Chapter 17

We went to breakfast, and the world almost seemed normal. After that, it was back to Old Town, to finish up shopping. I got my kaleidoscope, which made me almost giddy. I can still sit and look through that thing for an hour at a time. The women shopped for jewelry and pots. Hannah bought a leather vest made of buckskin that was soft and smelled delightful. She also found some kind of hot sauce that was reputed to be able to melt the spoon you stirred it with, if you left it in too long.

I had more fun watching them than doing my own shopping. Both women were beautiful, and drew the stares of men who happened by them.

It was too bad the big international balloon festival they have every year wasn't until October. I'd have like to see that too. On the other hand, according to the people I talked to, we wouldn't have been able to just drive into town and get a motel room. Not if the festival was going on.

Then it was back on the road, headed for Flagstaff, Arizona, and the Grand Canyon.

It was only four hours to Flagstaff, but since we didn't leave Albuquerque until almost noon, that put us in the vicinity of the canyon about supper time. We opted for a less impressive motel this time and, after checking in, again to one room, we went out and found a little restaurant that served Southwestern fare.

After that, we did a little sightseeing. Oddly enough, once we left that room in the Hotel Cascada, our sleeping arrangements were not mentioned again. It was kind of like, "What happened in that room stays in that room." At the same time, I think we all reflected on the fact that we had at least two more nights, and quite possibly more, depending on what we decided to do along the way.

It was a little like when the girls first started up with me. At first, it had been light, and for fun, less than serious. But I had known things were likely to heat up, if they were allowed to continue without firm rules.

But I was now with two women who were not blushing virgins. Both of these women knew the deal. I didn't have that "This is all just harmless fun" kind of feeling about this. And I was pretty sure they didn't either.

And yet, the topic of conversation never quite got around to what the future might hold.

It seemed that we delayed getting to the meat of the issue after supper by doing some sightseeing, instead of going back to the motel. We wanted to do the canyon the next day, but we didn't know what that involved. Our investigation into that revealed many options, one of which was going through the canyon on the Colorado River on a raft. Caitlin was excited at that idea.

"It says swim suits are recommended," said Hannah, peering at the brochure. "I didn't bring a swim suit."

"I'll buy you one," I said.

It took a little convincing, but she had come on this jaunt to have an adventure, and white water rafting was bound to be an adventure.

So we went swim suit shopping.

Caitlin lobbied for a two piece suit. Hannah insisted on looking for a one piece. She was trying one on when Caitlin sat down beside me and leaned her head on my shoulder.

"I've been trying to get her to wear a bikini for years," she sighed. "She just won't do it."

"Women with a few miles on them are afraid the ravages of time will be exposed if they wear a bikini," I explained.

"What ravages? You saw her last night. She's gorgeous."

"Yes, but women never think they're gorgeous," I said. "Do you think you're exceptionally pretty?"

"No."

"Well there you go. You are, and I think my behavior around you supports that position quite well. But you don't believe it because American advertising firms make it their business to convince you that you aren't pretty. Not until you buy and use the products they're shilling."

"That's terrible."

"That's freedom," I said. "Freedom isn't free. You pay a lot to have the freedom you want, and part of that is putting up with those who victimize others in the name of freedom."

Hannah stepped barely out of the changing booth. She was wearing a forest green suit that, while being a one piece, looked like it had been painted on her body. I could see her nipples even through the thick modesty panel in the cups of the top.

"It's a little small," she observed, turning to look at her butt in the mirror.

"It's gorgeous," said Kat.

"I vote with her," I said.

"You're a satyr," she said, without looking at me, and without any heat in the barb.

"Half satyr," I corrected.

"Whatever. It shows things I don't want to show. Not in public, anyway."

My groin tightened, in the expectation of what she might be willing to show again in private, later that night.

"I'm pretty sure we'll all be too busy to gawk at you while we bounce off of rocks and such," I said.

"It feels wonderful," she said. "Very stable."

"Stable?"

"Won't fall off," she explained.

"What a pity," I said. It just popped out. I swear. We had become relaxed, and comfortable in each other's company. That, alone, was crazy enough, considering what she had walked into. And what had followed had been just as crazy. And yet, the comfort level had gone right back to where it had been before any of this had happened.

Well, close anyway.

She actually stuck her tongue out at me.

"Satyr!" she mocked, and then ducked back into the changing room.

"She likes you," said Caitlin.

"I sure hope so," I sighed.

"You mean because you were afraid, when she caught us, that she'd hate you?"

"Yeah."

"Me too. But there's no way that's going to happen. She likes you a lot."

"We're family. We're supposed to like each other a lot."

"You know what I mean," said Caitlin, pinching me. "She likes you like I like you."

"You're family too.

"You want to know the crazy part?"

"Sure."

"I don't think I mind."

"You don't think?"

"It's hard to describe," she said. "A year ago, if she had told me she was going to show up at your house to ride home with us and seduce you along the way, I'd have screamed at her. I'd have been livid. You were mine. But all this stuff with Ashley and Emma made me see that no matter what, you love me. That you have enough love to go around, and will never run out of love for me."

"Of course not," I said, putting my arm around her and giving her a squeeze.

"You don't get it. Boys in school all say they love you, but then they stop loving you and start loving some other girl. And that's terrifying. It makes you feel like there's something wrong with you. But you don't do that. It's like I know, for a fact, that you'll never fall out of love with me. And that makes me feel warm and safe."

"Well, that's a good thing," I said. "And I will always love you, even when you go off to college and fall in love with some stupid boy who's younger than me and in better shape than I am."

"I think that's why I don't mind what Mom is doing. I mean I know I'm probably going to get married and all that. But she's too stubborn. This is the first time I ever saw her flirt with a man."

"You call this flirting?" I raised one eyebrow.

"She's positively throwing herself at you," said Kat.

"I'm not so sure about that," I said.

"Then you're an idiot."

"I think she's confused right now. I think walking in on us, and remembering things from the past has her doing some thinking. And that kind of processing can lead you down some blind alleys."

"I think when she walked in on us, she remembered how she felt about you back then. And now she thinks about you like that again."

"I'm not so sure," I said.

"Well I am."

I looked over at her. "So ... say something did happen. That wouldn't make you mad?"

She looked back at me.

"I was willing to share you with Ash and Em."

"But this isn't Ash and Em."

"I know. And it's kind of creepy thinking about it. I mean she's my mom. But I know her, and like I said, I've never seen her act like this around any man. She has to be going crazy inside to be doing this, and I know what it feels like to be going crazy inside because of you."

"So what should I do?"

"Nothing. Just be yourself. That's who seduced me."

I started to argue that I had not seduced her when Hannah came out in another suit. This one was blue, and while it was nice, it didn't go with her hair like the green one had. It hugged her body well, but somehow did not communicate the aura of sexiness the green one had.

"Nope," she said, looking in the mirror. "Too much cleavage."

"I still vote for the green one," I called out.

She pushed her head through cloth doors that she held tightly closed with her hands. When she saw there were no customers in sight, she opened the curtains, just for a second, revealing that the blue suit had only been pushed to her hips, suggesting my comment had demanded some response. She was showing me her breasts in broad daylight.

"You don't get a vote," she said, sweetly, and then closed the curtains again.

"See what I mean?" said Caitlin, smugly.

Hannah was clearly conflicted. She did, in fact, buy the green suit, but refused to discuss that. We had stalled just about as long as we could. If we were going rafting, we had to get to the ticket booth by seven thirty to get on the first trip of the day. They had trips where a helicopter brought you back to the park, but those were prohibitively expensive, even for me. But you could also get picked up by a bus at the end of the float, and brought back that way, which was what we intended on doing.

This motel had typical offerings, with one room, containing either one queen bed, or two full size beds. You don't have to guess what Hannah chose.

I knew this would be different, because the bed back in Albuquerque had been huge. But I had a queen bed, which wasn't quite big enough for four people to sleep in comfortably. Hence the reasoning that ended up being why Hannah walked in on what must have looked like a harem room.

But three might fit. As long as you were friends.

And ... apparently ... we were all friends again.

There were showers again. But this time there were no towels, except for the one wrapped around Hannah's head when she emerged from the bathroom. Another difference is that I was sitting on the bed, and this time I stared openly.

It was the first time I got a good look between her legs. My sister favored the triangle method of controlling her pubic hair. Basically, she had shaved away all but an inverted triangle, which pointed at pussy lips that told me where Caitlin had gotten hers. It was uncanny. I felt like I knew what they tasted like, they looked so familiar.

"What are you staring at?" she asked.

"Nothing," I said, for some reason. "I was just thinking."

"About what?"

I finally looked up at her face.

"You're very similar to your daughter in some ways."

She actually blushed, and I literally saw her nipples perk up, moving from being almost flat stains on her white breast flesh, to being actual nipples perched on pillows of darkness.

"Considering the circumstances, I'll take that as a compliment," she said.

"You should," I responded.

If anything, she blushed harder. Instead of doing something with her hair, she got into bed and pulled the covers up to cover her nakedness.

I looked at Kat, who was naked, and getting ready to go into the bathroom.

"Save me some hot water," I said.

She looked over her shoulder at me.

"I won't be long. Until then, don't do anything I wouldn't do," she said.

I didn't ask her what she meant. I was afraid she'd tell me.

There was suddenly an air of tension in the room. I looked at Hannah, who was just lying there, looking uncomfortable.

"You want the remote?" I asked.

"Yes," she said, almost eagerly.

She flipped on the TV and found a newscast. I watched along with her.

Kat came out of the bathroom naked, still drying off.

"Shower's all yours," she said.

I got up and went to my suitcase, getting out the same shorts I had worn the night before. Kat sauntered over to me and plucked them from my fingers.