Renee Pryor placed the star at the top of the tree just so, then looked down at the smiling face of her daughter.
As always, Brianna was beaming back at her mother with her eyes wide, the brown eyes sparkling with life and intelligence.
Even though she had just turned 4, Renee was considering starting Brianna in kindergarten in the fall, because the girl was already reading and already knew her numbers. Renee felt that holding her daughter back a full year until she was legally old enough would be detrimental to her development.
“You know what the star means don’t you, sweetheart?” Renee said.
“Of course, Mommy,” Brianna said. “It was the star that led the wise men to baby Jesus.”
“That’s right, honey,” Renee said, trying but failing to hold back the tears. “And they brought baby Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Gifts…”
And she couldn’t go on. Christmas was exactly one week away, and unless a miracle occurred, there would be no gifts for Renee and Brianna this year.
Renee looked at the scrawny tree, barely three feet tall, which sat on a small table. She really hadn’t wanted to get a tree, hadn’t wanted to put up any Christmas decorations at all. But Brianna had begged and begged until Renee had finally relented.
She’d found the smallest tree she could, because they really didn’t have room for anything bigger, and she’d bought a few ornaments, some things to put up around the tree and a small manger scene. Even though she wasn’t in the holiday spirit, Renee had done it for her daughter.
Brianna saw her mother’s tears, and for at least the thousandth time in the previous weeks, reached up to give Renee a hug that told her everything was going to be all right, that things would work out and that Santa Claus would come, just as he did every year.
Renee finally sat down on the small sofa with Brianna in her lap, and looked around at the tiny trailer they called home.
She should be thankful she had that much, Renee knew. Many of her friends and neighbors there in Waveland were still living in tents, as she and Brianna had for two months after Hurricane Katrina had blown their lives to pieces.
Renee knew she should be thankful, too, for her and her daughter’s lives. Unlike many of her friends – unlike her beloved Uncle Martin – she had heeded the warnings that said this storm would be one for the ages.
She and Brianna had packed up everything her beat-up Volvo could carry and they had fled north at the first light of dawn on Sunday, the day before the storm’s landfall. By the time they had found some place that had a vacant room to stay, they were at Batesville, just 65 miles from Memphis.
That awful Monday, she could only imagine how bad it was on the Gulf Coast, because it was bad enough in north Mississippi, some 300 miles inland. The motel where they were staying had lost power amid the 65 mile per hour winds that Katrina still had even that far from open water.
But nothing could have prepared her for what she found when she finally made it home a week after the storm, after she had run out of money and was forced to vacate her motel room.
It was a wonder she’d even made it that far. She used her last 20 dollars getting seven gallons of gas at a station south of Jackson, and she’d had to wait in line three hours to get that.
She got as far as the railroad tracks in Waveland, still 10 blocks from her house, when she couldn’t get any further because all the streets and roads were still impassible.
At first, she wasn’t sure where she was, because, honestly, the area where she had lived looked like an atomic bomb had been dropped on the area. But when she finally figured out that, yes, that was the spot where her house had been, Renee had just dropped to her knees in disbelief and despair.
Her little house, the one she’d worked so hard to get the down payment on, the one she’d made into a home for herself and her daughter, had been reduced to splinters, her possessions scattered in every direction.
She would eventually find a few of her tattered belongings, a mattress here, a table there, some clothes, but for the most part it was as if her whole life up to that moment had been erased.
Worse was to come. She lost count of the number of school friends and co-workers who were dead or missing, then she got word from her aunt that her uncle had been found dead in his home in Biloxi.
Her Uncle Martin and Aunt Patricia had practically raised her after her father had abandoned her and her mother when Renee was a child. Her mother had worked nights, and when she wasn’t working, she was drinking, and that had caught up with her one night when Renee was 18.
Her mom had been out drinking, gotten up on I-10 to come home and had a wreck. She’d lived for three days, but her injuries were too severe and she’d died.
Unlike a lot of families in that part of the country, hers was a small family. Her father’s people had been from upstate somewhere, she wasn’t sure where, and she’d never had much interest in them anyway, nor had they expressed much desire to have a relationship with her.
Her mom just had her one brother, Martin. Renee herself had been an only child, so when her mom died, her aunt and uncle and her two cousins were the only family she had left.
Renee had always turned to them for advice, and they had usually been right, even when she ignored them, as she did when she married Danny Pryor. He was from Pascagoula, he worked in the shipyard there, and they had met at a nightclub.
Danny had swept Renee off her feet, literally. He was good-looking, always seemed to have a lot of cash, had a garrulous personality, and before long they were seeing a lot of each other.
It shouldn’t be surprising, then, that she came up pregnant after they’d been dating for six months. Renee had gotten around a good bit in high school, so she’d let Danny fuck her pretty early in their relationship. They were partying a lot, and apparently she had gotten lazy about her birth control pills.
Her aunt and uncle had sized up Danny and they hadn’t liked what they saw, and they urged Renee not to marry him. But she wanted her baby and she wanted her baby to have a father, so they had gotten married.
Problem was, they were both 20 years-old, but while Renee was ready to take on the responsibilities of motherhood, Danny was in no way prepared for the responsibilities of marriage, let alone fatherhood.
He still wanted to go out clubbing with his buddies and chase women, still wanted his booze, his pot and his porn. And, not long after Brianna was born, she discovered Danny was into harder drugs. She’d stumbled on his stash of crystal meth, which explained his increasingly wild mood swings.
She’d given him an ultimatum: her or drugs, and she was stunned when he left her for drugs. It turned out to be a blessing.
The divorce had been painful, and Danny had harassed her right up to the time he was sent off to Parchman for his part in a drug deal gone bad, which left a dealer dead in the parking lot of a Gulfport strip joint.
Renee had stubbornly worked to build a life for herself and Brianna. She’d gotten a nice-paying job at the casino in Bay St. Louis as a waitress, made some new friends, gotten involved with a church and had saved the money to buy a little house in a quiet neighborhood six blocks from the beach.
She had been in the house not quite a year when Katrina came through.
Renee had recalled all the times her uncle had been right in his advice, so when he told her, on the Saturday night before the storm, that she needed to leave, she left.
Her uncle had also sent her aunt off to stay with one of their sons in Meridian, but he had stayed behind. He was a ham radio buff, and he’d felt like he had a duty to stay and provide communications.
He’d been at his station, operating on generator power, when the storm surge wrecked his house. A wall had fallen in on him, crushing him.
Renee had been devastated by his death, but she hadn’t had much time to dwell on it. There was so much to do. She had to try to piece together what she could of her homeowner’s insurance, had to go through all the red tape to get state and federal disaster assistance, and, of course, she had to live day to day.
That wasn’t as easy as it sounds. She had no shelter, no food, no money, no job, there was no running water, no electricity, no nothing.
She had thought long and hard about moving into an apartment, perhaps moving away from the Coast. But she quickly discarded that idea. This was her home, the only place she knew, and she was worried that if she abandoned her property and wasn’t there to stay on top of the insurance adjusters, she’d never get a worthwhile settlement, wouldn’t get near what it was worth.
So she had decided to stay, both for herself, and for the older people in the neighborhood who needed a helping hand.
Her church had donated a tent and a pair of sleeping bags, and she had managed to scrounge around for some clothes. She and Brianna had lived on MREs for several weeks until she could acquire the means to feed herself – a cooler, a camp stove, a small grill and food stamps so she could buy groceries.
Together, they had gotten through the month of September and into October, while she worked on getting an insurance settlement and worked on getting their lives back in some semblance of order.
Her patience had finally been rewarded just after Thanksgiving, when FEMA finally came through with a trailer for temporary shelter. It was little more than a large recreational vehicle, but it gave her a solid roof over her head, gave her some place to shower, an operational toilet and a small kitchen area.
She hooked up the trailer to the power box, which was back in operation, and a hose to the water main, and she was as set up as one could expect in such a situation.
In the meantime, Renee realized that she needed a job, and it didn’t look like the casino was going to reopen any time soon, so she’d gotten work at a convenience store.
Just having a job was a big help to her state of mind, but it had meant she had to find a new day care for Brianna, and those weren’t cheap – if you could find one.
So between paying for day care, buying groceries and gasoline, and getting the utilities hooked up in her trailer, Renee didn’t have much money. And just the day before, she’d gotten a notice from her mortgage company that she was going to have to resume paying her house note, beginning with the January payment.
Taking all of that into consideration, Renee knew there wasn’t going to be any money left over for Christmas gifts.
Her job also came with another set of problems: guys coming into the store and hitting on her. When she’d been a teenager, she’d loved the attention of boys, and it’s not surprising that she got the undivided attention of just about all the males at Bay High, students and teachers.
Renee Thomas, her name before she married, was a tall, brown-eyed beauty with a cascading mane of naturally curly honey blonde hair. Motherhood had added just a trace of padding around her hips, but she still had a wondrous body, complete with a succulent pair of 36Cs, a perky butt and long tapered legs that made guys drool.
Now, however, at age 24, she was tired of being looked at like meat on the hoof by all the transients who had flocked to the area looking for construction work, or from the telephone linemen and utility workers from out of state who were there to get the infrastructure rebuilt.
She had been asked out more times in the past six weeks than she had in the previous year, but most of the guys she saw come through the store repelled her. They reminded her too much of Danny.
But there were a couple of exceptions, and one of these was Walt Freeman. Renee was never sure quite what it was about him – and for a long time, she didn’t even know his name – but she definitely felt something each time he came in the store, and that was just about every day.
For one thing, he was older, probably in his early 40s, but he was very handsome in a mature way. His brownish hair was streaked with silver, but it just made him look sexier in her eyes. He wasn’t real big, probably 5-9, but he looked solid.
But what impressed Renee about Walt was his appearance. He was a working man, a construction worker of some kind, but he always looked and smelled fresh. His clothes were clean and well kept, he was well groomed, and, most importantly, he was about the only regular who didn’t hit on her. He was just always very polite, always ready with a smile.
He’d come in every weekday and buy the morning paper, coffee and a cinnamon roll, then sit at one of the booths to read the paper and have his little breakfast.
She wasn’t sure where he was from, but from his accent, she guessed he was from some place up north, the Midwest probably. During her time at the casino, Renee had gotten pretty good at guessing where people were from by their accents. The casino drew people from all over the place, and it had gotten to be a game to her.
Renee found herself wondering about him, what it was that had brought him there, and as she sat in her tiny trailer weeping about Christmas, she suddenly found herself thinking about him.
That got Renee to thinking. What was he going to do for Christmas? Would he go back to his home for the holidays? Would he be alone? Maybe…
But, no, she decided he probably had a wife or a girlfriend somewhere, and he’d undoubtedly spend Christmas there. A man like that wouldn’t be interested in someone like her.
Still, the next morning, when Walt came in at 7:30 for his daily visit, she gave him a little wider smile than usual, which was saying a lot, because Renee always had a big smile for everyone, even the leeches that kept hitting on her.
Walt couldn’t help casting a glance at the girl behind the counter as he ate his roll, sipped his coffee and digested the daily news. Man, was she ever gorgeous, and she seemed to have a great personality. What he could do with that, he thought.
Then he shook his head with a bemused smile. A girl of her age, who was that good-looking, probably had boyfriends all over the Coast, and wouldn’t be the least bit interested in an old fart like him.
He went back to his paper, looking over the previous day’s NFL scores, and shook his head in disgust. The damned Lions were hopeless, he decided. They’d lost again, they’d already fired their coach and they were headed for yet another dismal season.
Ah well, time to go to work. So he folded his newspaper, finished his coffee and headed out the door, but not before casting a backward glance at Renee. Some kind of fine, that one, he thought. Then he put her out of his mind as he climbed into his pickup and headed for work.
Walt Freeman was a carpenter by trade, a framer, and he was a good one. He’d been between jobs back in his hometown in southern Michigan when Katrina came, and after hearing so much about the destruction on the Gulf Coast, he’d decided to go down and help.
His motives weren’t entirely altruistic. He knew construction companies would pay top dollar in such a situation, especially someone with his ability and his references, and he knew work would be plentiful.
He hadn’t been prepared, however, for the scope of the devastation, wasn’t prepared for the suffocating heat that enveloped the area in the weeks after the storm. But he’d toughed it out, and now that December was here, he was enjoying the mild weather that is the hallmark of winter in the Deep South.
Still, he was a little melancholy at the moment. Christmas was less than a week away, and he was going to be spending it alone.
Back home, he would usually spend the holiday with his folks, enjoying opening presents with his brothers and sisters and their children, then after Christmas dinner, he’d go visit his ex-wife and his two sons, and exchange presents with them.
The first Christmas he’d visited them after she’d remarried had been awkward, but he liked her husband and they all got along well enough to enjoy the holiday without rancor.
Walt knew, at some level, that he still loved her and maybe she still loved him, but she was happy with her new husband, and she deserved to be happy after the years of hell he’d dragged her through with his drinking.
Six years earlier, after 15 years of marriage, she’d taken the boys and left him when he came home drunk one time too many. It had taken him another year before he decided to get help, and by the time he got out of rehab, she’d moved on with her life.
Walt had dated around some, but nothing had come of any of those relationships. He always moved on to the next job, leaving some broken hearts behind. But he was a little afraid of commitment after his experience with marriage, so he’d poured himself into finding work wherever he could, and that took him all over the Midwest.
At the moment, he and the crew he was working with were rebuilding a large apartment complex in Bay St. Louis, and there wasn’t going to be time for him to take off to go home. He’d been getting packages of gifts from home, so he would have some Christmas, but he was down about the thought of opening presents alone in the motel room where he was staying.
Walt was never sure exactly why he decided to have lunch at the convenience store that Thursday, three days before Christmas, instead of Burger King or Wendy’s or some other fast food place. Maybe he just wanted to see Renee, who was on his mind a lot lately.
Over the previous few days, he’d sensed that something wasn’t quite right, that behind her smile she was in a deep funk. And, the previous day, she’d asked him his name and asked where he was spending Christmas. Odd.
The store wasn’t too crowded, and he’d ordered a two-piece dinner box of fried chicken for lunch from the store’s deli. As he got to the counter, he noticed that Renee wasn’t working, as he knew she usually did. But he shrugged it off, paid for his meal and sat down at a booth.
Just then, the door to the women’s restroom opened, and Renee came out, and it looked like she’d been crying. She sat down heavily at the booth next to his and just stared out the window.
“Are you all right?” Walt said hesitantly.
“Um, y-yeah, I’m OK,” Renee answered wearily.
“You don’t look OK,” Walt said. “You want to tell me about it?”
Renee wasn’t sure why, but she looked at Walt’s sky-blue eyes, saw the sincerity, the genuine concern, and moved to sit across from him.
“I don’t know why I’m telling you this,” she began. “But… It’s my daughter. She’s expecting a visit from Santa Claus, and I haven’t got the heart to tell her that Santa’s not going to come this year. I mean, she’s got a couple of wrapped presents from my aunt, and I’ve managed to get a her a couple of things, but she’s got this idea that Santa’s going to bring all these wonderful things, and I just can’t afford it. What with the storm and everything, I don’t have it to spare.”
Walt listened as Renee told her about her uncle, about losing her job at the casino thanks to the hurricane, about how she’d lost several of her best friends, and really didn’t have anyone to exchange gifts with.
“I mean, all I have is this little FEMA trailer, and that’s not home,” Renee said, finally. “I want a home again, and that’s… not going to… happen.”
Renee tried but failed to stem the tears that began to flow again. But she quickly dried her eyes and got ready to go back to work. She really shouldn’t have given this stranger her sob story. He’s probably heard them all, she decided.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have laid all this on you,” Renee said. “I don’t want you to think I’m begging. We’ll make the best of it, and I’m sure Brianna will understand. She’s very smart, and very wise for a 4-year-old. It’s just that she’s my life, and I want to make her happy. Anyway, thanks for being a sounding board. I do feel better already.”
“Hey, no problem,” Walt said. “Any time you need a shoulder to cry on, give me a call.”
Walt took one of his business cards and handed it to Renee. It had his cell number at the bottom, and he took a pen and circled it. Renee took it and thanked him, and felt just a brief crackle of excitement as her fingers brushed the top of his hand.
Walt thought about the exchange that whole afternoon and it weighed on his heart that night as he sat at the booth in the restaurant where he was having his dinner. The more he thought about it, the more an idea began to grow in his mind.
A 4-year-old girl deserved a visit from Santa Claus, and so did her mother. He had gotten a sense that Renee was lonely, that maybe she didn’t have the kind of social life he’d thought she had.
The next morning, he cast a glance in Renee’s direction while he engaged one of her co-workers on the shift in a conversation. At first, the woman was a little suspicious when Walt had asked for Renee’s address, but when he told her what he had planned, he got what he needed.
Then he smiled at Renee like he always did, without letting on about his plans. As soon as he got off work, he drove over to the Wal-Mart in Gulfport to play Santa.
He spent an hour and a half shopping for Renee and Brianna, buying dolls, books, toys, board games for the daughter, and a nice sweater, a blouse, some jeans and a dress for the mother.
He was just about to head for the register when he spied a gold cross necklace in a jewelry case with the word, “hope,” etched across the front. It wasn’t a real expensive piece, but something about it spoke to him.
He honestly wasn’t consciously interested in a relationship with Renee at that point, but he was interested in being a friend, and having a friend.
He was friendly enough with the guys on his work crew, but they were younger and most of them were the kind of carousers he’d been when he was their age, and that sort of life had no appeal to him any more. Either that, or they were Mexicans who largely kept to themselves. In the nearly four months that he’d been there, he hadn’t made one good friend, male or female.
So he’d bought the necklace, then bagged up everything and took it back to his motel room. He thought about dressing up in a Santa suit, but decided against it. Some of the gifts he wrapped, others he simply kept loose, so they’d be ready for distribution from Santa the next night.
Renee had worked a half-day that Saturday, and was in a truly despondent mood as she sat at her little table around 3 o’clock that afternoon. Her aunt had begged her to come up on Christmas Day to join her in Meridian, and she was considering it, although she wasn’t looking forward to the 2½-hour drive.
Brianna was taking a nap, so they’d be rested up for the Christmas Eve service at her church. Renee had decided that if nothing else, they’d celebrate the true reason for the season. Maybe if she prayed hard, a miracle would happen.
Just then, she heard a pickup truck pull up. Puzzled, she stepped out the door, then grinned widely when saw it was Walt, then her eyes got wide when she saw him reach into the bed of the truck and pull out an armload of wrapped presents.
“What the…?” she stammered.
“You need a Christmas,” he said firmly. “And so does your daughter.”
“B-b-but, you… you didn’t have to do that,” Renee was nearly in tears. “Honestly, I wasn’t begging at all. Please, you shouldn’t…”
“Nonsense,” Walt said as he carried the gifts into the trailer. “I’ve got no one to spend Christmas with, I’ve got more money right now than I know what to do with, and it’s the least I can do. I have a lot to be thankful for, a healthy family back in Michigan, all my possessions, and I can’t imagine being in your situation and having nothing. Merry Christmas, Renee, you deserve this for all you’ve been through.”
At that, Renee burst into tears and gave Walt a big hug, and as their bodies came together, a definite sizzle passed between them. They sort of looked at each other oddly, then separated, just a bit flustered.
“Oh, this isn’t all,” Walt said, leading Renee to the truck where he showed her the Santa gifts he’d bought for Brianna.
Renee was stunned speechless by the generosity of this man she barely knew.
“I don’t know how I can thank you,” Renee said. “I was actually thinking about praying for some miracle at church tonight. And now…”
“Every 4-year-old deserves a Santa Claus,” Walt said softly. “Especially a smart little girl who’s been through something like what your daughter’s been through. If you want, I can bring these in and stash them away somewhere so you can put them out tonight.”
“Just leave them there for now,” Renee said. “I really don’t have any room, and, well, would you like a cup of coffee?”
“I don’t know,” Walt said, torn between his desire to stay and the need to leave.
He wasn’t sure if he’d be imposing if he stayed, and he didn’t want Renee to think he was making untoward advances. He’d sensed over the previous few days of careful observation that she didn’t much like the way guys at the store made passes at her, and he sure didn’t want her to think that about him.
“Please?” Renee said. “Come in and visit for awhile. I haven’t had a visitor here since I got this trailer, and I could use the company, especially tonight.”
So Walt sat down at Renee’s little table, had coffee, met Brianna – who had awakened at the sound of a strange voice in the trailer – had more coffee, and they talked for two hours.
Walt told Renee about his life, and she told him about her trails and tribulations, and as darkness fell, it was obvious that they were kindred spirits in a lot of ways. He also got to know Brianna, and he was impressed by her intelligence and her sweet sincerity.
Finally, Walt thought it might be time for him to leave, but then Renee invited him to go to church with them.
“Come on, it will do you good,” Renee said. “Everyone ought to go to church on Christmas Eve, even if you’re not terribly religious, just to reaffirm why we celebrate this holiday. I was going to go in hopes that it would lift my spirits; now I want to go to thank God for you.”
“I’ve already imposed enough on your hospitality,” Walt said.
“Mr. Walt, you’ll make Mommy sad if you don’t come with us,” Brianna blurted. “I think she likes you.”
Walt laughed and Renee blushed at that, but that helped Walt make up his mind, so off they went in Renee’s Volvo. For some reason, Renee was nervous and excited about having Walt with her at the service, and it wasn’t just gratitude for his generosity.
Sometime in the course of the afternoon, she’d begun to realize that she was terribly attracted to Walt Freeman, physically and emotionally. She sensed – as he did with her – that he was a kind, lonely person in need of a friend.
The friends she’d had before the storm were either dead or departed, and she needed someone she could confide in, someone she could talk to.
But more than that, she realized she needed a lover, someone to hold her, someone to touch her in all those private places, someone to share her passion. She’d gone too long without someone like that, and she had a feeling that Walt had been placed in her path just for that reason.
And the service seemed to have a spellbinding effect on both Walt and Renee. One choir member sang “Ave Maria,” with such beauty and clarity that it brought tears to the eyes of everyone in the building. The pastor gave a short but eloquent sermon about the importance of the Virgin Mary as the hope for mankind, then the lights were dimmed and, one by one, everyone passed the flame of hope in a candlelight climax that left Walt strangely moved.
In truth, he was entranced by being in the presence of this beautiful, sensuous, but lonely creature who seemed to be crying out for love.
After the service, Renee enjoyed introducing Walt to her fellow churchgoers as, “her friend.” It felt good to be with a man of such quiet strength, a mature man who had answered her prayers in such a profound way.
Once they got back headed toward Renee’s place, they each realized that they were hungry – in every sense of the word. The only place open on Christmas Eve, though, was the Waffle House out by the interstate, so the three of them plopped down there for dinner.
As they ate, Renee and Walt discussed their plans for the next day. Renee wanted Walt to share Christmas dinner with her and Brianna, the problem was she didn’t have anything bought, and nothing was open.
Finally, dinner was over, and the three of them drove home in silence. Brianna had fallen asleep, and Walt and Renee were lost in their own thoughts.
When they got back to Renee’s trailer, Renee carried Brianna into her little sleeping area while Walt gathered the Santa gifts. Together, they spread the gifts out over the small sofa that dominated one side of the trailer.
Finally, all the gifts were out, and Walt stood unsure what to do next.
“I should probably be going,” he said, unconvincingly.
“Please, stay for a little while,” Renee said. “I like having you around. Come on, let’s look at the stars.”
It was a clear, cool night, and with all the streetlights still out, the stars were quite visible. They sat together on the steps to Renee’s trailer, and Renee looked up at the sky, then closed her eyes tight and spoke softly, almost to herself.
“Star bright, star light, first star I see tonight,” she whispered. “I wish I may, I wish I might, first star I see tonight.”
Walt sat with his hand in his coat pocket, fingering the box containing the necklace he’d bought. He’d planned on wrapping it and leaving it for Renee to open the next morning, but now he wanted to see her reaction.
“I got something for you,” he said softly. “I don’t know if this is what you wished for, but I hope you’ll accept it in the spirit it’s given.”
He handed over the box, and Renee’s eyes widened as she saw it. She knew it wasn’t a terribly expensive piece of jewelry, but she understood the sentiment behind it.
“I hope I’m not being too presumptuous, but I just felt like you needed something to lift your spirits,” Walt said. “You’ve seemed awfully down the past few days.”
“It’s beautiful,” Renee said. “Here, help me put it on.”
Renee held her thick hair up while Walt hooked the clasp, and the soft touch of his fingers on the back of her neck sent goose bumps up and down her whole body. She was getting wet just from the closeness of his body, the touching of their thighs.
For long pregnant seconds, they stared into each other’s eyes, as their lips slowly closed the distance separating them.
Then Renee wrapped her hand around Walt’s neck and drew him to her and they kissed, softly, tentatively at first, but as they lost themselves in the moment their lips and tongues worked together in a mounting fever.
Unconsciously, Renee’s right hand slid into Walt’s lap and she squeezed the bulge under his jeans. Walt couldn’t remember being this turned on, but he wasn’t ready to let himself go, wasn’t prepared to let Renee do something she might regret later on.
“Renee, you don’t have to do this,” Walt said softly. “I didn’t come here expecting anything from you. I mean, hell, you don’t even know me.”
“Walt, I know you,” Renee whispered. “You’re just like me. It’s Christmas Eve and you’re alone.”
And she pulled him to her again, and they kissed again, ravenously. This time, Walt let his hands roam over Renee’s lush body. He could feel her stiff nipples boring into the bra underneath her shirt, he could hear the quickening of her breathing as a hand snaked between her jean-clad legs.
This time, when they separated, they were both panting in their desire.
“Walt, please, take me inside and love me,” Renee panted.
“Are you sure?” Walt said. “I don’t want you to do anything you’re not comfortable with. I don’t want you to wake up in the morning and regret what you did tonight.”
“Stay with me,” Renee said. “Walt, I want you. I want you like I’ve never wanted anyone before in my life. Stay with me tonight, and we’ll let tomorrow take care of itself.”
Silently, they walked back into the tiny trailer, back to the small bedroom where Renee slept. They stood together in the darkness, as their hands slowly worked the buttons on their shirts open. Renee pulled Walt’s T-shirt off, and ran her hands through the fur on his chest, let her fingers circle his stiff nipples.
Renee pushed Walt down onto her bed, then bent to remove his shoes, his socks, then got his belt open and unbuttoned his jeans. Walt just leaned back on his elbows, watching her work, reveling in the sensations of her soft hands on his naked body.
Walt was hard, achingly hard, and Renee’s eyes were alive as she held his manhood. His cock was the perfect size, she decided, not too big and not too small, about 6½ inches and plenty thick. Her thumb worked a ball of pre-cum from the tip and smeared the fluid all over the head.
Renee stood up then, reached back and unhooked her bra, then unsnapped her jeans and pulled them down her legs, leaving her clad only in her bikini panties. Walt just stared as he drank in the sight of Renee’s magnificent breasts, with the light brown nipples standing out in full arousal.
Walt sat up and pulled Renee to him, and he feasted on her tits, lavishing licks, kisses, sucks and nibbles on the hard flesh. Renee stood with her eyes closed, swaying to the beat of her lust.
Even as he worked his mouth on her breasts, Walt’s hands slid around her back and into her panties. One hand slipped between her legs and Renee gasped as his fingers found her gushing sex. She groaned heavily as Walt plowed two fingers into her steaming box.
Abruptly, Walt pulled his fingers out of Renee’s panties, stood up and turned her around, then pushed her back onto the bed. Renee looked up at Walt with eyes pleading for release. Walt reached under Renee’s butt and pulled the panties forcefully up her legs, tossing them aside.
At first, Renee thought he was just going to plow his way in and fuck her, like every other man she’d ever had. But Walt wasn’t rushing into this. He’d gone too long without a woman, especially one this pretty and this sexy, and he was going to enjoy her to the fullest.
Walt bent down, spread her legs open and stared for just a moment at the fragrant gash that confronted him. It was a juicy pink color, and framed by a thick bush the same honey blonde color as the hair on her head.
He had to taste her, had to consume her. He reached under her butt and pulled Renee’s body up slightly, then pressed his face to her pussy. He slashed his tongue up her groove, and was gratified to hear a lustful moan escape her lips.
Pressing his attack, he worked his tongue all over her flooded hole, up to her throbbing clit, then back down her slot. He brought his lips to bear on her pussy, sucking her hole almost like a cock, then licking vigorously in a circular motion, hitting every part of her cunt.
Renee grabbed fistfuls of the sheet as a huge orgasm reached critical mass in her body, and she humped her hips upward to get as much of Walt’s talented mouth on her pussy as she could. Gasps and moans filled the room as she climbed rapidly up the roller coaster of lust.
When she reached the peak, it seemed like time stood still for just a moment, then with a heavy groan, her climax exploded through her body and she shuddered from head to toe. Her hands gripped the back of Walt’s head as she felt the orgasm flowing out her body.
When she opened her eyes, she saw Walt hovering over her, on his knees with his cock firmly in his fist. She smiled languidly, and reached up for him.
“Fuck me, Walt,” she panted. “Fuck me hard. I need you, now.”
That was all the invitation Walt needed, but Renee made sure he got the message by reaching between her legs and prying open her wet lips with two fingers. Walt pressed the throbbing head of his cock to her delicious hole and thrust hard, all the way in.
They both groaned loudly as their mutual lust ran wild. Within seconds, Walt was in a steady rhythm, fucking Renee’s hot, tight pussy with everything he had. He leaned in and took her in his arms, and they kissed again, wildly, passionately, all the weeks and months of deprivation bursting out in a coupling of screaming lust.
Together, Walt and Renee worked as one, their bodies in sync from the first moment his cock entered her pussy. As Walt got into his pace, he was able to call on his considerable control, and he was able to slow himself once, twice, three times when it seemed like he was close to the edge.
And Renee was right there with him. She marveled at how he was able to work at a pace that maximized her pleasure, how he was able to hit every one of her hot spots with machine-like precision. She’d never had sex like that, but then, she realized, all of her previous lovers had been boys, and this was a man.
She could feel another, stronger orgasm building strength, getting ready to explode, and her body was working with Walt’s to get them both there at the same time.
And Walt was getting there, as well. He could feel the tingle in his scrotum that told him his control was just about gone, so he redoubled his pace, and worked his cock like a piston in Renee’s trembling cunt.
Renee wrapped her legs around Walt’s waist and surrendered to her passion, feeling her climax coming quickly to a head. Walt was gasping, grunting, crying as he reached the firing strokes, and just as Renee seemed to be falling into space, she felt Walt’s cock swell then explode deep in her womb.
Walt felt every nerve ending screaming as he released his long pent-up load. He fired jet after jet of superheated cum deep in Renee’s clenching cunt, and she milked him of every drop with her vaginal muscles.
Together, they twitched in the long, slow descent of mutual climax, until they finally slumped together in sweaty satisfaction.
“Wow!” Renee whispered into Walt’s ear. “That was fantastic. Are you always that good?”
“I don’t know,” Walt laughed. “Could just be I was extra horny, because it’s been a while.”
“How long has it been?” Renee said, as Walt slid off her sweat-covered body.
She felt a sizzle of lust course through her as Walt’s cock flopped wetly from her dilated pussy, followed by a thick flow of hot cream.
“Gosh, over a year, I guess,” Walt said. “The last serious girlfriend I had was back in Fort Wayne, when I was doing a job over there. She wanted me to stay, and I was tempted, but I decided I needed to get back home. Since I don’t go to bars any more, I don’t meet a lot of available women, and besides, I’m not much into one-nighters any more. I’m too old for that.”
“Good, because I’m not either,” Renee said. “I hope you don’t think I’m easy, because of this. I used to be, but after my divorce, I really took a long look at my lifestyle, and I realized that being easy was what got me hooked up with my ex, and he was such a loser. I’m really lucky. He could have really hurt me.”
“So, I guess it’s been awhile for you too, then,” Walt said as he held Renee in a warm embrace.
“Three years, ever since Danny left me,” Renee said, staring out the tiny window at the moon, which was just then rising in the east. “I didn’t think I’d missed it, until tonight.”
“Why me? Why now?” Walt asked.
“I really don’t know,” Renee said. “I guess I sensed that you needed a home just as much as I did. I believe I can trust you. And… And I think I’m falling in love with you. I hope that doesn’t send you screaming in the other direction. I mean, it’s early and all, but I have a good feeling about you. Plus, Brianna really likes you, and she’s a pretty good judge of people for a 4-year-old.”
“Home…” Walt sighed. “I haven’t had a real home since my wife left me. I mean, I don’t even keep an apartment any more. I just find a place near whatever job I’m on at a given time, and I stay with my folks when I’m back in Michigan.”
Renee laid her head on Walt’s chest, feeling the steady beat of his heart.
“Walt, I want you to know something,” Renee said softly. “As long as you’re with me, you’ll always have a home.”
The waning moon that was rising in the east cast a soft glow on the small bedroom as Renee slid her hand down to Walt’s cock, and she felt a thrill run through her body as she realized that he was already semi-hard again.
Renee slid herself down Walt’s body, and he felt a sizzle of lust as her rock-hard nipples caressed his skin. Her tongue licked and chewed at his stiff nipples, while her hand softly massaged his rapidly swelling cock.
She settled in between his legs, and inhaled the sweaty essence of their earlier passion, the commingled scent of their lust. Her pussy was buzzing with renewed arousal as she brought her lips to his shaft and worked her tongue up the fleshy stalk.
Walt lay back letting the sensations swell as Renee’s lips and tongue cleaned his cock, and brought him back to full roar. Renee was mesmerized by Walt’s cock, and she knew she wanted to consume him, now and possibly forever. She wanted him to possess her, wanted him to make her his.
Opening her mouth wide, she slipped the head of his cock past her lips and into her mouth, slowly and softly drawing him in, until she had a little over half of him in.
Working her mouth up and down, she looked up and was gratified to see the look of reverie on Walt’s face, his eyes closed in rapture as he reveled in the feeling of her mouth on his cock.
“You do that so well,” Walt whispered.
“I had a lot of practice when I was younger,” Renee said, taking her mouth off his cock and licking down the shaft.
She softly sucked his balls into her mouth, laving them with her saliva. She slid her tongue up his shaft, and resumed sucking Walt’s cock at a leisurely pace.
Deeper and deeper, she worked her mouth over his cock, until she flared her nostrils and sucked him all the way to the root. She got a crackle of lust at the way Walt’s pubic hair tickled her nose.
Working her way back up, Renee threw her curly mane back and stared with lust-lidded eyes at Walt, who stared back with an equally passionate look. Their lust was blossoming with every hot look, every motion.
Renee never took her eyes off Walt as she got up on her knees, straddled his hips and fit the head of his cock to her flooded hole. Then she closed her eyes in lust and groaned softly as she slid down the length of him, letting him fill her with his hard meat.
Slowly, sensually, she worked her hips back up, then back down, riding Walt’s cock slowly, letting the feelings of lust wax and wane with each rhythmic thrust. She was in a place far away, a place of peace and beauty, with a man she thought she could grow to love.
For his part, Walt was simply concentrating on making sure he gave Renee every bit of pleasure he could in that position. He worked his hips upward in a circular motion to drive his cock into Renee’s pulsing pussy, working to keep his cock at maximum hardness.
He looked up and saw the necklace dangling from Renee’s neck, which was all she had adorning her body. He reached up and lightly fingered the cross, and Renee smiled.
“Ummm, yeah, such a sweet man,” she said breathlessly. “You’re… the best… I’ve ever had.”
Walt moved his hands to Renee’s jiggling breasts, which were rolling and shaking like bowls full of jelly. He lightly pinched her nipples then pulled her down so she could dangle her tits in his mouth. He suckled each of her nipples, lavishing the proper attention on her gorgeous orbs.
He was working trying to hold back the molten load of cum that was boiling over in his balls, and now Renee was starting to work harder for her own orgasm, her moans and gasps becoming more and more strident.
She was raising up and slamming her hips down on Walt’s cock with more force, as she felt the telltale twitter of his cock that told her he was going to give her another hot load of his precious cum.
Faster and harder, they worked, as Renee’s tits wobbled in every direction. She could feel her climax building, and she threw her hair back and let it roar. From deep in her gut, she felt it rumble, and with a sharp cry, it boiled to the surface. Her body shuddered as the orgasm ripped through her.
Walt felt it too, and drove his cock up hard to get there at the same time. Their motions were almost out of control as they reached the point of no return, and he cried out sharply as the crisp load of cum exploded up his cock and out the tip, bathing Renee’s womb in steaming-hot cream.
Renee fell atop Walt, their sweat-slick bodies sliding together in luxuriant satisfaction, their mouths working at each other in the frenzied afterglow of lust.
Walt wasn’t sure what the future might hold, but he knew he wasn’t going to let Renee get away, the way he had with every other woman he’d ever had. She was everything he’d ever wanted in a woman, and he was determined he’d do whatever it took to make her happy.
Renee just lay quietly on Walt’s chest, her body heaving with the strain of her exertion. She’d finally found what she’d always been looking for, and she really hadn’t been looking for him. She knew Walt wasn’t perfect, that he had a home far away that he would someday return to. But she knew that as long as he was on the Coast – and maybe beyond – she’d give him a home there.
“Walt?” she asked sleepily.
“Huh?” Walt said, his thoughts jolted back to earth.
“I meant what I said earlier,” Renee said. “I wasn’t just saying that. As long as you’re with me, you’re home. Always.”
“Thanks,” he said. “That means a lot. I’ve been awfully lonely down here. So, tell me. Did you get your wish?”
“What do you mean?” she answered.
“When you wished on the first star,” he said. “Did you get what you wanted?”
“And then some,” she said as she hugged Walt. “I got the best gift a woman could get, right here.”
“I think I’m starting to like it here,” Walt said with a chuckle.
“Look at the clock,” Renee said with a smile, indicating the little alarm clock on the bedside dresser that read 12:02. “Merry Christmas, Walt. You’ve made me a very happy woman tonight, and I love you for it.”
“Merry Christmas, Renee,” Walt said, bringing his new love into the tight embrace of his arms. “Merry Christmas, my love.”
It was barely dawn when Renee heard the gasping squeal of delight from the front room as Brianna discovered that Santa Claus had indeed come, just the way she had promised her mother he would.
And as they opened presents, then went out for Christmas dinner, Renee thought about all the Christmases that she’d gotten more gifts and trinkets than she knew what to do with, and compared them to what she’d gotten that day, and she knew she’d treasure this Christmas above all others.
She’d gotten the best gift a person could receive, the gift of hope. And it didn’t hurt any that she got the gift of love in the bargain.
There were still many long, hard weeks and months of rebuilding ahead of her, but Renee knew now that she was going to make it, because she had found someone that she could make a home with. In the midst of tragedy and despair, she’d gotten a home for Christmas, and that was the best gift of all.