The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

The sun was shining brightly the day my wife died. After a six year battle with cancer that slowly consumed her from the inside out, she finally succumbed one spring morning.

I was there of course, reclining on our bed with her, cradling her in my arms. She was lying in between my legs, resting her head as comfortably as she could against my chest.

She was so weak in those final days and hours, barely able to lift a hand to wipe the tears from my face, when I realized my love was leaving me.

Every movement became a fight to make her body respond even as the strength disappeared a little more with each passing moment.

The pain of seeing her wasting away right in front of me was quelled, only for brief periods of time, as I recalled our history.

We had been together for seventeen glorious years. Every single moment of it felt like a lifetime in itself to me. We laughed, we cried, we shared everything. We had no secrets between us that I was ever aware of.

Sunlight came through the windows and landed softly on her face. The color of her eyes, such a brilliant green when we met in our youth, had faded in recent years to a much paler shade.

The chemotherapy treatments alone were responsible for much of the weakness, but in the past few days her ability to care for herself took a dramatic downturn.

She was brought home from the cancer treatment center in our town where she had been taken the month before because of a relapse. Once she got home, however, she never left the house again.

Her breathing was so shallow in the final moments that I mistakenly thought she was already gone from me. The shuddering and trembling that my body was doing roused her back from a short nap she had taken.

In that moment I wished two things:

I wished she actually was gone. God have mercy on me for saying it, but I did. I wanted to see her at peace so badly, to hell with my own pain. The other was that I felt even worse now for waking her because the only time she was peaceful and free of the suffering was when she slept.

After so many years of research and so much money spent on it, people still died every single day because of cancer.

I vowed to myself that after my love left me if I ever had cancer, in whatever degree and wherever it may have attacked my body, I would end my life on a high note of some kind. I would not go into counseling, or therapy, or treatment of any kind.

Those things, in my experience of watching my love die before me, were worse than death itself.

She was trying to tell me something but I couldn’t make it out. I shifted her weight against me as carefully as I could. The chemo had left her far more sensitive to touch and pressure than I realized, and every time I caressed her it became a whole new experience of pain.

I felt pain myself, of course, but the sheer fact that I couldn’t even touch my wife anymore without hurting her drowned me in my own sorrow, and I couldn’t do one damned thing about it.

Her whimpers and moans told me my movement was hurting her once again, and I cringed at it. After several excruciating moments passed by, I slid underneath her to a point where her head was now resting beside mine.

“What can I do for you, love?” I asked, crying once again. I cried so much in the final hours that my face stayed awash in tears.

With an exercise of her very will, she said her last words to me.

“Thank you for loving me, my husband. I’m sorry I have to leave you, but it’s time for you to live again.”

She smiled weakly, so weakly, and then she was gone.

The sun moved across the sky that day and I wouldn’t let go. I just couldn’t let go of her, even when her mother tried to tear me away from her.

I know she was just trying to help, but she didn’t seem to understand I had to hold onto my wife. My wife needed me, and I needed her. I didn’t know anything else, I simply couldn’t fathom being alone.

I cried until attendants from the funeral home finally separated me from my wife. My father-in-law took me by the arm and walked me outside so that I wouldn’t see them placing her on the gurney and removing her from our home.

The cold efficiency of their handiwork only reminded me of the cold hospitals, the cold tools that medical science had used on her and most recently, the cold of her body next to me as the last of her warmth drained away.

I walked back into our house after several minutes, into our bedroom, and the realization of her not being there finally sank in. I bolted for the front door and ran out into the street just as the Hearse turned the corner. I made a break for my car and found my father-in-law standing there, blocking my path.

“John, please, I have to go, she needs me.”

Why couldn’t he see that I had to be with her, that she needed me?

“Jack, she’s gone. My daughter is dead, Jack. Let her go. We all have to let her go now. Her suffering is over, and she wouldn’t want yours to begin. Please, Jack, come inside.”

“NO!” I screamed, pushing on him. “NO, NO, NO!” the screaming continued.

Chris, my mother-in-law, came up behind me and placed her hand on my shoulder. I spun around so fast I thought I might knock her down, but as I turned the hand reached out for my face.

“Jack, son, she’s gone. It’s happened, finally, and you know it. You both knew this would happen someday, and you’ve known for the past week it could happen at any time. Be thankful that she was in your arms, in your bed, with you when she passed.”

Somehow her words didn’t have the effect that I knew she was hoping they would, but even so, she wasn’t lying.

I knew this day would come.

It haunted me day and night, waking and sleeping – and sleep was a luxury I had chosen not to partake of in the final days.

In that moment, I realized just how tired I was and collapsed into John’s arms, the grief overtaking me once and for all.

I woke up and wasn’t sure what day it was. All I know was that I woke up alone, in our bed. I rolled over to her side and was face down in the pillows, crying once again.

I had never known such pain before, pain that had no real physical symptoms. It’s pure emotion, and while it feels like it hurts inside our bodies, it’s just our mind taking the emotional content and giving it a physiological component.

I got out of bed after some amount of time I wasn’t sure of. It was daylight outside so I guessed it was the next day already.

The alarm clock was lying in pieces against the far wall next to the dresser. I suppose when it went off at its appointed time to remind me to get her medicine prepared I must have thrown it to shut it up.

My legs lowered over the side of the bed and I rose to my feet. I took a shower and spent the better part of an hour crying even more underneath the hot water. I wished I was crying because of shampoo in my eyes, but sadly, that wasn’t the case.

I made breakfast for myself and read the paper. My wife’s obituary wouldn’t be in Monday’s paper because she died on Sunday.

I realized that she had been gone an entire day already. I also took note of the fact that I had just told myself “My wife’s obituary” and “she died.”

Time can be so cruel to us, and it usually happens right when we least expect it. When you desperately want the moment to last, it won’t. When you pray the moment passes quickly, it lasts forever.

The doorbell rang and I shuffled off to greet the well-wishers.

John and Chris returned, carrying a basket of fresh fruit and a handful of what appeared to be envelopes. She noticed my glance at the cards and spoke.

“Condolence cards, Jack. By the time we got home last night the mailbox was full of them, from everyone in our neighborhood.”

“Yeah, I kinda guessed that. How are the both of you today?”

“Relieved,” John said. “Sad, depressed, and helpless of course, but we’re relieved more than anything else. She’s not suffering anymore, Jack.”

“I know, but it doesn’t make it one damned bit easier to swallow. Will I need to call in the obit today or…?”

“No, I’ll handle that detail because you have other things to worry about.” Chris smiled at that comment and I missed the meaning completely.

The doorbell rang again.

The door opened and I was greeted with “Uncle Jack!” just as I reached it. In came Chad, my nephew, bounding into my arms with so much energy. It felt good to hold him as he hugged my neck tightly.

Behind him was Tara, my oldest sister, and her husband, Rick.

“Hey babe,” I managed to say with Chad hanging around my neck like a heavy satchel.

“How ya doing, Jack?” she asked, doing her best to hug me sideways.

“I’m… fine, actually. I cried myself to sleep and I cried myself awake. That was the first time I’ve slept alone in almost ten years. But I did sleep, if that means anything.”

“Yes, Jack, it does. It means a great deal, actually. We’ll talk about it later, ok?”

Tara is a clinical psychologist with a private practice she built from the ground up. She is acclaimed by even her “competition” in our area for her skill and the ease she brings to all her clients.

After our parents were killed in a car crash many years before, Tara and I grew very close, closer than we had ever been as kids.

Our other sister, Reese, joined the Navy right out of high school and made it her career. She was stationed in Japan and word had already been delivered to her about my wife’s passing. Her next leave was still several months out, so phone calls would have to suffice until I saw her again.

I knew that Tara would be the shoulder I cried on in the coming days and weeks, and felt a comfort because of that knowledge. She was always there when I did need her advice, help, or professional opinion on something.

My marriage to my wife was fine, and neither of us had anything to complain about. We both retired early because of stock options exercised years prior, and we spent our time traveling and enjoying the simple pleasures of life.

When she was diagnosed with cancer, it was a blow to the both of us, but I implicitly understood that she was the one with cancer, not me. I had sworn an oath and made a promise when she married me to love her forever, in sickness and in health, and I would never break that promise.

I should have felt good knowing that I never left her side, not once during her ordeals, but I couldn’t find the joy inside me. I stayed at the hospitals, the clinics—anyplace she was having treatment, I was there.

More people arrived and filtered into the house, mulling about, trying to find some reason to smile and no one ever did. Cousins from a nearby town, friends from my old job as a stock broker, friends of my wife’s from her job as an administrative assistant for a local law firm.

So many people I hadn’t seen in a long time because of our travels. But I also realized that I couldn’t recall seeing any of them during the entire time my wife was ill and in treatment.

Ever.

And for some reason I still can’t comprehend, I became quite pissed at that realization.

I rose to my feet and made my way into our bedroom to get away from it all. I threw myself on the bed, drew the comforter around me and imagined my love’s arms were there, keeping me safe and warm once again.

A soft knock on the door broke me out of my reverie.

I sat up and tried to look presentable as I said, “Come in.”

Tara opened the door and stepped inside. She came to the bed and lay down beside me, her head towards my feet, propping herself up on one elbow.

“Life’s a bitch, Jack.”

I learned a long time ago that Tara knew how to push my buttons even better than my wife did.

“So they keep telling me,” I said, letting myself fall back on the bed.

“So what keeps you hiding in here, grumpy?”

“My wife is dead, Tara. The only woman I ever loved is dead, being prepped to lie in a casket, pumped full of formaldehyde, cold and hard instead of soft and warm. I think I’ve earned a grumpy time out, if you don’t mind.”

I didn’t mean to be so harsh towards her, really. But right now was not a good time for me and she damned well knew it.

“It’s going to be fine, Jack, trust me. It’s going to be just fine. You are going to be just fine. I assume things are in order, referring to her will, her financial holdings?”

“Yep, we – John and Chris and I – worked out the details last summer, here at the house. They filed the appropriate paperwork and basically I’m the sole beneficiary of her entire portfolio. Somehow, knowing that doesn’t mean jack shit to me right now, understand?”

“Yes, I do actually. Last week I had a client that recently lost his wife to cancer just like you. I spent several hours with him, but in the end he came to his own conclusion that life is not over for him. Life goes on.”

I laughed at that comment, but Tara couldn’t have known or seen the irony of it. Her look of puzzlement made me understand that I had some explaining to do.

“The last thing she said to me, her last words were ‘I’m sorry I have to leave you, but it’s time for you to live again.”

Here I was laughing at something that probably wasn’t that funny to begin with, a brief respite from the pain still buried inside, and now Tara was the one crying. The tears came quickly to her, and before I knew it she was hugging me tightly as we sat in each other’s arms on the bed.

“I’m sorry, Jack, I’m so sorry she’s gone. But she was right, she was always right and you know it.”

Over the years of her illness, almost from day one, my wife constantly reminded me that when she was gone, my life would go on. She told me that my life would begin again the moment hers ended. I never saw it that way and I never wanted to, but as Tara said, she was right.

My life would go on. I finally accepted it in that moment as Tara held me tightly.

As for living again, that much I didn’t have a clue about and right now I wasn’t ready to start anything. I wasn’t finished with my duties as a husband just yet. We pulled apart and I lay back down on the bed, wrapping myself in the comforter once more.

“She kept you safe and warm, didn’t she, Jack?”

“Yeah, she did. Every day, every night, I was always safe and secure with her. Funny, you’d think it was supposed to be the other way around, that she should feel safe and secure in my arms. It’s that male thing again. Sorry, I’m trying to be funny.”

“It’s ok, Jack, really. Just relax. Tell me how it felt to be in her arms, to hold her and to be held, so soft and warm.”

My mind started wandering back to our final moments together, but that situation didn’t fit what Tara was asking about. I took a deep breath and let my mind find the answer for me.

“Relax… just relax and it’ll come to you, Jack… safe and secure… warm… comfortable… think of the times you just cuddled with her, Jack… nothing but a simple embrace together… just relax…”

Tara’s voice seemed to be a million miles away for some reason, and I had trouble making out her words. Some part of me knew she was still talking to me but all I could see in my mind was my wife, her arms open wide, just waiting for me.

I ran to her, and with her touch I melted into her as I had done so many times in our life together. As her arms wrapped around me I closed my mind’s eye and everything went black.

“Wake up, Jack.”

I felt like a ton of bricks, if that’s what a ton of bricks felt like. So groggy, barely able to move, but very relaxed. I tried to sit up but realized I might be better off just laying here for a few minutes first.

“Take your time getting up. You went far deeper than I realized you could go.”

“Deeper?”

“Yes, Jack, you remember what you’re feeling right now, don’t you?”

My brain wasn’t back to spec just yet but I was gaining ground fast. I set the deduction wheels in motion: groggy and lethargic, sleepy but awake.

“You didn’t.”

The grin on her face only served to confirm what I already knew.

“Yep, I most certainly did. You needed it and you know it. I had a chance and I took it because I wanted to see what’s going on beneath the surface. I hope you’re not too mad.”

She had hypnotized me without me even realizing it. I mean, it’s my sister so obviously I trust her – maybe I’ll have to reconsider that now, I considered jokingly – but I know she won’t ever do anything to hurt me, only help.

“Wow, you’re good. You’re really good. That was… amazing is the only word that comes to mind right now.”

“Thank you very much, Mr. Suck Up. But seriously, how do you feel, Jack?”

“Better, actually. I take it you did some work while I was under?”

“Yes, I spent some time doing some real work. And my earlier hypothesis still holds true: You’re going to be just fine. And I’ll help with the rough stuff, as always, baby brother.”

She reached out to hug me again and I fell into her arms. She whispered something into my ear I couldn’t make out clearly, but it wouldn’t have mattered anyway.

I was already asleep.

Waking up I realized the room was dark and so was the sky outside. I reached out again for my wife, a habit I was completely unsure I would ever be able to break free of. I did my very best to hold back the tears as long as I could, but they returned once more.

If you’ve never lost someone you loved more than life itself, you can’t possibly have any idea what I was feeling. I felt bad when my parents died, but it was nothing like this. My parent’s death would be a twenty-two on a scale of one to one hundred.

The loss of my wife, my one true love, well… that was a solid one-hundred-ten right now. And as crazy as it sounds, I think the mercury was rising.

I lay there for a few minutes taking in the warmth of the comforter once more. I let my mind go back to earlier in the day trying to remember some of what Tara had said that allowed me to slip so easily into trance.

The first memory that came to mind, unfortunately, were the words she used years before that had the same effect on me.

Years prior, when she was in college for her chosen career of psychology, Tara used me as her test subject for pretty much every hypnosis experiment known to man. The only thing we never did was approach anything of a sexual nature – I loved my sister, but there is a limit.

The only time she goofed was getting drunk at a frat party one time. She brought three of her dorm mates home with her because she lived at home on weekends and attended the local university.

With her inhibitions lessened because of the alcohol, and one of her friends being a classmate in psych, the die was cast to ask me to join them in the living room.

I went in, was offered a seat on the couch between two of the lovely young ladies, Katrina and Layla, and promptly dropped into a trance thanks to my sister and her triggers.

I woke up some time later unable to move. From the neck up I had control, but from the waist down I was effectively paralyzed, one of sis’ post hypnotic suggestions at work.

I myself couldn’t move, but the girl whose head seemed to work like a piston on my cock was quite mobile. As expected, I couldn’t feel what she was doing to me.

“Ahem, excuse me,” I asked.

Tara and her friend Shayna, my sister’s roommate, were sitting on the loveseat, seemingly oblivious to what was happening to me. They were French kissing each other pretty deep, and I have to say, it aroused me quite a bit, even if I couldn’t feel my cock at that moment.

Tara broke the lip lock long enough to realize I was trying to get her attention.

“Kat got your cock, Jack?”

The Chesire Cat himself had nothing on the grin my sister had on her face right at that moment.

I had been dropped so fast by the trigger that I didn’t know which girl was which until the moment Tara made that remark.

The other girl was Layla, finally putting a name to that face. Until that second I hadn’t even thought about her.

About one second after I thought of her, I heard her. She was on the floor behind the sofa so I couldn’t see her. But boy oh boy, could I hear her.

She was wailing like a banshee in heat – or at least that’s how I imagined a banshee in heat sounded. I wanted to see what she was doing to herself but I just couldn’t turn my head around far enough to do it.

“TARA!!! Dammit, let me go. At least let me see what she’s up to back there even if I can’t get Ms. Hoover here off me.”

Tara laughed loudly at that remark.

“Does Jackie boy wanna come? Huh? Does he wanna give kitty Kat some cream? I bet you do, don’t you?” Shayna was nibbling on her neck even as she laughed at me.

“I have no idea, Tara. I can’t feel a damned thing. Kindly remove at least one of these triggers, please?”

“Ok, you asked for it. Blowjobs are cool, Jack.”

With those words I almost blacked out from the wave of pleasure that slammed into me with the gale force of a hurricane.

This wasn’t your ordinary everyday run of the mill blowjob, I realized.

I may not have had a lot of experience with women, but I did know what it felt like to be inside a warm, wet, and willing mouth. I was quite familiar with this most intimate of tongue lashings, but this was a whole new ballgame.

I still couldn’t move, and it was getting very hard to think, in more ways than one.

“Tara,” I managed to get out in between deep raspy breaths, “please… let me go. I can’t handle any more of… this.”

“Oh yes you can, Jack. You can’t come until Shayna says so; it’s my insurance in a way. I gave her control of your trigger to orgasm because I wasn’t sure I’d still be awake after what she was doing to me earlier. Oh yeah, you missed that part. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t expect you to get yourself off seeing me get licked senseless.”

I was shocked at the words my sister was saying to me, but somewhere I kept reminding myself of several very important facts:

My sister is drunk; I just discovered that she has lesbian tendencies; I’m getting the blowjob of my life; the girl that can make me come isn’t the one with my cock in her mouth, although Kat is doing pretty damned well on her own; and the three girls here with my sister would probably fuck me into a deep coma if I let Tara allow this to continue.

Now I’m not stupid: I wanted them as much as they probably thought they wanted me at the moment, thanks to Tara’s hypnotic skill. I kept coming back to the fact – and the feelings in my cock – that Kat had developed a rhythm of up and down and up and down that seemed… mechanical and unrealistic.

I then realized she was tranced too.

“Tara, is Kat under a… suggestion?”

“Yes she is, what a perceptive boy you are, Jack. She’s a victim of mine just as you are, helpless and obedient to my whims. Of course, she’s attracted to you already, but tonight the opportunity presented itself and she stated emphatically to me – in a deep trance, of course – that if she had the chance to suck your balls dry, she’d do it, hence your current predicament.”

The next words out of my mouth weren’t words, so to speak, but guttural moans and groans that I couldn’t keep inside. Kat was so good at what she was doing, and I mean really good. I wanted to let go and release but it just wasn’t happening. The pleasure, of course, continued to escalate.

”What about the one behind me? What’s up with… <groans, mumbles> oh God… what about her?”

”That’s Layla, and she wants you as well, but she wants all of you. What do you think about that, Jack? Think you have enough stamina to empty your balls in Kat’s mouth and then fuck Layla into never-never land? Can you handle it tonight?”

My mind was racing now. My own sister was suggesting that I have sex with two of the hottest girls I’d seen in a very long time right here in our own home.

I said yes, of course.

“Good boy, Jack. Shayna, do you think Jack’s been a good boy? Should he be allowed to come now, or do you prolong his agony and ecstasy longer?”

Shayna pulled her face from the nape of my sister’s neck and just grinned at me.

“Wanna come, Jack?” she said.

“Yes Shayna, please let me come.”

As soon as I said it I realized my mistake.

“That sounded awfully sterile and lifeless, Jack. I think we’ll have some more fun with you for a few minutes. You realize that Kat is in a trance now, simply a sucking machine on that gorgeous cock of yours, right?”

“Yesss…” I tried my best to speak properly, but the pleasure was simply unlike anything I had ever felt before.

“How enthusiastic do you think she’d be if she woke up right now and realized your big thick delicious cock was in her mouth? Do you think she’d stop and release you, or… would she suck twice as fast and twice as hard once she figures out what she has in the palm of her hand?”

Now I was worried. I hadn’t considered that Kat was just doing something according to how she had been programmed to respond, even if the desire to suck me off was real.

Suddenly my face flushed beet red as I realized that she wanted to suck me off, willingly. This girl, this perfect college girl with a body you could bounce quarters off wanted to suck me off.

The words “suck me off” kept ringing in my rapidly dwindling consciousness.

“Ple… please, Shayna… I’m begging you… please…”

“Oooh… submissive aren’t you? I bet you didn’t know he had it in him, did you, Tara?”

I thought I was shocked before at my sister’s behavior so far tonight. I was, really. But now I was outright flabbergasted beyond my wildest dreams.

“He’s got a deep seated fantasy of being dominated by a powerful hypnotic woman. Ever since the first time I tranced him a few years ago in junior high school he’s had this fetish for hypnosis and sex. Oh yeah, I have another surprise for you, Jack. Are you ready for it?”

“Yesss… please…”

I was reaching that point where thought stops and feelings consume me. I had been there only twice before because of the ministrations of women that knew how to give me what I so desired: domination by a female hypnotist.

“Happy Birthday, Jack!” the both of them yelled out.

I remembered that it was my birthday; she had just triggered the memories to return. I also remembered she had left behind a post hypnotic suggestion from our last session a few days prior so I wouldn’t remember it.

And best of all, I realized this whole evening had been a setup from the start.

The last thing I was able to say was:

“Thanks, sis” and I slipped away.

Although I couldn’t speak anymore, I could understand the next words I heard.

“She’s gone from suck to blow.”

Kat moaned deeply and I felt the vibration in my cock. She must have come out of trance and done exactly as Shayna predicted: she sucked even harder and moved even faster when she realized what was happening.

I managed to tilt my head enough to see Shayna and Tara just staring at me wide eyed, smiling mischievously.

I had hoped the pleading I was trying to convey would be picked up on, but the ecstasy now approached pain as Kat began to throat me all the way down to my pubic hairs. I could feel my cock hitting the back part of her soft palate – it’s not as soft as the name tries to convey.

It was hurting, actually. The position she had taken over me had my extremely rigid cock spearing her mouth with each downward stroke at an awkward angle. Another spike of pain shot through me.

The pain wasn’t coming from the head of my cock; it was coming from deep within my groin, but Kat continued her oral assault on me.

With all the strength I could muster I screamed out the word:

“PLEASE!!!”

Shayna slid over beside me and looked me directly in the eyes.

“Like a fire hose, Jack. Just like a fire hose.”

And with those words my world collapsed under me. I knew I was slipping away, faster by the millisecond, but I did feel the release into Kat’s mouth. It was… wonderful.

I still couldn’t move however, and the unbelievable tension in my groin coupled with my stomach muscles pulling tightly lifted me slightly off the back of the couch.

Tara quickly sat down beside me and whispered something into my ear.

I fell back into the couch and never stopped falling.

When I woke up in the morning, according to the alarm clock, I hurt in places that I didn’t think I could. My stomach felt like someone had punched me – several times.

My room smelled of sex, lots and lots of sex. I’m not even in college yet, and based on what happened in my own bedroom and house last night, my higher education was going to be quite rosy indeed.

Layla was lying beside me, still asleep. She had that kind of all over tan from head to toe that just leaves you speechless. I released myself from her arms, careful not to wake her. I slid off the bed and headed to the bathroom. When I got there I reached down to take my cock in my hand and <ouch!> it hurt something fierce just to touch it.

“Good lord, what the hell happened last night?” I wondered. I was forced to sit on the commode and trying to tuck my slightly erect penis down between my legs caused me to yelp once more.

After I was done, I returned to my room.

Layla was awake now, sitting up with the sheets curled around her legs.

“Good morning, lover. Did you have as much fun as I did?”

“Honestly, Layla, I don’t remember much. The last thing I remember… and I’m not even sure about this memory right now… was letting go in Kat’s mouth. It sounds strange, but that’s it, nothing else is coming to mind. And pardon that pun, please.”

She laughed. I never heard her laugh before and found it almost like a trilling sound, something that I felt more than I heard. It was amazing.

Considering the fact that I had never met this gorgeous woman sitting in my bed more than maybe 12 hours ago, I thought I was doing well getting her to laugh.

“You’re a real sweetie, Jack. Tara was dead on right about you.”

“Oh?” I said. That statement perked my interest. “And what dost mine sister sayeth about me when I am not in the presence of her?”

“She said you’re gentle, kind, and considerate; that you’re in touch with your feelings and felt safe in your own body. And you’re hung like a racehorse.”

”Say what?!?!?!”

My own sister was going around telling other women I had a big Johnson? Cool.

“Yep, she told me a few weeks ago when I mentioned that I’d seen you in the gym and was… surprised… that you were in such good shape.”

The grin on her face should have been the warning, and I should have seen it coming but I didn’t. I rarely do where women are concerned.

“How’s Mr. Johnson doing?” she said, pointing her finger playfully.

I looked down at “Mr. Johnson” and realized he was waking up slowly. I wasn’t feeling any pain at the moment, and then it hit me.

“Mr. Johnson” was another trigger.

I groaned as I realized it, reached down and grabbed my cock, and felt nothing at all.

“Tara, I swear to whatever higher power you witches believe in, I’ll get you for this,” I silently swore to myself.

“Come ‘ere, Jack. Play with me, please?”

The sight of her sitting there, the sheets now brushed aside and her arms reaching out to me beckoned.

Happy Birthday indeed.

“Don’t worry; I’m going to be so gentle with you this time. I’ll say it out loud: last night was the best fuck of my life, Jack. You’re magnificent, in more ways than I can say, but this time we make love. Understand?”

Who the hell was I to argue with a woman I desired that was sitting in my bed and had hypnotic control of my cock?

I walked over to the bed and eased one knee across the surface, then pulled myself into her embrace. I whispered into her ear:

“I’d love to make love with you.”

Our journey into each other began with her on her back. I adored her using everything I knew about female anatomy.

I licked, touched, caressed, fingered, sucked, held, tickled, blew, tasted, felt, everything I could possibly do to her as I adored her senseless.

She passed out on me at least once, for a very brief period of time. The second time I was sure she just closed her eyes to relax before I began servicing her again.

After some period of time, her thighs clamped down on the sides of my head one last time and she made a sound I hadn’t heard before.

“Please stop, Jack… I can’t take anymore.”

Oh how I love it when a woman begs.

I caressed her thighs with the sides of my body as I slid up inside of her legs. I was teasing her entrance with the tip of my cock, just a hint of what I was about to do.

“No, no, please,” her breath was very raspy and worn. Her vocal cords probably strained from the screaming she had done only moments before and over the past hour I imagined.

“I can’t take it right now, please. I’m too sensitive, it’ll hurt too much.”

Unfortunately, I knew what she was feeling, sort of. I also wished that Tara had extended me the same courtesy of a hypnotic key to Layla’s sex drive, but such was not the case here.

I complied with her request and lifted myself off of her, lying down beside her instead. The warmth of her body, the softness of her skin, I simply didn’t want to move one muscle.

I wanted to fall deeply asleep just like that, next to her, my head resting softly on a breast, my ear against her chest so I could hear her heartbeat. That feeling of being so intimate with someone during sex is fantastic, but this…

This is what I want.

I wasn’t the skilled professional my sister was, but even I knew something about hypnosis, so I took a chance and hoped for the best. I was tired and she was tired and we both needed to get some sleep.

But I knew once she recovered from what I had done to her, she’d more than likely hit me with some other trigger I wasn’t aware of just yet.

I opened my mouth, imagined Tara’s words in my mind, and spoke very softly and slowly:

“Layla, relax for me… it’s so warm and comfortable here… it feels so good just to lie here with me… my body comforting yours… so peaceful now… not a care in the world… not a single thought in that sleepy mind of yours… floating… drifting… deeper and deeper… so relaxed now… so sleepy… only wanting to sleep… sleepy… sleepy and relaxed now… sleep for me, Layla… sleep deeply for me… just sleep… now”

With a deep and very obviously contented breath culminating in a sigh that sent my own imagination soaring, she let go and settled in next to me, deep sleep claiming her quickly.

I just wanted to lay there against her, letting her breathing relax me, knowing that sleep would come calling for me soon enough.

This was what I wanted.

I awoke later that day, noticing that it was still daylight outside. I reached over without looking to grab my alarm clock and realized it was just after 3PM.

Layla was gone, but her perfume and her scent lingered. I took in a deep breath through my nose, filling myself with the very essence of her being. I held it as long as I could, then let it go with a sigh, relaxing as much as possible in that moment.

I missed her already.

I got out of bed, hopped in my shower and did the usual shit, shine, and shave routine.

I headed downstairs and saw Tara slumped back on the couch. The room was quiet, not a sound was heard. She looked like she was in a trance, so I pressed my luck twice this day.

“Can you hear me, Tara?”

“Uh-hmmm…”

“Good girl… tell me what you’re doing, Tara,” I asked as I approached her to hunch down behind the couch, at ear level to her.

“Relaxing.”

“How deep are you, Tara?” I had no idea what I was doing, but what the hell.

“Very deep.”

“Do you remember last night, the fun that everyone had?”

“Yes.”

“Did Kat get home safe and Layla too?”

“Yes. They left together after lunch.”

“Did Layla say anything about me when she left?”

“Yes.”

Why she didn’t just tell me I couldn’t figure out.

“Tara, tell me what Layla said about me today before she left.”

“She said she’s falling in love with you.”

You could have knocked me over with the proverbial feather. One night? Love? Is that really possible? I didn’t understand anything at the moment, but I wanted to.

“Tara, has Layla… mentioned me to you, over the past few weeks?”

“Yes.”

This was getting me nowhere. The direct approach might work best, I figured.

”Tara, I want you to tell me everything that Layla has said to you related to me lately… err, in the past month or so.”

“She told me she’s had a crush on you for a long time now, months I’d say. She never knew how to approach you so she asked me questions and I realized she was interested. I offered to set you two up together and she backed off. When I mentioned your birthday was coming up, she came to me again and asked me to help her make it one you’d never forget. I agreed, of course, because I love you and I know you and Layla would be wonderful together. You two had such fun last night making out on the couch before you ever went to bed. She was…”

”Ok, Tara, you can relax again. Just drift and relax… you can awaken anytime you feel comfortable doing so.”

She woke up almost instantly with a look of surprise on her face.

“Little brother, you could have just asked, you know.”

“You weren’t in trance just now, were you?”

“Nope. Gotcha.”

Damn I swear someday I’ll get her when she least expects it.

“She really said she’s falling in love with… me?”

The delay at the end caught her off guard.

“What, are you scared of her or something? She loves you, Jack. She can’t help it, just like most women can’t. You’re special. You care, and they can see that. I can see it. Hell, if you weren’t my brother I’d be all over you like a cheap suit.”

I could understand her comments last night being influenced by a loss of inhibitions, but now? Surely she’s not drunk, and she doesn’t do drugs.

“What gives, Tara? I mean, you and I are close now, since the folks died, but for Pete’s sake. Last night I half expected you to come over and blow me yourself at one point. I had no idea what to think or feel. Am I missing something?”

She furrowed her brow and reached out for my hand. I took it, nervous as a virgin in a whorehouse, and sat down beside her.

She pulled herself close to me and I had no place to go.

“No, little brother, I’m not going to do you here on the couch, but…”

She let that “but…” hang out there on purpose as she lightly bit her lower lip and winked. She was bluffing and I called her bet.

“Get on with it.”

Her laugh washed over me and finally set me at ease. That’s the Tara I know and love so much.

She held me tight and whispered in my ear:

“You’re a good guy, Jack. That’s why she loves you. She knows you’d never hurt her, that you’ll love her back the way she deserves to be loved. You’ll take care of her the way she deserves to be taken care of. She loves you because you love her, even if you don’t know it yet. I would think your experience last night should have opened your eyes as well as your mind. But…”

Oh great, another but.

“But…?” I asked.

“But… if you’re not interested, I’ll take care of—“

“Hell no, woman, I can handle my own affairs, thank you very much.”

I started to tickle her in some of her sensitive spots, and soon she was sliding clean off the couch onto the floor where I followed her.

She was my sister, at one time the love of my life, but that was a time when I was 7 and she was 12. She taught me how to kiss girls; she taught me how to hold them. She taught me so many things that I could never repay her in kind and we both knew it.

But she never asked for much of anything in return except my honesty, my love, and my companionship when it was needed.

I would die for her without even thinking about it.

I pulled her close to me and wrapped my arms around her softly. I wasn’t sure how to say it, so I just said the words.

“Tara, can we just… sit here, like this for a bit? No words, just sitting here.”

“Sure thing, Jack. You always were my best student.”

We fell asleep there on the floor in each others arms.

The next day I sought out Layla in the cafeteria and told her what Tara had revealed to me.

“Oh God, Jack, I’m sorry. You probably think I took advantage of your sister’s skill with hypnosis. It’s not what I was trying to do, really. I just wanted to make your birthday special.”

“Layla, answer a question for me, please. I expect you to be honest with me, right now and forever more. Sorry if this sounds serious, but it is, to me. It’s the most serious thing of all, because if I can’t trust someone, I can’t have… a relationship with them.”

Her eyes opened wide and sparkled like well cut emeralds. She had brilliant green eyes.

“Do you love me?” I asked, unsure and definitely more scared at the moment than I could ever recall being in my entire life.

“I… yes, Jack. I do, I love you.”

Well there it was, out in the open and slapping me stupid like being hit with a two-by-four. I almost choked when my throat closed up.

No one other than Tara or Reese had ever said those three most magical words to me before. I couldn’t even remember my parents ever saying it before their lives ended that winter night. And now, knowing what I had to face, I had a decision to make.

I believed in having a “one,” the classic “significant other.” I really believed with all my heart and soul that somewhere, on this planet we call home, someone existed that was meant for me as I was meant for them.

I just never truly expected myself to find her.

So now, as I stared into those spectacular green eyes before me and opportunity knocked on the door to my heart, I decided to open it.

“Yes, Layla, I know you want to ask me. Please.”

“Jack, do you… love me?”

“Yes, Layla, I love you.”

The weight of ten thousand lifetimes lifted from me and I was floating once again.

It seemed impossible to me that I could feel this way about her because I barely knew anything about her at all – except for the obvious fact that we were very sexually compatible with each other, of course.

Three words, possibly the three most powerful words we humans have ever had the luck to utter to one another.

In that moment, those three words opened me up to possibilities I had never imagined in my years.

We were married 3 months later after a whirlwind courtship.

The wedding was in Seattle, atop the Space Needle, the highest point in the city.

From that viewpoint, seeing the look of joy and happiness on her face as I placed the ring on her finger and we spoke our vows – till death do us part, in sickness and in health – all was right with our world.

Looking out across the city as night fell we danced on the observation deck of the tower. Hearing the applause and cheers from our friends, we both felt it just couldn’t get any better than that moment.

Lucky for us, we were both wrong.

Seventeen years went by in the blink of an eye.

As I blinked, another tear fell on my cheek, only one of thousands I had cried for my wife since my love left me.

I woke up, still lying on my bed, wondering how long I had been laying there dreaming of those days so long ago back in our hometown.

Another blink, another tear, another blink followed by another tear. They were flowing freely now, and I didn’t even care. They were my tears, my tears shed for the loss I felt inside.

But I had things to do, so I forced myself up and into the bathroom. I did my old shit, shine, and shave routine again as I’d done thousands of times in my life. I looked at myself in the mirror closely, noticing how the years had affected me and my face.

I felt older, that was for damned sure. The gray hairs were filling in nicely, giving me and my goatee just the right salt and pepper look. I had never thought of myself as a handsome man, but Tara told me when I was younger that it’s not always what the eyes can see that makes a person attractive.

I had no idea what it meant when she said it and dismissed it as another piece of psychological drivel.

I knew what it meant, finally, as I looked into my own eyes.

I went back into the main part of the house and was surprised to find no one there. The clock on the mantel above the fireplace read 7:42 PM so I decided to get something to eat.

As I walked into the kitchen I noticed a makeshift placard of paper sitting atop a large pan. The note said, “With love, Tara.”

I pulled back the tin foil and found a half pan of lasagna, Layla’s favorite meal. My knees buckled but I couldn’t keep crying the way I had been. I’m a man, aren’t I? Men don’t cry like this. Men don’t show emotion like this. Men don’t—

I sat down on the stool and gave in to the pain once more.

The ringing of the phone ripped me back into reality.

“Hello?”

“Jack, it’s Reese. Can you hear me, this is a terrible connection. How are ya, big brother?”

God it was so good to hear her voice.

“I’m ok, little sister. How are things in Nippon land?”

“Going well, I guess you heard I can’t get home again till late July. I’m trying to call in whatever favors I have left to shorten that time, but I can’t make promises.”

The static on the line was pretty bad but I could still make out what she was saying.

“Jack, I’m so sorry, I really am. She was one very special lady, and she was lucky enough to have found one very special man. Don’t think she didn’t know it every second of every day you were together. Ok?”

“Thanks, Reese. I’ll survive this.”

“No, Jack, you won’t survive it. You’ll live through it. Being a survivor means competing on some stupid ass TV show. Send those pussies to me and I’ll show them what real survival is. You will live again, Jack, I promise.”

When she said “live again” I broke down once more. I tried so hard not to cry on the phone, tried to be strong for her, my baby sister, but I couldn’t do it. I just didn’t have the strength anymore.

“Jack, sweetie, Jack, listen to me. No more tears, tough guy. I talked with Tara earlier and she said she’d never seen anyone cry so much in such a short period of time. Buck up, soldier. No more tears, got it? She’s there for you anytime and you know it. Tara can help you, Jack, so don’t turn your back on her right when you need her the most.”

Strangely as it sounds, the tears dried up in my eyes and disappeared with her words.

“That’s better. When was the last time you ate something?”

“Actually I’m sitting in the kitchen now. Tara made a pan of lasagna, and you know how Layla loved it.”

“Yep, I sure do. I’m so sick of eating raw fish I could shit canned tuna, I think. Listen, I have to go, I really will try to get home as soon as I can. Hell, after the funeral, if you have nothing else to do, hop on a plane and visit. I’ll show you things you only dreamed about or saw in pictures.”

She’d been in the Navy for eleven of the years that Layla and I were married. When I broke the news to her that Layla had cancer, Reese cried in my arms for hours – and I suddenly realized how much I really had been crying over the past two days.

It was time to suck it up and live.

“Ok, Reese, I love you lady. Like a little sister.”

The laughter I heard from the other end of the connection warmed my heart, something I had missed for some time now.

“You got it, big bro. Take care of yourself, please? And my offer stands. I have a huge place, even for Japanese standards of living. Love ya, Jack. Bye.”

The line went dead and I felt so alone once more. I remember Tara telling me that in times of extreme emotional duress – is that what I’m going through, I wondered – being alone was more often than not the exact opposite of what we really needed.

We humans are social animals; we can’t truly be happy and prosper alone. It simply can’t be done. Hermits can tell you: it really sucks to be alone. They wouldn’t want to admit it, of course, but it’s true.

The smell of the lasagna finally won out over my growling stomach and I grabbed the pan itself, a fork, and a bottle of white wine and took up position in front of the TV in the living room.

I smacked the remote and was greeted with CNN which was what Layla and I usually left it on during the course of the day. Neither of us watched much TV, actually.

I noticed several video tapes that were out of the video cabinet and got up to see what people had been watching.

“The Wedding, 08-15-87”

It was our wedding video. I was tempted to watch it, but I let the feeling pass. Now was not the time to go back yet.

“The New Car 03-21-96”

We had made a video documenting our purchase of a new Lexus for some reason. I questioned her sanity in making the recording, but Layla simply smiled at me and said:

“For our children, baby, so they can see what we did before they came to us.”

For the strangest reason, at that moment, I didn’t feel anymore pain. It was all gone, like smoke in a strong breeze.

I recalled that moment so vividly I got dizzy. I couldn’t tell if I was standing or sitting for a second or two, but grabbed hold of the cabinet to steady myself.

I was happy, actually giddy up to a point. It sounded crazy to me, but I smiled at the memory through all the pain I had suffered in the past few days.

It was simple: I was happy at that moment – and only that moment – that we didn’t have children. We had made a conscious decision so many years ago that we just didn’t want children in our lives. Call us crazy, but it was our choice.

As the years went by we spoke of the possibility of having kids on several occasions, but each time it was brought up, we both explicitly agreed that it was better if we didn’t.

The loss of their mother after watching her body waste away so slowly would have caused so much pain and suffering to our kids that I was actually happy that we had never had children.

And it would have killed me a little each day watching them put on a strong face to hide the pain I know they’d be feeling.

The same pain that now slammed back down on me once more. The tears tried to come out, but I just didn’t let it happen again.

Even though I knew that her comment on that tape was spoken in jest because of the choice we both made not to have children, and even as she smiled and laughed after she said it, the realization that we never did have children now hurt just that much more.

I backed away from the video tapes, sat back down on the couch, and ate the lasagna.

Tomorrow I will bury my wife.

The funeral was eloquent and touching, but for me, I’d cried enough tears. I didn’t think Layla would hold it against me for not crying during the service

As my love was lowered into the ground, I tossed a single white rose onto the casket.

It was Layla’s favorite flower.

Each birthday and holiday she would receive a dozen white roses, no matter where we were at the time.

I even had some delivered to our catamaran once in the middle of the Asiatic by water plane on her birthday.

Silly lady, she thought I’d forget.

I surprised her with flowers during the day; she surprised me with her feral behavior that night as we made the boat rock by making our own special waves.

That memory returned to me as I gazed out the rear window of Tara’s car as we drove home from the service. Chad was curled up in my lap, asleep. Tara turned back and looked me right in the eye as I was gently stroking Chad’s forehead.

“How are you, Jack? Tell me.”

“I miss her, Tara. I miss her so much.”

“I know you do, but remember: you’re going to be just fine.’

With those words I felt really tired all of a sudden and closed my eyes for a second.

When they opened again we were home, parked in the driveway.

“Tara, you really have to stop doing that, or at least warn me in advance, ok?

I smiled at her, and she placed her hand on my face. The warmth of her touch was emotional to me for some reason but I just relaxed into it.

“You’ve been my helpless victim for years, Jack. That won’t change anytime soon, especially now. It’s all good, little brother. It’s always a good thing.”

We went into the house and Tara asked to see me in the bedroom.

As she closed the door behind her, I flopped down onto the bed. She crawled up beside me, placing her hand on my stomach.

“So, ready to do some work?”

“Right now? Rick and Chad need you, Tara, this can wait.”

“No, it’s ok. Rick understands. He’s taking Chad to see a movie, so we’re gonna have a few hours. Trust me.”

Trust her. What a silly thing to say.

“I don’t want to ever forget her, ok? I never want to forget even one second, not even the years of treatment, no matter how much pain they cause. They’re my memories, Tara. Please, they’re all I have left.”

“Oh Jack, I’d never ever even consider doing something like that. I don’t work that way and you know it. But you could use some help, even if this part of you talking right now doesn’t know it.”

With that she reached up and tapped me on the forehead, and I was floating again.

Safe.

Warm.

Secure.

I couldn’t remember doing much thinking actually during that session with Tara, it seemed to be focused almost entirely on feelings. When I woke up she was gone. I did feel better, however. Much better than I had felt in a very long time.

The old saying “I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of me” was exactly how I’d describe it. I suddenly had energy again, so I went into the kitchen to eat.

Sure enough, on the countertop was another placard on the table and another pan of lasagna. I felt like Tara was fattening me up for a kill for some reason. I laughed off the comment and decided to chow down.

I pulled back the tin foil and savored the smell of it, still warm. I remembered Layla and how she absolutely devoured lasagna like Garfield the cat might – but I didn’t feel pain like I did the previous night as the memory returned to me.

“That’s a start,” I said to myself.

Before Layla and I got together, I had never thought of food as “sexy.”

One of the first movies we watched together was “9 ½ Weeks,” with Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger. Needless to say after we left the theater we stopped by a grocery store.

Whipped cream, bananas, cherries, strawberries, fruits of different kinds, lots of chocolate syrup and several gallons of milk later, we had the most intense lovemaking session of our life together.

What a mess we were, laying on the kitchen floor covered in at least one portion of everything we bought.

All that mattered to me in the entire world in our whole time together was to keep her happy and smiling. Seeing the smile was the reward, and I never wanted anything else.

Snapping back to the grumble in the pit of my stomach, I laughed the entire time I worked on the lasagna.

Minutes turned into hours, hours turned into days, days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months.

Time passed for me at a somewhat normal pace after my love left me, and I went back to living the solitary life.

It wasn’t easy, not by a long shot, but with Tara’s help and the knowledge that my family and friends would always be there at a moments notice if I needed them, I moved on.

Reese did make it home exactly as planned. Her duties just wouldn’t let her get back to the US any sooner than she originally told us, but when she did make it back, we spent a long weekend together talking and crying.

The tears I shed were a mixed bag: I cried because Layla was gone; I cried because I was happy to see my little sister again; I cried because I was still alone.

Against my better judgment, Reese convinced me to come back to Japan with her for a short visit. I had been many places in my time with my wife, but Japan never seemed to be a particular draw for either of us.

After arriving, we shuttled off to her home, and she was right, it was huge. It was a hillside estate that overlooked the city and was almost regal in appearance. I asked if this had been some emperor’s home away from home; her reply was that it was used by Japanese royalty during “the big one” but had been on the market for some time.

She exercised some stock options I had set up for her years ago and used the windfall to purchase the estate outright. The locals were absolutely furious to realize a gaijin – slang term for a non-Japanese person – had the nerve to actually own property in their neighborhood.

Reese just laughed at it when it happened, but the Japanese were a business-oriented society since “the big one.” They weren’t able to drop atomic bombs on us when the war ended, so they found another way to make a dent that could be considered more effective:

They hit us in our pocket books.

We did some touring of the countryside that first day seeing things that, as she had said to me long ago during that phone call, I had only seen in pictures.

Mt. Fuji, in the distance, stood out from the horizon like the World Trade Center did on the New York skyline before the horrible events of September 11, 2001.

Tokyo was a few hours away, and she assured me we’d get there in the next few days. She was on leave for a month, but time seemed to go so fast when we were together.

I had a question in the back of my mind that had been nagging me for some time, so I asked as we drove along one of the country roads that led back to the estate.

“Reese, have you ever… well…”

“Yes Jack, I have. It’s been awhile, though. I’m curious, what prompted that question?”

“Oh, you’re 30 years old now, a beautiful, intelligent, caring woman. But you’re alone like I am. You never found anyone worth pursuing?”

“Oh, I have found many worth pursuing, but military life is tough in that respect, Jack. My job requires me to focus on it and it alone, leaving hardly any time left for that kind of relationship.”

For a few moments in time, I wanted to cry for her. I’m sure she knew what love was, but I just couldn’t fathom being alone as long as she had been. The years I shared with my wife were heaven, for lack of a better word.

I was a very lucky man to have found Layla, I knew that. I was also very lucky to have been with her when she left me, exactly as Chris had said on the day my wife died.

I was never the matchmaker in the family; that was Tara. She was responsible for many of my dates in high school and college when I attended. She was also the one responsible for putting Layla and I together.

I would have to thank her again when I got home, adding it to the hundreds of times I had done so before.

Reese and I had a blast during our time together, and once more I was reminded how blessed I had been to have family such as these two astonishing women to assist me in growing up.

She left me at the airport instead of waiting because she was pressed for time. I hugged her tightly and just didn’t want to let go, but as always, the moment passed.

I stood at the terminal waiting for our flight to begin boarding. I got a soda from one of the machines and as I was turning, I bumped into someone standing behind me.

All I saw were green eyes, and I was frozen.

For the life of me, I can’t remember just how long I had been standing there, staring into those astonishing green eyes.

Once again, the moment passed as the world returned to my senses.

“Oh no, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were…”

She interrupted, “It’s ok, really, I was standing too close anyway. Got lost in this book I just bought at the gift shop.”

What a great voice too, but those eyes just wouldn’t let me go.

“Gotcha.”

I felt like a complete boob standing there, unable to say a word except “Gotcha.” I took a deep breath and hoped I could find the next one someplace.

“Don’t you want that drink?” she asked.

Startled for a moment, I just kept staring into those eyes.

“Hello? Anybody home?”

She put a hand on my shoulder and shook me lightly.

“Wh… what? Sheesh, I did it again. I’m sorry,” and I smiled weakly as I said it.

“Pardon me for saying this, but you have the most extraordinary eyes I’ve seen in a long time.”

Now it was her turn to be startled.

“Uhmmm… thanks,” she replied, smiling.

“Sorry, I’m trying my best to not sound like a complete idiot right now, and I’m not making a good showing of myself, am I?”

She looked right through me and said, “You’re going to be just fine.”

I know it wasn’t Tara standing before me, but the words had pretty much the same effect. My attention narrowed to only the person before me, and I felt lost in her eyes. The trigger hadn’t been used for several months, but it didn’t lessen the power of it.

Tara had explained to me that a post hypnotic suggestion left behind as a trigger would only be effective under certain situations typically: times when it was used by the person that left it behind or at times when I was completely comfortable and felt safe enough to let go to it.

Right now, I felt safe for some reason because I was slipping fast.

“Boy you must be really tired to keep drifting off on me like this. I hope it’s not me causing it.”

My consciousness pushed aside the beginnings of that trance and took hold again. Something clicked in my mind and I noticed my flight was now being announced on the airport PA system.

“Holy cow, I’m sorry. It’s a long story, actually. I wish I had time to explain, really I do, but my flight was just called and I’ve got to run, Miss…?”

“Leah, Leah Hiroshi. And you are…?”

“Jack Ballinger.”

“You said your flight was just called? Is that 812 going to LAX?”

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

I already knew what she was about to say and I was smiling before the words crossed her lips.

“That’s my flight as well. Maybe you can tell me that long story after all.”

For some really unfathomable reason, I started laughing. Loudly. It was the best laugh I’d had in a long time, since long before Layla died.

Layla. Leah. Layla. Leah.

I couldn’t figure out why I was focusing so much on her name as we made our way across the terminal to get onboard the plane but I just couldn’t stop giggling.

”What’s gotten into you, Jack? One minute you’re about to fall asleep on me, the next you’re deliriously happy.”

I wanted to tell her everything, all about me, about my life, about my love leaving me. I just wanted a friend I could talk to in that moment.

She turned to look at me and once more I was lost in those eyes.

“I’ll tell you everything, if you’re up for it. It’s a long flight, and I don’t typically sleep on planes. What do you say?”

She smiled and realized we hadn’t compared seating assignments yet. We cross checked our tickets and discovered we were in the same section but three rows apart.

“Leave it to me, Jack.” The wink she offered left me breathless.

As we boarded the plane, we located our seats. There was a stuffy Japanese businessman beside her, taking the window seat. She bowed gracefully to him and rattled off something in Japanese so fast it sounded like gibberish to me, a recording of someone’s voice played back at four times normal speed.

He began laughing and nodding in the affirmative, then rose from his seat. He looked directly at me and walked in my direction.

He reached out with his hand to shake mine, and I did so. His hand was soft and warm with a gentle pressure as he shook mine, and then he turned sideways to direct me to the seat he had just vacated.

Leah gave me a slight bow and pointed to him when his head was turned, so I got the message loud and clear. I bowed from the hips slightly forward, and was greeted with a huge smile from the man.

He bowed in return, and stepped aside so I could cross the aisle. As I approached Leah she already knew what I wanted to ask.

“I told him we were married and the airline screwed up our seating arrangements. He was only too happy to oblige.”

As I placed my bag in the overhead, she gently grabbed my arm and pulled me into my seat. I flopped down, glad to be sitting again. I had been standing at the terminal since Reese had dropped me off.

“So, you’re going to tell me everything, right? Should I break out a notebook or something?”

A slight giggle accompanied that comment, and caused me to respond likewise.

“No, no, it’s not that complicated, really. I don’t know where to begin, actually.”

“Jack, I’m not blind. I see the ring, and I know you love her. That much is written all over your face. Tell me about her.”

“Oh, that,” I said, fondling the ring on my finger. “My wife Layla, she died of cancer about five months ago, after a six year battle.”

The look of compassion that washed over her face paled in comparison to the power of her touch at that moment. She reached out to caress my face and her skin touching mine almost made me jump out of the seat.

“I’m sorry, Jack, I didn’t know.”

The tears that rolled down her cheeks only served to set off my own on their journey down my face. She brushed one away with her thumb, smiling as she did so.

“Thank you, really. It’s ok now, I’m finally coming to realize that her last words to me were true, as most everything she taught me was.”

”Tell me, if it’s not too painful. What did she say?”

“She told me she loved me and she thanked me for being her husband. Then she told me I would live again.”

More tears, more emotion, this time she pulled me into a hug. Her embrace gave me shivers from head to toe but it felt so right to be holding her.

Anyone else walking past would probably think we really were married, as her little white lie earlier had been interpreted. We weren’t even off the ground yet and already I felt better.

The pilot came on and gave the standard preflight speech in Japanese and then repeated it in English. English is the language of the commercial airline industry worldwide, so pilots are required to speak it fluently.

Leah and I separated, but she kept her hand on my cheek for a few moments longer.

We buckled up and got comfortable as the plane taxied onto the runway, felt the rumble of the engines as they throttled up and then the movement of the plane itself as it moved.

The roar of the engines, just mere feet away from me as I gazed out the window, was felt but not really heard. The soundproofing done on planes must be remarkable stuff, I thought to myself.

As the plane lifted into the night sky, I was able to see the lights of the country below. In some ways a reverse image of the sky, twinkles of light signifying life that stood out like stars and star clusters, not quite a perfect mirror image but close.

I reclined my chair back just a bit as we reached cruising altitude and drinks were delivered. I had a JD on the rocks, Leah chose a martini. The flight was expected to be about eleven hours, so the drinks would help me relax.

“So, how long were you two married?” she asked.

“Seventeen glorious years we were together. It’s funny but now that she’s gone the memories of things I had forgotten come back to me on occasion. The things I took for granted back then hurt me so much now that she’s gone. But it’s ok. My sister Tara helps me with the pain when it gets to be too much.”

“Helps you in what way?”

“Tara is a clinical psychologist, has been for many years. She’s my older sister, and Reese my younger one lives back there in Japan. That’s why I was there, visiting her. She’s in the Navy doing contract work with the Japanese industrial machine, so to speak. I’m retired myself, have been for a long time now, as Layla was.”

She sipped her drink and asked, “So what did you do in the real world, as it is.”

“I was a stockbroker for a small firm in Chicago for a while; Layla was a glorified secretary in most respects. She always hated the “administrative assistant” title. With the work I did we could have lived quite comfortably but she couldn’t stand being an at-home wife, ever.”

I had to laugh at that comment because it was true: years before Layla had the chance to take a severance package that was equal to roughly two years pay – in stock options – when the company she was working with decided to downsize. Instead, she stuck it out and took a huge pay cut.

We never worried about money during our time together.

Togetherness was the primary focus.

Above and beyond all other worldly concerns, being with each other was all that mattered.

I used to tell myself that we could have been living on a houseboat in the Bayou, or homeless on the streets, or even working in some village in Africa – it wouldn’t make one bit of difference.

As long as she was in my arms, the rest of the world could pass by without us even noticing.

“Enough about me for now, tell me about you, Leah. What brought you to Japan?”

“I came over to visit some family. I live in Las Vegas currently, considering a move to someplace else, just haven’t figured out where to go.”

“What kind of work do you do?”

“Child psychology. I’ve been in this field since I left high school, for the most part. It’s so rewarding to me. I just can’t imagine doing anything else.”

Her words were congruent with her body language at that moment. As she spoke she began to smile, and her face beamed with joy and happiness just from the thought of sharing her dream with me.

“She’s a beautiful woman,” I kept noticing. Why I seemed to be so ashamed of just looking at her, seeing her for who and what she is, sitting beside me… I couldn’t figure that out.

“Layla had green eyes too, almost like yours. They were so brilliant when we first met, but they just… faded over time. The cancer took away so much of her natural beauty, just ate it up and left nothing behind.”

Why I said that at that moment wasn’t very clear to me. The words felt right as I said them, but I didn’t want Leah believing I’m looking for sympathy.

“Jack, you loved her. That’s why even at the end you saw her for what she was, even after the cancer destroyed her: the beautiful woman you fell in love with, right?”

“Yes, I suppose. No, I know it, I do. It’s just… sometimes thinking about how she wasted away in front of me still shocks me. I used to think someone somewhere is a rich pompous bastard sucking away the money being spent on cancer research and nothing is actually being done. The old maxim of ‘it’s cheaper to treat a disease than it is to cure it’ always haunts me.”

I was fidgeting now as I spoke, nervous energy with no outlet for it. She took my hand and held it softly.

“My Mom died of cancer years ago, but it was a very quick death,” she replied. “Sorry, I didn’t mean for that to sound harsh in any way, it’s just that she discovered the cancer and three months later she was gone. It happened so fast none of us had time to really grasp the fact that one day she was with us, and then she wasn’t.”

I knew what she was feeling. Hell, it was still fresh in my own heart and mind.

I reached out to caress her face as she had done earlier for me, but she pulled back briefly. I stopped and began to take my hand away, but at the last moment she reached up, taking mine and guiding it to her face.

Such soft skin she had, just like…

“Thanks, Jack. I don’t mean to get emotional about this, it’s been almost twenty years since my Mom died, but it still hurts.”

“Yes, it will always hurt, that’s how we know we loved them.”

I hated sounding like I had all the answers at that moment, but maybe I had some of them.

“You said earlier that Tara was helping you get over some of the pain. How, exactly? Was she working with you in a professional capacity?”

“Oh definitely, since college days she used me for her guinea pig. She’s a highly skilled hypnotist also. That’s primarily her technique, and she’s my sister so I have no issues with not being able to trust her. But…”

“But?” she asked; a look of inquisitiveness on her face tinged with a smile.

“But… well, she’s my sister and she loves me. Her skills with hypnosis led to some rather… interesting experiments. She brought Layla and I together in a way I could never have imagined, and I thank her every chance I get for it.”

I realized as I was talking with Leah that I kept referring to Layla. I felt like someone out on the prowl, and having found my next victim, I ruined it because I kept comparing the one I was with to the one I loved.

“I apologize, Leah, I don’t mean to keep bringing up Layla so much. But to be honest, you’re pretty much the first person other than immediate family and friends that I’ve spent any amount of time with since the funeral.”

“It’s ok, Jack, really. Again, you loved her. You still do and you always will, I understand that. It’s not a problem. I’ve never been in a relationship like that myself, so forgive me for being very envious right at the moment.”

I relaxed back and looked out the window. The sigh that came out of me turned into a yawn halfway through.

“How long has it been since you’ve slept, Jack?”

“Oh, I don’t know, since maybe last night. Reese and I went out on the town for one last hurrah and I usually get pretty wired before flights. Like I said before, I don’t sleep well on airplanes.”

“I think I can help with that, if you’re up for it.”

The mischievous grin on her face told me something, but just like always, where women are concerned I never could see it coming.

“Go to the bathroom, and then come back to me. Go.”

I rose from my seat and walked down the aisle, pausing by the entrance to the washroom to look back towards my seat. I wasn’t sure what was happening to me, or why I had met this woman when I did, but sometimes life has surprises for us. I went inside and did my business.

When I returned to my seat, Leah had removed her jacket and was now sitting there wearing a white silk blouse with just enough buttons open so I could see a spectacular cleavage; a pearl necklace around her long graceful neck only completely the image.

I froze in place and felt that shame return to me.

In all my years with Layla, I honestly didn’t feel myself wanting another woman. If I said I wasn’t attracted to them, especially some of her professional friends, I’d be a damned liar, but the desire to be with them paled in comparison to what I felt for my wife.

Right now, feelings I hadn’t had since being in high school and college returned even as I was standing there looking down at her. Her eyes were closed, she seemed to be…

“No, she’s not… Tara, you taught me too well,” I thought.

“Leah,” I spoke softly.

Her eyes opened and she smiled softly.

“Welcome back, Jack. Come, sit with me.”

She reached out a hand and took mine, and I felt a spark when her skin touched mine. I sat down and relaxed back.

”That’s it, just relax. I’m not going to hurt you, Jack. I’m a certified hypnotherapist myself, believe it or not. Not clinical, just a regular certification. I do primarily guided imagery and visualization stuff with the kids.”

The seat I was in felt like it was swallowing me up slowly.

“They respond so well because kids have such vivid imaginations. As we get older we get more involved in day to day life and we lose or bury those abilities beneath the façade of reality.”

I was nodding my head as I looked into those green eyes. They seemed so deep at that moment and I was so comfortable just listening to her voice.

“Imagine that, Jack, imagine not being able to imagine. It’s not easy to do, is it? No, it’s not. Now imagine something wonderful for me. Imagine yourself on a beach… a beautiful beach with white sand… the water so blue… like the sky… a white beach with sky blue water… as you look out at the horizon… the color of the water blends into the sky itself… you can’t even tell where the ocean ends and the sky begins… see it… clearly… in your imagination… and relax… just relax…”

I knew what she was doing, inside. I knew it, and as always, I wanted it.

Over the years, Layla had learned some of my deepest fantasies from Tara, especially the one that got us together that night in my bedroom so long ago. We experimented with erotic hypnosis with Tara’s help over the years to expand and enhance our lovemaking.

As I relaxed deeper into the seat, Leah’s voice sounded like it was a million miles away, and I was just floating on it.

I missed this, I missed it so much. Letting go was easy for me, as Tara had taught me in my youth. I had that rare ability to just drop quickly when I wanted to, especially if the person guiding me had a nice voice.

Leah had just such a voice.

I drifted off into her eyes and let go.

“Wake up, Jack.”

Coming to, the first thing I noticed was sunlight coming in the window. I could see the blue sky, the white puffy clouds, and the wing of the plane just forward of my seat. I needed to stretch badly, and first class seats offer more legroom, so I stretched.

“Looks like he’s awake now,” she said with a giggle.

“Wow. That was… amazing, Leah, thank you. It’s been several months since I felt… safe enough to let go. Why did I just say that, the word ‘safe’?”

I wasn’t sure why I’d said it, and now I wasn’t sure why I’d asked myself that question out loud.

“If your sister has been helping you over the years, you already know that all hypnosis is self-hypnosis, Jack. You might be an excellent subject – and you are, really, you went really deep – but your unconscious is still always mindful of your surroundings and the person guiding you. I take the fact that you dropped so fast and so deep to mean you trust me. Thank you for that.”

She took my hand gently and kissed the back of it. Having not been in such an emotional situation with someone that I wasn’t intimate with or had a history with startled me for just a moment, but I did feel safe with her. I also just had a fantastic idea.

“You know, I haven’t been to Vegas in a really long time. Layla and I visited on several occasions over the years. New Year’s on the millennium was a lot of fun. If I can swing it, would you like some company?”

The smile on her face told me I struck gold. Don’t ask me why I was doing this. Maybe the thought of going back to an empty house just didn’t appeal to me presently.

Whatever the reason, I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want it. Tara had been teaching me since Layla’s funeral that I had to trust myself. If the instinct hits, trust it. Trust my gut feelings – and any other parts of my anatomy, she jokingly added. Always the kidder she was, but she, like Layla, always seemed to be right.

“I’d love it, Jack. We’ll have a lot of fun together, I promise.”

She leaned over and gave me a kiss that I just wasn’t prepared for. Her lips touched mine and I spasmed, for lack of a better word. My whole body just jerked in response, but she didn’t back away.

Suddenly I relaxed and it felt right to kiss her. The shame I had felt earlier was still there, and some part of me felt so much of it knowing that, right now as I kissed her, my wife lie cold and stiff six feet below ground.

I separated when that cold thought chilled me to my core.

“I’m sorry, Jack, I didn’t… I mean, I just wanted…”

”It’s ok, Leah. I understand. It’ll take time for me. I just need some time, but thank you for the thought – and the kiss.”

A slight smile of concern appeared on her face. We held hands and relaxed for the remaining hour of the flight, with no more words being spoken.

When we got into LAX, she claimed our bags and I ran over to the ticket counter for her connecting flight. LAX to Vegas is a fairly popular trip, but I got lucky and landed a spot. Of course I wasn’t seated next to her just as when we left Japan, but I was quite sure her smile and her eyes would fix that once more.

We had an hour to kill before the connecting flight was boarding so I went to a pay phone to call Tara.

Several rings later, she answered.

“Hey little brother, so you’re back?”

“I just got into LAX, and actually, I’m not coming home just yet.”

In my mind’s eye I could actually picture her cocking an eyebrow and I just waited for her to say…

“Oh really. Tell me tell me.”

“Well, I don’t know how to say this, actually, but… I met someone, Tara, on the flight home from Japan. She’s… phenomenal.”

I could see the smile on her face in my imagination so clearly.

“HOLY SHIT, JACK!!! THAT’S WONDERFUL!!!”

I almost had to pull the phone back from my ear for fear of suddenly finding myself deaf in one of them.

“Calm down, Tara, good lord. You’d think I said I was getting married again.”

“All in due time, bro, all in due time. You’re going to be just fine, Jack.”

It was Tara using the trigger this time and I knew it, so I relaxed into it.

“Thanks for that, but I‘m fine, really and I’ll tell you about her when I call from Vegas.”

“You’re going to Vegas? Wow. You know, Jack, Vegas is the wedding capital of the world… hint… hint… hint…”

She was teasing me of course, but what is family for?

“Baby steps, sis. She’s… beautiful, Tara. And she has green eyes, almost like Layla’s. I almost pissed on myself when we bumped into each other at the airport in Japan. I felt like a nerd that desperately wanted to ask the prom queen on a date.”

“Silly boy, when will you learn? Relax, Jack. Just be yourself and you’ll be attracting them again like bees to honey.”

“I don’t want ‘them’, Tara. I just want some ‘one’ to love.”

Did I say that out loud? For a brief moment I couldn’t answer my own question, even as the words left my mouth.

”I know that, Jack, and if you give it a chance, so will the one that’s right for you. You found it once, you can find it again. Three billion women for one fantastic man – I think you’ve got a better than average chance, my dear.”

“You’re killing me, lady. Listen, I have to run, our flight should be boarding in a few minutes. I love you so much, big sister. Tell Rick I said hi and give Chad a huge hug for me, ok?”

“Love ya, Jack, always. Trust yourself, ok? Stop hurting and just trust yourself. You’re worthy of love, Jack, more than you can possibly imagine, and Layla wouldn’t think twice about you finding someone to love. She’d die all over again to make it happen if she could, and you know it.”

The words hurt when she said them, but once again, she was right.

“I know. Gotta run, I’ll see ya soon. Bye.”

I hung up, resting against the payphones along the wall. I looked up through the skylights and saw such a wonderful shade of blue.

Amazing, considering that I was in Los Angeles at the time. But in the city of angels, you can expect a miracle on occasion.

I took a deep breath and relaxed, then started making my way back towards the terminal.

I saw her seated on one of those long rows of crappy and very uncomfortable fake leather and steel seats that line the airport causeways.

From my vantage point, she stood out from the crowd. Jet black hair indicative of her Japanese heritage, a great complexion, such soft skin it sent shivers through me with each touch.

But those eyes had me. Those eyes captured me the second I saw her back in Japan and I damned well knew it.

The fact that she was a certified hypnotherapist wasn’t lost on me. As soon as she had told me that on the plane, my imagination opened up wide and the dreams and fantasies I had created for myself over the years came flooding back to me.

But I lost myself to her words and that wonderful scene of me walking on that white beach with the sky blue water. I was doing it again even as she approached.

“Jack? Oh come on, don’t go staring off on me again, please?”

Her hand on my face, so soft and warm, snapped me back hard to that moment.

“Sor… Sorry, Leah. I was just remembering the beach you took me to on the plane. Thank you again for that.”

“You really do have a talent for hypnotic work, Jack. Remembering a previous trance so vividly has a habit of inducing that trance again. You were walking towards me a few minutes ago when I saw you, and then all of a sudden you just stopped moving, in mid-stride. You went cataleptic on me without even realizing it. I jumped up as quickly as I could and ran over here.”

I remembered something that Tara had said to me a long time ago about catalepsy, or involuntary paralysis and cessation of movement.

The old tricks that most people do with hypnosis, especially stage hypnotists, like making someone’s body stiff and straight and placing it across two chairs – and then having someone sit or stand on them – are direct examples of catalepsy.

“I didn’t realize I had stopped, actually. I saw you coming towards me and it felt like I was moving towards you. It’s a pretty weird feeling, actually, moving but not moving.”

“You’re going to be just fine, Jack, I promise.”

There was that trigger again, and this time I fought it so I could tell her.

“Leah, what you just said, about me being fine. You said that to me in the airport in Japan, after we bumped into each other. Do you remember that?”

“Uhmmm… yeah, actually I do. What about it?”

“That phrase ‘you’re going to be just fine’ is a trigger that my sister Tara gave me just after Layla died. She didn’t tell me of course, but after waking up on several occasions and knowing I had been tranced, I finally put two and two together. I asked her and she said it was primarily to get me to relax quickly and be more responsive to her suggestions. I don’t have a problem with it – hell, I want you to use it, actually, but I felt I needed to tell you.”

“So that’s why you spaced out on me standing there in front of that soda machine. I wondered about it, but wasn’t sure. I just assumed you were tired and hadn’t slept before coming to the airport that day. I get the jitters myself sometimes, especially before an oceanic flight like that one we just made.”

“Jack,” she said, “you really are going to be just fine. There, is that better?”

She smiled again, but I stopped her.

“Say it, Leah, just once, for me.”

“You’re going to be just fine, Jack.”

I heard the words, realized what was happening and almost let go so deeply I would have collapsed into a heap on the floor, but caught myself just short of blacking out.

“Awake, relaxed, refreshed, and alert, Jack, now.”

Those words brought me back to her.

Back to Leah.

“Wow. I didn’t think I could do that anymore, least of all standing in the middle of LAX loaded for bear. Thank you again, Leah.”

“Hey, it’s not me doing it, it’s all you. Like I said before, you’re an excellent subject. Now let’s get going, our flight was called when you dropped.”

The smile on her face told me something was amiss, but I ignored it at the moment. I usually get in big trouble when that happens, but I trusted her. I really did trust her.

We made our way to the terminal and sure enough, as we arrived the boarding had begun.

She worked her verbal magic coupled with some feminine charm and, sure enough, the man seated next to her gladly gave up his seat to me – he patted me as he passed and whispered, “Good job, son.”

I took that as a good sign and fell back into my seat – and didn’t stop falling.

I awoke some time later and knew what had happened, but for some reason, I wasn’t angry at her for doing it. After all, I did tell her I had trouble sleeping on planes.

I turned my head to see her smiling right back at me.

“Thanks, but it’s a one hour flight, you really didn’t have to do that.”

“Your unconscious seemed quite happy that I did,” she said grinning ear to ear.

That I couldn’t argue with.

“So, there’s one thing we haven’t covered yet and I have the question on the tip of my tongue. May I?” I asked.

“I haven’t been in a serious, or even mild, relationship in a long time, Jack. The last one was oh maybe eight years ago, a man I worked with. We were so compatible at the onset of the relationship: emotionally, sexually, in our working relationship. I thought he was ‘the one’ for me, and I believe in that I really do, but it wasn’t meant to be.”

Her mentioning of ‘the one’ piqued my interest even as the pilot began his talkdown speech into McCarran International in Vegas.

“Layla was ‘the one’ for me, but Tara likes to remind me there are roughly three billion women on Earth. Not sure sometimes if I’ll find love again, but recent events have given me a definite reason to keep the door open,” I said.

My own smile, while not a big shit eating grin, was as playful as I could make it.

Right at that moment something clicked in my head.

I recalled my own memories and doubts from so many years ago when Tara faked her trance on our couch and said the words, “She said she’s falling in love with you,” referring to Layla.

The fact that I couldn’t fathom someone falling in love in a single night was too much for me to comprehend. Tara mentioned a few minutes later that Layla had developed her feelings for me over a few months time, and somehow that made it ok, but it still nagged me for a long time.

I myself still believed in love at first sight. Years later into our marriage, Layla and I sat out on the deck of a cottage we rented in Aspen for some skiing, and I asked her.

”Layla, do you remember how we met?”

“Of course I do, silly man. How could I forget that night?”

“No, I mean how we met the very first time, face to face. Do you?”

“Yeah, I do, actually. It was at the orientation party where I met Tara the first time. She introduced me to you and I knew you were ‘the one’, right then when our eyes met.”

I pushed her forward from where she had been reclining against me and looked her directly in those eyes, those amazing green eyes.

“Layla, why haven’t you ever revealed this to me before?”

“It didn’t seem important at the time, baby, why? Is it important now?”

I was stupefied and unable to answer for a few moments. She pulled herself around to face me.

“Jack, talk to me. Don’t quiet up and bury this, tell me.”

“Layla, the day after our first experience together I asked Tara some questions. She told me that you had admitted to her that you were falling in love – not in love – with me. Can you explain that?”

“Well,” she began to say, “I knew I loved you, but I couldn’t just come out and say it, that wouldn’t work, for either of us. I wanted to get closer to you and explore the possibility, but our age difference worried me at first.”

Layla was twenty-two at the time; I was eighteen.

“It was four years then as it remains today, Layla. I wouldn’t classify that as a May-December romance.”

“I know that, Jack, but still. I had doubts you could love me, so I kept it hidden. Tara tried to set us up once, but I told her no. But when your eighteenth birthday rolled around, I had a chance and I took it. Looks like we both won on that gamble.”

I hugged her as tightly as I could and whispered in her ear:

“Thank you for taking a chance on me, love.”

I found myself staring into Leah’s eyes and I didn’t want to do much else anytime soon. Her hand brushed my face gently and she kissed me.

I didn’t resist it this time; I wanted it.

I realized that ‘the one’ for me existed once, and Fate can’t be so cruel to leave me so alone for the rest of the days that I walk this Earth. I just couldn’t believe that.

But I could believe I will live again. And if I can live again, I can love again.

As I realized it, as it hit me so hard, so deep inside, I heard Layla’s voice again telling me she thanked me for being her husband and that it was time for me to live again.

“I miss her so much, Leah, I do. More than I thought possible. But I won’t forget her.”

We hugged until the flight came to a stop at the gate. Gathering our belongings we made our way down the causeway to the shuttle transport that takes you back to the main terminal for arrivals and departures.

We hadn’t discussed living arrangements for me until we got into the cab, when she gave the cabby directions to her house.

“I… maybe I should get a hotel room, Leah.”

“Don’t be silly, Jack. You’re staying with me. I’m off through the weekend and you and I are going to get to know each other very well, it’s that ok with you.”

Again I was at a loss for words. For some reason, I had just developed an erection when she called me “silly.”

One of the things that powerful hypnotic woman of my fantasies did was to call me “silly boy” over and over, making me feel helpless, a helpless little boy wrapped up in her power and control.

Tara and Layla were still the only ones that had any knowledge of this part of me, or at least I thought so.

I hadn’t told Leah any of my fantasies yet, about being hypnotically dominated by a woman in all ways.

Or did I?

I began fishing around in my own mind, hoping I’d hook something that would bring some memories to light. No such luck.

Tara had always loved my ability to go into deep trance quickly because it left me with amnesia for the trances. She could do pretty much anything she wanted to me – again, she is my sister and I trust her – but when I woke up, I rarely if ever remembered anything that happened once my world went black.

Right now, I was wondering if that ability of mine would come back to haunt me. If Leah had asked me questions about myself and my deepest fantasies, and if she knew what I desperately wanted the most, I could be in big trouble.

But then again, if a beautiful and powerful hypnotic woman decided she wanted to take control of me and fulfill my deepest fantasies – and maybe some of hers in the process – is that really such a bad thing?

If you were faced with your ultimate dream could you say no? Could you resist having everything you truly want? Why would you resist?

I realized I trusted her in Japan when we met face to face and she captured me with those eyes. I trusted her at LAX when she brought me back to reality. I trusted her now as I shared a cab with her.

Opportunity was knocking, just as it did with Layla, and I decided to open the door.

”Whatever you say, Leah, I’m game.”

I said the words, knowing my decision was now made. She smiled.

My God how Vegas had grown over the years. It was simply amazing growth for a town of its size.

The city is surrounded on all sides by mountains in the distance, so at some point the town will simply cease to grow because there isn’t anyplace left to build on.

I noticed several new casino-hotels as we took the Strip from the southernmost part to the downtown area, roughly a six mile trip. I had mentioned I hadn’t been there in some time so Leah told the cabby to give us the grand tour.

He smiled knowing this would be a nice fare.

The Bellagio, the new Aladdin, the Venetian, and one or two others in various stages of construction, all of them were new to me. Leah assured me that we’d check them all out over the next few days.

The cab moved slowly in the heavy traffic. It was obvious to me that the original planners of “the Strip” as it’s so commonly known couldn’t have fathomed how the sheer volume of car traffic on a four lane road could be so bad, but it was.

Lots of city buses moving slowly, sometimes three or four buses back to back told me the delays were pretty frequent.

Putting some crosswalks at points on the Strip seemed to me like a brilliant idea. The overwhelming number of people trying to cross the street, especially on Friday and Saturday nights – when the population of the city effectively tripled – could tie up traffic for quite a while.

We passed the old standbys: Circus Circus, the Stardust, the Frontier, and the Riviera. They took up positions on the middle of the Strip. The “Rat Pack” casinos like the Dunes and the Sands had been demolished years ago.

The newer mega-monster casinos like the MGM, the Excalibur and the New York New York, as well as the Luxor and Mandalay Bay were down on the southern end, close to the airport. The corner where some of those casinos meet is an awesome sight to see.

We passed the recently rebuilt Sahara and the Stratosphere tower. When I saw the “Strat,” as it’s affectionately called by most locals, it immediately reminded me of the Space Needle in Seattle where Layla and I were married. It’s similar in a lot of ways, and I definitely wanted to go up top.

Leah saw the look on my face as I strained to look straight up into the sky from the back seat of the cab as we passed beneath it on the Strip below – if I had rolled down the window it would have been much easier. The Strat is a magnificent thing to see.

She laid her hand on the back of my neck softly and I relaxed into her touch.

“Soon, Jack, it’s on our list of things to do. Going up there at night and looking out over the city is simply awe-inspiring. I tell my friends coming to town for visits that if they don’t go up there at least once at night while they’re here, they wasted the trip.”

With that kind of recommendation, I’d make sure I didn’t miss it.

We continued into the seedier part of the Strip, where the cheap hotels offering hourly rates are frequented by ne’er do wells, prostitutes and people of low regard. I’m a firm believer of the “to each his own” philosophy. Do what you will, just leave me out of it.

Getting into the downtown area at Fremont Street, we got to see where “Sin City” actually began. There had been a lot of work on the area, and luckily the cab stopped at the light.

Looking out the window to the left, I saw the Fremont Street Experience. It’s difficult to describe to someone that’s never seen it, but it’s a canopy that covers three whole blocks of Fremont Street itself.

The canopy is a half cylinder, and acts like a roof over the street. The inside of that roof is covered by over two and a half million lights that turn the entire structure into a moving light show.

It’s sort of like a Jumbotron TV that you might see at a baseball park or football stadium, except it’s curved. They have a high powered sound system that basically rattles the windows when the nightly shows take place every hour.

There are kiosks in the middle beneath it with booths selling all sorts of items and souvenirs. Roving performers abound, and concerts are held on stages under the canopy almost nightly.

The downtown casinos like the Plaza, the Four Queens, Binion’s – home of the World Series of Poker every year – and the Golden Nugget were all accessible directly underneath the canopy.

Again, Leah’s reassuring hand told me that we’d see it, soon. I kept thinking about that, what she said just then and earlier.

“Our list of things to do” and “We’d see it.”

Together.

I was not alone for that moment, and it scared the hell out of me at the realization of it.

The cab hopped on the interstate connector in the downtown area to head out to Summerlin, a community that sprouted up in the past few years where the wealthier and more affluent residents lived.

In other words: the rich people.

As we finally arrived at her home, the sun was just cresting over the western mountains that held the promise of California on the other side.

It was strikingly beautiful from that vantage point to step out of the cab and see the way the twilight sun lit the valley. If I had a camera, it would have been a spectacular photo right at that moment.

Leah handed a $100 bill to the driver – I noticed the fare ended at $62.75, and for some reason I considered that cheap considering the distance we had traveled. I’d been in towns where such a lengthy ride would have been well over $100 easily.

The driver reached for his pocket to make change, but Leah smiled and shook her head slightly. The driver understood perfectly and nodded his thanks.

She grabbed her bags and I grabbed mine as the cab pulled off.

I took in the view of her house and realized it was in a cul-de-sac of homes with similar structure. I minored in Architecture for the four years I spent in high school, business being my major.

The homes all had a distinctive Spanish influence, seemingly made of stucco-like materials. Nice curves, graceful slopes, well landscaped yards. It was simply a beautiful home.

We made our way to the door and went inside. A large hallway led into the inner living area where I could see a spacious living room. Leah led me off to the short staircase leading to the bedrooms.

The house from the outside looked like a single level dwelling, but inside it was a split level. The right side of the house, where the bedrooms were, was about five feet higher – hence the short staircase. The living room itself, located primarily along the center rear, was about four feet lower than the main entrance to the house.

It was a quirky design, in my opinion, but I hadn’t kept up on architectural design changes over the years since leaving high school. It was nice, I’ll admit, just quirky.

She showed me to a room with a queen sized bed, its own private bathroom with a fairly large tub, and tons of closet space. I only had two bags so it wasn’t as if I was moving in.

As I thought about what I had just noticed about the closet, that paranoia returned.

What exactly am I doing here with a woman I met in Japan, was hypnotized by while in flight, and was now offering me the luxury of her home?

I froze in place for a moment, unsure of what to do or say. Leah wasn’t there with me; she had gone to place her bags in her own bedroom.

I suppose I should have been thankful at that point to have my own room, but still the thought of how I actually came to be here was escaping me. I remembered it clearly, having just experienced it, but…

“Jack?”

I turned to face her. She was wearing a white terry bath robe, and it was barely closed down the middle. The patch of her fur was plainly visible.

Just like the erection that now returned to my groin. I tented my pants unconsciously and was only aware of it when I noticed her mischievous grin leading to her eyes focused on my crotch.

“Holy shit!” I screamed out.

“It’s always nice to know I can still have that kind of effect on a man even at my age,” she said, laughing as she did so.

“Your age? My God, Leah, you’re beautiful, what does age have to do with it?”

I was trying to will the erection down, but just seeing her standing there was only making it worse. Or bigger, depending on how you looked at it.

“Silly boy, I don’t attract men like I used to. I have a pool boy that comes around weekly that I tease so much. You should see him, trying to use the pole to clean the pool while all he really wants is to handle his own pole.”

I was now flustered beyond belief and flushed like crazy. I felt like I was on fire at that moment, and I’m sure my body temperature had spiked by several degrees. And the “silly boy” reference just spiked my arousal clean into orbit.

“Leah, listen, I appreciate what you’re doing, really, but I’m not sure…”

She took the several steps between us as though she were an angel gliding across ice.

“Jack, trust me. You do trust me, don’t you?”

The words came out before I even had a chance to think about how to respond.

“Yes, Leah, I do. I feel that I can, actually.”

Did I? Did I feel inside that I could trust this person, this woman before me, effectively a stranger in almost all respects?

I didn’t have an answer for myself, and I remembered my decision at the airport to play her game.

“Good boy, Jack. Nothing will happen that you don’t want to happen, understand?”

“Yes.”

“Ok, get yourself into that shower and get dressed for a night on the town, Vegas style.”

She kissed me dead on before I could even respond. Such a wonderful kiss, lips so soft my knees wanted to buckle again as they did before.

A part of me was screaming to run away, the fear almost making me do it.

But another part recognized this for what it was: a kiss.

It was just a kiss.

A warm sensual erotic dick stiffening scare the hell out of me because it’s been so long since I’ve felt like this oh God what do I do Layla please forgive me but I need this kiss.

My heart cried out for my love that had left me even as the pleasure I was being offered washed over me, almost knocking me out.

Leah could sense something was wrong and pulled back. The tears flowing down my cheeks were all the proof she needed. One hand rose to caress my face and wipe away some of them.

“Jack, it’s ok to love her. I understand, really I do. But maybe, just maybe, somewhere inside, you could love me too.”

I was on my knees before I realized the floor was rising to meet me. I crumpled into a ball, sobbing uncontrollably and just wanting to stop hurting forever.

Leah embraced me even as I tried to push her away.

“Shhh… it’s ok, Jack. It’s ok to let it go. Let all of it go, just relax… no worries… no cares right this moment… you’re safe here, right now… with me… let it go…”

Sometimes in my life I wake up from experiences like the one I found myself in the middle of and wonder how and why they happen.

I learned a long time ago in Tara’s escapades into my mind and psyche how to recognize awakening from a trance, and that’s exactly what I was coming up from.

I opened my eyes and found myself on the bed, underneath the sheets. Yes, I was naked again. Surprising how I could get used to that also.

It was dark outside; that much I could tell from the skylight in the ceiling. I looked around for some kind of clock but didn’t see one. My watch was missing from my wrist as well.

I tried to get up but I was so weak it became a serious exercise. I managed to get my legs off the bed and they dropped to the floor with a thud. I braced my hands onto my knees and just sat there for a bit, trying to take it all in.

I felt over the nightstand and located a lamp. Turning it on created a spike of pain in my eyes as expected, but after several moments I could see again.

My clothes were neatly folded and hanging over the back of a chair, and it seemed as though my bags were already unpacked.

Slowly I rose to my feet and stepped to the walk-in closet and, sure enough, my clothes were there. The smaller items, underwear, socks, t-shirts, those I found in the drawers.

I stepped into the bathroom and located the switch. As I faced myself in the mirror, I saw nothing but shame staring back at me.

I closed my eyes and all I could see was my wife. I couldn’t get her image out of my mind. I tried and tried to not think about her, but it just made the image that much clearer and more defined.

I wanted her to stop haunting me so I could grant her wish of me living again, but if she won’t go away, how could I do that?

I also realized that I was angry at her. I was so mad at her I couldn’t stand it.

I didn’t hate her, I could never do that. But I did hate what she did to me with a passion.

My love left me here, alone. She left me when I needed her most.

It was so damned unfair of her to do that to me. For all the things I did for her over our life together, her leaving me was simply unforgivable.

The times we spent together. The journeys we went on. The love we shared.

It all seemed like a waste of time as I stared into the mirror and only saw Layla staring back at me.

Before I knew it, I had broken the mirror with my own hand. The blood flowed down my arm as I held my hand up to my face. The realization of what I had just done slammed down on me as the pain made its presence known.

“Jack? Jack? JACK!!! Oh my God, Jack, what happened?”

Leah pretty much appeared from out of thin air beside me, wrapping my hand in a washcloth.

“Jack, dammit, talk to me. Please?”

I turned enough to look into those amazing green eyes once again and was shocked to see them filled with tears. My own pain took a quick backseat to what lay before me.

Here was a woman, still a stranger to me really, who had done nothing but offer me kindness and patience since the moment we met. She offered me friendship, hugs, comfort. She offered me her very home; the fact that I was a stranger to her wasn’t lost on me.

She trusted me by bringing me into her life in one day and how did I repay all that she had already done for me?

I broke her bathroom mirror. I was so glad at that moment I didn’t believe in superstition or anything similar. If I did bring her seven years of bad luck because of my actions, I should be damned to hell forever because of it.

We didn’t speak much in the moments that she cleaned the slight lacerations on the underside ridge of my hand. She pulled some gauze and bandages out from underneath the sink and addressed my wound. I was amazed at how comfortable she seemed during the whole process.

The look on my face gave it away.

“Jack, I work with children almost daily. If I know anything, it’s how to apply bandages.”

She smiled at me and it hurt. It hurt a lot. And it wasn’t the pain in my hand that was hurting.

“I… I’m… sorry, Leah. I couldn’t bear to see her face anymore staring back at me. I just lashed out at the image and… well, I broke your mirror.”

She laughed through her tears at me. They didn’t seem to be tears of sadness anymore; somehow they seemed happier, tears of joy perhaps.

“Silly boy, you really are very special, more so than you probably imagine.”

“Funny, my sister Tara said almost the exact same thing to me so very long ago. The day I told Layla I loved her. Why can’t I forget her, Leah? Why can’t I move on?”

“Because you love her and you always will. Didn’t we cover this ground already, earlier on the plane? Jack, look at me, right here, right in my eyes.”

I was so afraid she was going to trigger me again I didn’t want to look. I turned my head downwards slowly, fighting the urge to do as she asked.

Her soft hand cupped my chin and lifted me up, up to face her directly. I kept my eyes closed for fear of slipping away.

“Jack, open your eyes. Open them and look at me.”

“I can’t, Leah, I just can’t. I don’t want… I just don’t want to… surrender right now.”

She laughed a simple but powerful laugh.

“I’m not going to trance you, Jack. I just want you to look into my eyes when I say something to you.”

Trust her… my inner dialogue prodded me.

My eyes slowly opened and I was awash in the green.

“I’m not Layla, Jack. I know you’ve noticed similarities between us, green eyes and such, similar sounding names. But I’m not her, Jack. I don’t mean to hurt you by saying this, but sometimes the only way to accept the truth is to walk right into it like a brick wall. I don’t have the slightest clue in the world how and why you and I came to meet in that airport at that exact moment in time; believe me, it’s been gnawing at me since we got here to Vegas. But I’m game if you are.”

She took in a deep breath and let it out in a sigh that just made me feel that much worse.

I knew what was coming before her lips formed the words.

“Layla is dead, Jack. She died in your arms, on your bed, in your home, months ago. The more you hurt over her leaving you, the more you ruin chances that come your way to fulfill and respect her final wish. You have to live again, Jack. You can either live again, starting right now, or you can die inside and whither away just like she did. It might not be cancer eating you up inside, but it’s happening just the same.”

Another similarity I just noticed and it made me laugh. Loudly.

“Ok, now I’m stumped. In Japan you did that, went from bottomless sorrow to happiness in a breath. This time you’re going to explain it. Talk to me.”

I gazed upon her face, reveling in her warmth as she held me while I sat on the commode with her on her knees beside me.

”Tara and I always knew one thing about Layla: she was always right. Whenever she offered me advice about life, work, happiness, friendship, even finance – and that was supposed to be my field of expertise – she was never wrong. I could never understand it myself, but Tara finally told me one day to shut up, relax, and enjoy the fact that my wife knew everything.”

Now Leah was laughing. She hugged me tightly, almost pulling me on top of her.

“You really are a silly boy, Jack. Can I share something with you?”

“Of course, say anything.”

“I did some poking around on the flight from Japan to LAX. You’re a tremendously capable subject for hypnosis, but you already know this. I don’t have a lot of experience using hypnosis for… other purposes, please understand that. But I questioned you about a few things, like if you felt attracted to me, some of your fantasies. I didn’t probe very deeply, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover you consider hypnosis erotic.”

I found myself getting aroused again against my will. Something about this woman was pushing my buttons and I wasn’t sure why.

“I asked you about how you and Layla came together – no pun intended, Jack – and discovered the links to the fantasies. You gave yourself to her that first night, alone, did you know that? Tara had been helping her with some triggers she worked into your mind, and taught Layla how to take advantage of them and control you in bed.”

It was like the proverbial light bulb going turning on inside my mind. I had a flood of memories that returned to me just then, and each one of them only served to arouse me more.

That night on my couch, with Tara and Shayna and Katrina present, Layla took me right there in front of them and I never remembered it until just this moment.

Once Katrina had finished sucking my balls dry as she said she wanted, Tara had returned her to a deep trance and let her sleep it off on Tara’s bed. Tara and Shayna snuggled on the loveseat to watch the show that Layla had played out in her head so many times.

Once she found out one of my deepest fantasies – being dominated hypnotically by a beautiful and powerful woman – she knew that was the birthday present to end all birthday presents. Or at least that’s what she believed.

And guess what.

She was right.

Tara had trained her very well. She controlled everything exactly as I had told Tara I wanted it to happen.

She controlled my erection; how sensitive I was to her touch and her warmth; whether I could move or not; she used her eyes to capture me and I couldn’t look away, my world narrowing only to her eyes; her voice became a whisper in my mind that sent me floating even as she rode me to orgasm after orgasm after orgasm; and finally she commanded me to follow her to my bedroom where we could continue our journey into each other.

That was exactly how I had always remembered it, actually: a journey into each other, discovering more about ourselves physically in one night than you might believe possible.

I opened my eyes to see Leah there before me.

“Wow, I... I had never remembered that part of our first night together in all this time. It goes to my abilities again, I suppose.”

I shrugged my shoulders as I said it.

“Yep, you go deep really fast. I’d probably hazard to guess Tara has tranced you thousands of times in your life, but I still say you have a high natural ability to enter trance quickly and easily – and deeply.”

“So what time is it, anyway?”

She looked at her watch and said, “11:30-ish. Why?”

“Let’s get some dinner. This is a 24 hour town, right?”

“Not quite, Jack. The commercials neglect to mention that it’s the Strip and the casinos that run 24/7. Two blocks off the Strip, it’s normal town, USA. Most stuff closes at 9PM just like anyplace else.”

“Well, I’m sure we’ll find something. I want to see the city from the Stratosphere, tonight. Now.”

“Slow down there, tiger. We’ll get there, but if that’s what you want, that’s what you’ll get.”

She rose to her feet standing before me, and I pulled her back into me.

One of Layla’s favorite things was how I held her gently, suckling on a nipple softly, my arms lightly closed around her waist. I took a chance because it felt right to do it.

I reached up and opened her robe. The look on her face was one of intense surprise laced with anticipation.

I slid my hands up her sides, curling them around to her back, carefully moving towards her shoulder blades. I returned them to her front side, gently caressing her breasts with the lightest touch I could. Goose bumps appeared everywhere on her body in those few seconds.

I raised my hands towards the front of her shoulders and eased the robe completely off her incredibly soft skin.

Leah stood before me, completely naked and utterly beautiful.

Her breasts were slightly larger than my last memory of Layla’s. The chemo had been started almost immediately after the cancer was discovered. One of the first noticeable effects, besides her hair falling out, was her inability to create breast milk. Something to do with the lymph nodes I was told.

Layla’s milk had a wonderful sweet taste to it, and I adored her nipples as softly as I could. Her moans of appreciation as I fed on her breasts always told me I was doing something right.

I missed that aspect of our coupling probably more so than any other single thing.

To me, there had always been three types of sex: Pure animal fucking, where the object is to put each other in a coma from the exhaustion; sport fucking, that fun experience where we tickled and laughed so much we had more fun than sex most times; and of course, making love.

I missed making love with my wife very much.

Leah, on the other hand, had fuller breasts. As the scent from her sex reached my nostrils, only a few inches away, I swelled in appreciation. She saw it and gasped.

In that moment when she was still inhaling, I quickly took a nipple into my mouth and her breath turned instantly into a sharp inhale, throwing her head back in the process.

”Oh my God…” she groaned and then the trembling began.

She wasn’t producing any milk; I wasn’t sure if she was capable of lactating, but I was sure as hell going to find out.

One of my hands lay flat against the small of her back and lowered to caress her cheeks, the bandage that wrapped the hand just providing a tiny bit more stimulation. The other hand began a slow sensual rise to the back of her neck – Layla loved that so much when I massaged her neck softly.

As my hands reached home on both counts, I slowly squeezed her right cheek even as I squeezed the back of her neck.

She cried out in a way that almost set me off like a geyser.

I knew we would return and finish this coupling later tonight, but for now I had to tell her something.

I released her nipple with a popping sound because of the suction.

“Leah, I want to live again. I want to let my wife go so that I can live again. Will you help me?”

The pleading I felt inside was there in plain view.

She simply smiled at me and said, “Good boy, Jack, very good boy.”

The words had the intended effect. She knew me too well, it seemed.

Tara, I swear lady, someday I’ll get you for the things you’ve done to me. And I’ll thank you for doing it every day of my life.

We went out to the Stratosphere as I had hoped and, you guessed it again, she was right.

The view from up there at night, especially a clear one, is simply spectacular. We had a late dinner at the restaurant just below the observation deck.

There is actually a roller coaster at the top of the tower, and a huge needle-like tower on top of the main tower itself. On the needle is a ride that’s powered by steam; it forces a huge basket upwards on the needle itself, and then it falls down to a point where the steam pressure surges it up again.

It looked like a lot of fun, but the woman in front of me consumed my world for the present time.

We finished our meal and made a bee-line to the observation deck – it was getting close to 2 AM which is when it shuts down to the public. We got there with about five minutes to spare.

As I gazed out over “Sin City,” it seemed peaceful to me for some reason. And as I had known for a long time, looking out towards the horizon you could see the lights end far before it. The mountains surrounding the town ended the spread of the town prematurely.

She pointed out where her house was, way up on the northeast side, on the slope of the mountains it seemed. We saw the airport in the southwest and could even see the approach lights of aircraft still probably 100 miles away.

The Strip itself was the highest concentration of light, obviously.

I asked her to give me a moment alone, and she kissed me quickly and walked to one of those quarter operated binocular machines for tourists to see things in more detail.

I stood along the rail, feeling the wind against my face – the outside observation deck is about 1,200 feet high so it’s pretty gusty – and noticed the twinkles of the city below me, each light tied in some way to a life.

Good and evil, hope and despair, love and loss. Sometimes I wondered how many different things I could actually experience in one lifetime and survive.

I pictured Layla in my mind, standing on the Space Needle in Seattle just after we were married. The image seared my mind and my tears fell freely once more.

She was the woman of my dreams in our life together, and since she died she had become the woman of my nightmares.

I knew at that moment she didn’t leave me. My love for her had never left me, not for a second. And even more now, I realized I had nothing but love for her and everything she was, even as a wasted away shell of what she had been to me.

I’d love to think that she was taken from me, but even that doesn’t fit. It’s too much of a copout.

She fought with everything she had, I understood that. But sometimes the good fight can’t be won no matter how much you fight. Some battles were never meant to be won, and even the good guy doesn’t finish the race.

I wept inside for the love that was gone from me.

I cried out one last time at her memory, and then I let my wife go.

The wind itself carried my cry away from me and it disappeared forever from my mind.

I turned to see Leah walking in my direction, pointing to a security guard. I got the meaning.

We rode the elevator back down to the Skyway which is a huge inside strip mall on a special level of the Stratosphere casino-hotel. All of them were in various states of being closed since it was now about 2:05 AM.

We passed a floral kiosk where the attendant was just almost done.

I spotted a white rose peeking out just before he covered it. I stepped away from Leah for a moment as she did some quick window shopping.

I pulled out a $20 bill and said, “That one white rose. $20. I want it.”

The attendant, obviously startled, looked at me then over my shoulder to see Leah.

Without another thought he smiled and offered me the flower at no charge.

“Good job, mister.”

I smiled back, handed him the $20 and walked to her.

“Leah,” I said, speaking softly into her ear.

I decided in that one briefest moment of time that if she saw the rose and cried I’d take that as a good sign. The best sign of all, actually.

If she smiled and accepted it, we’d be good friends.

Don’t ask me how I imagined this; just know that I saw those two possibilities in my mind as clearly as I could see my love for Layla at that moment.

Leah turned slowly and looked into my eyes. She realized I was holding something and lowered hers to see what it was.

She cried.

We were married on the Stratosphere tower one month later, beating out my courtship with my first love so many years ago. It was a nighttime ceremony, and the party lasted until they had to almost forcibly remove us from the observation deck.

She knows me too well, and she has brought fantasies to life that I never even realized I had. I gave myself to her in that cab in Vegas and I’ve never regretted one moment of it.

Tara has been thanked so many times over the years she just tells me to shut up now when I make the effort. Reese tried to take credit for me hooking up with Leah, but of course, I gave the credit to Fate. Both of them attended the wedding, as well as everyone else in my immediate circle of family and friends.

Leah and I went to Hawaii for our honeymoon. We took a catamaran out to one of the most remote islands in the chain that makes up Hawaii.

As we sailed along on the water, Leah asked me a question.

“Jack, do you hear something?”

“I hear your voice, love. What else should I hear?”

“I don’t know what it is… but…”

And then she saw it: a water plane approaching.

It landed nearby and taxied over to as close to our boat as it could. I took one of the Jet Skis we had tied up with us over to the plane, spent a few minutes talking to the pilot, then took an item from him and returned to the catamaran.

“So, you want to tell me what that was all about?” she asked.

“Sure. But first, I have a gift for you.”

I handed her the package.

She opened it and cried again.