I nodded, closed my eyes. She was suddenly my wife and I made love to her one last time. I positioned myself between her legs and touched her lips with my penis tip. It slipped easily up and down her slit and I knew she was ready. I instantly found her hole and slid inside her, lowering myself gently into her, though never resting my weight on her. As I moved slowly, we kissed passionately and she sighed, just as Danielle used to sigh.

‘Touch yourself. I’d like that.’ She looked a little abashed. ‘It’s OK. It doesn’t mean I’m not satisfying you. A cock doesn’t stimulate that part while we’re fucking. Touch yourself. Make yourself cum with me inside you. No need to speak, my love, unless you want to - I’ll feel you tighten and make sure we cum together.’

I maintained a gap between us, taking the weight on my knees and arms and I felt her hand slide down there. Her knuckles brushed my belly as she masturbated and nearly took me over the edge. Her wet hair formed a halo around her head, stuck to her face, and I thought of Danielle in the hospital.

With those words she started to grind herself into me, her pelvis thrusting up to meet mine and we pounded together urgently, though we somehow kept the same smooth rhythm. Her noises were sweet, soft and sighing, a series of tiny cries and sobs. This was how I wanted to remember Danielle – my gorgeous wife, my wonderful lover, not the wasted body in the hospital - and my heart and mind swelled with my love for her. But now I acknowledged the beautiful girl I was with at that moment. I felt her need, as I needed to make this special moment all she had ever dreamed of.

‘Open your eyes. Regina! Open your eyes. Look at me. I’m making love to you. I love you.’ Her eyes met mine and I felt her deep solitude, her desperation. ‘I’m here, my love. Cum for me.’ Now her eyes were wide, fearful, full of pain. Then they softened, she relaxed and her anguish dissipated with every thrust. She felt my love wash over her, as I felt waves of love emanate from her, and she started to cum. I sensed her cunt tighten around my shaft as her sighs grew faster, deeper, louder. A beatific look transformed her face and then she came. Her orgasm went on and on and I stared in wonder at this vision beneath me. Now I let myself go. I closed my eyes and let everything go - the grief, the anguish, the pain, the bitterness, all of it, and emptied myself into her. I held her and we kissed and cried and cried and cried ourselves to sleep. At some point in the night I rose from the treacle depths of the sweetest dream to feel her spooning me. She wrapped her arm around my chest and pulled herself closer to me, all the while whispering over and over:

‘Someone saved my life tonight… someone saved my life tonight…’

In the morning she was gone. I searched the house, shouting her name, but to no avail.