Please forgive the author for the additional explanation. Hello everyone, and welcome to The Legend of the Good Wife. These are the great personalities who have agreed to contribute stories. We contacted several others but either declined or received no response. One of them had to withdraw for personal reasons. Some, we deeply regret, we are unable to reach. Some have passed, and some, no doubt, no longer check the email accounts we have. Authors such as Josephus, The Celt, and Castle Stone come to mind and we mourn their deaths.
These are the people who responded and agreed to write. We make a genuine effort to connect with as many legends as possible. Since writing erotica requires anonymity, this can be difficult. No doubt many will wonder about the writers who don’t appear here. We all have our favorites. Please feel free to contact these writers and request stories. Our intention is certainly not to belittle anyone who hasn’t been asked to contribute. There may be many who qualify as “legends” who don’t come to mind, or we just can’t find them. No slight intended.
It’s not really about us as writers, it’s about the readers, the people who have read our stories over the years and have been kind enough to leave nice comments, send kind and helpful feedback and provide us with those thoughts and opinions.
Some of us are now writing professionally, some have retired, and this may be the last story for some of us. Some may have been inspired to write more often. We would like to say thank you to all our readers. We hope you enjoy Legends Day, thanks to all the participating writers and to HDK for encouraging us to keep working on it. Thanks to those who provided addresses so we could contact everyone, Randy.
I would like to thank my editorial team, PapaKilo14, Hal, Pixel the Cat, GeorgeAnderson and OldDave1951. You are the best in the business and have saved me from making stupid mistakes. HardDesknight was my mentor and gave me great advice. SBrooks103x also gave me pre-readings and helped me with writing. I love you all.
When I saw her she was eating hot wings at a standing table. I just pulled up a chair. There were only three single people there. Most of the tables are for four people, and three of them are standing tables. She was alone and my eyes were just fixed on her, I didn’t even notice what I was looking at. Then I thought twice. She’s beautiful!
She had long red hair, that fiery orange color you see sometimes. She wore a tight skirt and top, which brought out all her features and more. Some loser came up and tried to start a conversation with her. I saw her reject him. She is beautiful! She is also deadly and deceptive, and she will break your heart. I know because I have been married to her for five years. Her name is Ripley, she works for a big radio station and is their star, and I hope she doesn’t see me.
I ordered pizza. There is a wood fired pizza oven in the basement and they also make delicious hot wings. I bought a basket of chicken wings and drank a nice dark beer and enjoyed them while watching the Razorbacks play basketball on the big screen. I sensed danger and when I looked around there it was.
“Hello, Ken,” she said. “Mind if I pull up a chair?” Her voice was the same as I remembered, low and husky, sounding like she was giving you a blowjob as she talked to you. It’s good whiskey, Dominican cigars, and Nat King Cole on the stereo.
“Yes, I quite like it here, Ripley,” I said. “I want to have a good meal here.”
“It’s hard,” he said. “Three years have passed? How many times have I tried to call you? How many times have I come to your house, stopped by your office, tried to talk to you?”
“Pretty much,” I told him. “I have nothing to say to you, Ripley. Why don’t you leave me alone? If you want to sit here, I’ll go away. They’ll put a check on you.”
She tilted her head back and laughed. It’s a slow, exciting sound that, at one time or another, would give me vibrations unmatched by any other sound in the universe. Now, it makes me sad. “I don’t mind,” she said. “I think my credit card can handle it, too.” She probably makes more money than I do.
“You’re not stupid; you know I want nothing to do with you. What do you want, Ripley?” I asked him.
“I want to talk to you, get to know you, tell you what I’m doing, ask how Kelly and Sam are doing, how Atlas is doing, and tell you something. What’s the harm? I’m too ugly for you to stand me anymore. Do you still hate me that much?”
“Why?” I asked. “Why do you care so much about Mom and Dad, or my dog? I have no interest in what you do. We’re not friends, Ripley. I’m sure you have no interest in my life, and I’m sure I have no interest in hearing anything you have to say. Ripley, you have no interest in anything, or I’ll tell the manager that you’re stalking me.
She tilted her head to one side and raised her eyebrows, a gesture I was very familiar with. She sighed. “Okay, Ken. Whatever. I guess I’ll just have to pull out the big gun. Now keep calm.” She returned to her desk and I saw her take her phone out of her purse. She took her purse and went into the bathroom.
I didn’t know what the big gun was and I wasn’t interested in finding out. My pizza arrived and I told the guy to put it in the box and I was leaving. I followed him to the counter, paid and left. Oh God, another night of being shot to hell. I went home and picked out the pizza by the pool. I wore the rubber sole, drank a few beers and put them in the freezer with ice. I was enjoying my pizza, lying in my lounge chair and listening to The Beatles when I heard the door close. I have a wooden privacy fence with a spring on the door to make sure Atlas doesn’t get out. I opened my eyes and let out a groan. It’s her. What’s up with this woman? Of course, she knew where I lived. She kept track of it. Then I realized something: she wasn’t alone.
There was a little shadow behind her. She had curly black hair about a foot long, fair skin like Ripley, very blue eyes and was the prettiest little girl I had ever seen. She looked very, very shy. She hid behind Ripley and tried to avoid me looking at her. When Ripley stopped in front of me, the little shadow came to her other side and held her hand. Ripley knelt down next to me and gently moved the little shadow forward so I could see her. Keeping her eyes on the ground, Ripley gently raised her little chin with one finger so our eyes met.
“Ken, I want you to meet Makenna,” she said. “Makenna, this is Kane.”
I didn’t really know what to say, so I extended my hand. What an idiot! Little girls don’t shake hands. This one did. She put her chubby little hand in mine. I could see the little dimples behind her knuckles. “Hi, Ken,” she said.
“Hi, Makenna,” I said. Pretty cool, right? I never know what to say to kids. Most of the areas you can interact with adults are off-limits. “So, where do you work?” I asked her. She beamed. Now, that’s worth dying for. I want her to do it again.
“I don’t work, silly,” she said. She has the cutest little voice imaginable. It was low, a little breathy, and a little raspy. I thought she would sound like Ripley when she was older. “I’m too young to work.”
“How old are you?” I asked. She held up three perfect little fingers. “Three, eh,” I said. “Wow, that’s the perfect age. You’re a really pretty little girl, you know that?”
She blinked her incredibly big blue eyes. “Yeah, I know,” she said. We all laughed. I looked at Ripley.
He looked at us with a strange expression on his face. “That’s a big gun,” he said.
“What are you talking about, Ripley?” I asked.
“Look at him,” she said. “Meet him.”
I looked at him. He’s beautiful. I still have no idea what Ripley is talking about. He said. “Ken, can I go swimming in your pool?”
“Well, of course, Makena,” I said. “Now?”
She nodded. “Honey, your clothes are going to get wet,” Ripley said.
“Take it off?” Makenna suggested hopefully.
Ripley looked at me. What the hell? I shrugged. “Okay, honey,” he said. “I’ll just stay here and talk to Kane.”
Damn it, now I’m screwed. “Maknae, did you see the black number three painted on the edge of the pool?”
He looked at it. “What’s three?” he asked.
I held up a fat little hand and jotted down the numbers on the palm of my hand. “It looks like this.”
He nodded. “Yes. I understand.”
“Don’t go there,” I said.
“Okay,” he said. “Why?”
“This is too deep for you,” I told her. She nodded again, kicked off her shoes, pulled the little white dress over her head and gave it to Ripley.
“Here, Mom,” she said. She ran up the stairs giggling in her panties and was splashing in seconds. I was frozen. She calls Ripley “Mom.”
When I looked again, Ripley was relaxing in the chair next to me, a bottle of beer in one hand and a slice of pizza in the other. “What are you doing?” I said.
“Do you like her?” he asked. “She’s pretty, isn’t she? She’s sweet, too. I know you’ll love her, Ken.”
I got angry for a minute. “Yeah, she’s beautiful. Mom? Is she yours, Ripley? When did this happen?”
“Well, apparently three years ago,” she laughed. “Yes, she’s mine, Ken. She can be yours too if you’re interested.”
My brain is so stupid. “What does this mean? What happened here, Ripley? Why did you bring her here? Why are you here? You left me, remember? You need to ‘find yourself’. Why can’t you just leave me alone?”
She smiled again. “Which do you want me to answer first? It is this: I brought him here so he could meet his father. I’ve been trying to do that for three years, but you cowards can’t face it. I can introduce you, and if you hadn’t run into the basement, you would have seen Kelly send him here.”
I’m going into panic mode. “His father? I don’t… what… fuck you, Ripley. I’m not a coward; can’t you understand that I don’t want to be with you? I think it’s time for you to leave.”
“I’m not leaving,” she said. “You’ll have to call the police to get rid of me. Do you really want to get rid of him?” She nodded toward the pool. “You’re his father, Ken. Look at him, can’t you feel it?”
Wet cutie found some pool toys and is enjoying playing with them. “I better go get her a towel,” I said. There was a big lump in my throat and I could feel myself starting to lose the control I desperately needed around Ripley. I stood up, went inside and picked up some big soft towels. Atlas looked sleepily at me, stood up and slowly followed me. He saw Ripley and his tail started wagging wildly. Then he caught sight of Makena, who started thrashing around. He ran up to Ripley, who threw her arms around him.
“That’s mom’s big dick,” he whispered. She licked his face, her big pink tongue almost covering his face. She looked at me, a little bit of drool hanging on her chin, and smiled. “Is one of the towels for me?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. All Mastiffs drool. Neapolitans drool more than most. Atlas is a 160-pound male Neapolitan Mastiff. I got him as a puppy when Ripley and I were married. “Yes,” she whispered. “Mommy really loves you. She misses you so much.”
This put me in a bad mood. I remember thinking she was the one who left. If she missed him so much, she knew the cure. Makenna saw him and squealed with joy. She started splashing on the pool steps and I wrapped her in a towel. “Is that Atlas?” she asked. “Mom told me about him. Can I pet him?”
“Yes, he’ll like it,” I told her. She leaned toward him and her mother and put her arms around his neck. He was panting with pleasure, his loose, wrinkled skin shaking with the effort. He looked up at his mother.
“I want her, Mom,” she said. Ripley looked at me and raised her eyebrows. She dried McKenna off, pulled the clothes over her head and watched as she ran off, leaving Atlas’ ball for him to chase.
“I don’t believe you,” I told him.
“Yes, I know,” he said. “I’ll find proof. I’ll do a DNA test. I’ve never been unfaithful to you, Ken. You know that.”
I didn’t know that at all, but it didn’t matter. “I need to see the proof,” I told him.
Her bottom lip curls. It’s cute and you want to kiss her and suck on her pouty lips. Until she breaks your heart, that is. “I think you’d say that. You have to cooperate. I need a cheek. If you hadn’t run away every time I tried to talk to you, I would have done it. I was giving up hope at first, you hid it well.
“Ripley, you left me, remember?” “You’re unhappy. That’s what you’re telling me. We got married too young and there’s all kinds of life out there waiting for you that you want to explore. That’s what you said and that’s what you did. You broke my heart apart and I loved you with everything I had but it wasn’t enough for you, you have every right to do what you want, it’s been three years, don’t bullshit me.”
“Ken, am I divorcing you?” she asked.
“No, you just left me,” I said.
“That’s right,” she said. “You divorced me, not the other way around.”
“What did you expect?” I asked.
“It’s not like that,” he said. “What makes you think I didn’t mean what I said, Ken?”
“Well, I actually saw you and ‘Big Dog’ at the White Rhino Theater,” I said. “He has black hair and blue eyes, right?”
“You bastard,” she nearly yelled. “You too. Charles is a colleague where we do live shows and he’s the biggest idiot on the planet. What, do you think I’d willingly hang out with him?”
“You seem happy to me,” I said.
“I’m an artist,” she yelled. This is the Ripley I remember.
“So, how’s the search going?” I asked. “Have you found yourself?”
“God, you can be so stupid sometimes, Ken.” He took a deep breath. “I’m not here to fight you. On the contrary, I need to explain something to you.”
“I don’t want to hear it,” I said.
“Well, that’s too bad,” she replied. “You have a daughter, Ken. I’m her mother. She’s our daughter and you have to listen to me. She needs her father in her life.”
“Maybe Big Dog would be interested in hearing your story,” I said.
She sighed. “Ken, there’s something you need to know. I never thought it would come to this. I didn’t mean to hurt you so deeply. For God’s sake, I’m only 24. We got married when I was 19. It turns out I’m not leaving you; I just need some space, and I’m afraid I’m not doing that very well.”
“Yes, indeed, it is,” I said. “You went off and left me. We were talking about starting a family, and then a month later, everything went bad. You left. Your choice.”
“Yes, I moved out,” she said. “I was scared. I was losing myself. The idea of having a baby scared me to death. I just panicked. I know it sounds to you like a bunch of shit. It does to me, too, now that I’m not a stupid immature baby. I felt like there was no me, there was only us and I felt like I was losing my identity. I panicked and got stupid, okay? I never meant to really leave you. I just wanted a little space, a little time to figure out who Ripley really was and what she was all about. I thought I’d see you every week; make love to you, that it would be like we were when we were dating. I wasn’t leaving you, Kaine. I didn’t want another man; I wanted us to stay exclusive, but you were too busy shouting at me to get that. I was just trying to establish myself as my own person. I thought it would be a few months and I’d move back in. I loved you, Kaine. I still love you. You hurt me a lot when you went nuts like that. I know I hurt you, too, and I need to tell you how sorry I am for that. I’m sorry, Kaine. I fucked everything up. I didn’t mean to do that, but I did.”
I thought back to our last conversation. I was yelling, furious and frustrated. She had told me she was moving out a week before and my anger, hurt and insecurity had been building all week. When she pulled up with the truck, and I knew she was really leaving, it all came boiling out. It was not pretty and it had been the last time I had spoken to her. Oh, she’d tried. I just wasn’t in any mental state to have anything to do with her. I wasn’t in any state to do so that day, either.
“What do you want from me, Ripley?” I asked. “It’s all good, Ripley? I don’t believe a word you say. You realize that, right? I think you’ve been out ‘finding your identity’ by sleeping your way around town. I don’t know what your game is here, but I think you should leave.”
She gave an exasperated sigh. “I expected all this, Kaine. That doesn’t make it any easier to hear, but I did expect you to feel exactly like this. You never gave me a chance to explain what was going on. You never showed up at court, you’ve avoided me like the plague and you run every time I track you down. You know the court ordered counseling, don’t you? The problem was, you were in Alaska and couldn’t be reached. I finally just gave up and let it go through. Give me a chance, that’s all I’m asking for. Let me come and talk to you. Let us come and talk to you. If not for me, do it for her.” She nodded toward Makenna, walking toward us with her arm over Atlas’s broad back. “What about her, Kaine?”
I couldn’t say anything because Makenna was standing beside me. “I love Atlas,” she said. “Kaine, when you’re my daddy, will I get to stay here and play with him sometimes?”
Now that wasn’t fair. There was no way in hell that was fair. It got even worse when she climbed up on my lap and laid that curly little head on my chest. “Hold me,” she said. She curled up as if she was settling in. I looked daggers at Ripley but she only laughed. She knew damn well that little girl was irresistible.
“I have a couple of errands to run,” she said. “It should only take me a couple of hours. It looks like Makenna is sleepy. Can she stay with you?”
“No, I…” That gorgeous little face tilted up at me and sleepy blue eyes melted my soul.
“Please, Kaine. Mamma does boring stuff and I’m very tired.”
“I… well, let’s go inside,” I said.
I carried her and she was as light as a little feather. Ripley carried the leftover pizza and the cooler. I sat on the sofa and Makenna curled up in a little ball on my lap. “Cold,” she complained.
I grabbed a throw off the back of the sofa and put it over her. She wiggled around until she was comfy and her breathing grew slow and deep. I heard Ripley puttering around in the kitchen, putting the pizza in Tupperware and then into the refrigerator. She brought me a beer and opened it, setting it on the table where I could reach it. Damn the woman, she waltzed into my house and made herself at home, as if she had every right to be here, and she got away with it because she knew Makenna would have me wrapped around her little finger in nothing flat.
She looked at us for a long moment and I could see tears welling up in her eyes. I hadn’t expected that. The brilliant green of them started sparkling and she turned, grabbed her purse and started for the door. “I shouldn’t be long,” she said over her shoulder. Her voice sounded sort of funny, and I could see her wipe her eyes as she closed the door.
