The Many Loves of Anna Marie Pt. 03

The Many Loves of Anna Marie Pt. 03

Maonaigh, one of my favorite authors on Literotica, requested a story about Anna, the “Lady in Red.” Here is her story. This is part three of a four-part story. It would help to read Pt. 02 first.

Note: Sinéad is pronounced shin-AYD – Ciara is pronounced KEE-ra – Sionainn is pronounced sh-AH-non – Sean is pronounced sh-AW-n – Siobhan is pronounced shi-VHAN – Séamus is pronounced SHAY-muss – Saoirse is pronounced SEER-sha – ‘Sia is pronounced sh-AH

© 2023 Candy_Kane54

November 1968

Before leaving home and starting at Harvard, Mom and Dad surprised me with a new car as a graduation present. My brother Sean and Dad had picked it out for me. It was a 1968 Ford Fairlane that was big enough to hold all of my stuff so I could drive up to Boston to start at Harvard Business School and have a car to get around with once I was there. It was a nice car, making the twelve-hour drive to Boston enjoyable.

Because it was a twelve-hour drive each way, I’d have to fly home to visit during Christmas once I was settled in at Harvard. I could drive home for summer break, but once I got an internship, even the summer break would be short. The distance would mean that I would be visiting less often than I could before. At least Pan Am had several flights a day between Boston and Washington DC and connections with Eastern Air Lines to Richmond, so I could get home and back without much trouble.

The weather cooperated during my drive, so it was a pleasant but long trip. Once I got to Boston, I had to contend with the crazy drivers and the crooked streets I found there. Finally, I reached the campus and checked in to get my dorm room. Unlike my senior year at Penn State, I would have a roommate this year. Her name was Deirdre, and she was also going for her MBA. She was moving in as I showed up, so we immediately met. Deidre was a beautiful woman and a pleasant person. She had quickly made sure to show me her engagement ring, going on about the great guy, Brad, she was going to be marrying soon.

I was glad to know that Deirdre was taken, so all the stress from worrying about whether or not to make a play for her was off the table, and we could share the room and nothing more. To head off her attempts to hook me up with any of her male friends, I told her I had someone back home that I was interested in.

As we settled in, we exchanged our life stories. I made sure that I edited mine so that the fact I was a lesbian wasn’t part of it. I also didn’t share my story about being raped and having twins that were adopted when they were born. I felt terrible that I was telling a story rather than the truth about my life, but that would always be the price I’d have to pay for how I wanted to live my life. I could tell that Deidre was in love with her fiancé, and from what she told me, he was in love with her.

I was pleased to discover I could have a telephone in my room. The room had two telephone jacks so we could each have our own phone. I’d have to pay for it myself. But, at least I’d be able to have private conversations with Sinéad or anyone else I would be seeing, assuming Deirdre wasn’t in the room. I was glad that Deidre was also planning to get her own telephone so I wouldn’t have to worry about her using my phone while I was gone.

By the end of the week, our phones were installed, and I took the first opportunity to call Sinéad and tell her about it. I got to talk to Sionainn, too, and she regaled me about her road trip and stay in Gatlinburg with Sinéad. They had really enjoyed their trip and were already planning to do it again next year.

In addition to my classes, I had gotten an internship with Martin Marietta. This aerospace contractor did a lot of business with the Department of Defense (DoD). Their offices were located in Burlington, about a ten-mile trip each way, near Hanscom Air Force Base (AFB). I had scheduled most of my classes for M-W-F so I could spend a half-day at Martin Marietta every Tuesday and Thursday.

Of course, I wasn’t in charge of anything important. I mainly acted as a gopher for the middle managers working on different DoD contracts. They would mentor me, showing how the schooling I had received translated into how things worked in the real world. I especially liked being rotated between the different projects, so I got exposed to several other programs involving avionics, sensors, and even missiles. I found the various programs exciting, seeing firsthand what new technologies were being worked on for DoD.

Because of my work with DoD contracts, I had to get a Secret Clearance. That involved a background check to ensure I wasn’t a Soviet spy, but since I would be focused on the business and financial end of things, that would be sufficient for my work. I had worried they might find out I was a lesbian. Apparently, they didn’t dig that deep, just interviewing a few of my friends and family members. I’m sure they knew about my babies being adopted and briefly wondered if they had found out where they were during their investigation.

Since my brother Sean worked for General Dynamics in Ft. Worth and had a Top Secret clearance, they must have felt I was safe. It took only three weeks to get my clearance paperwork approved, so I’ve had access to what I needed for the job for the last two weeks.

I was fascinated by the budgeting process that DoD contractors had to work with. The US government worked on a two-year budgetary cycle since each Congress lasted two years. Budgets always had to be reworked because any new Congress wasn’t held to anything done by the previous Congress regarding budgets. Because budgets were so volatile, contractors working with DoD needed a higher percentage of financial officers than contractors working on only civilian projects did.

All budgets were for the project’s entire life, so they constantly juggled the number of units produced with the total price, trying to get the cost per unit as low as possible. You had to remember that 70% of any program’s total cost would be supporting and maintaining the units. This is one of the reasons why aircraft are stored at Davis-Monthan AFB rather than being scrapped… it’s a bookkeeping loophole used to keep the cost per unit low enough to justify keeping the program alive.

Thanksgiving was coming up, and I needed to figure out what I would do during the short break. One thing I had wanted to do was visit the Sapphic Portal, a bar and lounge that catered exclusively to lesbians. I had seen the flyers advertising it on the bulletin boards in the dorm but had been too busy to try to get there yet. It was over in Chelsea, and I planned to visit it on the Friday after Thanksgiving since there were no classes that day.

Deidre was spending the break at her fiancé’s family home in Rochester, New Hampshire. She was so excited about spending time with her fiancé that her happiness rubbed off on me, despite my having to spend Thanksgiving alone. However, the Student Union would serve a Thanksgiving dinner, and the chapel would be open for services and Mass.

Still, I planned to attend Mass but felt alienated from my faith because I couldn’t participate in the Eucharist. I had gone to Confession once, but when I confessed my love for another woman, the priest lectured me on the sin of homosexuality and told me that until I gave up my feelings for other women, my sins could not be forgiven. He also reminded me that if I wasn’t sincere in giving up my love, I’d be committing a mortal sin by receiving the body of Christ under false pretenses. I left in tears, accepting that I’d always be on the outside looking in until the Church or I changed. I was sure the first would never happen in my lifetime, and I had no intention of changing, so that left me in a no-win situation.

Friday found me in front of my mirror, checking out the outfit I planned to wear to the Sapphic Portal. Having never been to a lesbian establishment before, I wasn’t sure how to dress. I decided on jeans and a button-down shirt under my jean jacket. I was trying to go for an ambiguous look, not wanting to look too femme or too butch. I figured I could pull it off by wearing my heels and my hair pulled back in a simple low ponytail. I turned back and forth, liking how my jeans made my ass look good.

I drove over to Chelsea, planning to at least eat dinner at the Sapphic Portal if nothing else. I had looked up the location on a street map and had written down the directions, but the narrow, crooked streets made it hard to figure out where to go. While some areas had streets laid out in a grid, they just wended every which way in other places. Some roads were well-marked, and others weren’t. Finally, I came to 4th Street, found the Sapphic Portal, and pulled into the parking lot behind it, which was quite full. I found a spot and parked, checked my appearance, got out, and headed for the door.

The doorman/guard checked me out as I approached the entrance. She smiled at me, held up her hand in a ‘Stop’ motion, and said, “I’m going to need to see some identification, please.”

I pulled out my wallet and showed her my Virginia driver’s license. She looked back and forth between the picture and me before shaking her head, smiling, and saying, “You are old enough, but you sure don’t look it.” I was used to always being carded, looking much younger than my actual age because I was so petite.

She opened the door for me and stepped aside to let me in. I thanked her as I entered and found myself in a well-appointed lobby. I could tell this wasn’t a low-rent establishment right away, and I looked forward to the evening.

A pretty hostess in a cocktail dress approached me and asked, “How may I direct you?”

I smiled brightly, making her blink, as I said, “Hi. This is my first time here. I’m not sure what to ask for.”

The hostess returned my smile and said, “I’m Hollie, and we have a bar, a lounge for drinking and dining, and a dance floor. We also have pool tables back behind the bar if you like to play pool.” Hollie’s eyes were dancing over my body, and I could tell she approved of me and my outfit.