Heartbreak and Hope Ch. 13

Covid does not exist in this story world.

In this story, all history 2016 and after is different. Read NO political objective in this story.

Thursday, October 22, 2020

I arrived home after work around twenty after four that afternoon with the shuttle van arriving to take us to Westward Ho and Jennifer waiting for me standing just outside our front door with a smile. One great thing about living in a naturist country is packing goes a lot faster and easier when you don't have to pack clothing. Jennifer greeted me with a kiss then a hug a bit more cuddly than usual and said, "This is going to be so much fun!"

Her smile was a simple one of being happy with our current place in life.

After meeting the shuttle van from the West Condos and almost two hours on the highway West, it dropped us off at the Westward Ho waterfront in front of a New England Saltbox style building with a sailing themed restaurant named 'Krill Em All Grill'. I know, stupid pun name number one billion. The menu was about half seafood, but again, they were smart enough to have non-seafood choices and their grilled chicken sandwich was good.

Jay gave a brief rundown, starting with the usual greeting, "Good evening couples! Tonight we will be staying at a Courtyard by Mariott, yes, most of the chains have locations here. I just warn you to not stay up too long tonight as we have a long day starting bright and early tomorrow morning! Let's see a bit of video about the Petrel."

Movie Max had arranged for a video monitor to show us the video and it was a beautiful ship and a well done promotional video including a history of the ship which originally ran as a general cargo ship between Northern New Jersey which was the end of the line for most freight railroads running into New York City, and The Cornwall Islands. We had already seen Westward Ho so Jennifer and I headed to bed early as suggested and we were both looking forward to the adventure.

Friday, October 23, 2020

They woke us up at a quarter past six and by seven we were taken to the boardwalk area along the harbor to a Saltbox style building that looked like something from Maine. 'The Codfather' had a wonderful atmosphere and view but did not make my favorites list though it was passable. Jay gave us the usual greeting, "Good morning couples! Today we start a truly grand adventure sailing on an authentic sailing ship!"

Everyone, yes even Nick, was all smiles and cheering.

He pointed at the ship sitting perhaps a thousand feet away in the harbor, "That is The Petrel, a three masted schooner some two hundred fifty feet long. Each couple has a cabin though please note the cabins are small, even compared to the small cabins on a typical cruise ship. That is the nature of the ship which was not purpose built for cruises. A few things. The safety drill is not optional and do pay attention. It is not an overlong drill, but is very important. "

"We will be sailing to Bermuda, spending a day then sailing back. This will test how much you have acclimated as Bermuda is not turning naturist on our behalf, but Movie Max has thrown enough money around that you will not be arrested."

He let it sink in and there were a few nervous looks, but we have all been bare assed for over eight months and modesty is kind of a thing of the past for us.

I think.

Jay chuckled a bit, "Yeah, this is a bit of a publicity thing for Movie Max with more hinting at things than anything concrete. If you are asked anything specific, simply say, "I am not at liberty to speak about this and you will have to talk to Movie Max."

"Movie Max has some fun plans for the group including some nice tours and some excellent dining. You will also be given gift vouchers to spend in Hamilton. We will also have several excellent photographers with high end still cameras working for us and you will be provided access so you may print or not according to your own wishes."

Once breakfast was completed, we walked the thousand or so feet to The Petrel and boarded, walking up a gangway onto the main deck where we were greeted by the crew and handed small flutes of champagne plus Jay and a small video and photography crew. The Petrel was over a hundred thirty years old and did have an engine and that is exactly how the ship got us out of the port. I know it's a bit disappointing, but there is quite a bit of sense there in tight quarters where the wind might not be blowing in the correct direction.

Once a few miles offshore, the engine was shut off and the crew unfurled the sails using a surprisingly large amount of manual winches, harnesses, and old fashioned rigging to get the job done. One under sail, we had the safety drill and yes, they were very serious about it. These were modern, fully enclosed cruise ship style lifeboats, not rowboats like in movies. They also showed us four lockers with self inflating life rafts if the lifeboats failed. It was all serious business and we each had a verbal test of what to do and what to do if the first option failed.

Slowly, The Cornwall Islands disappeared behind us as we headed West toward Bermuda as the day passed and we made our way West and the sunset that night was one of the nicest I had seen in a while.

Saturday, October 24, 2020

We woke up right before eight in the morning to the gentle rocking of The Petrel, my stirring causing Jennifer to cuddle close as she reached down for my morning wood, "How about we brush teeth so I can kiss you for real then you show me some lovin?"

Privilege is the woman in your life letting you know directly she desires being intimate with you. After mouths were properly minty we made out a bit with me on top and after a bit, her mood change and I was presented with a nice rear view of Jennifer ass up and on elbows, her femininity not gushing, but I could see wetness along her opening along with a delightful blush pink color telling me she was very much aroused.

I slid in pretty easily, her arousal giving her plenty of lubrication to allow me to enter her with no discomfort on her part. No, I did not slam in, that's a good recipe to hurt the woman you are with and turn a woman with a wet willing vagina into a dry one in and a woman in a bad mood. Once I was a few strokes in with her lubrication properly distributed, I started going at her at a pretty good pace. The nice thing is when she is in that mood, getting her a good release is mostly a matter of reading her cues and matching her tempo. It took a bit, but near ten minutes in, her pace changed and I felt her tighten then flutter. Once she sighed and relaxed, I took this as my cute to push in and empty myself into her depths.

She scooched to the edge to head to clean up, saying, "That was wonderful!" Hearing that sure started my day off right.

After a quick cleanup, Jennifer needed her post coital cuddles, another privilege of mine and I know that is one of the times, she works on keeping her heart bonded to mine. She cuddled then kissed my cheek and said, "I love you so much, Joshua. I wake up every day and find you there... makes me feel so content."

Scents of breakfast drifting down into our cabin made us hungry so we headed up onto deck to them making pancakes on electric griddles while we watched the crew work.

The activity in the rigging and other things needed to keep a sailing ship moving are interesting, but only to a point. I'll admit I am glad it was a relatively short journey, just long enough to be interesting, but it was not like a big cruise ship with a ton of different activities. Breakfast was good, just take your plate and find someplace to sit and eat while watching the world slowly glide by.

Around one that afternoon, Bermuda appeared on the horizon and by half past four, we docked in the Eastern part of Bermuda at the St. George's Wharf rather than The King's Wharf on the Western end where the big cruise ships dock.

As part of their plan, we were a bit of a spectacle. Movie Max had arranged everything, but the couples plus Jay and the video crew were the only naked people on an island where clothing was the norm. A local TV crew was there taking video and we all knew this was part of the mysterious marketing campaign of movie Max.

A crowd had gathered to see 'the boat of naked people' which was a bit awkward though with local TV taking video, it was obviously planned. We were told to be ready to head to dinner around six that evening for a nice dinner in the capital Hamilton.

It was all arranged by Movie Max and no, the police were not there to arrest us for what was clearly a publicity stunt by both Movie Max and the government of Bermuda to get them in the news. And as you can expect, there was lots of staring by the locals as we boarded an open air road tram similar to a shorter version of what they use at Disney World. Jennifer seemed uneasy at first but seemed to relax as we headed into town as she got used to it. I put my arm over her shoulder and side hugged her which caused her to cuddle in and I felt a bit of the tension release. Having the woman in my life feeling comfort from my embrace was food for my soul.

Was I self conscious? Perhaps a bit, but after being that way for over half a year, it was normal for me and it even struck me odd as to why anyone was wearing anything on a perfectly beautiful sunny day. My most intrusive thought was how my mindset was changing to be more like someone from The Cornwall Islands than an American who had not experienced any of this until eight months previous.

There are not a lot of truly open areas along the road to Hamilton though the buildings got taller and there were more buildings painted in pastel colors as we got closer to the center of town. We stopped in front of a three story pastel blue painted building on the main street, Front Street called 'The Hamiltonian'.

Once inside, we were seated at tables that made it clear we were at a higher end place and this was confirmed when we were given heavy menus bound with leather menu covers. Looking inside at the top of each page was 'Prix Fixe 150' and the menu was surprisingly short with just eight choices. Sailfish Ceviche was something I had never heard of nor had I heard of Yellow and Orange Pepper Tuna Genovese. Fortunately at the bottom of that same page was Tenderloin Steak Cubes in Red Wine Sauce. Jennifer ordered the same thing. A few tried some of the other dishes and I did not see anyone send their food back, but I didn't want to be the first.

Once we had ordered Jay started a short meeting, "Good evening couples! Well, what did you think of our journey?"

Ryan raised his hand and said, "I liked it, but I was glad it was just over one day's journey. The ship is great, but lacks the amenities of a cruise ship and I can only watch them adjusting the rigging so much." His wife, Cassie, agreed, "Glad to be able to stretch my legs a bit. The ship is only so long."

Nick echoed his comments, "It's cool to watch, but after a while it got repetitive. I'm not really one for sitting around and the trip had a lot of sitting around."

I hate to agree with Nick, but I agreed with Nick

Jay nodded, "Well, on the way back, we have a special activity planned so there will be a lot less sitting around."

He went into his backpack and brought out a stack of papers and handed out a sheet of paper to each of us. On the paper were the names of each couple with one couple's name crossed out. The name crossed out were the names of the people that received the paper. I received a paper with 'Joshua and Jennifer Simmons' crossed out and my wife received an identical paper.

Jay handed out pens and explained, "I want you to put a 1, 2, and 3 next to the couple you most feel have the biggest chance of staying married for life; put the one next to the couple you think that applies to most and and down to the third. This is an individual exercise so no copying off your neighbor!"

No shock to anyone I gave Anthony and Sophia my number one, and probably not much shock I gave Jayson and Cara as number two. Before this trip, I probably would have given the three to Andrew and Stephanie, but during this trip, the way Cassie stands close to Ryan without consciously thinking about it and the way she seeks his touch... The way she can give him a look and he knows what she wants him to do and he just does it... There was a relish jar that needed opening and she lacked the hand strength to do it. She just handed it to Ryan without a word, but smiled at him. He opened it without a word and handed it back with another smile and in turn, she smiled back at him then scooched a bit closer to him to eat. I gave them my number three.

Jay collected our papers and said, "I will explain everything once we start our way back on Monday."

"After our meal, we have time for you to stroll around to get ideas for some morning shopping here in town. This is obviously to cause a bit of a stir and no, you will not be bothered by the police who are aware of your presence and that the government of the islands is on board. Note that most stores close at five or six in the evening except the grocery stores and restaurants so no shopping tonight. Tomorrow morning you will receive a special prepaid Visa Card with two hundred fifty dollars for you to do some shopping and note that you cannot save the card and must spend it tomorrow. It's all part of our plan."

Dinner arrived and the whole experience was first rate from the appetizers to the meals. Once dinner was completed at half past seven, Jay dismissed us to wander Front Street along the harborfront before a shuttle van would take us back to The Petrel for an early morning.

There was a good amount of nightlife though Jennifer and I wandered, but did not enter any of the somewhat common nightclubs. We were both weary after a long trip even though it was not us working on the ship. Stores ranged from clothing stores which did us no good to luxury stores like Rolex, art galleries, and a mix of tourist type stores selling things like beach towels and sunscreen.

Several stores were of interest to Jennifer who suggested the local art galleries for mementos of this trip. Never having been a shopper and wanting Jennifer to be happy, I agreed. We didn't need clothes and a Rolex on my wrist would be wrecked the first week at my job.

Sunday, October, 25, 2020

There was a soft knock on our cabin door at half past seven in the morning. Jay was playing at being the alarm clock, "Wake up. Long day and breakfast is waiting."

Breakfast was more pancakes on the electric griddles followed by a tram ride that got us into Hamilton as stores opened up at nine that morning. I won't give a play by play of the seven art galleries we went through. Some we were in and out of in less than two minutes. The second-to-last one featured paintings of local land and cityscapes and two hundred eighty dollars later, yes we spent an extra thirty, we had two smallish cityscapes of Hamilton for our living room wall. Expensive, but it mostly wasn't our money and Jennifer was happy, so I was happy.

After lunch at Hamilton Chicken which was near where the tram dropped us, we headed toward the Eastern part of the Island to take a tour of a park with two cave tours. Crystal and Fantasy Caves are separate though very close together and part of a larger park.

Once Jay checked us in, we entered a building and walked down a long flight of stairs into Fantasy cave which is almost filled with water and unlike caves in the mainland US, the temperatures were not chilly. You walk along a walkway that has been installed over the water where you see some attractive cave formations; stalactites and stalagmites and other crystalline formations along the length of the path.

Crystal Cave was very similar though it had a separate charge to get in and it took just over an hour and a half to see both as they were not all that large. After the tour, we walked to the Blue hole, which looked like a smaller version of the cenotes we had been to, but was a sinkhole, not a cenote and this is where we spent the last of the afternoon swimming and having video taken for the upcoming publicity campaign.

At the end of the day, they took us South a couple miles to one of the relatively few beaches in Bermuda as most of the coastline is rocky with short cliffs. We arrived at a bonfire waiting for us along with a barbecue trailer serving us our choice of chicken or pulled pork sandwiches. The pulled pork was so good, that I tried the chicken and was lucky to be full or I would have eaten thirds and fourths and gained twenty pounds. The evening was simply sitting in loungers relaxing with my wife and other members of our group as the sun set.

Monday, October, 26, 2020

We left Bermuda at eleven after a final grand breakfast at a place named Timothy's which was on Front Street near the city center. Jay started us in the usual fashion, "Good morning couples. Once on board and on our way, I will reveal the results of the survey and what the activity for this afternoon will be."

"You are probably curious what the publicity campaign will be and the video taken this weekend will be part of trailers that will debut on February 14, 2021. Note this is all going to start off with no explanation other than showing some of the video highlights which are a bit of misdirection on our part. Obviously we have spent little time in Bermuda and next week, the St. Austell group will visit. There have, of course, been local reports and some of those have been picked up on sites around The US, UK, and Europe."

"We will have a special dinner February 14th, 2021 where you will see the premiere of the video trailers. Don't expect any great reveals on that one and as I said, it's a bit of misdirection, getting the world to think the Bermuda angle is bigger than it actually is."

Breakfast was good as always, I know, no shock and afterward we were taken back to The Petrel and we headed out. An hour into our journey and Jay brought us all together, "Good afternoon couples! So we took our little survey and there should be little shock that Anthony and Sophia were ranked as the closest couple nearly unanimously. They are first up on some impromptu scripted sex videos."

He nodded to Anthony, "Anthony, the way you treat Sophia, putting her first gives me faith that your marriage will last. I won't go into the other couples yet. We are going to shoot three sex scenes today, one each for the top three couples."

He said, "Now, the whole group except for the couple involved gets to play script writer and set a scene for our couple to act out. First up is Anthony and Sophia. So... what should their video scene be?"

Cara raised her hand then said, "Something tender. Anthony is so gentle around her, always holding her close, but not like he is dragging her in. She just... I dunno... It's like when they walk, he puts her arm around her shoulder and she just kind of starts walking closer to him. It would drive me nuts, she is so submiss... Sorry."

Sophia raised her hand, "It's who I am. Do you think I don't know I am submissive? Did you ever consider that I am happy to follow Anthony? I don't like leading. It's not in my nature and I don't want to do it. I'm not like you."

She looked Cara in the eyes, "I'm not like you. I love Anthony because he among all of you accepts me fully for who I am and does not judge me for it. One day I am going to carry his babies and be their mom and THAT thought makes me extremely happy. Knowing I will be the mom of his babies excites me. That is happiness to me, and Anthony is the only one who fully accepts me that way."

She looked at him and her face changed from a bit of irritation to near adoration, "He gets me. He accepts me and he takes the role I need from him. I know he puts me first and that is why I love him so deeply. He leads and I happily follow because he just leads where I want him to take us."

Cara apologized, "I'm sorry, it's just... No excuse. I'm sorry."

Sophia smiled, "Don't be sorry. I could never be with Jayson for the same reason you could never be with Anthony. You are two strong willed people who work it out and it works for you. Joshua and Jennifer are really at neither end and that works for them. We all mesh in our own way. You use the word submissive as if it is a bad thing. I'm happy being me and I come home happy after work each evening happy to see my husband. I love my new life here with him and can't wait to see him EVERY night."

She turned and stroked his cheek, "I love you Anthony. You have no idea how much."

He just smiled as if he had won the lotto a hundred times and Cassie exclaimed, "Awww."

Jennifer cuddled against me then brought my hand around her stomach in a loose embrace from behind then turned and kissed my cheek, "That goes for me. I love my life with you."

Jennifer raised her hand, "Um. She may be submissive, but Anthony is wrapped around her pinky so tight, it's a wonder he can walk while holding her hand."

Cassie nodded, "Sophia is the ultimate in soft power. I see it. She doesn't even say it and he knows what she wants then he does it."

Sophia did not disagree with Cassie then looked with an uncharacteristic bit of challenge at Jay and told him, "I'll tell you the order the couples fell in. Antony and I were almost universally ranked first. Joshua and Jennifer probably got nearly all of the number two votes. It wasn't even close for either couple. Anthony and I and Joshua and Jennifer align so well, but Anthony and I appear closer because of the perceived power imbalance in my relationship with him. I would not say we are closer than them in reality as both couples mesh so seamlessly."

She sighed, "It's not that other couples don't work. Beyond that it was a mix of either Andrew and Stephanie or Ryan and Cassie or Jayson and Cara.."

She looked at Jay and said, "Submissive does not mean stupid and I am very far from stupid."

Anthony laughed and challenged Jay, "So how were her predictions?"

Jay sighed, "I'm not supposed to say."

Anthony pushed, "Was she wrong?"

Jay sighed and shook his head, "No."

Sophia smiled. Once in a while you saw her snarkier side and I noted Sophia was now leaning against Anthony with a smile on her face.

Jay changed the subject, "Okay the scene is something tender, but what is the scene?"

David pointed at the bowsprit, "How about them doing it on that netting stuff along the bowsprit?"

Pretty much everyone agreed.

Anthony looked at Sophia and she simply smiled. No words were spoken as he stood up and he offered his hand. She happily took his hand and they walked to the bowsprit. She was kind of shy but this was far from her first sex video.

No words were said, she simply walked ahead on the netting then scooched to a spot where there was enough play in the netting, but not too much. She lay down and relaxed her hips. He got on top of her and they started making out. I was watching closely and it dawned on me that Sophia had a soft smile the entire time walking toward the location of their scene and she was clearly looking forward to it. The other thing I saw was that she was relaxed about it. She trusted him.

Other than the beauty of their emotional connection, it was simple missionary sex with a lot of very wet kissing until around ten minutes as he was thrusting slowly until she inhaled suddenly. He started meeting her pace until she arched her back a bit, hugged his back a bit harder for perhaps half a minute then she relaxed. He shifted his thrusting a bit after she relaxed and pumped for his own release.

Movie Max loved their creampie dismounts and that is what they got. I wasn't looking there so much as her face. Sophia had a happy satisfied smile. She was content as he pulled out and rolled over beside her. She scooched closer for a bit of a side cuddle as Movie Max zoomed for their creampie closeup.

A half hour later Jay said, "No surprise. Joshua and Jennifer are next. What will their scene be?"

Andrew suggested, "Well, Jennifer seemed to like that first night. The video of Joshua taking her from behind while she held onto their balcony. I've seen a bunch of their videos during the video reviews of them doing the same at the outdoor shower."

The others agreed so they looked around and David pointed at the Ship's wheel. After talking with the captain, I was to take Jennifer from behind as she held onto the ship's wheel. The captain was adamant about one thing, "Don't actually start turning the wheel!"

The wind was kind of light and the ship was heading East at a stable rate so the captain got us on a heading then backed away, repeating, "Don't turn the wheel!"

He stood back enough to be out of camera view but close enough to intervene if something happened. Jennifer gave me a coy smile, yeah, her exhibitionist side was coming out. I know it seems strange but this was likely somewhere around the five hundredth time we had sex on camera and at this point, my horny side was wanting to take charge.

We talked and she was near the end of her cycle so that meant she was up for more vigorous sex. Her mood usually meant softer sex early to mid and late in her cycle was when she wanted a good fucking.

Jay had the camera people ready and simply shrugged then said, "Action."

This was standing sex so she started with stroking me while I kissed her sensitive spot at the base of her neck. That never fails and in fact she let go of my penis as it got her going pretty quickly. I was kissing her neck as she was diddling herself as bending down and kissing her like that made paying attention to her vagina a bit problematic. Fortunately her mood helped and she pushed me away, turned then leaned on the wheel legs apart with a coy smile back at me.

I approached and ran my erection from underneath her slit several times until she reached down as I probed a bit. She knew me well enough to adjust her angle and use her free hand to open herself up a bit more and finally we aligned. I started off slow. She was rather wet, but we are not talking gushing as we both knew this was more production than typical sex for us. It took perhaps a dozen increasingly deep strokes for everything to be properly slippery.

"Fuck me!" She braced herself against the wheel.

It was all for show, Jennifer was usually much more tender when we were intimate. We were giving Movie Max their due.

It took almost ten minutes when Jennifer started moaning. It wasn't real because I know the pulsing of her vagina when she has one. She simply wasn't going to reach the top and get her release. Her pace was slackening a bit which was my signal to give Movie Max their money shot. A minute later, I was able to give her a pretty good one and as usual, as we decoupled, they zoomed into her entry as I leaked out.

This all sounds disappointing, but it is not. Even non-orgasmic sex is enjoyable and we don't fake it outside of when Movie Max needed some acting. Simply coupling with my awesome wife is fun and most of the time I can push her over the edge. She has said on numerous occasions that even when things get close-but-not-quite, sex is immensely enjoyable and the next time we coupled without having the awkward positioning on a moving boat, she did in fact have her next climax.

After the video guy got his creampie shot, he stopped the camera and the captain shooed us away from the wheel.

After we had cleaned up and came back on Deck, Jay announced, "Ryan and Cassie are third by a hair." He sighed, "Sophia was accurate in saying the other couples were close."

He changed the subject as Sophia had a bit of a self satisfied grin, "So what is the scene?"

Cara raised her hand, "Joshua was a bit dominant in their scene as was Anthony. I want to see Cassie in charge."

All of the women agreed and I was not going down that road so it was decided.

Ryan and Cassie went off alone for a few minutes as Cassie did most of the talking. I noted Ryan became erect and smiled, so whatever Cassie was thinking of, Ryan was clearly on board. Cassie nodded at Jay who took a second to understand they wanted to start their scene coming to us so he said, "Action!"

Cassie stroked Ryan a few times then pulled him toward us kind of like a leash, but with Ryan grinning ear to ear, clearly untroubled by Cassie being in charge. Once they were aroused enough, Cassie took a cushion from one of the loungers dropping it near their feet. They kissed intensely as she stroked him until she backed away a few steps and put her hand on his shoulder pushing him down. He put up no resistance then she joined him as they made out kissing while kneeling until she adjusted, laid down with him on top kissing until she pushed him his head down. He kissed his way down her body then started going down on her.

She liked it a lot. Her smile as she got into it and her arousal built. He had no problem eating his wife and she loved it. Though she had pubes on her mons, he worked her shaven slit to her increasingly urgent squirming until she reluctantly pushed him away, close to her climax. Pushing him down gently with his dick up. She straddled, adjusted and only took about three times as she sank down on him fully then started bouncing happily.

I was smart enough to not react much but Jennifer teased me about the way Cassie's boobs were bouncing. I am fortunate that Jennifer is not overly jealous, then again, I catch her looking at guys sometimes, but she is not obnoxious about it. The whole thing was an act, of course and Cassie was doing the boob bounce quite deliberately, knowing the effect it had on men. After a while of bouncing and diddling herself she had her first climax then simply told him, "Open Spoon" She was not on top any more but she was still in charge.

She dropped to her side and he was behind her now thrusting at a faster pace with her top leg now open. Another five minutes later, while he thrust and she played with herself, she had a second climax followed by him changing his angle to finish. The end was the usual decoupling and creampie shot.

Jay waited until they came back from cleaning up and brought us together, "So. What was the hottest scene?"

Cara raised her hand, "Cassie until she got off Ryan. It was hot. Why did you do that?"

Cassie turned her head and kissed Ryan, "Because he doesn't have good orgasms at that position and I need him to have his release. I had mine, I love him, and it is important to me that he have his. I need to hear him do his little grunt as he has a good one because it makes me happy when I know he has a good one and I gave it to him."

Cara nodded and deflated a bit, "Makes sense. I keep assuming our dynamic is like everyone else's.

Cassie shook her head, "We are more like Joshua and Jennifer where neither of us are dominant. I'm not an alpha girl, you are, and you deal with a strong willed guy. Sophia is right in that we work as couples, but we work in different ways."

Cara laughed, "Me and my big mouth."

Sophia uncharacteristically spoke up, "Cara, don't apologize for being yourself. I wasn't mad at you, more frustrated. Everyone assumes I'm a doormat when in fact. Jennifer is right. Anthony is wrapped around my pinky and I love him for it. He accepts me as I am and does what I need from him without me asking." She kissed his cheek and hugged him, "I love you. More than you can ever know. I am so in love with you, Anthony."

Cassie couldn't help it and said, "Awww."

Jay waited for murmuring to quiet down then asked, "So how many of you thought you would be on a sailing ship in the Caribbean a year ago, much less acting as married porn stars?"

The question was rhetorical of course and it did get me to thinking how much of my life had changed and mostly for the better. There was almost no uncertainty in my life. Food and shelter were nearly a given and I loved my job as did Jennifer.

We had an hour until dinner when the crew brought out their electric grills and made us some excellent barbecued split chicken roasters. Messy, but the sauce was excellent and worth the mess.

Tuesday, October, 27, 2020

It was a lazy morning before getting up as the soft rocking of The Petrel woke us. After waking fully and walking up to the deck we found breakfast was French Toast done on an electric griddle and The Cornwall Islands were already on the horizon.

Was the trip worth it? Yes, though I don't think I would do it again in the near term. We took a lot of pictures to add to the hundreds we had taken in Bermuda and we both knew an evening in a week or so would involve us making another Shutterfly book. We arrived in port at noon then got into the shuttle van to head back, all of us dead to the world tired, but happy after yet another top of the line experience thanks to Movie Max. The final adventure of the day was walking to the Tesco Express at the end of the block for some ready to go meals and dinner together. We fell asleep early as the next day was a work day.

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

I was coming back from my Tram Station worksite when I received a text from my wife, 'Christmas Market Meeting. You and the guys are on your own for dinner.'

Two minutes later I received a text from Jayson who texted, 'My wife has abandoned me for the evening to work on that project your wife is involved in. Want burgage?' I then noticed Anthony was also in the group so I had dinner with Anthony and Jayson at Burger Whirled. Somehow, Jennifer now had all the women of our group helping her.

She came back in a happy mood, many of the women in our group had differing talents and they had all talked their way into taking part in arranging The Christmas Market. I'll stop there as I care about my wife, but don't really care what part Cara or Sara are doing. Hey, I got burgers and a couple hours of time at The Fountain with my friends.

Saturday, October 31, 2020

Believe it or not, you can have a costume party in a place where no one wears clothes, at least the kind that covers anything interesting. Movie Max took our group to a place on the West Side of Town named Nova Club. It was a mid-sized three story glass fronted place taking up all three floors which fronted on Center Street. It was popular enough with the 'face crowd' to have two big bouncers at the doors checking the invitation list so only 'pretty people' could get in. Good thing I know people in high places. I'm not a troll, but I doubt I could get in on a normal day without Movie Max.

It was a typical place where the top third of women get in, but only the top five percent of men are worthy and most of the top five percent show up to take advantage.

Jennifer was the sexy pirate with thigh high boots at an underbust half corset. None of her fun bits were covered, but in The Cornwall Islands, they never were. I was dressed as a barbarian with a horned, well plastic horned helmet and a large plastic sword on a sheath across my back.

I had been to a few such clubs in my life with Ashley and it wasn't me that got us in. Ashley was not the type of woman to get admitted by the bouncer into a club, look back as the bouncer denied entry to her date and wave with a 'See you in a few hours.' She would cross her arms and say firmly I was her guy and would not go in if I could not. It mostly worked though a few times the bouncer shrugged and said, "Next!"

The night was decent. Several of the handsome five percenters mostly tried once with Jennifer and left once she made it clear she was happily married. A couple were very persistent. One guy in particular, tall with a bit of a Ben Dalhaus look though probably not quite in that league kept dancing in and at points dancing between my wife and myself tried a half dozen times and kept at it until Jennifer started yelling at him.

It was hilarious and yeah, I'm proud of my wife who is patient and nice until it is time to not be patient or nice. So on his seventh or so try where he literally inserted himself between me and my wife she started yelling, "FUCKING HELL! What the fuck is wrong with you? I'm not some kind of disloyal slut. GO THE FUCK AWAY! I'm not going to be one of your conquests. For fuck sake! Can't you see my rings? Are you fucking blind? FUCKING IDIOT!"

If you haven't figured it out yet, Jennifer is fucking awesome!

Mr. Smooth's face changed into a bit of anger at being embarrassed as Jennifer was not quiet in her rebukes. The exchange went on for a bit. The words 'real man' were used and Jennifer explained the actual meaning of real man being someone who could take a hint when he was not welcome. Jennifer can be quite colorful if you piss her off enough. I had never even gotten close to her current anger level.

Turns out she is also quite accomplished in sarcasm, explaining that his 'twelve inch cock' which didn't look to be true, would smash into her cervix and that is anything but fun in real life. Again, I had never come close to pissing her off as much as the Ben wannabe.

The night got better and it was interesting to watch Jennifer work through the anger after he left and return to her nicer self.

Remind me to not push my wife to the point she starts using the terms 'Creepy wanna be Wim De Klerk.' No idea who that guy is. Must be a model or something.

It was a pretty good night besides the time with the creeper. Later that night, I saw Cassie's evil side, too, but she grabbed Wannabe Ben's appendage and twisted hard... until they both got kicked out. Did I ever mention Cassie was quite proud of her fingernails? Did I ever mention fingernails must really hurt when a woman with long ones digs in? Did I mention that I heard high notes I did not think an adult male could make?

Must have slipped my mind. Oops.

Monday, November 2, 2020

Jennifer beat the alarm and was up before I started moving, "Come on! Today is the first day getting The Christmas Market set up!"

She was fired up as it was the start of putting the Christmas Market together. She had taken a vacation day in her enthusiasm in seeing things finally come together. It didn't hurt that my work responsibilities now included the preparations for The Christmas Market which was in West Park and next to my tram station so I got to count helping her as a work day. I would do my best for her to make sure everything started to come together.

I left home before her as she was still home in her office going over emails and I was at the station when I received a text, 'My containers are in port on a ship that just pulled into Westport'.

I knew about this as part of my job, but I did not want to dampen Jennifer's enthusiasm so I just responded, 'Great news'. The containers were due at West Park the following day. There was a rush and the containers had been specially noted, but container ships didn't unload themselves.

During the previous months, my crew had come through and had the concrete pillars supporting sections of elevated tram line going across West Park installed and in place. These sections ran between the new station at the new ferry docks across the park toward the traffic circle just south of the center of town. With those pillars completed, my crews could work on other sections without disturbing the Christmas Market located in West Park.

I had a different crew install weatherized electrical boxes with power drops that would each serve four of the booths; two side by side and the two directly behind them on the next lane over. The Cornwall Islands used US electrical standards so for standard booths, each of those feeds had four regular duplex outlets for each booth and we had produced a web page showing what each of the circuits could handle as what they could handle.

The setup was similar for food booths, but with much higher power feeds for all of the cooking equipment. Of course, those booths cost much more, but you could even order your booth to include a commercial electric griddle or deep fryer. The Cornwall Islands meant business and they were open for business in The Christmas Market.

Jennifer texted me a half dozen times before she arrived at half past ten and I answered each as they came. "What about...", "Can this..."

She was disappointed they could not get any of her freight to West Park that day, but accepted the answer. At half past ten, Jennifer arrived with her laptop and her smile, "Thanks, Joshua, I know I'm a pain, but..."

I just hugged her and just said, "Your market will be a huge success."

She backed away a bit, looked at me, smiled, then melted because she knew come hell or high water, I was going to make damn sure her market was ready. She came in for another hug, a tight one, and whispered in my ear, "Thank you, Joshua. This means so much to me."

Sometimes you score big with your wife and I had done just that. When we settled down for a late dinner from Tesco, we heard some actual good news from the US. Major General William Robertson, now 'President' Robertson announced that unemployment had dropped two tenths of a point. Yes, the actual rate was awful, but the direction was the right one and he announced point after point of what he was doing to get people working. The right hated some of it and the left hated other parts. He did not care about anything but getting people working and said as much as he ended his speech with "I don't give a flying fuck about anything else."

It got me thinking about how blessed we were in The Cornwall Islands.

Tuesday, November 3, 2020

Jennifer was up like a shot again, full of energy and enthusiasm. Yesterday was a bit of a downer as none of the items had made it through customs out of the port. This morning was a different story. I had quietly called the Tourism Minister who made calls and the paperwork had been pushed through the last evening.

It wasn't even seven as Jennifer and I parked in the closest lot then she led me by the hand in excitement to... NOTHING. Westport was ninety minutes away by truck. The first truck had left the port at six so we stood there. The first work crew did show up at a quarter after seven and we had luck there, they were one of the three crews for the container handlers I had lining the West end of West Park. I quietly asked them to go fetch their handler and explained the situation. The driver smiled then laughed, "I'm married too. Happy wife. Happy life." The driver nodded to his spotter who gave me a knowing look and nodded with a smile.

They came back and had their handler waiting so I showed them the markers I had installed in a two wide, two deep pattern with eight feet between the four and twenty feet between each group of four. It wasn't a complicated pattern and they understood immediately when the first truck arrived. One chassis with two of the containers on it, we were ready to place the first containers on what was to become the Easternmost lane of the Christmas Market; Christmas Tree Lane.

You could call me shocked when Gao Yanmei herself showed up and she shocked me even more by being bare ass naked like the rest of us. She looked at me with a smirk, "You have a saying of something like 'When in Rome'...

She answered the next question without me asking, "I am here to make sure the items are correct and satisfactory." She frowned with a bit of determination, "Or heads will roll back in China."

It was not lost on me that they were trying to fix relations with The Cornwall Islands. It would take a while, but China has always played the long game.

Both containers on the first truck were new, not just gently used and the roll up door had already been installed. It was a few minutes until the second truck with two containers arrived so we opened the door of the first container to find the two gabled roof sections set diagonally on stout wooden pallet sleds arranged back to back. The care that had gone into properly packing everything was unexpected and I'll admit surprising.

After we pulled out the roof sections, we found the other items for each container behind them on their own sleds. I looked at Ganmei who sported a lot more than a subtle smirk as the items came out in perfect order. Even the side door was properly set and protected inside its own open crating.

She addressed my wife and me at the same time, "We have pre packed each container with its own associated items. The crating is bolted together and is designed to be reused so that you may safely store the items in the container in the off season. Each sled is numbered and matches a number you will find at the closed end of the container."

Ganmei looked at me as if to challenge me to try to find something wrong with the order. They had even included a few unexpected things like eight foot wide fatigue mats for the booth owners to stand on. They were indeed playing the long game in making this order perfect.

Four hours later, the first of twenty forty foot containers of Christmas decorations arrived when I had figured three or four containers. Long game indeed and Ganmei's smirk never disappeared as she said, "We included a few extras. Just to make sure."

I knew damn well that Ganmei was not our friend, but could not help but have a bit of gratitude. As things fell into place without incident, Jennifer's smile increased as two by two, everything arrived in order and the layout of The Christmas Market took shape.

Wednesday, November 4, 2020

I love Jennifer's enthusiasm and dedication to The Christmas Market as she again used one of her days off to make sure The Christmas Market went well. The last of the containers that made up the booths was placed in its spot on the last of the lanes then the roof sections lifted into place. With that, the handlers and most of the heavier equipment left to be replaced by more mundane forklifts and lulls moving pallets of lights and decorations as my crews started running power cables from the drops we had located throughout the area.

Saturday, November 7, 2020

Sometimes something that sounds almost ordinary turns out to be amazing and we had most of the day to ourselves until five so we had a pool party at our condos. The shuttle van picked us up at five and took us to the area near St. Ives Marketplace, but West instead of East of Stephens Street where we pulled up to 'Pizza Pipes'. I'm not normally into organs or Bach, but the spectacle of a giant pipe organ with twelve thousand pipes playing as we ate pizza of all things is the memory of a lifetime. Several of the pieces were selected no doubt to use the lowest and deepest notes which you feel more than you hear.

They claimed it is the tenth largest pipe organ in the world. Another thing The Cornwall Islands did under the guise of go big or go home and a show that was the memory of a lifetime.

In a pizza place!

Monday, November 16, 2020

The last of the work crews left at five that night after a day of final clean up and checking that everything was in place and working. I would have one of each type of crew to fix or repair new issues, but most of the crews left that evening at four.

It was just another Christmas Market evening for Jennifer who was on hand to help her crews check in the booth vendors as they arrived on site to give their individual requests and make sure their wares had landed.

Eric and Shelby from the Summer Festival made their first appearance. Jennifer gave them a knowing smile when she told them they had a spot on Christmas Tree Lane, the one closest to The Central Fountain and the center of town. They knew enough to not start making a scene, but Shelby gave Jennifer a grateful smile and mouthed, 'Thank you.'

Though the Christmas Market was large by Cornwall Islands standards, the smaller nature and population meant that the problems that did creep out could be worked out much quicker and Jennifer had to face relatively few anxious or angry booth vendors. Issues came up, messages were sent, and most were fixed in an hour or three.

Saturday, November 14, 2020

The shuttle van picked us up at eight that morning and took us to Captain Joe's again where Claire greeted us with the usual, "Good morning couples! Today's adventures will certainly amuse the men more than the women as we are going to a trampoline park."

You know what is hard? Not reacting to that little bit of news. One thing I love about Jennifer is she is a good sport and said, "I'll go along with this to a point, but understand after a while, it will start to hurt and that is when I stop."

She kissed me on the cheek, "It's okay to be a guy, you know. Don't be an ass, but I'll give you a little show because I love you."

Damn she is awesome.

Like a lot of things, 'Leaps and Bounds' was near the St. Ives Marketplace shopping plaza, but a bit further to the East. Claire led us inside and talked to the person and as typical, we received wristbands and she announced, "Once again, we at Movie Max are giving you the deluxe experience. The food is typical for fast food and it is on us. Enjoy as our video crews home in on all you do today!"

There were quite a few things to do and Claire took us to a basketball court where the center area was a semi-soft cushion and each end was a trampoline for dunking. It was ridiculous fun and I scored six points including one where I dunked from well above the rim. We had a five on five men's basketball game and the East Condos took on the West Condos. It was close at 38 to 36, but the West Condos did beat us.

After this they took us to an adjacent area with a running area with a trampoline under the hoop where I won the slam dunk contest and Jayson came in second. This was where Jennifer's forbearance was much appreciated as the women took each other on in the same slam dunk contest. Imagine even moderate sized boobies as each woman ran up to the trampoline, took a huge jump and did a slam dunk. No shock Cara won that one, and Jennifer came in fourth of the ten women.

Did I mention I like bouncing boobies? OK every heterosexual male likes bouncing boobies. Jennifer asked me if I liked her dunk. I know.. Duh!

After the basketball contests they took us to a raised platform where two by two we climbed up and paired off against each other with very soft and almost comically fluffy pugil sticks and I was paired up against each of the other men in turn. I did okay until I was up against Jayson who knocked me down rather easily and I ended up five wins and four losses.

Jennifer won five of her bouts and lost four of them. The big surprise was alpha chick Cara was first up against Sophia who... won! Sophia gently probed and Cara did not take her seriously saying, "You call that a hi..." Whonk whonk! And down Cara went. Cara was a good sport about it and took everyone seriously after that, defeating each of the women in turn to go 8 wins and 1 loss but the 1 loss was Sophia who had a smile ten miles wide. At the end, Cara bowed to Sophia and acknowledged her as the one who 'taught her a lesson in humility'.

We had lunch that was decent but nothing special then headed for the next event which was their ninja course. Being in a trampoline park meant it was more soft challenges than hard ones and starting off with a running start to leap over an eight foot high wall was fucking awesome! Landing on a giant airbag was just as much fun. Up and onto monkey bars where I made a pretty good monkey then onto a wall climb and onto cargo nets. Had to be careful there as a foot slip might have felt rather... excruciating. The final part was this area of moving padded platforms where we had to get from one side to the other. If we fell off into the airbag, we had to start over. I placed third in that one. Yeah, Jayson took first in that one.

The final event was a special zip line which you hung onto at a fairly steep angle. At the end, it angled up and ended. The idea was to fly as far as you could onto a very long airbag. It was a bit jarring as I hit the end and let go quick enough to not lose a lot of speed so I also won that one.

So I won two events. What did I get? A milkshake that I could have had for free anyway for the dunk and a ticket for a medium prize for the zip line. My medium prize...? They have cameras throughout and I chose a laminated photo of me flying through the air during the zipline.

After the contests, they set us free to do whatever we pleased for the rest of the day. They had an arcade with both modern and retro games. There were several other areas of trampolines and even had an instructor at one teaching us how to do a reverse backflip without killing ourselves. At the end of the day we took a vote on where to have dinner and Kitakyushu Teppanyaki won. I was surprised Movie Max agreed to the expensive meal, but went along with it.

Tuesday, November 24, 2020

It was the last day before The Christmas Season was to start and my wife had taken a day off as she wanted a final walk through The Christmas Market to make sure everything was in place. I had been through the market a dozen times in the past week and spent most of my day nearby at the tram station in case any last minute issues came up. None did.

Progress on the Tram station had slowed down and Gemma was okay with it as The Christmas Market was very important to the islands and a higher priority at the time. Several million dollars had been spent over and above the two and a half million dollar payment from China. It was all part of the launch of the Christmas Season which was big for business and the biggest celebration in a country that prioritized the overall happiness of the populace.

The stall owners were busy moving and organizing their wares as the last trucks arrived from the port in the harbor and the one at Westport along with cargo from the airport. More than once, after proof in paperwork and proper identification, one of our customs agents had to cut the lock off a container for which no one had a key.

Jennifer's smile. Things were coming together and all her work looked to be paying off as booth owners organized their wares and locked them for the night.

The next day was the launch which was to be a show unto itself.

Author's note:

Pizza Pipes is based on a real life place I went to in Florida. It has since gone out of business, but I remember it fondly.