"Ted, you got it wrong. Sure I feel for Judy, but I am not in love with that lady. Love feels different." I think I have told him that at least three times, but he always came up with new arguments.

"I don't care what you call it, infatuation, affection, fondness, or whatever; I say you are in love with this lady. I speak from experience, my friend." I guess he does have some experience. Ted has been married three times.

But I disagreed. "Look, Ted. That lady is twenty-four years older than me," and I put extra emphasis on the word twenty-four. "So that makes her forty-six."

My friend Ted didn't buy it. "You may deny it from here to eternity, but I have been your neighbor and confidant for the last two years now. I know when I see a star struck young buck. That's you."

I could not give in that easy. "Your assessment is based on the fact that I enjoy getting a birthday card from an old friend. And from that you draw the conclusion that I am in love with her. If I am in love with Judy I certainly would know it."

"Oh no," Ted shot back. "It is not the fact that you expect a card, but HOW you expect it. Starting about a week before your birthday you sit by the window waiting for the mail truck like a puppy dog sits in the car in a shopping center looking at the store and waiting for his owner to come back."

He stood up, stretched his large frame and announced his departure.

"I got to go back to the house. Dinah might be worried about me when she comes home from school and I am not there to greet her."

At the door he turned for a parting shot, "if I see the mail carrier I will tell him to make sure he stops at your place." A booming laugh followed him down the driveway.

Ted knew the highlights of my four years with Judy. He knew how we had met, that she had offered me a gigolo contract and that we had traveled the world until two years ago when she had met Mike. I also had told Ted that I had a special fondness for that woman who I had held in my arms so many times. With whom I had shared shedding tears of indescribable happiness.

Was I in love with Judy? Maybe Ted was right. Could it be? I knew only that there was a huge empty hole in my heart that longed to be filled.

Her card arrived by special delivery. And I can still recall the difficulty I had opening the envelope. My hands were shaking and the knife I used with which I opened the envelope almost cut off my thumb.

This was Judy's second birthday card. In it was a folded note, with just a few words in her handwriting. My hands were shaking too hard when I tried to read her note. The words danced in front of my eyes. I gave up after a few minutes and sat down, waiting for my nerves to quiet down.

After sitting in my favorite cozy armchair for a long while I finally simmered down enough to read her note. It was short.

'Will you join me at six on the eleventh at the same hotel and the same suite?' was all it said.

Did I read this right? Was I going to see Judy again? I had to make sure; I had to read her note a second time. But every time I had dried my eyes enough to read they immediately moistened again and everything became blurry.

Finally I succeeded, and yes, I had been right. Yes, it was a short note, but to me it said so much. I jumped up and danced around my living room shouting. I wanted the world to know that I was to meet MY Judy day after tomorrow.

The traffic was abominable; didn't people realize I was in a hurry? The closest parking space was three rows away; I am sure the drivers conspired to slow me down. Even the elevator seemed to be stuck somewhere before it returned to the lobby where I waited impatiently.

But when I knocked at her door it opened at once. I stood staring at Judy, unable to move, just drinking in the sight of this marvelous woman. She actually had to reach out and pull me in.

I woke up when she said, "I am not made of stone. Want to try?"

A second later I held her in my arms as tight as I could, my face buried on her shoulder. When I lifted my head to kiss her I noticed tears on her cheek. We held each other and kissed and mumbled sweet words for a long time before she released me and led me to the couch.

We were both out of breath and just sat next to each other enjoying each others nearness. After long minutes she broke the silence to tell me her story.

"You remember Mike. He was the perfect gentleman and I really fell for him," she started. "We sort of dated for about six months and I had a wonderful time. Then we set the wedding date to about a half a year later. That would make it about one year after you left."

"I remember getting your wedding announcement," I added to her tale. "I was excited and happy for you. But also sad and depressed, and that stayed with me till I got your birthday card."

Judy gave me a long look before she picked up her story again. "He was sweet, considerate, loving, romantic, - everything a woman wants in her man. I also had bonded well with his sister and we talked a lot about the family I was going to marry into.

The first inkling I had that something was not as it should be, was when I set up an appointment with a lawyer. I felt it necessary to draw up a contract spelling out my financial future and security instead of putting everything into a common pot.

'Not necessary,' he told me. 'I am the husband and I will manage the money. Women have no business even to think about it. You just take care of woman business, I will take care of the main part.' He was furious when I did not cancel the appointment with the lawyer."

"I don't see how anyone could take issue with that, especially in your situation." I couldn't help venting my feelings.

"He raved, 'You don't trust me', Judy continued. "From there on he tried to make me feel guilty and to find ways to control me. And as you know, that does not work with me. Now I became leery and hired a detective. A month before the wedding we found out that he had been married twice before that even his sister did not know about. I contacted his ex-wives at once and I can tell you, I escaped a major disaster.

Later he even sued me for breach of contract. His two exes agreed to testify. The judge almost ate him alive and then ordered him to pay my lawyers fees. Now I was back to where I had been when I had met you and I decided to sort out my feelings.

I don't know how you feel about our age difference, you have never said. But I carried the burden that society had saddled me with. After wrestling with this perceived problem I came to the conclusion that it is not really a problem at all, at least not for me."

She let the end of the sentence sort of dangle at the edge. I searched for the right words to answer her. They wouldn't come, but I finally remembered Ted's puppy story and I told it to her.

"Judy, two days ago, I and my neighbor and friend who knows me real well, had a conversation. He remarked about my relationship to you and told me that I was like a puppy dog. You know, the puppy in a car in front of a store, looking at the store entrance, patiently waiting for his owner to return."

Judy had to let go of me. She had a laughing fit that was almost alarming. When she had her breath back she turned her twinkling eyes to me and said, "You should have warned me before telling me about the puppy dog. I would have gotten my pocket recorder. That was awesome."

"OK, so it is funny," I admitted. "But it was not funny at the time. Ted actually was needling me to come to grips with my feelings. He was trying to get me started on a self examination about a certain lady and myself. At first I denied being in love; fondness definitely, but love? Absolutely not.

Later, when I looked inside me, I discovered a huge gaping hole in my heart that screamed to be filled with these four letters, J-U-D-Y."

I pulled her as close as I could, put my mouth to her ear and whispered, "Judy, you wonderful, loveable, exciting, desirable woman, I love you. I love you so much that tears come to my eyes."

I smothered her face, her temples, her neck, her throat with kisses. I was delirious with happiness. The scent of her skin made me want her as never before. I stroked her hair and when I kissed her ear I felt her shiver.

"Take me, please, take me now, I am yours," I heard her body beg me.

But I was not ready, not yet. First I wanted to savor the fact that I was holding Judy in my arms and that she gave herself to me for now and for the future. My head bent on its own volition to bury itself between the softness of her breast.

I inhaled the intoxicating perfume her skin exuded. As I extended my tongue to let it touch Judy's skin I tasted a combination of mostly her sweetness, slightly seasoned with a hint of salty sweat. Judy was starting to perspire in her beginning excitement.

"I need more, lover," Judy urged with a bit of hoarseness in her voice. Then she was quiet again, realizing that I had to take my time.

I had expected that my body would make immediate demands for Judy's charms, but this had not happened. My soul claimed 'jus primae' and told my loins to have patience. Was it ten minutes or half an hour? I did not care; all I cared about was being close, holding her, loving her.

But eventually I did feel some stirrings but I still didn't want to let go of Judy until my body finally won out.

"My God, it has been so long, I didn't know I missed you so very much." She could not say more, not with my lips full on hers and our tongues playing with each other.

When we broke the kiss to get some air she became playful again.

"I have to compete now with the eighteen year-old fresh blossoms. Give me a chance to prove that I can still be in the running," she laughed. I was glad to see that the last two years had not changed her sense of humor.

"Those young chicks are just apprentices," I assured her. "You are a master."

She couldn't let that go without another funny play on words. "I would prefer to be a mistress."

We embraced as if we were embracing for the last time. We kissed with the pent up fury of a two year unfulfilled yearning. As usual, I did not notice hooks when I ran my hand gently up and down Judy's back.

She picked up a pillow and playfully slapped my head with it. "You won't get away with that," I promise and chased after the fleeing Judy.

We ran around the room like a bunch of wild, unrestrained kids at a birthday party. We tripped over each other, we rolled around on the floor and then got up and chased each other again until we had to stop to get some fresh air into her lungs. I looked around me and the living room looked like a battlefield. There were pillows and clothes strewn all over the floor.

Then I saw Judy standing in the open bedroom door with a Cheshire cat Grin on her face. "Don't just stand there like a dumb ox," she told me. "Take your mistress by the hair and throw her on the bed."

She had a fit of laughter when I rushed over and grabbed her hair with mock violence, pushed her onto the bed and used the same pillow in the same fashion on her as she had done to me. But I knew that deep inside she was as charged as me and it started to show. I was happy to find out that nothing had changed. Judy was as vocal as I remembered her.

I crawled next to her and softly talked soothing endearments in her ear. But I knew that she did not hear them. Then I rose and looked down on her, I wanted to drink in the wonderful sight of this lovable, sweet woman. It was minutes I think, before I saw her open her eyes. I breathed a sigh of relief. But it was still many seconds before the world came into focus for her.

"Oh, my God," she rasped hoarsely. "What happened to me? Was I so hungry for you? Do you realize how long I was without my lover? Do you realize that it was two long years? Come closer."

As I looked down on her I could not help but marvel at the perfection in front of me, or what was it just my love that created this vision? It did not really matter. I could not help myself, I had to greet them as I used to do.

"That's it, lover, they feel so neglected. They need a lot of attention from now on. I want you to greet them in the morning as you always did. And wish them a 'good-night' when we are ready to go to sleep. Do you think you could be persuaded to do that, lover?" An impish smile came along with the last sentence and I enjoyed again the way her nose crinkled when she giggled.

I joined Judy and drew her close to me; she was so content that I would not have been surprised had she started to purr like a kitten. Some time later I released Judy. Her face was so happy and serene. I kissed the tip of her nose, which made her giggle and her infectious smile now decorated her lovely face. We hugged and we kissed and we mumbled words of love to each other for a long time before we decided to fully come back to reality.

Judy was first to speak. "Lover, this was a wonderful greeting after two years of emptiness. But much more important, it was a fitting start for a happy future together."