practice some Guns and Roses for you." Then with a quick kiss, Billy headed to the van, their hands gently clinging together until he stepped off the porch and was headed to the van. Janet came outside and put her hands on Stéphanie's shoulders and stayed with her as she watched the old van drive away.

"Come on inside, we have an early flight tomorrow."

"Mom?"

"Yes dear?"

"Thank you for being so cool about this, and thank you for not teasing me and Billy."

"Billy's folks gave your dad and I instructions to follow also. They're valuable friends to have."

"Can't we get them a better car or something?" whined Stéphanie as they stepped in the house.

"We could, easily, but Billy's dad would never accept it. He's a lot like Billy, he doesn't have much, but he does have his pride."

"I offered to buy new pads and reeds for Benny, his clarinet, but Billy wouldn't take them. He feels that he needs to earn the money to buy the pads himself."

"That's what I mean," said Janet, and she followed Stéphanie up to her room, and for the first time in a long time she sat up with Stéphanie talking late into the night. Girl talk. Talk about a man's pride. Talk about kissing.

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

The scheduling meeting for the Sisters of Antioch High School spring semester was bogged down by the principal, Sister Margaret. She was incensed that the bishop would openly place a spy from his office in her planning meeting and fill the meeting with his chosen people. "Missus Dubois, are you with us?" snapped Sister Margaret.

Stéphanie Dubois was yanked from a warm Christmas Eve reverie by the snarling bark of the nun. "Sister Margaret, I'll give you thirty minutes to complete your schedule, then we will take thirty minutes to review it and I will leave and spend the rest of this holy eve with my husband. If you are not ready in thirty minutes, I will leave without reviewing it and report to the bishop you are incapable of compromise and following simple instructions. "

Sister Margaret steamed and muttered. What gives this young bint the right to demand anything from me?

"The bishop," said Stéphanie. When Sister Margaret looked at her in shock, Stéphanie gave a frosty smile that would make her mother proud. "You mutter out loud. And I'm sure when you called me a bint, you assigned it a new meaning that we were not aware of."

"Just because your father is friends with the bishop..." started Sister Margaret, but Stéphanie interrupted her.

Stéphanie had been polite and sweet to this woman, but the time for that was over. "My father is an employee of the bishop, or should I say, the bishop is a client of my father's. My husband is a friend of Bishop Ryan, and by extension, so am I. Did I mention he performed our wedding? In return he occasionally asks me to do him a favor... like tonight. It's up to you from this moment forward to determine how I flavor my report back to his holiness."

The room full of educators — nuns, deacons, and lay persons, went suddenly silent. Nobody had ever talked to Sister Margaret like that until now. "It appears that Missus Dubois would prefer to be at home with her husband, rather than stay here to do the lord's work."

"Petty quibbling over schedule slots is not the lord's work," said Stéphanie. "In fact, this arguing and bickering is impeding anything that could be considered the lord's work."

"Will that be in your report to Bishop Ryan?" asked Rob Donius. Rob was a priest at one time, who fell in love and is now a happily married lay teacher. He was also the best suited to be principal of anyone in the room.

"It will be the title of my report."

As Sister Margaret went back to her petty squabbling over frivolous reasons, Stéphanie went back to her memories.

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

Williamsville High School West, Amherst, NY

Artie spent most of his early life locked in a locker at Williamsville West High School. Billy didn't dare take him out except to lessons with Mister Mitchell and band practice. Mister Mitchell was one of those teachers who intensely loved teaching music, especially when he had a student with the passion and talent that Billy Dubois clearly had. He remembered asking Billy, "What would you prefer to study, classical clarinet, or jazz clarinet?" He loved Billy's answer.

"Both... but... is there more options that I can study too?"

Stan Mitchell then handed Billy a tenor saxophone and some sheet music for Body and Soul. "Thrill me." And the kid did! In half an hour, Billy Dubois figured out the keys, and was blowing into the mouthpiece perfectly. He was soon competing with Coleman Hawkins. Stan Mitchell had no intention of asking for the saxophone back. As long as Billy wanted to play it, he could keep it, and Billy was more than happy to play.

When he wasn't playing Artie or Hawk (the name he gave the saxophone) he was playing the harmonica he kept in his pocket. "That's a nice harmonica," said Stan.

"My girlfriend gave it to me for Hanukkah," said Billy between notes.

"I didn't know you were Jewish," said Stan, who himself was Jewish.

"I'm not."

"So, you have a Jewish girlfriend?"

Billy looked at Mr. Mitchell as if Stan had just asked him to bark at the moon. "No, she's catholic like me."

"And she gave you a harmonica for Hanukkah?"

"She was going to be out of town for Christmas," said Billy, like that answer actually made perfect sense. "It was the same Christmas that Benny died."

Mister Mitchell knew that story, his cheap clarinet that his mom found in a pawn shop was destroyed by vandals in school, and days later a package from Bishop Ryan appeared under the Dubois family Christmas tree and in it was Artie - a five hundred dollar Jean Paul clarinet and a note of apology signed by Bishop Frank Ryan himself and (under duress) Sister Mary Katherine.

Stan didn't hear that story from Billy; he heard it from Bishop Ryan. Stan had gone to the Youth Orchestra recital and was seated next to Bishop Ryan. When a marvelous young kid stood and played the opening clarinet solo in Rhapsody in Blue, Bishop Ryan said, "that's my boy, Stan. He's heading to Williamsville West next year. Do what you can with him."

Stan met Bishop Ryan for brandy after the concert, and they discussed William Dubois. "My lawyer's daughter has been friends with Master Dubois since kindergarten at Saint Lawrence. His folks don't have two nickels to rub together, and they have five children but this kid has something," said the Bishop. "I watched his audition. He walked out on stage and he owned them. He played Benny Goodman's Honeysuckle Rose without sheet music. And when he was done, he played it on a harmonica. His girlfriend is as cute as a button and they're going places."

"So you're handing me a savant and saying, don't break him?" asked Stan Mitchell.

"Exactly. Wait until you hear him play Honeysuckle Rose, you'll know what I mean."

<><><><><>

Stéphanie and Billy were walking through the halls of Williamsville West High School on a blustery winter day. He led her to the music room. "This is where I spend most of my time. Mister Mitchell has been tutoring me on clarinet and saxophone." He took a case off a shelf and opened it to reveal a tenor saxophone. "This is Hawk, he's named after Coleman Hawkins, one of the greatest saxophone players in the world."

"Isn't it hard to jump from a clarinet to a sax?" asked Stéphanie.

"Not really, the fingering is similar. I can even play flute if I want, but I don't like it as much as Hawk and Artie." He raised the saxophone to his lips and played a smoky, sexy rendition of Blue Christmas.

"Oh Billy!" gushed Stéphanie as she sat down in a folding chair and let Billy serenade her. It was beautiful, but sad, because she was heading to Snowmass, Colorado, with her parents and her sister tomorrow morning. He played so beautifully that it made her want to do more than just kiss. She's been reading, and it all sounds so exciting. The other girls groan and wrinkle their noses at the thought of a man going down on them, but Stéphanie's fondest dream is to wake up with Billy's tongue exploring places that would make the other girls mad with envy.

"Mister Mitchell taught me something cool," said Billy, and he went over to a control panel and hit a few buttons, then the saxophone Blue Christmas he just played was being played back on the speakers. While that played, he raised Artie to his lips, and he played a sweet accompaniment.

Stéphanie watched her man with tear-filled eyes. He was growing taller and more muscular. He was still a touch shorter than her, but that was okay; in his own unique way, he was the tallest, most handsome man on earth to Stéphanie. He seemed to be oblivious of his station in life, and once she asked him, "Doesn't it bother you that you're not rich?"

They were trespassing on convent property, having a picnic on the shore of Ellicott Creek. He had his little brother Kevin and his little sister Denice with them. While Kevin and Denice explored the edge of the wide creek, Billy leaned over and gave her a kiss and then said, "What more could I want?"

Stéphanie had no response to that. She learned when they were kids, he had a vastly different view of the world. Right now, he was spinning a spell with a saxophone and a clarinet, and when that was over; he played it back and joined in with the harmonica. It was the harmonica she gave him last Christmas, the one that was made in the key of A. When that was over he played it back and began singing to her. He knelt and held her hand as he sang Blue Christmas. Her eyes filled with tears. She's never heard him sing before. In fact, he once said he only sang in church or on very special occasions.

He didn't have a powerful voice. It was like his personality, soft and sweet. His saxophone and clarinet could be as powerful as he wanted, but that's probably because it says fortissimo on the sheet music. When the song was done, he fiddled around with the soundboard, and she heard her phone chirp. She looked, and he had sent an .mp3 of the song to her. "That's so you can hear me while you're skiing next week." Then the song played back, and he turned the volume down. "I'm recording, but for other purposes."

He walked over to where Stéphanie was sitting and knelt down before her. "For the past twelve years you were there for me, always at my side, teaching, guiding, caring for me. I love you Stéphanie Powell, and I want the world to know it." He opened a ring box, which held a delicate gold ring with a tiny diamond. "I know it's not much, but I saved every penny for the past year so I had more than a kiss to give you for Hanukkah this year. This ring says I love you Stéphanie, and if you want to call it a promise ring I will hold to that promise and be the man you deserve." He swallowed hard. This is where it can all come apart. With a trembling voice he said, "If you want to call it an engagement ring, I would be honored to be the man you choose, and will wait until you say the time is right for us to join in matrimony."

"Yes!" she squealed. "Yes! You know the answer will always be yes. Put it on me," she said, her voice trembling with excitement. His hands were shaking as much as hers as he put the tiny ring on her, and when they kissed it was like the first time all over again. The spark, the passion, it was there and intensified, this was their partner for life, and nobody could take that from them. "Merry Christmas darling," said Stéphanie.

"Merry Christmas sweetheart," he said in reply.

"Daddy is coming to pick us up," said Stéphanie. "Let's get your stuff together for Christmas break."

"This is a public school," said Billy. "They call it a 'mid-winter break.'"

"Winter started today," said Stéphanie. "Midwinter happens in February."

"That's Valentine's Day break," said Billy as he packed up Artie and Hawk.

"You mean SAINT Valentines Day?" said Stéphanie as she picked up his backpack. "You sound like you're in the swing of things here in public school land."

"I hate it here. If it wasn't for Mister Mitchell, Mister Bonaventura, and Coach Dawkins, I would have dropped out by now. I would have walked on day two."

Stéphanie nodded sadly. Poor Billy was having a rough time with a bunch of rich kids who loved to torment smaller, timid students. They taunted Billy and called him a retard, but when he made the swim team, their tormenting became constant. Billy found refuge in Mister Mitchell's music room. Mister Bonaventura's graphic arts room, and Coach Dawkins' swimming. Billy didn't want to join the team; he just wanted to swim, but Coach Dawkins found that he was a good fifty-meter sprinter, so he convinced Billy to try it and Billy ended up bumping Lester Warwick the Third from the starting lineup.

"Daddy just texted me, he's pulling into the campus," said Stéphanie, looking at her phone.

"Mom can't wait," said Billy. "She loves big dinners." It was decided between the families that the pre-flight Christmas celebrations would be held at Dave and Sue Dubois' house, that way there was no clean-up needed for Emmett and Janet before they rocketed off to Snowmass.

They got to the side entrance of the building, and Billy stopped Stéphanie and pulled her close. "You sure that's an engagement ring?"

"Yes!"

"Then come here fiancée," and he pulled her in for a kiss. He held her tight, his fingers wound in her luxurious, thick blond hair as he kissed her more aggressively than ever before.

"Oh my!" she gasped. "What got into you?"

"You. I can't wait another year and a half!" They had agreed that once they graduated and were both over eighteen, they would explore each other more sensuously.

"I can't either, but I will," said Stéphanie, "and so will you."

"I know," said Billy, "But God how I want you!" He picked up his music cases and his backpack and held the door open for her. "You know, your dad is going to ask you about the ring."

"He won't notice it," said Stéphanie as they stepped out into the frosty cold air. The sky was partly cloudy, and the temperature was well below freezing. There was only an inch or two of snow on the ground, and it was frozen hard.

"He knows, I wouldn't dream of proposing to daddy's little girl without asking for his blessing first."

"What did he say?"

"He said that we can be engaged all we want but he's not going to let you marry me before we're both eighteen."

"There he is, he just turned off of Main Street," said Stéphanie. Her stomach was in knots of fear and excitement. Engaged! She had never felt so grown-up in her life!

"RETARD!" came a shout, which ruined the atmosphere.

"What was that?" cried Stéphanie.

"Ignore them. They're the hospitality committee," said Billy as he urged Stéphanie toward the driveway where her father could pick them up.

"RETARD! YOU TOOK LESTER'S PLACE IN THE LINEUP!" Stéphanie looked and there were three large boys, probably seniors, and they were advancing on her and Billy like a squadron of destroyers.

"Just keep walking," said Billy quietly to Stéphanie. Then he turned to look and see who it was. "Fuck," he groaned. It was Geno Pavoni, Rudolph Steinback, and Lester Warwick. All were big, ugly, and loaded with plenty of Daddy's Money, and they were bearing down on Billy and Stéphanie. "Go, get to your dad's car...ugh!" A kick landed square in Billy's lower back, sending him sprawling; his music cases went flying. They circled around Billy and started kicking. He curled up in a fetal ball as the kicks and punches rained down on him.

"Leave Billy alone!" shrieked Stéphanie. Then, between the kicks, Billy heard her screams change to, "Let go of me!"

Billy opened an eye and saw that Gino Pavoni had ahold of Stéphanie and was groping her. Billy didn't remember getting up and shoving Lester Warwick out of his way, but he remembered getting Gino in a chokehold that he learned from watching wrestling with the sound turned down as he practiced his clarinet. "Let her go!" Billy shouted into Gino's ear. "Let her go or I'll snap your neck!"

Gino wasn't smart, but he was a coward, and he released Stéphanie before an adrenaline-amped Billy broke his neck. "Stéphanie! Go!" cried Billy. She backed away in terror, then screamed when she saw a knife in Lester Warwick's hand. Billy only released Gino when he felt the knife blade jab into his side. He tried to pull away, but that's when the beating started in earnest. Kicks, punches, hits with some kind of club or tree branch, then blissful unconsciousness.

The next thing Billy noticed was the sound of sirens wailing, angry shouts, and Stéphanie's weeping. "Are you alright?" asked Billy.

"The ambulance is on its way," said a voice Billy couldn't identify.

"Stéphanie! What's wrong?" Somebody was pushing hard on his side.

"Billy relax, stop moving around." It was Emmett, Stéphanie's father; he was pushing on Billy's side.

"Why does Stéphanie need an ambulance?"

"It's not for Stéphanie, it's for you, now stop moving, you have a wound and I'm trying to stop the bleeding."

"No, no ambulance. It's too much money," groaned Billy. He tried to get up, but something was wrong with his right leg. Every time he moved it, excruciating pain shot up the length of his leg.

"Stop!" demanded Stéphanie's dad, Emmett. "You've been stabbed, and I think they broke your ankle. Don't move until the EMTs let you move."

Billy looked up at Stéphanie; her beautiful face was swimming in and out of focus. "Can you get Hawk and Artie?"

<><><><><>

Billy woke up in a bed, and he felt there was someone else in the bed with him. He turned and smiled; it was Kevin, his tiny roommate. When Keven gets scared or sad, he climbs into bed with his hero, Billy, and the terrors go away. "You're awake!" said his mother, Sue. "We were afraid you were going to sleep through Christmas."

"What day is it?" asked Billy.

"It's still the twenty second," said Stéphanie, as she leaned in through the crowd around Billy's bed.

"You should be on your way to Snowmass!" said Billy. His throat was dry and sore; his voice was a strange croaking.

"Not now. Daddy is working to bring charges and a civil suit against those three."

"Ah HEM!" said Sue. "I believe there's something we need to discuss?"

Billy smiled at Stéphanie and then said, "I'm getting so tired, I need to take a..."

"Oh no, you don't get out of it that easy mister. What is with this engagement thing?"

"Engagement? Who's getting engaged?" said Billy's younger sister Karen.

"Stéphanie and I are engaged," said Billy. "We're going to get married sometime after we graduate."

"No fair!" said Karen with a pout. "Billy gets to have all the fun."

"It's going to be years before we marry, and she may change her mind," said Billy. "It's her right to do so."

"Me and Kevin are going to live with you!" demanded Denice. She and her older sister, Mary Grace, climbed on the bed, but Denice's knee hit Kevin's right foot. A jolt of pain tore through Kevin. It was so severe that everything seemed to have stopped. The pain was so excruciating that he could barely breathe. His eyes were open, but he couldn't register what he saw. When the jolt of pain abated, he was left shuddering and sweating profusely.

Stéphanie's concerned face swam into focus, and she was talking, but the sounds she made were not words to Billy. He had to concentrate and focus on what she said. "Honey, what's wrong, what happened?"

"My right ankle," he gasped finally.

"The nurse is here," said Stéphanie. "Here, hold my hand." She mopped his sweating brow as the nurse touched and felt around Billy's swollen ankle. She twisted something, and Billy's body tightened up from the pain. His grip on Stéphanie's hand crushed her hand, then suddenly he went limp; he fainted from the pain.

"We're going down for more x-rays," said the nurse as she prepared Billy's bed for transport by raising the rails. An old guy in scrubs showed up, and he wheeled Billy out of the room. Ten minutes later, a nurse led a weeping three-year-old Kevin back into the room where Sue cuddled her weeping "home alone baby."

<><><><><>

"What do you want for Hanukkah?" Stéphanie asked softly. Billy had just gotten out of surgery and was still groggy.

"They're going to kill me," groaned Billy. "They're going to kill me before my music is done." He was rushed into orthopedic surgery, and they literally bolted his ankle together after being stomped by Rudy Steinbach. He had tormented Billy since he had started going to West High School.

"No, your music is not going to be done," said Stéphanie softly. "You and Artie are going to play for me until we're old and gray." She took out her phone and played the last MP3 file that Billy had sent her. It was his three-instrument version of Blue Christmas with him singing, but in the foreground you could hear his proposal to Stéphanie. She leaned close and whispered in his ear, "I do, Billy. Now and for all time, in sickness and in health. I love you Mister Dubois."

Billy relaxed and sank deeper into the thin mattress. "I love you Missus Dubois."

Stéphanie placed a wrapped package in his bandaged hands. "Happy Hanukkah darling." He looked at the package and knew what it was. He just had to open it, but his fingers hurt; everything hurt. "Do you want me to open it for you?"

"I'm sorry... yes please."

She unwrapped the box and opened it slightly and put it in Billy's hands. "A harmonica for Hanukkah."

"This one is key of G."

"Would I get harmonica's for Hanukkah if I were Jewish?" asked Billy with a smile as he inspected his gift. His mind was awash with what songs would sound best in the key of G.

"I don't think so," said Stéphanie. "I think you get gefilte fish."

<><><><><>

The Williamsville West High School band never sounded better. They played the old graduation classics. Pomp and Circumstance, and We May Never Pass This Way Again. The excitement for Stéphanie happened when Mister Mitchell, the conductor of the school orchestra, stepped aside and a musician in cap and gown got up and conducted the ensemble. Stéphanie leaned over to Sue Dubois and said, "it's Sweet Caroline!"

"I know," said Billy's mother. "He's been practicing for weeks."

"I never heard him practice that," said Stéphanie. She suddenly felt left out. She loves that song, and Billy didn't play it for her?

"It's his graduation gift to you," said Sue as the band's playing grew more energetic.

As the instrumental arrangement swelled, the graduate directing the band spun around to face the audience. When he did that, Sue and Dave Dubois raised their hands as Stéphanie squealed, "It's Billy!" Seeing Sue and Bill's hands, Billy found Stéphanie in the audience. He grabbed the microphone and began to sing...

Hands, touching hands, reaching out

Touching me, touching you

Sweet Caroline

Good times never seem so good

The entire audience sang along with the musical savant, who was singing to only one person in the audience. The song ended with wild applause, and Billy returned to his seat in the band. Then it was time for the long, droning, easily forgettable speeches.

Stéphanie was worried about their future, and Billy was oddly confident about it. The weeks and months of agonizing over what they were going to do when Stéphanie went to college came down to one option. It was a long shot; many people try, but most fail. "Are you ok dear?" asked Sue.

"Just worried about Billy's audition. If he doesn't make it, what will he do for four years?"

"I could use his help around the house," said his mother. "With Karen and Mary Grace in their teens, it's getting crazy."

"You're just trying to cheer me up," said Stéphanie sadly.

"Of course, that's what I'm here for dear." When Stéphanie groaned, Sue patted her on the shoulder and said, "He has never failed an audition, not even last year when he was beaten up so badly he had to audition for the youth orchestra in a wheelchair, he did it."

Stéphanie nodded. She had pushed him onto the big empty stage with a row of musical geniuses there to judge him. She was terrified for him, but Billy just settled back in his wheelchair and knocked their socks off. But this audition terrified her. It was conducted online, and there were nearly two dozen people on the Zoom call. Billy played numerous pieces of music on the saxophone and the clarinet, and the harmonica. They asked him many questions about playing in a band, which he had only experienced in school bands, and they asked him about playing instruments like the oboe and the bassoon.

Finally, the canned speeches were over. When Billy was called up to receive his diploma and a certificate of Musician of the Year, Principal Greer held on to him. "William, I want you to know I received a letter about you from Air Force Colonel Frank Martin, do you know him?" Billy nervously shook his head no. "His letter states that you impressed him and his staff at your audition so much that you have been accepted into the United States Air Force Airmen of Note Swing-Jazz band on completion of basic training."

Billy got wild applause for that, and Stéphanie was the loudest and happiest of all. "I thought you didn't want him to join the Air Force."

"No, I don't want him working on airplanes," said Stéphanie as she sat down. "He could get hurt." She looked at her future mother-in-law and smiled. "If college doesn't work out, I could become an Air Force wife."

<><><><><>

It was a late Tuesday night, and Stéphanie and her roommate, Donna Verio, were studying for an exam to be held at the end of the week before semester break started. Stéphanie was in her second year at George Mason University, working toward her degree in academic management, a field of study that Bishop Ryan was eager to implement on the schools under his control. She was promised a job under Bishop Ryan if she graduated with a B average. Eager to move home with Billy, she was hammering home an A+ average and planned to get a master's degree from the University at Buffalo once she got settled back home.

"Is Billy alright?" asked Donna without looking up from her notes.

"Why do you ask," said Stéphanie as she entered notes in her laptop.

"You haven't called him in a week. You usually call him every night."

"Oh, he's busy. The Airmen of Note are incredibly busy this time of year, they're doing seven shows a week with Christmas and New Years Day off. They play the New Years Eve bash at the White House this year."

"Wow," said Donna. "How is he holding up?"

"He loves it, the more work the better. It's when he's alone and there's nothing to do that's toughest on him."

When there was not enough going on to keep him busy was when he called, certain that he was losing his sanity. He believes his fortune isn't real, that Stéphanie isn't real, and that the Airmen of Note don't really want him. Fortunately, it's easy to talk him down. Often, just changing the subject will do the trick.

"Remember when you walked in on me when I was changing?" asked Stéphanie.

"Yeah, that's the first time I ever saw your breasts," said Billy, surprised at the turn the conversation took.

"I know," said Stéphanie in a breathy, sexy voice. "It's the first time a man touched my breasts. Do you know how long I waited topless, waiting for you to come through that door?"

"They're so pretty," said Billy, now self-conscious about talking to Stéphanie about her tits. He was pretty sure it wasn't polite, but it was a lot of fun. "I can't wait until we're married."

"I think my breasts are bigger now, you'll have to tell me when we can get together." And that's all it takes to bring Billy back in off the ledge. The very best part is that he does the same thing to her. She'll call him and say, "I'm not getting this stuff, it's just so complex and bizarre."

"You said the same thing about Hawk, you couldn't understand how I thought it was easy then we sat down and worked out the how your fingers should sit... it's like when we were on the island in your duck pond wondering if we could do nude sunbathing on the island."

"We never did that!" laughed Stéphanie.

"We wanted to?"

"You are so silly... we never did such a thing... but now I want to try it." And that's all it takes.

A knock on the door broke Stéphanie out of her daydream... night dream, it was ten thirty, who could be knocking at this hour? She got up and pulled on a robe because all she was wearing was a babydoll nightie, and Donna was wearing even less. She tossed a robe to Donna, and when she pulled on the robe, Stéphanie opened the door. "Roger? What do you want at this hour?" It was just her student advisor, Roger Vargas, but she didn't put the pepper spray back on the shelf next to the door. She's been looking for an excuse to spray him.

"Can I come in?"

"No. It's after ten, nobody comes in."

He smiled and said, "I heard that if there was a big band playing that you wanted to go dancing."

"I did mention a big band, yes. Why?"

"The Airmen of Note are playing at the Palladium on Saturday, and I hear you're into that rah-rah patriotic bullshit."

"You mean young men and women with bigger balls than yours? Yes. So what?"

"I have tickets!" He showed two tickets to Stéphanie, and she quickly snatched one out of his hand.

"I'm driving. Don't be late." And she slammed the door closed.

<><><><><>

The Palladium was a huge nightclub in Washington, DC. It was retro-elegant and looked like the fancy nightclubs in the gangster movies of the 1930s. Stéphanie was wearing an elegant burgundy dress that showed plenty of cleavage. "So, do you know this band?" asked Roger.

"I know a few people. Their conductor, Chief Briggs is a friend... which reminds me..." She pulled a small notebook and pen out of her clutch purse, wrote something, folded the note and addressed it to Chief Master Sergeant Derryl Briggs and said, "Would you mind putting this on the conductor's music stand for me? Thank you very much." She gave Roger a sweet smile, and he got up and did it. Her mother, Janet, taught Stéphanie how to bend men to her will. Mom's instructions work on everyone but Billy; they're not needed for him. He will move heaven and earth for her, just because he's in love with her.

Finally, the band took the stage and started with Glenn Miller's St. Louis Blues March. Because he's the lowest-ranking airman in the band, Billy was in the rear, and he was playing tenor sax. He had an alto sax and two clarinets, an A and his B-flat clarinet, Artie.

"These guys are incredible!" said Roger, but Stéphanie didn't hear him; she was concentrating on Billy. She knew every song, every note he played because they had spent so much time together during her semester break, and she had been a page turner for him. Then, Chief Briggs introduced the band members one by one. "On lead trumpet, Master Sergeant Tom Harris!" they would stand and play a few notes louder as he called on them. He introduced everyone, and all were non-commissioned officers until he got to Billy "And batting clean-up, on tenor sax, alto sax and two flavors of clarinet, Senior Airman Bill Dubois!" Billy stood and played the melody line of the current song on harmonica, which caused a lot of laughter. He sat back down and picked up Artie and fell right back into the song.

A lot of folks were dancing to the slower numbers, and Roger leaned over and said, "Care to dance?"

"Not yet."

"Will you dance tonight?"

"Of course," she said and gave him a smile he couldn't understand.

"Airman! Front and center! And bring that licorice stick!"

"Yes chief!" said Billy, and he hurried up to Chief Master Sergeant Briggs.

"Play us some Christmas music Airman!"

"Yes Chief!"

"And make it festive!"

"Yes Chief!" Then Billy lifted his clarinet and began playing Winter Weather with all the style and skill of Benny Goodman. Master Sergeant Jo Anne Pisselli stepped up next to him and began singing the Peggy Lee part of the old seasonal tune. The band was jamming in the style and with the energy of Benny Goodman's orchestra.

I love the winter weather

Because the two of us can get together

There's nothing sweeter and finer

When it's nice and cold, I can hold...

The audience went wild when they were done. Jo Anne and Billy turned to each other and shook hands and headed back to their seats. "Hold up Airman!"

"Yes Chief?"

"Why don't you show them all why you named your clarinet Artie."

"Yes Chief!" Billy turned to the band and, using conductor's signals, got them vamping with a big band swing beat, then turned to the audience and played the Artie Shaw classic Begin the Beguine. Stéphanie had heard that song a hundred times, but with the full force of the Airmen of Note it was incredible. Stéphanie wondered why he turned the band over to Billy for Begin the Beguine. Billy was mostly conducting the band, urging the brass section to greater sound; his enthusiasm had Harold, who played the tenor sax bridge, near laughter. And that high D major at the end — Billy hit it dead on! Her heart swelled with every note. It's time; she knew it. As the final perfect note rang through the Palladium, Chief Briggs returned to his station and gestured to Stéphanie.

"You're in love with that Chief Briggs guy aren't you?" asked Roger.

"No, don't be silly," said Stéphanie. "He's just a friend." Then she got up and started walking toward the bandstand. As she walked, the crowd rose, applauding the performance, and Billy stepped aside so the band could take their bows.

"Outstanding job airman, go dance with your wife," said Chief Briggs, and he took Billy's clarinet and passed it back to Billy's seat. Billy turned, and there was Stéphanie. She looked beautiful in the gown she wore.

"Yes chief!" and as the band began to play a sweet love song, he took Stéphanie in his arms. "You are so beautiful in that gown," gushed Billy. Then he looked worried. "Should you be showing that much boob?"

"Filter!" admonished Stéphanie. Billy really doesn't have a filter; whatever pops into his mind comes out somehow.

"I'm sorry."

"I wore this for you, so you could see," said Stéphanie. "Do you like?"

"I really like."

"And you were so incredible conducting the band, it was amazing."

"The Chief asked me to be their tweaker." A 'tweaker' is the band's slang for a coach.

"What section did he ask you to coach?"

Billy looked at her as if she were confused. "The band."

"You're coaching the entire band? You've only been with them two years."

"Chief says I have an ear. The guys like me, and they listen to my suggestions. Sometimes I direct practices when the chief is busy."

"You are amazing," sighed Stéphanie.

"No, I'm just a senior airman. Chief says I may make staff sergeant next year."

"Billy... I think I'm ready."

"Ready?" He thought she implied that she was ready to leave, and his eyes filled with tears of confusion.

"Ready, to get married. I can't wait any longer. I want to be Missus William Dubois."

"Tonight?" he said eagerly.

"Not quite, how about June sixteenth?"

"June sixteenth..." something was happening that day... what was it? Billy puzzled over the question to Stéphanie's amusement. If it were anyone else, he would be teasing her, but with Billy, if it wasn't music, the data of day-to-day life was stored in the mish-mash of Billy's memory.

"That's your birthday, silly," said Stéphanie.

"Flag day! It's Flag day... no wait... that's the fourteenth... my birthday?" Stéphanie watched as the realization spread over him... "We're getting married!" he cried, and he picked her up, and they spun around.

"Billy!" she tried to admonish him, but she was laughing too much, and he was giving her rapid-fire kisses.

"Wait! I have something for you." They stopped dancing while he reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring box. "I think this one is better." He opened the ring box, and it contained the engagement ring she always wanted. It wasn't sumptuous, a plain gold band with a single diamond, pure and perfect, like Billy's love for her.

The realization hit her like a shock wave of joy. "Billy! How... how did you know?"

"You don't like this? You told me that you loved it."

"That was years ago!" They were wandering down Main Street in Williamsville, and they stopped in at Mister Wetzel's jewelry store and dreamed about the perfect wedding like all young lovers do.

"Uh huh. If it doesn't fit Mister Wetzel will fix it. Mister Wetzel said as they get older a girls fingers will get..."

"Don't say it," warned Stéphanie.

"Well your boobs certainly got..."

"Shut up and kiss me."

They kissed passionately on the dance floor and only stopped when they heard Chief Briggs clearing his throat over the sound system. "I have to go to work," Billy said, and he hurried over to the bandstand where the Chief teased him a bit.

"Any reason for being late?" the chief asked.

"We're getting married, chief."

"Congratulations," said the chief as the crowd applauded. "Now get back to work!"

"Yes chief!" He turned around to the band and gave them the high sign, and they started into a smoky rendition of A String of Pearls. Billy directed the band for a few bars, then Chief Briggs pointed to his seat and Billy returned to the band, and Chief took over directing.

Meanwhile, Stéphanie returned to her seat with her head in the clouds. She turned to Roger and dreamily said, "He said yes!"

"Let's see that ring," said Roger, and she held out her hand to show him the ring. "That's about a karat... nice rock."

"I can't believe he remembered," sighed Stéphanie.

"You know, I've been dumped dozens of ways, but running off to get married while on a date with me is tops."

"He forgot his own birthday," said Stéphanie. "I had to remind him."

"When?"

"Just now!"

"No, when is his birthday? And why does it matter?"

"That's when we're getting married!" she almost screamed. "I've been waiting sixteen years for this!"

After the show, Stéphanie took Roger 'backstage' with her, and she was greeted by a round of applause from the band when she entered the back room where the Airmen of Note were unwinding after the show. One by one they hugged her and congratulated her on landing everyone's kid brother, Billy. "Where's the wedding?" cried Jo Anne, the vocalist. "And when is it?"

"It's going to be on my dad's front yard, June sixteenth."

"Is your dad cool with a bunch of hep-cats hanging around his digs?" asked Chief Briggs, who was now wearing a pair of sunglasses and kicked back with a drink.

"He won't mind; he's going to be freaking out anyhow. What is one more thing?"

Roger was stunned. He didn't realize that Stéphanie was familiar with the entire band, but he watched as 'his date' laughed and hugged with each member. "That was quite a show you fellows put on, sir," said Roger to Chief Briggs.

"Derryl, is fine, and thank you. We had a lot of fun tonight. Good audience and they caught on to the comedy bits."

"Oh, like when Billy was conducting?"

"Pretty much, except Airman Dubois is a savant. He knows the music inside and out, he knows the writers intentions, he knows each instrument except the drums and guitar, but he knows what he wants out of them. It may have looked like I turned the band over to a young airman, but William is a peer. The only thing I have that he doesn't have is experience. When he gets that experience and is comfortable with it, there's nothing that will stop him."

Billy sat down next to Chief Briggs and smiled. "That was fun, when's the next one?"

"Tomorrow, at the Hemlock Club... don't ask, I didn't name it," Chief Briggs was getting used to predicting when Billy would ask questions he couldn't answer.

"There you are!" said Stéphanie. She sat down on Billy's lap and gave him a kiss. "You and the band were incredible tonight," she said breathily, her eyes glistening with passion. The rest of the room faded away, and Stéphanie and Billy were in their own universe now. Seventeen years of friendship and caring were coming to fruition. As their lips parted again, she said, "Oh, I almost forgot!" She reached down into her cleavage and pulled out a slim package wrapped in Christmas paper.

"Can I open it?" asked Billy. It was warm from its proximity to Stéphanie's heart all evening.

"Of course, silly! Happy Hanukkah."

He unwrapped the package and found a Hohner Marine Band harmonica. "In B-flat! I can't wait to see how this sounds against Artie!"

Back on earth Roger was watching, and he turned to Chief Briggs and said, "A harmonica? For Hanukkah?"

The chief just shook his head and said, "Don't ask."

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On stage, Billy became Bill Dubois, and he put his talents to work and played in the jazz clubs of Buffalo, Niagara Falls, and Toronto. Armed with Artie, the clarinet he received from Bishop Ryan, and Hawk, the saxophone he got from Mister Mitchell, he began making a name for himself and his band. They barely make enough money at a jazz club to pay for gas, but the albums they've been selling and the streaming money made it all worthwhile. It was when Billy got a big band together was when the money came rolling in. Nostalgic boomers loved their big bands, and their passion spread to the following generations. A big band could demand big money, and with Bill Dubois out front doing the Benny Goodman thing, magic happened.

Occasionally, Billy was asked to perform with another artist, which didn't always work out. Billy wasn't a perfectionist; he knew that music could be disjointed and sloppy and still be entertaining, but there were limits. Any temperamental artist who thought Billy was some idiot with a famous name blowing a horn had a real awakening when Bill Dubois told them where to fix their sound or he was leaving and taking his name with him.

He looked around the kitchen for a clock. He's been living in this house since he got out of the USAF; he should know where the clocks were... there it is... Stéphanie should be home from work soon. He began setting the table in the grand dining room. His sense of balance told him he should put a setting at each end of the main table, but his memory told him that Stéphanie would freak out all over him if he did that again. He placed a setting at the head of the table and another next to it.

Billy checked the roast; it was on time. He took it out of the oven and covered it to rest. He left the potatoes in the oven because both he and Stéphanie love overdone baked potatoes. With that crispy skin and fluffy white flesh, it's perfection in a root vegetable. He was stirring the gravy when Stéphanie's sister Brenda strolled into the kitchen.

Brenda looked a lot like Stéphanie, but there's no way that Billy could confuse them. Stéphanie had a much nicer body and much nicer tits. Brenda was on the chunky side, her ass was wide and flat, and her legs were thick and lumpy. She was always angry for some reason; her face just radiated anger, and the only time she wasn't scowling at Billy was when she had a nasty smirk on her face. That was when she was trying to anger him.

"I refuse to believe that you and my sister were virgins when you got married," she said with a smirk.

"We were," said Billy. "It was a technicality, but we were."

"What do you mean?"

How could he explain it to her? If he could put it to music, the sight of Stéphanie's naked body would be a song to taunt the angels down from heaven. When they were youngsters, they would play in Ellicott Creek in their underpants, and they saw each other's bodies, five and six years old, laughing and splashing in their BVDs, and it stopped when they were seven. Billy wasn't ready for the changes that would occur over the next fourteen years. That night he gave her their true engagement ring; she stayed in his room overnight, and they made up for lost time.

The word "blossoming" failed miserably to describe the beauty that came over Stéphanie. Round, perfect breasts, with half-dollar-size areolas, and pencil eraser size nipples, and he watched as her areola crinkled and her nipples swelled. Her waist was narrow and her hips round. A patch of dark blond hair hid the treasures he had only read about.

It confused him when she fell to her knees and her mouth closed around his hard, throbbing cock. "Lover! No! I'm going to..." He tried to pull away, but she grabbed his hips and kept his cock in her mouth, gently suckling and urging on the sperm that fountained from him. He was so embarrassed he was nearly in tears when she stood and asked what was wrong. "I didn't mean to do that, I'm so sorry!"

"No honey, I wanted you to do that."

"Really? Wasn't it gross?"

She put her hands on his cheeks and looked in his eyes and said, "It was a gift from you, how could it be gross?"

"I want to do the same thing for you but..." He looked down in shame.

"But what? You can tell me honey."

"Darla Hansen said it's disgusting when someone puts their tongue there on a girl."

"That's because Darla Hansen is a lesbian. She said it was disgusting when a man does it. Personally, I can't wait for you to kiss my pussy." Stéphanie was true to her word. She lay down on the bed, spread her legs and gave Billy a guided tour of her vagina. Then she coached Billy to bring her to a screaming orgasm, and from that weekend they would meet and practice for their honeymoon and became quite adept at 69.

Billy smiled at Brenda as he checked the vegetables. "We fooled around but we didn't go all the way until June sixteenth." He smiled, remembering the feeling of her tongue on his cock for the first time, then not long later, her fingers tangled in his hair, cumming for the first time on a man's tongue.

"I hope you don't mind if I don't believe you."

Billy shrugged. She can believe what she wants, and she usually believes the worst. "I thought you were married," said Billy. "Shouldn't you be with your husband?"

Brenda ignored that question and sneered at him. "You've been living here with mom and dad since you left the only full time job you ever had."

"You mean the Air Force band? Stéphanie and I agreed, one hitch and out."

"And I suppose you never thought of re-enlisting," said Brenda with a scowl.

"Never. They asked and even offered a reenlistment bonus but Stéphanie and I wanted to start a family, so we moved home, she's working for the bishop, and I have my own band now."

"So shouldn't you buy a house to raise this family you said you wanted to start?" Brenda's sneer of self-satisfaction was inviting a punch in the face, but Billy would never dream of that. He was busy with the gravy.

"We did buy one," said Billy. He dipped a crust of bread into the gravy and tasted it... perfect!

"Well? Where is it?" demanded Brenda.

Billy gave her a look of pity. The poor woman was so confused! "You're standing in it."

"WHAT?" she squawked. "You bought my house?"

"Um... no. We bought your parent's house. They're still staying here and your dad is managing my career, but we should have the house paid off year after next."

With a squawk of anger, Brenda stormed out of the house through the door to the garage. Billy shook his head and turned the fire down on the meals, then checked the house to make sure nobody else was there. His little brother Kevin thinks the main house is his playhouse and will walk over from his parents' house to shoot pool in the billiards room or play X-box in the media room without telling anyone. Usually his partners in crime, Denice and Mary Grace, were with him.

Finding nobody else in the house, Billy went back to the parlor and eased himself into an easy chair and opened a book and started to read. The parlor was so comfortable with the big Christmas tree decorated in brilliant colors, a Lionel train underneath the tree ticking off laps as it went, a fire crackling in the fireplace, and the Christmas album he practically had memorized on the stereo - Bill Dubois, Christmas at Kleinhans.

Billy fought the urge to nap; he hadn't napped in years. He's terrified that if he did, he'd wake up somewhere else, on the music room floor after a beating at Williamsville West, or in an ER room after a beating, and this all has been a dream. He fought the pangs of sleep until he couldn't fight any longer and slipped into sleep...

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The wedding was perfection come to life. The mothers, Janet Powell and Sue Dubois, put together a ceremony and reception that would stun the upper elite of Western New York for years to come. On June 14th, the band had a gig in Washington, DC, for Flag Day, and as soon as it was over, Billy hopped on an Uber to Reagan International, and JetBlue took him to Buffalo International. Another Uber took him to his parents' house on Mill Street in Williamsville. He crept in carefully, so as not to wake up Milly. Milly was a black lab, and she was a great watchdog if she was awake at the time of the break-in.

The next morning, he woke up, and his parents' house was in an uproar. Sixteen-year-old Karen was in charge of the "Kids," feeding them, making them do their chores, and complaining the entire time. "This is your fault for getting married!" Dad was at work, and Mom was at "Aunt Janet's" house preparing for the wedding, and Karen couldn't go anywhere with all these KIDS!

"Ok kid-o's," called Billy. "Let's get your chores done then we're going swimming!"

"Yay!" and in record time the beds were made, the trash put out, carpets vacuumed, and Milly was fed. When everyone was ready, Billy loaded them all up in dad's ancient Chevy van (the one you shouldn't drive at night or when it's raining because the headlights and windshield wipers don't work) and hauled them all off to the Powell's house. "Do you have a license?" complained Karen.

"Yes, of course," said Billy.

"When's the last time you drove?"

"When I got my license." He doesn't drive because the traffic intimidates him. He leaves it up to Stéphanie if there is driving to be done. They pulled into the Powell's house, and it was a beehive of activity. A white tent was going up, chairs were being set up, and the bandstand had arrived. While it looked like the pond and island took up the whole front yard, there was a lot of room between the pond and the house, and on the south (back) side of the house was an enormous yard that Billy had only seen once. That's where the wedding ceremony was going to be held.

Billy got out of the van and grabbed his sisters and brother before they could run off. "You guys are going to stay in the backyard and if anyone asks for your help you say yes and do what they want. Got it?"

"Got it!" cried Kevin and Denice. They were always the best of the five kids.

"Kevin is coming with me to get haircuts, then when I get back we dress Kevin up like a person and take wedding pictures."

"Awwww," groaned Kevin, but the others, Karen, Mary Grace, and Denice, ran off to the swimming pool and changed in the pool house. As they did that, Kevin and Billy walked up Main Street and stepped into Fran Morehouse's Barbershop.

"Hey boys, what will it be? Mohawk? High and tight? Brush cut?"

Kevin cringed at the haircut choices, but Billy was oddly calm. "I'm getting married tomorrow Frank, make me look like a million bucks, and make my mini-me groomsman here look like a couple hundred bucks."

"Will do, hop on up here buckeroo. We'll trim back this wild growth and get them ears lowered." Kevin slowly climbed into the barber's chair. Like his older brother, Kevin was a late bloomer, and he still needed a booster to get a proper haircut.

"What's a buckeroo?" asked Kevin as Frank "Fran" put the apron on him.

"That's what the cowboys called their buddies, instead of saying dude."

"What's wrong with dude?" asked Kevin.

"To a genuine cowboy that's an insult," said Fran as he sized up the job ahead of him. It's been a while since Kevin got a check-ride in a barber's chair.

"It is?" asked Kevin. "An insult?" He looked over at Billy for confirmation. He always turned to big brother, and this time Billy was nodding in agreement with Fran. "But, dude means cool!"

"It used to mean beginner," said Billy as he leafed through a Field & Stream. "Someone who couldn't ride a horse or shoot a gun was a dude." For some reason, that really got to Kevin. The hair cut seemed to take forever but Mister Morehouse gave him his very first neck shave so he got to experience the warm lather of shaving cream and the scrape-scrape-scrape of a sharp straight razor, and when he hopped off the chair, he was smelling of bay rum. Very masculine!

"Getting married to that pretty Powell girl?" asked Fran as he put the big apron on Billy.

"Yep, Stéphanie. Block taper in the back please."

"How long have you been dating?" asked Fran.

"Oh, I don't know, she keeps track of that... uh... seventeen years I think. Somewhere around there."

"Seventeen? You couldn't be out of diapers long," said a stunned Fran with a chuckle.

"Pretty close. Her mom says we met at the same sand box on Island Park and haven't been apart since. I'm in the air force stationed at Anacostia-Bolling in DC, she's going to school at George Mason university not far away."

"Air Force eh? Work on airplanes?"

"Nope, I'm in the jazz band."

"How do you get a sweet job like that?"

"Practice."

When Billy got off the chair, he said, "What's the damages?"

"Thirty even."

"Here," said Billy, and he handed Fran a fifty-dollar bill. "My dad will be here in a little while. Tell him it's on the house for old people today or something."

"Yeah," said Kevin. "Poppa's getting old."

"With kids like you I can see why, dude," said Fran as he took Billy's money.

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Billy was wearing his 'concert blues' — an Air Force blue uniform without pockets on the jacket, and silver piping all over the jacket, trousers, and epaulets. The photographer found many beautiful places to pose Stéphanie and Billy on the Powell's property, and around the village of Williamsville. They loaded up in the photographer's van and took pictures at the big waterfall in Glen Park, and among the trees in the park, then up at the Williamsville Water Mill. "I guess we're lucky he doesn't want to go to Niagara Falls," Billy whispered to Stéphanie as the maid of honor, Donna Walter, reset her makeup and dress.

"Shhh!" she said. "Don't be giving him ideas."

"What happened to Sandy?"

Donna and Stéphanie looked at each other nervously. "She had to drop out," said Stéphanie reluctantly.

"I thought she was all hyped up on this."

"Well, she wasn't."

"What happened?" said Billy softly. "Why did Sandy drop out and Donna Verio fly up from DC to take her place?"

Anger filled Stéphanie's face. She finally said, "She called you a retard, so I told her to go away."

"Honey," Billy pulled Stéphanie close and said, "I've been called that since I started going to school. I'm used to it. It's not a big deal, I'm different, I know it so..."

"No, you're wrong. It is a big deal." Stéphanie got close to Billy and said, "yeah you think differently, you are different. You're one of the nicest, sweetest guys I've had the privilege of knowing. You're also one of the top musicians in the country. You are the man I love, the father of our children, and if she or anyone calls you a retard and gets away with it, that gives them permission to call our children retards. That won't happen with me around."

Billy sighed and put his arms around Stéphanie. "Ok, I get it momma bear. You want I should go take care of her?"

"Billy, please don't make fun. I love you Billy, and it hurts that it doesn't bother you."

"Come here honey," and he pulled Stéphanie closer and said, "It used to bother me, I'd get so mad that I'd get sick and dad would sit with me all day teaching me to play clarinet. Something we could afford to do that would burn off that anger. But when he was sitting with me he wasn't getting paid, I was taking money from mom and dad that they needed... so I decided to make my revenge my success." He gave her a kiss, then said, "Let's go be great."

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The day of the wedding was Stéphanie's coming out, so to speak. It seemed like her parents wanted to invite everyone they had ever met, but Stéphanie put her foot down. "Billy isn't very good in enormous crowds. Close friends, relatives and people that can advance our careers, not yours. That's it."

"Honey, he plays in front of enormous crowds for a living," insisted Janet.

"Yes, and they stay back and let him play. The few times we've danced he was trembling in fear the entire time." Stéphanie was getting dressed, and it was a party in her bedroom. Her maid of honor was Donna Walter, her best friend from high school. Her bridesmaids were Donna Vario, her best friend from college; and Karen Dubois, Billy's oldest sister. Karen always thought that Stéphanie was teasing her brother, that she would dump him the minute he said something weird like he always does, but being there listening to Stéphanie talk about her brother brought tears to Karen's eyes.

She stepped up to the half-naked Stéphanie with tears in her eyes. "Stéphanie, I'm sorry for so many things... I thought you were teasing my brother, leading him on because he can be so slow socially. I was terrified that you were taunting him like a cat with a mouse. I didn't know how much..." Karen broke down in tears, and Stéphanie pulled her close and hugged her.

"It's ok, I understand. People confuse me with someone else all the time." Someone else was, of course, her sister Brenda. There was a striking resemblance between the siblings, but Brenda was different. Brenda was invited several times to be a bridesmaid, but she didn't respond. Finally, when their mother, Janet, asked Brenda why she didn't respond to Stéphanie's requests, Brenda said, "I don't want to be associated with that retard."

"You are dead to me." The ice-cold voice came from behind Brenda. She turned, and standing in the kitchen doorway was Stéphanie. The future bride turned on her heel and left.

"Hey wait!" she chased Stéphanie and grabbed her shoulder and whirled her around. "I didn't mean it like that, but you have to admit, he's like..." she drew circles in the air around her ear, implying that Billy was crazy. "Ya know?"

Stéphanie turned to Janet and said, "Please tell your daughter that when she has the guts and apologizes to my husband, I will happily be there to witness the event." Then Stéphanie left. She made no plans to include Brenda in the wedding; there were no plans to get a dress made for her; as far as Stéphanie was concerned, her sister was now Karen.

"It's ok," said Stéphanie to the weeping Karen. "Billy and I have known each other since we were four. If I was going to taunt him, I would have done it long ago. I love your brother with all my heart and the traits that make him different are what make me love him even more."

"I act mean to him because I can never be as nice as he is," said Karen sadly. "Thank you for loving him... and you have to let me go, your boob is in my ear."

Stéphanie held Karen out at arm's length, which didn't help the sixteen-year-old much. Stéphanie's breasts were a work of art. They were something that all teenage girls feeling the effects of puberty aspired to. "I'll try to keep my boobs out of your ear."

"Thank you," said Karen.

"Velcro?" said Mary Grace. She and Denice were investigating Stéphanie's bra.

"It makes it easier to take off."

"How?" asked Mary Grace. "This is really sticky Velcro."

"Silly girl, it's not for me to take off," said Stéphanie with a wink. "The hooks confuse Billy."

"Careful!" called Karen. "She'll put a boob in your ear!" The session broke down into a series of jokes and tickling, as the mothers, Sue and Janet, watched, happy to see the young women enjoying themselves. That's what weddings should be: training grounds for younger girls. There were little finger sandwiches and petit fours available for the girls to munch on and all the coffee and loganberry juice they would want to drink, but when the wedding dress came out, the coffee and loganberry were put away and they switched to water.

Over in Billy's room, the guys were mostly dressed; the finger sandwiches were more on the masculine side. Instead of cucumber and watercress or avocado and sprout sandwiches, the guys got things like beer cheese and a micro-burger on a pretzel bun or mini Reuben sandwiches. The guys were chuckling over stories of Billy on tour.

The Airmen of Note play gigs all over the United States, and most of them take the opportunity to get out and look around. The only time anyone saw Billy get out and look around was when they played at a ceremony on the Fourth of July at Mount Rushmore. Billy doesn't have a smartphone either. He has a flip phone, and he's quite good at texting on it. He has a tablet for taking and reviewing pictures.

"We were in Saint Louis, and he was just standing under the arch, looking up," said Chief Master Sergeant Darryl Briggs, Billy's best man.

"Oh no," said Dave. "We call that Rainman Mode. When he's overwhelmed with something he becomes Rainman and starts counting things or calculating something mathematically."

"Were you counting Billy?" asked Kevin.

Billy was sitting on an ottoman with a flute, practicing his fingering, but he wasn't blowing into the flute. "I was counting missing rivets." He went back to practicing fingering.

"It didn't take long to get him into Billy mode again," said Darryl. "We just hand him a harmonica and ask him to play something."

Suddenly Billy started playing the flute. It was a rousing, bouncing melody that jumped and dashed from note to note and was hauntingly familiar. As he played, the guys racked their brains trying to remember where it came from. Hearing the music, Bishop Frank Ryan poked his nose into the room. When Billy stopped playing, he turned to the bishop and said, "Hi, your holiness."

"I didn't know you played the flute, Billy," said the bishop, and he patted Billy on the shoulder. "Jethro Tull Aqualung, right?"

"Yes sir."

"I love that song," said the bishop. "You ready?"

"Yes sir."

"Ok, I'm going to put my robes on and we'll get you married." Emmett stood and introduced the Bishop to Darryl. "This is our best man, he wasn't here for practice yesterday, but he's here now and we have him up to speed. Darryl, this is Frank Ryan, but we just call him Bishop." The big black Chief Master Sergeant stood and shook hands with the bishop. "Darryl is the director and commandant of the Airmen of Note," said Emmett.

"I saw your performance in Philadelphia last month, I was checking up on our Billy," said the Bishop. "It's amazing the performances you get from our Billy."

"It's the other way around, sir," said Darryl. "We're just trying to keep up with him. I wish we had the budget to do the things he designs."

"So that's all Billy when you let him direct?" asked Frank.

"I'm not directing, I'm just keeping time," said Billy.

Chief Briggs rolled his eyes. "Billy is a walking metronome, and the guys would rather have him conduct than me."

"That's because I'm a nice guy."

"At ease, Airman."

"Yes, chief," said Billy.

There was a tap on the door. "They're ready for you," called Sue Dubois.

"Let's go men," called the chief, and they trooped out the door, leaving Billy behind. He just sat there looking terrified.

"Billy? What's wrong?" asked Sue.

"This isn't real," he said softly.

"If you're afraid we can always stop and try again some other time," said Sue as she crouched down and tried to read the look on Billy's face.

"No, that's not it, it's this... all this isn't real. It's a dream." He started to pant in terror. "I'm going to wake up somewhere, like in the ER or in Monsignor Zimpher's office... it's all a dream and it's going to pop and I'm going to be all alone again..." Now he was hyperventilating.

"Billy, stop!" she said firmly, and she pinched his arm. She hated to be firm with Billy, but sometimes it's the only thing that gets through.

"OW! Why did you do that?"

"Did it hurt? Good. See? It's not a dream, we're all here, and in a half hour, you'll never be alone again. Stéphanie is waiting for you, she wants to love you forever." Then Sue said in a stage whisper, "she wants to have your babies."

"But I can't remember any of my lines," he said as she helped him up. "Bishop Ryan won't marry us if I forget my lines."

"Let me tell you a secret, nobody remembers their lines. When the priest asked me if I wanted to marry your father, I said, 'Uh-huh.' If you forget something Bishop Frank or Stéphanie will help you out, and if Stéphanie forgets something, you can help her out."

"I can?"

"Yes! That's what being married is all about."

<><><><><>

Billy joined Chief Briggs at the spots marked for them at the outdoor altar. A white awning was put up, and a temporary Catholic altar was set up for the bishop. It was a beautiful late spring day in Western New York; the sun was warm; the breeze was refreshing, and the crowds were delighted at the beautiful setup, and all were shocked to see the Airmen of Note set up under an awning. How many weddings have a fifteen-piece swing band playing for them?

Along with Billy and the Chief, Billy's dad, Dave, and his brother Kevin were standing at the altar waiting for the girls. The band softly played Moonlight Serenade, and Billy took out his harmonica to play along, but the Chief snarled, "Put it back, Airman."

"Yes chief." The harmonica was Billy's connection to Stéphanie when she's not around. The entire time they were in Los Angeles, he did nothing but play the harmonica when they weren't performing.

"Billy," whispered Dave. "Just keep your eyes on Bishop Ryan and Stéphanie. When you turn around to leave, keep your eyes on the bandstand, ok?"

"What about later?"

"Keep your eyes on Stéphanie."

His dad's advice was perfect. When Stéphanie walked up the aisle on Emmett's arm, everything else faded away for Billy. Stéphanie saw Billy in his performance blue uniform waiting for her at the altar, she almost ran up the aisle. Her gown was beautiful; it was off her shoulder and showed enough cleavage to embarrass Billy. It was tight at the waist and flowed down from her hips; it was sprinkled with glittering rhinestones. She had her hair done, and she had it put up off her shoulders, leaving them bare.

Both knew it was a tremendous honor to have Bishop Ryan say their wedding mass, but they were so distracted by each other that twice Bishop Ryan stopped, looked at them and said, "I just want a few more moments of your attention." With him was Father Daigler from St. Lawrence. He was a young priest, and he wished he had the rapport this bishop had with this "special needs couple."

They held hands and whispered to each other throughout the entire service. Finally, the mass portion of the ceremony was over, and Stéphanie and Billy turned around to thank their parents by presenting their mothers with roses, and Stéphanie gave the fathers kisses. Then Stéphanie kissed Billy's siblings, Karen, Mary Grace, Denice, and Kevin. While she did that and made a big show of it, Billy walked up the side aisle past where Brenda was watching from behind a huge pair of sunglasses. He came up the row behind her and leaned over and whispered in her ear, "I know you hate me, but I still like you." When she turned to see what was going on, he gave her a kiss, which landed on her lips. Family members and friends who knew about Brenda's hatred of Billy had a huge laugh.

That was followed by the vows. Billy had a tremendous problem with the vows because he could write vows, but he couldn't memorize them. He could memorize song lyrics, and some poems, but something like a speech... the only class he ever failed was public speaking, and that was where he earned the title "retard."

"Honey, it's ok. Just pick some song lyrics and recite them. They don't hear what we say up front anyhow." So, Billy recited some lyrics from the theme song from the TV show Friends. He selected some lyrics from late in the song, words that didn't make it on TV every week for a decade. Those people who heard what he said thought his vows were 'deep'.

The ceremony seemed to drag on forever until Billy was able to say the words he's been dying to say for over four years, "With this ring, I thee wed." He was so happy and excited he was weeping with joy as he slid the tiny ring onto her elegant finger. Billy was so excited, so much in love that he couldn't wait for Bishop Ryan. "You may kiss... oh go ahead..." When they finally stopped kissing, Bishop Frank said, "Can I continue?" They nodded to him, and he said, "May I introduce Mister and Missus Dubois." The laughing audience applauded, and the band began to play.

As Billy and Stéphanie made their way up the aisle, the Airmen of Note began playing Benny Goodman's One O'clock Jump. Upbeat, happy, and explosive in parts, it matched their mood. Billy and Stéphanie danced up the aisle followed by their wedding parties.

"They didn't seem too bad for a special needs couple," said Father Daigler.

Bishop Ryan chuckled and said, " these two have been in love since they were four, their special need was for us to get out of their way."

As everyone lined up in the reception line, Billy produced his clarinet and played something soft, sweet, and gentle. Everyone stopped to listen, and when he was done, his wife gave him a kiss. "That was beautiful, what was that?" asked Father Daigler.

"It was the divine clarinet solo from Rachmaninov's second symphony," said Stéphanie, never taking her eyes off her new husband.

Somehow they made it through the reception line, shaking hands and saying, "thank you for joining us," to people neither of them knew. Donna Walters and Donna Vario were in charge of collecting the envelopes. They were a good choice because both were painfully honest people. Then came time to sit down to eat in the main tent. The meal was one of Billy and Stéphanie's favorites: chicken Kiev with mashed potatoes, grilled asparagus, and garlic bread. The vegan choice was Dijon veggie pasta with small-head broccoli, carrots, and mushrooms.

"No alcohol?" asked lead trumpet player Tom Harris as he inspected the bottle of bubbling grape cider.

"The bride, groom, and their families said no to alcohol," said vocalist Jo Anne Pisselli. "Neither Billy nor Stéphanie drink, Billy had a favorite uncle killed by a drunk driver when he was young so he said no alcohol, and at dry weddings, when the bride and groom disappear, so do most of the guests."

"Our young airman is most wise," said Tom, who played plenty of weddings, and drunk crowds get nasty when the live band finishes up their set and the DJ takes over.

"Billy is just about to make his speech, it's time we got to work," said Jo Anne, and the band moved over to the bandstand and got their instruments ready. Chief Briggs was making his toast.

"When I was told I was getting a nineteen year old one stripe clarinet player I thought someone was pulling my leg. Then Billy showed up with a very nice clarinet which was given to him by Bishop Ryan, and a battle worn, high school surplus saxophone and four harmonicas..." When Darryl mentioned Billy's harmonicas, Billy played the opening twelve notes to Dixie, causing the audience to laugh. "He told me he gets a harmonica every Hanukkah. Think about it, a harmonica for Hanukkah, and nobody in this deal is Jewish. I thought that someone at HQ had it in for me. Then he said he had a few arrangements he was sure would help and he put a stack of sheet music on my desk. That's when I knew that HQ had it in for me."

"We worked him as hard as we could, not because he was the lowest ranking member of Airmen of Honor... uh... ok, not just because he was the lowest ranking member of Airmen of Honor, but also because he asked for it, he wanted to learn. And within eight weeks we were the ones learning. This kid knows music! Then one day Billy shows up with this beautiful blond. She had it all together, and I took him aside and said, 'Billy, a woman like that isn't into guys like you... or me for that matter. You're punching way above your weight class.' And he said, 'we're getting married.'" Darryl chuckled and then said, "Just as I was about to give young Billy the facts of life, the most beautiful blond woman I had ever seen came up to me and said, 'Hi, I'm Stéphanie and Billy promised to marry me.'"

Darryl stared at the audience in shock. "It was like being in the twilight zone! But here we are. Two magnificently gifted individuals who fell in love as children and let that wonderful childhood love grow and mature. People tell me that Billy is special, and I say, your damn right he's special! He can play every instrument in the woodwinds except the flute. People even told me he's retarded, and I say, how can he be retarded if we're the ones trying to keep up with him?"

"Billy is my top dog, my go-to guy, the airman that the Airmen of Note were built for, and Stéphanie - she is a dream-come-true that keeps Billy grounded. She hears his wild fantasies and says, 'let's go do it.' And they do. I have never met a couple so much in love before, and it's my honor to raise a glass and say, Billy, Stéphanie, we all love you too. Cheers."

After that, Darryl handed the microphone over to Billy, who rose and shyly said, "How can someone follow that? I know I can't." And he sat down until Darryl urged him back up and Billy started again. "Did anyone hear my vows during the ceremony? I know I didn't. I... I can't memorize something to say... I wrote a song for Stéphanie. She's always telling me that this is a dream we are in and when we wake up from it, we're right where we left off living that dream. In my dream I wrote a song for Stéphanie, but in my dream, I played it on a flute. Let's see if she's right."

He walked over to the bandstand where the vocalist, Jo Anne, was waiting in front of the band. Billy put his microphone on a stand and then turned to the band. With a couple of instructions, they started. Billy got them playing at the tempo he wanted and turned back to the microphone. It was a sweet, gentle song with the saxophones flirting with the trumpets, the bass and rhythm guitar keeping time, then Jo Anne handed him a flute.

The flute solo he played was full of hope and love. It gave their arrangement a melody to follow. Then, as he reached the refrain, he lowered the flute and began to sing.

Today as we two become one,

A union that nothing can sever.

Our lonely nights are finally done,

Our love will bind us together.

Your smile is where my sunrise starts,

Your laughter fills my heart with glee.

I'll hold your hand through all of life's parts-

We'll face our tomorrows, both you and me.

I'll build you a home of warmth and grace,

Where little feet will dance and roam.

With every kiss, we'll bless our space -

Our sacred hearth, our new family's home.

Our lonely nights are finally done,

Our love will bind us together...

He handed the flute back to Jo Anne, and he led his new wife out to the dance floor, and they danced to his song. "It is beautiful, you wrote that for me?" asked Stéphanie. Her eyes were glistening with tears of joy.

"I call it Berceuse de Stéphanie, Stéphanie's Lullaby."

"I will have to remember it, to sing to our babies," said Stéphanie, and they kissed as they danced.

The rest of the afternoon flashed past in a blur. They danced and laughed with their guests. Billy got up and played a few times for Stéphanie, including Begin the Beguine and her favorite, Midnight Serenade. During the event, Mr. Mitchell came up to the head table, and Billy was excited to see his old mentor. But as they talked, he asked Billy why he wore his uniform and not a nice tuxedo. For some reason, that locked Billy up. It looked like he was counting the chairs or something. Stéphanie handed Billy his flute, and Billy raised it to his lips and played a bar from Berceuse de Stéphanie. Then he walked over to the band and picked up his clarinet.

"He believes that tuxedos are for civilians, and he's not a civilian," said Stéphanie as Billy took his regular spot on the bandstand and Darryl directed the band in Glenn Miller's American Patrol. "He's really proud to be an airman and he worked hard to get where he's at."

"I didn't mean to set him off," said the retired music teacher.

"It happens. He's been really good considering everything it took to get this wedding put together. He's been the one calming me down most of the time."

Not long after, the band neared the end of its set, and Emmett thanked them all for attending. "The party's over?" asked Billy.

"I think the party is just beginning," said Stéphanie, and she led Billy through the crowd of well-wishers and into her parents' immense house. She led him downstairs into the finished basement. There was a large empty room at the bottom of the stairs. "Daddy says you can use this for anything you want."

"Like a practice room? Or a recording studio?"

"Uh-huh. When you get out of the Air Force, Daddy says that we should live here with them. Then you don't have to waste money buying a house or renting an apartment when this big house is sitting almost empty." Billy just nodded in agreement. They appealed to his frugal side, and it worked. He studied the basement in awe. There was more room down here than there had been in the house he grew up in. "Come on. After the party breaks up, mom and dad are going up to Niagara Falls and we have the entire house to ourselves," said Stéphanie as she led Billy upstairs.

They went up to her room, which was bigger than the living room in his parents' house. The trappings of teenage Stéphanie were removed, and the bedroom had a mature motif. There was a king-size bed, and half the walk-in closet was cleared out for Billy (who would never use that much closet space). "You wait, I'm going to change, I'll be back."

She disappeared into the enormous bathroom, and Billy sat on the bed wondering what was next. He had an idea of what it would be, but he wasn't sure. So, he took out his flip phone and pressed two and held it until it dialed his mom. "Hi mom? You don't have to worry about me anymore."

"What do you mean honey?" asked Sue.

"Me... and Stéphanie. We have a place to live, and when I get out of the Air Force I won't be far, you can come visit."

"That's wonderful honey," said Sue. She knew what he was getting at. They had talked to Emmett and Janet Powell about Billy and Stéphanie's future, and they knew the newlyweds would move in with Emmett and Janet.

"You don't have to worry about me anymore, and I won't be a burden on you. I know it wasn't easy raising someone who isn't quite right, and I want to thank you."

"NO, don't ever say that honey. If anyone isn't quite right it was those bullies and other awful people that tormented you." She could feel the tears coming on, and she knew that she wouldn't be able to stop them this time.

"I'm going to get a band and I'll make my success be my revenge."

"That's right honey, that's how to do it."

"Thank you mom, you've been so understanding... you've made me so happy. Gotta go."

Sue Dubois looked at her phone, and the tears started to come. "Honey? What's wrong?" asked Dave.

"My little boy... he's gone." And she fell against Dave as the tears came in earnest.

<><><><><>

"Who were you talking to Billy?" asked Stéphanie.

"Mom, I was just saying thank you. She was really worried about me."

"That's my job now," said Stéphanie as she stepped out of the bathroom wearing what could safely be described as "light fog." She was wearing a lacy, sheer white corset dress and a matching set of tiny panties. Nothing too complex that would frustrate Billy. "We did it, baby. We made it all the way here virgins."

"We aren't completely virgin," said Billy.

"Kissing don't count," said Stéphanie as she unbuttoned his jacket. There was a myriad of buttons on his performance uniform. His standard blues jacket has three buttons; this one has a high collar and is buttoned all the way up; there had to be twenty buttons. But she didn't have to worry about a tie or dress shirt with this uniform. He usually wore a gray Buffalo Bills t-shirt underneath, which was the case this time.

"But we... but I..."

"That was all kissing," said Stéphanie. "We just did fancy kissing. Let's get those shoes off."

"Oh," said Billy, nodding. Fancy kissing makes sense. She pulled his shoes and socks off, then unbuckled his belt and dropped his pants. Billy picked up his uniform and went into the closet to hang it up. He hung up his jacket and trousers and spent far too long arranging them on an empty hanger bar.

"Come here you, stop being silly." Billy laughed as she pulled him back from his uniform.

He turned around in her arms and they clung to each other, kissing deeply and passionately. She could feel his hard cock pressing against her, needing entry into her steaming depths, and she wanted him inside of her as much as he wanted to be inside her. The first time he eased a finger into her warm, moist pussy, he realized that this was where his cock belonged.

Years of peeking on Brenda and her parade of boyfriends taught Stéphanie quite a lot, and one thing she knew for certain was that Billy had a good-size cock on him. The teasing and taunting over the last six months had left her with a good idea of what he liked and didn't like, but it also left her with an aching jaw.

When their kiss was over, Billy scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the bed and laid her down as gently as he could, but in the end he fell on her. "I'm so sorry," he gasped, but she just looked up at him with those beautiful eyes and that darling smile. With a laugh, she rolled him over on his back and sat up, straddling his waist.

"Undress me," she said, and she leaned over Billy, whose fingers went to work stripping her of her lacy corset dress. His fingers pinched and twisted her nipples, something she had taught him just by reacting to his touches. "Billy, I can't wait, I need you in me now," she gasped, and she stood over him and pulled off her panties. Then she dropped down and grabbed his shorts. "Lift your butt up, Billy." He did, and she pulled down his shorts. His hard, thick cock sprang out of his shorts and slapped against his stomach.

"Ok, are you ready?" She gasped as she knelt over his waist.

"Uh-huh," he said, and he watched carefully as Stéphanie slid the circumcised head of his cock across the opening of her vagina.

"Oh God," she gasped as the drooling head of his cock brushed over her clit. She paused and caught herself. "Here we go, honey..." and she began to lower herself onto his cock. It felt enormous as she sank down on his fleshy prong. Even though her hymen broke by Billy's overexcited fingers early in their six months of exploration, it still hurt, but she didn't want to scare him like when her hymen broke.

She slowly sank down on him, and there was pain from stretching unused muscles, but the excitement of having her man inside of her urged her to go faster. "It's so good Billy!" she gasped as she took more and more of her husband into her vagina. She stopped, then lifted up, drawing him out, then carefully sank down on him, taking more inside of her. She wanted to plunge down so badly, but she knew she had to take her time.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, he was all the way inside her. She took a deep, shuddering breath getting used to the invasion, then she sat straight up, forcing more of Billy into her. She felt the head of his cock kiss her cervix. "Oh God Billy!" It both hurt and felt incredible at the same time. She fell forward onto her hands and began rocking forward and back, fucking herself on his dick. The warm summer breeze drifted in through the window, cooling the overheated lovers and urging Stéphanie to fuck her man faster.

Billy watched her round, firm breasts swaying with some amusement. Her nipples were brushing on his chest hairs, her clit was grinding against his pubic hair, and she was close to orgasm. With a cry, she came, waves of blessed sexual release crashing over her young shapely body. "I love you Billy!" she cried as she came.

Stéphanie lay on Billy, shuddering and whimpering in joy, and Billy felt the urge to fuck too, but he wasn't sure of the proper etiquette. As the chief told him earlier in the day - a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. He rolled Stéphanie onto her back, and she looked beautiful, her hair scattered, her breasts swollen, her upper chest bright red with passion. He looked down at where they were still joined, and she was red there too. He moved his cock in and out, and she gasped, "That's right Billy."

Encouraged, he began moving his cock in and out more, and his wife grasped his upper arms. "Just like that," she sighed as her passion started to re-build. Before he realized what was happening, his body took over. It knew all along what he wanted. His hips moved of their own accord, and he drove his cock in and out. "Yes Billy! Fuck me!"

"Ok," he said, happy that he could figure this out himself.

Soon his fucking became maniacal. He drove his cock into her as hard and as fast as he could, and she screamed for more. Her dainty feet were hoisted high, giving Billy as much access as she could give. "I'm cumming Billy! You're making me cum Billy!" but he was beyond realizing what was happening. As she screamed her pleasure, Billy continued to fuck until he came with a cry, slamming his cock into her, spurting his life-creating semen into her womb. He slammed into her with a passion that rode on the edge of anger until he collapsed, panting and trembling.

"That was so good Billy," she said, stroking his sweating back.

"I think..." he panted. "I think we should do this a lot." He rolled onto his back and watched the ceiling spin. "It's good exercise."

Stéphanie curled up next to him and rested her head on his shoulder. "It's excellent exercise."

"I love you," he said, so overwhelmed with love for this woman he burst into tears. "You deserve so much better."

"I have you, my musical hero. There is no one better," she said as she held him close.

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

On that chilly Christmas Eve, Stéphanie stepped out of the Sisters of Antioch High School and looked up at the snow. Like she promised, she gave Sister Margaret thirty minutes to finish her schedule, which she made by the skin of her teeth. When they reviewed the schedule, Sister Margaret argued every point. By the time the clock struck six, they were half complete with the review. Stéphanie Dubois picked up her notes and pulled on her coat.

"Young lady, we're not done here!" barked Sister Margaret.

"Yes we are. You had weeks to prepare for this meeting and instead you chose to waste my time over petty bickering. You could have had this entire schedule worked out and reviewed by your staff, but you chose instead to try to embarrass me." She turned to Mr. Donius and said, "Bobby, could I get a copy of your tentative schedule? Thank you." And she tucked Bobby's schedule into her portfolio and left.

"Young lady! Come back!"

Outside, Stéphanie got in the jeep pickup that Billy's crazy singing buddy convinced him to get. It wasn't a bad vehicle, and it was good in the snow, but Stéphanie was raised in Mercedes and Lexus sedans, not in angry-looking pickup trucks. Still, they needed the truck to haul his recording equipment when they went to record at a live event. As the jeep warmed up, she made a call, and a fellow answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Hello John. Could I speak to Doctor Dagenais please?"

She heard John call out, "Honey, does Doctor Dagenais have time to talk to Stéphanie Dubois?" Stéphanie could have used her first name, but asking for Doctor Dagenais let her husband (and Doctor Dagenais) know that this was a business call. Finally, a female with a French accent came on the phone. "'allo?"

"Hello doctor. I'm headed home to have a conversation with Billy; he may be calling you shortly."

"A good call or a sad call?"

"It's hard to say. He's been having those nightmares that convince him everything is a dream and he's going to wake up a teenager that just got beaten up or he's dying in a car accident that never happened."

Billy's psychologist sighed. "I hoped we had that taken care of. Ok, if he calls we'll make an appointment then, if not we'll see him next Wednesday, ok?"

"Perfect. See you then." Doctor D. was Billy's psychologist. He met her at a fundraiser and was immediately impressed with her. Actually, he was impressed with her kids and had fun with them. He was never happy with any of the psychologists he met. His parents couldn't afford one until Billy joined the Air Force, and when he finished his tour, he was released 100% disabled due to psychological issues, but he despised the VA doctors he saw.

She pulled into her driveway and saw Brenda's car there. She pulled into the enormous garage in time to see Brenda come out of the kitchen door. "What's up?" asked Stéphanie.

"You guys bought this house?"

"Yeah, Billy's making good money now, so why not?"

"I don't fucking get it, I have two degrees and I can't get a job."

"Brenda, you got degrees in women's studies and art history. There's no jobs out there. Who told you we're buying the house?"

"That husband of yours."

"I don't know what he sees in you," sighed Stéphanie. "You know, if we have a girl he wants to name it Brenda."

"Why would he name it Brenda?"

"He says he wants to have a Brenda that would love him back."

Brenda looked at her younger sister in shock. "He didn't."

"He really did. He's always been crazy about you and you've been nothing but mean to him." The women stared at each other, then Stéphanie finally said, "Please come to dinner tomorrow. Family should be together at Christmas."

Brenda thought for a long time. Then she finally said, "Sure... ummm... Is there any chance I could stay over?"

"Problems?" asked Stéphanie, and Brenda nodded sadly.

"I was here hoping mom and dad didn't go to Snowmass this year and maybe I could..."

"Use mom and dad's room till they get back. Billy and I are going to be busy tonight and I doubt you want to hear that." Their parents' room was far from the girls' rooms, separated by a pair of guest bedrooms. "Go wait up there till I call you for dinner, I need to talk to Billy for a few moments."

"Ok," and the women entered the house. Both were feeling closer to each other than they had ever felt before. They found Billy snoozing in the recliner, with Lucy on his lap. Lucy was his Cavalier King Charles spaniel. Stéphanie motioned to Brenda to head up the stairs while she went to wake up Billy. "Hey Lucy," she said softly, and Lucy jumped up, wagging her tail and trying to howl but was only able to come up with "rrrrr rrrrr rrrrr."

Stéphanie gently shook Billy's shoulder until he started to rouse. He immediately jumped, but Stéphanie said, "It's ok, this is real."

Billy looked around confused, like this was the first time he had seen this living room. "How do I know this is real?"

"If it wasn't real, would I be telling you it's real?" She asked as she eased her shapely ass onto his lap. "How did my big bad musician do today?"

"I signed a new trombone player for the New Years Eve Jump."

"Is it Darryl Briggs?" she asked.

Billy grinned. "Yep. He and the missus want to move up here and join our band."

"I'm so happy for you, I know you've wanted the Chief in your band." Then she pulled a small package out of her cleavage. "This is for you. Happy Hanukkah."

"Is it what I think it is?" asked Billy as he tore the wrapping paper. The wrapping paper revealed a box for a Hohner 1896 Marine Band Harmonica. "C sharp? You gave me a C sharp harmonica last year."

"Keep opening," said Stéphanie as she nibbled his earlobe.

"What is this?" He opened the harmonica case, and there wasn't a harmonica in there. There was a plastic thing in there. It had labels that made no sense. There were two red stripes in a small window on the plastic thing, and the label said, that means... "a baby?"

"Uh-huh," said Stéphanie with a smile.

"We're having a baby?"

"Yes, I have to be sure and go to the doctor, but yes, in August."

Billy kissed her and then hugged her so tight she could hardly breathe. "Is it a boy or a girl?"

"We don't know that yet."

"I love you! I need to tell Doctor G.!"

"I told Doctor Macy, that you're going to call, she's waiting for you. I'll get ready for dinner. Oh, and behave, Brenda is staying for dinner."

"Ok," said Billy happily. Then he gave her three kisses with an "I love you," between each one. "This is the best Hanukkah ever!"