Vivian Laaning Ch. 58

Once Vivian Laaning had finished law school, given her superior law school grades and discernable legal skills, she obtained a working internship position with Kirkland, Mayer & McDermott, one of the largest law firms in Chicago. She was guaranteed an associate position upon successfully completing her bar exams, which she had scheduled for sitting during the last week of July.

After several weeks of employment Vivian formed a coterie of female friends amongst fellow lawyers and other staff members of the firm. Her new found friends, all of whom were trendy urbanites, certainly respected her, especially considering that her legal skills and abilities were unquestionably impressive. Still knowing that she was a farmer's daughter from Wisconsin, she was by default viewed as something of a country bumpkin and was teased accordingly.

Notwithstanding, that she had obtained her legal education from the University of Chicago, she couldn't shake the notion that she was considered as akin to a fish out of water amongst the cosmopolitan society of Chicago. Since she was easily accepted by her co-workers, the teasing was good natured. It was nothing like the vicious bullying she endured in high school, or for that matter the disdain she encountered at Madison while a coed at the University of Wisconsin.

Still Vivian did not relish that her new found friends had perceived such an unsophisticated impression of her. After all her girlish aspirations had always been to leave the family farm and move to Chicago. Having finally realized that ambition, it was mortifying to her to contemplate that she had not escaped the negative consciousness of her rustic origins.

At least she could take comfort in knowing that her sexual proclivities would not hinder her in gaining admission to the more prominent social circles of the city. After a few social drinking get togethers at some bars, Vivian soon discerned that almost all of her new acquaintances, as well as like circles of females in the windy city, were as oversexed and profligate as herself. The main topics of conversation were sex, boyfriends and descriptions of sex they had each experienced. Vivian's experiences coincided with the norm of this group so that she could pass herself as reasonably modern notwithstanding her origins.

What did become apparent to Vivian was that if she wanted to participate in the social events of the truly elite society in Chicago, it would behoove her to become proficient in ballroom dancing. There were many events she aspired to attend which would eschew contemporary prosaic dancing. Of all the ballroom dances, she desired to concentrate on the Latin dances especially the tango. She believed that the inherent impassioned nature of this dance would fit in nicely with her personality.

By word of mouth from her companions, she learned that El Señor Francisco Vibrazíone-Forza was the premier tango dance instructor in Chicago and his dance studio was highly popular. Sr Vibrazíone-Forza was discovered in Buenos Aires by Barney Crane a prominent American television producer who enticed the Argentine to come to Los Angeles to host a dancing television show. This show consisted of dance instruction of the Latin dances, and each episode concluded with a competition amongst the instructed students. The concept of this show proved to be the forerunner to the future TV network popular show "Dancing with the Stars".

However, this show with Sr Vibrazíone-Forza was not picked up by any network, and so had a limited airing in some local television stations only in California. Luckily for the Argentine, Jed Baxter, the CEO of Baxter & Sons and the wealthiest man in Chicago, who happened to be an acquaintance of Crane, saw an episode of the show during a business trip to LA and was intrigued. He contacted Sr Vibrazíone-Forza and enticed him to come to Chicago to open up a dance studio. The Argentine happily accepted since Baxter was willing to bankroll him at very attractive conditions, and it meant he could stay in the United States without starving. With Baxter's influence and connections, the dance studio quickly became a huge success.

Shortly after law school classes were finished, Vivian applied to take lessons. She was fortunate to be accepted as a student. The studio was in such high demand that they had to restrict the number of applications. The fact that she was employed by Kirkland, Mayer & McDermott was the consideration that allowed her immediate acceptance to the classes. The clout that her law firm enjoyed in Chicago was such that she was assigned to the best assistant instructor that Sr Vibrazíone-Forza employed.

Vivian by nature was an overachiever. Thus, anything she endeavored; she would be of a mind set to give a 100% effort; nothing less. In addition, she had an instinctive affinity to tango dancing. The same became readily apparent to Sr Vibrazíone-Forza who was a hands on proprietor in his business. Recognizing the promise of Vivian's essential skills and talent for the dance, Sr Vibrazíone-Forza decided to take over the instruction. And with such tutelage Vivian flourished to such an extent that to an untrained eye she would be thought to be a superb professional tango dancer.

As a natural consequence of the personal training, Francisco and Vivian soon became lovers. Sr Francisco Vibrazíone-Forza wasn't a particularly handsome man, but his virile persona could not be denied. He had a masterful je ne sais quoi attractive charisma about him that proved to be irresistible to females; and Vivian was no exception. Although she was not in love with him, nevertheless she melted in his arms every time he embraced her. When they made love, he dominated her body and soul, and she welcomed it. She sure could not get enough of such rapture. She called him Frank when they were in each other's company, but otherwise called him by his formal Spanish language name.

Consequently, his residence was where Vivian had spent the night that Erica reunited with Rod Koeninger. Vivian was delighted to discover that her sister had acquired an honest to goodness solid man to love. As a bonus was the fact that Rod might be the biological father of Erica's son, Tony. Vivian was able to confirm that if they did get married, there would no impediment for Rod to adopt Tony which meant he would become the legal father of Tony paramount to any claims to the contrary.

This was a welcome confirmation of the legal status, which delighted both Erica and Rod equally. Both of them were resolved to forego blood paternity tests since such actual results would only cloud the issue. Once Tony became an adult, he could pursue resolving paternity issues if he so desired, but nothing would change the fact that Rod would be the only father Tony would know in growing up. Both Erica and Rod anticipated that they would remain together till death.

Of course during that June night, when Rod casually proposed or perhaps merely suggested marriage, neither one of them considered it a serious declaration. Nevertheless, each of them also knew that this tryst was not going to be a one night stand either, but the start of a true loving relationship. In fact Erica did move in with Rod in August, after Vivian had successfully passed her bar exams. And they did get officially married in January following the conclusion of the football season. And of course, with Vivian's professional help, Rod adopted Tony thereafter.

Erica got married in Charlotte, NC, since she could not countenance marrying in her hometown. Considering her frosty reception she now received from the rest of her family, never mind her ostracism from her previous friends and acquaintances, precluded her from contemplating a joyous celebration in her hometown. Consequently, Vivian, as Erica's maid of honor again, plus Erica's infant son Tony, were the only wedding guests on the bride's side. However, Rod's family and friends were positively captivated by Erica's good looks and charm, and thus, made her most welcome, despite their interracial relationship.

Vivian was bemused by the fact that this had been the first of her three weddings, whereby as maid of honor she did not get to fuck the official best man. Mind you she did have prior sexual history with Nigel Koeninger, Rod's chosen best man. In fact she could honestly assert that had there not been that past history while she and Nigel were attending at the University of Wisconsin, Rod and Erica would never have met. In any case, at this point in time, Nigel was definitely off limits for Vivian since he was now married, and father of two very young children.

Rod had two more playing years left on his contract with the Chicago Bears. At the conclusion of that time Erica would have three and a half years' experience as general manager supervising an excellent five star caliber restaurant under her belt. As a devoted husband, Rod had no qualms of investing the bulk of his invested earnings into his wife's dream of owning and running a fabulously trendy restaurant in Chicago.

He jokingly justified his investment as a logical decision to ensure that he could still earn a living, and not be beholden to charity to survive, after his professional football career would come to an end. As he explained, his particular college education unlike his brother's, did not prepare him nor provide him any expertise to acquire meaningful employment other than playing professional football. Thus, he was able to extract a concession from Erica for his investment: he would attend a bartender's training course so that he would work as a bartender at the proposed restaurant.

The beauty of his plan was that if he and Erica would fail to make the restaurant venture a success, there would be a legitimate fall back position. Erica, at this point in time, given her credible acknowledged experience, should have no problem in the future to be hired to manage an established successful restaurant. As for him, he should always be able to find employment as a bartender.

Vivian chuckled at Rod's humorous explanations for pursuing perhaps a very risky dream. However, she was comforted by the thoroughly practical considerations her sister and brother-in-law had contemplated in embarking on Erica's desire to own a restaurant. The fact that they had considered undertaking alternatives should their dream prove to be naught, reinforced Vivian's speculations that her sister and her new husband's rationalization for their entrepreneurial adventure was absolutely sound.

Meanwhile, Vivian's entry into the real world, after completion of her exhaustive consecutive years of academic study, was proceeding accordingly as successfully as any previous anticipated plans she had contemplated. She did pass her bar exams in her first attempt, so she became a full associate lawyer in her firm. She was provided with a relatively generous salary as the firm opted to utilize her chiefly as a criminal defense lawyer. The majority of her cases were pro bono to promote the firm's charitable work and enhance its benevolent image. Thus, there was no pressure on Vivian to produce a significant number of billable hours. This suited Vivian just fine, as she relished criminal trial work.

Vivian kept attending her weekly ballroom dance classes, and her expertise for the tango steadily improved. Accordingly, Sr Francisco Vibrazíone-Forza waived fees for instructions in other Latin-American dances. In return she would for half the time assist other instructors in dealing with the more difficult to learn students. She was the studio's premier student.

Every February, there was a gala charity ball sponsored by Baxter and Sons to raise money for the North Central Memorial Hospital. As an incidental entertainment bonus, prior to the commencement of dancing, a performance by the dance studio of Sr Francisco Vibrazíone-Forza was presented. This was a mutual beneficial arrangement for both parties. For Francisco, it was a source of free advertising for potentially attracting new clients for his dance studio.

For the organizers of the ball, aside from providing visual pleasure to the attendees of the ball, the performing dance demonstration provided for an extra fund raiser to the hospital, above and beyond the ticket sales revenue for the ball. After the dance demonstration, there would be an auction for the ladies to bid for the privilege of dancing the next tango with Sr Francisco Vibrazíone-Forza. Likewise, the gentlemen guests would be able to participate in an auction for the privilege of dancing with Sr Vibrazíone-Forza's female partner. There were in total three tango dance music numbers scheduled throughout the evening by the ball's orchestra. Thus, the initial auction was subsequently followed by two further auctions.

Usually for his partner, Francisco would choose one of his most competent female instructor for this high society performance. Obviously, it would not do to have a clumsy student partner, as it would not be an impetus for male guests to make a substantial bid to dance with her. But in that year, Francisco had no qualms in selecting Vivian as his partner for the ball. In his mind, Vivian had surpassed the skill of his most experienced instructor.

Sr Francisco Vibrazíone-Forza, proved to be an ideal partner to Vivian for tango dancing. He was tall, taller than Vivian even in her dancing high heel shoes. Although he had a massive body frame; it was solidly built. Accordingly, he had no problem in guiding and managing Vivian's firm body throughout the dance, completing seemingly effortlessly the intricate heavy demands of his role as the male partner.

Francisco was dressed monochromatically in a black jacket and trousers over a white shirt without a tie. He exuded a smoldering stereotypical Latin passion. Vivian was dressed in a one shoulder strap (left shoulder), ankle length frilly dress; black in color, but with generous sized red trim. The dress provided an expansive view of her back. The skirt of the dress was split over her left side, providing bare exposure of her left leg complete with her thigh tattoos. In consequence of her dance movements, sometimes the dress flowed high and wide, sufficient to provide exposure of both legs simultaneously, plus her naughty tattoos.

To start the dance, Vivian was standing directly behind Francisco. She hooked her arm around his chest, to place her hand over his heart. He covered her hand. She glided out to his left side and twirled in one and half rotations into his arms; her left side of her face touching his right cheek.

During her dancing, Vivian's self-assuredness presented a special alluring picture to the spectators. Especially pleasing was the way she had her vibrantly red hair styled. Her curly hair was cut to shoulder length and was full of solid and very becoming tresses. And those curly locks held in place during the vigorous activity of the dance. However, two independent strands periodically flipped out of form, to cover over right eye. Besides those two errant locks of hair, three other independent strands would occasionally flip over her left eye. Although Vivian would continuously automatically flip her hair back to their original place, it did not convey an impression of untidiness. Instead, her hair accentuated the image of a sultry woman, passionately strutting through the erotic dance of the tango.

After the initial posture, the dance between Francisco and Vivian intensified. They twirled around in sync with the hot throbbing beat of the music. Francisco not only rotated Vivian's body while her feet were on the floor but would occasionally lift here up and spin her around in the air. When she was thus airborne, Vivian would coquettishly kick her legs rhythmically in sync with the music.

Interspersed with that vigorous dance activity, their choreographic moves called for them to periodically remain in their spot, whereupon they leaned into each other in a romantic embrace. This was also the time when Vivian would raise her leg straight out through the parted split in her skirt. As her raised leg reached to a position perpendicular to the floor, the audience was treated to an uncovered view of her splendid limb in its full glory. Many a male eye in the audience bulged and their mouth drooled in reaction.

The most spectacular highlight of the dance came near the end, when Francisco had Vivian airborne. This time in addition to twirling her around as usual in the air, he picked her up, and rotated her entire body over his shoulder before settling her back down on the floor. Vivian's body while, in the air completed a full rotation plus a half rotation in the process. The audience collectively gasped and then broke out in a spontaneous enthusiastic applause, fully appreciative of this daring maneuver. Most impressive was the fact that Vivian was not a dainty woman, but Francisco was man enough to handle her with ease.

After this performed dance, according to the planned agenda, an auction ensued with ladies bidding to dance with Francisco, and gentlemen bidding to dance with Vivian. Her first dance partner then, turned out to be a partner of her law firm. He did not know her and was surprised to learn that she was an employee. He had assumed she was a dance instructor as was the usual case in past years of this ball. The second performance by Francisco and Vivian was equally thrilling as the first dance, and her subsequent partner was a doctor of the hospital. Her third partner, though, was to her absolute delight and personal liking, a gentleman she intimately knew. For it was none other than Jed Baxter!

When Jed took her to dance, they had an opportunity for conversation whenever the tempo of the music slowed down. At the first opportunity, Vivian enthusiastically said, "Oh my goodness, Jed! Do you recognize me? Is that the reason why you bid so high to be my partner for this dance."

Jed's winning bid for Vivian was three times the highest bid of the other five bids in the dance auctions. He replied, "You must be joking Vivian. You don't seriously think I could ever forget the maid of honor of my cousin's wedding? Especially considering the after events we mutually participated in."

"Ah yes those were great events indeed, which I'll never forget and will always cherish. I'm flattered that you do remember me, though, since it has been more than four and a half years when we engaged in those great events. Considering what must be an endless list that comprise your circle of friends and acquaintances, I'm truly honored."

Jed replied humorlessly, with reference to one of her remarks when they first met at the rehearsal dinner at Angela's wedding, "With the alternative name of 'Hey You', I could hardly forget you, and it placed you at the top of my list of friends and acquaintances."

Vivian giggled recalling their initial conversation at the rehearsal dinner of Angela's wedding. He continued, "Look Vivian, my wife is here, and so I'm not at liberty to pay any more attention to you tonight. However, I do want to see you again. Why don't you phone my office and punch in extension 1001 to get to my personal secretary. Leave your contact number with her and I will get in touch with you to set up a date. I hate to do it this way, but unfortunately I'm usually extremely busy at the office, and so I'm hard to reach as a result."

Vivian asked mischievously, "I take it you no longer have my card, which I gave you after our participation in those aforementioned great events. Incidentally, I still retain that number with its original Wisconsin area code even though I now live in Chicago."

To that Jed merely replied, "That is the case precisely."

"I presume your office number is in the phone book?"

"I believe so, but if not certainly resorting to '411' should do the trick. FYI, Baxter and Sons occupy several floors of the Sears Tower (now known as the Willis Tower)."