Candi

Candi - Summary

Romantic comedy and love story about an unhappy, divorced "milf" in her early 40s who searches for love, gets baby fever, seduces an older friend in an attempt to get herself pregnant after the death of her only child.

Candi - Author's notes

This is a rewrite of a previous love story I submitted, late in 2025. I am a nurse and only about 33% of readers liked the original style, which I have called "clinical sex". Clinical Sex attempts to use more clinically accurate descriptions and mix them in with modern slang in a humorous way to add some diversity and sophistication into how erotic writing describes sexuality. The idea is to make it entertaining and more sophisticated, not just crude.

This version adds in more humor and gets into the thoughts of the characters to tell the story in a slightly different way. Hopefully, more will like it. The first name of the protagonist was changed to remove association with the original version.

It is also made more clear to the reader why the antagonist does some of the things that he does, and what is going on in his mind at the time.

The character of Ruth has more depth to her now and is used to tie events together from a different perspective, showing the difference between the shallower ways characters perceive events and motivations, and what was actually happening underneath the events.

Better tie backs to the past history and past personality of the protagonists are in this version, for clearer motivation and continuity of the characters.

The characters in this story never existed. If they sound like people you know, they should probably get better personalities and lives because the characters in this story have lousy lives. Some of them are scared too much and some of them are jerks. Even the dog breeds in the story were changed because my landlady does not allow certain dog breeds around, so I may as well make fun of it.

It is not recommended that women seduce friends to get married and pregnant. The protagonist does this in the story because she has a kinky sense of humor and raging hormones, and none of this is how real life works. Nobody "lucks out" in real life when your motivation is selfish. Ladies, learn to have some empathy for the men in your life, consider adoption or using a legal sperm bank. It is not nice to force unplanned fatherhood on a man and guilt-trip him into marriage because you can compel him to think with his crotch. This is just a story, not how it plays out in the real world. Some men are going to resent the idea and become angry that you are trying to manipulate them with guilt.

This story is not told sequentially or chronologically. Much of it occurs inside the mind of the protagonist, and her personality and humor are a bit weird. It shifts time periods so the reader can understand how past events and different characters came together into the main story line. People and events from different points in the protagonist's life form threads or segments in the tapestry or jigsaw puzzle of the protagonist's life, and provide a perspective to the reader as to how the protagonist got into the predicament and explain why the protagonist planned what she planned.

The protagonist's ex-husband cheated on her, got another woman pregnant and then served the protagonist with divorce papers. The protagonist is forced to look back at who she was before, who she is now, and figure out how to change herself and her life so she can move on.

The protagonist's naughty sense of humor is her coping mechanism for life's stress. She tends to be conflict averse and the way she copes with conflict and adapts to problems is through her outrageous sense of humor to make people laugh.

She loves organizing and planning, but is smart enough to know that life seldom goes as planned. Her sense of humor and imagination conspire to mentally create dozens of silly, "what if?" scenarios, so she can mentally adapt on the fly if things do not go as planned. She does not like the idea of not knowing what to do when plans don't work, so she tries to plan things out in her head to get some minimum satisfactory outcome if feared problems do arise.

She is bright, she thinks ahead. Those aspects of her personality are what have made her so successful. They begin to work against her when she is faced with trying to figure out how to make an old friend fall in love with her. She second-guesses herself and her fears become rampant, because divorce has shaken her confidence. Her humor tries to counter-balance the fear so she can get the courage to act. Internally, she knows that some of her fears are not realistic, so her sense of humor creates silly exaggerations of realities when she thinks about what she should do if things don't go as planned. This helps to settle her mind and stop worrying.

Humor comes from the protagonist's changing mood and perception of the situation. The silly scenarios her mind spins mean that she tends to worry too much. Some things are feared for silly reasons and clearly are not going to happen. Not everything she fears is realistic, but she is clever, and this is part of her charm, her personality and how she approaches problem solving.

Her journey pulls her thoughts and emotions in many different funny directions for many different reasons. She is in this bad situation because of the cruelty of her ex-spouse. He has destroyed her faith and confidence, scrambled her emotions, and messed with her mind. The protagonist is only trying to pull her life back together and restore happiness. She wants to win the love of the man she loves, be loved by him, and have a baby and she is scared she will fail for dozens of possible reasons.

Different points of view appear from the characters of the same moments, so you can see what they are thinking at the same time: or at least what the protagonist thinks they are thinking.

The author believes that written fiction can have a greater personal relevance to readers when it mimics natural thought and talking. Screw the idea of blindly conforming to proper English sentence structure and usage for this story. There is a time and place for them, but not in this particular story. The anal about sentence structure and those who find it impossible to deviate from style sheet manuals are welcomed and encouraged to go write their own short stories and novels and to skip reading this one. Please go create your own whole universes where people only talk in structured sentences.

For the rest of you, I hope that you enjoy this new version of the story.

= = = Candi = = =

Candice Goodman still turned heads at almost age 43. She was 5'3", had shoulder length, blonde-very light brown hair, hazel eyes. She was athletic fit at about 99 pounds, girl-next-door attractive, with a superb figure, but not drop dead gorgeous. What made people take notice when she walked into the room was her personality: positive, full of sunshine, funny and clever.

Full of grace and goodwill. So much inner beauty that her beauty flooded out into the air around her and made her seem more beautiful to everyone. It even floated out in her voice, her face, her smile, or her laughter. When she was wearing a long, formal dress or skirt, she seemed to float or glide across the room as she walked. It was as if a smiling angel was walking before you.

Candi made you feel good about yourself and made you feel that anything good was possible. You walked away from a meeting or event with some of Candi's personal sunshine in your soul.

Men looked at Candi and smiled. They wanted a woman in their lives like that. Candi was what most men wanted and what many men wished their wives would be.

Candi had skipped several grades in school and graduated from a state college at age 19, majoring in business administration. Very smart. Very creative. Innovative. Friendly. Talked to the shy as well as everyone else and was not shallow about it. She remembered personal talks and details. They were fun, meaningful discussions.

You could talk to Candi about anything. She could drill down into team rosters on almost any professional or college sport. She knew the arts and local events. She loved animals and pets. She could ride horses, jet-skis, and motorcycles. People were always rather shocked at how much she knew about fixing cars, flying, boating, home repair, gardening, literature, theater, movies, music, travel, computer systems, technology, astronomy, geology, paleontology, physics, mathematics, fishing, hiking, running, religion, poker, chess, archery, camping and more. What was self taught, was very well self taught. She truly had a passion for all of those interests and she was well travelled.

It was very easy for Candi to find some sort of common interest or hobby and create a strong rapport with almost anyone. Introverts found someone with a common interest to talk to.

Candi also had an unrivaled, fast, charming sense of humor. When she saw someone being verbally abusive, Candi's sense of humor turned shockingly embarrassing and outrageous, making everyone in the room laugh very hard for several minutes. It would pull the rug of smug satisfaction out from under whoever was acting like a jackass at the time: breaking the tension, defeating cruel comments, and spoiling the fun they were having.

The arrogant would stomp away, frustrated, because everyone was laughing. Nobody was listening to them or taking them seriously anymore.

Candi was never cruel in return. Her humor was insulting, but very well targeted, naughty and very, very funny, not cruel. You laughed at the words and absurd ideas, not the person being insulted. People would be laughing at Candi's silly, absurd comments, and suddenly, nobody gave a shit about what the abuser had been saying.

The abusers knew they had lost both the audience and all credibility when people were laughing. Laughter deflected the cruelty that they wanted to use to break someone. Candi's joke broke the tension. The abusers ended up looking mean and stupid. If they wanted to continue being cruel, the abusive would have to repeat and explain everything slowly and patiently.

Cruel remarks are not as effective when they have to be slowly explained. The audience more deeply analyzes them. The abusers' opinions and comments would often be picked apart and disregarded by others, who were still sniggering at Candi's humor.

Candi did not get into many arguments, herself, because she was always prepared to listen to reason. The same personality that helped her easily talk to others, meant that she found common ground with almost everyone. Her suggestions and alternatives were terrific, and management was put into a greater comfort zone after Candi had reviewed something. She had friendly respect.

Poking fun at the perpetrator and making people around them laugh didn't resolve issues with toxic people; However, nobody else was getting along with them, either. Candi's way at least broke the group tension and made morale rise. The jokes would be repeated for weeks.

Toxic people are predators. They hunt for new people and new reasons to be cruel. It validates their sense of superiority. There had been cruel, cliquish girls at school who had made fun of Candi's first name. They learned fairly quickly that was not wise.

The fast, charming, sarcastic sense of humor was Candi's defense mechanism for settling disputes and conflict. Duking it out with Candi's humor was as hopeless as going into a sparring ring with an armed enemy battalion. Candi could find something funny and eloquent to say about practically anything, and the talent made her extremely popular. It was fun to be around Candi. It was easy to be her friend. When people saw anyone acting hostile to Candi, they collectively swarmed the offender and were prepared to get in-your-face ugly.

Acting like a jackass to Candi or any of Candi's "millions" of friends was a supersonic flight ticket to large scale social rejection and rapid unpopularity. If you could not get along with Candi, people would scowl and comment "WTF is wrong with you?" and walk away.

Candice Corinne Maxwell (later) Goodman. Warrior Comedienne. Scourge of the Narcissistic Cruel and Arrogantly Entitled. Protector of the verbally defenseless. Defender of the shy and meek.

Candice was named after her maternal aunt. An angel of a woman. A classical musician and off-Broadway stage actress. Candi had loved her aunt. Candice the Aunt had taught Candice the Niece how to dance, sing, play guitar and piano, and so much more. She had also taught Candi how to use comedy to disrupt hecklers when she was performing or speaking.

If there were a few cruel girls at school who made fun of young Candi, there were probably 10 to 20 times that number of boys and girls who adored young Candi and called her friend. She was extremely popular. Unleashing her humor on some arrogant, entitled bitch made everyone laugh and saved many students from humiliation and anguish. Candi the Rescuer.

The worst in Candi's state college days had been a sorority girl named Mindy. Mindy had such a bad scholastic and personality reputation by the end of high school that even her parents' money was not enough to land her into any major university. She went on animal rights crusades and released lab animals. There were other political crusades. Mindy was involved to the extent that it was convenient for her to be involved. The problem was that she was bad at them and had no people skills, but she did have a large bankroll.

Mindy walked around everywhere with her large, purebred Standard Poodle. The poodle had a haircut that looked like a topiary tree had mated with a US Marine. High and tight on the head and flanks with a pseudo-Mohawk. Large, ball shaped tufts on the legs and tail.

Mindy doted on the dog (Pascal) with sugar frosted, kissy affection. Well, Candi had thought Pascal was the only conscious being that was capable of loving Mindy. Probably all the dog treats in Mindy's pocket.

Mindy's parents probably had to rent human boyfriends for Mindy by the hour. Mindy was stunning, but Pascal had a better temperament. Mindy's boyfriends were always very good looking, very expensively dressed and smart, but none seemed to last more than a day. Some seemed to be replaced within hours.

"There are women who don't even change their pads as frequently as Mindy changes boyfriends." Candi had once commented. "The only one always there is Pascal."

Mindy and Pascal walked around campus dressed in fashion attire that would have paid for Candi's annual tuition, books and many living expenses. Mindy the Warrior Fashionista.

Mindy was European, but girls referred Mindy as the Alpha Jindo: marking her territory and hunting for someone to chase down, belittle and destroy. Death by Mindy was horrifying. The carcass, smelling like Mindy's own feces, would be left at the scene of the kill.

Lots of young girls had been traumatized.

Candi and a friend had put a few captured critters into Mindy's van one hot summer day. Mindy had left her van front door windows down. If it got broken into or stolen, surely Mindy's Dad had insurance to pay off the loss?

Candi had borrowed a video cam to record Mindy and Pascal's reactions when they came back. Unfortunately, the van had no side passenger windows and all they got was Mindy and her dog going into the van and jumping around, rocking the van and screaming. Probably stomping the shit out of the critters. Candi realized that there were no rear passenger windows on the van and the van had extra good suspension. Mindy had a bed inside so she could take in visitors when the sorority house was busy.

Don't come knocking when Mindy's van is rocking?

The day before, Mindy had defiled a sorority sister's car with eau de Pascal. The college and the sorority had made an exception to pets on campus and pets in the sorority house, because of who Mindy's Dad was. Mindy was supposed to pickup after her dog during walks. Mindy had left a few plastic bags of Pascal's excrement on the hood and top of the sorority girl's car. It was a hot day.

Candi had put the critters inside Mindy's van because Candi wanted to get clear video of Mindy and her dog murdering the critters. The animal rights folks would not have appreciated their patron goddess doing that. All they got was Mindy and Pascal jumping into the van, shrieks, the van rocking violently for a while, and then Mindy and Pascal opening the van's rear doors and jumping out. You could see the disheveled bed inside. Some sort of blended creamy drink looked like it had partially spilled on the mattress. Maybe a vanilla latte with shaved ice? Video was video and they did not get what they hoped for. So what? The idea didn't work.

Months later, when a young sorority pledge named Jolene got caught giving a blow job to her rather geeky type date, Mindy humiliated them both by exposing the matter to the whole sorority and demanding formal moral justice. If Mindy could get Candi to agree, Mindy felt certain that her own agenda would rule.

Hey, this is a lousy, commuter type, state college sorority, Candi thought to herself. No reason for creating an inquisition over two horny people who could not find a private bedroom somewhere. You are no angel either, Mindy.

Mindy tried to pressure Candi into supporting Mindy's ideas on morality. Young Candi did have had a moral compass, but she was not going to be pressured into anything by a rich girl. Candi the Warrior Comedienne returned with a purposeful sword of vengeance.

"Well," Candi had replied. "at least Jolene was giving a blow job to a real human. Honestly, Mindy, don't you think that being caught giving a blow job to Pascal is worse? I don't even want to think about what that tasted like. Good idea to spit it out on the mattress. What's that lumpy ice stuff? Looks like a choking hazard if you had to swallow..." The summer video started playing on a nearby TV screen.

Nobody in the sorority actually believed the Mindy and Pascal story, but that didn't stop them from laughing at the shocking idea. An embarrassed Mindy stomped out of the room. By the time that Mindy's exaggerated accusations came down, Jolene's geeky tech type guy had already made the video mysteriously vanish. When asked by officials, the sorority girls swore that they could not remember what Candi had said. With no evidence and nobody remembering or believing, the accusations and claims of reputation damage and disruption were dismissed.

The lesson for sorority supremacists had been clear: The people who you wanted to subjugate all liked Candi a lot better than they liked you. If you did not get along with Candi, that was your problem, and your own attitude was the problem. They would write you off as unworthy to associate with.

A clique that could not attract followers was doomed. There was no value to being top tier in a disrespected clique no one would join. Being the butt end of Candi's crusading naughty humor would inspire no new worshippers. Candi would say her joke, once. It would be repeated many times by everyone who had heard it, for weeks, months or years.

Candi was engaged and married to a young lawyer, a year or so after college. A baby would be on the way a year later.

Candi found that she had to tone down her humor, severely. It occasionally caused office problems for her husband, but even her husband's office loved occasionally seeing the Warrior Comedienne go to town. What Candi said was still funny. They still laughed. They still wanted to know every doggone word spoken when the Warrior Comedienne came riding to the rescue.

Candi had never encouraged it or collected them, but when cell phones, text messaging, email, and internet messaging became ubiquitous, people who knew Candi thanked God for the new tech. Friends began calling them instant "Candigrams".

When smart phone video tech arrived, Candigrams seemed to have their own binge audience.

We are all different people at different points in our lives. We grow up and change. Life changes us, whether we want it to or not.

Toning down the humor was an evolutionary process for Candi as her career matured. The sense of humor was not going to change. Naughty repartee would still come instantly into Candi's mind, but only the few, the appropriate, the trustworthy and those who wanted to hear it, needed to see it, saw the Candigrams. Stealth humor. Toning down the humor and going stealthy meant that her husband did not get any career fallout from her humor, and it endeared her to everyone in the law practice. There was an unspoken rule that, when you wanted to laugh about something that happened in the law office, you went over to Brad and Candi's home and spoke to Candi privately.

Brad got a lot of very career enhancing, after-hours face time with important people in the office that way.

Candi did the same thing at her own office, and her career took off.

The best public compromise for Candi was to smile, repress her words and allow her mind to create the unspoken naughty, dirty, funny comeback remarks, outrageous stories, personal jokes and insults.

It was like having a comic like Robin Williams or Yakov Smirnoff inside your brain, and it would bring a smile to Candi's face. Candi would form the humor in her mind and figure out if it was worth saying. The politically correct and easily offended were not worthy of hearing it or getting a Candigram. It was and odd quality of mercy. Sometimes, she would just smile as the reply formed in her mind.

The cruel would stare into that smile and be broken by their own shame, because they would only get a smile as a response, and they looked like heartless shit to everyone there.

Sometimes her humor created something too funny to keep inside, so it went out to a limited audience in a Candigram, especially if her anger ran deep. Even if Candi tastefully hid the identity, it was fun for recipients to see the Warrior Comedienne come out again.

Candi's stealth sarcasm actually made her even more popular as an adult. She looked like the perfect, smiling, charming, sociable, smart, beautiful, ideal corporate woman who said nothing bad about anyone. The Candigrams became cherished, sacred, privileged communications between friends because they made them laugh.

Strengths uncover new strengths.

Candigrams uncovered that she also had a talent for writing ads.

It started getting noticed when she started sending text messages and (later) photos of products she would see displayed in stores or magazines that just looked silly or wrong. There was always a funny comment on how the store could have changed how it was displayed or pitched to the customer.

Candi's bright mind was quick at grasping the positive and figuring a creative, fun way to improve how and something was promoted or sold. Employers put her into corporate product marketing. Marketing campaigns improved and sales departments reaped the benefits. The clever young business administration major became an unbeatable marketing manager. Her magnetism and popularity also made her into an inspiring manager of people. Soon, Candi was a brilliant marketing department director on the fast track to executive success. Then a brilliant executive.

By age 32, the now Candi Goodman owned a small marketing consultancy, with an impressive array of past and present clients. Her employees and her next-door neighbors would have probably died for her. If the office or her home had ever caught fire, they would have run into a burning building just to pull Candi out.

She was boss, cheerleader, caring friend, mentor, loyal supporter, helpful listener and confidant, amazingly wise advisor, substitute pseudo-mother at work.

If Candi had a near fatal flaw, it was her taste in men and who she had married.

Brad had been a decent husband to Candi for many years. Five years older than Candi, 6' tall, deviously clever, outgoing, athletic with GQ Model looks and a major university Law Degree. He could be likable and charming when attractive women or corporate executives were around. He probably could have been elected somewhere. He was polished and could sling bullshit rhetoric with the best of them, but his favorite past time was brown nosing superiors and appearing indispensable to the powerful.

He was a reasonably well-to-do lawyer. Not quite to the partner level in the law firm but always acknowledged as one of the best the firm had. He seemed okay most of the time but committed to getting most of what he asked for in a negotiation. Sometimes, everything was a negotiation. If he didn't think that he got enough from the negotiation, he got secretly pissed and it colored his judgment. To Brad, there was no such thing as "better judgment" than his own, so whatever acts of payback Brad decided were needed, happened. Fuck what others thought. Brad could be vindictive and cruel as hell when pissed, and he hid being pissed very well.

Better to blindside the victim so they don't see it coming. Hurts more that way. That was Brad's modus operandi when he was pissed or disappointed.

Candi and Brad christened their daughter Kelly Dawn Goodman. Candi very much wanted more children, but Brad would have nothing to do with the idea after Kelly was born. Brad decided that children were expensive and time consuming. Candi and Kelly were extremely close. It was almost as if Candi had cloned herself.

At age 18, Kelly moved out to attend college upstate. Four months later, Kelly had been killed in a car accident. Still able to have children, Candi talked to Brad about it. Brad shocked Candi by announcing that he had gone out and had a vasectomy, and sex in the relationship vanished completely. Brad would say that he was not interested anymore.

He started working later at the law office, was given the law firm's top client and he travelled a lot on firm business. A little over two years after Kelly's death, Brad served Candi with divorce papers. Candi came home to find a process server with papers at the front door, and a moving crew just finishing up loading all of Brad's things into a van. He surprised Candi by not loading anything into the van that was not his. At least that is what the convenient inventory list with photos claimed.

The divorce was processed and signed off very fast. Several weeks. All of Brad's legal contacts had helped him fast track his divorce. Brad was involved with the CEO of the firm's top corporate client, and the law firm wanted Brad's divorce to go off with minimum client inconvenience. The law firm wanted to be one-stop shopping for all of the client's legal affairs, so it stepped in and made things happen before Brad's past work there became an unwanted impediment. Not only was the client important, but Brad was more important than ever.

Brad had been relatively generous in the divorce. The house was Candi's. Candi's car was hers. Candi would takeover the payments on those and the titles would be in her name. Candi's business was hers. No buyout of Brad's home equity needed. Brad's car was his, along with his payments. Brad's acknowledged possessions on the inventory list were his. Anything else in the property settlement would be worked out between the two of them over the next several years with an arbitrator. Nothing would go to court or the arbitrator unless there was a disagreement.

The divorce with its initial property settlement went through fast to remove barriers so Brad could remarry on his new fiancee's timing. Everything Brad was entitled to, he had already removed from the house, anyway. Candi was actually fine with the initial property settlement terms. She was willing to give other things to him, as long as they were within some reason. She would have been completely content if they had been unchanged, but Brad soon proved that he was not happy with it at all. Candi suspected that Brad may have had less to do with the property settlement terms than she had thought, even though the agreement had come from him. Either that or Brad was going through emotional issues.

Brad didn't stay fair or generous, regardless of his original intentions. It was what was not specifically mentioned in the divorce settlement and not on the inventory list that Brad would leverage with pettiness. Brad would appear suddenly, nit-pick, bitch, hound and contest unreasonably tiny things, just because it pissed Candi off, not because he really wanted them. Candi hadn't seen the need for a lawyer when things initially went this fast and conveniently. The arbitrator was supposed to settle the finer details. Brad was a lawyer, so Candi was at a disadvantage.

The woman Brad had been having an affair with was a brilliant, filthy rich client of Brad's law firm. She had billions. All her own money. Hollywood leading lady type looks, eye-popping gorgeous. Owned her own diversified businesses. Extremely successful and extremely smart. 30-something. Nothing implanted or enhanced about her. Tall. Stunning. Natural. Sophisticated. Fashionable. Corporate A-List and admired.

She did not care how much past money or possessions Brad had previously. She had tons more. She owned multiple homes in multiple countries to generously share with Brad. Homes could be filled with any possessions he wanted to keep. She did not want what Brad or Candi owned. She just wanted Brad out of his current home, out of Candi's life and into her own life.

Her name was Ruth. She was even reasonably nice and polite with Candi. It was a little difficult for Candi to hate Ruth, even if she had stolen Candi's husband. For some reason, Brad was pissed off that Candi would get along with Ruth. He wanted them to hate each other and would have preferred seeing them cat fight over him.

When Brad decided to take some of his late daughter's things, he pestered Candi. Candi had reluctantly let him have what he wanted, and she cried over the loss. There were mother-daughter things that Candi cherished and Brad still insisted that he wanted. No reason. Brad pressed for his way, pushed emotional buttons of guilt, mixed in a dash of anger and got his way through sheer stubbornness, nagging rude intimidation and leveraged delays.

It wasn't because he particularly wanted these things. He craved the grief that he inflicted and the lack of final closure, because it kept Candi from emotionally moving on with her life. Candi wanted the property settlement over Kelly's things to be over and done with so she could move on. Brad sensed this and was not going to let her move on.

Candi wept alone at home.

Once in his possession, Brad changed his mind and trashed nearly all of them. Ruth was no fool. Ruth had an assistant silently collect everything trashed and everything else and deliver them all back to Candi. Brad would not even notice any of the remaining ones were gone. He'd just assumed Ruth had moved them to one of the other properties, and Ruth had properties all over the world.

Candi wept alone at home. Candi also wept in gratitude when things were returned. Some of them came back damaged or broken, but they came back.

Candi found out later that Ruth and Brad had been actively screwing for over 20 months, and Ruth was two months pregnant with Brad's child. So much for the vasectomy story.

When Brad discovered that some of the things he had trashed had been returned to Candi, Brad became a real prick. He couldn't get mad at Ruth, so Candi had to be punished.

He began by being fucking arrogant and insulting as he talked with friends who were close to them both. Fucking arrogance came naturally to Brad. Talking about being Chief Counsel at one of Ruth's companies. Talking about his new salary. Bragging about Ruth. Bragging about Ruth's money, success, beauty, sexual prowess, and talking about the quality of his genes and how he was looking forward to being a father again. Downplaying everything that Candi and Kelly had been in his life. Ruth was always compared to Candi. When intoxicated, he even referred to Kelly as "a stupid teen", offending everyone who had known Kelly.

He angered his own friends when he casually whined about the bills Kelly had left behind for him to payoff. Brad made it sound as if Candi had dumped that burden on Brad, and this made no sense to his old friends. Brad had shitloads of money now.

They already knew that the arbitrator had ordered Kelly's debts proportionally divided to their ability to pay. Brad made far more money and would be marrying into a shitload more. Candi had still paid her part. Beyond cancelled educational and car loans there had not been that much debt generated by an 18-year-old, and much of the loan money had been returned.

Why the fuck do you feel that you have to lie, Brad? All of us were there when this happened.

Brad wasn't fooling anyone. They knew the real story because they had been there at the time and they knew Candi and Kelly. Their own children had been close to Kelly. Brad did not care that they knew. Brad was his own propaganda bureau. It was satisfying to make up his own bogus version of reality and obtusely refuse to admit it was wrong. Brad really did not respect any of his friends, anyway. Pushing your own faulty version of the truth is how you won in litigation and negotiation. That is how you won personal arguments in a lawyer's after-hours life.

Brad didn't give a shit anymore if they stopped liking him. He would use the captive audience in the venue to distort reality any way his narcissistic mind wished. If someone didn't agree, fuck them. They can take their opinions elsewhere.

He liked badmouthing his ex-wife and his past life with her. What Brad liked most is that none of Candi's friends had the balls to stand up for her in public, surrounded by people they all knew. Fucking fair weather friends. Fucking cowards. He'd show Candi how useless her own friends were. If what Brad said offended those who were closer to Candi than Brad, so what? It let them know that they had missed out on being in Brad's own exclusive inner circle. It would let Candi see how little she could trust them. How inferior her friends were, because Candi was substandard. Candi wasn't even worthy of their loyalty. She wasn't even worth their time verbally defending if doing so might make Brad upset.

Lousy choice in friends, Candi. They won't do shit to help you. That is how insignificant you are to them. You're shit and they're shit. Have a good life together while Ruth and I prosper and make meaningful friendships.

The most cruel and cutting things he had ever said about Candi, were things Brad said to their mutual friends while they were out celebrating. Candi was not even there at the time. Brad had been a little intoxicated, but he said that, compared to Ruth, Candi was a zero in looks, a zero as a businesswoman, a zero as a wife, a zero as a mother and a zero in the bedroom.

"Believe me, I was married to her for twenty years." Brad had said. "No man who gets to know Candi will ever marry her."

Even Ruth did not like what Brad had said. There was no sense in bad mouthing Candi or Kelly. Ruth was an immensely successful and beautiful woman in her own right. She did not need compliments that involved insults to Candi or Kelly.

When the celebration ended, the friends left, each vowing to never speak with Brad again.

When Brad started repeating the same things in front of Candi, Brad's ex-friends argued over who was going to beat the snot out of Brad. When Candi caught the women joking about hiring a hit man, Candi gently and firmly intervened to make them all back off, but the words Brad had said still cut through her like a band saw.

Candi wept at home alone and became convinced that her ex-husband was right about her.

Candi was actually in very fine shape for someone in her early 40s. A body like a woman 10 years younger, but Candi could not compare to how Ruth looked. Ruth was a woman in her thirties. Her finely tuned athletic body turned people's heads like a fabulous new sports car. Ruth had Ivy League diplomas and a Master's degree.

Candi thought that Brad was cruel, but right. Candi did not stand a chance against that. Candi wondered if she really was lousy in bed by comparison. Brad had not even wanted to have sex with her for two years. No wonder Brad had cheated and left. Brad could still get any woman he wanted. No man would want Candi, now.

As much as it hurt her, Candi still wished them both well, and she even sent Brad and Ruth a soft presentation blanket as nice baby shower gift. Brad had still been a decent father to Kelly, and if Brad and Ruth wanted each other, Candi was not going to waste time being angry about it.

Candi would still cry about it, alone, at home, and Brad was going to milk the grief he could dish out to Candi for as long as he could. The prick loved making his ex-wife miserable.

Brad and Ruth had an odd habit of appearing at those emotionally vulnerable times to retrieve something that Brad wanted. Brad would never tell Ruth why they were going there. He'd reveal the demand to Candi in person. Some had been trivial gifts to the couple by Brad's relatives. Candi didn't miss most of those, but some she had liked. The rest were almost always Kelly's things. Brad didn't feel any need to have a good reason for wanting them. Demanding was easier. Two people apparently wanting the item made it more likely that Candi would give in through guilt. Ruth would look at Candi with slightly guilty eyes, but remained silent. Candi never figured out why.

Candi would get frustrated and let Brad have whatever he wanted just so they would leave. "Fine. Take it away, now."

When Brad wanted to take Kelly's guitar, which had been broken in Kelly's fatal accident, Candi started to protest. Candi had taught Kelly how to play that guitar. Brad did not play any musical instruments. He said that he was going to get it repaired so he could give it to his child.

Ruth had intervened and reminded Brad that they had a lot of money and could easily buy something newer and better. Perceptive of her to do that. Candi realized Ruth had no idea of why Brad wanted a broken guitar. Brad agreed all too quickly, proving to Candi that he had never really wanted the guitar in the first place.

Brad had just come over with an upsetting request, just to find a new way to mess with Candi's mind and emotions, knowing she would give in to the demands, just to get two painful human reminders of what she had lost, both out of the house. He didn't care if he won this time. He just wanted to ruin Candi's evening.

Candi would find a private text message on her phone from Ruth:

"I will not allow Brad to take the guitar from you. I don't understand this. He has had enough time to remove what he wants. I will send someone over to help you change the locks and alarm codes. Please change them."

Ruth prepaid and sent over a locksmith the next day to do just that, with instructions to do whatever Candi wanted to secure the house.

Locks and entire alarms were changed out, but Candi still knew Brad too well. If he wanted something and knew it was inside, even Claymore Mines and concertina wire would not keep him out when he got frustrated.

Candi wept in fear again, alone at home.

If there was someone that Candi secretly would have liked to replace Brad with, it was her longtime friend, D. This feeling had been steadily growing inside of Candi for some time after she had been served with divorce papers.

His parents had named him "D" because three people wanted the child to be named after them, all shared the same first initial. D. By using just the letter D, they could claim the child was named after all of them.

D's parents had assumed he would change his first name someday and settle the issue. D never did choose his own first name. He just kept the letter "D", and by high school, most people he knew thought that his name was "Dee".

He was Asian American. Born and educated in the US. A widower. He'd lost his only child, too. Average, not the most attractive man, but not ugly, either. Successful, but not the most successful man. D he had an extremely kind and thoughtful heart. He was in pretty good shape. He was over 20 years older than Candi. He was kind, thoughtful, wise, undemanding, generous and very easy for Candi to talk to.

D had been one of the department managers at the first place Candi had worked after college. Smart. Supportive. Protective. Mentoring. Nurturing. He told funny stories.

When someone on the bus Candi took into work was stalking and frightening her, D rode on her bus and asked Candi to point him out. She watched with a mixture of shock, relief, embarrassment, and pride as he stomped up to the man, screaming angrily and scaring the living hell out of him. The man reached in his pocket for an ugly looking, concealed knife, and D pulled him out of his seat, disarmed him, broke his wrist and elbow, and handed the weapon over to the bus driver. James, the bus driver broke the man's jaw before they jointly tossed the predator off the bus.

"No one stalks women or children on my bus! Next time I'll break your neck." James had bellowed.

The other passengers applauded. The man's presence on the bus had scared the shit out of them. They all discovered later that the stalker had a very long list of previous crimes. James would get a transit company award later, and a promotion.

D gave Candi cans of tear gas/pepper spray and a stun gun after that, and instructed her, because if the man returned, it was not going to be "business as usual".

The man never came back. You did not fuck around with D or James, intimidate people and get away with it. Later, D arranged for a company bonus so Candi could start looking for cars. Candi was in a different department, but D was popular with upper management and very influential. He had been the first person Candi's boss had asked for help. D even had the company credit union talk to Candi about low interest car loans. The bonus had made her qualify. D's wife had separately given Candi an envelope of cash the day she went to sign loan papers. The payments were lower as a result.

D had been there, sitting on the Bride's side, at Candi's wedding. He had given the young couple money for a nice honeymoon because Brad was still not making much at the time. Just before Kelly had been born, a lovely and classy set of nursery furniture for the child had just shown up. When Candi applied for new jobs, D was there with a stellar recommendation letter or a reference.

When Candi formed her own company, backers and clients appeared. Some of that had clearly been D working behind the scenes. Some of that had been Candi's own hard work. Some of it had been luck.

Kelly's death had emotionally vaporized Brad and Candi. Years before that time, D was a widower, himself. He had lost his own wife and daughter, about five years into Candi and Brad's marriage, in a similar traffic accident. Losing Kelly had made D closer to them both.

D spent massive amounts of time with each of them. When Candi and Brad could not talk to each other and would not talk to anyone else, D would lead one of them into his car, drive to a quiet restaurant, or show up with just the right type of take out food and talk with them. D had gradually brought them both back to some normalcy after Kelly's death.

Brad returned to normalcy fast. Months. Brad had been initially a little jealous that D could talk to Candi. He tried to give away some of Kelly's things without talking to Candi. D stopped that and nobody took them. Brad did not understand why Candi got mad at him, so he just stopped trying to talk to her and focused in on himself.

It seemed miraculous at the time how Brad had gotten over the jealousy and Kelly's death unusually quickly. With the appearance of Ruth, everyone understood Brad's recovery miracle. Candi was damn sure that Brad had gotten over the loss of their daughter by screwing Ruth for two years.

After Candi had been served, D stopped talking to Brad. Candi was his friend, and Brad was only the ex-husband now. Brad's behavior crossed the line and D would have no more to do with him.

On days when Candi could not handle the divorce emotions, D just seemed to show up in the knick of time before the emotions overwhelmed Candi. Sometimes with a spare ticket to a movie or event. Sometimes just with a mug of Candi's favorite coffee or tea. Sometimes just by himself. She found that she could laugh again and make it through the rest of the day. Whenever it all fell apart again, D was there with a shoulder for Candi to cry on or he was a phone call or a text message away.

"What am I going to do, D?" Candi had asked, exasperated at Brad. "I hate how he keeps coming back to taunt and hurt me. Even when I have a good day, he shows up at the end of it and rips my heart out. I want to hurt him back too much."

"Candi, the worst thing that you can do to him is to move on and have a happy life. He will have a harder time getting past that than getting slayed by the Warrior Comedienne. He has you running around nuts. He knows you too well. He knows your schedule too well."

"How can I get over this when I am so angry and disappointed?" Candi replied.

"Brad pushes your emotional buttons, because he is angry and has had twenty years to learn how to push your buttons." D observed. "I don't know how you are going to get past this, but when you start going out again, be careful. Don't feel desperate. Don't do things because you are angry at Brad or fearful of being alone. Pick men who are different and better. Don't let anyone catch you on the rebound and watch your heart until you get to know your new man. You are going to need to be prepared to do one more thing: you need to be prepared to let go of Kelly in some ways and close Brad out as much as possible."

"How do you know?" Candi started to cry again.

"Made worse mistakes after I lost my wife and daughter." D admitted. "Not proud of it. It didn't end well. I couldn't let go of some memories. I didn't give anyone new a fair chance. I was older and it was hard for me to start over. Here I am, years later, single. Not the way that my wife and daughter would have wanted it. What you are going through is harder. I don't have a demonic ex-spouse coming over to the house, manipulating me. You deserve better than to end up like me, Candi."

Several days later, Brad crossed the line, again. Candi's office had gone out for dinner to celebrate an employee's birthday, and Candi never showed up. D dropped by Candi's office to find Candi sitting in her office sobbing. Only one man could rip out Candi's heart so completely, so D at least knew who hurt her so deeply.

D took Candi into his arms and just let her cry her heart out for a while.

"What did Brad do?" D asked.

"When Kelly was 8, she took a clay art studio class."

"I remember that very well." D replied. "She made me a small coffee mug. I still have it. Cute little grey cup. Handmade. Hand fired by the teacher for the class."

"Kelly made some small seedling plant pots for me. I used to have them on my desk at home. Brad took them." Candi sniffled. "The arbitrator ordered Brad to send them back to me. This box came to the office this morning. I thought that it was something else that I ordered on-line a week ago. I did not open it until an hour ago."

Candi was sobbing again.

D peered into the relatively small box. Destroyed plastic plants with many, almost pulverized shards of pottery in old nursery soil.

"The prick!" D said aloud. He then inspected the contents more closely. After a few moments, D spoke again. "Candi, I don't buy that Brad just destroyed them."

"I recognize the fake plants."

"It is the same grey clay, but there is a little too much of it. Many pieces don't look like they came from small plant pots. They don't look like parts of the walls or base of pots. They don't even seem to make anything. Some pieces don't even look like they were glazed and fired. That studio course is still very popular. I drive by the place every morning on the way to work. Any chance that Brad talked the teacher out of some scraps of used clay, and he removed your fake plants and kept the pots?"

Candi's eyes went wide.

"Yes, the teacher owns a small chain of these places, now. She liked Brad." Candi began, slowly. "She liked Brad a lot..."

"I'm going to tape this thing closed, very carefully." D said, taking pictures of the box and contents with his cell phone camera. "Leave it in plain sight near your desk and then move it to your home and leave it unopened, and stack some junk mail around it."

"Make it look like I have not gotten around to opening it?' Candi asked.

"Should buy us a few days." D nodded. "That will be more than enough time."

"What are you going to do?" Candi asked.

"Better you don't know." D replied, tending to the package. "Brad will be the one with not enough time."

Eight days later, a courier from the Arbitrator delivered a package with Kelly's missing pottery. It was all intact.

Candi and D were eating dinner that night at a bistro with two friends when Candi noticed that Brad was standing there. The bistro was buzzing and somewhat noisy.

Brad walked over quietly to D and said something in a lowered voice. D nodded and quietly said something back. It took D a while to finish. D had a lot to say. Candi was a little too far away to hear, but her friends' eyes went wide as silver dollars.

D was staring at Brad with a look on his face that Candi had last seen just before he had busted up the stalker on the bus. The look of a man who was fed up and not going to tolerate any more crap.

D excused himself to escort Brad away from the table. Brad went silently and cooperatively. Although Brad was taller and younger than D, Brad had always been visibly nervous and off his game around D, especially after the stalker incident. There was an almost "righteous" presence emanating from D, and knowing that he could disable an armed, much larger opponent was still confidence shaking for Brad, two decades later.

"Ooh, what those two said!"

"I couldn't hear." Candi explained.

"Brad told D that the next time someone breaks into his place, he will have D arrested."

"What did D say?" Candi sighed.

"D said that the arbitrator awarded Kelly's pots to you. Scamming the arbitrator and you over plant pots was stupid. D said that Brad will come out far worse. Ruth has limited patience and the next time Brad pulls shit like this on you, the cost of his divorce from Ruth and the loss of Ruth's business to Brad's old Law Firm will be 'life, career and future changing'... D said that what he had done so far was just a small reminder. D said this was the last chance for Brad to choose: Knock off the harassment now, or lose it all. D said that there wasn't anything large enough in Brad's scrotum to get Brad to go outside and do anything about it."

Candi teared up, and just nodded. She knew both of them well enough to know it would not end, there. D rejoined them after a while, and Candi saw Brad's car drive away, so everyone guessed that there really wasn't anything large enough in Brad's scrotum.

Geez, Candi thought. Over two decades later and D is still charging in to rescue me, like a knight.

D never got shit for helping me out with that stalker. Geez, I wasn't even married to Brad back then. At least by the time when D's wife and daughter died, I should have thanked D properly. I could have given him a blowjob and a fuck that completely drained his prostate and testicles. We could have made our first banana nut and vanilla custard cream pie together, and then I could have had a second jolt when I made him eat the whipped cream and nuts out from inside of me.

I might have even done that while he was still married. If I had done it way back then, D would probably still have his mouth hanging open today. This time, I need to figure out a way to reward D, somehow.

Candi's sense of humor came back with an imaginary video image of D dressed up like a knight and Candi dressed up as a medieval princess. Like some sort of crazy scene bastardized from an old Errol Flynn movie.

Thank you for saving me, sir knight of Asian America. I would have suffered a fate worse than death at the hands of the evil dark prosecutor of Castle Limp Weenie. Yes, there is a Code of Chivalry, but I cannot in good conscience let such a gallant warrior leave unrewarded. Wouldst thou please accept my maidenhead and our future first born as a reward for thy bravery?

My lady honors me, greatly.

She offered her honor. He honored her offer. And all night long, he was on her and off her.

D was a lot older now, and he was nowhere near as tall as Brad, but Brad's physique had always been mainly so he could impress women and look better in an expensive suit in court than other men. It impressed juries and other attorneys, but his defense skills stopped in a courtroom or conference room.

If you beat the fuck out of me, I'll just sue your ass, afterwards...

Sir knight from Asian America, please remove the dark prosecutor's head so we may be done with his threats. Burn his legal documents, too. I fear they are enchanted by some horribly evil spell.

I obey, My Lady. We will also need to remove other appendages to make sure the accursed animal does not spawn more of himself and return to your realm in some other form.

Even in his sixties, D was nobody to try to intimidate. D would inflict more damage than he sustained. Candi half wished that would happen, and half hoped it wouldn't.

D wondered why Candi was smiling and looking at him with wolf eyes, when he finally returned to the dinner table. The last time D had seen a wolf eyes look, it had been on his daughter's alaskan malamute - just before the dog did something naughty like stealing barbecue chicken off the grill.

He did not understand Candi's fake, refined English accent, either, but he rolled with it. Candi would probably explain the joke, someday. That smile he so loved. That fast sense of humor he so loved. That voice and laugh that warmed his soul. He was not going to question anything that made them all come to the surface, but he hoped it was because of something he said or did. The Warrior Comedienne was back. He had no problem playing straight man for 'The W. C.' when those other things he loved had returned. The Warrior Comedienne made people feel good and laugh. He'd seen it when he worked with Candi, decades ago. Candi had been through a lot of continuous horseshit from Brad, and D was glad her to see her happy again.

D thought I would never have walked away from Candi for someone like Ruth. Even when things are going bad, Candi still finds a way to make people laugh. She's trying to lighten the atmosphere after Brad pissed all over it. Brad never appreciated who he had married. The dumbass never even knew how wonderful his own daughter was. They were things to brag about at work. Brad is not reading Ruth correctly, either. Well, I warned him.

Maybe if I act silly for a little while longer, people will chill out and D won't go track Brad down and bust Brad in the face? Candi excused. D could not be seduced to give Candi a baby if he was in the slammer.

Guilt overrode Candi's fear. Well, the old English accent really was about the idea of fucking D as some sort of reward. Candi liked that princess idea a bit too much now. It was not all about making people chill.

She had not been willing to admit it to herself, before, but Candi realized her feelings towards D were changing, fast. They were getting more... sexual, and where was the idea of bearing D's child coming from? A warm spot grew inside of Candi's cervix and spread outwards as she realized she liked that idea, a bit too much now, too. Candi kept speaking like a medieval princess for another half hour as she mulled over her feelings. Funny comments about everything rolled off of her like depth charges to suppress her emerging horniness, while she thought about this.

The play acting and humor distractions worked. Her dinner companions and people sitting near their table in the bistro who could actually hear were rolling in the aisles long before she stopped. D was laughing, too, and he suddenly looked more handsome and desirable to Candi than any man she had ever seen.

The College Era Candi Maxwell Warrior Comedienne personality was also running rampant in Candi's mind spewing angry logic and slutty copulation inducing hormones. She was pissed off and impatient that Modern Candi was not already boffing D. 'The W. C.' was also filling Candi's mind with all sorts of logic and feelings that Modern Candi was too embarrassed to admit were right. Then 'The W. C.' would yank Candi's reproductive alarm clock strings like a ship's collision klaxon.

A divorce also means it is time for you to move on, Candi. Why haven't you? D is there and available. You know him very well. D cares deeply about you. Screw the age difference and drag his naked ass into bed so you can both find happiness. Fuck him before some other woman figures out how to do it. Fuck yourself repeatedly into happy pregnancy with his sperm. D will thank you long before his first orgasm. This is the one you should have married, Candi. Nothing will make Brad shut up and cease fire sooner. Do it before D does something stupid to shut up Brad.

Red alert! Collision with menopause iceberg inevitable! Ovulating women are advised to hurry.

Candi really did not need to worry. D had something else in mind after Brad had wisely driven away.

When Brad's fights restarted over possessions, D had pre-empted this by having any items that might be contested, taken to his home and stored for Candi. Brad would not dare touch them there or try to hire someone to get them.

One of Candi's employees commented that Brad messing with D would have been like sending a proctologist with a jar of honey to perform a prostate exam on a mad grizzly bear. Even Brad was not that stupid, but the imagery of Brad getting knocked down and having a bear grease Brad's asshole with honey, was not anything Candi could "unsee". Just as the image of Brad greasing up a sleeping bear with honey before he started a rectal exam was odd imagery. Candi might have liked seeing that. For the first time in a long while, Candi laughed.

I bet my employees would like seeing Brad in a compromising position with a grizzly bear, Candi grinned. The cell phone cameras would come out and they would make thousands selling viral pay-per-view.

No, Mister Grizzly, I just wanted to drop off one of my business cards in case you ever needed a lawyer. I don't know where the honey came from. Sorry to disturb your hibernation.

Assume the position, lawyer proctologist.

Can't I trim your claws, first? I don't think they'll fit inside my... Arrrooo...?

D had been true to whatever he had said to Brad. Aside from the arbitrator, he clearly had talked with Ruth and Brad's old law firm and worked something out with them, probably before the confrontation in the restaurant. D was poking his nose into her affairs, but he could see that Candi was at the end of her wits.

Frankly, Candi was glad for the help. Things just started happening. The senior partners in Brad's old law firm, still knew Candi and sympathized. The senior partners also knew D very well and D had easy access on demand to them. D had given some of their children jobs right out of college and brought some very substantial company business to the law firm. Many of the firm's partners and employees had witnessed Brad's mistreatment of Candi and knew of him demanding things. Some had even witnessed Brad trashing them on receipt. Brad had saved the moment of trashing to be witnessed by people who were friends with Candi, because he wanted them to tell Candi what they had seen. He had even posted some videos to his own social media site.

The partners did not like what was happening. They saw no percentage in letting it continue, but didn't see an easy way out. Brad was dragging this in a very bad direction.

Ruth was present in D's discussions with the partners. When she agreed to everything D suggested, that sealed the deal as far as the partners were concerned. If Brad wanted to continue delaying a final agreement, he would do so paying for the delays out of his own pocket, not out of Ruth's money, not from Candi's money, not out of a settlement and definitely not from the law firm's time and money. The firm had set up the arbitration and was paying for it as a goodwill way to make divorce fast and convenient for Ruth.

The arbitrator, listened and said nothing, but still nodded and silently agreed that Brad was getting out of line. The arbitrator had not been aware of the social media videos. If Ruth and the partners wanted to reel in the controls on Brad, that would be okay with the arbitrator. Brad had rights, but deliberate delay for the purpose of inflicting mental cruelty on his ex-wife was not one of them.

The arbitrator felt that Brad's own social media videos showed deliberate intent to create delays, manipulate and abuse the arbitration process over things that he did not really want and readily trashed.

Arbitration, negotiation, reason and fairness were a waste of time when the man had a revenge agenda that bordered on sadistic.

The incident with the pots represented disobedience and fraud. Brad had reported them as being returned to Candi. Brad had sent a copy of the shipper to the arbitrator. It matched D's photos of the box Candi had received. Ruth confirmed that she had seen the pots that morning. Brad still had them in a cabinet at the place he was using. Ruth had brought one of the pots in for the arbitrator and law firm partners to see and stated that she did not believe that Brad ever intended to return them.

The partners noticeably distanced themselves more from Brad. When he called or dropped by, they were always busy or had emergency meetings. Brad's emails and texts were answered, after a slight delay, by different admins in the firm. Some work for Ruth was now only done privately and directly with Ruth by the firm's senior partners. Brad was not even notified.

Ruth said nothing to Brad. She increasingly made Brad take direct charge of legal issues that required travel. Duties that were time consuming and duties far less business critical. Brad had far less time to stew about how he could retaliate on Candi. He was running out of things with Candi that he could create issues over but still had a few parting shots he wanted to make. When he did create new issues, they still came with comments that cut deeply into Candi, but they did not particularly go anywhere. Ruth and the law firm were clearly putting their feet down. Random minor harassment, insults, threats and inconvenience. Then silence from Brad as he became too filled with busywork and business travel.

The realization did not hit Brad until it was far too late. The arbitrator, the partners and Ruth were suddenly there after his business trip, with several things for him to sign.

D had not been bluffing about what he said in the bistro. D had already done it, and Brad was completely outmaneuvered. Blindsided and never saw it coming. Hurt more that way. By the time he even had a warning, it was already too late. He had no more allies in his old law firm, because they had already written him off. Absolutely nobody in the firm was going to lift a finger to help him and put their job at risk if the senior partners had made up their mind. Brad had already urinated all over the others. The partners already had a workaround with Ruth. Nothing he could do about it. If Ruth ever divorced him, well, don't expect any good references from the firm. Brad's own pride had kept him from admitting the truth until now.

Old Man D knew what the fuck he was doing, and he knew how to think ahead and neutralize options. I underestimated him. I went into the bistro, pissed off at D. He had already put all of this shit in place and done it. He warned me. It was not a threat. It was not a bluff. It was a courtesy warning from someone who used to be a friend and did not want to be forced to move to the next step. D was sure as hell ready to take that next step. I shot myself in my own ass. No one else to blame, either. I should have paid more attention to what D was saying in the bistro. My choice. Bad choice.

Shit. Can't negotiate my way out of this. Can't even fight it. Nobody will even listen to my arguments. I'm out of options and leverage. I'm totally fucked. Time to cut my losses. D said that Ruth was losing her patience with this. That means she already agrees. If Ruth and the partners are on Candi's side, I am only going to lose more. This is not worth the risk. I don't get enough out of it if I continue. Pride doesn't pay the bills.

I'll ask for one more thing as a parting shot, and this time I will not push to get it. It still ends when I stop the game, not them, even if I don't get it. A last challenge makes a statement that I chose to end it, not them.

Better to fold and walk away from a fixed game while I still can. I am still rich. I still have Ruth. I still have my job title. It is not worth getting my clock cleaned and get busted down to zero. I've played enough poker with D over the last twenty years to realize he never bluffs.

Brad began to wonder if Candi would be so grateful that she'd start fucking D. Maybe she was already doing that? Maybe she was doing that before the divorce papers were served? Maybe after Kelly died? D had been spending a lot of time with her over the last three years. Then, Brad rejected the thoughts about Candi and D by reminding himself that no man would want Candi after she had been the mother of one of Brad Goodman's children. Ex-wives of Brad Goodman were only attractive to Catholic convents and lesbians, and Candi was not Catholic.

Some days days later, a letter came in from the arbitrator with a signed apology letter to Candi from Brad. It had been printed on Brad's old Law Office letterhead as an implied co-signing of the apology and a demonstration of the law firm's stance on the need for Brad to apologize.

Candi had cried that it had come down to this. She thought that she could actually smell remnants of Ruth's perfume on the letter and envelope but dismissed the idea. Maybe Brad had a hard time swallowing his pride and signing this? The wording was a little self-flagellating, and Brad didn't do that to himself. He might consider paying a hooker to do that, but he would not have a hooker write a letter. The wording sounded like the arbitrator, maybe one of the senior law partners and maybe Ruth. Doesn't matter.

D told her that Brad should stop now, and that more, far better days in her life were still ahead. They were worth living for.

"How do you know that better days are ahead?" Candi asked.

"Because there were better days ahead for me, after my wife and kid died." D said, levelly. "It sucks now. You need to make it through this, Candi. Don't let that asshole destroy you. It's not about how you compare to Ruth. It's about who Candi is and how Candi makes others feel.

"You couldn't have stopped Brad from leaving by being different, prettier or better. You're fine the way you are. If it hadn't been with Ruth, he would have found someone else. He cheated on you because he could. He cheated on you because he wanted to and Ruth was receptive to it. It would have happened even if Kelly was alive. Candi Maxwell Goodman didn't do anything wrong. He's probably mad that Ruth got pregnant. He was getting all the sex he wanted and making money for being with Ruth for two years. Now a new child will need a father. He's the asshole who flushed his marriage down the toilet. His decision. How does he expect you to feel, Candi? Happy? If Kelly were alive, how would she feel towards him? He never would have been able to hide cheating this long if Kelly were alive."

Candi found it hard to believe in upcoming better days. Not when she was living alone. Candi still appreciated what D was saying and doing. Her thoughts had been sliding towards being worthless, hopelessness and suicide, but she realized that D still cared and had just done something nice for her. D also spoke nicely to her. He made things a little better when she had nothing inside of herself left to cope. There was nothing in it for D to make it worth his effort to care or help. None of her other friends had intervened. D cared because he saw Candi hurting and thought Candi was worth it. How could Candi not love D?

Candi believed that moment was when she finally admitted to herself that she had fallen in love with him. Candi had been too scared to say anything at the time. He was standing right there talking to her and she was too embarrassed to even look at D. Candi had been denying what she felt about him. Pushing it out of her mind with excuses. Refusing to admit it. The inner excuses and arguments collapsed. Now Candi's only fears were that she might fail to steal D's sweet, hot barbecue chicken off his grill before someone else did. She might get singed in the process if she hesitated.

What had begun as her own lonely, erotic bedroom and bath time fantasies for masturbation had not stopped. They began happening as daytime bathroom fantasies and would get more sophisticated and planned. It was already a longing and a need. An aching to make babies with him, and her mind realized that she knew this man well enough to know that it was possible. The humor was being conjured by 'The W. C.' to give her the courage to seduce him.

Candi had to admit that she liked the ideas floating through her mind.

Candi's relationship with D had never gone beyond what it was, but Candi still suspected that if she even showed slight enthusiasm, she could push D into a romantic relationship. The Warrior Comedienne's logic was not far off the mark. There was no valid reason for either of them to be alone anymore, and just once, Candi wanted to rescue D.

If I could rescue D, get laid and get pregnant, that would solve more problems.

Candi prayed to find the win-win situation, but the Warrior Comedienne scolded her, in response. The Warrior Comedienne was calling Modern Candi out again and calling Candi a coward and a pussy.

A man with a heart that cares that much, might care more if you show that you care, too. If you want him, you are going to have to show him that you want him, not just tell him. After over 20 years of being just a friend, he is not going to take any chances of messing up his relationship with you. If you want a future with him, get undeniably, unquestionably romantic and in-his-face physical.

Get something straight between you. Preferably, D's penis.

Geez, you ought to at least be brave enough to take him somewhere private and passionately kiss him a few dozen times, if you are too scared to go further. He's not going to figure it out through subtle hints and sexual innuendo in your jokes.

Show him that what you want has changed and you want romance, with him, now. Tell him that you don't have any problems with the age difference. Don't be subtle. Don't sit there and wait. Stop fantasizing and get sexual if you want that baby, Candi. Show him that you want to breed and you'll even breed with him, right now.

There was an almost dirty sort of interracial breeding aspect to being romantically involved with D. Candi's mom (Monica) and dad (Jonathan) would not have had problems with it. They had loved him. Her dad's mother (Laura) still had racial resentments over Asians, and would have discouraged it, but Candi had not liked her paternal grandmother that much. Aunt Candice had not liked Laura, either. Living out her grandmother Laura's taboos and breeding with an Asian felt almost naughty and erotic to Candi.

If Grandmother Laura had still been alive, Laura would have eventually changed her mind when Candi's children were born. Not a moment sooner, though.

It made Candi ponder the possibility of having children with D, more frequently than she would admit. Candi was not always completely sure of her own motivations when it came to D, but maybe she didn't need to understand them?

Motivations or not, D was reliably there whenever she needed a friend, good advice, or a helping hand. D would show up, just to listen and talk face-to-face if Candi had called him at 2 AM with a personal problem. Even if it was raining. He never wanted anything in return. Never complained.

Candi suspected some of her friends or employees were tipping D off when she was depressed, but today, she did not care. Brad was still a behavior problem, but the divorce decree was final. Candi was single again, and Brad had officially married Ruth. The final divorce property settlement was moving.

Candi realized that her very deep, emotional and erotic feelings for D had probably been there for several years. D was the only man in her life that measured up and showed up. Now she wanted to get into his pants and personally experience his greatness for herself. If Candi had to start dating again, she had made up her mind to follow D's own advice and start with someone who was already proven to be all the good things that Brad was not. D probably did not realize Candi had just included D into that category, so she was going to have to let him know where he stood, and see if she could coax the correct part of D's anatomy to stand up straight and meet all of her expectations.

Candi did not care if her feelings were "daddy issues" or just wishful thinking. Candi had mad Baby Fever to replace Kelly before her clock ran out and there were times when the ticking sound was damned annoying and loud. D seemed to be the most reasonable answer. She had been fantasizing in private for months now about seducing D until he fucked her into pregnancy, but she had imagined others, too. Now, D's image had a habit of replacing all of the others halfway to orgasm.

One time, Candi imagined D breaking into the bedroom, tossing the other man she was fantasizing about out the window, and taking over between her legs to finish the job. It was so erotic that Candi climaxed in seconds.

Mrs. D, it looks like your husband died of a stroke during coitus. It's not your fault. His brain could not handle all of the intense pleasure that you put him through. I'm sorry, but the coroner and the morticians could not remove the wide-eyed glare and the smile from his face. The erection would not subside, either. We tried every technology known to man. I'm afraid that you'll have to bury him that way, so it had better be a closed casket service.

At least he left you with six, beautiful children, a sizeable estate and insurance payout.

Doctor, I warned D that he was getting too old to keep trying the position where we both hang upside down from the ceiling, but he liked it so much. He'd already given me thirty-two orgasms and twelve wads before we did 'the ceiling thing'. His legs lost their grip on the flying trapeze. We'd already been up there over an hour and he didn't have the strength in his legs anymore. He wanted this seventh child to become an astronaut or a circus performer. He mentioned some sort of recent medical study about the gravity assist while hanging upside down on in-utero child development and future career choices. The math is confusing, but my Dad was an air force pilot and I was feeling kind of patriotic when D said that he wanted to try the ideas.

Well, Mrs. D, he probably would have been okay if you had done that in your master bedroom. The vaulted living room ceilings are too high. The 25 foot fall on top of the glass coffee table certainly did not help. Copulation research is still a noble thing. At least he died a very happy man, for a good cause. How long were you married?

Almost thirty years, Doctor, but we started on the children before we got married.

Amazing for a man in his late 90s, Mrs. D. Incredible for a woman in her 70s who looks like she is 35.

My husband ate lots of barbecue chicken. Grilled it himself. I do yoga workouts with my daughters and granddaughters.

Seducing D into becoming her personal sperm donor was becoming an urgent, recurring fantasy. Brad had toned down, but Brad was appearing in Candi's nightmares every night. D was also appearing nightly in Candi's erotic dreams, setting Candi's loins afire by pumping his fertile manliness inside her enthusiastically appreciative body cavities. Candi could feel herself conceiving in those dreams, and some nights she turned in early in anticipation. The erotic dreams were worth putting up with nightmares about Brad.

See you in my dreams, D.

When Brad showed up in her nightmares, D appeared and chased his image away. Candi understood the emotional symbolism of heroic rescue around D's appearance. In one dream D had chased away Brad using a cattle prod. Kinky. The cattle prod burned holes into Brad's designer suit pants and left angry scorch marks on his legs and ass.

Breeding with D was now happening in all of the dreams. Sex with Candi was his reward for chasing away Brad, and Candi always, immediately got pregnant. She'd feel warm, gooey, viscous fluid painting the insides of her vagina and womb, and sometimes a beautiful baby appeared in seconds. Quite a time saver.

One time the baby talked and introduced itself as Kelly. It had Kelly Dawn's voice. Candi had liked the long, mother-daughter talk that was in that dream. Candi had twins in another dream. Labor and delivery felt like relaxing in a spa in those dreams. Weird. Candi was not sure about how to interpret that.

No, she could not just go out and buy D lunch somewhere as his reward. In her dreams, Candi would seduce D into decorating her uterine walls as his reward.

Candi realized that Brad would be horrifically upset at the idea of Candi breeding with D. When he was drunk, he might even let a few racial thoughts slip that mirrored how Grandma Laura felt. The ideas would not sit well with his old law firm or most of his dwindling circle of remaining close friends. Knowing this all made the idea of getting knocked up by D a lot more attractive to Candi.

Brad would get over it, but it would skull-fuck with his ego and haunt him in dozens of different ways for years. Maybe for decades. He could never excuse all of them away when his own narcissism was doing it to him. Brad would never stop wondering if Candi had been fucking D while Brad was away fucking Ruth.

When he thought that Candi might have been cheating on him, Brad would convince himself that he was right in cheating on her, but he would torture himself by wondering who had cheated first. The possibility of being the second one to commit infidelity would not sit well. The possibility of not performing the best was unthinkably worse.

His ego wanted Candi to be sitting alone, at home, eagerly waiting for Brad to come home with his penis, and then being shocked by the divorce papers Brad had served.

Brad wanted his ex-wife to be just sitting there at their kitchen table with her vacant vagina in total fidelity, feeling miserable about losing access to Brad's penis. Brad probably felt that his penis was God's ultimate gift to all worthy women. Women were not supposed to emotionally recover from the loss of access. It would be worse than getting a bad credit rating or a one-star rating on Yelp.

Brad needed his penis and sexual talent to always have a five star Yelp rating or a AAA financial bond rating. His penis had to be something women could count upon. It was supposed to be like his sapphire VISA credit card. Gratefully accepted by any woman, man or beast without limits. Full satisfaction guaranteed. His mind would writhe in agony if he saw Candi and D doing a lot of public displays of affection.

D laughed a lot during PDAs. Brad would wonder if they were laughing about him or about Candi cheating on him. Candi remembered D laughing with his late wife and daughter. Candi remembered D's late wife was always smiling and affectionate. Candi wanted to be like that, especially if it pissed Brad off.

As bad as Candi and D being affectionate together would have messed with Brad's mind, Candi pregnant with D's child would be many times worse for Brad.

If Candi were pregnant, Candi realized that the worst thing she could do to Brad is to continue to laugh and smile and refuse to answer when the subject came up.

When it came up, not if it came up.

Brad could lie to you with a straight face and even convince himself at times, but his narcissistic confidence was still ruled by his own worse fears. Brad's emotions would vacillate, needing to ask, but not wanting to find out the answer.

Candi realized that she could sit there, smile and say nothing, or lie, plunge the knife in and tell Brad "yes, we did, and D is better than you." Brad's ego would have to leave the knife in and squirm or pull it out and bleed to death.

Brad's two worst enemies were his own weenie-pride and his own fears. His fear of missing something made him a very diligent lawyer. The idea he might have been clueless about his ex-wife cheating on him would haunt his ass into eternity.

Even if she had not cheated, Brad would still be upset if Candi were pregnant and in any sort of a stable relationship with someone like D. The idea that someone else would want his ex-wife after he was finished using her, would still bother Brad. It would prove the fallibility of his drunken claim nobody would want her.

Some men have a "Where No Man Has Gone Before" type attitude about their women's reproductive tracts. They expected virgins and wives who commit hara-kiri, suttee or strapped chastity belts on themselves when their husband did not want them anymore.

Twenty plus years of marriage led Candi to feel that Brad's attitude was closer to "Scorched Earth".

The narcissistic asshole felt that he was so good looking and talented in bed that no woman he had slept with would ever want any other man's penis. She would find no man up to Brad's sexual perfection, and sex would be lousy forevermore. They would give up on ever finding love or sex elsewhere, because it would all be so futile. The women would cry when they realized they were not good enough to hold on to Brad. Photos of Brad's penis would get printed, framed and enshrined in the women's undie drawer as they mourned the sudden end of their sexual future.

Brad also felt that men who dated his ex-lovers, would decide that any woman dumped by Brad was no longer desirable. The men would have too much pride to accept sloppy seconds in a race where they never arrived at the finish line. If she was no longer good enough for Brad Goodman to fuck, why the hell should any men lower themselves and pick through Brad's garbage can? Just give up and walk away from an unwomanly whore, unworthy of further access to Brad Goodman's penis.

" Brad has been here, and he scorched the womb and spoiled her, so it is not worth even trying. She's not good enough and the uppity bitch thinks I am not up to Brad's level." That was what Candi's ex-husband Alaska sized ego felt was inevitable.

Candi assumed Brad felt this way because he liked masturbating most. No one there to argue. Brad spent more time in front of a mirror than any woman Candi knew. He owned several cell phones but the others were still unwrapped in their boxes. They were bought so he could socially bond with important people and claim he owned the same brand. His cell phone had more selfies than anyone she knew, and he put his own cell phone number on his cell phone contact list. Who the hell owns one cell phone and calls themselves from their own second phone?

Masturbating meant that Brad's most favorite sex partner was always always at hand. The idea gave a gross new meaning to the old adage of 'give yourself a hand'. Brad did not have to invest in robotic AI or self-cloning. Candi could imagine Brad's sweet talk with Ruth.

Ruth, honey? You are traveling so much on business that we don't get to have sex anymore. Your work is very important to me, and I am very proud of what you do. I still do need the sexual exercise. It is a perishable skill.

What would you like me to do, Brad Dearest?

I am going to Sweden, Ruth. There is a gender-bender clinic there that will turn me into a fully multifunctional hermaphrodite. This will give me new ways to satisfy my libido. My hand just does not cut it anymore since I had that awful tennis accident. As a multifunctional hermaphrodite, I can even go and fuck myself if I want to, or when you are on the rag each month. You won't have to worry about me cheating with the maid.

Oh, Brad, that is so thoughtful of you! I'm so glad that I stole you away from Candi! Think of the money I'll save by not having to screen you for STDs. Think of the time and licensing fees I'll save not having our AI review bedroom home security video when I return from business trips. I'm so lucky to have a husband who cares! You're even considerate about my time and the jet lag impact upon my menstrual cycle!

Dear, when they give you a boob job, please make sure that you use a smaller cup size. I don't like sharing my undergarments, especially not my maternity wear and nursing bras. I had those custom form fitted in Paris.

Please get your operation so you can fuck yourself as much as you wish! I love the idea. So convenient! So altruistic! I won't have to feel 'drippy' as much. I love you, my legal sugar lips!

Then, I can throw out the male chastity belt with the AI auto castration features?

Yes, but after the operation has been successful, Brad. You remember how angry I got when I caught you with the rental sheep that we brought in for the live nativity display? In that position, the ewe did look a little like Carmen, my equestrian coach. You should not have done that in the horse stables. Out in the yard near the sheepfold would have been better. Thank god I heard the ewe bleat before I discharged the nine millimeter Glock. I do so hate having to eat mutton and chops for dinner. Let's celebrate by creating a second child, now!

Ruthie, please say those three words that get me hard each time?

Full community property.

Fucking D would be a spite fuck and a defiant, revenge pregnancy, but Candi told her angry self that D would soon forgive and learn to love and respect her afterwards.

Candi decided that she would continually fuck D's brains out until he started spontaneously speaking extraterrestrial languages, extinct foreign languages or ape dialects with vague words like "duh" and "nice".

If it would make Brad upset, Candi vowed to fuck D's brains into the 23rd Dimension where she could have dozens of children without getting stretch marks or being afflicted with vaginal and uterine cathedral syndrome.

She would keep popping D until she was pregnant. Afterwards, Candi would undulate her baby bump in front of Brad for nine months until his ego shriveled, he got permanent erectile dysfunction, and Ruth kicked him out of bed.

Candi did not care how large or wide D's penis was. Men were overly concerned with organ size. As long as D had not undergone a vasectomy, Candi would find a way to get swimmers out of his testes and semen out of his prostate, knock herself up, replace Kelly and permanently deflate Brad's pathetically proud subhuman weenie. Mindy's dog Pascal probably had a bigger one than Brad, anyway, but she had never taken the time to measure either.

If necessary, Candi would seduce D, fill a gallon sized root beer growler with D's cum, and inject baby batter deep into her twat with a turkey baster.

Candi told herself that she did not even care if D did not love her enough to marry her, afterwards. She was pretty sure that fucking D a few dozen times would bring out the latent husband and father in him that Candi was sure was still there. If not, at least it would give Candi the child she wanted.

Candi closed her eyes tightly and tried physically to banish all these angry thoughts. She thought that she probably looked like someone having a bad PMS headache. Her stealth sense of humor was going wild again, because her emotions had been thoroughly fucked up by recent events. It made up silly, sarcastic, naughty thoughts and gave her ideas that were exaggerated, unlikely realities. It took small possible fears and made them into giant emotional ogres. They scared Candi, but could not possibly exist.

When she opened her eyes, again, Candi was in better control of herself. There was still a conflict between what she wanted to do, the way she planned to do it, and her own sense of morality and ethics.

Candi was convinced that she really loved D, but had never seen any indication that he loved her. Everything D had ever done could be excused away as being from someone just wanting to be the best friend possible.

Candi desperately wanted another baby and was horny as hell after years of getting nothing from Brad while he gleefully boffed Ruth into pregnancy. Brad was still doing the nasty with Ruth. If there was a man right now Candi wanted to have a baby with, it was D, but seducing D into fatherhood was not a proper way to treat someone you love.

The problem was that Candi was too fucking scared that D did not want her. It was a risk to honestly tell him how she felt. The fears overrode Candi's gut feelings and rationality. Candi could not stand the idea of having lost Kelly, losing Brad and scaring away D. Losing all three of them would be devastating.

The Warrior Comedienne was polluted by Candi's own hormones and ticking biological clock concerns. It was getting the best of Candi and crusading her towards some outrageous risks.

The Warrior Comedienne was lecturing to Candi again.

Marriage to a lawyer has turned Candi Maxwell Goodman into a fucking politically correct coward. WTF happened? You used to never give up on anything. Stop dreaming about it. Go out and get D. Drain every drop out of his gonads every night while there is still time. You want his love? Stake a claim on it. Attach one of your fertilized eggs on top of his flagpole and plant it on top of your rolling hills for every woman to see.

Brad has brain fucked you into his submissive bitch. You were so worried about not ruining your own career and not ruining his career that you forgot none of that matters anymore. You have your own business and everything with Brad is toast. Candi has needs. You're a sobbing, female eunuch who has forgotten how to turn a man who probably loves you into the lover you know he could be.

Candi cried just a few short tears and dabbed them away with a cloth napkin. Tears were good when you were sad or angry, but enough was enough. The W. C. was right. She missed that warrior part of herself.

The only way that Candi's hormone driven, rather bizarre sense of humor could see of fast tracking a romance was to fuck herself pregnant with D's seeds and convince him to be her husband. Deeds, not words. Make him "man up" into the father of their child.

It was not fair. It was not moral. It was not ethical or wise, but ovaries and uteri aren't wired that way. She did not want to choose a more moral or ethical middle ground. It might still lead to the romance, committed relationship and baby that she wanted, but that path scared her because it could fail for many reasons. Candi did not want to lose D. It seemed safer to try to get part of what she needed by not telling him until after she was confirmed to be pregnant.

Candi was ashamed she was thinking and behaving this way, but her heart had decided. Her hormones and humor were conspiring to justify it and her fears were driving her to resort to it. If Kelly had not died and Brad had still left her, Candi was convinced she would not be acting this way.

Candi still carried the fear that someone else would capture D's heart before she could. Ruth was proof that if a man was attractive to you, he was attractive to other women. She did not feel that she had anything to offer that D would want, beyond sex and companionship.

" Act now while this offer is still good. Quantities of D are limited and they are going fast..." Now Candi's marketing prowess was complicit with her humor. It was making her fear missing out on a good thing.

Candi's inner Warrior Comedienne continued spinning weird and impossible scenarios, spiked by her anger and fears. If she discovered that all D was receptive to was a one night stand, Candi still wanted to be able to stare at her own face in the mirror and see someone good.

You won't see anyone good in that mirror if you miss the opportunity because you were too damn scared to try.

Brad had convinced her that the woman in the mirror was a disgraced, big fucking zero that no man would ever want to commit to or love. Were these thoughts proof that Brad was right? Candi was not sure of what was real anymore. She only knew that she wanted D right now, that he seemed available, had a perfect track record with her, and seemed likely to want her love.

Candi wanted D to actually want to have that baby with her before they decided to start trying to create one. Her hormones and ovaries did not want D to take too much time deciding, though.

Even " Take five and think this over " felt like an excessive delay to Candi's ovaries. This was becoming a very desperate, emotional and biological imperative, and this was getting very, very emotionally and mentally weird for Candi.

Candi decided that imminent ovulation and the fears of missing out, required a breakthrough, today. Better to find a way to risk it all and get a chance at some degree of happiness than to watch some other woman steal it again. Losing D and Brad to other women, would make her doubt herself forever. Were her worries correct?

Candi had already tried to seduce D, twice before. Candi got embarrassed, scared, chickened out and backed off before she said or did anything that might have revealed her real intentions and feelings to D.

Candi was scared shitless that D would laugh at her, find her repulsive, reject her or try to let her down gracefully. Pity or mercy from D would cut worse than rejection. The Warrior Comedienne projected a horrifying image of D and Brad standing there, laughing at her, while Candi stood there stark naked, humiliated, lonely, ovulating and horny with a shattered heart frozen in fear. 'The W. C.' may have been playing both sides of the fence, but it was playing tough love with Candi by scaring her and cheerleadering her.

Afterwards, Candi felt like kicking herself in the head for being such a coward. Candi's conscience and fears led her to becoming the type of indecisive, doubtful, coward that she had always hated. College Era Candi might have found a way to jump D's bones and still feel that she had the moral high ground. Modern Candi was scared.

Afterwards, she felt shame and failure. What man would want someone messed up like that? How could D love anyone like that? Candi didn't feel good enough for him. She felt that even her commitment and love for D was lousy. She couldn't even commit to humping him.

The shame was arriving before the attempt, this time. Candi did not feel up to D's standards.

The only thing Candi had to show for it so far was some very naughty, sexy lingerie which was very classy and not frilly, but she was too ashamed to show to anyone. It looked terrific on her, and Candi knew it. When she wore it under a conservative business suit or dress, it did wonders for her personal aura, and she closed every business deal. She felt radiantly more feminine and confident.

Men had "power ties" in red. Candi had "power lingerie" in any color that looked good on her, and anything in her size tended to look terrific on Candi.

Lacy, silky lingerie that was several shades of almost iridescent dark green and pastel greens. Almost looking feathery. It perfectly conformed to her figure, caressed, supported and accentuated every curve and surface without being uncomfortable or constricting. Better than mortal man deserved.

She could also get completely out of the lingerie in moments. She had practiced that in the dressing room of the store where she bought it. When D surrendered to her seduction, she wanted nothing delaying penetration.

She found the same thing in the right shades of blue, too. Could not decide which one she wanted, so she bought them both to make sure that someone like Ruth did not buy the other color and seduce a baby out of D, first. This was sexually weaponized fashion underwear designed to create an erection on D that could only be properly relieved when he shot egg fertilizing jizz inside of Candi.

Candi wanted D's staff of life to part her legs and labia like Red Sea. Her pubic hair was nothing like Moses' beard, but no man had ever complained or questioned it. She could always shave it off if any complaint arose. She wanted D's raging hard-on to drill her like a Texas oil field and send her to gushing, thundering orgasms. Candi longed to feel his steel hulled Asian American attack submarine flood her reproductive system with hundreds of millions of his Mk 69 DNA ADCAP torpedoes actively pinging and homing in on her ova.

She ached to wear her lingerie for D and dreamt of an erotic response. Blue would be saved for the second time, or maybe when she wanted male offspring. Maybe she could find something similar in dark red, rose or purple for the third time? Think positive. Buy something in each of the colors and then the only decision is which one to wear to turn D on for each mating occasion.

By the time that her ripe little eggie burst out of its follicle, Candi wanted it to have a full court press escort of D's gametes waiting in the tubes as a welcoming committee. For some reason, the idea reminded her of the advertising campaign she had come up with for that cruise line company client, several years ago.

Strange how Candi's mind was now finding ways to merge product marketing into her sex life? You were supposed to do that the other way around.

Candi began fantasizing out the entire seduction scenario in massive detail after she got up the courage to buy the lingerie. She figured out where she would seduce him. What she would say. What he would say and do. How she would take control of the moment and counter resistance. How he would react. When he would give into his desires and hers. It was a way of giving her courage and planning the battle so she knew what to do if it went wrong.

Creating a swim lane process flowchart on her iPad helped Candi keep the strategy straight in her head. She trashed the idea of creating a GANTT chart.

Resistance is futile, D, so you may as well just lie back on the bed and enjoy.

Candi pondered getting a few tablets of Viagra or Levitra, just in case. Maybe some rope if he was reluctant.

Sometimes, the fantasies were so arousing that Candi often had to go into a bathroom or some place private to relieve herself from being horny. It was hard to keep silent in those moments, even when she was at home.

Candi found herself writing up a list of baby names and searching for baby photos on the internet. She started using AI software on the internet just to think about what their future children might look like. Candi realized that this was now emotional, biological and extremely serious. Beyond fantasy. Planned, but borderline obsessive. Rather adolescent. It was entertaining, anyway and better than feeling miserable. The prioritized list hit over 250 names and she had saved over 35 AI baby pictures. She had even researched what the names meant and how popular they were.

If D ever found this, Candi would have a lot of explaining to do. Maybe D would get the idea if she only briefed him on the top dozen?

Brad had never evoked this type of response out of her, and Candi wondered if she was perceiving D correctly or just seeing an idealistic picture of what her lust and ovaries were sending to her brain.

Could a flawed, younger woman like Candi seduce a much older man and flip him from friend to husband? Maybe D would think that he was too old for kids and find Candi undesirable? Maybe he would give her the horrifying speech about "just friends"?

Candi shook her head to erase those thoughts, just like bad stuff on her cell phone. No, she knew D a lot better than that. She had to push Brad's words out of her head or they were going to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Brad was not going to be able to scoff and say "I told you so" about Candi's future love life. She had to make this all work out properly.

Having a game plan never hurt.

Candi decided that she was not going to tell D that she was under a day away from ovulating, maximum. She was going to seduce enough loads of sperm out of him to give her a good chance of getting pregnant, and then come back for seconds and thirds for the next few straight days.

Candi decided that she would get him to blow the first two wads inside of her vagina, each session she had with him. She would seduce him into multiple sessions. Two today, three or four tomorrow and the next day. Maybe a few more in the shower or jacuzzi tub? She needed to maximize the chances of pregnancy. She would get around to actually telling D, after tests had confirmed pregnancy.

A man approaching the lunch table where Candi was sitting ended Candi's internal arguments and outrageous thoughts.

D walked up to Candi's table in the bistro attached to the trendy small hotel.

"Hi, Candi!" D had intended it to be a short hug, but Candi closed her eyes and held on to him longer than he expected. Candi was savoring the first moment, silently praying this would all go well and mentally committing herself.

"Are you okay?" D asked. Poor Candi must be having a bad day. Probably that asshole Brad, again.

"Had to get away from the office." Candi said. "I was notified that my post-divorce property settlement is absolutely final. It is not really final, but Brad signed off that he is closing out all further challenges. I'll believe it when I see it. I'm still not convinced it Is over. As for us, we need to go over this marketing campaign for you. I just can't do this type of work in the office today. Better to do this, directly with you, over a long lunch."

Candi pushed Brad and the property settlement out of her mind and focused in on the discussions and seduction ahead. The naughty lingerie she was wearing underneath helped. Her lust to hump this man returned fast and channelled all the anger into her own sexual frustration, strengthening her need to see this through.

"If you need more time, my company can wait" D offered. "It is not needed for several weeks."

"No, this needs to happen right away." Candi said, slowly and with a secret smile. She was thinking ovulation, but the idea of doing this was now starting to turn her on. "I've got other things moving into my pipeline, so this should not wait."

Candi could feel that pipeline she had been referring to getting moist with anticipation.

"You told me that it was complex and to clear this afternoon's schedule. It is Friday. I have as long as you need today." D nodded. "I have nothing going on this evening, either. It's okay if we don't finish by 5 PM. I'll buy us dinner."

"That would be nice. I actually got a room here, myself, through Sunday afternoon." Candi casually admitted.

"That is good." D said, supportively. "You need some time off, and it is a good idea for you to get out of that house if Brad does something stupid and shows up again."

"I don't think he will, but I have made the mistake of believing that before." Candi said. "Yesterday he took the dog. He had the gall to take it from my workplace. The arbitrator has said that he only gets the dog if I agree and has said this is absolutely the last change allowed for Brad. Ruth said that I can keep the dog if I want it. She would rather buy a new dog for her children. I just want this to end with him. They are just things..."

"Are you okay with that?" D asked. "Probably a parting shot by Brad. Weeks ago, he told the arbitrator that he didn't want the dog. It is good that the fighting over possessions may be over now, but the dog was Kelly's. When it wasn't with Kelly, it was hanging around at your office. I don't think that it ever liked Brad very much. It has a better relationship with the men and women at your office."

"It gets along well with Ruth." Candi remarked. "Both of them will have more time to be with it than I do. Kelly used to have the dog with her when she was babysitting people's kids in high school. It is good with children. Ruth will have a child, very soon. Ruth said that she will bring the dog right back to me if Brad tries to buy another dog, abandon the dog, sell it, give it away or euthanize it. She is not happy with the request from Brad. Yes, I agree it is a parting shot, but everyone tells me that it is his very last one. I hope that it bites him in the ass."

"That would make an interesting YouTube video." D replied. "I'd click the 'like' button."

A waiter appeared and they ordered lunch. D noticed Candi drinking. A little early for her to start. She must be hurting. They will have more time for the dog? The dog loved going to Candi's office. Employees put dog pillows near their desks to attract it.

As she sipped, Candi realized she needed to watch the drinking. It took the worry out of what she had planned, but she did not want to lose control and screw this up again. It was hard enough to play this right when she was hornier than hell.

By the time that lunch was over, Candi's pipeline was pulsing, itching, and begging to be filled to capacity by D's biological supply chain. Candi wanted so much to be the mother of this man's child. She wanted a daughter or son to fill the void in her life that Kelly had occupied. Candi also ached for D to fill the void between her legs. Maybe some other voids if the mood struck her and D had sufficient reserve semen? The baby mission had priority.

Lunch had been delicious but had seemed to go on forever. Somehow, she finished outlining her company's transformation proposal during lunch. Fear and shame over what she was planning had come in waves. It somehow did not seem ethical to seduce this man into sperm donation and not tell him her intentions to have a child. She pushed that guilt back by thinking "baby. baby. baby." and reminiscing on the maternal memory of the mellowing endorphin tidal wave from nursing a child.

She was sure that D really cared and would welcome both the bareback natural sex and the eventual child. Doubt and fear was still there, even if they did not make sense. She had known this man for over two decades. She had met his late wife and daughter. There was little about D that she did not know, and her soul ached to pull his naked body between her thighs and fertilize her womb with his sperm.

Her brain knew the real answers, but the "what if" still scared the shit out of her, and Candi still had ethics. Candi instinctively knew the answers but her mind free-associated possibilities, scenarios and failures at machine gun speed. What had made Candi a genius at work was now turning her into an emotional wreck. It was trying to figure out a way to charm D into having natural sex. Divorce had rattled her emotions. She no longer had faith in herself. Candi was scared D would not want her love or be angry if she got pregnant.

"Well, that was a good lunch and a great discussion." D said, as the waiter returned with a receipt. "The company execs should love your company's presentation. They hated the last four agencies who pitched to us. You have a terrific shot at this."

"D, should you be telling me this?"

"The CEO and the Chairman of the Board ordered me to buy lunch and tell you that all the other transformation consultancies had failed to come up with any compelling proposals. The Board is disappointed and reluctant to commit the money, but they have trusted you and your firm for many years and your ideas and advice so far have been consistently on target, even though you did not plan upon submitting a bid. You have always understood the way our company works. Marketing and sales think that you are the only one with any transformation proposal that is worth continuing to look at. The CEO agrees." D nodded. "They have invested a lot of time and money but they won't cancel the program until they have heard from you.

"The CMO will brief you on all the other proposals, and then they want to see what you propose, instead. I saw what all of the others submitted. They all sucked. You've got a terrific shot at this, Candi. So, what is next for us today?"

Time to prove she was not a coward. Time to also show D that she was more than just interested. The man was so used to being nice that he was clueless that there was nobody else in Candi's heart. If D had even asked her out on a real date, she'd have said yes and done everything she could do to light a fire in him.

"One more thing to show you." Candi said, finishing off her drink. "It will take some time to show it all to you, but I hope that you will like what you see."

"I am sure that the company will love it." D said. "You seem a little nervous about it."

"It's... Different." Candi said. "Wait to see the entire thing before making a decision. You need to see it before anybody else can see it. Work with me on this."

"I am sure it is fine. Everything you do is always phenomenal. Yes, I will wait until I see the whole pitch." D promised. "Marketing has loved everything they have seen so far. When they see what you have already spoken about today, there should not be a problem. The plan is pretty solid as it is. What have you got in mind? What's next?"

"It's in my room. It is different. A little scary for me." Candi explained.

"Lead on, Candi." D gestured.

The drink had loosened up her emotions to give her enough courage this time. The elevator ride and walk to her room seemed to crawl slowly on forever. Weak knees. Candice hoped that D did not notice that her legs were trembling and her hands shaking as she touched the door lock to her room, fumbled with the keycard and opened the door. He didn't.

When they reached her room, she was still resolute to go all the way this time. Being alone in her home with no one who loved her, no child and absolutely zero possibility of sex was far worse than any present fear of rejection. She could not live that way anymore.

She let D walk in and she quietly locked the door behind her as he cluelessly marveled at the accommodations.

She loosened her clothing and began to walk towards him. Suddenly the guilt and the hurt from her divorce thundered in on her. None of this seemed worth it anymore, if this was the only way she could get D to be with her. Candi felt ashamed, just like the last time. Candi felt like a slut and an emotional blackmailer. If she succeeded, what made her better than Ruth? Would Candi's new husband sit there on the sofa with a baby bottle and a trapped look on his face?

D was the best, most honorable man Candi ever met. He had been a terrific father and husband. He would likely propose to Candi the moment she announced she was pregnant. He deserved better than a marriage of obligation. He didn't deserve to find out that way. She wanted D to love her and be loved by her, first. As much as she wanted the baby, Candi wanted his love. She wanted to give him more than just her vagina, her womb and a baby, and then expect him to marry her.

Candi was sobbing and weeping uncontrollably long before she got to where D was standing. D did not know what was going on, but Candi was crying. D assumed it was probably more divorce hurt. She needed comforting. Someone who listened. WTF has Brad done to her now?

D took her into his arms and caressed Candi's head. Candi was saying something, but D could not understand what she was saying. Candi was crying too hard and her face was buried in his chest and shoulder. Held firmly there by her own arms pulling herself into his torso.

When Candi lifted her head to look D in the eyes, Candi said the only thing that D had clearly understood:

"Brad made me feel so... ugly. So unwanted. So alone."

What Candi said next would be life changing:

"I'm sorry. I love you, D."

D did not understand why she was sorry or what she thought she had done. The last four, unexpected words hit D's heart and melted him with an instant and powerful love that had been lost over a decade. He felt tenderness. Candi was in love with him. Any younger man could give Candi so much more, but now that he knew how she felt, he was not going to let her go.

Candi pulled her face into D's face before he could decide how to react. The kiss started out gentle and apologetic - begging forgiveness. Candi's baby fever biology, over two years of rejected celibacy, the alcohol, the frustrated hormones since Kelly's death, pent up frustration from Brad, and Candi's ovulation time hormonal horniness consumed her and she lost control. Her biologically hardwired, ovarian driven lust took the helm and cutoff all input from any rational or fearful part of her brain. They put the parts of Candi's limbic system in charge that instantly voted to gratify themselves with immediate copulation and fornication as her womanly pheromones increased by 6000 percent. It was time to get the sex that she needed to feel like a real woman again.

Passion was expressing itself through her kisses as sex became an imperative. She'd never kissed anyone with that much intensity and purpose. Candi walked him backwards and pushed him on to the bed. Candi suddenly found that her shoes, skirt, and blouse were no longer there, and she was lying on top of D, consuming his face and neck with her lips while her hands undid his belt and forcefully shoved down his pants to his knees.

Candi could only laugh a nervous, desperate laugh and hope D would not reject her, say "no" or misunderstand. He couldn't say no if his lips were preoccupied doing something a lot more fun.

Initially shocked, D started kissing back with equal intent the moment Candi's hands found their way down south and began caressing his penis into the start of a powerful erection. There was a time to stop thinking and a time to start enjoying and responding. It had been a damn long time since a woman had done that to D. He was not going to resist when the most beautiful, wonderful woman he knew was showing him that her feelings had changed and sex was now on the menu.

Candi saw D's emerging erection as beautiful and wonderful. Reaffirming her femininity and sexual attractiveness. It was redeeming to know that a man that she wanted to fuck with, wanted her again.

Somewhere in that scrotum were the manly sperm that would fertilize Candi's vagina and womb in the erotic joyful gifting of their bodies. She would creampie every womanly orifice with them and be more woman than he had ever seen.

The returned kisses and throbbing movement to full erection clearly showed Candi that D was getting on the same page now. He clearly wanted to empty his balls inside of Candi. The anticipation excited Candi and for a moment, she could almost see her future self, carrying his strong child in her womb.

Candi repositioned herself to show D the sexy green lingerie she was wearing. She wanted to say something playful and seductive, but had forgotten what she had memorized and just could not say it. She smiled and looked down at her breasts and lingerie, and hoped D was aroused enough to understand. The pattern reminded Candi of some impossible green flower petal with the colors of dragonfly wings. Looking into his eyes, Candi saw a warm smile. D clearly liked Candi privately revealing herself to him in the lingerie.

Candi then briefly took one hand away from D's crotch long enough to free the spaghetti straps on her lingerie and watch it drop and free her C cup breasts. As she leaned down to press a naked boob into D's face, she could feel her nipples tightening into their own dual, feminine erection. Candi's clitoris was rising, as Candi's left nipple touched D's mouth. D kissed the nipple, caressed her breast from underneath and he began to suckle. Left. Then right. He was paying proper attention to them both and electric lust spread like fire from her nipples down to her clitoris.

Please don't tell me that you had a vasectomy, Candi thought.

D had not meant himself to be heard at the time, but Candi heard him momentarily whisper to himself:

"So beautiful... My Candi."

My Candi?

Candi's eyes went wide. Brad had stopped saying that while they were still dating.

My Candi? D had told her she was beautiful at her wedding, but he had never claimed her love as his before. Candi had been right. There was more here than lust. He did have feelings and he did want her.

In that same spontaneous moment, Candi knew that Brad's egotistical, gaslighting, cruel mind games since Kelly's death had been cruel lies. Brad had said them to home wreck their relationship so Brad's ego could justify a new relationship with Ruth.

I'm not looking back anymore. My anger and hurt ends right here. I'm going to create a baby with D, filled with love.

The words "My Candi" made Candi believe again that she was worthy, beautiful, loved and desired. The ecstasy of beginning to have sex with this man had freed her from Brad's gaslighting. It made her feel more feminine than she had felt in years, and her heart pushed out all the long memories of hurt so it could make room for loving D.

Candi was going to love D, who had freed her. She was going to start out by fucking him repeatedly and enthusiastically milking out all his sperm over the next several days to create a child.

She vowed not to let him leave the bedroom except to shower, to go out and eat, make out with him in public, and to give the cleaning staff time to change the linens.

Any spots left on the sheets from squirting or cumming, would show the maid that Candi still had enough inside of her to seduce a man to go all the way. They would be a silent piece of erotic woman-to-woman evidence that Candi was still desirable. A woman-to-woman statement that Candi still had it in her and still knew how to make a man happy. Not too many large spots, as getting pregnant was more important than making a silent, womanly statement.

Maybe the maid would even be the same brunette maid that Brad and his male lawyer friends used to occasionally talk dirty about after a few drinks? They thought the maid was so hot. Candi would have liked to make that one a little shocked and envious. Candi wanted to show that maid that she knew how to please a man. The maid would know it when D walked out of the room bow-legged.

Candi decided that when she left the bedroom, she would wear a menstrual cup to hold D's sperm close to her cervix for a little longer, maybe making pregnancy more likely. Candi remembered a woman in her 40s she once worked with had done this because of fertility issues. The woman had two more kids after that.

Any other woman would have thought this was either kinky, gross or weird. Candi just did not know if she was going to have any problems getting pregnant in her 40s. It had been nearly 20 years since Candi had a child. Candi had not gone this far to fail, so "waste not, want not".

The idea also had an odd appeal to Candi's personal pride. Sex with Brad had always been a rather quick thing. Most of the women she knew said something similar. They said that their men went to sleep right after their first large orgasm. Probably because there wasn't enough blood in a man's body to fill an erection and keep his brain oxygenated and conscious for very long.

Candi assumed that it took someone amazingly feminine and womanly to get multiples out of a man. If this worked out as she planned, she wanted to be so sexually talented that D would never cheat on her.

Yes, Candi thought. Men had to really want to give up sleep before women got multiples out of them. The idea of flaunting her womanliness without dressing or acting like a slut in public, appealed to Candi's pride after all the shit Brad had been giving her. He had made her feel ugly, and it was time for her to get revenge. Candi wanted to confidently walk around in public with a huge, naughty, just-fucked smile on her face, still secretly carrying D's sperm inside. A smile that only Candi and D really understood. A secret smile that everyone would misinterpret as a happy, friendly, confident woman, enthusiastically holding on to the arm of her very lucky man. When they eventually headed back to their room, everyone looking at them would know that they would soon be jumping each other's bones and eagerly procreating like cats or bunnies.

Candi was going to make D touch every part of her that defined her as a woman.

As D's lips and tongue sought to please Candi's breast, Candi moaned with guttural, lustful abandon. She didn't care how much noise she made now. When Candi felt a delicious wet explosive spasm of ecstasy in her cunt, the mini orgasm brought her first new tears of joy.

All of their remaining clothing had quickly appeared on the floor. Candi was still on top of D, and she was staying there in complete control, at least for the first creampie. She was not going to even take the chance that he might have second thoughts, now that they were naked on the bed.

Eager to get what Brad had consistently refused, Candi rotated her position on top of D and Candi took D into her mouth. Deliciously wetting his penis and sucking firmly to finish preparing him to be inside of her. Caressing and tea bagging his scrotum and alternating putting his penis and his balls in her mouth at different angles and depths.

She alternated moving her tongue, cross shaft on his manhood, sucking, licking, kissing and teasing it across his shaft instead of just deep throating it and manually stroking his shaft. Candi did not have a long history of lots of lovers, but she knew what they all liked.

In between the sucking and licking, she kissed different segments of his shaft from different angles. Candi's tongue curled around across D's shaft, giving it a cross-shaft massage that that forced him to tighten his buttocks to keep from losing it all right there.

God, Candi knows what she is doing. D did not care how she knew as long as she kept doing it. Candi was making love to his dick. Anyone else would have seemed mechanical. There was more than enthusiasm here. She really loved him and eagerly wanted this. The woman is a goddess in bed.

D returned the favor by adjusting his position into a 69, and almost startling Candi to an immediate orgasm. Brad had never been a fan of orally pleasing, but D was enthusiastic and knew where to lick, suck, touch and finger.

The pleasure became sexually and emotionally overwhelming for Candi as their peculiar connecting intensified a response in Candi. She stopped sucking D's penis.

"Oh, God! Oh, God! Oh, God!" Candi said, as D licked the length of her creaming gash, licked her clitoris, spun his tongue under the hood and sucked her erect clit into his mouth.

When the tip of his finger entered her and rhythmically pressed against her G-spot, orgasmic electricity shot through her body, bringing Candi's first thundering whole body orgasm. Candi could not even squeal, groan or yell. Her mouth formed an "O" shape as the vaginal and uterine contractions moved like a shockwave through her and her breath and words were held in suspension.

Tears came as she exhaled and shuddered from the first complete orgasm she had with a man in years. No man had ever made her cum so fast and so intensely. It made anything that any other man had done to her feel like a handshake at a business convention. Planet shattering. God, he knew what he was doing, and he had only started.

D's tongue, lips and fingers continued to pleasure Candi through her first orgasm, tickling her back towards a second, more powerful one. Candi's body was aflame in desire.

"Oh, God! Not again! Not again! Not again! Yes!" A new orgasm and contractions hit Candi again, much harder this time. Candi discovered she could squirt.

The center of Candi's femininity was throbbing and twitching to start making the baby Candi wanted. With an almost erotic, channeled, determined anger, she shifted her position again, took D's erection in her hands, lifted his legs and tried what no man had ever wanted to do with Candi: she expertly guided the head of his penis to the entrance of her quivering vagina, and Candi mounted D, Amazon style.

Still dripping on the sheets from her squirt, Candi delighted as she impaled her most feminine, life bringing organs on D. Her vaginal muscles relaxed and spread open for his intruding shaft, and it pushed through wet but slight resistance. Candi thrust down steadily on him and his baby making organ instantly hit bottom.

"Uhhhh! God, D, I've wanted this for so long!"

Perhaps it was Candi's own vivid imagination, but the meatus of D's cock felt to Candi like it was deep kissing and lip locked with the external os of Candi's womb. When Candi felt D's balls touch her ass, she smiled, knowing he was all the way inside of her.

Candi loved the control that she had over her own pleasure when she was on top. Brad had only wanted to do it missionary or doggie style. Being on top meant that she could control depth and grind down or rotate her hips to make sure it touched precisely the right places inside of her that needed his manhood.

"Mmmm! Oh, God, that feels so good! It's been years, D! He refused for years. I haven't had any since long before Kelly left for college..."

Candi felt supremely womanly. She had seduced a man into an erection. A man's cock was inside of her again after years. Knowing she was about to make D cum inside of her, several times. Knowing she had set him afire with lust.

Candi's divorce from Brad would never feel hurtful or shameful again.

A sexual tsunami of prurient pleasure swept though them both and Candi's wave ended up with another delightful wet spasm in her cunt.

Candi tightened her muscles around his shaft and pulled upwards, beginning her efforts to milk the semen from him.

The novelty of doing what no man had ever wanted to do with her was intoxicating, but in what was probably a few minutes, Candi felt like she was raping D in the Amazon position. She was suddenly afraid that he would feel used, even though D showed every sign of enthusiasm.

She repositioned him, letting his legs drop down and Candi mounted him cowgirl. His slick cock slid back into Candi immediately. She felt his balls touch her ass again, knowing they were fully united as man and woman. She was still not going to risk letting him change his mind and stop before she got her first creampie.

She was going to get at least three creampies out of him this session.

Candi really should not have been worried at the time. D was in heaven and not about to do anything to change her mind or stop her from doing anything she wanted. This was the first time he had been with anyone since his wife had died. Candi was the most beautiful and wonderful woman D had any sort of relationship with. The realization that she loved him and wanted to have sex with him was a miracle to D. Something he had been convinced was impossible.

Each time D slid into Candi, it felt like their bodies were melting together into each other. It had not even felt like this the first time with D's late wife. Making love to Candi felt really right. It was like she was a missing part of his body and soul, and he needed to have his penis all the way inside of her. His soul needed to marry this woman. D could not imagine living anymore without his Candi.

Candi is everything that I thought she would be. D thought. Please don't stop. Please don't walk out of my life. Jonathan is only slightly older than me. Monica is the same age. Oh, screw the age difference, I need Candi. They will see that.

D's heart committed totally to Candi in these first moments when time seemed to stop while his Candi slid his manhood all the way into herself, again and again. D never cared what position she wanted. He just wanted to please Candi. D realized that Candi needed to feel in control after being rejected and humiliated by Brad.

There was something sacred and spiritual D felt while making love to Candi, especially during the moments when he kissed her as he slid his erect penis into her hot, wet vagina. Candi's vagina engulfed and gripped his cock and seemed to be pulling D's whole soul inside of her. His masculinity being eagerly pulled into union with her femininity and love.

"I love you, Candi." D declared aloud, again and again. "I can't live without you anymore. I love my Candi."

The eager smile of love on Candi's face as she heard his words and responded to his penis was intoxicating and erotic. It burned into his mind and soul and made him feel so manly and so loved. He could see how she loved hearing him say those words and speak her name, knowing his words were for Candi, alone.

D's cock felt like it was penetrating heaven, each time it plunged inside of Candi, driving them both closer to release.

D would do anything to make Candi want to stay in the bed, but if she had told him she needed to do it out in the hallway or the elevator, he'd have probably agreed. Candi's vagina made erotic slurping sounds as D's manhood plunged in and out of her hungry, eager womanhood. If Candi had brought out a red hot branding iron with a heart-shaped logo on it, he probably would have let Candi brand him like a cow, at least once. Just please don't stop, Candi. Fortunately, Candi had far more normal things in mind.

Their organs united again and again. Candi and D were both gasping and groaning. When it became too much to bear, he would raise his chest up and share a prolonged kiss with Candi. The kisses felt years overdue, but satisfying. They seared and sealed his heart with loving, emotional commitment. D did not ever want Candi to begin thinking this was purely physical. Love was here, and this was the woman he wanted to love.

"Candi. Candi. Candi. I love my Candi."

After years of Brad's rejection, D's words rolled into Candi's ears and brought more erotic joy than D could ever realize. Her mind was afire and she wanted to fuck this man into pregnancy Valhalla forever.

Candi was warm, firm, wet and amazingly tight. Each time she thrust down on him D shoved upwards to meet her thrust and a cascade of sexual electricity ran through D that he had not felt since he was her age.

Every time his meat hit bottom D realized that he was more and more in love with Candi. His cock was coated with her egg white consistency juices as Candi brought him closer and closer to his own impending, massive orgasm.

Time stopped as they reveled in their lingering lovemaking. When D suddenly felt teardrops land on him, he noticed that Candi had stopped thrusting.

"Wait." Candi said tearfully.

"What is wrong?"

"I could get pregnant."

"Do you still want to have another child?" D asked.

Candi tearfully nodded, unable to even speak for a moment. Ashamed.

"I miss Kelly." Candi admitted. "I want to be loved by you. I want to have your child. Our child." She started crying again.

Still hard, D raised his hips to fully push his penis the rest of the way inside of Candi. He looked up at her.

"Then don't stop loving me. I want you, Candi, forever." D whispered. "I want to get you pregnant. I want you to have my children. Only you. Our children. I'll start a family with you, now."

"Oh, God, D." Candi wept, but the tears were joyful. "Please make love to me. Give me our baby, now!" Everything was suddenly perfect. Honesty was the right choice all along. She would put everything into their lovemaking and baby-making.

Candi felt her hips instinctively thrust down with her weight in the cowgirl position as she came to rest for a moment, completely filled by his beautiful erection. Her fear dissolved in a second in tears of joy. Their joined nakedness had made Candi feel that she was still pressuring D into loving her and having a baby, but D's enthusiasm and smile convinced Candi that D meant what he had said.

Candi's heart gratefully surrendered the guilt she felt, as she marveled at the loving goodness of the man she had chosen. This was not a fast, guilt and responsibility driven trip into sex, love, marriage and fatherhood. D truly loved Candi. D truly wanted all of this to happen so immediately.

"Fuck a baby inside of me, D. I want to feel you release inside of me."

Candi's remaining doubt and fear dissolved as she felt D's hand brush away the tears and caress the side of her face. What other man would gladly change his whole life for her in an instant? It was too much to ask, but he eagerly wanted all of it.

It did not matter if someone like Ruth was better. D wanted Candi with all of her craziness and all of her desperate baby fever. Candi had found 'the one'.

"You are my Candi, now." She heard him say. "Yes, I really love you. Yes, I really want to be married. Yes, I really want to have a baby. I don't want to love any other woman."

"Finish inside of me." Candi said. "Cum inside of me. Fill me up. Knock me up. Make me pregnant."

Candi felt erotic lightning inside as his penis pushed beyond her entrance and it slid once more into her hot, wet silkiness. She could feel the head go all the way up inside of her and press slightly against her cervix. D's penis deliciously filled the space between her legs, and the flood of their liquid love would soon fill the voids in their lives.

Candi's tears stopped and were replaced by a slight grunt, a short chuckle, a dreamy eyed glazed look, and the pulsing grip of her vaginal muscles. It briefly contorted her expression and then Candi's face broke out into a delighted, glassy and partially sated smile.

I feel worthy again. Womanly. Loved. We're creating a child together, starting a marriage, and starting a lifelong relationship together. I'm never going to let him think he is unloved or undesirable.

Candi's realized love made her determined to fuck the hurt out of her life. It was like she was exorcising Brad's demons by using her lips, uterus and vagina. Her anguished and defiant soul channelled its control over her reproductive biology and drove her hard towards orgasmic joy to push Brad and his hurtfulness out of Candi's mind, body and soul, forever.

Each silky, wet penetration pushed the hurt, frustration and anger out of Candi and replaced it with a love for this man who was far more worthy of her love than her ex-husband had been, and was a far better lover.

Candi squeezed her vagina around D's shaft, pulled herself partially off him, and then relaxed and thrust down again, starting to milk his cock into a monumental orgasmic explosion. Coaxing his masculine center towards release.

"Please come quickly, the first time, D." Candi begged. "I love you. I need this. Shoot your sperm inside of me, D. Knock me up. God, please get me pregnant. I want everyone to know I am your woman! I want every woman to know that I have had you inside of me."

"I love my Candi. I won't cheat. I won't leave." D replied as Candi bounced on top of him again. "As many babies as you want, Candi."

They thrusted into each other with complete sexual abandon, both loudly making sounds of ecstasy. Each desperately wanting the other to achieve an orgasm. Each wanting to start a new life inside of Candi.

"Breed me, D! Cum inside of me! Fill me up with your love! Give me your baby! I need your baby! I need to know our child is on the way."

Candi sensed that he was about to cum inside of her, so she leaned down, took his head in her arms and kissed D. A sustained kiss that was as honest, loving, passionate and fervent as she could give.

Candi wanted every part of her body that was associated with being feminine and sexual to be touching a part of D when their first mutual orgasm arrived. She wanted to be physically joined with D as completely as possible in that defining moment when their bodies climaxed and his penis erupted inside of her. A moment that might create their first child.

Candi's nipples and silver dollar sized pink areolae pressed against his chest. Candi's lips on his lips. Candi's vagina completely engulfing and caressing his penis. Candi's thighs and hips straddling his, and her legs touching his. Candi's hands and arms touching him. His hands touching Candi's hips, mons and clitoris, and involuntarily causing her pussy to clamp down in the moment.

Candi felt D's penis swell, knot, surge, throb, pulse and spit six times as he groaned and his soul merged with Candi's. The power of his pulsing, manly orgasm was matched by Candi's own immediate, apocalyptic orgasm. Candi's vagina and womb were wracked with her own juicy convulsions and contractions. Hormones of released, feminine completeness and joy cascaded through Candi. All Candi could do was flail, form an "O" with her lips, grunt, achieve orgasm and smile with astonished eyes as her contractions released her erotic tension and created erotic joy. It felt totally fulfilling as she was flooded with his seed and the wonderful magical biochemistry of sex and love.

Orgasm and sex had never been like this for Candi.

"Thank you, D. Thank you, Thank you." Candi whispered as she felt D's penis pulse inside of her. "I love you. I love what you just gave to me. I'm sorry that I never thanked you like this before."

Somewhere, Candi thought, Grandma Laura was closing her eyes and looking away. Take that, Grandma. Candi smiled at the thought and gloated. I'm breeding eurasian grandchildren.

"Candi. Candi. Candi. Candi." D dreamily exclaimed as he felt Candi's contractions. "I love my Candi. I need my Candi." D knew he was loved again. He knew that he had pleasured his Candi, properly as her grunting stopped and he saw her astonished, wide open hazel eyes, followed by that naughty "lets go do more" smile. It was good to feel like a loved man again, not just Candi's platonic friend and helpmate.

Tears of resolution came to Candi, just as Candi felt an unexpected, second, huge, hot streak of liquid fire shoot upwards into her throbbing, thirsty feminine crevasse. A life bringing deluge of thick, ropy gobs of sperm filled semen gushed into her vagina and splashed against the opening of Candi's cervix. D's Raging erection released its scalding liquid love to fertilize the center of Candi's femininity.

D must have been saving his sperm up for someone, for years. Now, Candi thought, it was all hers. God, she loved this man. Why had she wasted time with that cheating SOB, Brad, when she could have been coming home to this every night? Brad would not have even come over to taunt her if Candi and D had answered the door with bath robes and underwear on.

Candi smiled with a sense of achievement as her own words came back in her mind. I want your child. Our child.

Candi faintly felt the warm wetness from two loads, each with over 300 million sperm, filling her. Her uterus and vagina seemed to sense the new masculine life force inside of her. They spasmed in exquisite pleasure, sucking D's sperm into her castle of femininity and sweeping them up on a long journey towards Candi's ovaries, and her ripening egg.

Somehow, Candi knew that a new life would be starting inside of her. In that moment, Candi felt more complete as a woman, more feminine and more womanly than she had ever felt before. Restored to the loving woman she had been, and made into someone who was much more because she was cherished by D.

Candi lovingly kissed D as the tidal wave of endorphins from her afterglow passed through her and Candi's felt her contractions taper off. Even creating Kelly Dawn had not made her feel like this. Kelly Dawn had been almost accidental.

The contractions and kiss had the opposite effect on D. His meat was squeezed and caressed into another raging hard on, as more semen and sperm surged forward to demand their turn to be released inside of his Candi.

Candi broke into tears of delight and laughter as she realized that they were not done, yet. He was not going to just roll over and fall asleep. D rolled them over on the bed and began to make love to Candi, again, in the missionary position.

He was going to give Candi another load, deep inside of her.

"Yes!" Candi exclaimed with an almost greedy smile. "Give me more! Give it to me, good!"

D lifted up his thrusting hips as he surged inside of Candi with renewed lust. His penis brushed hard against her G-spot again and again, every time his hips and raging hard on lifted Candi's hips into the air. D's fingers traced Candi's clitoris and hood and Candi squealed. Her legs instinctively locked behind his back as if they wanted this baby, too.

Candi was suddenly afire with renewed hormones, her locked legs pulling D deeper and deeper inside of her captive womanhood. She thrashed in a biological need to get more sperm out of him as his strokes went deep inside of Candi.

"Fuck me pregnant, D! Creampie my vagina. Oh, God, D, cum inside of me again! Make me pregnant! I need your baby!"

Every stroke sent sexual voltage through her loins and made Candi love this man more completely. Craving the feelings that D was giving to her, Candi squeaked with erotic delight. Candi almost gloated as the realization struck home that all of her erotic fantasies and daydreams about what she wanted to do with D were real now. Candi felt the rapid surge of her own sexual tension and knew another orgasm for her was imminent. It made her feel invincibly feminine and staggeringly beautiful, like no man could ever turn her down.

As Candi arched her back in pleasure, D's hips thrust powerfully into her and lifted her bottom off the bed. The magnitude of her whole body pleasure shocked Candi. Candi could not believe how trying to conceive with this man unleashed incomprehensible pleasure, passion, joy and purpose in her. Lovemaking had never been this mind-blowing erotic or so emotionally special. Everything he was doing with her sent pleasure to every cell of Candi's body.

Pungent, juicy, furious, raw naked contractions smacked Candi's vagina and uterus and detonated in pure, prurient, electric bliss. Candi's astonished eyes went wide. Not wanting to uncouple while so close to another orgasm, Candi instinctively locked legs once more pulled D and deeper inside of her body. She cried out loudly in amazed joy, as she convulsed and quivered in another titanic sexual release.

Candi's pussy felt D's staggering new orgasm squirt 300 million more swimmers deep inside of Candi as she felt the walls of her vagina ripple with released pleasure, conform to his penis and tighten around it like a vise.

"God, I love you, Candi." D whispered to Candi as his orgasm hit him.

Her stunned expression melted into a huge, very satisfied smile of sexual and emotional release as the contractions started to taper off, again and she felt his warm liquid lifeforce expand inside of her and extend to touch other areas. Brad would have been a snoring lump of motionless, useless, limp meat long before now. Candi was shocked that she could get so many multiples out of D. Each successive orgasm she had given to D had felt like... victorious sexual vindication.

Sex with D was like comparing a barrage of MIRVed nuclear missiles to Brad's pre-Civil War cannon.

Candi was a rag doll of contented love.

A flood of natural, mood enhancing hormones in D's semen flooded and coated the walls of her vagina and uterus, relaxing her like nothing had ever done before. Years of sexual denial still needed to be corrected. Her muscles were not used to the sexual exercise, but Candi's sex starved body still craved and wanted more. Now it had a willing man who wanted to keep giving her more.

The hormones were absorbed through the walls of her vagina and uterus, and her body flooded itself with oxytocin, serotonin, endorphins and prostaglandins. Candi could only gaze at D with glassy eyes, smile contentedly and know she would bear his children and give her love to this man from now on. Her lips found his again and her hands trapped his face against hers.

Candi wanted to stay connected to D and mindlessly relax and relish the wet, hot, expended sexual and emotional tension that pervaded Candi's womanly body. The expended sexual tension seemed to be melting away like that first moment when you step into a hot jacuzzi and submerge your tortured body.

If the souls of Candi's children were created separately by the emotional love during her sexual union with D, Candi knew one was created. It would seek out and merge with their biologically uniting selves.

Candi grunted and roused her sexuality again. She suddenly felt almost guilty that she had not done this sooner. She just wanted to love and reward this man now, who had given her so much over the years.

Lovingly and purposefully, Candi rolled their still unified bodies on the bed, to face D side by side. As she looked deep into his eyes, as her quivering, occupied vagina made her happily realize that D was shockingly still proudly erect again inside of her. Candi's body wanted more of his cock. More. She had never met a man with this kind of short turnaround after an orgasm. Candi briefly wondered what D would have been like 20 years earlier.

D's wife must have been one satisfied customer. No wonder she was always smiling. Candi thought.

Had I known sex was going to be this good with D, I would have gone into full, conjugal, consolation mode after D's wife and daughter died.

Hours before, she had ruminated over making Brad skull fuck himself over the possibility of Candi having cheated. Now she wished that she really had cheated and had fucked herself into multiple pregnancies with D's sperm, nearly fifteen years earlier.

"I should have loved you sooner." Candi whispered. "We should have been together sooner. I wasted so much time..."

Candi's hand reached down to caress the scrotum that was firmly pressed up against her vulva.

Candi looked deep into D's eyes as they began a slow, deep, rocking sensual fuck and longer sensual kisses. There was no urgent clapping of their crotches uniting, In this position, Candi could feel D's sticky, wet erection sliding hard against her clitoris. Candi felt his throbbing erection push past her pouting, engorged labia. She felt the walls of her vagina part and give way to D's invading manhood, which was rubbing and pressuring her G-spot, edging Candi towards yet another release.

Her creamy birth canal was relaxed and welcomed the masculine invader. It tightened itself, every time they rocked and he pushed his love tube all the way inside of Candi. She smiled and gave him another lingering soft kiss each time their bodies slowly rocked into total unity.

"My Candi." he whispered. "My Candi."

"Yes. I'm your Candi. Thank you for loving me all these years..."

D did not let Candi complete the sentence. He kissed her deeply and held her firmly as they rocked once more into passionate unity.

This time, the cadence of their coupling stayed slow. Only the intensity of their mutual passion rose and the wet friction against her clitoris marched Candi closer and closer to another orgasm with each slow rocking motion.

As her orgasm came closer to being imminent, Candi was gasping: "Oh!" each time his cock was fully inside of her. It got louder and louder, more guttural and throatier each moment.

"Oh, God, Breed me, D! Breed your Candi, again! I'm yours, forever! Shoot your love inside of me! Give me every drop of your love! Cum inside of me! Show me your love! Show me I'm loved! I need your cum! I need your love!"

D released inside of her when Candi spread her fingers on his back and firmly but not painfully dug her fingers and nails into his back. "Oh!" was a diatonic howl several seconds long and quite loud by that time, and D could feel Candi rocketing to the moon in spasms and contractions.

"I love you, Candi!" D whispered.

Candi came all over D's cock as a furious explosion of millions of more chances to create her next child erupted like a volcano inside of Candi's vagina. She felt D's long, deep, wet, pulses spraying hot semen as his cock throbbed inside of her. He groaned with finality and ejaculated sperm again and again. Candi's mind imagined them being scooped up and preciously collected by her womb as a new wave of sperm reinforced their predecessors in their search for her eggs.

Candi kissed D again, lingering and aching to be fully one with him since she would never know which orgasm had contained the one sperm that conceived her child. She wanted to be kissing him at each moment of consummation and whenever the actual conception might be occurring. She decided that she would tell their children that they were literally one in a billion.

As she climaxed, Candi's eyes shut tight, suddenly opened wide, and glassed over with a contented sigh and smile that melted into a satisfied, dreamy look of total love for this man. Her man.

Candi and D cradled each other's faces in their hands, and kissed and looked deeply into each other's eyes as they gasped for control and their excitement and hormones subsided in afterglow.

"Call me your Candi."

"You are my Candi. My love is always yours."

God, that feeling of feminine sexual redemption and wholeness shuddered through her again as Candi heard those words! Hearing them meant more to her than D could ever know. Candi could almost feel his active biological love inside of her, trying to unite with hers.

"I want to name my next daughter, Kelly. Is that weird?"

"No. it is not weird. Kelly is a good name."

"I want you to give our daughter her middle name."

"I promise we'll have more if the first ones are boys."

"D, if you ever try to divorce me, I am going to insist upon regular conjugal visits. Several times each week."

"What kind of dumbass would ever divorce you, Candi?"

"One with nothing in his scrotum."

"I have enough for several more children."

"You are more man than Brad ever was. I have never been loved like this. I have never felt more loved. I will never love anyone more. Our children will be beautiful. After they are born... I never want to stop making love with you."

Candi kissed him. Long and lingering.

Candi and D slept briefly, and when they awoke, they found that it was almost 5 PM and they were still sexually united, side by side. That pleased Candi. She even found that he was still reasonably erect. Even better.

She was already amazed at how many times she had made him orgasm and flood her inside with his love. Each load had been phenomenal.

Candi felt incredibly womanly and overflowing with his spiritual and liquid love. Knowing the child she so desperately wanted would likely come from their union today, Candi felt emotionally victorious, complete and loved.

There were a few more things that she wanted to do.

First, she reached under her pillow and inserted a menstrual cup. One of her co-workers who had gone through fertility issues had claimed that it kept the sperm close to the uterus and increased the odds of pregnancy but added that you should not keep it in too long. Well, it was worth a try, even if it did not work.

Candi was still going to bring his cum inside of her when they walked to dinner, later. She still relished walking around with that confident, secretly just fucked female radiance that attracted attention and admiration. Candi felt almost proud of her fearless sexual femininity now.

Someday, maybe Candi would fuck creampies out of D and go to Brad and Ruth's favorite restaurant carrying them inside? Nah! That was kinky and weird. It would have been done out of unnecessary spite. The baby bump, alone, would give Brad several months of prolonged grief.

With a plan in place to finish corralling the planted seeds, Candi could think about the second task:

Candi did not have much experience with anal sex. Brad had not been fond of it. She did not care for it much, herself. Her anus was generally exit only, and the only other asshole she had was now married to Ruth. Candi had no idea of whether or not D liked it. She was still going to do it with D.

Candi didn't want D to even think of going to another woman the next time that he wanted any type of sex. This was their first time together, and Candi was going to let D experience all of her holes, so he understood he could have it all with her. She would let D cum in her mouth when they were in the shower or bath, cleaning up.

Candi decided that the odds of pregnancy were well in her favor with over a billion of D's sperm inside of her. She could afford to use this next load differently, because she was certainly going to get more of his sperm into her pussy after dinner, tonight.

D was dozing as Candi slowly pulled D's erection out of her vagina and corralled the sperm from dripping out of her. Candi mounted him reverse cowgirl, but placed the tip of his penis at the entrance to her anus.

The massive lubrication of his shaft with their combined juices made the head briefly pause at the resistance from Candi's sphincter. Resistance was futile. Her weight did the rest and D roused to discover himself literally popping into Candi's rectum, parting it, impaling her and gently gliding up inside until her perfect butt cheeks rested on his lap.

D was not fully awake when she started, but he was fully attentive now, and his manhood immediately snapped to attention. It was not going to miss out on this.

"Something different and special." Candi said, turning to explain. "I love you, D. I want you to know that all of me wants to be with you. I'll never love another man all these ways. I'll never love another man at all. Cum inside of me, here, too. I want to feel your love everywhere inside of me. I want to feel complete."

Candi's sphincter gaped and then gently but firmly tugged on his cock, slick with their mingled juices, as Candi and D slowly and gently moved together and apart in a slow, erotic, orchestrated dance. Neither D nor Candi lasted long this time, but the pleasure was no less intense.

Forty slow slides together and the moment that Candi had been hoping for arrived. She wanted very much for D to experience creaming in her ass. Candi felt D throb and pulse inside of her. She felt the wave of D's semen come rippling up his shaft and erupt multiple times. Somehow, feeling D cum inside of her body and knowing that she had pleased him into multiple orgasms with every part of her femininity was emotionally fulfilling. The pulsing feeling of final completeness made Candi, herself, sweetly orgasm in feminine pride. D saw a look on her of satisfied finality, passion and joy. Candi had never climaxed from anal sex before.

D removed his cock from Candi's ass as he was going flaccid. They spooned with D reaching around to cradle one of Candi's nipples as the other hand caressed her.

"Marry me, Candi. Be my forever Candi. Be the last, greatest love of my life."

Perfect, emotionally satisfying words. Brad had not been much of a talker afterwards. The man she had just cum with was the only man Candi had ever had sex with who satisfied her soul with the love words she needed to hear. Candi did not feel used or pitied. Here was a proposal from the heart, not out of obligation or post copulation guilt.

Candi adjusted her position slightly and felt his warm life force permeate the rest of her body as his words dissolved Candi's last remaining doubts. The man she wanted did love her, and he would father children with Candi and she felt immensely stronger with him.

"Yes, after this weekend, D... I want to just be with you this weekend and create our child. I can't live without you, either."

Candi turned her head and D kissed her cheek.

Candi hugged the pillow in front of her and had a dreamy look of complete womanly fulfillment and satisfaction on her face.

They would lovingly bathe together in a Jacuzzi tub later, dress, go to dinner, publicly display affection and return to their room to spend the rest of the night making love. Candi and D rediscovered how to laugh and be in love again. D realized he would have to go home tomorrow and bring back a few changes of clothing.

Candi had that radiant, confident, outgoing, secretly just fucked look and smile on her face all through dinner, and the blue lingerie hidden underneath her conservative but rather elegant apparel. Candi had planned wearing this specific outfit because D had never seen it before. Just the right amount of nipple, subtilely pouting through, fully covered over but clearly outlined in the shapely, classy fabric. No doubt there was a real woman in before you with competitive, natural assets. Her terrific figure gracefully hugged by the rest of her outfit in all the most pleasing ways. The aura she radiated was unstoppable, and Candi's appearance would have even given Ruth a run for her money.

D thought that Candi never looked so beautiful. That smile and that beauty was for him now. How could any man leave that and search for someone new?

It was more wonderful to D, knowing what he had ejaculated inside of her was trying to unite with Candi's biology to create his next son or daughter. So astounding to know that his beautiful Candi had welcomed him doing that. So erotic that his Candi had wanted it enough to try to seduce him to let him know how urgently and deeply she loved him.

Cluelessly loved to passionately fulfilled. Had D known how she felt about him, earlier, D realized that they would have been working on more children, long before now. He could have finally let go of the memories of losing his first wife and child and moved on.

He could have been making love to Candi and raising their children together, instead of slowly dying of loneliness each night. It made him smile to know those days were over.

D smiled at Candi as his fingers traced her hand.

Nearby couples and singles didn't know just what it was that made Candi stand out in the dinner crowd, but they smiled at two people so very much in love.

Men found Candi confident and stunning and they wondered how a man that much older managed to land a younger woman. They figured D had a shitload of money and was in the final stages of getting a trophy wife.

Candi and D were discussing their past marriages at the time, totally oblivious to the fact that there were people watching and a few listening. Well, at least D was oblivious. Candi was damn well enjoying what was going on around her. She clearly had D's complete attention. There could have been exotic women dancing around naked in the room, dripping their hormones on the floor and D would not have noticed. Perfect evening!

Candi realized that this was the first time in over two years where she would be going to sleep without Brad nightmares, anger, frustration or tears. It put a lovely and dreamy smile on Candi's face. She never had another Brad dream again.

The thought line of the audience did not help when D said this innocent remark at dinner:

"Candi, you could have had any man you wanted, even back then."

"I'm still your Candi." Candi smiled. "If you had been single back then, or if I had just moved on faster, I would have been your Candi, earlier. I wanted to comfort you after you lost your family, especially after I lost Kelly in such a similar way. I was afraid it would go somewhere. It would have. The age difference never mattered to me. It was an excuse because I was scared of losing you. You were the only single man I felt safe to be around, and I have always needed you, D."

"Did I catch you on the rebound?" D asked.

"No." Candi replied. "I've been in love with you for quite some time. It just took a while before I admitted it to myself."

"I never thought you loved me."

"Is that why you committed to me so instantly?" Candi asked. "I was scared to death that you would have reservations or reasons not to love me. I tried to tell you twice before, but got scared."

"We were 'just friends' for too long. I never thought any of this was possible." D confessed, shaking his head. "I had to commit totally, before anything changed. Couldn't let you get away. Couldn't miss out on a miracle. What you want is what I want. What you need is what I need. I am very blessed to have my Candi, now."

"I will have to bless you a lot more." Candi grinned. The smile seemed to light up the whole damn room like a signal flare. "Lots of catching up to do."

Candi didn't care who was listening, what they were thinking or what it sounded like.

The men listening thought that "Life isn't fair" as they watched Candi kiss D and hold his face to hers for a long, long, meaningful time.

The lucky bastard. The men thought. Guess what he's going to do with his hot trophy woman, tonight?

Candi and D would get a lot more conception practice that night and on Saturday and Sunday. Sunday evening would be their first night in D's bedroom. Coincidentally, D had replaced his old marital bed about a month ago. It was too old. He had thought of buying something smaller but hadn't. D never understood why, but it was a big, beautiful bed.

Candi instantly fell in love with that bed and wondered how many children they would conceive there. Candi smiled as she remembered what D had said, Friday afternoon. As many as she wanted.

D may have guessed what she was thinking.

"Find some new sheets and linens for us, Candi." D said. "Order what we need for a nursery, too. We can clear and use whatever room you wish."

"Are you sure?" Candi asked.

"My wife and my children will sleep in rooms they love, decorated and furnished by what you choose. We'll figure out where the rest goes as we go along. The only question is if we will need a larger house, and we'll figure that one out. I left many things where they were for over fifteen years because I never knew what to do with them, not because I felt any attachment to them. I didn't want to make any decisions. We'll make those together. If you want to have the rooms painted or papered, that is fine."

===

Candi and D would simply go out and elope a few days later. None of their friends were surprised. Candi's dad and mom were on vacation abroad but contacted her to send their congratulations and blessings.

Candi would explain to all her friends that she just wanted to set a better course in her life right away, and stop wasting time.

About time, Candi!

D would get Candi a stunning new wedding ring, bonded to an engagement ring, days later. Candi thought that the expense was unnecessary. She was fine using her old ring, but D insisted.

"The other ring represents Brad's promise to you, not my promise to you." D said. "It is a betrayed and broken promise, and it belongs in a drawer."

Candi quietly thanked God for the man she married. She looked very radiant as she kissed D. Radiant. Her tests next week would fill their souls with joy when they confirmed Candi was pregnant.

D and Candi would still go on a lovely honeymoon after Candi and her business team superbly finished their work for D's employer. Candi really had gotten it done before all of this, and the marketing plan and campaign would change the way that D's employers reached customers and sold to customers, making Candi's company almost legendary.

D would make Candi laugh at night when he would talk to the baby in her womb, sometimes sing to it and tell it bedtime stories and jokes.

Whether it was the intensity of the sexual joy that D brought to her, the feeling of being truly loved, or just pregnancy hormones, Candi found that she craved sexual unity with D, and often had to have more of it with D, multiple times each night.

It would be this way well into the last week or two before her due date. It would not even taper much afterwards.

D would often wake up to Candi eagerly and lovingly sucking his penis into a raging, warm, wet erection, and then mounting it Amazon, cowgirl or reverse cowgirl. It was always a lovely sight and a wonderful confirmation of her love for him as her silky, toned, hot, wet vaginal muscles expertly milked D's masculine essence from him and drove them both to intense orgasms.

D found that he needed it as much as Candi did. Once a night was never quite enough for his Candi. D was happy to know that Candi was his, and that she loved sharing her femininity with him. It was never boring. Candi's creative mind found ways to amaze him and make them both laugh. Sex felt adventurous. Candi put her heart into it.

Candi sometimes turned on the light on the night stand because she wanted to see every reaction on her husband's face and know that what she was doing had brought him to ecstasy.

D loved seeing her smile after she came or after she felt his sperm come rippling out of his cock, especially when she was on top of him. It was his wife's expression of her loving, personal, emotional, feminine victory, achieved the moment she made her man shoot jizz inside of her, and occasionally on her. Fulfillment in knowing she was womanly enough to bring him to that moment of total masculinity, and knowing he loved her.

Sperm was almost a precious, magical, substance for Candi, that could start a new life inside of her. To Candi, it also represented a validation of her completeness as a woman, and a validation she was cherished by the object of her love.

It had never been like this with Brad or anyone else. Sex made Candi feel appreciated and loved. She had to share that again and again. Candi hoped that the life inside of her could somehow feel their mutual love and know that it was loved.

Their orgasms were felt like two stars exploding as their bodies and souls united and erupted in renewed love and joy.

Kelly Candice would be born about nine months after they eloped. Her brother, Jonathan James, would follow a little over a year later. Medium dark haired, eurasian kids. Despite having D's eyes, they looked a lot like Candi and they had inherited that same personal sunshine.

D was glad that their looks clearly came from Candi. He was very proud of them. Although it could be challenging at times to be a new father in your 60s, Candi and the kids filled D's heart with joy and love.

Candi and D would have a small, lovely wedding ceremony in the same hotel's garden, to reaffirm their vows, celebrate with their closest friends and dedicate and christen Kelly Candice.

Kelly Candice was a terrific sister to her baby brother. She had begun speaking whole sentences at 10 months. Some of the words were just sounds that she had heard from words that her parents and grandparents had said, but they seemed to mimic real sentences and words. At 14 months, Kelly Candice shocked her parents by being able to read business and traffic signs.

Candi awoke one night at feeding time for Jonathan James to find Kelly quietly singing to baby Jonathan using meaningless la-la sounds. It sounded like she was trying to repeat some of D's bedtime stories and jokes. She loved it when her husband told bedtime stories to the children. Candi recognized some of the real words. Kelly's brother stopped fidgeting long enough to listen. He seemed to love to listen to his sister. Something that Candi hoped would never change.

Kelly Dawn's dog was returned to Candi by one of Ruth's assistants, almost a year after Brad took the dog. Ruth had sent a private note to Candi, along with the dog. Candi laughed at the note, but would not show it to anybody. Whatever the note had said, it was a private topic between Ruth and Candi. D respected the privacy and never asked, but D suspected that Brad had tooth marks on some part of his private anatomy.

The dog was in heaven when it returned to Candi's office. It schmoozed treats from everyone all day. D had already bought two German Shepherd pups for his home. Kelly Dawn's dog loved the two new canine companions, and the young shepherds worshipped the older dog like it was their parent. It was both a good and a bad influence on the pups, but the employees loved all three of them.

D had bought the pups because he wanted his children to grow up with dogs in the house, and because he knew that Brad did not like german shepherds.

The Shepherds were sweet, well trained, loyal, fun and good around the kids. In the daytime, they could be a little mischievous. They did not touch baby bottles and baby food, but they conspired to charm table scraps and attention out of Candi's staff. If they were not careful, office party food trays found a few items missing at serving time, especially around Thanksgiving, World Series, Christmas and Super Bowl time.

Candi did move into D's nicer home, after Kelly Candice's conception weekend. Candi took her time over the next three years figuring out what she would do with her previous home and identifying the possessions she would keep as heir looms for Kelly and Jonathan.

It was sort of a double move. Some things from D's past marriage ended up in Candi's old place. They looked good together. Aside from photos, D had only wanted a handful of his late wife and daughter's possessions kept, but if Candi wanted anything, D had no problem either way. D was symbolically making room in his place as he had opened his heart for Candi. There was no room for old grief. Everything else moved to the old place, sold or given away.

Candi's old home did not become a junk home. The furnishing of the two homes created two lovely and complimentary homes just as Candi and D's marriage had created a life with two complimentary and healed people.

The second home was used for some years as a special office and meeting place for Candi and her employees. Whenever Candi perceived that one of her employees was going through tough emotional times, she would make them work out of her old home. It was close to the office. Candi had more than a few company parties there, too. Candi wanted to evict any bad spirits that Brad had left behind in the place.

If anything disappeared or got broken in her old home, Candi and D did not give a damn and set the guests at ease. No problem. People and friends were important, not things. People's hearts were important. The most cherished things in Candi's old home were the people staying there at the time.

Reverence and reminiscence should only go so far. Old things could all be made useful again by helping Candi's own employees work somewhere private. Maybe these things would somehow help get someone through a tough personal time?

Many things were readily given away if an employee or guest liked them or needed to borrow something. Candi and D had no problem parting with them. Zero disagreements when something was given away.

Candi laughed one day when she found a large bronze metal sign in the living room, put there by one of her employees:

Candi's Restoration Island

---------------------------

01. Get your head on straight.

02. No loud whining.

03. Do your work.

04. Be grateful you are here, trusted and being paid.

05. Clean up all of your messes.

06. Take out the trash every time you leave the house.

07. Appliances, heating, AC and water are off every time you leave.

08. Do the dishes and laundry - don't leave them in the machines.

09. Take all your stuff home at the end of each day.

10. Don't leave old food in the refrigerator.

11. Wear headphones.

12. Lock up and activate the alarm when leaving.

13. Men named Brad are prohibited from entry.

14. Remember it belongs to Candi and treat it well.

Kelly Dawn's guitar would be lovingly restored and other instruments would be bought. Someday, Candi would teach both of her children to play the guitar, and a few other instruments. Candi and D would have music and singing in their home.

When Candi's old home sold, Candi and D knew that Kelly and Jonathan were set for whatever awaited them in their adult lives.

Restoration Island was too useful, so Candi would replace it with a corporate arrangement to get a nice suite and a conference room available on request at the hotel where Kelly Candice had probably been conceived.

If some of the new children of Candi's employees had been conceived there, too, that was fine with Candi. Candi saw that as a very appropriate "tradition".

Candi moved the Restoration Island sign into the guest room of D's home. Nobody would ever admit creating it, but it was too funny and precious to throw away. A large photo of the sign would be posted in the office break room, to remind employees that the benefit was available.

Candi would even help the hotel and several other hotels successfully market the idea, structure it almost like an improved, affordable timeshare, add in outsourced local IT support and print services, and sell it to some of the more progressive local businesses.

Candi also came up with a companion set of ideas to do job fairs and job fairs in hotel conference rooms with corporate interviews in adjacent hotel suites. Business centers in the hotel were expanded to provide rental, enclosed private cubicle offices with a desk, WiFi, and terrific cell reception. Outbound business people and even job seekers looking to leverage their interview trips could rent cubicles at affordable rates for an hour or two and use the "cubicle business center".

You could make and take private cell phone and internet video conference calls and look like you were doing it from a normal office.

Some larger hotels near airports decided to convert their less than profitable conference center space into a mix of meeting rooms supported by an almost equally large "cubicle business center".

It wasn't a fixed formula. It was a concept framework which was tailored for each location that made profitable sense.

The ideas created sustained, very profitable utilization by the hour, and Candi became famous as "the legendary person" with an "innovative, magnetic personality" for hotels and diverse industry businesses to consult when their normal numbers were disappointing.

Candi's business boomed. She kept the staff small, started profit sharing and outsourced assistants for them on a project basis so her employees would grow as managers and not burnout.

"You are all equal members in this company." Candi explained. "You are my Senior Leadership Team, and you still own the same accounts and areas. We will take things on together without burning out and use outsourcing and partnerships to get the labor we need. I'm not going to let some other agency steal you."

There would be opportunities for people to leave, but they never left. Work was a lot more fun when Candi was in charge, and the profit sharing checks meant that leaving was not going to be over money.

After they eloped, Candi and D did not see very much of Brad or Ruth for some time. They socialized and lived in different circles, anyway. D and Candi never bothered to find out if Brad had been pissed when Candi remarried. Candi didn't give a shit about that anymore.

Candi's friends were tempted to send a baby shower announcement to Ruth but Candi just laughed and stopped that idea cold. "Brad will not hang around to steal or wreck my child's happiness or to mock my pregnancy."

No Brad or Ruth until long after both children had been born. Breathing space to forgive and move on.

When they did run into Brad, it was by accident. Ruth was occasionally there. She was busy with her own child and her diverse corporate empire. When Ruth was there, Candi and Ruth treated each other well and Brad behaved better.

Knowing that Brad had a habit of surreptitiously looking at the contents on Candi's phone, she had FACE ID secured it so he could see nothing but the lock screen. The lock screen had a photo of her with her arms draped around D, taken about 8 months into her pregnancy with Kelly Candice. Candi grinned when she knew that Brad had picked up the phone. She had not seen him do it, but Brad had rather carelessly moved it to another spot on the restaurant table. No doubt the lock screen photo had left a very bad taste in Brad's mouth. D would not have touched Candi's cell phone. Brad probably wished he had not gone back to old, bad habits and tried to snoop through Candi's phone.

Candi thought, briefly, of putting that photo on to a Christmas card and sending it out but then realized that a normal photo of her family would have just as strong an impact. Brad would only throw it out. Brad was not worthy of having any photo of her family anyway.

During those visits, Candi would always have an incredibly huge smile on her face. Candi laughed a lot, and made sure to give long, deep, affectionate kisses to D and the kids which usually made Brad turn his annoyed head in another direction. The difference now was that the actions spontaneously came from Candi's own heart, not some old desire for revenge.

Even Brad being his marginal self could not generate enough darkness to block out Candi's magnified, pervasive personal sunshine. With happy kids and three dogs jumping around, it was clear to even Brad that Candi had no complaints or regrets. He gave up on the cattiness that had made Candi unhappy. All he could do was shut up and live through the visit until Ruth felt it was time to go. Sometimes, Ruth spent a lot more time with Candi and D than Brad liked.

One time, Ruth cancelled an imminent meeting with an outside marketing firm, just to talk in detail with Candi. The two laughed and talked business and that accidental meeting dragged into hours. By the end of it, Ruth and Candi were talking like trusted business partners, and Brad was seething inside.

Brad sweated bricks over the idea that it could lead to Candi's firm getting a consulting engagement with one of Ruth's companies. It did not happen, but Ruth started inviting Candi's firm to talk to her companies and submit proposals and bids, so the idea that it might happen became a recurring nightmare to Brad.

After that, being rude or cruel to Candi was out of the question. It would piss off Ruth, and it sure as shit was not going to have the effect Brad wanted.

When Ruth decided that they needed to more regularly take their son to some of the same normal restaurants and places that Candi and D took their children to, Brad got better at tolerating and shutting up. He knew that occasionally running into Candi and D was inevitable.

Candi hoped that Brad would eventually get over any anger issues. Brad couldn't even seem to be happy that Candi was happy, but he stopped being such a jackass, and that was good enough.

What cemented goodwill between Candi and Ruth was what Ruth had said to Candi one day as Brad and Ruth were leaving with their young son:

"You chose well and did good, Candi." Ruth declared, staring Candi in the eyes and patting Candi's arm. "Lovely family." If Brad heard it, he never showed it or acknowledged it, but Brad was Brad. Candi and Ruth would never have any issues between them, no matter what Brad said or did.

You chose well... Brad would stew over what Ruth meant about that for sixteen weeks. He did not know the context behind Ruth's comment, but he was certain that Ruth and Candi had been comparing him to D as a husband. Maybe they were even comparing notes on bedroom performance? Candi was the only one who had them both...

Ruth and Candi had been discussing brands of baby clothing. It had been Ruth's comment about doing good and Candi's lovely family that changed things. D easily guessed what was really on Brad's mind. He could read it on Brad's face, but he would never say anything to Candi.

Narcissistic asshole. Everything you think about comes back to your own crotch. D shook his head at Brad.

Candi hoped that Brad and Ruth focused in on their own son. The young boy seemed happy and behaved well. Candi and D never wasted time thinking about it or asking. Candi had moved on and found love again. The power of creating two children together had offset the loss of Kelly Dawn that Candi had thought she would never get over. It took being a lover, wife and mom again to replace Candi's traumatic losses and restore who she was.

For Candi, Kelly Candice and Jonathan James did not replace Kelly Dawn, but they displaced Candi's sadness and buried her loneliness in a regular avalanche of new joy. Getting pregnant and having children had not solved Candi's problems. They had pushed out sadness and angry memories. Taking a scary chance to be honest with D and let him know that she loved him had led to solving her problems.

It turned out better because Candi had given D the choice not to try to create a baby. Candi would have always wondered if D had married her because he felt morally obligated to do so. It was better to know upfront that he loved her and wanted to have children together.

Candi was glad that D had never been some sort of angry, controlling or macho-type of man who might have perceived this as manipulative baby blackmail. She had known women who had gotten both pregnancy and a beating from men who feared losing control over their relationships. At least Candi's taste in men had improved after Brad was gone.

Candi realized that this had all worked out because Candi and D had known each other for decades. Because both really had unexpressed, deep feelings for each other. It would not have worked out with any other man in her life, and it might have even failed with D if it had all happened at a different time in his life.

A sudden relationship and an almost instant family? That is a lot of life change for any man to face. Very few men in the world would have eagerly wanted all of that to start in an instant. Candi had been very blessed that D was the man he was, and in the stage of his life that he was in and with the depth of feelings he had for her.

"D, do you ever regret jumping into bed with me so fast and creating a family right away?" Candi asked.

D laughed and choked on his coffee.

"No. Where is that coming from? The marriage we created together was proof that we didn't have to be naked at the time. We made the choice together. I never regretted any of it. It was very fun. It saved a lot of time. It gave me wonderful things to see and do that might have taken years, otherwise."

Candi blushed.

"I feel like I blackmailed and manipulated you sometimes." Candi admitted.

"I was clueless that you had any feelings for me. I didn't think you could ever love me. I'd take Candi any way I could get her, even if it was just as a friend. I was not going to take the chance of assuming that you wanted me. I had all the doubts about being older, only being friends..." D replied. "Seduction was the only way you could have convinced me that had all changed. I would not have Kelly or Jonathan if our relationship had moved slowly. I can't imagine my life without you and them, Candi. Having you sooner is so much better. You rescued me."

"How could I have rescued you?" Candi blushed. "You have spent half your life rescuing me."

"Where do you think my life was going? I would have died alone. Probably would have had to watch you get married again to someone else. Not sure that I could have taken that. Would have probably broken me. Now I have you, the children, three dogs and stunning private lingerie shows at bedtime. You're my angel in bed, and my angel outside of bed. You brought love back into my life. How can I not love you?"

Candi's heart melted. Candi counted her blessings with great gratitude and wondered if they could sneak in another child before her clock ran out. She still had that long list of children's names somewhere. She remembered that Amanda, Rachel and Monica were near the top. This time, she'd let D choose any boy names. Well, just the first names. He said that anything starting with a B or D was not going to happen for his son. If she gave her second son a double middle name, perhaps D would let Candi sneak in a middle name like Dax?

In retrospect, many of Candi's problems with Brad were not that serious. They were Brad's anger management issues. They centered around things, and possessions which could be replaced or let go. He had manipulated their sentimental value to Candi, just so he could hurt her.

Candi's marriage and first child had made hurting her impossible for Brad. The Warrior Comedienne was escorted by the Knight of Asian America and neither of them were in any mood for gaslighting crap.

D had been right. To some extent, Candi had to let go of Kelly Dawn's memories. They were attached to too many things that Brad could fight about. The chaos and the hurt he could inflict was what Brad's anger really wanted. Brad deserved some mementos of Kelly Dawn, and Candi allowed them. Brad's anger seemed settled with the birth of his new son, but there were moments where his darker side poked through for a moment.

Brad could now be forgiven because he had lost his emotional leverage. D was Candi's husband. Kelly Candice's arrival had reset Candi's priorities. Ruth had given Brad a "time out" and "legal chores" to keep him from being a jackass, and the arrival of their son had consumed all of Brad's remaining time. Brad had no power over Candi anymore. He reverted to a more familiar version of the Brad that Candi had known, after college. Familiar, but not someone Candi could ever love again or be friends with again. They just would not be enemies.

Even though the property settlement had been long ago completed, Candi felt it was time for her to be fairer and more generous. Yes, Brad had treated Candi poorly, but he had still been Kelly Dawn's father.

Candi took the time to go through all of Kelly Dawn's things one last time. Candi sent all of the meaningful things that were likely to be of some significance to Brad. Candi would also give two of Kelly Dawn's pots to Brad, later. Candi realized that there were not a lot of mementos that their daughter left behind that her father would cherish. Candi had duplicates of all photos and videos of Kelly Dawn sent to Brad, along with all original photos from those days with just Brad in them. There was a letter attached that said they now belonged to him. She never heard back from him about any of that, but Candi was okay with that.

Expanding her relationship with D created the fulfilling marriage and the children that Candi and D wanted and needed. Not schemed. Not planned. No compromises. Better and honest. Given freely. Not the silly, "if-then-else" tree of scenarios and "good enough" outcomes that had been playing in Candi's mind at the time. Those were funny in retrospect, and D and Candi would laugh at them at anniversaries.

D was the only man in Candi's mind and heart. Husband and Lover 2.0 was better than Candi's sort of "Starter Husband/First husband". One of Candi's employees had come up with the Starter Husband nickname. It kind of stuck, but Brad had not been seen around Candi's office since he took the dog. The employee had put up a voodoo doll after the dog had been taken. The doll had lots of long, ugly pins stuck in its ass and crotch. One customized pin for every member of Candi's senior leadership team. Even though the dog had been returned, the hostility was still there with Candi's team. The voodoo doll was still there.

"I guess that we should retire that doll." One of her leadership team members remarked when she saw Candi looking at it.

"No, it is okay to leave it where it is." Candi said. "Brad pissed all over you guys, just like he pissed all over all of our old friends and his old law office colleagues. He never apologized for that and he is not going to apologize. Ruth returned the dog for him, with her own apologies. She made no apologies for Brad. D is still pissed off at Brad anyway, and I completely understand why. He won't take any action now unless Brad misbehaves, first. Hell, the dog still hasn't forgiven Brad. I kind of like the voodoo doll, anyway. It has... character. Keep the doll where it is. When it starts getting old, we'll put it into the company display case in the break room."

The husband that Candi wanted and needed had been there on the sidelines of Candi's life for decades. Their lives had to fall apart before Candi and D could both see that someone was already there who loved them. Their children were a blessing that came from and magnified their union. Husband 2.0 was the only father that Candi wanted for her children. Candi only wished that Kelly Dawn had been around to experience it, too.

The better days had indeed been yet to come, and Candi found her life and self, renewed and magnified. Fulfilled. Candi was more woman than she had been in every sense of that word.

You chose well with your man, too, Candi. Ruth thought. She was sitting in her favorite chair, sipping an iced latte, enjoying the ocean view from one of her many homes. Brad was out in the yard playing with their son who was chasing the golden retriever dog. It was good for Ruth to have a little time alone. She had turned off her cell phone.

As she thought about Candi's choices in husbands and Ruth's own choice, she understood them all in the context of the times those choices had been made. It still might have been better to put a stronger emphasis upon having a husband who had a heart, an attitude and a track record of being there for you and caring. Someone like D was not as good looking as Brad, but he would cherish his wife forever, defend her, cherish the children, keep his marriage vows and always be a lot easier to stay married to.

Brad came with a headstrong attitude that could made him very selfish and stubborn. His pride could make some very bad choices that made relationships rocky. As long as Brad was attractive to his wife, other women would find him attractive, too. D seemed to feel that Brad's fidelity was still influenced by his parenthood.

It's the garbage in your spouse that comes along with what you prioritized that creates the problems. Ruth thought. If D had been single when Candi came into his life, would Candi have chosen him or Brad back then? If I had known D a few years ago, would I have made a different choice or would I have still wrecked Candi's marriage?

D had been something of a surprise to Ruth, and whenever she thought of Candi, Ruth now thought of D, too. The man could look right at Ruth and know what Ruth was thinking. Well, older men could sometimes do that, but it was still unsettling. Ruth's own father could still do that to her. The ironic thing is that the one person D didn't seem to be able to do that with was Candi.

Well, love is blind. D probably chooses not to read Candi too much.

D had correctly seen through Ruth's motivations in remaining silent all through Brad's tirades. Brad had seen her silence as indifference, submission or agreement. D had known that all Ruth was doing was observing how Brad interacted with Candi and his former friends. Watching it happen told her a lot about Brad, Candi and their friends. If Ruth was going to have any sort of future with Brad, she needed to see how he treated and mistreated others. Ruth had not liked what she was seeing at the time. Brad was out of control and dragging everyone somewhere very bad. Ruth was glad to see that once it was over, that dark side had left Brad and he was acting like the husband and father Ruth had hoped he would be.

D had called that right, too.

D must have known Brad would revert to a kinder self after he could no longer shit on people anymore.

I owe you for teaching me that about my husband, too, D. You taught me that even when Brad is acting like a jackass, there is someone still worth loving deep inside of Brad, who is being suppressed. If you can do something to make him end his anger, it controls the situation and someone better appears before you. He may have too much pride to admit he was wrong, but at least the misbehavior stops. Relationships are never perfect, but I know how to deal with Brad, now. Our son would have suffered without both of us there.

I was beginning to think that I had made a mistake in marrying Brad. Seeing a better side of Brad return after the property closeout made me realize this was just his frustration and lack of control coming out. Even with all the benefits, Brad was obsessed with only seeing the negative aspects. Brad lashed out at Candi, because having a son and fast tracking a divorce was too much life change for him to deal with.

At least that fucking swagger is gone from Brad and he has stopped drinking so heavily. Brad will never figure out just how good a friend D was. I was almost ready to write Brad off, completely.

What Ruth had seen in D was an honest and good man who had ethics. No wonder he had all that influence. He had done all that he did for Candi and had expected nothing in return from her. He had long ago written off love as a possibility. He did it because he cared. He did it because he knew the law firm was not happy. He did it because he knew the arbitrator was clueless and overly tolerant. He did it because he could see that Ruth was not happy. He knew Brad. He knew Candi.

D was the only person who could have asked for time with the senior partners and instantly been given it, and one of the only people I would have listened to at the time. When he brought us all together, he came to us with a solution and answers, instead of complaints. He asked for an apology from Brad and a closeout of the property settlement because they were needed to fix the problem. He even had mercy for Brad, because he did not ask for any penalty or action for Brad's acts of fraud and cruelty. He had Brad dead-to-rights. He gave us the quickest, easiest and most reasonable solution.

Ruth was glad that Candi had been smart enough to capture D's heart and start moving on with her life once things were closed out with Brad. D deserved some sort of reward for that. He had expected none. Candi was a proper reward. Perfect.

What had truly surprised her about D is that he had even seen through all of her motivations in asking Candi to talk with her about corporate marketing issues and inviting Candi's company to submit ideas and bids. They had been a test for Brad. They had been a statement to Brad that Ruth no longer believed the bullshit Brad had told her about his first wife. D seemed to know that Ruth also had a practical business reason because she was having problems with one of the marketing vendors to one of her companies. D had seen though it all and revealed nothing.

Ruth could read it all on D's eyes, but all he had said was "Thank you for listening to Candi." Loaded remark. Subtle. Careful choice of words without a sales pitch or hidden agenda. He treated Ruth with the respect given to an executive, because that was who he saw in front of him, not some lovestruck, naive young woman. Even there, he was not going to ask Ruth for anything or damage Candi's prospects for business with his own unwanted opinions and encouragement.

I would have considered hiring Candi's company, but I suspect, D, that you knew why it is not time for that, now.

D did Candi a favor. D did me a favor. D gave the law firm a way out of an ugly situation. D let that useless fucking arbitrator off the hook, easy. Brad wasn't afraid of that moron arbitrator. Brad's misbehavior would have only become more outrageous.

D did Brad a favor. Some way of getting Brad under control was needed, and Brad was the only one who could decide if what happened was very ugly for him or just something that required him to swallow a little bit of his pride. It had to be handled just right with Brad to make Brad's reason take control over his anger. Too nasty and his pride would have escalated it into a real shit storm. Only D could have known where to draw the line.

I figure that I owe D at least several solid favors. D does not impress me as a man who ever calls in a solid favor. He does not seem to care about beauty, money, status or titles. He does nice things because they are right and he cares. Ruth mused. You have a better taste in men than I do, Candi. I almost wish I hadn't...

A new thought hit her, and Ruth suddenly got a much larger smile on her face. Brad saw it from afar, but he would never realize the smile was not about him and her wolf eyes were looking clean through him to the horizon.

If Candi had pushed D away or had been slower on marrying D, I might have had to take matters into my own hands and found a way to reward D myself. The law firm would have been highly motivated to set Brad in his place and give me a second quick divorce.

If D can pump two babies into Candi that quickly, I'd guess that Candi is one very satisfied customer. Well, Candi has a long history with D. D worships her and the kids. I'm not sure that I would have waited as long as Candi did, but she still got together with D rather quickly. Candi must have had it well planned. Older women always think this out more carefully and their plans work more often. No chance of me rewarding D, now, but in a different world... maybe?

Ruth turned her cell phone back on, but the smile stayed there for an hour longer.

Brad figured his chances of getting laid tonight by Ruth were excellent when she was smiling like that. Playing with the kid always tugs at women's ovaries and makes them grateful to have someone like me.

Candi was looking at her family, too, only it was evening where she was.

Kelly Candice and Jonathan James were quite a bit like Kelly Dawn had been. Candi realized that goodness she saw and loved in her three children had basically come from her. Brad had really not done that much for Kelly Dawn. When she thought about her new children, Candi did see a lot of D's traits in Kelly Candice and Jonathan. Especially the humor.

After dinner and baths, it was enough for Candi and D to put their children to sleep and change. Then Candi would often put on those wolf eyes again, look right through him, lead D into the bedroom so she could amaze him with some sexy nightwear and re-enact how they had conceived two children. He needed no enticing, but he loved it just the same. Candi made sex fun. Candi found that it was a lot more fun without all the drama and crying from the first time. D would just be amazed at his wife's still superb figure and looks, then wowed by the private lingerie show and very enthusiastic sex.

In those moments, Candi always found it intensely erotic and spiritually fulfilling when she would hear D call her "My Candi". Candi would ask D to repeat the words each time she approached another orgasm. Candi loved it when D would repeat those words at the instant of his own climax. It was like his love and his semen were claiming her love and her womb again. Candi's mind, soul and body would go into a delicious oblivion of fulfillment and release, listening to those words. Candi felt loved by her man in every way.

Candi had known that she won the heart of the love of her life when he said, "My Candi". Candi had heard those words while conceiving two children with D. Candi had heard him say it to her when their children were born. Those were the love words of Candi's life. They brought Candi impossible happiness and healing, when life seemed very useless. All that she was as a complete and fulfilled woman had come after she heard those two words.

She was his Candi, now, and she never wanted to stop hearing it.