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Subject: {ASSM} RP: "Watching" Book 1 by Alan Mathews (mf rom) [2/2]
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I didn't write the following story, I'm just reposting it.
The name and email address of the author is given below.
Please note that Book 3 hasn't been posted yet. Last I heard, the author
was very busy with RL.
--PART 2/2--
Subject: REPOST: Book One of the Watching Trilogy by Alan Mathews (mf,some ff,teen/yngteen,cons,romance,love)
From: alanmath@geocities.com (Alan Mathews)
Date: 2 May 1997 21:29:47 GMT
--------
This story contains the following:
(mf,some ff,teen/yngteen,cons,romance,love,some violence (non-sex related))
WARNING!
--------
Do not read this story if you are under the legal age in your
country. If any story of this sort is illegal in your country,
please do not read it. Hey, what can I say? Move.
If you're one of those religious fanatics, or any other sort of
person looking to force your opinion on others, such as myself, go away.
You aren't going to get me to "See God", or to "Make me repent for my
sins." I don't believe in God, and I don't like people like you. Leave
me alone, or you might be on the receiving end of unplesantries.
If you're one of the media looking for more evidence of porn on the Internet,
well, you found it. Now go away and write your slanted, biased articles
or news clips.
Any constructive criticism, suggestions, etc. direct to alanmath@geocities.com.
Flames, Spam, religious spiels, offers to help me to be saved by Jesus or
any other religious character, and people who want to whine about my or
others "immorality", direct your comments to idont@givadamn.com. My response
will come in the form of a full quote of your message, as well as an
insightful message similar to "e-mail undeliverable".
I also read a.s.s.d, so DON'T post any comments to a.s.s.! If you do I'll
get real pissed off and you'll never get a response. ;-) We have enough
noise in a.s.s. already, don't contribute to it.
A word of thanks to the following authors, who showed me that there can
actually be half decent stories posted to a.s.s.:
The author of Lauren Gisal (Sorry, but I've forgotten your name, and
have since lost the story in a hard drive crash)
Hawk, the author of the Carlson series (even if he could use a little
work on his word timing, and the use of to many exclamation points.
Not to fond of the cannibalism either, but we all have our oddities)
Friar Dave (Probably the best writing I've seen in a.s.s.)
Randi Stephanson, Author of "Carrie", and a few others that I've read.
Jimbo (jimbo@oldfolks.hom?) The Cabin, Teen Sex in the 50's
Frank, author of the "An Erotic Story" series. (Even if he does get a
little repetitive at times.)
Tom Bombadil, author of "Elizabeth and Anastasia", and others.
The author of "Ruthie"
Michael K. Smith, author of "Siblings" and others. (Thanks to everyone who
sent me or volunteered to send me the missing chapters)
The author of "Twice The Fun" (and especially to the person who turned it
into a Mff story instead of a Mmm)
The Bear, author of many stories that I've enjoyed. (See, not everyone
likes B&D and NC stories, and some DO enjoy writing stories of the type you
seem to read, write, and enjoy. And a request for a repost, please. I've
lost your work in a hard drive crash.)
S.J.R, author of "The Adventures Of Me And Martha Jane", and the person
who pointed out that I'd forgotten to add this story to my list. This
is one of my favorite stories, but when making the first draft of this
list, I was going through the directory where I keep my favoirte
stories. "The Adventures Of Me And Martha Jane" were in their own
directory, so I missed them. Sorry for missing you the first time
around.
Most all these stories are available at:
ftp://129.21.108.190/authors/alan.mathews/favorites
This is for a LIMITED TIME, until the a.s.s. FTP archive gets it's
directory structure finalized and indexed. Once that is done, I'll move
them to the proper directories and leave a file called "Favorite.txt" in
my main directory (/authors/alan.mathews/) that will give descriptions
and the locations of the stories on the FTP archive.
Note: All current and future stories by myself will be available from the
a.s.s. FTP archive at ftp://129.21.108.190/authors/alan.mathews/ For current
info on Watching and other stories by myself and others, go to
Water's Edge (http://waters-edge.home.ml.org) in the "Archives"
section. You can also retrieve any of my work from there.
Watching Book Two went out December 25, 1996. It should be along right
after this repost of Book One. If not, look to the FTP archive, and the
Water's Edge Archives after that date.
This story is current from 12/25/1996. If this date is well in the past,
chances are there is a new version and/or further books now available on
either of the above sites, so please look there BEFORE reading this
book. New versions and new books are meant to enhance the series, so of
course the experience will be beter with the newer editions or
additional books.
-------
This Page Left Blank To "Protect" The People Who Don't Want
To Read The Following Story.
Author's Note For Watching Book One: The Meeting
------------------------------------------------
This is the first story that I've posted to a.s.s. This work has taken over
a year to write. It was written for myself, and no one else.
You see, I write because I get a story line in my head and I can't get
it out until it's on paper, or in this case, on a computer screen. If I
don't get it out it haunts me, floating around in the back of my head
until I'm trying to fall asleep or just waking up. Damn annoying sometimes,
having a story line pop into your head at 1am and not being able to fall
asleep until you've let it run it's course by writing the idea down
on paper to be worked on at some later date. Or in the case of this story,
compelling enough to drive you out of bed and in front of the computer at 3am.
As I said, I write for myself. I write the way I like to read. And
it's long. Just like my favorite books and stories are. If you like short,
to the point, fuck-screaming-orgasmic-mind-boggling-never-stopping-sex
type stories, you've picked the wrong story. Sure it has sex, but
(gasp!) it also has a plot. (At least I like to think it does.)
Why has it taken over a year for me to get even book one out? Well,
editing for one. I hate it, but know it's necessary. But the story is
better for it. Two, I wrote it when I wasn't busy, or had an idea for
the plot line that just couldn't wait. Sometimes it came in 50 line
bursts every other night, sometimes a chapter a night. One memorable
time was when I wrote five chapters in one night. Some chapters I
agonized over. Others seemed to flow from my fingertips. Some chapters
are full of pain, some full of joy. Just like life.
The first words of this story were written late at night, in late
September of 1995. My Grandfather had just had his first heart attack.
The kids were barely settling into the new school year, and I was dead
tired, laying in bed, alone, when the old memories of one of my few
schoolboy crushes came to the surface. I do remember the name of the
girl, which, of course, has been changed. I was eighteen, she was
fourteen. We rode the same bus. I was very shy (I didn't go out on my
first date until I was nearly 23), and a self admitted nerd.
She, on the other hand, was what I would call 'normal'. She was pretty,
and mostly matched the physical attributes of the girl named Jenny in this
story. She caught my eye literally, and the memory stays with me even
after the years that have passed.
She was sitting in the seat in front of me, and dropped a piece of paper
on the floor. It drifted until it lay at my feet. I picked it up and
handed it to her. Our eyes locked for a second, and I froze. She had
the kind of brown eyes that were so dark that you had to look closely to
find where the iris and pupil met. She smiled and said thanks, and I nodded
politely, pulling my eyes away from hers. I sat back and thought, only
being pulled out of my reverie by the bus pulling up in front of the junior
high. (I was a Junior in High School, she an eighth grader) I watched her
leave the bus, but before she turned to climb the path to the school entrance,
she turned and our eyes met again, just for a few seconds. Then she turned
and walked up the path. I watched as she entered the building, then the
bus pulled away. That was the beginning.
For the next two years -- until I graduated, that is -- I would live for
the moments I had to sneak glances at her when she wasn't looking. She
caught me looking once or twice, much to my embarrassment. I never did
anything about it. (Now you know why I call this story "Watching".)
High School ended, I went to college, and I never saw her again. That was
what I was thinking about that night in late September, wondering about how
my life may have turned out if I had actually spoken to her. I was at a low
point in my life, and I wrote to try to help myself feel like there was
hope somewhere, even if it was in a fantasy world. Before I knew it, this
story was in the preliminary stages of forming. It soon departed from that
initial fantasy and grew into something much more important to me. I have
no one to share this with; it deals with issues that I would most likely be
condemned for, especially with my highly religious family. (A religion that I
don't share.) The few friends I have simply wouldn't understand. So I
post this for you, in hopes that someone will read it, enjoy it, and maybe
even learn something from it. Enjoy.
Alan Mathews (alanmath@geocities.com)
November 1996
Watching
By Alan Mathews
The Watching Trilogy Timeline
------------------------------
(January 1995)
o Book One: The Meeting begins
Book One
The Meeting
-----------
"Intollerance and Fear of anything new are failings of our species."
-Alex
(continued from part 1/2)
Chapter Ten
-----------
I didn't sleep well that night, my thoughts constantly turning
to Jenny, wondering how she was, if she was getting along with her parents.
I missed her warmth pressing against my side, the comfort and relaxation of
holding her in my arms, hearing her even breathing as she slept, her sweet
scent of her hair teasing my nose. It took three hours for me to fall asleep,
and only then because I took a pillow and hugged it against me, trying to
pretend that it was Jenny. It let me sleep, but it was no substitute for her.
I woke up the next morning dead tired. The only reason I even
bothered to get up was so I would be able to see Jenny on the bus and
at school.
The morning seemed drearier than usual, but then everything had
seemed dreary to me since Jenny had left. The bus pulled up and I climbed
aboard. I spotted Jenny sitting alone three seats back, and the day seemed
to brighten as I saw her smiling face looking at me, those dark eyes
connecting with mine. I almost ran down the isle and took her into my arms,
not caring what anyone thought, just wanting to feel her against me again, to
feel loved.
"I missed you too." Jenny laughed, and hugged me back. I held
her at arms length and looked her over, running my hands over her
as if looking for broken bones.
"You're ok? They didn't do anything to you?" I said worriedly,
then hugged her against me again.
"I'm fine, Alex. I told you I would be."
"Nothing happened?"
"Nothing much. I'll tell you when we can talk in private." She
motioned toward the other people looking on. I relaxed against the
seat. Jenny repositioned herself so she was leaning against me, my
back to the wall of the bus. The bus driver kept looking up at us
in his mirror, most of the other kids watching us as well. We rode
the rest of the way to school, almost oblivious to the people around us,
locked in our own ball of warmth. We skipped first period and
headed for one of the store rooms I knew of. You learn the hiding
places when you're bullied as a kid. I hadn't been bullied in
years, ever since I had suffered through my growth spurt. Bullies
don't bug you much when they know you can hit harder than they can.
Once we were safely locked in the storage room we cuddled up on
a pile of old gym mats stacked in the corner. One dim forty watt
bulb illuminated the ten foot square room, most of it claimed by
fifty years of discarded junk.
"You look exhausted." she told me.
"You don't look too wide awake yourself." I told her. "You have
bags under your eyes at least as big as mine, and you're a lot
smaller than I am." I teased.
"Well, I couldn't sleep. I'm to used to feeling your bear of a
body holding me. Plus my parents made me sleep on the couch.
Apparently they aren't entirely sure that the rumors weren't true.
My sister and I usually share a room. It's like they don't want to
risk 'infecting' their only other daughter."
"That's dumb. Of course, knowing them it's not so surprising.
Anything else happen?"
"Nothing much else. They treated me pretty nicely, except for
making me sleep on the couch. I don't know if my back will ever
recover. I never realized how lumpy a couch could be until I slept
on that thing. Should be thrown in the dump."
I laughed. "Turn over and I'll see if I can work the kinks out
of your back."
She rolled over gratefully. I pulled her shirt up and started
working on her back, hoping some janitor wouldn't walk in on us.
She let out little groans and sighs of contentment, her tense
muscles loosening under my touch. Soon she stopped making noise,
indicating that she had fallen asleep. I pulled her shirt back down and
lay next to her, watching her sleep. At some point I must have fallen asleep
as well.
We didn't wake up until halfway through lunch period. We cursed
as we hurriedly straightened out our clothes and hair, and snuck out
of the closet. Kallie was sitting at our usual table. We
hurriedly told her what had happened, finishing right before the
bell rang. Jenny and I parted reluctantly, each heading for our
separate classes.
The next few months progressed rapidly. Jenny's parents
loosened up more as word of our romance spread through town. I got
more dirty looks than ever, but I was happy if it made Jenny's life
easier at home. Her parents made no move to stop us from seeing
each other, apparently glad to have her seeing someone five years
older than she was rather than another girl. I became disgusted
more and more with school, as the teachers and administrators got
it into their heads to punish the 'cradle robber'. I finally just
took the test for the GED and quit high school. A month later I left for
college. Jenny saw me off in a tearful good bye. I flew down to
New Mexico, having my few possessions sent down after me.
Jenny and I wrote every day without fail. College was tough,
but I struggled through it, flourishing in a school that finally
challenged my intelligence. For a while it was school, study,
write, and work.
Things at home degraded for Jenny, as her parents apparently
came to the conclusion that she had no where to run to now that I
was gone. More than one letter had tear stains on it as she wrote
about her latest fight with her parents. They had her sleeping in her
room again, but now her sister was sleeping on the couch instead. Her
sister and Kallie were the only ones she could talk to or depend on, except
through our letters.
Then one day the letters stopped. One moment we were going full bore,
a five to ten page letter every day; the next, my mailbox was empty.
I prayed that it was just a disruption in the mail system, that one day I'd
get a load of letters in the mail. I sent letter after letter back to her,
begging her to write back. I never got an answer.
I worried that she had met someone else, that she had forgotten
about me. I tried to dismiss that, thinking she would have still told me
or that there would have been some hint in her letters. I read our old
letters over and over. My mind dwelled on her. My school work began to
decline, and one night I was almost fired from my job. A week
passed where I drug my feet through the day. The teachers asked me
what was bothering me. One day I was one of their brightest students, the
next I was in a nose dive and failing miserably.
The dreams returned, lasting longer and seeming more clear than
ever before. I would wake up screaming, twisted in my sheets,
dripping with sweat. The dark faces of Jenny's captors haunted me,
blurred in my mind, but now I knew them. They were the faces of
Jenny's parents. Twisted and distorted with a horrific quality, but
their faces just the same.
Two more weeks passed. I pulled myself up and threw myself into my work.
I stayed up all night, took a second job when school let out for the summer,
and began to drive myself toward exhaustion and eventually breakdown. My eyes
were constantly bloodshot. Bags perpetually hung under my eyes, and I began
to consider flying up to see her, just to have some closure.
Then one night when I was studying, the doorbell rang. I stood
up wearily from the chair and trudged toward the door. Pulling it
open, I stared, open mouthed.
Jenny stood there in the doorway, looking more haggard than I
had ever seen her. Her hair was in tangles, her grimy clothing
torn. She stooped, leaning against the door frame. She looked up
at me, the look in her eyes tearing at my heart, the look of someone
who has had had her soul ripped out and stepped on.
"Alex?" her voice quavered.
"Jenny?" I gasped. She stepped toward me and stumbled on the
door frame. Rushing forward I grabbed her before she could fall
to the floor. I picked her up, feeling how light she was, much
lighter than I had remembered her to be. I carried her to the
couch and sat down, cradling her in my arms. She began to cry,
clinging to me like I was the last strand in a fraying rope. I
held her and cried with her.
She kept saying Alex, Alex, over and over, sobbing, tears
running down her face. I held her for a long time, gently rubbing
her back, brushing away her tears. She eventually calmed down
enough to tell me how and why she had come to me. She told me the
story, breaking into tears at the more difficult parts.
"I stopped writing because my parents wouldn't let me. It got so
bad that I was a prisoner in my own home, not allowed her to leave
except for school, and eventually, they didn't even let me go to
that. I fought with them, but when I did, they would stop feeding
me. When they thought I had been really bad, they locked me in the
shed out back, sometimes for only an hour or two, sometimes longer. Once
they locked me in there in the dark for three days, with only a little
water and bread.
"My little sister slipped me some things but she couldn't do
much, because if she told she probably wouldn't have been believed. They
might have done the same thing to her. Then one night my Dad caught me
looking at the locket you gave me. He demanded that I give it to him. It
was the last thing I had to remember you by, the only thing that kept me
sane. And he wanted to take it away from me!
"I said no, and he started to threaten me. I still said no. Then
he grabbed me, and tried to tear it from around my neck. I still
have the marks.
"I fought back, kicking and screaming. I scratched his face,
then he started cursing. He hit me hard, in the chest. I fell to
my knees, and he slapped me. I fell down onto the floor, crying.
He kicked me in the stomach, and I threw up. I stayed on the
floor, crying. He reached down and pulled the locket off my neck,
and went into his room. I managed to get up, and ran out the
door."
She was crying so hard at this point that I had her stop until she
calmed down. Then she continued.
"I ran down the road, crying. A woman in a car saw me running
and pulled over. She got me into the car and wanted to take me to
a doctor. But I said no, and convinced her to take me to Kallie's
instead.
"I didn't want her family to see me like I was, so I climbed in
her bedroom window, and waited for her to come in. She was surprised to
see me, since she hadn't seen me in weeks. I told her what had
happened, and she started to cry, too. She got me cleaned up some, but
couldn't loan me any clothes that fit, so I had to wear these.
"She got me to the bus station and onto a bus to you, since she
couldn't hide me. She can barely change clothes without being
walked in on. I was scared to death that my parents would come after
me, anyway. It took her life savings, but she did it for me, to
get me safe. I rode the bus for three days, sleeping either on the
bus or in the station. The police almost got me once, but I
hid until they gave up. Finally I got here, and managed to find your
apartment. I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't had your
address memorized."
I sat in shocked silence for a few seconds after she finished
her story. I hated myself for letting this happen to her. I told
myself that I should have flown up these as soon as I stopped getting her
letters. But who I was especially mad at was her parents, particularly
her father. Any parents who could treat their child this way deserved
anything that came to them.
"God, I'm so sorry Jenny. I should never have left you with
them, never. I should have known something like this would happen
after I left."
"No, Alex, don't blame yourself. I was the one that went back
with them. I could have stayed with you, but I didn't. It's my
fault."she said miserably.
"Jenny, don't ever blame yourself for this." I said vehemently.
"No one deserves to be treated the way you were treated by those
people. I shouldn't even call them people, they don't deserve it.
I promise you that I will never let them hurt you again, no matter
what."
"How? They'll be looking for me. They have the letters, they
know where you live."
"Well, I'll just have to get to them first. I'll think of
something. But right now we need to get you something to eat, and
then get you to a doctor."
"I don't need a doctor, Alex. All it is are a few bruises."
"Still, I'll feel better once we get you checked out, if
anything just for evidence against your parents."
She sighed. "Okay, as long as I get something to eat first. I
haven't eaten in three days."
"Three days? No wonder you're so weak! Just a minute, I hope I have
something in the fridge."
I got up and walked to the kitchen, leaving her to rest on the
couch. I whipped up some sandwiches for starters, and started a big pot
of soup. I watched her demolish the plate of sandwiches while I called my
doctor. I knew him from the few times I had seen him, and hoped I could
convince him to see us on such short notice. I also hoped to get him to not
say anything about it to anyone. I couldn't take her to the hospital, child
protective services would get their hooks into her and I'd lose her to the
system. A plan had begun to form in my mind, and I'd have to be careful to
carry it off correctly. If I did, Jenny and I never needed to be
separated again.
*****
Jenny finished the sandwiches and three bowls of soup before she
sat back, full. I let her rest for a few minutes, and then helped
her to the used car I had bought to get to and from work and
school. Jenny fell asleep in the passenger seat during the thirty
minute ride. I let her sleep, figuring she needed it.
Doctor Sampson met us at the door, and we both helped her
into an examination room and onto the table. He appeared as
shocked at her condition as I had been. I left the room, telling
Jenny that I'd be right out in the waiting room if she needed me.
She protested, but Dr. Sampson and I managed to put her at ease.
I waited nervously in the waiting room as the doctor examined her.
A few minutes later he walked out of the examination room
looking grim. He sat next to me in the empty room.
"How is she?" I asked anxiously.
"She's malnourished and has numerous bruises all over her body.
She hasn't slept well in weeks, and she shies away from anyone who
tries to touch her. There's nothing seriously wrong with her, but
psychologically it's going to take a long time to recover. Who did
that to her? Where is she from? What's her name? How do you know
her? God help me, if you did that to her..." he said angerly.
"I didn't. I could never do that to anyone, much less her. It was
her parents. The bruises came from her father. He beat her
when she refused to give something to him. They kept her locked up
for weeks, feeding her little, or not at all if they felt like it.
"We're close friends, and her name and where she's from is no
concern, at least until I'm sure you're not going to tell anyone
until I've had time to make sure that she won't be put back with
her parents, or taken away and put in a home."
He sighed. "Tell me what you're planning on doing. If I agree with your
plan, I won't tell anyone. At least not yet. I've seen kids go through
foster care. Some of the homes they put them in would be almost as bad as
the one she came from."
I nodded. "I was planning on using what I know against them, to
get them to turn over guardianship of her to me."
He leaned back in his chair. "That's risky, you know. They might
not give in, or worse, they could say you did that to her. She's
young, and her court testimony could be considered questionable."
"Still, I have to try. If I can scare them enough, I'm sure they'll
do it. Do I have your cooperation if it falls though? Would you
testify on my behalf?"
"I think you're telling the truth, yes. I've seen how she
clings to you. I don't think she would do that if you had done
that to her. I'd testify to that."
I let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks Doctor."
"I'm not doing this for you, I'm doing it for that little girl
in there who's been through a hell of a lot. I want you to take
her home, clean her up, make sure she's well fed, and put her to
bed. I don't want her moving anywhere until she's strong enough
and has gained some weight back."
"I understand." We stood up, and walked back to where Jenny was
sitting on the examination table, staring idly at the wall. She
brightened as I walked into the room. She tried to jump off the
table, and almost fell as her weakened knees buckled under her
weight until the Doctor and I held her up.
"Can we go now?" she asked.
"Yes, you can go. But listen to me, young lady. You're to
stay in bed the next few days, and let Alex here take care of you.
You're to eat when he tells you to, sleep when he tells you to,
and pretty much do anything else he says. Then you need to come
back and see me in a week."
"Yes, sir." she said, taking my arm in her hands and holding it
against her.
"Fine, then. Go home and get some rest."
We helped Jenny out to the car, and I drove her home. She fell
asleep again, and I carried her into my apartment. I undressed
her, amazed at how thin she had become. Where once had been a
smooth, sleek body with a trace of baby fat was now so thin that I
could count her ribs plainly. Her pubic bone stood out, and I
winced at the purple and black bruises on her arms, chest, and stomach.
I undressed myself, and filled the tub. We soaked for half an
hour, her dozing and me cleaning her gently and washing her hair,
working out the dirt and tangles in her long tresses.
I woke her when it was time to get out, and rubbed her softly
with a fresh towel until she looked almost like she had when we
were living together. Hopefully she would begin to look like that
again, as long as I could keep her out of her parents' grasp.
Pulling back the covers on my bed, I lay her nude body on the
clean sheets, the first bed that she had likely been on in months.
Climbing in after her, I pulled the covers over us. She cuddled
against me, sighing happily as she sank into my protective embrace.
She fell into a deep sleep as I held her, a small smile gracing
her face as she slept on, contented. I swore again to protect her
against anything that might try to hurt her ever again. Then I too
fell into a deep sleep.
End Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
--------------
Jenny woke up screaming many times that first night, her
experiences of the last few months coming back to haunt her. She
would shake like a leaf for a few minutes until I reassured her that
she was safe, and then drift off, only to wake up screaming an hour
or so later. She finally settled down around four a.m.
I woke a little before two in the afternoon, Jenny still
sleeping beside me. I slipped out of bed and prepared a big
brunch for the two of us. Loading a tray, I carried it into
the bedroom. Setting it on the night stand, I sat on the bed next to
her and gently shook her shoulder. She slowly opened her eyes and
looked into my face hovering over hers.
"Please let this be real." she whispered. She reached up and
touched my face, her hand sweeping from my ear to cradle my chin.
"It is real!" she sighed, and kissed me passionately.
"Feeling better?" I asked, smiling down at her.
"Yes, a lot better. I'm starving, though."
"Ah. I've already thought of that." I reached behind me and set
the tray on her lap. Her face brightened and she dug in, almost
as ravenously as the night before.
"Slowly, Jenny. There's more where that came from. We need to
fatten you up."
"If you keep feeding me like this, I'll have to roll out of bed
just to get up!"
I laughed. "Better to have you over nourished than undernourished."
I settled back to watch her eat. I wasn't particularly hungry, and she was
eating enough food for the both of us. A few minutes later she began to
slow. I coaxed her to eat a few more bites. Finally she just fell back
against the pillow, groaning.
"Full?" I questioned, rubbing her stomach.
"Very. I haven't felt this good in a long time."
"Neither have I." I paused. "Do you know how much I missed you,
Jenny?"
"No, but I know how much I missed you, and I'm sure you missed
me just as much." she smiled.
"I dreamt about you every night. When your letters stopped
coming, I just, well, fell apart. I couldn't work, I couldn't
concentrate at school. My mind just kept drifting to you. I was worried
sick, but I didn't come to see you. I was worried that you had
found someone else, someone closer to your own age, and didn't want
to hurt me any more than you had to." I took a deep breath. "I
guess I just want to say that I'm sorry. Sorry for letting them
hurt you, and sorry for doubting you."
"Why?" she asked gently. "This is the second time you've taken
me in, both times when I felt things couldn't get any worse.
"You've fed me, taken me to a doctor, and cared for me when no one
else was able to. You couldn't have stopped my parents from doing
what they did, and it wasn't your fault that I went back there when
I knew what they were capable of."
"But I should have shown up earlier, stopped them before your
father could hit you, before they could abuse you like they did..." I
trailed off as Jenny sat up took my head between her hands, staring
urgently into my eyes.
"Alex, I love you but you can be so thick headed sometimes!
Listen to me. IT WASN'T YOUR FAULT. They did it to me, not you.
There wasn't a single thing you could do about it, you were
thousands of miles away at the time."
"I still feel guilty."
"I don't know what I'm going to do with you." she sighed.
"Keep me?"
"I wouldn't sell you for anything, much less give you up."
"That's good to know."
She rested her head on my chest and listened to my heartbeat, as
if she was still on some level unsure of whether or not I really
existed. I played with her hair as I thought.
"If I told you that I had an idea that might let you stay with me
perminantly, if it worked out, what you say?"
"I'd say that would be perfect. I can't remember a time that
I've been happier than I was for that month living with you."
"Well I think I might know how."
She sat up and looked at me in surprise. "Really? How?"
"We have enough evidence to convict them on child abuse charges,
assault, child neglect, and whatever else a lawyer and I can dream
up. I was thinking about blackmailing them into signing custody of
you over to me. I'm over eighteen years old. I could be your
legal guardian, and you could live with me until you're eighteen.
Or longer." I added shyly.
"Oh Alex, I'd love to! It would be perfect, I'd never have to
leave you again!" She hugged me tightly and kissed me.
"Wait, wait. We don't know if it will work yet or not. Your
parents might refuse. But I'm going to make it damn difficult for
them to do so, and if they don't...well, I'll deal with that if it
happens. Legally or not, I'm not letting them take you back there
again, ever."
"Whatever you want to do, you have my consent, as long as I don't have to
see them."
"You won't. I promise."
Jenny cuddled up next to me again, closing her eyes sleepily.
Dr. Sampson had said that she'd be sleeping a lot over the next few
days, as her body healed itself. I stroked her hair, my fingers
tracing down her back. The hard knobs of her vertebrae were easily
felt with my fingertips through her skin. Anger over what they had
done to her, the only person I had ever truly loved, filled me
again. How someone could treat someone the way they had treated her
amazed me. It amazed me even more that they had done it to their
own daughter, someone that they were supposed to protect and love,
not starve and beat.
She fell asleep under my loving touch. I held her and stared at the
ceiling, wondering about the future of humanity. If we couldn't even
care properly for our children, how were we ever going to get along without
wiping ourselves off the planet, like some bacteria being wiped off the
surface of a dirty petrii dish by a high school biology student?
I wondered why people fell in love. Was it some instinct,
driven by the chemical reactions in the brain we call emotions?
Why did we get so much pleasure from another's touch? Simple
hormones, or something more, something deep in the consciousness of
every human, even in the minds of the most horrific people in human
history? Hitler had children, a wife. He likely loved them,
despite his atrocities.
Then why couldn't two people in a remote town in the western
United States simply love their daughter, the way that I loved her?
Why did they have to do such horrible things, even though they
claimed to follow "The teachings of God"? Why did the Crusades
happen? Why the holy wars in the middle east, over something as
simple as a few square miles of territory that was said to be
"Holy"? Why did people desire power over other people, at any
cost, even the lives or the happiness of those you love? Strive
for what you think is right, no matter if it's right or not or
interferes with what others think is right. Opinions are
everything, and yours are always the best for you, your family, and
all of humanity. "The grand future awaits us, just follow me, and
all will be saved." they say. They, as in the politicians, the
religious leaders, the dictators, and the leaders of the large and small
nations of the world.
The smart over the stupid, the powerful over the weak. Then we
look back, and try to see the whole picture, beyond this tiny speck
in the universe we call home, to the great beyond. Then you look
back and see nothing but two people in love, two people that care
for each other more than anything else in that big black void
we call a universe.
More than anything in the universe, you say? How could anything be
more important than the universe? What binds together life? Proteins,
amino acids? What use is the universe if no one is able to observe it,
happenings great and small? What's the point if we destroy ourselves in
the process of worrying about what will happen the next day, over mere tiny
fractions of a micron of mass in comparison to the universe, mass we happen
to live on, which we call "land"? Or power, which is simply another name for
control over our fellow beings?
When it's all simplified, all we have are a few minute chemical
reactions in an organic mass that we call our bodies, the thoughts,
the emotions, the ideas. That is what we need to guard, not land,
not happiness, not freedom. Certainly, freedom and happiness are
important to life. But what use is happiness when your mind is
empty? You might as well be a house cat. What's the use of freedom
if you have nothing more to do than swim in circles until you die,
like the salmon?
Thoughts and ideas are the fabric of consciousness. Those
seemingly random electrical impulses racing along nerve paths, the
hormones flooding the brain in response to a simple touch. When
two people connect, share consciousness in however rudimentary way,
ideas grow exponentially. Consciousness is enhanced.
Our greatest assets are not the national forests, the mineral
reserves, or glittering metals and chemical compounds. Our
greatest asset is each other. No one person can put together the
most complex space mission, no one person can save wildlife from
being destroyed, no one person can stop the violence. No one
person can save humanity.
Jenny and I had connected all those months before, during the
cold winter months in northern Oregon. Even if humanity wiped
itself out sometime in the future, we would have shared those thoughts,
those ideas, those feelings. Chemical reactions, yes. But have they made
a difference in the long run, those few billionths of a second in comparison
to the eons of time?
I hope so.
End Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
--------------
Jenny spent the next week in bed, being fed the most fattening
foods I could find. She enjoyed everything from chocolate cake and
ice cream to strawberries and whipped cream. She had gained
several pounds by the end of the week, her ribs receding under a
healthy layer of body fat. Her dreams seemed to fade some. She
began to sleep better, only waking once or twice a night. The only
time I left the apartment was for groceries. I had taken time off
work, wanting to be sure to be there to take care of her through
the first few weeks.
We visited Dr. Sampson the following week, and he announced
Jenny to be progressing satisfactorily. He told her to get out
and get a little exercise so that the gained weight wouldn't turn
into fat with no muscle to back it up. Jenny and I laughed about
the later, her days in bed were a combination of rest, food, and
periods of intense activity. I'm sure you can guess what was going
on during those periods of intense activity. Our pasion for each other
hadn't declined in the least since we had last been together.
We started to take morning walks, morning being the only suitable
time to do any sort of exercise outdoors, at least until Jenny had
adjusted better to the climate. We used the time to talk, discussing
any of a million topics. It still amazed me how much information she
had managed to jam into her head in the short span of thirteen
years. She did well in history and english, while I excelled in science. She
enjoyed poetry and Shakespeare, I enjoyed philosophy and science fiction.
We had a lot to learn from each other, and about each other,
mentally and physically. We had thought we had known each other's
bodies well before. But one of us had never been stuck in bed for a
couple of weeks, either. Interesting ideas tend to spring into people's
heads when they get tired of reading, sleeping and eating. Especially
when two people are as insatiable as we were. Jenny might have
lost weight, but she had lost none of her enthusiasm or her ability
to experiment.
I talked to a few lawyers, and found one willing to write up the
papers for what little money I had. At then end of the second week
I was certain that Jenny was well enough for me to leave for a few
days. I talked to Dr. Sampson, and he agreed to let Jenny stay
with his wife and himself for the few days that I was gone. I
didn't want to leave Jenny alone, especially if someone showed up
at our apartment.
Jenny protested, saying she could take care of herself, but I
didn't budge. She was a little huffy when a couple of days later I
dropped her off at the Sampson's house, but I knew she understood
my reasons.
I caught an early flight to Portland, and then caught a smaller plane to
Sandville. I renting a car, I drove to the house and picked up the clothes
Jenny had left behind there when she went home with her parents. Jenny had
been forced to wear some of my clothes during the few times she had been
dressed over the last couple of weeks. The last of my money had gone to the
lawyer and the plane tickets so we couldn't afford new ones, especially when
we had some already, provided we wait until I could get back from
Oregon.
Signs that my Father had come and gone a few times since I had
left remained in a small stack of moldy dishes next to the sink.
The house had taken on the musty smell a building gets when it
hasn't been lived in for a while. It was summer now, and a family
of robins had nested in the chimney judging from the constant
chirping emanating hollowly from the fireplace. I didn't stop to
rest, fearing I might loose my nerve completely.
I piled the clothes into a few boxes and tossed them in the back
seat of the car. I stopped by the Walker's place for a moment to
say hello. Mrs. Walker tried to get me to stay for lunch, but I
refused saying I had business that I had to attend to before anything
else.
"Maybe dinner." I told her, since my plane didn't leave until
the next day. I hoped that dealing with Jenny's parents would take a
small portion of the time I had until then. Mrs. Walker pushed a fresh
cinnamon roll into my hand as I said good bye and climbed into the
car.
My nervousness increased with every foot the car traveled closer
to my confrontation with Mr. and Mrs. Baker. I had the documents
securely in a manila envelope on the passenger seat.
As I drove up the driveway, I composed myself and put a professional,
take-no-crap look on my face.
I got out of the car as Mr. Baker came out the front door of the
small house. When he saw who it was, he got a surprised look on his
face and called back inside for his wife. She came out, wiping
her hands on her apron. I walked up to them, manila envelope under
my arm.
"I need to talk to you about a few legal matters, Mr. and Mrs.
Baker." I said coldly. "Can I please come inside so we can talk this
over more privately?"
"What do ya want to talk to us about exactly?" Mr. Baker asked, a
suspicious look on his face.
"Let's just say it includes one of your daughters that no longer
lives with you." I let a little of the hatred I felt for
both of them leak into the look. Mr. Baker's face hardened and
Mrs. Baker paled slightly.
Mr. Baker thought it over for a second, and then nodded. We
walked inside through the dark front hallway and into the slightly
brighter living room. It smelled of stale cigar smoke. Most of
the furniture looked as if it had been sitting there since the
early 70's, and was about as clean. They sat, and I took a chair
across from them.
"So where's our daughter?" he asked.
"Where she is is of no consequence to you. I'm here to let you
know that you are never seeing your daughter again. You will also
sign over legal guardianship of Jenny to me."
"And why would we want to do that?" Mr. Baker scoffed. Mrs.
Baker just sat, her fingers gripping the arm of the sofa so tightly
it looked as if the bright orange material was about to tear off in her
hands.
"I think you know why. I have evidence against you and Mrs.
Baker that would convict you both of various forms of child abuse,
ranging from simple neglect to physical and psychological abuse."
Mr. Baker laughed. "What do you have, boy? The word of
a thirteen year old against her parents? I doubt that would stand
up in court."
"Oh, I have more than that, Mr. Baker."
I reached into the envelope and pulled the pictures that had taken of
the bruises on Jenny's neck and torso the day after she had
arrived, as well as the clear malnurishment. I handed them to Mrs. Baker,
who looked at them and turned white as a sheet. Still silent, she handed
them to Mr. Baker, who looked at them momentarily before tossing them on the
coffee table.
"You still have nothing to prove that either of us caused those
bruises. You could have made them yourself." He said, and edge of
uncertainty slipping into his voice.
"I also have the testimony of a doctor who will testify that the bruises
were caused days before she ever arrived at my home. I can also get the
testimony of her friend who helped her onto the bus to my home, as well as
the testimony of the woman who gave her a ride to that friend's house, only a
few thousand feet from here, minutes after she was beaten by you, Mr. Baker.
"That, on top of Jenny's testimony will be more than enough to put you and
Mrs. Baker behind bars for years. You will lose everything, including your
one remaining daughter, most likely your house to legal bills, and the little
respect you now have in this community.
"If you do not sign these papers, I will turn all evidence I have as
well as the names, addresses, and phone numbers of all witnesses over to
the police and child protective services. Jenny and I will
disappear. Either way, Mr. and Mrs. Baker, you lose. You just
lose less if you do it my way."
They sat in silence for a few seconds, each knowing they were
pinned.
"I'll sign the papers." Mrs. Baker said slowly.
"Samantha!" Mr. Baker said sharply.
"Shut up, Bryan! We can't do anything about it, and I'm not
going to jail for your idiotic pride!"
Mr. Baker sat back, defeated. I pulled the papers out of the
envelope, and handed Mrs. Baker a pen. She signed the papers, and
handed them to Mr. Baker. He also signed. I took the papers and
stuffed them and the pictures back in the envelope.
"One more thing, Mr. Baker. I want the locket you took from
Jenny the night she ran away."
He nodded wearily and walked into another room, returning a few
minutes later with the locket.
"Thank you." I said, standing up and taking the locket. Then I
hit him, putting as much power behind my fist as I possibly could.
It landed on his jaw, snapping his head back. I followed it with a
punch to the stomach, causing him to double over. He fell to the
ground, moaning. "Next time, don't hit your children." I growled.
I turned to where Mrs. Baker was still sitting, gaping at her husband who
was still curled in a ball on the worn green shag carpeting.
"I'll be in touch with my contacts here in town. I will be
watching. If you mistreat your youngest daughter in any way, I
will make sure your lives become a living hell. I'll show myself
out." With that, I marched through the door and out the car,
Mrs. Baker moving over to help her husband as I left. I continued to hold
the bottled up rage and fear in until I was down the road a mile, and then
pulled over and allowed myself to relax, my body shaking in repressed
emotion.
When I felt well enough to drive, I headed for Kallie's house. It was only
four in the afternoon, but it felt like hours had passed while I was sitting
in that grungy living room.
*****
Kallie's house was one of the bigger houses in town, for good
reason. Her father was the manager of the only bank in town. Five kids
couldn't fit into a two bedroom house very well, especially when one of
those five was female and the eldest child to boot.
When I pulled into the driveway, I was greeted by all four of
Kallie's screaming little brothers, ranging from the youngest who
appeared to be around five, to the eldest at eleven. I was
bombarded with questions. When they found out that I was there to
see Kallie, they all squealed and ran inside, whooping and chanting
"Kallie's got a boyfriend, Kallie's got a boyfriend!" in classic
sibling style. 'God I hope I have all girls when I have kids.' I
thought to myself.
A few minutes later a red faced Kallie appeared at the front
door. She looked surprised to see me there, leaning against the
white rental car with my arms folded.
"Annoying, aren't they?" I said, smiling slightly.
"Try living with them."
"Want to go for a quick drive? I need to talk to you about a
few things."
"That will only make it worse, but what the hell."
I nodded and walked around to the drivers side. She took the
passenger side. A few minutes later I was driving aimlessly.
"I'm guessing Jenny got to you okay?" Kallie said.
"It depends on what you define as 'okay'. I took her to a
doctor. She was malnourished. The bruises are still there.
Faint, but you can see the faint traces of where they were."
Kallie took a deep shuddering breath. "I know. I was surprised
to see her. If I had known what they were doing to her..." she
blinked back the tears that were flooding her eyes.
"I know how you feel. I'm still kicking myself for not coming
up when I stopped getting her letters. But I was scared that she
had found someone else, and didn't want to have to break it to me."
"That's nuts. She's dedicated to you, Alex. After you left, you were
all that she talked about. Half the time I was with her she was off in
her head, daydreaming about you."
"I know that now. But at the time, we hadn't seen each other in
months...it gets to you."
She nodded. "So she's staying with you? And why did you come
back? I figured the last place you'd want to see again would be
this hole in the ground."
"I came back to talk to Jenny's parents."
"What? Are you crazy? They'll call the cops on you, or worse!
He might just shoot you on sight!"
"I've already been there." I handed her the manila envelope.
"Look at the documents. I don't know if you want to see the
pictures."
She opened it up and dumped the contents on her lap. She gasped
when she saw the pictures of Jenny. "I didn't know that it was
this bad!" she exclaimed. "I should have just called the cops!"
"It was better this way. Read the documents. They're in
legalese, but you should be able to get the gist of them."
Kallie pulled the papers from under the pictures, and scanned
them quickly. She gasped as she realized what they were, and who's
signatures were on them.
"You got them to let you take custody of her? How the hell did you get
them to sign them?"
"Blackmail. That's what the pictures were for. I told them
that I had the eye witnesses of the woman who picked her up and you,
as well as the testimony of the doctor who saw her. You should have
seen their faces when I threatened to call the cops and CPS if they
didn't sign them."
Kallie giggled. "I can guess. Wish I could have been there to
see the bastards faces."
"It was nothing compared to when I belted Jenny's father."
"You hit him?" she said, wide eyed.
"Well, he deserved it."I said defensively.
"Yeah, he sure did, hitting her like that. Her mother could use
a smack or two herself."
"I don't hit women."
"Yeah, I suppose not. Jenny always said you were to much of a
gentleman. So what are you two going to do now?"
"Well, I figured that I'd finish college, and Jenny would get
enrolled in the local school. Maybe learn something for once in a
classroom. After that, I don't know. Just play it by ear. I just
know we're happy. Jenny's been scarfing down food for the last two
weeks, and has gained a lot of weight back. The bruises have
faded, and she seems happy."
"Good. I might have kept her at my house, but I don't know how
my parents would have handled it. It's crowded as it is. And I
figured that she'd be happier with you, anyway."
"Thanks for sending her to me, Kallie. I don't know what we
would have done if you hadn't helped her when she needed it."
"We're best friends. She's really my only friend. I wanted
what was best for her, even if it meant that I wouldn't be able to
see her much anymore."
"Well, you can always write, call each other." We had come back
full circle, and were now back on her street. I pulled into the
driveway, ignoring her little brothers who were making faces at
me through the windshield and reached for a piece of paper, writing
Jenny's and my address and phone number on it. "Call in a couple of
days, collect. I'm sure Jenny will be glad to talk to you." I
reached for my wallet and pulled out what had amounted to her life's
savings before she had used it to get Jenny to me. "Here's your life
savings back. Thanks." I tried to hand it to her.
"No, tell her I wanted to help. It seems like if I took it back it
wouldn't mean as much. She's helped me a lot, too. I consider it kinda a
payback."
I nodded, and stuffed the money back in my wallet. "You're
smarter than you look, Kallie."
"Tell that to my parents." Kallie laughed. "That's my Mom
glaring at is from the front door. I'd better go."
"Good talking to you. I'm leaving tommorrow morning at nine. I'll tell
Jenny that you said hello. If she'll talk to me when I get back."
I grimaced. "She didn't appreciate it much when I left her at her
doctor's house while I was gone. Said that she could take care of
herself, but I didn't want to leave her alone."
"Sounds like Jenny to me. Don't worry, she'll come around."
Kallie kissed me on the cheek. I looked at her in surprise. "Well,
if I'm gonna get teased, I may as well give it a little substance."
she grinned at me. I grinned back.
"Take care." I called as she got out. She slammed the door and
waved as I backed out of the driveway. I headed for the Walker's
house, figuring I'd be just in time for dinner.
End Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
----------------
I had dinner with the Walkers that night. They managed to drag the
fact that I was living with someone out of me, and I spent the next hour
trying to describe her without telling them who she was or her age.
I went back to the house, went up stairs and collapsed on the
familiar bed. It was a little dusty, but by then I didn't really care.
I just wanted to sleep.
I got up early the next morning and took a quick shower. My plane
left at nine that morning, and I still had to drive to Sandfield.
The plane trip was hell. The standard screaming kid was sitting
behind me and the in-flight movie from Portland to Sacramento was a
corny G-rated movie with talking animals. By the time I landed I was in
a thoroughly bad mood. I picked up my car and noticed it had a new dent in
the rear bumper.
'Just one more of many.' I grumbled to myself as I tossed
the boxes of clothes into the back seat.
The clasp on Jenny's locket was broken, so I stopped by a few jewelers
before I could find one that would fix it while I waited. It wasn't
cheap, but I figured it was worth it to see Jenny's face when I gave it
to her. I was looking forward to seeing her again, this trip was the
first time I had been apart from her for more than an hour at a time
since she had moved in.
Jenny ran out to meet me when she heard the rattle of my car pulling
into Dr. Sampson's driveway. She jumped up and hugged me around the neck
when I climbed out of the car. She smelled clean, and I noticed that
her hair was slightly damp. I wanted to kiss her, but was curtailed
when Dr. Sampson walked out the front door, smiling.
"So, how'd it go? Did they sign the papers?" Jenny asked excitedly.
"Wait a minute. Dr. Sampson's has a right to know, too." I said,
letting Jenny down as he walked up to us.
"Welcome back. I'm guessing it went well." Dr. Sampson smiled and
shook my hand. I smiled and reached into the car and pulled out the manila
envelope and pulled the papers out, handing them to him. He scanned
them quickly, and smiled.
"Well, Jenny, looks like you have yourself a permanent place to stay
from now on." he announced.
Jenny squealed and hugged me again, this time forgetting about being
careful around Dr. Sampson. She kissed me full on the lips, and started
crying. I held her as she let out the tension that had been building up
over the past few weeks as she waited to find out what would happen. I
looked up, praying that he hadn't seen Jenny kiss me the way that she
had. From the look of surprise on his face, I could tell he had. I
could almost hear the gears turning as he sorted out what had been going on
for the last few weeks.
"I'm sorry." Jenny said a few minutes later, wiping the tears out of
her eyes. "I didn't mean to start crying, I'm just happy, that's all."
Dr. Sampson nodded. I could see what was coming. He looked me
straight in the eye and dropped the bomb.
"You two are more than just good friends, aren't you?" he said
evenly. Jenny gasped and looked at Dr. Sampson as she realized what she
had done to bring that question on.
"Yes, Dr. Sampson. We are." I replied, looking defiantly at him.
"I should have guessed from the beginning. If I had known when you
brought her in...well, let's not discuss that. But I know you and
Jenny, now. I can look at you and see that you care for each other. Jenny
has been recovering nicely, and I don't think that it could have happened
as quickly as it did if it hadn't been for you, Alex. I can't say I
approve, but I can't condemn you, either."
"You're a bit more open minded than other people, Dr. Sampson. Thank
you for your help with Jenny and I."
"My pleasure. I hope that the two of you will be as happy living
together in a permanent arrangement as you seem to have been in the last
couple of weeks."
"I know I've been happy the last few weeks, and I think Alex has
been, too." Jenny said with a smile.
"Well then, good luck. Remember you have another appointment with me
in two weeks, Jenny. I'll see you then. I'm sure you two want to get
home, and Alex here looks like he could use a few hours of sleep."
"I sure could." I said. Thanking him again, Jenny and I climbed
into the car. We waved as I backed out of the driveway, and headed for
the place I could now truly call home.
*****
I pulled Jenny into a deep embrace as soon as the door to our
apartment was closed.
"I missed you." I murmured into her ear.
"I missed you too. But I've barely had any sleep in the last two
days. The dreams kept waking me up, but I didn't have you to hold me."
"Well, I should be around now. You don't have to wake up alone
again. Eventually the dreams will go away." We moved to the couch and
sat in the dim light leaking from around the curtains on the windows.
"I hope the dreams will go away. They aren't as bad as the were when
I came here."
"They won't disappear overnight. They have to fade over time, as the
memories of what happened fade."
Jenny sighed and lay down, her head on my lap. I began to idly
trace her face, feeling the familiar lines under my fingertips.
"So they just signed the papers? It doesn't sound like them to me."
"They argued a little bit. Your father growled, but your mother made
him sign. That reminds me, I got something else from them." I reached
into my shirt pocket and pulled the locket out, the chain jingling.
"You got it back! How? I thought I'd never see it again." Jenny
took it from my hand and held it in front of her face, watching it
glimmer in the dim light.
"I can be very persuasive. I had the chain fixed before I picked you
up. I figured you would want it back."
"Yes! You don't know how important it is to me. I haven't felt
right without feeling it hanging around my neck."
"I know. That's why I got it back."
"I seem to be saying thank you a lot these days, but thanks." She
fastened the chain around her neck and lay down again, opening the
locket to display our images. "What do you think will happen in the
next few years? Now that I'm legally supposed to live with you until
I'm eighteen? Somehow I don't think that it would last that long if the
'authorities' knew that we were sleeping in the same bed."
I laughed. "We'll deal with it as it comes, Jenny. That's really
all you can do in life, anyway. I'll finish college, you'll finish high
school and go on to college if you like, and we'll see where we end up."
"Will we end up together?"
I looked down at her face, seeing the love in them, the trust. "I think
we will, yes. I can't think of anything that would separate us, as
long as we're careful and keep loving each other."
"Good." she said, sitting up and wrapping her arms around my neck.
"I can't think of anyone I'd rather be with than you."
I kissed her and said, "I can't think of anyone I'd rather be with
than you, either. So I think we'll be together for at least a little
while longer."
"Do I really need to go back to school?" she groaned.
"Yes, I think so. Schools down here aren't like the schools back
home. Maybe you'll actually learn something here. You can't just sit
around here all day. You might get addicted to bon bons, and then when
you're twenty, where will you be? Sitting on a couch unable to move,
that's what."
"Why would I not be able to move?" she asked, puzzled.
"You wouldn't be able to move because they cute behind you have on you
now will stick out half a foot, and your belly will have swelled to such
proportions that you'll have to have your clothes custom made."
I wasn't quite fast enough to dodge the pillow headed for my face.
"What was that for?" I complained, rubbing my nose.
"I think you know." she giggled.
"Really? Well, I think I know what you need, little girl."
"Little girl? I'm not a..." I put my hand over her mouth, muffling
her protests.
"Yes, I know exactly what you need. A good tickling lesson!"
Jenny let out a muffled squeal and began to struggle, shaking her head
against my palm.
"Yes. Where shall I tickle her first? Ahh, this looks like a good
place!" I tickled her in her stomach. She thrashed and pulled her mouth
free of my hand, laughing.
"Stop! Stop!" she cried, trying to catch her breath.
"Do you apologize for hitting me with a pillow?"
"Yes! Just stop!" she laughed, trying to pull my hand away from her
stomach.
I thought for a moment, continuing to tickle her. "Apology accepted."
I said, letting her go.
Mistake.
With strength I kept forgetting she had, she wriggled up and managed to
get her fingers into my sides, tickling mercilessly. "Nyaaagh!" I laughed,
trying to pull her arms away. I got away by rolling onto the floor, only
to have Jenny jump on top of me, pinning me to the floor.
"Conniving wench!" I laughed, resisting weakly as she pinned my arms
above my head.
"Wench? Who's on top again, tickle-man?" she grinned down at me.
I grinned back up at her. "You are. But who says I don't like you
being there? Or even let you be on top?"
She laughed. "Let's see you get free then."
"You sure?"
"Stop stalling and do it if you can. Otherwise, I'm going to have to
take advantage of your position." She smiled saucily at me.
She shrieked in surprise when I lifted my arms and grabbed her wrists,
pulling them back against her body. I rolled over and pinned her in the
same position she had just had me in a few seconds before.
"Do I get to take advantage of your position now?"
"How do you know I didn't let you get free so that you could take
advantage of me?"
"Try to get free now." I challenged.
"I don't want to."
"You don't want to, or you can't?"
She lifted her head and kissed me, pushing her tongue deep in my
mouth, nipping at my tongue. My grip weakened and suddenly she was on top
again, still kissing me.
"Can." she said, breaking the kiss.
"No fair! Taking advantage of a man's weaknesses that way!"
"Brains always outdo braun."
"Really? I could roll us over and end up on top again, you know."
"Not really. You see, I can feel you know what growing underneath
me." She rolled her hips causing me to groan. "I have a little more
control over you than just my strength."
"I could just roll you over and take what I wanted, you know."
"No, you can't." she purred seductively, burying her head against my
neck, licking and sucking erotically.
"Why not?" I said, breathing harder.
"You're not that kind of person, and I know you would never do
something like that to me."
"You think you know me pretty well, don't you?"
"Yes, I do." she said, pausing to look down at me, lusty fire
gleaming in her dark eyes, her hair rolling over her left shoulder,
tickling my face. "I also know that you won't resist when I let your arms
go." She lifted her hands that were holding my wrists to the floor, and
began to unbutton my shirt.
"You're right again." I said, reaching down and running my hands down
her back, pulling her blouse over her head. She stopped her work on my
shirt to toss it off into a corner. Soon she had my shirt off and was
rubbing her now erect nipples into my rough chest chair. She stopped to
kiss me again, increasing the heat between us. I reached between us and
undid the button of her jeans, pulling the zipper down. I could feel
the heat of her pussy even through the thick material. Her scent wafted
up to my nose as I slipped a hand inside and under the band of her
panties. She gasped as my fingers came in contact with the damp lips of
her pussy, pushing her hips toward my pleasure causing fingers, groaning
as they found her clit. I quit after a few seconds, pulling my hand free to
help my other hand pull her jeans down. Jenny wriggled the pants the rest of
the way down her legs and kicked them off.
Jenny was rolling her hips hard against me now, feeling the rough
cloth of my pants rubbing her pussy through her now soaked through
panties. She stopped and reached for my pants, almost ripping the
button off and forcing the zipper down. I shucked them off, along with
my boxers. Jenny pulled her panties off, and we were skin to skin. She
rubbed her pussy over the length of my now rock hard cock, groaning.
She lifted her hips, positioning herself over me, and sank down slowly
onto my rod. A wanton look filled her eyes as she hit bottom, her pussy lips
stretched tightly around my member. We froze for a few seconds, enjoying the
feeling of our intimate connection. Then she began to move slowly up and
down my rod, her pussy making quiet sucking noises as she pulled up and sank
down. I watched in fascination as her pussy lips flipped outward on the
upstroke, only to be pushed back inside as she lowered herself onto me again.
She came with a load moan less than a minute after I entered her,
the walls of her pussy rippling tightly around me. She recovered almost
immediately, moving for another orgasm. She came again and again within
only a few minutes, each stronger than the last, her cries of orgasm
getting louder with each successive wave of pleasure.
She was hotter than I had ever seen her. She had come twice or even
three times during one round before, but she had come five times in a
span of minutes! Each time she same, she only seemed to get tighter
around me, moving faster, grinding her clit against my pubic bone on
each stroke. Sweat dripped off her forehead onto my chest as she tossed
her head from side to side, the damp ends of her hair swishing through
the drops, spreading the film and mixing her sweat with mine. She
looked into my eyes, a pleasure so intense it was almost pain shining
from them. I moved with her, feeling her slick walls squelching around
me, smelling the sweet pungent odor of sex fill the room.
"It's so good!" she moaned. "God, it feels so good!" She pushed
herself harder against me, sensing my being close, driving herself
and me harder toward orgasm.
We were smashing against each other, only caring about the impending
orgasm welling up in each of us, a growing roar in our ears. Then it washed
over us.
"Unnnaaaaggghhhh!" Jenny screamed as she came, bucking hard one last time
against me. I cried out as I felt her contract around me, fairly sucking the
come from my balls. I groaned and let loose, a steam of semen shooting from
the tip of my cock, filling her tight pussy, flooding her womb.
Jenny was taught as a bowstring above me, her eyes clenched shut as
her orgasm washed through her and slowly faded. She suddenly went limp,
flopping on top of me. I could feel the combination of her juices and
my come dripping down around my balls. I brushed her sweat dampened
hair out of her eyes and kissed her, tasting the salty sweat on her
sweet lips.
"I love you Alex." she whispered in my ear, relaxing in the
afterglow.
"I love you too, Jenny." I whispered back. I slowly caressed her
sweaty skin on the rug of the dark living room, relishing in the joys
of life. Our life.
End Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
----------------
Jenny called Kallie the next day. They talked for over a half hour, much
to my dismay when I saw the phone bill for that month. I went back to work
to get enough money to pay for it and the rent.
Jenny leveled out at a little under her old weight and seemed to
have twice as much energy as when we first met. Or maybe I was just getting
older.
Jenny enrolled in the local public school, which wasn't too bad as
far as pubic schools went. She struggled for the first few weeks,
unaccustomed to actually having to work at getting good grades. I helped
her out, and she soon climbed to the top of her class. She turned
fourteen that September, and I nineteen when December rolled around. No
one seemed to question us living together, or the fact that I was her
legal guardian.
Kallie kept us updated on Jenny's little sister Amanda. So far everything
seemed fine. No one from our old home town seemed to miss us except for
Kallie and Amanda. I hadn't heard from my father since he had left
after our last confrontation, and Jenny's parents certainly weren't about
to call us just to say hello, either. An occasional letter managed to
slip through from Amanda, who gave the letters to Kallie to send. Not
wanting to risk getting Amanda in trouble, Jenny had Kallie also forward
the letters to Amanda for her.
Three, then six months passed. We slipped into routine, myself attending
college from seven A.M. until noon. I'd work for six or seven hours,
then come home to Jenny. We'd make dinner and do our homework
together then relax and read a good book or listen to music, as we had
always enjoyed doing together. It never seemed to get dull or boring.
We became closer if possible, and only separated during school
hours. Jenny and I had made a few friends who jokingly referred to us
as the Siamese twins, joined at the hip.
We celebrated our first anniversary that January. This time Jenny
cooked and I was pampered. The spaghetti was definitely of higher
quality, the French bread store bought. Our last attempt at bread
making during our weekly "try something new night" had failed miserably,
resulting in some very flat overcooked bread and two people covered in
flour and dough. The best part of it was the very through scrubbing we
enjoyed together later in the shower.
We still had very little money, but managed to scrape together small
gifts for each other. I gave her a pair of earrings, she gave me a new
watch to replace the one I had lost to a wad of bread dough, another of the
causes for the demise of our bread experiments.
We talked of old times, old friends, and old problems now solved.
The one year hump had passed, and we were more in love than we had been
in that first rush of emotion a year before. We toasted ourselves,
hoping for another year together, and longer.
We made love that night, two candles replacing the fireplace we
had lain in front of so many times in the past. We slowed down to soft
caresses afterwards, watching the flames lick at the wax of the candles,
slowly burning down their wicks. Our eyes closed before the flames
petered out, holding each other and dreaming of our future.
*****
"Alex, can you come down to my office as soon as possible?" Dr.
Sampson asked.
"Why? Is Jenny all right?" I asked, fear freezing my heart. Jenny had
gone to see him earlier that day. She hadn't been feeling well all week.
"Oh, she's fine. More than fine, actually. I just need to discuss
something important with the two of you."
I glanced at my watch. "Well, my lunch break is in thirty minutes.
I'll see if I can't get my boss to let me out a little early."
"Good, I'll see you in a few minutes then." He hung up. I set the
phone back on it's hook slowly, my mind whirling with worry despite the
doctor's reassuring me that everything was fine. I went talk to my
boss, who let me out when I explained to him why I needed to go early.
I think the look of fear on my face was his main motivator.
I had to force myself to drive slowly to Dr. Sampson's office. He
met me in waiting room and led me back to where Jenny was sitting on one
of the examination tables.
"Are you all right?" I asked, rushing over to her and giving her a
hug.
"I'm fine. At least that's what Dr. Sampson said. I don't know
why he called you down here. He just said it was important that we both
hear this at the same time."
I wrapped my arms around her waist and turned to where Dr. Sampson
was standing in the corner, looking a little uncomfortable.
"So, what did you need to talk to us about?" I asked.
"Well, I don't really know how to say this. You could take this as a
good or a bad thing." He took a deep breath. "Jenny, the bouts of
nausea you've been having aren't the stomach flu, it's morning sickness.
You're a month pregnant."
I could feel the blood drain from my face. Jenny let out a little
gasp and suddenly fainted, going limp and nearly rolling off the table
before I caught her. Frankly, I felt like joining her. I lifted her
back up onto the examination table, and sat beside her still unconscious
body. I looked over at Dr. Sampson.
"You're sure? It's not a mistake?"
He nodded. "I ran the test three times. She's absolutely pregnant.
Here, let's see if we can bring her around. We need to discuss this."
He reached into one of the cupboards and brought out some smelling
salts. I took them from him, wanting her to see me when she woke up. I
held it under her nose, and she woke up with a start. Pressing her
back down into the cushioning of the table, I told her to relax.
"Oh god Alex, what are we going to do? I'm not ready for this..."
"Ssshh." I said, putting a finger to her lips. "We'll deal with it.
It's our responsibility. I should have realized this would happen sooner
or later."
Dr. Sampson coughed. "So, I'm guessing that you're the father?"
I nodded slowly, the words almost overloading my mind. 'Father? Me,
a Father? I don't think I'm ready for this, either.' I thought.
"I figured that you were. That's the main reason why I called you
down here. Now, you two have some choices to make. You don't have to
make them right away, but as time goes on, it'll be tougher to make
them."
I said I understood and Jenny agreed.
"Well, you have three decisions. Abortion..."
"No!" Jenny and I said simultaneously.
"Okay. Abortion is out. That leaves adoption and of course, keeping
the baby. I'll give you some papers, and some literature for you to
both read. Call me when you make a decision. I suggest that you both
go home and have a long talk about this."
We nodded numbly, and took the stack of papers on the way out of the
office. We drove home in silence, each lost in our own thoughts, still
in shock.
I called my boss and told him I wouldn't back in that day due to a
family emergency. Then we sat on the couch. We held each other, then
Jenny began to cry. I stroked her hair and rocked her, trying to calm
her down. I felt a few of my own tears mix with hers.
"I'm scared Alex." she sobbed.
"I'm scared too, Jenny. But we'll work it out. We always have in the
past, and we can deal with this."
"But I'm, we're not ready for this! We talked about it, but never
this soon. Maybe a few years down the road, but not when I'm only fourteen!"
"Yes, I know. But it's happened now, and the question is, what are
we going to decide?" I already knew what I wanted. But I wasn't going
to force my opinion on Jenny, no matter how important the issue was to
me. It was an important decision for both of us. If she chose to give
up our child then I would go along, and never tell her how I felt. But
I knew that I wanted this baby. I wanted to know the child I had
fathered, whether it be a boy or a girl. But she had to carry it for
nine months, she had to suffer through delivery.
"I don't know. I just don't know." She placed a hand on her belly,
as if trying to feel the child growing inside her.
"It's okay, Jenny. Don't decide now. I think we both need to sleep
on this. It's too difficult to make a decision now. But I want you to know
that I'll go with what you feel is right. I'll support you as I always have,
but I think this has to be your decision. I'll be ready to be a father if
you decide to keep the baby, or not to be if you decide you want to give it
up."
"I'm just so confused...I can't even think straight. All that keeps
swirling through my head is 'I'm pregnant. Oh my god, I'm pregnant'."
"I can understand that. I'm not much better. Let's just go to bed.
Maybe it won't be so hazy tomorrow."
Jenny agreed and we went to bed, even though it was only a little
after eight. We were both exhausted, the shock draining us. We barely
managed to strip off our clothes and flop onto the bed. We curled up
together and passed out.
I slept soundly for the first few hours, dreams of babies of all
shapes and sizes floating around my head. Babies with rattles, babies
in diapers, babies smiling, crying, cooing, smelling of talcum powder.
The I was woken by Jenny shaking my shoulder violently, the
determined look I knew so well in her eyes.
"Alex! Wake up! I had this dream...she was talking to me! Telling me,
telling me..." She stopped, confusion settling on her face like a mask,
covering the excitement of a few seconds before.
"Jenny, it was just a dream! Relax."
Light fired up in her eyes again, and the determined look surfaced
again. "No, it wasn't just a dream. Our baby, Alex, our baby told me
in my dream that we should keep her...and Alex, I agree."
I sat up. "Jenny, what are you saying?"
"I'm saying I think we should keep the baby."
"Jenny, I don't know if you should base your decision on a dream." I
said seriously, trying to keep my feelings bottled up.
"Alex, I knew that I wanted to keep the baby. I just didn't want to
admit it to myself. I was worried about what would happen if I decided
to keep it, and you really didn't. I was scared about being a mother,
but now I know that I need to do it. Not only for the baby, but for
us, too."
"You're sure?" I asked.
She took a deep breath. "Yes, I am."
I smiled and hugged her. "Good, because I want to keep the baby too."
"You do? Really? I was afraid that you didn't want to be a father
yet. You never seemed too sure about it when we talked about it."
"I wasn't, until I was sitting in Dr. Sampson's office with you.
Somehow I knew I wanted to be a father as soon as the news was out of
his mouth." I looked at Jenny. "I love you more than anything, Jenny. I'll
love this baby just as much as I love you."
Jenny smiled. "I'm glad that you want to keep her as much as I do."
"So am I. Now, what's all this business about 'she'? We don't know
if it's a boy or a girl yet."
"It's a girl." Jenny said, certainty in her voice.
"But how do you know?" I insisted.
"I just do. Trust me."
"Okay. If you say it's a girl, it's a girl." I said, giving in.
Jenny curled up against me. "What do you think it will be like when
my belly starts getting big?" she asked.
"Well, I'm guessing you'll get the standard 'pregnant woman'
courtesy from anyone you run across. Your feet will start to hurt. Your
bladder will fill to capacity every couple of minutes. And you'll be more
beautiful to me than you've ever been."
"You always did know how to sweet talk me." Jenny laughed.
"Well, I have to practice dealing with those mood swings."
Jenny groaned and swatted me in the shoulder playfully. Then we
looked into each other's eyes, seeing our excitement and fear reflected
in them. She grabbed my hand and rested it on her stomach.
"Feel anything?" she asked.
I shook my head no, but kept my hand where it was. It still amazed me
to know that our child, our daughter if Jenny was correct, was growing inside
her. And somehow, lying there with my hand on her belly, I knew she was.
End Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
---------------
Dr. Sampson looked surprised the next day when we stopped by his
office and told him that we were keeping the baby. He didn't say
anything, but I knew he had expected us to decide to give the baby up.
We had thrown off his assumptions about us again, and I think he was
beginning to see how deep the relationship was between Jenny and I.
He sat us down and talk to us about what would be going on over the
next few months, and the legal problems we might have to face. He told
us it was best if Jenny didn't say who the father was, since it could
mean quite a bit of trouble for us if the more conservative members of
the community found out. It's not every day that a fourteen year old
girl gets pregnant by her 19 year old legal guardian.
We already knew this, and planned to keep the fact that she was
pregnant secret as long as possible. Rumors can get ugly, and we had no
doubts that people would be suspicious of us, especially our friends.
He also went over nutrition changes she would need to have a healthy baby
and gave us the approximate due date, September twelveth. Almost a week
before Jenny's fifteenth birthday. That put the date of conception pretty
much right where we figured it would be, our first anniversary.
Dr. Sampson ended his lecture, telling Jenny to come see him at
least every two weeks, if not more often if she felt the need.
Jenny and I did feverous research, learning all we could about
pregnancy and raising a child. More than once we fell asleep on the
couch while reading a particularly boring book, but kept at it.
We resisted the urge to go out and start buying baby items, knowing
that if we did it would be likely to blow the secret wide open. But
when Jenny's belly began to swell noticeably, it became difficult. Her
or my friends started commenting on Jenny's sudden weight gain, joking
with her or I about 'weight watchers' or 'Better start buying that low fat
ice cream'. Jenny and I just took it all in fun.
Kallie was the only one we told. She kept quiet when we asked, but I
knew it was a strain on her. When we called her and told her she was
going to be a godmother, she laughed as if we were joking. When we told
her we weren't there was a long pause, something quite unusual when you were
talking to Kallie. Then there was a classic Kallie remark. "Haven't you
two ever heard of something called a rubber?" When we didn't reply, she just
said "I thought so. Next time, think of it." Then she laughed and said
congratulations, and to send her plenty of pictures.
Jenny had Kallie tell Amanda and swore her to secrecy. I could
imagine the look on Amanda's face when she found out.
Dr. Sampson viewed our belief that the baby was female with
skepticism until he confirmed it after Jenny's first ultrasound three
months into her pregnancy. He jokingly asked us if we knew anything
else about the baby that he as the doctor should know. We told him we'd
get back to him if anything popped up.
About four months in one of Jenny's friends commented that Jenny
looked more pregnant than overweight and started laughing. At least
until she noticed that Jenny hadn't joined in, and who in fact turning
bright red and looking more than a little scared. Then our secret was
out.
Still, we managed to keep it in our small circle of friends, who were
surprisingly supportive. More than one guessed that I was the father.
They knew that Jenny and I were inseparable. They also knew she hadn't
been seeing anyone in the last few months, and had repeatedly turned down
date offers. It was only logical, and they told us. We didn't say
anything to confirm it, but that proved it to them almost as much as if
we had come straight out and said it. But there comes a point where you just
can't hide it anymore.
We thought we were doing pretty well, and the one evening Jenny met
me at the door, pale as a sheet. She fell into my arms and started
to cry. I hugged her and wondered if this was just another mood swing
or something serious. But she didn't usually fall apart like this, unless
something bad had happened. I led her to the couch and sat down,
taking her with me. I finally got the story out of her after she had
calmed down some.
"I got called down to the counselor's office today. I was scared,
since you know how I look now, it's pretty noticeable. Mr. Simmons took
me into his office and sat me down. From the grim look on his face I knew
that he had figured out that I was pregnant.
"He said I knew I knew why I was down there, and told me he wanted
to know the father's name, when I became pregnant, and if I had seen a
doctor yet. I told him it was none of his business. Then he got a
little angry, and demanded to know, or he said he would put me in detention
'until I had the baby on the floor' if he needed too. I told him to go to
hell and ran out of his office. I left school, came home and waited for
you to get back from work."
I had listened to her story patiently, holding in my anger so I
wouldn't upset Jenny.
"You're not going to school tomorrow." I said, in what I hoped was a
calm voice. "I'm going to have a visit with Mr. Simmons."
"What are you going to do?" she asked, almost fearfully.
"I'm just going to have a talk with him, that's all." I said grimly.
"Alex, please don't hit him like you hit my father. He might press
charges, and I don't want to take the chance of losing you."
"Who told you that I hit your father?" I asked, surprised. I had
'left out' the part about my punching him when I had told her what had
happened after my visit to Oregon.
"Kallie did. What did you think? That you could hide it from me?"
She giggled, obviously feeling better.
"Well, yes." I stammered.
"If you didn't want me to know, you shouldn't have told Kallie. She
tells me everything."
I grunted. "One of these days I'll figure that out."
"But then I'll never find out any of your secrets." she laughed.
"I think that's the point."
She just smiled and mumbled something about being tired. I glanced
at the clock, which read a little after nine. Over the last few months
Jenny had been going to bed progressively earlier. She seemed to tire
easily and I attributed it to her pregnancy. Helping her up, I led her into
the bedroom. We stripped and got into bed, me leaning against the
headboard with Jenny reclining against me. I traced the curve of her
stomach. What had been the flat surface of a firm fourteen year old
belly now bulged gently outward a few inches. The date four short months
away seemed to loom in front of us. We had known sooner or later that
the word would get out about Jenny's being pregnant, and it seemed that
it had finally happened. In a way I was glad. But the people at
Hawkins Junior High School, in particular Mr. Simmons, would find out it
wasn't a good idea to upset Jenny. If they upset Jenny, they upset me,
and when I'm upset, you had better watch out.
*****
I drove up to Hawkins Junior High around nine AM the next morning. I
was dressed to intimidate. I looked every bit the banker, from the
expensive tie down to the shiny black leather shoes. I marched in the
door to the front office, staring down the secretary that sat behind the
waist high counter blocking the rest of the office from visitors.
"I'd like to see Mr. Simmons." I said, looking down at her with an
expression as condescending as I could manage.
"Yes sir. What is the reason for your visit?" she asked politely.
"Just tell him I'm here to talk about Jenny Baker."
She nodded and picked up the phone. Talking rapidly for a few
seconds, she set the receiver down on the hook.
"He'll see you in his office. It's just down the..."
I cut her off. "I know where it is. Thank you." I walked stiffly
down the hall, keeping my face expressionless as a few children walked
by me.
The counselor's office was a small room, split into four offices for
each of the guidance counselors. I picked the one with Mr. Simmon's
name on it and knocked. Someone yelled 'come in' from the other side of
the door. I opened it, revealing a tiny office, a desk situated so
that the window back lit it, emphasizing the shiny bald spot on top of Mr.
Simmon's pudgy head. When he heard me walk in he spun around slowly in
his chair from where he had been looking out the window and looked at
me, almost as if he was a king looking down on a lowly peasant.
"Ahh." he said. "I'm guessing you're the one who has come to see me.
Please, sit down."
"I'd rather stand, thank you. I won't be long."
He nodded. "Fine, then. Let's get to why you came to see me. The
secretary told me you came to talk about Jenny Baker. How do you know
her?"
"I'm Mr. Braxton, Jenny's guardian. I understand you called her down
here yesterday. When I came home I found her there, very upset about
what you had said to her."
"I see. What did she tell you that I said?" he said carefully.
"That you had asked her about her pregnancy. When she refused to
answer your questions, you threatened her with, what was it...'Detention
until she had her baby on the floor'?"
He snorted. "I said nothing of the sort. I mearly asked her who the
father was, and if she had seen a doctor yet."
"Are you saying, Mr. Simmons, that Jenny is lying?" I glared at him
with barely concealed hatred.
"Oh, I wouldn't say that. Just a small untruth. Children tell them
sometimes." he said soothingly. I felt greasy just talking to him.
"Mr. Simmons, I don't think Jenny is lying, I think you are."
His nostrils flared and he lurched forward, rolls of fat rasping against
the leather upholstered arms of his chair.
"Are you calling me a liar?" he sputtered in rage.
"Yes, I am." I said coolly. Suddenly I dropped forward. I stared at him,
slowly lowering my hands to the desk in front of me until my face was no more
than six inches away from his.
"Jenny is pregnant, yes. But it is none of your business. I have no
faith in you so called 'guidance counselors'. I have a firm belief that
you often do more harm than good. Now, you upset Jenny. I want you to know
something very important. If you upset Jenny, you upset me. And trust me
when I say this, Mr. Simmons. I'm not a good person to be around when I'm
upset. Especially when that person near me is the cause of my being upset.
Don't touch her, don't talk to her. Leave her alone. If you don't, you and
this school will find itself at the wrong end of some extensive litigation,
where your record here would be thoroughly investigated. Do I make myself
clear, Mr. Simmons?"
He nodded slowly.
"Good. That was the only purpose of my visit here. Good day." With
that, I turned on my heal and walked out, his gaze drilling into my
back.
*****
Jenny never asked me what I said to Mr. Simmons. But I could
tell she wanted to when I came home that night and told her that she
could go back to school and not have to worry about being bothered. We
were both glad when the school year ended. Word had of course gotten
out about Jenny being pregnant, and she was soon the center of school
gossip once again.
Jenny and I kept up on our morning walks, the distances becoming less
and less as the baby grew within her. Her choice of meals got a little
odd; I had heard of this in various books. But I had never thought that
lime Jell-O with olives suspended in it would appeal to even a pregnant
woman, but Jenny loved it, eating huge bowls of it at a time. She couldn't
tell me why, and she never ate it again after the baby was born.
June rolled into July and then into August, and Jenny became very
obviously pregnant. As time went on she rarely left the apartment unless I
was driving, preferring to stay inside by the air conditioner with a good
book. There is no one more miserable than a girl almost eight months
pregnant sitting out in the sun, the thermometer topping off at a hundred
and five degrees.
I did what I could to make her comfortable and to support her, but it
wasn't easy. I rubbed her feet, massaged her back, and made her Jell-O.
The mood swings were disorienting for both of us. One minute she would
be telling jokes, the next she'd be crying on my shoulder. But we worked
through it.
Then our daughter arrived a bit earlier than we had planned.
End Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
---------------
It was early morning in late August when Jenny woke me.
"Alex, think it's time." she panted, holding her stomach.
"Time?" I asked groggily. "Time!" I said, as realization of what she
had just said hit me. "But she's not due for another couple of weeks!"
"I don't think she cares!" she groaned in pain as a contraction rolled over
her.
"Okay, okay!" I said, jumping out of bed and running back and forth
at it's foot aimlessly, starting to panic. "How far apart are the
contractions?" I asked, frantically searching for the suitcase Jenny
had packed.
"About five minutes."
"Five minutes? How long have you been having them?" I asked,
shocked that they were already that close.
"Half an hour. But I thought it was just cramps. But now I'm pretty
sure it isn't." She gasped as the next contraction started.
"Well, remember to breathe! I'll call the hospital and Dr. Sampson,
you...well, just stay here and yell if you need me."
"Okay." she gasped. I ran out of the bedroom, wondering at how calm
she seemed to be. I wasn't as I hit the speed dial button for Dr.
Sampson. Jenny had put it there, along with the hospital's number.
'She always thinks of these things, thank god.' I thought as I listened to
the line ring. Dr. Sampson picked up.
"Hello?" he said groggily.
"Dr. Sampson! This is Alex...I think Jenny's gone into labor!" I almost
yelled into the receiver.
"Calm down, Alex. Let's make sure it's for real. How far apart are
the contractions?"
"Jenny said five minutes. She just woke me up a couple minutes ago."
"All right. What did she eat for dinner? Are you sure it's not just
stomach pains?"
"Uhh, I don't know...." Then Jenny cried out from the bedroom. I
dropped the phone on the floor and rushed into the bedroom.
"Oh my god!" I said, seeing the wet spot spreading across the bed
where Jenny was laying.
"I think my water just broke." Jenny said, fear clear in her eyes as
she looked at me, as she realized that this was really happening. I ran
out of the room, only to screech to a stop and rush back in.
"Are you all right?" I asked her, eyes wide.
"Besides the fact that I'm having a baby, I'm fine!" she growled as
another contraction started. I nodded and ran back out to the living
room, grabbing up the receiver again.
"Her water just broke!" I cried, dancing from foot to foot like a
little kid who needed to use the bathroom.
"Well, that generally means that it's for real. Get her to the
hospital, and I'll head out now."
"Yeah, yeah. I'll do that. See you there!" I slammed down the
phone, then ran for the bedroom. I took another millimeter or so of rubber
off the soles of my shoes as I stopped and ran back to the phone to
call the hospital, thankful again for the speed dialing. After that was
done, I raced in and told Jenny we were going to the hospital.
"About time!" she groaned. I helped her out of bed and down to the car,
glad that I had parked so close. I had climbed into the drivers seat
and inserted the key into the ignition before I realized that I had
forgotten the suitcase. I leapt out of the car and ran back into the
apartment, remembering to lock the door this time on my way out.
My tires squealed as I drove out of the parking lot. Jenny screamed
for me to slow down, telling me we still had time. I kept it at ten over the
limit, thankful for the light traffic of early morning.
The sun was just peaking over the horizon as we pulled into the
parking lot. I ran in and got a nurse with a wheelchair to help Jenny
inside. A moment later Dr. Sampson drove up. He smiled at us as he
walked in.
"Well, it seems that she decided to come out a couple of weeks early,
eh?" he said, the usual twinkle in his eye.
"Will she be all right?" Jenny asked, worried.
"Oh, a couple weeks early shouldn't be a problem. We'll get you
checked in, and take a look."
We got Jenny into her room, the contractions now two minutes apart.
Dr. Sampson was surprised that it was going so quickly, especially on
a first birth. I stayed by Jenny, the contractions being painful to the
point that she was sweating profusely, screaming every time one came on.
I held her best I could, wiping her brow and looking into her fear and
pain filled eyes.
The time finally came, and Dr. Sampson lifted Jenny's legs into the
stirrups. When the next contraction started, he told her to push. I
encouraged her as she strained, pushing hard. I watched in amazement as
our daughter's head started to emerge. He told her to push again, and
out popped her head, then her shoulder. One more push, and she was out.
A few seconds later, I heard the scream of a newborn baby girl crying
for the first time.
The nurses cleared the baby's nose and mouth and cleaned her off,
then wrapped her in a blanket and handed her to me, smiling as
I gazed proudly down at my baby daughter. I carried her over to a
tired, sore but happy Jenny and handed the baby to her.
She cradled her in her arms, seeming to smile brighter than I had ever seen
her smile before. Tears began to roll down her face.
"She's beautiful." I whispered to her. As I looked at out daughter's
face, her eyes slowly opened. I looked into the deepest blue eyes that I
have ever seen.
*****
Jenny and the baby stayed at the hospital for the next few days.
There were no complications. The baby was healthy, weighing in at seven
pounds, three ounces. Five toes on each foot, four fingers and a thumb
on each perfect little hand.
Jenny and I couldn't figure out where she had gotten her blue eyes
from, until I remembered that my mother had had blue eyes. But that, it
seemed, was the only thing that seemed to come from my side of the
family. She looked very much like her mother, from the dark brown of
her sparse hair to her pale white skin.
We decided on a name only a few hours after her birth. We named her
Skyla, a name from a book we had both read. With her sky blue eyes, it
seemed to fit her well.
Her birth certificate read "Father unknown". That stung me. Over the
last few months and particularly the last few days, I had come to love Jenny
more than I had ever thought possible. And now I had my daughter to love as
well. But legally she wasn't my daughter. Her father was 'unknown', and
that hurt more than I had thought it would.
I set up Skyla's crib next to Jenny's and my bed. The only other place
to put it would be the living room, and we figured it would be easier if
she was in the same room as we were. The room was small enough that you
could practically reach her by just sitting up in bed and reaching over the
crib bars. We planned to get a two bedroom apartment in the future, but
for now it was perfect.
Jenny and Skyla came home a few days later. We put her to bed in her
new crib, then watched her sleep. I wrapped my arms around Jenny and
hugged her.
"Can we procreate or what?" I joked.
Jenny smiled. "We sure can. We're very lucky."
I kissed her on the head. "Jenny, let's go into the living room. I
need to talk to you about something."
"What?" she asked, curious.
"You'll see. Just come on." I walked toward the living room, pulling
her with me away from the crib. She looked back once more and followed
me into the living room. Motioning for her to sit on the couch, I sat down
facing her.
"Over the last few months, I've been thinking a lot about us. Pretty
soon we'll have been together for two years. We've been living together
for more than one, and now we have a daughter. I saw her birth
certificate, and noticed where it said the fathers name. It didn't have
mine, but instead said 'unknown'. I knew that it wouldn't, but it bothered
me. It bothered me a lot."
"What are you saying, Alex?" she asked, looking a little curious.
I took a deep breath, feeling a little shaky. "I need to ask you
something."
"You know you can ask me anything. So go on."
"All right." I reached into my pocket, holding my hands together so
she couldn't see what I had pulled out. "This is the most important
question I've ever asked you, Jenny. I've loved you I think since the
day I first saw you shivering in the cold on that bus. I think I'll
always love you. And that's why I'm asking you this now." I opened my
hands, revealing a black velvet covered case. I pulled it open,
reveling the glittering ring inside. "Jenny, will you marry me?"
She gasped, her jaw dropping open in shock. For a few seconds she
just stared at me, and at the ring. My heart stopped for those few
seconds, more scared in that moment that she would say no than I had
ever been at any other time in my life.
"Oh Alex!" she whispered. "You mean it? I didn't expect you to..." she
stopped, at a loss of words.
"I mean it, Jenny. All you have to do is say yes or no. But I hope
with all my heart you'll say yes."
"Yes." she whispered. "Yes. You know I love you and Skyla more than
anything. I would have said yes two weeks ago, six months ago, a year ago.
I'll marry you." We sat in silence for a couple of seconds, letting what we
had just said sink in. Then we leapt into each other's arms. I hugged her
tightly against me. She began to cry, and I could feel my own tears
dripping off my cheeks and soaking into her hair.
I took her hand and pulled the ring from the case. Then I took her hand
and slid the ring over her finger. I kissed her and she settled into
my arms. I looked at her, the girl I was going to marry. If you had told
me before I met Jenny that I would be engaged to a beautiful girl by the time
I was nineteen, I would never have believed you. Now I was engaged to be
married, and I had a child. A shocking turn of events for less than two
years. But, finally, we would be together, with no one able to separate us.
Finally, we would both have a real family.
Just Jenny, Skyla, and Me.
*****
A few seconds later we heard Skyla crying from the bedroom. Jenny
and I got up and went into the bedroom to check on her.
"She's hungry." Jenny said, beginning to unbutton her blouse.
"How can you tell?" I asked, confused.
"I just can, that's all." She pulled the blouse off, letting her
milk swollen breasts bounce free. I stared. She picked up Skyla and sat
down on the bed. I put a couple of pillows behind her back, propping her up
against the headboard. She tickled Skyla's cheek with her nipple, then
led it to her mouth, letting her suckle. I watched with interest through
the entire, obviously practiced, routine. Somehow I had managed to
never see Jenny nurse Skyla in all the times I had seem them at the
hospital. I sat next to her on the bed so I could watch. Jenny shifted
position until she was leaning comfortably against me. Wrapping my arms
around her waist, I helped her support Skyla.
"Why does this fascinate me so much?" I said, taking Skyla's hand in
mine, running my thumb over the skin on the back of her tiny wrinkled
hand.
"Because she's your baby daughter. I think you'll be fascinated by
most everything she does for a while."
"I can't believe how small she is. What if I hurt her by accident?
I have no experience with babies, only what I've read in books."
"Dr. Sampson said to do what comes naturally. He also said he had
faith that we'd be good parents to her. You're a gentle person, and I
think that you'll be as gentle as you can possibly be with her. Don't
worry so much about it."
"I'm a father. I'm supposed to worry."
"It's going to be interesting to see how you react when she goes out
on her first date." Jenny laughed.
"First date? She's less than a month old, and you're talking about
first dates? My god, and here I was worried about changing my first
diaper!" I said, shaking my head.
"Alex, relax. Her first date won't happen until she's at least
six." She started laughing again when she saw the look on my face.
Skyla was having a hard time keeping her mouth on Jenny's breast.
"Okay, okay. You can stop laughing now. I realize you were just
joking." I grumbled. Jenny just laughed harder, until it stopped
abruptly when I leaned over suddenly and kissed her. She pulled back a
few seconds later, still smiling.
"The nurses were right when they said new fathers are the most
gullible people on the planet when it comes to their children."
"Conniving women. Can't trust any of them." I grumbled. Jenny
laughed some more.
"Conniving? Us? We're just innocents, here for you strong men to
manipulate and take care of us, and to raise the children," she snickered.
"Hey, if you keep laughing like this, we're going to have to start
bottle feeding Skyla." I said, ignoring her last remark and pointed down
to where Skyla was still struggling to keep Jenny's nipple from escaping
her mouth.
"Oops, sorry Skyla. I think she's almost full anyway." Still, she
managed to keep from laughing until Skyla finished a few minutes later.
"Do you want to hold her?" She asked.
"I've love to." So far I'd only been able to hold her for a
few minutes until the nurses came and stole her away from me. Sklya
whined a bit when Jenny handed her to me, but relaxed again when
she settled into my arms. I leaned back against the headboard. Jenny
lay down, head propped up on one arm.
"You look so proud you could burst." she said, watching me look
adoringly down at Skyla, who had fallen asleep in my arms, much to my
delight.
"I am. I've never helped create anything so perfect in my life."
She smiled, understanding how I felt.
"You wanted to keep her from the moment you found out I was pregnant,
didn't you?" she asked.
"Yes." I said absently, not really paying attention to what she was
saying. I was too busy watching Skyla's chest rising and falling
rhythmically.
"And if I had told you I wanted to give her up for adoption, you would
never have told me that you wanted to keep her, would you? You would
have let yourself be miserable, never knowing who your child was, just
to give me that choice?"
I sighed, letting my head fall back and thump against the wall.
"Jenny, I told you that it was your choice, one I felt you had to make for
yourself. If I protested and insisted that we kept the baby, I might
have pushed you into something you weren't ready for. I might have
alienated you, and you might have left, no matter what you say you would
have done now. I would rather have lost the baby to adoption than to
run the risk of loosing you and the baby. Losing the baby would have
hurt, but losing you and the baby would have destroyed me."
Jenny considered this, and slid up next to me resting her head on my
shoulder and looking down at where Skyla slept in my arms.
"I'm glad I decided to keep her."
"So am I. More than you'll ever know."
Jenny looked up into my eyes. "I think I know, Alex. Just by
looking at you when you're near her, or even when you're just thinking
about her. I also know that you'll never hurt her, just as you've never
hurt me. You will be a wonderful father."
"And you will be a wonderful mother." I said, kissing her.
The dry southwestern wind billowed out the curtains on the open window as
two new parents watching their newborn daughter sleep in their arms,
the soft sound of her breathing filling their ears.
End Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
-----------------
The first month Skyla was home was a blur of crying, sleeping, wedding
preparations, phone calls, and visits from friends. Most of which asked
me why it took me so long to ask Jenny 'the big question'.
Kallie, of course, was the first one to hear. Jenny called her the
same night I asked her to marry me.
"About time." she said, voice crackling hollowly over the
speakerphone. "You two have been all over each other for almost two years
now. 'Bout time you actually got married, especially with a kid around."
"You could be a little more ecstatic about this, you know." I said
sarcastically.
"The better to get under your skin, Alex dear." she said sweetly.
Jenny snickered. "So are you going to come down here for the
wedding, and see Skyla while you're at it? I know you've been drooling
over those pictures we sent you for the last few days. Don't bother
denying it."
"I wasn't going to. She's beautiful, you two. You do good
work, even if it was accidental. When's the wedding so I can start
planning my escape?"
"Well, we haven't talked about a date yet..." Jenny said, looking at
me.
"Let's set one then. Your birthday's coming up here in less than a
month. What better way to celebrate your fifteenth birthday?"
"What a great idea! But how will we manage to get it all set up in
less than a month? Especially when we have to take care of Skyla, too?"
Jenny said.
"We'll figure something out." I told her, and kissed her for what
seemed the hundredth time in five minutes. It was just as sweet as if it
was the first time.
"All right, all right, you two. You gonna go for a second kid while
paying long distance just so I can hear?"
"No, Kallie." I said. "I think she's just jealous." I whispered
loudly into Jenny's ear. She barely stifled a giggle.
"I heard that, Alex!"
"Well, I can't keep anything from you, Kallie. Ears so big they can
pick up a whisper thousands of miles away." I grinned.
"You're going to earn yourself a fat lip on your wedding day if you
keep saying things like that." Kallie growled.
"Sheesh. One baby in the bedroom, one in the living room, and one
two thousand miles away." Jenny sighed.
"Baby? Me? I'm thwee yeaws owld, not a baby." I pouted commically.
Jenny nearly fell over laughing.
"Just as long as you're potty trained. We've got enough dirty diapers to
go around now, without you adding to the load."
I couldn't help but grin. Then Kallie broke in again.
"If you two loons would stop laughing, we could get around to
planning this. Also, you need to send me another set of pictures. I
made the mistake of showing Amanda the pictures of her niece. I was
barely able to tear them away from her, and now whenever she sees me she
begs for another look."
"We didn't think about that. We'll send you some more tomorrow." Jenny
said.
"Also, don't you think she'll want to come down with me when I tell
her you two are getting married?"
"We didn't think of that, either." I sighed. "We'll work something out
there, too."
"Good. Well, it's getting late, I'd better go. Keep me updated."
Kallie said. We both said good bye, and Kallie hung up. Then we went to
bed.
Skyla woke up crying in the middle of the night three times, once she
was hungry, once it seemed she was just lonely, and the third time with
a dirty diaper. I got my first lesson in diaper changing that night.
There's nothing like changing a smelly diaper at four A.M. Jenny
and I were living off micro-sleep. We fell asleep reading, I fell
asleep at work. Once or twice I even fell asleep on the toilet. It
wasn't so much the waking up that was draining us, it was getting Skyla
back to sleep.
Then one night I was walking around the bedroom, trying to get Skyla
to stop crying. Jenny was passed out in bed, it being it was my turn to get
her to go back to sleep. I lay down on the bed, resting her on my chest. I
was bare chested, dressed in my normal sleeping attire, nothing. Skyla only
had on her diaper. She stopped crying, and within a few minutes, was fast
asleep. Apparently the sound of my heart beating and the warmth of my chest
made her relax to the point that she would fall fast asleep. Having her
lying on my chest seemed to have the same effect on me.
I woke up the next morning, Jenny looking at us in amusement.
"You slept like that all night? How did you keep from moving?" she
asked, stroking the back of a still sleeping Skyla.
"I have no idea. But I haven't slept that well in weeks."
"Well, it looks like I'll just have to share your chest with Skyla,
then. Like mother like daughter." she said, referring to the fact that
her favorite position to fall asleep was cuddled up next to me, her head
resting on my chest.
"Well, you could always put your head on my stomach." I joked.
"What? With your stomach gurgling all night against my ear? I'd
dream that I was being chased by the blob!" she laughed.
From then until Skyla started sleeping through the night I would wake
up with Skyla sleeping on my chest, whether I put her there while I was
awake or if Jenny put her there after her two A.M. feeding. I was
scared to death of rolling over and crushing her, but I never seemed to
move much while sleeping, at least when Sklya was asleep on my chest.
Jenny bounced back quickly after she had Skyla. You could never tell
that she had ever had a baby. Even in bed, as I found out a few weeks
later, after Dr. Sampson told her it was all right to 'engage in all
your old activities'. Jenny went on birth control. Skyla was
wonderful, but we didn't think that we wanted to take the chance of
Jenny getting pregnant again. At least not for a few years.
Jenny took the first semester of school off, wanting to stay home with
the baby. I tutored her every night after work so she wouldn't fall
too far behind. I had advanced in my studies far enough to be able to
get a better job at a local software company, working as a programmer.
I was also able to talk my boss into letting me telecommute so I could stay
home with Skyla during the day. It paid only slightly more for longer
hours, but I was happy to be able to stay home with Skyla. I switched
to night school so I could handle it. It would take longer for me to
graduate, but I felt the new job and the baby required it.
We planned a small wedding, only inviting a few of our friends. And
Kallie and Amanda, of course. At the last minute we managed to get Amanda to
come down for the wedding by her telling her parents that she was going on a
school trip for a few days.
There were a few legal hoops to jump through due to Jenny's age. It took
a couple of lawyers and a loan from Dr. Sampson to do it, but we managed.
He was shocked that we were going to get married, but was all for it
once he recovered. He was shocked again when Jenny and I asked him to
walk Jenny down the isle, since we obviously couldn't ask her father to
do so. He accepted after he recovered.
Kallie and Amanda arrived two days before the wedding. They spent
the entire trip from the bus station teasing me with questions like
'Are you nervous?' and 'You aren't getting cold feet, are you?' I got
Amanda to shut up when I started calling her 'little sister to-be'.
Kallie was unstoppable, as always. I was glad to get home, where their
attention was immediately riveted to Skyla. They spent the next hour
cooing over her. Jenny and I just sat back and watched amusedly as they
made faces and talked baby talk. Finally Skyla decided that she had had
enough and started crying. They both watched wide eyed as Jenny
unbuttoned her blouse and started nursing Skyla. I started to crack a
joke, but stopped myself, realizing that I must have looked the same way when
I had first seen Jenny do it.
The next few days were exhausting, what with the wedding plans, Skyla,
and especially Kallie and Amanda. Whenever they heard Skyla starting to
cry they rushed in to see what was wrong. Not only did Jenny and I never
get any privacy, but it made it harder to get Skyla back to sleep.
Jenny and I had wisely chosen to wear pajamas to bed while Amanda and
Kallie were staying with us, making both of us uncomfortable. (Try
sleeping in the nude for ten years, and then switch back to wearing
pajamas. Then move to New Mexico. See how comfortable you are.) I was
also reluctant to pull off my trick of letting Skyla sleep on my chest.
I didn't want to deal with the comments.
But after Skyla wouldn't fall asleep after thirty minutes of crying, I
gave in and pulled my pajama top off. I blushed bright red when Kallie
whistled and said "Oh yeah, take it off!" and started laughing. Jenny and
Amanda started to laugh until I glared at them. I could still hear them
giggling as I took Skyla from Kallie and lay down with her on my chest. I
blushed again when the inevitable "Oh, how sweet!" came from Kallie and
Amanda. Living with four girls, for any period of time, can be destructive
to a man's macho image. I could feel it crumbling as I heard the click of
Kallie's camera.
"I just had to get that on film." she grinned. I grumbled and gave
her the finger when Jenny wasn't looking.
"You should have taken it when he's wearing his normal pajamas." Jenny
giggled.
"Jenny, please don't." I pleaded.
"What does he normally wear?" Amanda asked curiously.
"Nothing." Jenny said and grinned.
I groaned and covered my eyes as the room filled with high pitched
female laughter and whistles again. Skyla started to cry again. 'Thank
god.' I thought.
"Everyone out!" I growled. "I want to get some sleep, and all of you
squawking in here isn't helping me or Skyla get any!"
"Aww, spoil sport!" Jenny laughed. But Kallie and Amanda obeyed and
filed out of the room, one more whistle trailing after them.
"Did you have to tell them that?" I asked Jenny after they had left,
shutting off the lights and closing the door after them.
"No, but I wanted to show off my sexy fianc‚." She smiled and cuddled up
next to me, giving my cheek a quick peck.
"Well, I guess I can forgive you then." I chuckled.
"Good." she mumbled, then fell asleep. Skyla was already asleep, her
small body rising and falling with my breath. I trailed a finger down her
back. She made a little noise and shifted herself a little. I kissed her
on the top of her head, the soft fuzz of her hair tickling my nose.
'I never imagined my life could be so wonderful.' I thought to myself.
'Now if I could just get those two out of my living room...' I smiled to
myself. 'The next few days are going to be very interesting.'
*****
I woke up the next morning to Skyla's weight being lifted off my
chest. I opened my eyes sleepily, Jenny hovering over me.
"She was awake, so I thought I'd give her breakfast." she whispered,
leaning over a short kiss on the lips. "Go back to sleep, we don't have to
get up for another couple of hours."
I stretched and yawned. "No, I'll never get back to sleep now. I
think I'm more addicted to Skyla sleeping on my chest than Skyla is."
Jenny smiled at me and shrugged off the straps of her nightgown and
started to feeding Skyla. "Tomorrow's the big day. Got cold feet yet?" she
teased.
"Cold feet? Me? As long as I'm marrying you, I could never get cold
feet." I scooted up on the bed next to Jenny and wrapped my arm around
her waist. "How do you feel?"
"Good. Nervous, though. But I'll be fine." She leaned her head on
my shoulder and kissed my neck. "I'll bet you look good in a tux."
"I look even better out of a tux." I said suggestively.
Jenny laughed. "From what I see, you do. But I'm too busy at the
moment to get a closer look."
I raised an eyebrow. "Who says you have to move?" I slid my hand up
from her waist and ran a finger around her one unoccupied nipple, then
squeezed it. A drop of milk leaked out. I lifted it to my tongue and
licked my finger clean. "Sweet."
Jenny slapped my hand and giggled. "That's for Skyla, not you."
"Oh, and we can't share? If I remember correctly, I was tasting
these a long time before Skyla came along."
"We can't have you jealous of your daughter, can we? But I still
don't want to do anything with her looking."
"Who said anything about her looking? I can do things that she'll
never see." My hand left her breast and slid down her abdomen,
disappearing beneath the nightgown folds. She moaned as I ran a finger
over her labia, then delved between them to run up her already damp
pussy to her clit. I gently ran a finger around it, feeling it harden
under my touch. Jenny was having a hard time keeping a hold of Skyla, so
I brought my other arm around to cradle her. I kissed Jenny, pushing my
tongue into her mouth. She responded in kind, her tongue reaching as
far as it could into my mouth.
Jenny gasped and moaned when I pushed one, then two fingers into her
tightness, bucking a little to push them deeper. The hot walls
contracted around my intruding fingers. I found her g-spot and pushed
gently against it. Jenny moaned again and raised her hips slightly, trying
to increase the pressure of my index finger against the sensitive ball of
nerves.
I continued to kiss her, our tongues never stopping in their
passionate movements. I felt Jenny's hand move over to the bulge in the
front of my pajama bottoms, pulling the elastic waistband up and over my
hardness, freeing it. She began a gentle but sporadic stroking, seeming
to forget about it whenever I hit a particularly pleasurable spot. Her
walls began to contract in the beginning waves of orgasm. I pressed
hard against her g-spot, rubbing her clit frantically with my thumb.
Jenny squealed into my mouth, her eyes snapping closed. The muscles
in her neck stood out plainly as she came, trying to move as little as
possible as to not disturb Skyla. She slowly relaxed, her mouth unlocking
itself from mine in exhaustion. At that moment, Amanda knocked and walked in.
"Time to wake up you two..." she stopped in mid-sentence, her eyes
bulging from her head at a sight which few twelve year olds ever see.
Jenny's hand was still wrapped around my erect cock, with my fingers still
idly stroking beneath Jenny's nightgown.
"S-s-sorry." she stuttered, backing out of the bedroom, her eyes glued
to Jenny's hand and especially what it was wrapped around. She turned and
ran, the door clicking shut after her.
"We have to get a lock for that door." Jenny said. I stifled a laugh,
then we both cracked up, trying to keep out laughter low enough that the
other two in the living room couldn't hear it.
Skyla had fallen asleep sometime during the time frame we had been
'busy', so Jenny lay her in her crib.
"Now, let's finish you off, shall we?" Jenny game me a lecherous grin
and let the nightgown slip off, leaving her nude. She climbed over the
bed and on top of me, rubbing her body sensuously over my still erect
cock. She raised herself up and lowered herself onto it, moaning as it
slid past her labia and into her. I groaned as she slid down to
the base of my cock, the muscles of her pussy walls squeezing me
delightfully. We began moving together, buckling up to meet each
other's thrusts. I caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of my
eye. The door opened a crack, and two pair of eyes peered through it.
'What the hell,' I thought. 'May as well give them a good show.' I
doubled my efforts, driving myself up into Jenny so that our bodies
slapped together on each thrust. Jenny gasped in surprise at my
increased pace, but kept up with me. Within a few seconds, we were both
on the edge, pounding into each other, or moans mixing with the soft squelch
of my cock sliding in and out of her, forming the sweet sounds of sex.
Jenny cried out, her pussy contracting rhythmically in the throes of
orgasm. I followed her, grunting and shooting my load into her. The
two pair of eyes widened as they watched us come, and I heard a small
gasp as I felt some of my semen leak out of Jenny's pussy as she pushed
hard against me one last time. Jenny collapsed on top of me. I
stroked her sweaty back for a few minutes. I hard the door click closed
again and knew we were no longer being watched.
"Jenny, I think Kallie and Amanda just got an eyeful." I chuckled a
few minutes later.
"What?" Jenny said in shock, looking up at me from where her head
rested on my chest.
"I saw the door open a little, and saw a couple of pair of eyes
peeking through the crack."
"Why, those two peeping toms! I'll...I'll..." she paused, thinking.
"I don't know what I'll do to them, but they won't like it."
I grinned at her. "Just follow my lead." I got up and pulled on my
robe, walking to the door and waited while Jenny pulled hers on. I
pointed to the wet spots that showed up on her thin robe as the juices
of our lovemaking soaked through.
"Like it matters. They've seen too much for me to worry about it." Jenny
grinned at me. "So what do you have planned?"
"You'll see." I grinned. I opened the door and walked into the
living room. Kallie and Amanda were sitting on the couch whispering.
When they heard the door open they turned and looked at us guiltily.
"Good morning." I said jovially. "Get a good look, you two?" I
grinned at them. Jenny just leaned against the wall and smirked at
them.
"You saw us?" Amanda gasped.
"Jenny didn't, but I saw you both. You didn't wonder why we sped up
right after you started peeking?"
Kallie and Amanda both blushed and looked at the floor.
"We don't really care if you two peek." I held a finger up to
silence Jenny before she could say anything. "But I think turnabout if
fair play. Now, if we catch you watching us again, we consider that an
agreement to some new house rules."
"What rules?" Kallie said suspiciously.
"They're simple. Actually, there's only one. If you watch us, we
get to watch you two...how shall I say it? 'Get it on'?" I watched in
amusement as shock spread over the faces of all three girls. The looks
on Kallie and Amanda's faces confirmed what I had already suspected. "Yes,
I've guessed that you two are 'involved', so to speak. So, think about it.
Jenny and I are going to go take a shower." With that, I turned and
walked toward the bathroom. Jenny followed me, obviously deep in
thought. As soon as the bathroom door closed, the expected questions
came from Jenny.
"How did you know?" she asked.
"I didn't. I guessed by the way they acted around each other. Plus
I thought I heard a moan coming from behind the door while they were
peeping. Just logic."
"Logic, huh? Male logic, I think."
"Maybe. I'm just naturally suspicious." I kissed her, and dropped
my robe. "So you ready for our shower? If they peek in on us while we're
in here, they've accepted the rule. If not, we'll be left alone."
"If they accept it, what will we do?" Jenny said worriedly.
"I don't think they will."
"More male logic?"
"No, just knowledge of how shy Amanda is."
We climbed into the shower and soaped each other up. The door never
opened, and we were left alone for the rest of Amanda and Kallie's
visit. At least as far as we could tell. But we heard more than one
moan come from the living room that night.
End Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
----------------
Our wedding was a small affair. No more than fifteen people came,
including the justice of the peace and his wife. The cake was small and
simple, one of Jenny's friends had made it for us.
Still, when she came down the isle, it was like I had seen her for
the first time all over again. She had gone out with Kallie and Amanda
the day before to buy a dress. They made me sit out in the car for over
an hour before they came out, and then refused to let me see it, saying
it was 'bad luck'.
She looked more beautiful than I had ever seen her, the long white
dress flowing around her ankles and she was led down the isle by Dr.
Sampson. He looked as proud as if she had been his own daughter. The
dress fit her perfectly, emphasizing her tiny waist, her dark hair
contrasting to the white of the material. Her hair was pulled back in a
simple French braid which ran halfway down her back. She looked every
bit the bride, and I felt a little underdressed as she stepped up next
to me, smiling brightly. I couldn't take my eyes off her.
Finally the justice of the peace decided I was too mesmerized to move,
and began the service. I managed to pull my eyes away from Jenny, but
still watched her out of the corner of my eye.
"Do you, Alex Braxton take Jenny Baker to be your lawfully wedded
wife, till death do you part?"
I turned to Jenny. "I do."
"And do you, Jenny Baker, take this man to be your lawfully wedded
husband?"
"I do." Jenny whispered, looking up at me, her eyes shining.
"Well then, I pronounce you man, and wife. You may kiss the bride."
I bent over, and kissed Jenny tenderly. When we parted we hugged
each other, not wanting to let go of the moment. Then people surrounded
us, giving us their congratulations, the men of the group slapping me on the
back and shaking my hand. In the mass of people Jenny and I were
separated, her surrounded by the women of the group. We didn't see each
other again until everyone piled into the cars for the trip back to our
apartment for the reception. I met her at the door, and we walked out
to the car, Jenny leaning against me, looking more happy than I had ever
seen her. Kallie, who had been holding Skyla, had handed her over to
Jenny sometime during the flurry of activity.
"You look incredible." I said, wrapping an arm around her waist and
hugging her against my side.
"Thanks. Now you know the secret purpose of the wedding dress."
"What's that?" I asked.
"To stun the groom into going along with the ceremony, no matter
what." she grinned.
"Really? I would have gone though with it if you had been wearing a
pair of cutoffs and a torn T-shirt."
"I know. But some girls aren't as lucky as I am." She stood on her toes
and kissed me once more before we got into the car.
"Remember that when I forget our first anniversary." I joked, opening
the passenger side door for her.
"I don't think you'll forget. I'll give you plenty of hints before
hand." she giggled as she got in. I closed the door and climbed into
the driver side, after I put Skyla in the child's seat. She was sleeping,
as she had thankfully done during the entire ceremony.
"What if I become one of those dense husbands that you always see on
sitcoms?"
"I don't think you will." she said, looking back to check on Skyla.
When she was satisfied that her car seat was properly fastened, she
turned back around and leaned against my shoulder as I started the car.
As I pulled out of the parking lot of the small hall we had rented for
the wedding, I noticed a clinking, clanging sound coming from the back
of the car.
"Sounds like Kallie and Amanda's handiwork to me." I chuckled,
realizing what it was.
Jenny and I had decided to stay home for our honeymoon. We couldn't think
of anyplace we wanted to go, and we had to take care of Skyla anyway.
Neither of us wanted to leave her with anyone. She was barely a month old,
and we felt that we shouldn't leave her, however much we trusted the person
we left her with. We both agreed that a honeymoon is a honeymoon, anywhere
it might be.
When we got home our apartment was packed with people, all talking,
joking and laughing. Everyone had brought something for everyone else
to eat. There was roast beef, chicken, and casseroles of every type
imaginable.
We were greeted with cheers and clapping. We both blushed. Jenny
broke away to put Skyla in her crib, so we wouldn't have to worry about
where she was. By now she was wide awake, looking around crankily,
probably wondering what everyone was yelling about.
She came back a few minutes later, shutting the bedroom door until just a
crack remained so that we could hear if she started crying. After that, the
party picked up. Someone had brought champagne, so we poured it in the
odd assortment of glasses we dug out of the cabinets in the kitchen.
Kallie pushed through the crowd, her loud voice topping everyone by a
few decibels.
"I want to toast this young couple." Everyone silenced, looking
at Kallie. "I've known Jenny since we were in first grade together. I
can tell you I've never seen her happier than she is with Alex, and
their new baby daughter, Skyla. I've only known Alex for less than two
years, but I know he's a good man. Jenny's lucky to have him, and
he's lucky to have someone as sweet as Jenny. So, I toast them, to a
long and happy marriage." With that, everyone clinked glasses and took
a sip of their champagne.
After that, someone turned on the stereo. Everyone danced, trading
off after every song. Jenny and I danced as best we could, but we had
found out early on we were mediocre at best when it came to dancing.
Jenny disappeared into the bedroom once to check on and feed Skyla. I
couldn't get away, and a few minutes later I saw her come back into the
living room, only to be asked to dance by one of my friends before I
could get to her.
Every guy in the place seemed to want to dance with Jenny, and I really
couldn't blame them. I danced once with Amanda, and then with Kallie,
who surprisingly wasn't half bad at it.
Soon it was getting late, and we began the last dance of the night.
I hunted around and found Jenny, pulling her into the circle that had
been cleared of furniture. A slow song was put in the stereo, and we
began to dance slowly, holding each other close, Jenny's head against my
chest. Other couples joined in soon after, everyone watching us as we
closed our eyes and ignored everything but the music and our gentle
swaying.
The song ended, and we parted slowly with a kiss. People began to
leave, each one leaving with a handshake to me and a hug to Jenny.
Kallie and Amanda had gone home with one of our friends, saying they
wanted to leave us alone on our wedding night. When everyone had left we
found the couch pushed off in a corner and sat down, cuddling in the
afterglow of a day neither of us would ever forget.
"So how does it feel to be Mrs. Alex Braxton?" I asked her.
"Different, but good. I've waited a long time for today."
"So have I. I never imagined that I'd be married this early. I
always expected to be a bachelor until at least my thirties, if I ever
got married. Of course that all changed when you entered my life. It
changed for the better, I can tell you that."
"I certainly never imagined I'd be married at fifteen. But I'm glad
I am." We kissed.
"Want to go to bed?" I asked.
"Yes. I've wanted to all day." she said with a sparkle in her eyes.
I chuckled and stood up, pulling her with me. Leading her into the
bedroom, I closed the door. Taking her into my arms, I kissed her,
playing with her soft tongue, tasting the inside of her mouth. She
responded, molding her body against mine. We kissed for a moment, then I
reached behind her, finding the zipper to her form fitting dress. I unzipped
it slowly, letting my free hand slip inside to caress the bare skin. The
zipper trailed down the length of her back, stopping just above the curves of
her ass. I felt the zipper reach the end of it's track, and I let both hands
explore freely beneath the dress, finding to my delight that she hadn't
bothered to wear panties in anticipation of our first night of our
honeymoon.
Jenny stopped kissing me and pushed me away slightly, pushing my
jacket over my shoulders and onto the floor. Then she began to unbutton my
shirt, stopping to kiss or lick any skin she uncovered.
My hands trailed up her back, pushing the thin straps of her dress
over her smooth shoulders. Released, it fell to the floor alongside my
jacket, leaving her open to my eyes and wandering hands. Jenny succeeded
in unbuttoning my shirt. I helped her get me out of it, then embraced
her, flattening her breasts against my chest, her hard nipples dragging
across my skin. After a moment Jenny pushed me away again.
"I think you're a little overdressed." she said with a smile and began to
work on my belt. I reached behind her and loosened her braid, letting her
hair flow freely over her shoulders. Pulling it back, I leaned forward and
kissed her behind her left ear, nipping her earlobe as I went. I kissed my
way down her neck and over the slight indentation above her collarbone.
Jenny was still struggling with my belt, so I stopped and helped her
unfasten it. She undid the button of my pants and yanked the zipper down,
her left hand slipping inside to feel the tent in my boxers. My pants
fell in a heap around my ankles. Jenny pulled my boxers down to join my
pants.
Leading her to the bed, I lay her back gently, returning my tongue to
it's journey down her body. She closed her eyes and pushed her arms up
over her head and sighed as she let my tongue do it's work.
Moving my head down, I kissed my way up the slope of her breast,
circing her nipple with the tip of my tongue. She moaned when I took it
into my mouth, sucking until a stream of milk squirted into my mouth. I
stopped for a second, rolling the sweet milk over my tongue.
"Hmmmm..." I said thoughtfully. I moved to her other breast, repeating
what I had done with her other nipple. I repeated this for a few minutes,
until Jenny was squirming impatiently beneath me.
"What are you doing?" she asked me breathlessly.
"I just can't decide." I said, taking one of her nipples into my
mouth again.
"Can't decide what?"
"Which one tastes better."
Jenny giggled. "You can figure that out later. Go lower. Please?"
"Whatever you say ma'am." I grinned and kissed my way down the lower
slope of the breast I had been working on and down over her sternum. I
worked my way leisurely down her flat belly, stopping to flick my tongue
over her cute outie bellybutton, making her laugh and squirm as it
always did.
The musky scent of her aroused pussy was getting stronger as my nose
moved further down her body. Her legs spread to accommodate me, the
scent of her pussy strengthening as more of it was exposed to the air.
Then I was hovering above her pussy. I decided to let her wait a bit
longer -- with a hint of things to come.
With that in mind, I blew a little air on the wet lips of her pussy.
She gasped with shock as her pussy rapidly cooled. Then I flicked my
tongue over her erect clit, making her yelp in pleasure. Then I moved
to her inner thigh, moving slowly in the direction of her knee. Jenny
squirmed and moaned in frustration. I just chuckled as I moved down
over her knee, down her calf, and over her foot. I took each toe in my
mouth and sucked, making her giggle again. I licked my way back up her
leg, stopping to flick her clit, only to head down her other leg.
"Alex, please!" she begged, squirming her hips from side to side as
if trying to ease the itching in her pussy.
"Patience, patience. I'll get there...eventually."
She growled in frustration, gritting her teeth as a made my leisurely
way down her legs, over her foot, and back up again. She tensed as I
neared her pussy, but I just skimmed over it again, heading back up her
belly.
"Alex, if you don't get down there and lick me right now, I'm going
to go out and find Kallie and Amanda. Maybe they'll do it for me!" she
threatened.
I laughed and obeyed, thrusting my face between her legs, finding her
clit, taking it into my mouth and flicking it with the rough tip of my
tongue. She came almost immediately, crying out and bucking against my
tongue. I didn't even slow down, eating her through another orgasm. I
started on the third, but just as she was about to come, I stopped, my
tongue sliding leisurely down her inner labia, tasting her juices. Her
excitement died slightly, her hips starting to squirm, the tension
building. Then I moved up and took her clit into my mouth again,
bringing her to the verge again. Then I stopped, moving down to her
labia again, pushing my tongue as far as it would go into her tight
hole. I kept it up for the next fifteen minutes, until she was begging
to let her come.
"Now what's this about going to Kallie and Amanda?" I laughed,
teasing her with my tongue and my voice.
"I'm soorrryy..." she moaned, lost in a state of near orgasmic bliss.
"I won't say anything like that again. Just please, let me come!"
I chuckled again and sucked her clit into my mouth again. She
gasped, sure that this time she was going to come. I disappointed her,
leaving her clit again to trail my tongue through her pussy, lapping up
the huge amount of pussy juices that were flowing out of her pussy.
I did this twice more. By then her moans were so loud there were
almost screams. Afraid that they might wake Skyla, I decided
to let her come. I brought her to the edge again, then started to move
away. She started to groan in frustration again, but this time I
returned to her clit a fraction of a second after leaving it. She was coming
before she even knew what hit her. A start of a scream escaped her mouth,
only to be cut off by violently contracting muscles. She screamed silently,
her back arching off the bed, nearly bruising my lip. I kept with her,
licking her clit as furiously as before. It drove her higher, her body
shaking like a bowstring about to snap. I'd never seen her come so
hard, and after fifteen seconds, she there was no sign of her letting up. I
started to worry that she wasn't getting enough air. Then she suddenly
went limp, flopping back to the bed. Her body shivered in the
aftershocks of her orgasm. I moved quickly up the bed, checking to
make sure she was breathing.
'She must have passed out.' I thought. She was breathing heavily,
and a few seconds later her eyes flicked open. She saw my concerned
face hovering over hers, and wrapped her arms around my neck, tears
beginning to roll down her cheeks, sobs wracking her throat.
"I'm sorry Jenny, I didn't mean for you to pass out! Are you all
right?" I asked worriedly.
"I'm, I'm fine. Just...scared me, that's all. I couldn't move, or
talk, or even scream. It was like I didn't have control of my body, it
just stayed there, incredible pleasure..." she broke off, swallowing
hard. "Just let me rest for a minute."
"Fine, fine. Just relax. There's no hurry to do anything." I took
her into my arms. She went limp in my arms, closing her eyes and leaning her
head against my chest. It seemed that I was the one who needed the most
recovery time, as I fell asleep, exhausted from the day's activities.
I woke up to the feeling of a warm mouth sliding up and down my now
very erect cock. I moaned, opened my eyes and looked down. I wasn't
surprised to see Jenny there. She stopped when she saw that I was awake.
"Well, you're finally awake. I said I needed a rest. I didn't mean
that you could join me!"
I chuckled and pulled her up onto me, then kissed her. "That make up
for it?" I asked.
"Not quite. You see, I have this very hard...thing poking me in my
stomach. Can you think of some place to put it so it doesn't hurt quite
so much?" she smiled, and kissed my lips again, sucking my tongue into
her mouth and playing with it.
"Oh, I can think of many places to put it my dear. The question is,
would you like all of them, and in what position?"
"Knowing you and your dirty mind, I think I'll choose." she grinned.
"But that's not fair. You chose yesterday morning, and last night,
and this morning. When do I get to pick?"
"When I'm sure you aren't going to try to stick it in my ear." she
giggled.
"Your ear? No, to waxy. The squeaking noise would wake up Skyla.
I'm surprised she's not awake now, the way you screeched earlier."
"Squeak? I'll let you know I use a q-tip every morning. And she did
wake up. You've been asleep for over an hour."
"An hour? Where does the time go?" I sighed.
"I don't know. You were snoring so loudly that the bed was shaking."
"I don't..."
"I know. You don't snore. You don't do it very often, but when you
do, it sounds like a plane is about to crash into the apartment building.
You talk in your sleep, too. But I don't mind that. You say many
interesting things in your sleep. You never told me you'd like to go to
bed with my little sister."
"Go to bed with...I never said any such thing, even in my sleep!" I
sputtered.
"Well, you did last night. I was feeding Skyla, and you distinctly
yelled 'Amanda, oh yes! Yes!' very passionately in your sleep!"
"I didn't say anything of the sort! She might be developing very
nicely, but I didn't say anything like that!"
"Ah ha! Gotcha! So you admit it, you're attracted to my little
sister!" she rolled off me laughing.
"I am...wait a minute. I didn't say that at all, did I? You tricked
me! Is this what I have to look forward to in the next few years of
marriage? Trickery and deceit?" I said in mock anger. But I couldn't help
but grin after I said it.
"Trick you, yes. But I got you to admit that you think my little
sister is sexy!"
"I did not say she was sexy. I said she was developing nicely."
"In male talk, that means sexy. Or should I say 'hot'?" she laughed again
and rolled onto her stomach, burying her face in a pillow to muffle her
laughs so Skyla wouldn't wake.
I leaned over her and kissed the nape of her neck, brushing her hair
back.
"And what if..." I paused to kiss her between the shoulder blades --
"I said that I was attracted, just a little bit, to your sister?"
Jenny was sighing softly as I kissed my way slowly further down her
back, teasing the knobs of her vertebrae with my tongue. "I'd say that
that was fine. She's turning into an attractive young woman. But I
don't think I have to worry to much about her stealing you away from
me."
"Really? And why is that?"
"Because I know you love me and Skyla, and would never leave us.
Even if it was to my pretty little sister. Besides, I'm not exactly
ugly myself." she said, gasping as my tongue found the slight split at
the upper reaches of her ass cheeks.
"I'd say you know me pretty well. And yes, you are very attractive.
Otherwise, I wouldn't be doing this, would I?"
"No, you wouldn't. But I think we need to deal with what's hanging
between your legs."
"And yours, I would think. Knowing how insatiable you are. Just
another thing I love about you."
She rolled over slowly. I kissed my way up her body again, stopping
briefly at her breasts, until I kissed her lightly, by tongue flicking
briefly against hers, only to sink into a more passionate kiss. I moved
up, aiming the head of my cock for her pussy. I felt the head slip
between her pussy lips and pressed slowly forward, the width of my
member spreading her walls deliciously around me. Jenny pushed her hips
up to meet mine, letting out a low moan.
I moved in her slowly for a few minutes, each of us sighing on each
deep penetration, enjoying the feeling of being intimately connected.
The soft skin of her belly rubbed against mine, sweat forming between
us. When I pulled out our skins parted slightly, making a sound like
someone's legs pulling off a vinyl car seat in August. I looked down at
Jenny. Her eyes were closed with ecstasy, breathing heavily through her
mouth. When a particularly strong wave of pleasure coursed through her,
she'd moan and bite her lip sexily. I kissed her slightly open mouth,
then buried my face in her neck, kissing and licking my way to her ear.
I sucked gently on her earlobe as I picked up the pace, feeling my
orgasm approaching. Jenny responded, bucking harder against me and
rolling her hips, varying the angle of penetration slightly with every
thrust. Our moans grew louder as our speed increased to the point that
our bodies were slapping together, Jenny grinding her clit between our
pubic bones. I felt the familiar tingling in my groin, the pleasure
spreading from my balls into my legs, my stomach, and finally into my head.
I cried out in pleasure as my balls contracted, shooting my semen into
the sucking tightness of Jenny's pussy. I thrust deeply, the second
shot squirting against her cervix. She cried out as well as she felt me
come inside her, her own orgasm roaring through her body. Her hips bucked
up against mine, raising both of us a few inches off the bed. She
cried out as the pleasure washed through her mind, sending it wheeling
off into places unknown. I fell limp on top of her, and realizing she
couldn't breathe very well with me squashing her, rolled over until she
was resting in her favorite after love making position, laying limply on
top of me with her head resting on my chest.
Jenny came down to earth slowly, rolling her hips against my
shrinking cock, relishing the afterglow. She kissed my chest, too tired
to move enough to kiss me on the lips.
"It's better when you're married." she murmured contentedly.
"It sure seems like it. Should have done it sooner." I chuckled.
"Mmmmhmmm." she mumbled, her breath evening out quickly into sleep.
I glanced over to make sure Skyla was still asleep. 'Good thing she's a
sound sleeper.' I thought to myself, and fell off into sleep, the light
of early morning streaming through the curtains on the bedroom window.
End Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
----------------
The next day we saw Kallie and Amanda off at the bus stop. The three
of them all hugged and cried, as women always seem to do on occasions
where someone is leaving for a long time. Amanda came up to me first,
and gave me a hug with a quick kiss on the cheek.
"See you, Sis." I joked.
"You can call me that, now that you and Jenny are married." she said,
smiling. Then it was Kallie's turn.
"You take good care of her, you lousy bum." Kallie said, a few tears
dripping from the corners of her eyes as she hugged me.
"I always have, and always will. Don't worry, we'll do great. Just
keep calling every once and a while to keep up with us, eh?"
"You bet. I'll keep annoying you if it's the last thing I do."
"That's good to know." I said dryly.
"You're always so serious." she laughed, sniffing and wiping her
eyes. "Smile once and a while."
"But that might crack my face." I said straight faced.
Kallie just laughed and waved as she and Amanda climbed aboard the
bus for the long trip back to Oregon. Jenny and I watched the bus pull
out, Jenny leaning heavily on my arm, still wiping tears out of her
eyes. I put my arm around her shoulder and waved as the bus pulled out
of the station.
"Are you okay?" I asked as Jenny and I walked back to the car.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just going to miss them both. At least I get
to talk to Kallie, but I never get anything but letters from Amanda.
You've seen how much she's changed in the last year. What's going to
happen in the next couple of years?"
"Well, get her to send pictures. I'm sure Kallie can get Amanda over
to talk on the phone once and a while. It won't be the same as seeing
both of them in person, but it will help."
"Yes, but what if my parents find out about what's going on between
Kallie and Amanda?"
"Well, then we'll just have to get a bigger apartment." I grinned.
Jenny laughed. "Well, that would solve a few problems. But we'll
have to do that in a year or so anyway. Skyla can't sleep in our room
until she's eighteen."
"Yeah. But I'm pretty happy the way it is now."
"So am I. But she's not going to be a baby forever, Alex."
"Maybe not. But she'll always be a baby in the back of my head, even
when I'm eighty and she's sixty one."
*****
The rest of our honeymoon was pure relaxation. I hadn't really had a
vacation since Jenny had moved in. I was too busy working to support us
while we both went to school. But we enjoyed the time that we had, and
were disappointed when I had to continue with school and work. But we
still saw as much of each other as before. It was just that for eight
hours a day I was busy working on the computer, and couldn't really stop
for fear of falling behind, in either work of school.
Skyla grew rapidly over the next few months. It seemed like no time
before she was sitting up, then crawling. She was a very curious baby,
always touching whatever was in reach. Jenny and I quickly learned to
keep the few valuables we had higher up. But she had inherited my crazy
imagination, and almost always managed to get at what she wanted to see,
wherever we put it. She seemed to be a very happy baby as well. Jenny
and I had no TV set to sit her in front of, so we actually had to pay
attention to her.
Jenny's time was spent keeping Skyla busy, or out of things she wasn't
supposed to be in. But it seemed that more often than not she was over by my
chair. She learned early on that a tug on my pant leg would get her my
attention. I learned to type around her while she sat on my lap, watching
everything I was doing with interest. It became much more common to see her
perched on my lap when Jenny went back to school in January. But I didn't
mind, and she usually feel asleep after a bit, bored with the symbols
flashing across the computer screen.
Jenny was reluctant to go back to school and leave Skyla, but I
convinced her that it was best. But she would come home as quickly as
possible every day to see her, and to let me get ready to leave for
school. Skyla, once she started crawling, would wait for her by the
door when she knew it was time for her mother to come home.
It seemed that my tutoring had helped Jenny more than we had thought.
When she took the placement tests to see how far she was behind, we
found out that Jenny was actually ahead of schedule, as much as a full
year in English. She was ahead a full semester for everything else but
math. She managed to almost skip a year entirely, but gym and math
classes held her back. But she was happy since she'd be able to
graduate that much sooner.
*****
It was a shock to me when one day Skyla crawled over to me, pulled
herself to her feet on my chair as she had been doing for months,
and said very clearly, "Up." I just stared down at her, my mouth gaping
open. It was a slurred "Up" but a definite one.
"Up!" she said more insistently, holding up her arms. So I picked
her up, still stunned. She hugged me the best she could with her short
arms. "Daddy." she gurgled happily. I hugged her back. After a few
seconds I recovered slightly. It's not every day that your daughter, at
ten months, says her first word before she even starts walking.
"So, you can talk now, eh? Bet you think you're pretty smart, huh?" I
said, looking down to where she sat happily playing with the buttons on my
shirt. She just smiled up at me. "Well guess what, you are smart." I
ran my hand over her head, feeling the fine dark hairs, so similar to
her mothers, run through my fingers.
I let Jenny find out for herself that Skyla was talking. I wish I
had had a camera when she came home after school that day. The look on
her face when Skyla crawled up to her and said "Mommy!" would have
thrown Kallie and Amanda into convulsions of laughter. As it was, I
could barely control myself.
Jenny picked Skyla up and received her welcome home hug. I just
stood a few feet away from her, grinning.
"She talked!" Jenny said in amazement.
"Sure did. She said "up" this morning, and then "Daddy" when I
picked her up. That's her third word, and I think she has more in store
for us, too."
"This is great! I have to call Kallie!" she said, rushing to the
phone.
I guess it shouldn't have been a surprise, since Skyla had heard
Kallie, Jenny and I talking over the speakerphone quite a few times over
the last few months. But it shocked Kallie even more than us when we put her
on speaker phone. Apparently Skyla recognized the voice, or possibly
even thought that the phone was Kallie, but when Kallie's voice came
from the phone, she shouted "Kallie!" into the phone.
"Who's this?" Kallie said, confused.
"It's Jenny, Kallie." Jenny said, grinning as widely as I was, trying
not to snicker.
"Hi, Jenny! Who's there with you? I didn't recognize that voice."
"It's just me, Jenny and Skyla." I said, winking at Jenny.
"Then who said...wait, that couldn't have been Skyla! Are you two
trying to pull another prank on me?"
"Nope. She just started talking today. Jenny just found out. So
far she's said 'up', 'Daddy', 'Mommy' and now your name." I said
proudly.
"But she's only ten months old! Babies don't start talking at
ten months!"
"Apparently Skyla didn't hear about that rule." Jenny said.
"I guess not. But I don't think I'll quite believe you until I see
it myself."
"What, you want us to rent a video camera and send a tape to you?" I
asked.
"Well, I wasn't thinking about that, but that would be great. I haven't
seen her except in pictures in ten months. Maybe put Jenny in it,
too. Alex, you hold the camera. I don't want to see your ugly mug on
my TV."
"I love you too, Kallie." I snickered.
"Humph. Well, next thing you know she'll be doing quadratic
equations on the kitchen floor in crayon."
"I doubt it. Alex isn't very good at math, and I'm not much better."
Jenny said.
*****
Skyla picked up new words quickly, and was talking with reasonable
clarity a month later when she began taking her first unsteady steps.
We had no idea why she began talking so early, much less why she did so
before she began walking.
It was very difficult to keep her out of things now that she was
walking. She could get across the apartment many times faster than she
had when she was crawling, and once she began running it was hard to
keep up with her. While Jenny was at school I did my programming on the
fly, getting a few lines in between chasing her around the apartment.
I kissed quite a few minor injuries the first few days after she began
running. She had figured out how to get going fast, but hadn't quite
mastered stopping and avoiding objects in her path. I'd be typing
away, and all of a sudden I'd hear a thump, and then her crying.
Finally I just cleared a path for her, told her to run at me as fast
as she could, then try to stop before she hit me. She would manage one
time out of five. The other four times she would hit me full speed. I'd wrap
my arms around her and let myself fall backwards, absorbing the
extra motion, bringing her to a stop without hurting either of us. Each
time she hit me she would squeal as we fell over backwards, giggle, and
go for another run. By the time both her and I were exhausted, she had
improved her stopping ability to being able to stop one time in three.
Soon we had her able to stop almost every time she ran. Which meant we
went through a lot fewer Band-Aids.
She would dance to anything I put on the stereo, from Bach to rock. Her
favorite was Handel's Allegro Moderato. She would twirl around the floor
like she was in a ballet while it was on the stereo, her eyes closed as she
moved to the music. She wouldn't fall asleep at night unless she heard it
first.
Skyla was a loving child, always giving hugs to everyone she met, which
was a little embarrassing when we went shopping. Once she began talking,
she was unstoppable, always asking questions about this or that, so many
questions that there were many I didn't know the answers to. As a result we
both learned when I looked it up in an encyclopedia.
With all these questions, we figured it was a good idea to
move her crib out into the living room for the time being, until we
could find a two bedroom apartment. Luckily for us, one opened up in
the same building we were in, so moving was as simple as making a few
hundred trips up and down the stairs since the new apartment was a level
above our current one.
It was no surprise that both Jenny and I were exhausted at the end of the
day. Lucky for us, Skyla's energy seemed to peter out around eight. It
became routine for Jenny and I to read or tell Skyla a story every night.
Jenny and I would take turns reading, each of us making the voices to match
the characters in the book. Skyla insisted that we do this, she said it made
the story better. But I think it was only so she could laugh when her father
tried to mimic how Mama Bear in the 'Three Bears' would sound.
Skyla's smile would light up a room the size of a small football
stadium, and her laugh could make even the most cranky of people smile
when they heard it.
She had me wrapped around her little finger, and she knew it. All
she had to do was look up at me with those big blue eyes and say "Please
Daddy?" in a pleading voice she had been working on perfecting since she had
begun talking. She would put out her lower lip, and I would melt. Jenny
quickly learned to take Skyla out to the car while I went through the
checkout stand at stores for that very reason. I could shoot the person who
came up with the idea of putting candy on shelves, just the right height for
little kids to get at, right where they would be standing to wait in line,
bored.
I loved playing with her. It may sound odd for a man, now in his
twenties, to want to play games with his year and a half old daughter. At
least not for hours at a time. But she and I would spend hours (usually when
I was supposed to be working) playing games of some sort, whether it was a
game on the computer, or just something Skyla had dreamed up on the spur of
the moment. These were usually the most fun. More than once I found myself
trying to make the scariest face, or having her riding on my shoulders
singing the theme song of 'The Lone Ranger' while Skyla laughed and urged me
to go faster.
By nap time after lunch, we were both exhausted. I'd try to drag
myself to the computer to get some work done, but more often than not we
both collapsed for an hour on the couch. Jenny would come home from
school and find Skyla cuddled up next to me. Often she would join us.
There's nothing quite like waking up sandwiched between the two people you
love more than anything in the world. I'd recommend it to anyone.
End Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
--------------
One day someone totally unexpected showed up at our door. I was in the
bedroom working on debugging a program that was giving me fits. Jenny was
in the kitchen, fixing us lunch, while Skyla played in the living room. I
could hear her happily humming and coloring with her box of crayons when
someone rang the bell.
"I'll get it!" Skyla yelled, and ran for the door.
"Skyla, what did I tell you..." Jenny called. To late. The door
creaked open.
"Hello." came Skyla's voice.
"Hello, little girl. I'm sorry, think I have the wrong apartment." the
person at the door said. Jenny ran out of the kitchen, ready to scold Skyla
for opening the door when someone rang the bell, something we had told her not
to do a hundred times.
"Skyla..." her voice trailed off as she recognized who was at the door.
"Jenny?" the voice said incredulously. A voice from more than three
years in our past.
"Alex, I think you should get out here." Jenny called weakly.
I got up and walked out the bedroom door, rubbing my eyes as I
recovered from staring at the computer screen for the last three hours.
I stopped in my tracks as I realized that the man who was standing at
the door was my Father.
"Son?" my Dad said, a look of shock still registering on his face.
"Hi Dad." I said, not able to think of anything else to say. I walked
forward and picked up Skyla. She wrapped her arms around my neck, steadying
herself.
"Who's that, Daddy?" she asked, looking at her grandfather.
"Daddy?" my father gaped.
"I think this will take a little explanation." I said nervously. "Come in
and sit down. Jen, could you grab something to drink?"
Jenny nodded, and turned back to the kitchen. My Dad came in the
door. I shut it behind him and moved to the couch and sat down
with Skyla on my lap. He sat down in a recliner across from us. Skyla
looked at him curiously, knowing that I would eventually get around to
answering her question, as I most always did. A few seconds later Jenny
emerged form the kitchen, holding cans of cola for the three of us and a
glass of milk in a special mug for Skyla. She sat down next to Skyla and I,
setting the drinks on the coffee table. My father took one and opened
it, drinking deeply. His color improved slightly. I took a deep
breath.
"I guess I need to explain what's happened over the last few years. Jenny
and I have been living together for nearly three years. She came to me one
night, having traveled by bus for three days to get here. She had escaped
from her parents, who had abused her, and came close to starving her to
death. I of course took her in. We lived together for a year, and then she
got pregnant with Skyla. Yes, Dad, you're a grandfather."
My Dad shook his head, obviously trying to take it all in.
"He's my Grandpa?" Skyla said questioningly, figuring out at least in
part what was going on.
"Yes honey." I said. Before I could stop her she slipped off my lap
and ran to my father. She climbed up onto his lap. He was too surprised to
react.
"Now I have two grandpas!" she said, giving him a big kiss and hugging
him tightly around the neck. To Jenny and my surprise, he hugged her back.
Skyla settled down into his lap and began to play with his tie, liking the
way the silk slid between her fingers. He took it pretty well.
"Two grandpas?" he asked me, raising an eyebrow.
"Our doctor, Dr. Sampson, is sort of a godfather to her." Jenny
explained.
"Ah. So you two are still living together, even after three years?
I didn't think it would last a month."
"It's a bit more than that, Dad. Let me continue with the story." I
said.
"Well, then, get on with it. So far it's been quite...informative."
I continued. "We decided to keep the baby, which is obvious. We're
glad we did." I wrapped my arm around Jenny. "I proposed to her a
couple of weeks after Skyla was born. We were married a month later.
So, you not only have a granddaughter that you didn't know you had, but
you also have a daughter-in-law."
"Married? But she's so young...you're both so young!" he said in
shock.
"I'm almost twenty one, Dad. Jenny will be seventeen on our
next anniversary in September."
"When did I get so old?" he sighed, looking down at his granddaughter.
"You're not old, Mr. Braxton." Jenny said softly. "It's just that a
lot can happen in three years."
"Call me Dad, Jenny. You may as well, you're my daughter-in-law,
and I won't have family calling me 'Mr. Braxton'. And why didn't you two
invite me to the wedding? Or even tell me about any of this? I'm hard
to get a hold of, but it's not impossible."
"We didn't think you cared. You haven't exactly contacted us a lot over
the last few years either, Dad." I said.
"Well, it looks like both of us are to blame. Sheesh, I come down
here to see the son I haven't seen in three years. First it seems like
he's moved without telling me. Then I've found out he's moved into a
different apartment in the same building for some reason. Then I find
out I've got a lot more family in New Mexico than I thought I had."
"You're taking it very well." Jenny smiled.
"It seems that I'm going to have to stop by more often. Get to know
my Granddaughter. And my daughter in law." he said, looking at Jenny.
"If he sees enough in you to stay married to you for two years, I think
I can find something." He stood up, taking Skyla into his arms as he
did so. "I don't know about you two, but I'm starving. How about
lunch? I'll buy."
"Well, we were going to eat here, but I guess we could go out for
once. If that's all right with you, Jenny." I said, looking to my wife.
"That's fine with me."
"So where should we eat?" my Dad asked.
"Well, there's only one restaurant you can really go to when you have
a toddler with you."
"Where's that?" my father asked.
"McDonalds." Jenny said. "The finest food in the general area of
their parking lot."
My father shrugged. "McDonalds it is, then."
*****
McDonalds was busy as was usually was around lunch time. We ordered
and then found a booth near the back.
"So how's school going?" my father asked me.
"Pretty well. I've gotten a better job that lets me stay home and
watch Skyla while Jenny goes to school. Another year and a half of night
school and I should be finished."
"Good, good." my father said lamely. The conversation puttered along
that was for a few minutes, one of us asking one question or another.
Then Skyla finished her happymeal and begged us to take her out to the
playground. My grandfather caved and said he'd take her. Skyla cheered and
ran for the door, my father in tow.
"Do you trust him with her?" Jenny asked quietly.
"If I didn't, I wouldn't have let them go. I don't think he'd dream
of hurting her. In fact, I think he's still in shock. Somehow I don't
think he expected what he got when he came to visit."
"I didn't get what I expected either." Jenny giggled.
"No, but I think it turned out for the best." I said, hugging her
against me and watching Skyla and her "new" grandfather play. Skyla was
climbing up onto the slide, and my father was catching her when she hit
the bottom. "I think he'll make a good grandfather. Grandparents are
good at stopping by once or twice every few months."
"Maybe. Just as long as my parents don't decide to come for a
visit."
"I somewhat doubt that. If they did, I'd just slam the door in
their faces. I still remember what happened last time I let them in the
door. I really don't want that to happen again."
"They couldn't convince me to, either. I'm perfectly happy where I
am. Very happy, in fact." she said, snuggling up to me as well as she
could in the hard plastic of the booth.
"That's good to hear. I haven't seen you as much as I would have
liked to over the last few months. School is time consuming. I would
hate to end up like those couples with workaholic fathers who neglect
their wives and children."
"I don't think you're anywhere near to neglecting Skyla. If
anything, I feel like I'm doing that, being gone all day, only to spend
a few hours with her on weekends and before she goes to bed. As for me,
well, let's just make sure we spend a lot of time together over the next
week and this summer."
"Don't worry. I'm taking summer quarter off. I have the credits to
spare, and I really want to spend some time with you and Skyla without
school getting in the way. I still have to work, but we have all that
time between when I stop working and when Skyla goes to bed. And then,
after she goes to bed, we have a little more private time, with neither
of us having any homework."
"I have a different kind of homework in mind." Jenny murmured in my
ear, and kissed me. I kissed her back, pulling her closer to me.
"Mommy! Daddy! Stop kissing, it's embarrassing!" Skyla scolded,
seeming to appear out of nowhere with my father still firmly in hand.
"You two sure you've been married as long as you told me? You act
more like newlyweds than a couple that have been together for almost two
years." he grinned.
"Well, it keeps it interesting. Especially since Jenny is so creative
in..." I let out an oomph as Jenny elbowed me in the stomach. "In
her...cooking." I stammered. Jenny smiled sweetly up at me.
"That's it Jenny, get him trained while he's still young." my father
grinned.
"Thanks for the support Dad." I grumbled, rubbing my stomach.
*****
My father took Skyla, Jenny and I around to see everything from the
zoo to a great little Italian restaurant that we hadn't heard of, even
though we lived only a few miles away from it. Apparently he came
down here a lot in his work, but had only gotten up the courage to stop
by this trip.
After the first couple of days, he began to notice the way we hung
back, holding hands and looking at each other longingly. The next day
he came by to take Skyla to a children's concert he had heard about in
the city. Jenny and I sighed, since we were hoping to get a little time
together to talk like we used to without Skyla interrupting. We loved
her, but she could talk for hours. Which surprised us, since neither of
us ever really talked very much, always being the shy type.
"Why don't you two stay here, and let Skyla and I go? I don't think
you'd enjoy it very much, and you both look like you need some...sleep
anyway." he chuckled.
"That would be great. We've needed a little time alone for quite a
while." Jenny said, smiling gratefully.
"No problem." he said, then took Skyla out to his car, a little two
seat sports car that she loved since it was bright red, her favorite
color.
The remaining three days of spring break were wonderful, thanks to my
Dad taking Skyla out for three or four hours every day. It was almost a
replay of our honeymoon, except we didn't have Skyla's crying to interrupt
us. By the time my Dad had to leave, we were grateful beyond words. I
walked him out to his car the night he had to leave for Phoenix. He was
driving the distance, since his expense account at the company he worked
for had been cut.
Skyla had given him a tearful good bye. She had grown attached to him over
the week he had been in town. Small wonder, since she was pretty much
spoiled rotten whenever he was with her. After all, that's what
grandparents are for.
"You have a great family there, Alex. I'm proud of you." he said as
we walked into the parking lot outside the building.
"Thanks. I've been very lucky to get Jenny and Skyla like I have."
"I'm sorry that I could never give you a family like you've given
Skyla. Over the last couple of years I've come to realize how much I
must have hurt you, to be away as much as I was. I drove your mother
away because of it, and was to stubborn and set in my ways to realize I was
losing you in the same way I lost her. Then it was to late. You met
Jenny, and left for college.
"I should have stopped by the many times I've been in town. Then I could
have seen you get married, and Skyla be born. I've missed a lot. Not
just the things since you left, but almost everything that has happened
in your life since you were born.
"Now I'm in my late forties, and I realize that I've never really
had a family. But you, you have one. Cherish them, Alex. It will never
be like this again after Skyla goes on to college, or even after she goes to
her first day of school.
"But what am I saying? It's obvious that Jenny loves you, and so
does Skyla. You two have something very special. Something that few
married couples seem to have these days. I can see it in your eyes when
you look at her, or when she looks at you. It's a special bond, more
than love, more than family. You're best friends, and you can tell each
other anything. That's what makes a marriage last. Your mother and I
had it, but even that couldn't hold us together, as much as I was gone.
"Don't ever get distracted from what's really important. A career can be
destroyed, as can possessions. But a family will always be there, as long
as you keep up the maintenance on it."
We had reached the car, despite our slow shuffling.
"Thanks Dad, for everything."
"Hey, no problem. Just learn from my mistakes, would you? God knows
I'm just starting to."
I put out my hand and he took it, pulling me into a hug. The first
hug I had gotten from my father in a long time.
"Drive carefully, would you?" I sniffed, blinking back the unmanly
tears I felt flooding my eyes.
"I will, son. I will." he pulled back and climbed into his car. I
watched him drive away with one last wave out the window.
As I walked back to my apartment, I thought about what had just
happened, what had happened over the last few days. Then I had to stop,
the tears blurring my eyesight to the point I could no longer see. I
stood there for moment, composing myself. Then I went in to see my
family. But I couldn't get the image of my father's face as he had
climbed into his car.
An image of him with a single tear trickling down the side of his face.
End Chapter Twenty
End Watching, Book One
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