Chapter 33: ... The Whole Truth...

February 10, 1989, Syracuse, New York

After the revelation about my sister, and the promise that it would never start again, we'd drifted into a conversation about how things had been going back home since Jessica had left. I brought her up to date her about work, karate, and the things that had been going on in everyone else's life, but avoided discussing any of the girls that I'd been with. I'd decided I was going to completely level with Jess on the topic, though I felt the conversation could wait.

We stopped for dinner at a buffet-style restaurant around 6:30pm and then got back on the road. We arrived at the bed-and-breakfast in Syracuse just before 9:00pm as we'd planned. We were shown right to our room, and after quick stops in the bathroom to brush our teeth and empty our bladders, we undressed and got into bed.

"What can I do for you, Babe?" I asked.

"Just love me, Tiger," she sighed.

I spent nearly thirty minutes just kissing her, starting with her lips and working my way over her body, and ending with my lips on her labia and my tongue in her pussy. I focused purely on Jessica's pleasure, bringing her to orgasm after orgasm, until my jaw began to ache. I moved on top of her and we looked deep into each other's eyes as I slowly slid into her.

"You have no idea how much I love you," Jessica sighed.

"Probably not as much as I love you," I said with a grin, as I embedded myself fully in her.

We moved slowly together, savoring our first coupling in four months, though I did have to prop myself on my hands due to the bump in Jessica's belly. I certainly didn't want to crush my son or daughter! Once again, I focused completely on Jessica's pleasure, and only after she'd had a string of earth-shattering orgasms did I finally let myself go.

"Thank you," she said, as tears ran from her eyes.

"Are you OK, Jess?" I asked.

"These are tears of joy," she sniffed. "I'm so happy right now. I thought it possible that this would never, ever happen again."

"But it has. We're together. And nothing is going to keep us apart."

Jessica whimpered slightly as I pulled out of her, and we moved to our usual cuddling position, though I only had one wife in bed with me at the moment, not two.

"It's time for the whole truth, Babe," I said. "Everything that happened."

"If you're sure," she said.

"Yes. If we're not completely open with each other, we'll fall right back into the same trap we were in before."

"You're right, of course. Where are you going to start?"

"I suppose with what happened after Thanksgiving."

"How bad is this," she asked quietly.

"With one, or possibly two, exceptions, not very," I replied. "It will make more sense if you allow me to tell it in order."

"OK," she sighed.

"When you told me you were going to have an abortion, I passed out right there on the sidewalk. Penny was walking Pete and saw me and ran to my house. Stavros and Jorge helped me back into the house, with some help from the Navy recruits. Somebody called Al, and he came over to check me out."

"Vasovagal syncope?"

"That was Al's diagnosis. It's happened to me several times over the years. Both Al and Doctor Kulczycki agree it's likely due to my low blood pressure. I used to get dizzy if I stood up too quickly. Anyway, Al said that he thought I was OK, but asked the girls to watch me overnight."

"To make sure it wasn't TIA or something similar?"

"Right again, Doctor Adams!" I chuckled. "Anyway, he ordered me to rest, and the girls sat with me overnight. In the morning, I got up, and over Kara's protests I ran with Jacquelyn."

"Not smart, Tiger."

"That's what Al said as well, though he didn't call me 'Tiger'!" I said with a laugh, echoed by Jessica. "He told me I was dumb. Kara had called him when I left over her protests. He checked me out again and didn't see anything wrong. He instructed me to see Doctor Kulczycki for a complete physical, which I did. No issues there, either. But that was later.

"Anyway, I went down to have some breakfast and my little sister let the cat out of the bag about Carla and Rachel. I'd kept it quiet, wanting to wait for the DNA test results before I told anyone what was going on. I was supremely pissed, so I left the house and went to the office. My goal was to do some work to try to take my mind off what you were going to do."

"I'm sorry about how I treated you, Tiger."

"I know, Babe. Don't worry about it now. Anyway, I had real trouble concentrating, so I really wasn't doing much. The girls sent Penny to the office to check on me, but I sent her away after reassuring her I was OK. I was just about to leave for lunch when Kimmy stopped in. She'd been walking by and had seen the lights on and thought that somebody had forgotten to turn them off when they left on Wednesday. She convinced me to have lunch with her, and I agreed.

"We went to the deli, and she asked me to come back to her place to eat, and I went with her. We ate and talked and when we finished eating, she put her hands on my shoulders and told me I was tense. She spent the next fifteen minutes massaging my shoulders and seducing me, though, to be honest, it wasn't a tough job on her part. She made love to me, then we showered together, and I went back to the office."

"Just like that?" Jessica asked.

"Just like that," I confirmed. "She was adamant that she didn't want any promises from me or any commitments. She just wanted to love me and help me through my troubles. She knew I was sad and upset, but didn't know any details at that point. Several times since October she'd tried to get me to talk to her, and more, but I'd rebuffed her. At that point, though, I needed what she had to offer. It helped quite a bit, because it made me forget what had happened the night before, at least for a time."

"Every interaction I've had with her has been positive. She seems like a very sweet girl. I'm curious what it is that she wants from you."

"I didn't know for sure at that point, but in the end, friendship, companionship, attention, to fulfill her desire to take care of me, and orgasms."

"Of course!" Jessica laughed. "Orgasms are what any smart girl wants and you love to give them!"

"After the shower, I went back to the office and saw the message light on my phone flashing. Kara had called while I was out. I called her and simply said I had been out for lunch, but didn't tell her about Kimmy at that point, because I didn't want to do it over the phone. She was checking to make sure I was OK, and to let me know that Jolene had called.

"After I hung up with Kara, I tried to work, but couldn't, so I decided to take a walk. I didn't have Jolene's phone number, so I considered what to do, and after thinking about it, I felt I should walk by her apartment and talk to her. When I arrived, I buzzed her apartment and was let up. Jolene wasn't home, but Hope was. She invited me in and I accepted, before realizing that her mom wasn't there. I should have left, but I didn't."

"Let me guess, your fetish got the best of you, despite your efforts to resist?"

"Twice," I chuckled.

"She's what? Fourteen? You could go to jail for that, Tiger. But it appears you got away with it and your friend didn't find out."

"That's not entirely accurate," I replied with a wry smile. "I did get away with it, but only because Jolene decided not to call the police when she caught me in Hope's bed with her."

"You can NOT take risks like that, Steve. I know you have a thing for girls that age, but you simply can't do things like that."

"I know. Elyse read me the Riot Act on that topic. But that was later. Jolene came home earlier than Hope expected, and we were still cuddling in Hope's bed after our second time. Jolene had a complete fit, but Hope basically shut her down by telling Jolene that she'd seen me and Jolene screw, and seen me cum in Jolene's mouth."

"How?" Jessica asked, surprised.

"Jolene and I screwed at the dojo. The door was locked, and the blinds drawn, but Hope found a spot she could peek in that let her see into the practice room. That revelation caused Jolene to freak out even more, and she went into her room and shut the door. Hope was totally calm and insisted that I stay in bed with her until her mom decided to talk to us.

"It turned out that Hope had made Jolene aware of what she wanted, and what she was going to do — namely, have me be her first. Jolene had relied on my promise not to touch Hope, but in my altered mental state, promises and rules just didn't matter. I didn't care about the rules or the consequences. Sex with Kimmy had made me forget, at least for an hour or so, what had happened with you. Talking with Hope had as well, and sex helped even more.

"Jolene calmed down enough to talk about it, and she and Hope began debating the issue. That's when Jolene sent me home with her promise to not call the police and a warning that she and I would have to talk the entire thing through. We did that later, and I promised her I'd stay away from Hope until she and Hope had a chance to seriously discuss things. I haven't been with Hope except for that Friday after Thanksgiving, and I won't be again."

"Because of Jolene or because of Elyse?"

"Both," I said. "But we'll get to the conversation with Elyse in a bit. On Saturday, I had my date with Jacquelyn. We went to dinner at Trattoria No. 10, saw Mystic Pizza, and then went for ice cream. We had a lot of fun, and I very much enjoyed the time with her. It was two friends having a nice night together, nothing more. I had her home by about 10:45pm or so.

"When we arrived at her house, she invited me in, ostensibly to see her parents. It turned out, as I'm sure you just guessed, that they weren't there. It seems that every Thanksgiving weekend, they'd leave on Friday morning for a three-day weekend in Wisconsin. I said that I was going to leave, but she begged for me to stay so she could show me something. I acquiesced, because I didn't want to upset her, and I really wasn't worried about her coming on to me or anything. She'd always been friendly, but not overly friendly, if you know what I mean."

"I do," Jessica said. "I don't think I ever saw her do anything that you could call 'flirting', at least not overtly."

"Exactly. So I wasn't too worried. Anyway, she disappeared upstairs and came back down about five minutes later in a relatively modest pink bikini that Kara had helped her pick out. She said she just wanted me to see what I'd helped her achieve. She asked if I thought she looked nice and I reassured her that she did, but then I said I had to leave. I was starting to have thoughts about her I shouldn't have, though I didn't say that to her.

"She asked me to stay, and offered to 'show me everything' if I did. Once again, I said that I absolutely had to leave, but I was frozen in place on the couch. She repeated the offer and all I could do was nod in assent. Jacquelyn took off the bikini, and she was exquisite. I was enthralled by her beauty. She asked if I liked her and I answered that I did. She walked over to the couch and grabbed my fedora and put it on. The effect was nothing short of stunning.

"After that, she walked to the stairs and said that I'd promised her we'd do what she wanted on her date and that what she wanted was for me to come upstairs with her. I protested that I shouldn't, but she started up the stairs, saying that the only way I could have my fedora back was to come upstairs. I did."

"How old is she?" Jessica asked.

"She'd turned seventeen on Thanksgiving."

"Was it just that one time, then?"

"One time?" I chuckled. "You know me better than that!"

"Yes, yes," Jessica laughed. "You're a stud. Was it only that occasion?"

"No. But you're getting a bit ahead of the story. Her parents unexpectedly came home. Jacquelyn knew them well enough that they wouldn't come into her room, so we just stayed quiet. We waited, and I managed to sneak out after they went to bed. We almost got caught, but I escaped unnoticed. I didn't put my shoes on, and it was raining, so my socks got soaked. I took them off in the car, then drove home.

"Jennifer saw me walking across the back yard shoeless and called me into the coach house. I didn't tell her what I'd been doing, but she knew the signs and diagnosed the issue. When she'd told me she was going to Seattle, I basically decided to try to fuck my way out of my depression and she guessed, correctly, that's what I was doing. I didn't confirm or deny it, and she reminded me that it wouldn't work. I thanked her and went to bed."

"I didn't tell Kara what had happened the next morning; I misled her about it. I used the old kids' trick of telling the truth in a way that didn't give away what really happened. I simply wasn't in the mood to tell her. That was Sunday, and I went to the dojo to meet with Jolene. We had it out and discussed everything. That's when I made the promise not to be with Hope for a time so that she and Hope could work things out.

"On Monday morning, I went to run with Jacqui and almost had a heart attack when her mom was waiting for me outside. It turned out that she wanted to thank me for taking Jacqui on the date and showing her a very good time. Of course, you know my mind, I thought about EXACTLY what I'd done to her daughter that had made her very happy. Anyway, I got away with it. I found out from Jacqui that she'd decided she wanted to be with me back when I first asked if she wanted me to be her friend."

"I would NEVER have guessed that," Jessica said. "She was about as circumspect as anyone I've ever met. Talk about cool and calculating. It was a perfect, long-term seduction and none of us even realized it."

"Exactly. Anyway, later that day, Dave and Julia confronted me about my poor performance at work since you'd left Kara and me. Jeri had told them she was worried because I was unable to focus. Dave and Julia insisted I take some time off. They had discussed it with Joyce and my dad, and requested that I take a trip to Ohio to talk to them. My dad and Joyce both knew about the paternity suit and were just as concerned about my performance as Dave and Julia were.

"I agreed to their request, which really was more of an order than a request, and with Kara's blessing, I drove down to Cincinnati. I stayed at Don Joseph's old house, you know, Joyce's grandfather's old place. Joyce and I talked, and she insisted that I agree to talk with you and get counseling, no matter what. I agreed, but I made it absolutely clear that if you'd had an abortion, I didn't think I could handle it."

"I know," Jessica said. "I was stabbing you in the heart when I told you that. I'm sorry."

I ran my hand over her stomach, "It's OK. He or she is still there and healthy! Anyway, I had dinner with Joyce, her grandmother, Larry, Drew, Anthony, and Connie. It was nice, and it helped being surrounded by friends."

Of course, the 'whole truth' could NOT include my dealings with the Mafia. That had to stay secret from everyone. Elyse had an idea, but didn't know any details. Despite my promise to Jessica to tell everything, I had to honor my «omertà» promise to Don Joseph over all else.