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Subject: {ASSM} Adoré 10 - Hazel's New Life
Date: Sat, 26 May 2001 07:10:01 -0400
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<1st attachment, "Ador 10.txt" begin>
Ador
A Tale of Romance By The Star*
Chapter Ten - Hazel's New Life
[AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the final chapter in the Ador series. However, I
have in mind to revise it substantially. I'm just not very happy with it. I
want to include some information about Hazel's early life. Maybe even insert
another chapter. And I want to end with a bit more about Ador herself. So,
this makes the story complete, but please don't think too harshly of me if I
come out with a major revision in the future.]
Hazel found herself, for the fourth time that morning, staring blankly out
the window at the ranch, tears trickling unnoticed down her face. Ad had not
been gone all that long, but it was sure that her sense of loss and grief
was deep and profound.
So, after washing her face and choking back the sobs that threatened to take
her over, she decided she needed a change of scene.
"Hazel," she told herself aloud, "you miss him horribly. That's natural and
even commendable. But you've got a lot of life ahead of you and Ad would
paddle your butt if he saw you like this...especially over him. You need to
get out of here, girl, and find something interesting to do."
She finished making the bed, and packed for an extended trip. _'I need new
clothes, too,'_ she thought. _'Well, first stop will be
Portland--Nordstrom's!'_
With that thought, she put back half the clothing she'd planned to take,
then put two bags, one empty, into the trunk of her car. A call to the
Benson Hotel in Portland, to make a reservation, and she was set to go.
It was a matter of minutes to stroll to the training ring, where Marty and
Dory were working.
"Hi, Ma. What's up?" Marty asked.
"I need a change of scene, son," Hazel replied, noting the look of
compassion in Ador 's eyes, and her little nod, when their eyes met.
Marty was pretty quick on the uptake himself. "OK, Ma. Where you headed? And
for how long?"
"Don't know for sure, son. I'll start with Portland. Figure on a couple
weeks, anyway."
"Works for me. But, please let us know how to reach you. And call OFTEN."
Hazel let a small smile cross her face. "I love you too, Marty. Yeah. I'll
call. To start, I'll be staying at the Benson. I need to do some
shopping--and I'll see about selling some cows, too."
Ador piped up, "Sell some horses if you can, Hazel. Getting rid of cows is
easy."
"Why, you got too many horses, Dory?"
"Not too many. But we have several really good jumpers that are eating way
too much here."
Smiling, Hazel quipped, "Yeah. It would be better if they were eating some
rich idiot's hay--and the idiot paid us for the privilege."
"You got it, Mom," Marty agreed.
They quickly agreed on contact times and methods, and Hazel walked over to
Elin's to say goodbye to the grandchildren and tell Elin her plans.
Then she was on the road.
Even driving to Portland was hard. Normally, Ad drove--not because Hazel
wasn't a good driver, but just because he felt that driving was a man's
responsibility. _'Come on girl,'_ she thought to herself. _'You can't tear
up while you're driving. Isn't safe. Get a grip!'_
From Sisters, through the pass west to Salem where she turned onto I-5, the
road was excellent and she made good time. Portland was only an hour away,
once she got to the freeway, and she had no problems until she actually got
into town. She didn't know which exit to take and decided on the one that
said "City Center". Turned out to be a good choice and she was soon on
familiar territory in downtown Portland.
At the hotel, she asked that the car be serviced, when she gave the keys to
the doorman, and that her bags be taken to her room. Check-in was a breeze.
The hotel recognized the name...she and Ad always stayed there when they
visited Portland. Before long, she was installed in her suite, with an
appointment with the hotel's hairdresser scheduled for first thing in the
morning.
"I'll be at least a week. Maybe two," Hazel told the manager when she
checked in.
"No problem, Mrs. Steele. You're welcome here as long as you want to
stay--and we'll always find room for you."
"That's very kind. Thank you."
"Not at all. You and your husband have been loyal guests of the house for
years. We like to take good care of our repeat customers... And, if I may,
we all are very sorry to hear of Mr. Steele's passing. We will miss him a
lot."
"Thank you again. I miss him a lot, too."
In the morning, after a haircut and set, Hazel walked the few blocks to
Nordstrom's downtown store.
Her morning was profitably spent buying new underwear, and two pair of shoes
that fit.
She walked over to Meier & Frank, to have lunch in their 'tea room'. While
she was eating her light snack, she scanned the clothing the other women
were wearing. _'It's been too long since I worried about clothes,'_ she
thought. _'I need new everything... Well, it's not as if I couldn't afford
it.'_
Between Meier & Frank and Nordstrom's, she bought new everything--and some
little presents for the kids and grandkids.
In her suite, she examined her booty, and stowed it in the closets provided.
She had a long, hot bath and called the ranch--talking with Rick and Elin,
and saying hello to Audry. In a day or two, she'd call Marty. Following an
excellent meal in one of the hotel's fine restaurants, she enjoyed a full
night's sleep.
In the morning, she arranged to call on the manager of a large meat
processing company that had bought a lot of steers from them in the past.
And, in a stroke of inspiration, she asked the concierge to prepare for her
a list of the premier hunt club and horse jumping people in the area. She'd
compare the list with the one Ador gave her. Maybe they were missing
somebody.
After listening to condolences on Ad's death, Hazel had a productive meeting
with the meat packer.
"Hazel, my deal with Ad was that I'd buy any of his Herefords at market,
plus five percent. The Angus are marvelous steers, and I always offered ten
percent over market for them. At that, I know I only got about forty percent
of your animals, because Ad shopped them pretty vigorously, and always got
the best prices."
Hazel nodded. That's exactly what Ad did. And Rick was prepared to do the
same.
"I'm prepared to sweeten the deal, if I can get more of your beef. I'll give
you market plus ten percent for Herefords, and fifteen percent for Angus. In
return, I want at least half of your output."
"Well, Jerry, you know that we're starting a new program...?"
"Ad mentioned something that Rick was doing, but didn't give me any
details."
"Basically, we intend to get out of the beef business." Jerry's face fell.
"Don't get too worried until you hear what's happening."
"Always good advice, Hazel. OK. What's happening?"
"Thought you'd never ask... Over the next four or five years, we intend to
sell off our entire stock of Herefords. Some of them we'll sell at
auction--the tested bulls, for example. But most will go for beef, and a few
calves to the Deschutes County 4-H kids.
"You've always been fair with us--which is why you got as much of our beef
as you did. With the additional five percent you've offered, I'll sell you
at least sixty percent of the whiteface...IF we can do it at a contract
price, rather than spot."
"What did you have in mind?"
"How about the average monthly KC price for the last five years, plus ten
percent? Each year, we'll take the new average, and so on, until we're out
of the whiteface business."
Jerry beamed. "Hazel, you surely got a deal. But what do I do five years
from now?"
"That's a whole different thing, Jerry. What Rick's doing is raising a
superior strain of Angus. We're not raising beef, but breeding stock for
other ranchers."
Jerry nodded. He knew there was a need for that, and could understand the
economics of it at once. If successful, it might be a gold mine. He said so,
after he'd thought it through. "That might be the best cash-producer Steele
Ranch has ever done, Hazel. If Rick can really produce a top strain of
breeding animals, the sky's the limit."
"That's kind of what we think, too, Jerry. Now, where do you come in? Well,
we'll have culls. We need to sell them for beef, to someone we're certain
won't keep them in his herd." Hazel paused while Jerry digested this. "And,
of course, they'll be superior beef, so we'll expect superior prices for
them. But I think they'll command pretty exorbitant rates... We both know
that good Angus beef is an outstanding product. You could sell to top
restaurants under a brand name."
"You'll get me enough beef from your culls to do that?"
"We think so. Especially at first. It may taper off, but there will always
be some. And if you can stand to pay ridiculous prices, we'll give you first
shot at them."
Jerry thought a moment. This would put him into a new market, and he wasn't
sure if he wanted to make the effort. Then he looked at his watch. "Hazel,
what you're suggesting is mighty interesting. But I just gotta think on it.
It's nearly five. What say I buy you dinner, and we can kick it around some
more? And you can show me the pictures of your grandkids I know you've got
stashed somewhere."
Hazel grinned and said she'd be delighted.
Over dinner at Jake's Crawfish--Hazel commented that they didn't get much
seafood at the ranch--Jerry asked, "Hazel, were you about thirteen when you
got married?"
That prompted a giggle of delight. "No, Jerry. I'm older than I look. I was
still getting 'carded' when I was in my thirties. Thanks for the compliment,
though."
"Well, you could fool me. I always wondered how old Ad managed to latch onto
such a young chick... and what he had that kept you so attached."
"What he had was integrity, Jerry. I know for a fact that he loved me and
that he never ran around on me--just as I never did on him... once he asked
me to marry him." She grinned a sly smile. "Before that... well, I guess
nowadays you'd say I had quite a reputation."
They spent an enjoyable couple of hours bringing each other up to date on
their families and views of the cattle business. Very similar people, with
similar views about many things, they'd been acquainted for years, though
never close friends only because of the isolation of the ranch. Jerry had
been widowed five years before, and lived in an efficiency apartment within
walking distance of his office.
"Why drive and pay for parking, when I can enjoy my walk, and spend the
money on my grandkids?"
"Why indeed? What do your kids think about you living in a little flat
downtown?"
"Oh, they think I should have kept the place in Lake Oswego. What for? I
don't need the room, or the taxes, or the commute. I offered it to my
son--he couldn't afford the upkeep, much less to buy it from me. I think he
wanted to inherit it someday. Well, not gonna happen. It's gone now. Sold it
to some electronics genius for a lot more than it's worth."
They laughed over the vagaries of the real estate market. Then Jerry said,
"I think I see a way to do what you want with your culls and still make
money on it. My hesitation was whether or not I wanted to put the effort
into developing a new market. But I can see how to do it. My concern now is,
can Rick supply me enough beef, with your 'way above average' culls?"
"That will be part of its attraction, Jerry. The supply is limited."
Jerry laughed. "OK, Hazel. We'll do it. I just hope you can supply enough of
your limited product to make it worth while."
A bit later, Hazel asked, "Jerry? Can I ask you something personal?"
"Sure. If I don't like the question, I may not give an answer, though."
"Fair enough. How do you handle the loneliness?"
"You mean, after my wife died?"
"Yeah. Sometimes, I feel so alone...even with the kids right there...I miss
him, Jerry."
"That's something, Hazel, that only time can heal. Time and getting involved
in something. I threw myself into the business. Now I've slacked off some,
but I still spend too much time at it, I suppose. But what else do I have? I
date occasionally, but that's tough, because most widows want to get married
again and I'm just not sure I want that. I have dinner with one of the kids
every other week or so. I'm careful to give them 'space' and they respect my
desire for my own privacy... thank God. One of my friends, also widowed, has
a daughter who is trying to run his life for him, like he has senile
dementia or something. It's a wicked scene."
Chuckling, Hazel said, "At the ranch, I'm still in charge. I was when Ad was
alive, and that hasn't changed. The kids are real busy, but it's a family
business and we're all close. I just don't know why, with all that, I'm so
lonesome."
"I understand. Completely. I really do. If you'd like, you'd be welcome to
come over to my place for a while. I can hold you for a bit."
"I'd like that, I think. Understand, I'm not promising more than a snuggle."
"That's all I offered, Hazel."
An hour later, Hazel was luxuriating in the feel of a man's arms around her.
She'd shed shoes and pantyhose, and the jacket from her feminine suit. Jerry
felt so good, she just had to kiss him. _'What harm could there be in one
little kiss?'_ she thought.
Turning up her face to him, she tried it. It went well. In fact, it went so
well, she tried it again, with a little more in it. That went even better.
Hazel was still in control of herself, but she remembered her 'wild days'
before she settled on Ad. She remembered the anticipation before the first
time with a new lover. She remembered how fulfilling it could be to have
raw, monkey sex, just for its own sake. And remembering, her mouth opened
and her tongue explored Jerry's lips.
After a moment, Jerry pulled back and looked at her.
"Is this what you really want, Hazel? I'm willing--as I'm sure you can tell
from the lap you're laying on."
"Yeah, Jerry. It is. Like you, I'm not interested in commitment--beyond the
duties of friendship that we share. But I think this might be exactly what I
want right now."
Jerry nodded, gathered her up in his arms, and carried her to his bedroom.
His apartment may have been fairly small, but it was luxurious. Hazel
appreciated that when he gently deposited her atop the down comforter that
covered his queen sized bed.
When she reached for the buttons at the front of her blouse, he said,
"Please. Let me."
He gently but efficiently opened the buttons and pulled the blouse from her
waistband. Her breasts, clad only in her bra, were even larger than he'd
thought. So his next act, after placing the blouse neatly over the back of a
chair, was to open the clasp of the bra and remove it, too.
"God! You're magnificent!" he breathed, just before taking an erect nipple
in his mouth. Hazel's breasts had suffered some sag with age, but no more
than many women in their twenties.
As he sucked and licked, causing Hazel's breathing to quicken, punctuated by
an occasional gasp, she attacked the buttons on his shirt, followed by his
belt and the button on his trousers.
Soon Jerry's hands found the zipper holding her skirt together and opened
it. Releasing her nipples, he pulled the skirt and her panties off of her,
pausing again to admire her superb body, bared to his gaze. Then he shucked
off his shirt and trousers, and joined her, naked, on the bed.
Hazel climbed atop him, which was fine with Jerry, and impaled herself on
his erection, bringing gasps from them both. She grinned and said, "Yep. I
think this is exactly what I need right now. Hang on partner, we're gonna
let 'er buck."
She started by bouncing straight up and down on him, then threw in a little
front and back motion. Soon, though, she leaned forward, supporting herself
with her hands, and kissed him soundly.
Breaking the kiss, Jerry found a nipple again, and started sucking with a
little tooth for gentle bites.
That did it.
Hazel went into orbit, convulsing and shaking, then collapsing on Jerry's
chest.
Over the next week, Hazel and Jerry spent most evenings together. After that
first night, Hazel insisted that they stay at the hotel--so she would be
available if the kids needed to call her.
Their time together wasn't all spent in bed. They had most meals together,
and many long and interesting conversations. Jerry knew some horse people
and set up introductions for Hazel with them, which resulted in the sale of
four horses Ador wanted to get rid of that year.
When Hazel decided it was time for her to head to Seattle, they parted as
good friends, who had bed privileges.
And Hazel had a standing invitation for a repeat visit.
- - + + + + + - -
Seattle was, as usual, a ten-mile-long traffic jam. Hazel left her car in
the hotel garage, and went everywhere by taxi. She did a little more
shopping, in some specialty boutiques, and made some contacts for the
future, for marketing their Angus breeding animals.
She also sold five more horses. Two of the buyers would travel to the ranch,
where Ador would have the final word regarding the fit of horse and rider.
The other three were into the hunt club market and weren't for top-level
riders.
Hazel didn't make any friends like Jerry in Seattle, but she did manage a
couple of one night stands with men she met in the hotel.
By the time she returned to the ranch, three weeks had passed and she had a
much better outlook on life. She even imagined that Ad... would approve.
*(c) 1997, 2001 Extar International, Ltd. All rights reserved. Single
copies for personal, non-commercial use may be downloaded or printed. Any
other uses, including reposting, or posting on an archive site, must have
prior permission from Extar International. Comments always welcome.
<extar@hotmail.com>
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