Chapter 10

When he came through the front door that evening, she could tell by the look on his face that something had happened that day. “Is it the war?” She asked.

“Billy McClain was killed in the Hurtgen Forest,” he said. “I’ve been with Helen trying to console her.” Looking into his wife’s eyes tears formed beneath his bottom lids. “When is it going to stop Eve?”

It was a question that was being asked in homes throughout the country. The massive invasion that took place in June, the largest invasion in the history of the world, was supposed to end the war by Christmas. But Thanksgiving was coming and fighting in Europe was more intense than ever. Unbeknownst to any of the allies a new counteroffensive was being planned that would result in what was looming to be referred to as “The Battle of Bulge.”

Moving to meet him she hugged her husband, hoping to console him with her affectionate presence. Wishing she could take him to bed like she had done so many times in the past she would have loved to alleviate some of his pain through the diversion of sex. But the continual pain from her botched hysterectomy made that impossible.

Each time he’d come home from visiting bereaved parents or widows Jericho Cross’s face was always the same. But as he walked into her embrace that day, she noticed a spring in his step that had not been there that morning. She felt glowing inner warmth that she had not recognized for a long time. Something else has happened she told herself.

Since her hysterectomy canceled her sexual proclivities, Eve Cross missed the force that had been a major aspect of her marriage. She and Jerry had a baby together, a daughter conceived before their marriage whom both loved. Laurie’s conception was questionable since Jerry and his twin brother Josh had sex with her on the same day. As Laurie grew Eve found traits that she could have only recognized in her brother-in-law Josh. Though she had always loved both brothers her greatest delight and fondest hopes had been with Josh. She was a true Midwesterner though so, once she married Jericho Cross, she was true to her vows to love and honor him, at least on the surface for the next seven years.

Within a brief time of their marriage, Jerry realized that his faith in God and ability to minister to others would be able to constrain Eve’s sexual devils. Through wise counsel he saw three options: divorce Eve because of her infidelities, live with her infidelities in marriage while agonizing each time it happened, or allow the infidelities while still maintaining his dominant position in their sexual life.

Along the way though Eve appeared to have “gotten religion.” In her passionate belief, she vowed to be faithful to her husband which she took with a grain of salt. Jerry always expected that she would give way to temptation. Except for her spotty first year of marriage though, she was faithful for the next seven years.

When he discovered that she had the incident with the three bachelor farmers that boarded with them Eve begged forgiveness. As he always had Jerry forgave her. For the next seven years, she was the model of propriety. Then she was diagnosed with uterine cancer and underwent a hysterectomy which ended their sexual activities. Through her battle with pain though she completely dedicated herself to her husband’s ministry and became an honored woman in the community.

At the same time, she encouraged Jerry to find a woman with whom he could slake his sexual needs. During their first fifteen years of marriage, he constantly attended to Eve’s needs. It was his commitment and sexual vibrancy that kept the nymphomaniacal Eve Cross from straying more than she had. So, if he could find a lover it would help her absolve her guilt for having strayed.

When he came in that day beset by the woes of a member of his flock, she recognized something different about him as they hugged. Though he was saddened by his visit with Helen McClain there was an aura about him that radiated a kind of energy she hadn’t sensed since they stopped having sex. Feeling an unusual sense of relief, she thought I wonder who it is.

Having accepted the disappearance of sex in their marriage Eve welcomed the spark of optimism for her husband’s sexual well-being thinking her husband’s libido might have been regenerated. However, she was wildly curious about who the female might be who had tasted the delights that Jerry had always been so capable of providing. At the same time, she was jealous of the mysterious woman for the pleasures that she was no longer able to experience.

At the start of their marriage, still disappointed that she would be spending her life with the stodgier twin, Eve was not an enthusiastic lover to Jerry. The libido of the hormonal young woman was damped by pregnancy (which well could have been caused by Josh) so, in frustration, she found opportunities to explore sex with other men. Though Jerry found no evidence of Eve’s infidelities at the time, he was suspicious that she might have been straying. Throughout their marriage, those suspicions never left him.

After Laurie’s birth, the responsibilities of motherhood eased Eve’s most intense sexual urges. During that time, she only had sex with her husband. For his part, Jerry catered to his wife in such an effective way that he wooed her into being satisfied with the sex that they were having. Within a year of Laurie’s birth, though she craved other men’s penises, she was faithful to her husband for seven years. It was at that time when the “itch” set in, and she was seduced by one of the bachelor farmers ending in the act of having sex with all three.

Throughout the early years of their marriage, Reverend Jericho Cross knew his wife was a ticking time bomb. When he learned of her debauch with the bachelor farmers, he threw up his hands in frustration and forged an understanding with her that he would overlook her infidelities if she were able to keep the knowledge of it or them from his church and community—a preacher getting a divorce during that era would have ended his ministry. Besides, he loved her as much as ever. This coupled with his Christian principles demanded that he forgive her. From that time on though while she wasn’t wildly promiscuous, she did have a couple of discreet liaisons.

When she saw her sad husband coming through the door that day, she compassionately cuddled him and tried to ease his troubles. When she put her arms around him though his countenance was obviously at a low ebb. Recognizing an aura of relaxation and inner glow exuding from his presence, she remembered that it was Friday, the day he always went to the cabin to work on his sermon.

“Who brought you the message,” she asked.

“Mary Jane Rusnak,” he said without any apparent guile. Though he had been paying attention to his wife’s urgings that he finds an acceptable sex partner he was dealing with the guilt that his first outside encounter was with a teenage girl. Worse, she was a friend of his daughter.

When she realized that her husband must have had sex with the Rusnak girl it jangled her. While Jerry sensed a feeling of understanding from his wife she thought, I’ll be damned, Mary Jane Rusnak, the girl whom Laurie said had loose morals. Her supposition caused a wave of jealousy to wash over her body. At the same time, she was tingling with the adventure that such a relationship could turn out to be. INCREDIBLE. Mary jane RUSNAK.

After that day, the stoic clergyman continued pursuing delicious sex with the youthful Mary Jane. Each Friday he would go to the cabin to work on his sermon. Mary Jane would join him there between 2:00 and 4:00 pm when The Reverend Jericho Cross felt like he was reliving his younger days.

Two weeks before Josh and Beth finished their “sex-for-servicemen” project they had a serious discussion about bringing Josh’s brother into the loop of what was going on at their house in Chicago.

What had been happening since Laura had come to town was nobody’s business but hers, but they knew it wasn’t fair to expect their niece to carry a load of guilt that she might be keeping to herself. It was time to open a safety valve that would stave off an unpleasant explosion in the young woman’s mind. The question was how, most positively, they might make Reverend Jericho Cross aware of what was going on with his daughter. Besides that, Josh missed the romps he and his brother used to have when they were young. As far as Beth was concerned, she had always had the itch to get Jerry into bed with her.

Beth, who was often the prime mover in the family, reasoned with Josh when she said, “While I’ve never been with Jerry sexually you’ve told me things about him that are much like you and I’ve always wanted to find out.”

Josh said, “I’d like to find out if he could be eased back into our kind of lifestyle Beth. That train left the station years ago, but I’ve been picking up signals from Laura that indicate she might be looking for a closer relationship with her father than she has enjoyed to the moment ... if you know what I mean.”

With a wry smile, Beth said, “From what I’ve seen there are many similarities between the two of you—you’re twins after all. Jerry’s certainly more serious than you but I would like to find out if the old Jerry could be seduced back to the wild side. You’ve always been more sexually pliable (she grinned) but based on what you’ve told me about what Jerry was like in his youth I think he might just be a ticking timebomb. I’ve noticed it increasingly since Eve’s hysterectomy.”

“Just what have you noticed Beth?”

“What I’m saying is this my love: You had no trouble getting into bed with Laura just as soon as she came to live with us. From what you’ve told me she could just as likely be your daughter as Jerry’s.”

She shrugged her shoulders. “So, let’s face it, you’ve been enjoying incest with Laura, in the first degree. I’ve always wondered if Jerry might be thinking that Laura isn’t his daughter who might make it acceptable for him to engage in incest with Laura in the second degree. Remember love you’re a rogue and he’s your twin.”

“But remember my darling, what I’m doing is not only with your approval, it’s with your urging.”

“I’m not denying that sweetheart,” she replied, “but you’ve told me how both you and your brother “played” when you were teenagers ... shared your girlfriends both separately and in threesomes. So, Jerry who may well have been celibate since Eve’s physical problems began has been lusting for his daughter as well. It’s certainly not out of the question, you know?”

Josh shrugged as if to invalidate Beth’s perception. He’d always known that either he or his brother could have been Laura’s progenitor. But since Jerry accepted that he was her father he might not have been as lustily inclined toward Laura as he was.

Beth went on, “I think the taboo of incest with Jerry is based on his belief that Laura is his daughter—being reinforced by his career as a pastor of course. And if you ask me, he struggles with the mystery of whether Laura is his daughter or yours. If that’s the case his lust could be even more compelling.”

She rolled her eyes in thought then continued, “Why don’t we think about your brother in terms of Jerry Cross rather than the Reverend Jericho Cross? He was just an ordinary human being before he became a pastor.”

With a teasing laugh, Josh said, “That’s making a rather far-reaching assumption don’t you think?”

“Think about it, Josh. Let’s take look at some simple things. You have no clue whether you are or you’re not Laura’s father.”

“That’s true.”

“Neither does Jerry, right?”

“Other than the time Eve told me she was pregnant. She wanted to marry me instead of Jerry. He just said he loved Eve more than I did and wanted to marry her and stay in Iowa. We both knew that the sperm that fertilized her egg could have been either of ours. We’ve never talked about it since.”

“You weren’t troubled about having sex with Laura the moment she arrived here were you.” Josh nodded. “The fact that she might be your daughter didn’t seem to trouble you at all.”

“It was like a fait accompli Beth; Laura has always been accepted as Jerry’s child.”

Beth raised her eyebrows and wrinkled her brow. “I mean I always thought that you might be her father. And you always thought...” she rolled her hands to prompt him.

“ ... that if she were my child incest would probably have happened and would have been even more exciting?”

“You must not have forgotten our discussions along the way about that Josh. The thought of it has always been exciting for me my love. Remember, I experienced the same circumstances with my father. And I have to say that the way he did it was special to me.”

“Yeah, that’s true Beth. And whenever you talked about you and your dad it excited the hell out of me too. It excites me now.” Taking her hand, he put it against his bulge.

Jerking it away she said, “Don’t try to distract me, Josh. I have a point to make.” He grabbed for her hand again and she slapped it away.

“The point I am trying to make is that Jerry, try as he may, would never be able to fully convince himself that he’s Laura’s father—there was a lot of both of your sperm swimming around inside her as I remember you saying. How many times might he have been lusting about his “daughter,” when he was fucking Eve? And how many times might he have masturbated thinking about having sex with her either as well or instead of?”

“I don’t think you know enough about Jerry to make that judgment Beth.”

“And you’re telling me that you know him better in that regard?”

“He’s my TWIN for Christ’s sake Beth.”

“I know he’s your twin Josh, but I don’t think you’ve noticed where his eyes have gone whenever he thought I wasn’t looking.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that every time we’ve been together with the Reverend Jericho Cross, he always ogled my tits, my ass, my legs, and my pussy just a little too long for comfort. And he’s ogled Laurie that way in my presence as well. I’ve noticed it from the time she started growing puffies.”

“Come on Beth, I think you’re fantasizing.”

Laughing out loud she said, “No attractive female must fantasize about the fact that whenever a horny man is around, he’s thinking about having sex with her in some way. A woman must be brain-dead not to notice. And believe me, Josh, that randy twin of yours, the good Pastor Jericho, has taken my clothes off down to the bare skin more than a few times.”

“So, what is it that you are saying?”

“I’m saying that I think we should bring Jerry in on what is going on here. I don’t know if Laura ever indicated to him that she vowed to fuck every soldier she meets that she thinks might be a virgin. But think of it Josh, Jerry was a cock-hound like you when he was Laura’s age and, just like you, he would fuck any girl he could get his finger inside. You can’t believe that he would have been shocked had he found out that Laurie had been having sex with Billie before he went away. Being a pastor, he had to have done enough counseling to know the workings of the human psyche and how much sex controls it. In addition to that, he knows about what you and I did before you went to Europe in the first war. You told me at the time that you discussed it with him and that he said that he not only understood it but agreed with it.”

“So?”

“I’m saying that when we open the” Sex for Soldiers” room I would like for him to be here. Laura idolizes Jerry and I think she would love to have not only his blessing but a little of his attention if you know what I mean.”

Josh laughed as if what she was saying was impossible. “Jerry has changed,” he said shaking his head. “And there’s no way that the Reverend Jericho Cross is going to approve of his daughter fucking multiple GIs regularly, no matter what the cause. And there’s no way that he even considers fucking his daughter.”

“You’re right about that as far as the Reverend Jericho Cross is concerned but what I’m saying is that if he comes to the ribbon cutting and sees what his daughter is doing it’s my opinion that Jerry Cross, the man who has been undressing me with his eyes for all of these years will shed his pastor’s cloth and want to join the party ... just like old times.”