Requital

Steve's hands slipped off Barbara's ass cheeks. He slumped forward, his chest touching her back for the first time. Barbara's leg and arm muscles gave way at almost the same moment. Steve barely had the strength to roll to the side so he wouldn't suffocate his wife. They lay there, holding each other tightly and gasping for breath while they tried to recover.

"Honey," Steve whispered at last, "I don't know what brought that on, but you can do it again anytime you want to, okay?" Barbara chuckled. It was a short giggle. She didn't have the breath to spare.

"We will," she assured him between pants. "But there's a bunch of things we used to do, you know," she said. "We need to do those lots again. We should never have stopped, honey."

"No argument here," Steve said. "What else do you want to do?" he asked.

"Well…" Barbara said slowly, "I've heard some people…uh…kind of baptize every room in their house by having sex somewhere there…"

"Uh-huh," Steve said encouragingly.

"Yeah," Barbara replied. "I think we're behind on that…we've got three, four rooms we haven't done it in yet," she said thoughtfully.

"Well…we can take care of one or two of those today, if you want," Steve offered.

"Uh-huh," Barbara said. "And we can try a lot of new ways too…okay?"

"Sounds good to me," Steve answered.

"And…honey, I don't know…well…I found these little…things…that go in my…in my…backside…and they help…open…uh…"

"A butt plug?" Steve asked incredulously.

"Yeah," Barbara said hesitantly. "Are you mad at me, honey?" she asked anxiously.

"Good God, no," he said fervently.

"Cool," Barbara said with satisfaction. "I can't do that yet," she confided. "I'm still not ready to take something as big as your thing in me back there…but I'm working on it so we can do that too…and we can do all kinds of positions…and do it outside…and when we go camping…and lots of other things…and…well, I don't have much vacation time built up but I can take off sometimes anyway so I can do webcam stuff for you when you're at work…and…"

Steve laughed.

"Sweetheart," he told her gently, "we can't do it all in one day…and we've got the whole rest of our lives, okay?"

"Okay," Barbara agreed happily.

She snuggled closer and kissed the husband she'd almost lost. They were quiet for a long while before Barbara put her mouth next to Steve's ear. He felt her hot breath on his cheek.

"But if you had to choose, what would you want to do first?" she asked softly.

Epilogue

Steve Curtis sat on the back deck and watched the sun fall toward the western horizon. He was well satisfied with his life. He had eighteen month's seniority in his new job and his voice was beginning to be heard in the boardroom downtown. His marriage was back on track and life was pretty darned good, everything considered.

The fall was well advanced; the forecasters said there would be frost in the hill country over the weekend. It was cool right now, but not terribly so. He could hear Barbara humming happily in the kitchen behind him. She'd decided a glass of hot chocolate would be just the thing to end the day with.

They'd been two years and more getting here. It hadn't been easy. Steve had fought it tooth and nail for a long time. If his firm hadn't effectively forced him to go with Barbara to counseling, they wouldn't have made it.

Steve chuckled at the memory. At the last Fourth of July picnic, he and Barbara had come upon Barbara's grandmother sitting at a table with the CEO and CFO of the firm where Steve worked and their wives. Astonished, Steve had said he hadn't even known Lydia was acquainted with them. The group had laughed. Lydia told him she'd known these two men and their wives since they were all toddlers sharing the same toys in a sandbox.

Steve had suddenly understood how and why the firm's policy on married senior personnel had been abruptly changed when he and Barbara had been on the outs. He'd looked accusingly at Lydia. She hadn't tried to deny it. Laughing, she'd invited him to sue her. He vowed to pay her back; she said she hoped he'd never have to. All he could do was demand she stand up for a long embrace.

Hell, the counseling had been what kept Barbara and him in each other's world for a long time. He saw it as a good thing now. He'd thought the opposite at the time.

They'd worked their way through most of the impacts on Steve resulting from Barbara's straying in the weekly counseling sessions. Mr. Houston had taught them techniques to make sure the communication between them wouldn't falter again, and then mediated between them as they resolved problems that had existed before the adultery and were still there.

They'd resolved the issue about a lack of physical intimacy pretty much by themselves. Barbara had rediscovered an enthusiastic sexuality within herself to match Steve's and they soon found themselves with an active and exciting sex life.

Other problems were more difficult. They'd had to deal with Barbara's professed insecurity in dealing with a very confident husband who always seemed to know where he was going in his life, how he was going to get there, and what he was going to do when he did get there. But dealing with the consequences of her own adultery forced Barbara to do considerable growing up and that growth helped her own confidence level enormously. In the end, the insecurity had been a largely self-resolving issue.

Actually, once the catastrophic problems surrounding Barbara's infidelity were resolved, the smaller ones became imminently solvable. It just took time. They worked hard on the marriage these days. They refused to take each other for granted.

Barbara put two steaming cups onto the patio table beside Steve and gracefully inserted herself into his arms and upon his lap. He hugged her tightly; she snuggled close and kissed him.

"Darling," Barbara said quietly, "the back room where you've got all the camping gear and stuff?"

"Hmmmmmmm?"

"I think we should clear all that out," she said, "and put it out in the garage or somewhere…what do you think?"

Steve thought for a moment. There was no overriding reason the equipment was in the back bedroom. There was plenty of storage space in the garage and it might even be more logical to have the stuff out there…easier to load into the pickup, for instance.

"Okay," he agreed, "I'll get it done this weekend." He tested the temperature of his hot chocolate and decided it needed a bit more cooling.

"What do you want to do with the room?" he asked casually. The sparse clouds were backlit quite prettily by the setting sun. He wondered vaguely if he should go get his camera.

"Well, we can use it for a bedroom, like it was intended," Barbara told him. She liked her drinks hotter than Steve did. She took a quick sip.

"Okay," Steve said, still watching the sunset.

"We're going to need the extra space for a nursery," Barbara said carefully. She took another swallow.

Distracted, it took Steve a second to absorb what his wife had said.

"What?"

"In about seven and a half months," Barbara concluded, "so you've got lots of time to clear it out."

"Oh, my God," Steve whispered.

"Are you happy?" Barbara asked. There was only a trace of uncertainty in her voice.

Steve wrapped his arms tighter around his wife. He searched out her lips with his and let that be his answer. They didn't notice the sun had set until long after dusk faded into night.

End