Chapter 1: Gareth Chancelor, Thursday Evening

I sighed with relief as I finally pulled my car into our garage and switched off the engine. It had been a long, long day at work and I was exhausted. I picked up my briefcase and started walking. A button on my keychain locked the car doors. I started the automatic garage door closing and heard it clanking and rattling behind me as I walked around the path to our front door.

I let myself in and I immediately found myself wrapped in a tight hug. Estelle took my briefcase out of my hand, replaced it with a glass of wine and started leading me further into the house.

“Finally, you’re home. I’ve been waiting forever. Have you eaten? Come through to the bedroom and take a shower. I’ve laid out your suit on the bed.”

“My suit? What’s going on?”

I didn’t get any further before Estelle talked over me about getting clean and dressed up. I sipped the wine and let her lead me. Estelle was rubbing herself against me as she walked and talked. She was wearing a nice dress and had her hair up in a bun. She was looking damn fine! I was simultaneously pleased and concerned. I was pleased because she was clearly in a good mood and had made an effort to look good for me. I was concerned because I didn’t know what was going on. I’m not too fond of surprises and I was hoping she wasn’t pulling some stunt.

Except that it was obvious that she was pulling some stunt – and I don’t like surprises.

Estelle’s been a bit more erratic than usual lately – pulling various things out of her hat that left me irritated or confused or angry. Not that I really complained about them at the time but her various stunts were wearing away my patience. On the other hand, she hadn’t lost her appetite for sex. After twenty years of marriage, to have a wife still eager for that was wonderful. From listening to men talk, my Estelle is something of a rarity.

To be honest, I suspected it was the sex that was holding our marriage together. I still loved her but her attitude toward me had been getting more and more overbearing to the point where her bossiness was turning into bullying as far as I was concerned. I’d tried talking to her about her attitude numerous times but nothing I said seemed to have any effect.

And yet, for reasons I can’t explain, I still loved her and as far as I could tell, she still loved me. I could even see that from her point of view, a lot of her bossiness was trying to get me to do things she thought would be good for me. So, for the most part, I went along with what she wanted without complaining. And we still had days when she would flirt with me and I would flirt with her and this would go on until we were both horny enough that we had no choice but to go into our bedroom, lock the door to prevent unwanted interruptions, and get it on like it was our first time.

So, despite my tiredness, it was obvious that on this particular night Estelle was as horny as I’ve ever seen her. It was also obvious that she wanted something else from me as well, but I couldn’t discern what that was. Clearly she was dressed up and her running dialogue was making it clear that I was expected to clean up and get gussied up myself. Beyond that, I had no clue and her continuous diatribe hadn’t given me enough hints.

Finally she paused for a breath so I cut in.

“You knew I’d be getting in at this time. I told you about this meeting a week ago. I had some sandwiches a couple of hours ago so I’m not starving but I wouldn’t say no to something more. A shower sounds wonderful, but I want to say hi to the birthday girl before I do that.”

I stopped in front of my elder daughter’s room, resisting Estelle’s attempts to drag me past it.

“Hey Jen! Are you in there?” I called. “I’m home! Can I come in and give you a hug?”

“Hi Daddy!” she called from inside the room. “Don’t come in! Go get clean first. I’ll see you in the dining room.”

“Oh,” I tried to hide my disappointment. “Okay, Jen. See you soon!”

The door opposite Jen’s room was closed. “What about Bonnie? Is she sleeping? I want to check on her.”

Estelle ground her teeth in frustration, but I have my own priorities. I eased Bonnie’s door open and peeped inside. A night light allowed me to see the small lump in the bed. It didn’t move as I opened the door. I walked quietly over to the bed. Bonnie’s face was relaxed in sleep. With her slightly rounder face and light brown, almost blond hair, Bonnie takes after me more than her mother. She Iooks so similar to the way Maggie, my elder sister, looked when she was ten that sometimes we look at photos and confuse the two if there isn’t any context in the photo. I smiled down at Bonnie for a moment then I stooped and lightly kissed her temple. Then I turned and left the room, pulling the door closed behind me.

“Now tell me what’s going on,” I said to Estelle.

“Can’t you stop making a fuss and do this one thing?” she wheedled. “Have a quick shower and put your suit on. Then we’re going to the dining room.”

I stopped resisting and let Estelle drag me down the hallway and into our room.

“The dining room?” I said to Estelle. “I didn’t think we were doing anything like that tonight. I promised Jen I would take us to Emmerdale Club on Saturday evening.”

“We know that, Gareth, and we’re all looking forward to it. But today is Jen’s actual birthday so we had to do something. It’s a light meal because I knew you would’ve already eaten something. Now shower and change. Please?”

A short time later I was feeling a little revived by the shower and the glass of wine. I got all spiffed up as quickly as I could and soon I was walking back down the hallway with my beautiful wife on my arm. She did a double-tap on the door of Jen’s room as we walked past but otherwise kept up a little stream of small-talk about her day and our neighbours and her day at work and so on and so forth.

The dining table was set out nicely with the good cutlery and our best plates. The table is the type you can take sections out of, or add extra sections to, depending on how big you want it. It was in its smallest mode so the three of us could sit comfortably around it and reach each other without having to stretch. Covered dishes sat on the plate warmer on the sideboard, waiting to be served. Candles cast flickering light on a vase filled to overflowing with the flowers I’d sent for Jen earlier in the day. Music played softly in the background.

The whole thing was too romantic for words.

Not being born yesterday, I quickly figured out my role and held out the chair for Estelle to sit. Then I took my seat and told her how wonderful everything looked while we waited for the girl of the moment to arrive. After what was obviously a carefully planned pause, Jen appeared in the doorway and posed with the biggest smile on her face.

I stood up and took a moment to admire her. Jen had inherited her dark brown hair colour from her mother. She usually had her hair loose, dangling straight down her back. Tonight, her hair was up in a similar style bun to her mother’s and the makeup was minimal but carefully done. She was wearing a long slinky dress in a kind of mid-blue colour. It left her shoulders bare but didn’t reveal too much of her cleavage. It was held up by those spaghetti strap things. There was a slit up the left side of her dress that revealed an extraordinary amount of her long and finely toned leg – particularly given the way she was currently posing. The heeled strappy shoe things she was wearing looked new and expensive. I knew exactly how expensive because I’d seen the charges from the shoe store appearing on the credit card account a couple of weeks before, but I’d pretended not to notice.

“Wow! You’re looking gorgeous, Jen. Breathtaking! Happy birthday.”

I went over and we hugged each other tightly. I kissed her lightly on her lips and then she tucked her face down so she could squeeze me even more tightly.

“Thanks, Daddy. Thanks for the flowers and for my present. Sorry about not coming out when you got home.”

I’d started getting ‘Daddy’ about three months ago. I wasn’t complaining. For the previous five years it had sometimes been ‘Dad’ but mostly ‘Hey’ or sometimes ‘Father.’ And if she was cross with me, I’d be lucky to get a grunt. So I was happy to take ‘Daddy’ any time it was offered.

“You smell lovely, honey. I get why you hid from me before. It would’ve ruined your big entrance. I’m not even slightly upset. It was worth the wait.”

She practically glowed with happiness. She leaned back in my arms so she could look up at me. Her heels meant she didn’t have to look up as far as I was used to. To be honest, I’m not sure I was used to her being a teenager and here she was, rapidly approaching the other end of her teen years.

Then she reached up and planted a kiss on my lips.

“Thanks, Daddy. I love you so much.”

I took Jen’s hand and led her to the table. I held the chair for her as she sat gracefully. It looked like she’d been practicing. I was so proud of how mature she’d become.

I went to the side table and picked up the bottle of wine that was waiting for me. I poured each of us a glass of wine. Estelle served the meals – which simply involved carrying them from the sideboard to the table and removing their covers.

I looked at the full glass of wine in front of me and decided to only have a few sips or I’d be sleeping face down in my food. I was exhausted but holding it together for this special moment for my darling daughter.

Estelle made a toast to Jen and Jen made a toast to us, thanking us for being her parents and helping her get to this point in one piece. We clinked glasses and sipped, then we started eating. As Estelle had said, it was a light meal, but it hit the spot perfectly. Jen hardly ate. She seemed halfway between excited and anxious about something. I got her talking about her day and her plans for the party with her friends the following night. I’d been involved in the planning so I already knew most of it but there were a few details that were new. She told me which of her friends were coming – I knew them all from previous visits including the occasional sleepover. Only one of her regular friends, Hannah, couldn’t make it because of a sport commitment. I suggested she invite Hannah over for dinner some evening next week as a kind of consolation thing and Jen thought that was a great idea. In other words, the whole conversation over the meal was pretty normal dinnertime chat.

We finished eating and sat around the table for a short time as we continued our chat – mostly between Estelle and Jen as I was starting to flag again. The wine and food were having their predictable effect on me after such a long day. The chat stayed fairly light-hearted and could probably be best described as small talk. At one point, without any direction, the three of us got up from the table and took the dishes through to the kitchen where we scraped and stacked the dishes in the dishwasher. The routine was well-practiced and familiar. The chat continued without interruption and I was happy to work quietly with them and listen to them talk. I was tired but happy.

When we finished, Jen hugged me and planted another kiss on me.

“I’m off to get ready for bed, Daddy. It’s getting late. Thanks again for everything.”

I made the right sort of noises and watched as she wafted out of the kitchen.

I turned to Estelle. “I’m going to bed as well. It’s been a long day.”

Estelle hooked an arm through mine and walked with me. “Bed sounds like a great idea but your day isn’t quite over yet.”

“Ah!” I said and nodded.

Getting all prettied up seems to act like an aphrodisiac for Estelle. I’ve benefitted from that quite a lot over the years. Our marriage hasn’t been all smooth sailing, but those problems have rarely interfered with the bedroom. As I said before, even after all these years, I have no complaints about our love life.

I did consider begging for a pass tonight given how tired I was but then I figured that if I didn’t make love to her straight off, she would be restless and difficult all night and I really, really needed some uninterrupted sleep.

A short time later, I was propped up on the bed, clad only in my boxers. I watched with delighted eyes as Estelle emerged from the bathroom, wearing one of those see-through things that only exist to be admired and then taken off. When I first got married, I was puzzled why anybody would pay so much for something that hardly gets worn. Then I discovered the joy of slowly peeling something like that off my wife. Then I discovered how Estelle reacted when I slowly peeled something like that off her. After that, I wasn’t puzzled any longer.

Money well spent in my opinion.

I smiled at Estelle and shook my head. “Baby, it’s just as well I’m lying down. My knees have gone so weak, I know they wouldn’t hold me up.”

She smiled a crafty sort of smile and put on an American accent straight out of the movies, “Baby, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

Then she reached out an arm towards the bathroom and out stepped my daughter, Jen, wearing an identical outfit.

My jaw dropped and my brain stopped functioning.

Talk about being blind-sided.

The outfit was completely see-through, barely there and sexy as hell – and it was wrapped around my beautiful daughter.