CHAPTER 20

BROCK STORM

It was early Sunday morning, somewhere between eight and nine. I was out in the shop with Bentley when I noticed a flat black Jeep Wrangler slowly cruise past our house. It fit the description of the vehicle Destiny described Dirk Easton dropping Amy off in yesterday. The Jeep turned around at the entrance to a cornfield and came back toward our place. It turned into our driveway and slowly made its way up, stopping in front of the shop.

I recalled a conversation that I had with Destiny the previous night. She told me about how Amy had come home all upset over Dirk and his date with the harlot, Whitney Waconia. Although Dirk did nothing wrong, I felt my hackles rise despite myself. Playing the role of a father figure will do that, I guess. I folded my arms as Dirk climbed out of the Jeep. When I realized how stern I must look, I let my arms drop to my sides as I sighed. I stepped out to greet him with a small smile. After all, he did save Amy’s life.

“Morning, Brock,” Dirk mumbled.

“Morning, Dirk,” I replied. “You’re out mighty early this morning. I heard you had a hot date last night.”

His blood shot eyes looked startled, then he shook his head.

“Not so hot of a date,” he said.

“Why’s that?” I asked feeling a growing satisfaction for some reason.

“Amy,” Dirk answered with an odd mixture of awe and perplexity on his face.

“Why Amy?” I wanted to know.

Dirk looked at me for a long moment with his eyes looked somewhat frightened and confused.

“To be honest Brock, things were getting pretty intense between Whitney and me. She wanted to have sex. Then I saw Amy in my mind’s eye, and I recalled our time together earlier that day. So I told Whitney that I couldn’t, you know, sleep with her. I ended up walking out on her.”

I was speechless! Whitney Waconia was an absolute physical knockout. Not many, if any, twenty-year-old guys would turn her down.

“I see,” I stammered as I groped for something to say.

Dirk ran his hands through his hair and sighed heavily. “It’s been a strange twenty-four hours.”

“So what brings you out here then?” I asked.

“I’d like to ask your blessing to go out with Amy,” he told me.

I cleared my throat. “Well, that’s quite honorable Dirk. But why ask me?”

“Amy and I had a lengthy conversation yesterday,” he replied. “During the course of our talk, she told me how much she loves you and Destiny. She said that even though you two are a bit young for it, she looks to you two sort of like the parents she never really had. The way you both look out for her, and such.”

“She really said that, huh?” I asked, trying not to sound as choked up as I felt. After all, I have always been a fairly macho guy. Part of being a bodyguard is not being vulnerable.

“She did,” Dirk confirmed. “So, as her father figure, I would like your blessing before I pursue Amy’s affections. If she even has any toward me, that is.”

Oh, she has affections for you big time, I thought. But you’ll have to find that out the hard way, my good man.

“What if I told you no?” I challenged.

“I have the utmost respect for you and your wife,” he replied. “Even though Amy is eighteen, if you or Destiny find me unworthy of her, I will respectfully keep my distance from her.”

I was touched by his old fashioned sense of honor. I was also impressed at his discipline by walking away from the temptation of Whitney Waconia.

“You have my blessing, so now let’s confirm it with Dee,” I said as I extended my hand. “As a matter of fact, I can’t think of a young man I would rather see her with than you.”

As we finished shaking hands, Dirk turned to look at the house and then back to me.

“Is Amy here?” he asked.

“She’s here, but I don’t know if she’s out of bed yet. Let’s go find out.”

We were in the entrance of the house when Destiny turned from the kitchen sink to look our way. Her eyes widened a little and her mouth dropped open when she saw Dirk. Right when my own mouth opened to speak, Amy came walking through another entry way wearing pajamas with Tweety Bird displayed on them. Her hair was ruffled and messed from sleeping, but she still looked gorgeous. However, she was going to kill me for bringing Dirk into the house without warning.

“Good morning, Dee,” Amy said with a sleepy smile. “The coffee smells great.”

“Morning, honey,” Destiny replied as she looked nervously at Dirk and me. “Um …”

 Amy poured herself a cup of coffee and looked at Destiny with a frown.

“Something wrong, Dee?”

“You have a visitor, sweetie,” Destiny said with a nervous smile and a hand gesture toward the entryway.

Amy looked over at Dirk and me. Her eyes widened and her mouth formed a perfect circle of astonishment. Then she pointed the ‘just a minute’ sign at Dirk and me with her index finger.

“I’ll be back in a couple of minutes,” Amy declared before she dashed out of the kitchen and hustled upstairs.

“Well,” Destiny said uneasily. “Nice to see you, Dirk.”

“Dirk asked for our blessing to court Amy,” I told Destiny. “I told him yes. What do you say?”

“Of course,” she said as she clapped her hands together. “But only as long as you’re not seeing anyone else.”

“There’s no one else, ma’am,” Dirk replied, somewhat sheepishly.

Destiny eyed him skeptically. “I heard that there is.”

“Was. Things didn’t work out between Dirk and Whitney,” I told her. “Seems our Amy got in the way of things.”

Destiny frowned as Dirk blushed and became jittery.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about Amy after our time together yesterday,” Dirk explained, not making eye contact with my lovely, intense wife. Then with difficulty, he lifted his eyes to Destiny. “So I told the gal I had been out with a few times that I couldn’t see her anymore.”

I could see glee dancing in Destiny’s eyes as she held back a grin.

“I see,” she said calmly. “I’m gonna go check on Amy. I’m sure she’ll be down in a few minutes.”

I poured Dirk and myself a cup of coffee, and we took a seat at the kitchen table. Dirk looked tired. Although his eyes were bloodshot, he seemed to be a bundle of nervous energy. We exchanged small talk for ten minutes before we heard footsteps on the stairs. I submitted a silent prayer that Amy didn’t walk in wearing purple tights and a goofy tee-shirt, which was the type of unconventional wardrobe I’d become accustomed to her wearing. However, I was confident Destiny would intervene in the matter of Amy’s attire.

My faith in Destiny was substantiated. Amy was wearing jeans and a green flannel shirt that was open but tied at the bottom. Underneath was a plain white shirt. Her long red-gold hair was pulled back with a hair clip. She exuded a natural beauty that was breathtaking. Dirk gazed at her in awe as he stood.

“Hello, Miss Autumn,” Dirk said with a grin.

“Hello, Mr. Easton,” Amy replied with a cheery smile. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?”

“Can I take you to breakfast?” Dirk asked. “I’d like to talk with you.”

“Sure,” Amy replied with a shrug. Amy followed Dirk to the door. Then she turned toward Destiny and me with an exaggerated grin, giving us two thumbs up.

DESTINY

I couldn’t have been more surprised or happy when Brock walked into the house with Dirk. I’m sure Amy had mixed feelings. She had to be excited about his presence, yet she had to be dismayed that he saw her in her sleeping attire with her hair all ruffled.

A thrill of excitement propelled me up the stairs to Amy’s room. It looked like my intuition about the two potential love birds was heading toward fulfillment. I knocked on Amy’s door.

“Is that you, Dee?” Amy called out.

“Can I come in?”

“Please do.”

I entered Amy’s room and found her sitting on her bed in her under garments, pulling a faded pair of blue jeans on.

“What’s Dirk doing here?” Amy gushed.

“He’s here for you, silly.”

“I mean, why is he here the morning after his hot date with Whitney Waconia? I assumed he would be wanting breakfast with her this morning, not me.”

“The way I understand it, you spoiled their hot date.”

“I spoiled it for them? How?”

Amy sucked in her stomach a little bit as she fastened her jeans. Then she began to pull a Garfield the Cat t-shirt from her drawer, and I grabbed it out of her hand. I put it back and selected a plain white shirt. She grinned sheepishly and put it on. It was rather form fitting, and I was about to tell her to put that one back also, but instead, I went to my closet and retrieved a green flannel shirt for her to put over it.

Flannel again. But I perceived that Dirk was drawn to the country girl type. And Amy made a beautiful country girl.

“Now tell me how I spoiled their date?” Amy inquired, eagerly when I returned.

“He said that after spending the day with you, he couldn’t stop thinking about you. He told Whitney that he had to stop seeing her.”

Amy’s mouth and eyes grew wide as I told her. Then we did a little happy jig together.

“He also asked Brock and me for our blessing to start courting you,” I said. Amy’s face was stunned, but filled with delight. “That is if you’ll have him,” I added.

“Oh, I’ll have him,” Amy said in the most seductive voice I had ever heard her use.

“Now play at least a little hard to get,” I suggested as I placed my hands on my hips.

“Oh, I will. But not too much.”

“No bedroom stuff until you’re married,” I said with a coy smile.

“Dee…” she whined as she blushed. Then she grinned. “I’ll make it worth his wait.”

“Good girl.”

She bumped a hip into mine and giggled. Then she sat down hard on her bed and put on her pink sneakers. I told her to take them off. Knowing we had the same size feet, I went back to my room and grabbed low heel pumps and an egg shaped container of black knee highs. Maybe add a little class to her country appearance.

When we went downstairs, I realized by the look on Dirk’s face as he gazed upon Amy, that her attire was pretty much irrelevant. As the young pair walked away, Amy looked so incredibly happy. My heart sang as the door closed behind them. Brock put a loving arm around me and pulled me against him.

“Our little girl is growing up fast,” he joked.

“Yes, she is,” I said with a satisfied sigh. “Yes, she is.”

AMY

Dirk took me to Perkins for breakfast. I had a spinach omelet and Dirk had a Denver omelet. I never imagined my first actual date with a guy would be a spur of the moment breakfast. Then again, I never really dreamed about going on dates. Desiring Dirk was my most intense romantic situation up to that point.

Over our meals, I got Dirk to spill about his date with the smoking hot Whitney Waconia. The poor fella was rather uncomfortable, but spill he did. I was rather uncomfortable myself. Especially when he told me about his vending machine condom, and Whitney’s mostly empty box of condoms that she pulled from a drawer.

It seemed he left no stone unturned telling me about his date. It mostly felt awkward listening to his tale, and at times, TMI. But it ended very well!

“Would you want go for a little hike?” Dirk asked as we walked through the restaurant’s parking lot. “There’s a place that I’d like to show you.”

“I’d love to,” I replied cheerily. But then looked at my footwear. Why did I let Dee make me change out of my sneakers?  Dirk was wearing running shoes with his jeans and t-shirt.

After we climbed into Dirk’s Jeep, he offered me a piece of wintergreen Ice Breakers gum. I declined at first because I am not all that crazy about wintergreen. Then it occurred to me that he just might try to kiss me at some point today, so I accepted a piece. After only a five- or ten-minute drive from the restaurant, Dirk pulled to the side of the road in a somewhat secluded spot.

“You know that pastor of the church you go to with the Storms?” Dirk asked. “I believe they call him Captain Kirk?”

“Sure I do,” I replied.

“He gave me a couple books when I was in the hospital,” Dirk continued. “One of them was by a guy named Jake Weston. It’s called ‘Spoiled Produce.’ Do you know of it?”

“I sure do,” I replied. “I read it about a month or two ago. Jake and Mary Gold Weston go to the same church that Destiny and Brock attend.”

“Do you go there, too?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Do you like it?”

“I love it. You ought to come.”

“I might do that,” Dirk replied. “As you know, I kind of lost my way spiritually. I need to find my way back.”

“You must not have lost your way too badly. You seem to be such a decent, moral guy.”

Dirk shrugged. “A little poison can still kill you.”

“True.”

“Anyway, in the book ‘Spoiled Produce,’ do you remember the part about the abandoned train bridge?” he asked.

“Of course I do. It was one of my favorite parts,” I replied excitedly.

“Well, when I read the book, I knew the spot that Jake was writing about. It’s quite overgrown compared to back then, but you can still get there. The old railroad was right here where we are. The bridge is about a quarter mile through these trees. Do you want to see it?”

My heart rate began to accelerate. In the book, when Jake and Mary Gold came to the bridge, she was afraid to go across. So Jake picked her up and carried her. When they reached the other side, Jake kissed Mary Gold for the first time.

“I’d love to see it,” I told him, suddenly feeling shyness coupled with overwhelming anticipation.

“Okay, then,” he said with a quiet smile.

There was a deer trail that led us almost all the way to the bridge. It was hard to tell just how far it was down to the creek below with the trees and overgrown brush on the banks. It looked like fifty feet give or take to the stream below.

“Do you want to go across?” Dirk asked.

The truth is, I wasn’t afraid to walk across like Mary Gold, but I wanted Dirk to carry me and then kiss me. So I decided to tell him that I didn’t want to walk across.

“I don’t want to walk across,” I told him.

“I see,” he said, frowning and scratching his head.

We stood there in silence, looking at the creek below. Pick me up and carry me, silly, I thought. It’s in the script.

“Do you want to go back?” Dirk asked.

“No, I want to go across.”

“But you said you didn’t.”

“I said I didn’t want to walk across.”

“Do you want me to carry you, then?”

I nodded and bit my lower lip. He moved toward me and I lifted my arms in anticipation of looping around his neck. Then he would carry me across and kiss me, just like the story.  He didn’t lift me just then, though. Before I knew what was happening, his mouth covered mine, gently, yet firmly.

“You kissed me,” I declared with surprise, totally not trying to have Mary Gold’s exact reaction when it happened to her, but doing it anyway.

“Sorry,” he said with a sexy grin, replying just as Jake did in the story.

“Don’t be,” I cooed back, just like the romantic tale.

His mouth covered mine again, and in a matter of seconds our kiss was mutually deepened. I was in pure bliss for the next few minutes when suddenly Dirk separated his face from mine. “Do you want to go across now?”

I’d lost interest in crossing the moment he kissed me. But what else could I say?

“Sure,” I replied. “But to be honest, I can walk across. I thought we would do what Jake and Mary Gold did if I made sure you carried me. Since you already took care of that, I can make my own way.”

“I don’t think so, me lady,” Dirk declared with a fake accent just before he scooped me off the ground.

I squealed with both surprise and delight. Unlike Mary Gold from the story, I’m not all that afraid of heights. So instead of burying my face into Dirk’s neck, I connected my mouth with his as we made our way across. He disconnected us as he laughed.

“That makes it hard to negotiate the ties,” he told me.

“Okay. I’m sorry.”

“I said it makes it hard,” he said with a grin. “Not that we shouldn’t do it anyway.”

I bit my lower lip as I looked at him with wide, innocent eyes.

“You are the most adorable female on the planet,” he told me just above a whisper.

Once again, our mouths joined. As we slowly made our way across, I could feel one of my shoes easing its way off my foot. I tilted my foot upward and hoped for the best. I was so enraptured with Dirk, I didn’t care if my whole foot fell off. About two steps from reaching the other side, it plunged over the bridge. My shoe that is, not my foot.

“Oh!” I gasped.

“What’s wrong?” Dirk asked with concern.

“My shoe fell off and dropped down below.”

“I see it,” Dirk replied, looking over the side. “No worries, I can get it.”

Dirk sat me on a rock and knelt in front of me. He kissed me softly and then began to move away. He came back and kissed me again. We couldn’t get enough of each other. Five or ten minutes later he finally retrieved my shoe.

“Naughty girl,” he said with a sly smile as he slowly put my shoe back on my foot. Then he grabbed my legs and pulled me forcefully against himself, and attempted to resume kissing me. But I recalled my promise to Dee, about taking things slow.

“Now who’s being naughty?” I joked as I pushed him away.

“Let’s go back to my place,” he said breathlessly. “I have an unused piece of latex.”

“Dirk, I’m sorry, but I can’t do that,” I scolded. “You sure backed off love and commitment before sex.”

“No I didn’t,” he defended. “I’ve fallen in love with you, and I’ll marry you tomorrow if you want.”

“Okay,” I replied giddily. His eyebrows shot up, and I laughed. “Just kidding. Let’s at least wait a few weeks.”

“Or months,” he suggested.

“Or years.”

“Well, not years.”

“Okay, how about we play it by ear,” I told him. I paused. “I am tickled that you feel this way about me.”

“Are you tickled?” Dirk asked as he wiggled his fingers just below my rib cage.

“Stop it!” I laughed, as I began to tickle him.

Our mouths came together and we began kissing passionately for a couple minutes.

“Amy,” Dirk croaked as he gently pushed away from me.

“Yeah,” I squeaked as I tried to reel him back in. Oh how fickle the human condition! Especially when hormones are involved.

“Listen, I really want to honor your vow of chastity. But we better stop doing this kissy stuff, or I’m gonna need a lot of cold showers.”

“What for?” I asked innocently.

With noticeable discomfort he explained. Then we walked back to his Jeep as we held hands. I never realized holding hands with someone could feel so comforting, even intimate. When Dirk started his Jeep, the radio came on playing an oldies station.

‘I’ll stop the world and melt with you,’ were the words coming out of the speaker as the band Modern English played. We listened and smiled fondly at each other. We shared one chaste kiss when the song was over.

“That was quite the coincidence,” I suggested.

“No, it was meant to be,” Dirk declared. “I feel like you’re my destiny.”

“Dirk, today has been the best day of my life,” I told him. “The weird thing is, it’s still actually morning.”

“Then let’s continue to make it a great day,” Dirk said. “But in the days ahead, as our relationship develops, maybe we should just stick to the quick pecks, like we just did now.”

“Agreed,” I said offering my hand with a big smile. We shook on it.

In the days following, food tasted better, sleep was deeper, and sunny days were brighter. I loved falling in love with Dirk. It was the most fun that I had ever had and it felt so natural. We actually behaved, too. We saw each other every day and only held hands with a quick kiss when we parted ways.

I was on cloud nine. Even when Dirk and I were apart, I felt like we were somehow together. Then my bliss was interrupted by Jezebel Black. She wanted me for some kind of twisted ritual that I wouldn’t be able to escape from without a little help from my friends. No – correct that. Without a little help from my family.