Chapter 2

The universe does whatever it does, which never makes sense until it does. And then it does something different just to prove it can, I suppose. While all that doing is going on, I hang on, do what I do when I can, and watch what happens. This time I was terribly anxious to find out if Angela had been hijacked into another body or if she was at rest instead of in the wars I kept getting called to fight.

When I came out Roberta was lounging in the front room, enjoying our magnificent view. Since it was November, it got dark early, and when I added the gas fire to give us both heat and ambiance, we decided to fix a snack and have it by firelight. The moon kept us company, and we talked for hours.

Along the way I casually asked about Fran and was stunned when Roberta replied, "She wants to come out and stay with us at the ranch, if it's Ok with you..."

At a loss for words, I started to speak twice, but stopped before I said something that might compromise my identity. Finally able to form an intelligent sentence, I said, "I thought that ... when you said you'd lost someone special, that you could never replace in your life, you were talking about your Aunt Fran."

Roberta smiled sadly and stared off into space for some time before replying. "Fran is just fine, but she's hurting too, little one. We were both very fond of Noah, and losing him hurt us both so badly, you will never know. I didn't want to upset you, since you'd just regained consciousness, which is why I didn't explain back in the hospital. I hope you're not angry at me, Angela. He meant so much to the three of us that I hope we can all be friends, with Noah in common..."

It was my turn to think, and I thought hard before answering. "I would very much like for you two to be my dear friends. I'm all alone now. My grandfather basically threw me out of the family. He begged Noah to take me away, which is how I ended up with him and able to help when The Judge asked us to pose as sister and brother.

"We did a good job pretending to be siblings in love, and Othneal spent half his waking hours trying to peek at us when we made love."

Roberta seemed fascinated by that part of our cover, and asked, "Did you have a hard time having to be ... sexual ... with Noah ... at such a young age? Did it hurt or make you feel used and cheap? Was Noah kind and gentle, or pretty demanding? I just can't picture how you two handled sex when he was so large – everywhere – and you are so tiny." She smiled an embarrassed smile that I could see even in such low light.

"Roberta," I said, "Noah treated me like a princess. I was ... am ... kind of worldly about sex, because my father was, well, is such a cad. He screws anything with the right plumbing. It makes no difference. He likes any age, any shape, any size, and any level of experience. He couldn't care less if you're married, single, engaged, divorced, or a celibate nun. If you have the right parts, he will try and take advantage of them.

"When my grandfather begged Noah to take me away, he did it to keep my father from forcing me to be one of his women. He'd have done that before the funeral if I was still there when Grandpa died. Debusque men have a weakness for using their daughters, granddaughters, nieces, and daughter- in-laws for sex partners, and I was next in line.

"You might not know, but my father slept with both of my aunts. They were so taken with him they are probably in bed with him right now.

"When Noah took me away, after my grandfather had the local judge sign the order making Noah my guardian, I could barely wait for us to get to a hotel room, so I could seduce him. It was my full intent to drag him into bed and make him take my virginity..."

I let the silence build just a bit. This part of the story would cement how Roberta saw me from now on.

"He tried to make me stop. He pushed me out of his bed, held me off of him, and begged me to let him up when I climbed on top of him and took his thing in my hand. There was no way I was waiting another second, and finally I convinced him that it was alright by telling him that I used candles, and a hair brush to get myself ready for that night.

"When he decided to let me do it with him, I never imagined it could be so good. He made it last all night. We had sex until it was light, literally, and he never hurt me, not for a second. The next day I was sore, but not because he hurt me, but because I forced him to keep doing it when I should have stopped for the night."

Roberta was hanging on my every word.

"When The Judge sent us to let Othneal pick us up, we had sex in the bedroom that he let us use, and I was on top with my bottom facing the door. I pushed myself up off of Noah because I could see in the mirror, that there was a gap in the door jam, and that Othneal was peeking in at us. He got so excited that he went off in his pants and didn't even care that I watched it happen.

"He asked Noah about our first time, and we agreed to make up a crazy story together, about our first night. We invited Othneal into the room and let him lay across the end of the bed, and we made up this crazy tale about our first sex. Othneal did it again. When I got to the good part, he shot off in his pants and couldn't begin to hide it from us.

"He loved to find ways to peek at us. Incest turned him on like nothing in the world. When The Judge sent people to arrest him, you knew that he was doing it to his mother when they got there, right?"

Roberta smiled at that. "Noah and I were watching the video feed when they broke in the door and found him inside her on the floor. It was an awful sight, at the time, but when Noah found all the photos of her hurting him and his sister, then raping them, and then making them rape each other, I thought she deserved much worse." Roberta was firm on that point.

"Angela, Othneal's mother was ... that way ... with a lot of other children after Othneal and Billie started to grow up they weren't as exciting anymore, because they weren't five and eight years old. She was twisted inside - sick and disgusting. Her own daughter killed her, and it sent the child over the edge.