Chapter 4

As Jasper predicted, neither Alma nor Elmer ever gave Anna Belle the slightest indication that anything unusual had happened. But that didn't prevent her from blushing the next few times she was in their presence. Elmer knew the reason for her discomfort, but Alma probably didn't, and she kept asking Anna Belle if something was wrong, if she was feeling well. The quick-witted girl brushed off her concerns by saying she sometimes had flashes n flushes during her periods. The embarrassment eventually eased, but she continued to daydream about Elmer's awesome body. Fantasies of the two of them locked together in a wild bedroom scene initiated some intense episodes of bedtime autoeroticism.

Within a few days, all was pretty much back to normal. Anna Bell and Jasper made a lot of progress with their work, thanks in part to Elmer's suggestions. Before school let out for Christmas break, they met with Ms. Sellers to review their work to date. Even knowing that the two were exceptional students, she was astounded at the depth and quality of the work they were doing. This project was going to be something very special, and the science fair looked like it would be pretty much a lock.

As they finished the meeting, Anna Belle, out of a combination of curiosity and envy, couldn't help but venture a little probe into Ms. Seller's relationship with Elmer. She had no trouble imagining the elegant lady in the same sexually receptive position as Alma Van Buskirk; butt in the air and Elmer's rod stretching and pounding her pussy. As she stood to leave, she asked casually, "So, are you and Elmer getting serious about each other? You go out just about every week now, don't you?"

Ms. Sellers just smiled. "Now why would you ask me that knowing full well I won't give you an answer and neither will Mr. Rickman. You two enjoy the holidays, and think about taking some time off from your project, why don't you? You're already far beyond what anyone else is doing, and if you turned it in today as a finished assignment, you'd have already earned your "A" for the course. Take a break! Have some fun!"

In Anna Belle's car on the way to Jasper's house, she couldn't get the idea of Ms. Sellers and Elmer out of her mind. Finally, she just had to ask, "Jasper, don't you ever wonder if Elmer and Ms. Sellers are, you know, sexually involved?"

He raised an eyebrow and answered, "No, I don't wonder at all. In fact I'd be totally amazed if they weren't."

"Well, how do you feel about that? I mean, with what's happening between him and your mom, doesn't it bother you that he might be cheating on her?"

Jasper gave her an odd look. "Cheating on her? How do you figure that? Elmer just provides a service, as far as I know. They're not married, or even like boyfriend and girlfriend. How could it be cheating?"

"I don't know. It just seems like Elmer and your mom would have some kind of attachment, some feelings of loyalty toward each other."

He gave that some thought. "Yeah, well I suppose they do kind of love each other in some way, but Elmer has his own life to live and so does Mom? Maybe I don't understand relationships very well, but I can't believe she'd get all bent out of shape if Elmer and Ms. Sellers were, um, you know, doing it."

"Mm-hmm," Anna Belle conceded, "Maybe I don't understand relationships all that well either. I'm beginning to believe that sex around your house is a lot more casual than it is in most other families."

"You might be right about that." Jasper looked out his window and mumbled to himself. "I sure wish it was that casual for everybody."

"Hmm? What was that?"

Heat crept into his face. "Oh, uh, never mind. You coming in?"

"No, thanks. Mom's having guests for dinner tonight and she wants me there to help out. I'll see you tomorrow, though."

The talk about sex had increased his frustration over his feelings for Anna Belle, knowing they'd come to nothing. He needed some relief, or at least a break. "You know you're welcome any time, but why don't we do what Ms. Sellers suggested; take a few days off. Maybe we'll come up with some fresh ideas."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Mom thinks I spend too much time over here as it is. Okay, well I guess I'll see you whenever then. You guys have a nice holiday, okay?"

Halfway between Christmas and New Years, Anna Belle showed up at the Van Buskirk house unannounced. Elmer answered the door and invited her in. "Hey, Anna Belle, nice to see you. Are you aware that the whole family is spending the week skiing up in Vermont?"

"Oh, really? No, I didn't know that."

"I'm sorry you came over for nothing. I'd give Jasper a piece of my mind if I were you. He should have told you they were going to be gone."

"It's not his fault. I mean, we hadn't really planned anything. I just got bored at home and thought we might spend some time on the project. Anyhow, I should have phoned before I came over, but I was just out driving around and thought I'd take a chance. Will you ask him to give me a call when they get back home?"

"Of course, but since you're already here and apparently have nothing to do, would you care to join me for lunch? I was just about to nuke some prime leftovers, and there's more than enough for the two of us."

Anna Belle's heart did a little flutter and she jumped at the invitation. Here was a chance to spend a little quality alone time with the man of her dreams! "You bet! Your leftovers probably beat anything at our house by a mile. What's on the menu?"

Elmer chuckled as he stepped aside to let her in, "It's rather mundane, actually. It's last night's tuna and noodle casserole that I made for myself and Carolyn, but I'll toot my own horn and say that it's pretty darned tasty. I'll even warm up a nice white cheese sauce to spoon over the top."

She shed her coat and kicked off her shoes. "You don't have to ask twice. Let's eat."

A few minutes later he set a plate of the steaming, aromatic concoction in front of her and poured them each a glass of white wine. As he took his seat at the kitchen table, he raised his glass and toasted, "Here's to sweet Anna Belle, scholarly, beautiful and loved by all, but especially by Jasper. May he survive his secret crush."

Anna Belle giggled as they clinked glasses. "Come on, Elmer, it can't be that bad."

"Oh, it's worse! I can read that boy like a book, and let me assure you, he's madly in love with you."

"No! Really? He's never said anything."

"And for good reason, at least as far as he's concerned. Number one, unlike his less sensitive brother, he has too much class to say anything that would make you feel uncomfortable, and two, he views your age difference as an insurmountable barrier. If he were to make some gesture of his love and be rejected, he'd be devastated, so he chooses to suffer in silence. Pretty far-thinking for a fourteen year-old, if you ask me."

She took a couple of bites and considered his words. "Elmer, you know I love Jasper like a brother and I'd never do anything to hurt him, but how can I help it if he doesn't think of me same way? He's about the sweetest boy I know, but he is almost four years younger than me. If we were the same age, I'm sure I'd feel differently."

Elmer reached over and patted her hand. "Look, I totally understand and there's no need to feel apologetic about it. Suffering unrequited love is very much a part of surviving the teens, isn't it? I'll bet you've had crushes that you had to keep under wraps, haven't you?"

If he only knew! "Uh, yeah, a couple of times I guess."

"Like the crush you have on me, for instance."

Anna Belle's fork was halfway to her mouth when Elmer dropped that bomb. She put it down on her plate and folded her hands in her lap. "Am I really that obvious?"

"Only to me, and I can't tell you how flattered I am that you feel that way. And now that we're on the subject of love, I think I should apologize to you for what happened that evening you caught Alma and me together. That door was supposed to be locked from my side."

She smiled and blushed all over again at the erotic image burned into her brain. "I have to admit I was pretty stunned. Poor Jasper finally figured out what I was so upset about and cleared up the whole issue about you and Mrs. Van Buskirk. And Mr. Van Buskirk too. Of course, once he explained and I had a chance to think about it, it all made sense. It's just that my family is so conservative, a relationship like that would never have crossed my mind."

Elmer nodded sympathetically. "At the time I was hired to serve as the man Friday for this household, a relationship like that wouldn't have crossed my mind either. In fact, back then I was fresh from the monastery and amazingly naive about sex and relationships. But you're right; given the context, it makes perfect sense. It didn't hurt that Alma and I were strongly attracted to each other to begin with, but we wouldn't have done anything about it had things not turned out like they did. And Peter - that's Peter senior - has been an absolute prince about the whole thing. He's truly a selfless man."

"He must be. I sure can't imagine my dad being that understanding."

Anna Belle knew she'd never have a better opportunity to satisfy her curiosity, so she took a deep breath and asked, "Um, can I ask you a personal question? I mean a very personal question. Two questions, actually."

He probably had some idea where she was going. "Sure you can ask, but I may choose not to answer."

"Fair enough. Well, the first one is, after you earned your doctorate, how did you wind up in a monastery? Did you always want to be a priest or something?"

Elmer thought about his answer. "It's not as complicated as it seems. My whole life up to that point was spent buried in academics. I didn't allow myself any kind of social life to speak of because I was bent on making a name for myself in the lofty halls of academia. On top of that, I'd always harbored an abiding disappointment in the human species, angry over the way we treated each other and the way we were raping the environment. I guess I hit a point where it all seemed like way too much and saw the monastery as an escape. But in the four years I lived in relative isolation and near-silence, I had a lot of time for self-examination and eventually concluded that isolation wasn't the answer to my problems. I hadn't been a week out of the monastery looking for a position when I saw the Van Buskirk's ad online and fired off an application. The idea of living a quiet, relatively simple life as a domestic struck a note, and here I am."

"Wow! That is so interesting, Elmer. You spend years and years developing an expertise in something and wind up chucking it all to raise someone else's kids."

"I've never regretted my decision, and since then I restructured the way I view the world in general. Nothing gets to me the way it used to. Life's too short to live under that kind of pressure."

Anna Belle nodded her agreement. "Well, um, my other question is, how do you make your relationships with Mrs. Van Buskirk and Ms. Sellers fit together? I mean, don't you feel like you're cheating on one or the other?"

That one caught Elmer by surprise. "That's quite a segue, but to answer your question, if I were married or even made promises to either of them, I'd be true to my vows, but that isn't the case. I love them both, but in different ways. And just so you know, both ladies know about my involvement with the other. Is the idea of more than one love at a time irreconcilable in your mind?"

She had to stop and give that one some thought. "I guess not. It's just that it seems so much more ... what am I trying to say ... so much more evolved than where most of society is nowadays. I guess thinking about it in that light, I could get more interested in Jasper as long as I wasn't expected to commit to anything major or long term. Does that make sense?"

"It makes perfect sense. And I'd encourage you to do that if you honestly feel that way. Don't do it out of pity. You have to be true to your own convictions, but however you feel about him, I think you probably know, or at least strongly suspect, that he's my own flesh and blood, and I wouldn't want to see him get hurt."

"So he is your son. I thought so, and he thinks so too."

"I'm aware of that, and it's only out of respect for Peter that the subject is never discussed. Jasper was brought up as Peter Van Buskirk's son, and that's how it will remain. Hell, I'm sure everybody knows with the possible exception of PJ. Jasper loves his dad and he loves me, and we're all comfortable with the way things are. Agreed?"

"Agreed. So you think PJ doesn't know?"

"I doubt it, but I could be wrong. As you've no doubt noticed, poor PJ suffers from a severe lack of, uh, let's say subtlety. If he knew or even strongly suspected, he wouldn't be able to keep it to himself. He'd find some way to use it as ammunition against his little brother. You know, I feel sorry for PJ in some ways. He's a perfectly normal kid with an average intellect, but in this house, he's like the child with a learning disability. He's always scrapping to establish position, and he's hopelessly frustrated at every turn. It can't be easy for him, and I don't doubt that's why he spends so much of his time out of the house with his friends. At least with them, he feels like he's among equals.

Anna Belle looked pensive and said, "I never thought about it that way." Then she got back to the subject of evolving attitudes toward sex. "Okay, since we're being so open, say I encouraged Jasper a little bit and we got, um, closer; I can foresee where there might be kind of a problem with, you know, certain things."

"You mean actually having sex with him."

"You're very direct, aren't you?"

"Saves a lot of time and misunderstanding."

"Yes, I suppose you're right. Well, okay then, actually having sex. See, the thing is, I'm still technically a virgin, and I'm assuming Jasper's a virgin as well. I've heard from other girls that the first time is usually pretty clumsy, and more often than not, a disappointment. I wouldn't want that for either of us." She covered her face with her hands and groaned, "Oh my god, I can't believe I'm really talking to you about this!"