Chapter 32: Like Father, Like Son

March 10, 2002, Chicago, Illinois

🎤 Steve

“Undress and get into the bathtub, please,” Yuriko requested.

I dutifully disrobed, then went to the bathroom and climbed into the tub, which was half-full of warm water. Yuriko stripped down to her white cotton panties, then proceeded to bathe me. When she finished, she had me climb out of the tub. She dried me, then removed her panties and got into the tub to bathe, which she did quickly. Once she had bathed and dried herself, she led me to the bedroom.

“Get in bed, please. On your back.”

I did as she requested and she climbed in next to me. She used her soft mouth and tongue to get me hard, then mounted me and rode me, giving no mind to her own pleasure, but focusing on mine. After I came, she repeated the sequence until she brought me off again.

“Yuriko-chan, do you know what would please me greatly?”

“What, Steve-sama?”

“If you let me pleasure you with my mouth and then make love to you.”

“If that makes you happy, then yes!”

“It does!”

I brought her off three times with my mouth, then made slow, passionate love to her, bringing her off three more times before I had my release. When we finished, we showered, and then joined Kara, Suzanne, and Natalie in the sunroom.

🎤 Jesse

“Can we just have a calm conversation?” I asked when Macrina got into the BMW.

“What’s going on between you and Viktoria?”

“Nothing! She stood by me, that’s it. What’s changed?”

“What do you mean?”

“We agreed we weren’t going steady and that it was OK for both of us to see other people. Now you’re acting like I’m your boyfriend and you’re jealous.”

“Seriously? You don’t get the problem?”

“What?” I asked.

“Boys are freakin’ clueless! If you go out with Viktoria, she’ll insist that you only see her, and you can be absolutely sure Deacon John will enforce that!”

“Not happening,” I said. “I am not going steady with anyone anytime soon.”

“Not even for a chance to date the prettiest girl in the parish?”

“Think she’ll let me poke her with my big stick?” I asked.

“On your wedding night, and not one second before!”

“And do you think I can be celibate for six or seven years?”

“To get into her panties? Maybe.”

“OK, nothing personal, but there is no pussy THAT good!”

“Mine?” Macrina asked impishly.

“For me to wait six or seven years? Would you have waited that long for me to poke you with my big stick?”

Macrina laughed, “No!”

“Then you can’t complain if I say the same thing.”

“I’m sorry I got upset, but if she’s trying to claim you, there’s going to be a ton of pressure from Deacon John. What excuse will you give? That you’re seeing me?”

“I, uh, said you weren’t my girlfriend, which is true.”

“You’re doomed! We should find someplace so we can have your last fuck as a free man!”

“You do realize that all I need to do is not ask her out, right?”

“But can you resist that body? Those lips?”

I laughed, “Didn’t we just agree that the chances that I’d see her body before our wedding night would be zero?”

“So you DO plan on having a wedding night with her!” Macrina declared mirthfully.

“That is NOT what I meant, and you know it!”

“What are we going to do this afternoon?” Macrina asked.

“It’s up to you. I need to be home for our usual Sunday dinner with the family.”

“My parents are home and I’d have to ask to go to your place. Why don’t we go check out Fox Valley Mall?”

“Sounds good. I need a couple of new t-shirts for under my hockey gear, and there’s an Under Armour store there.”

🎤 Steve

“How is Mrs. Larson?” I asked Jessica after Kara, Suzanne, and I greeted her.

“She was discharged just after lunch. The tests were inconclusive, so they decided it was best if she were to go home and consult with her family physician.”

“I assume the Saddlers and Larsons left Chicago?”

“I don’t know for sure, but they certainly left the hospital around 1:15pm. I assume they didn’t show up at the house.”

“No, and we can thank Loki for small favors. Of course, that usually means some OTHER thing is going to happen.”

“Your life is never not exciting, Tiger! What did you decide about Tabitha?”

“I was thinking we reset our relationship on Wednesday morning. That’s when she has her orientation and first training shift at Starbucks. Yuriko suggested that Tabitha would be more comfortable in what she called the servants’ quarters. What do you think?”

“That is usually what we try to do for long-term guests,” Jessica replied. “But we don’t want her comfortable, if you understand what I mean.”

“I do,” I replied. “And I’ll discuss it with her. Remember, she did ask to live with us until she found a place of her own.”

“She’s going to need some help in that regard,” Suzanne said. “Her parents didn’t do her any favors in basically cloistering her. I’m pretty sure Tabitha never made a bed or did a load of laundry in her life.”

“I thought Evangelical girls were taught to be homemakers,” I protested.

“Most are,” Kara replied. “But there were some who were literally treated like princesses. I always wondered what would happen when they got married and were expected to cook, clean, do laundry, and fuck, and had no clue how to do any of those things!”

“So our goal should be to teach her the skills she’ll need to be on her own,” I said.

“I think we each have something to contribute,” Kara said thoughtfully. “You taught her to fuck! Now others can pitch in, and not just the four of us. Yuriko would be the perfect person to teach Tabitha to cook; Suzanne could teach her money management; the kids, especially Birgit, could help her learn to do basic household chores; I can help her with the transition from her fundamentalist world to the real world.”

“And me?” I asked. “I mean after Wednesday morning.”

“I think you’ve done your main part, Tiger,” Jessica said. “I don’t think this one needs a mindfuck.”

“No, she doesn’t,” Suzanne said. “She’s not subversive, and I don’t think she ever will be. She’s very traditional, and I don’t think we should try to change that. Not everyone is Kara!”

“No kidding,” I chuckled.

“And just what do you mean by that?” Kara asked.

“That you are unique, Honey!” I declared piously.

“Floggers are no longer sufficient!” Kara declared primly. “I’m changing my nickname to ‘Peg’!”

“Why is it every time I tease you, you threaten to use sex as revenge?” I asked.

Jessica and Suzanne laughed hard.

“Right, Tiger. Kara deriving pleasure from sex is ‘revenge’. Sure.”

“Does it seem like punishment to you, Steve?” Suzanne asked.

“Pegging? Yes! It most certainly does!”

“Says the man who has always said that he values the pleasure a woman derives over his own! And says he’ll do anything the girl wants to do!”

“I do have limits,” I replied.

“But those limits are all within things we would want to do,” Suzanne declared. “I mean, do you really like swallowing your own cum? Or do you do it because it turns us on?”

“Because it turns you on,” I conceded.

“And the same is true for pegging.”

“Yes, though that one can be very uncomfortable. And it’s not something I want to do regularly. It’s like anal with you girls. Mostly we don’t do that unless there is some special occasion where you want me to take you around the world.”

“You seem to have dialed back the extreme encounters,” Kara observed.

“I think it’s because of how society has changed,” I said. “If you think about it, in the 70s and 80s, having sex wasn’t particularly taboo, so to have a real impact, the girls wanted to do things we’ll call ‘edgy’. In the 90s, things began to shift. That was due to a number of factors, including HIV, but I believe mostly because our generation decided sex was THE transgression. At the point that just having sex as a teen became a complete violation of what parents had decided were societal norms, there was no need for doing anything more than basically running the bases.”

“Rachel versus Tabitha, for example,” Kara observed.

“Yes. And remember what Kristin wants — for me to make love to her. That implies something different completely from what Rachel wanted. Kristin is not looking for an ‘expert deflowering’ in the same way Rachel was. And I think all of our kids each have their own perspective on it as well. Look at the difference between Jesse and Matthew.”

“True,” Jessica agreed. “The girls will all have a different take.”

“I think that might surprise you,” I said.

“Oh?”

“It’s the quiet ones you have to watch out for!” I declared.

🎤 Jesse

“Hi!” Brooke exclaimed when I opened the door around 8:00pm. “I’m here to do math homework!”

“Or at least that’s what you told your mom!” I chuckled as she walked into the kitchen. “What time do you have to be home?”

“If you drive me home, 10:00pm. If I have to walk, 9:00pm.”

“Let me quickly check with my Dad,” I said, closing the door.

I texted him because it was quicker than walking over to the main house. He texted back his approval, and Brooke and I went into the living room.

“No multiplication or addition, please!” Mom One smirked.

“Don’t worry, Mom One!” I smirked. “Even though Brooke and I are going to do logarithms until our continuous functions converge, your concerns are purely imaginary!”

Both Mom One and Mom Two groaned, and Brooke giggled. I took her hand and led her upstairs to my bedroom and closed and locked the door.

“I still don’t believe they let us integrate in your room!”

“Then uncover your slopes and curves, and I’ll take you to the limit!”

We both laughed, undressed, and got into bed. Our functions converged three times before we went to the shower.

“I love when you talk math to me!” Brooke said as I soaped her body.

“Just remember to use the hairdryer, or your parents won’t allow you a single degree of freedom!”

Brooke laughed, “If you keep talking math to me, I’ll never get home!”

I stopped talking math and focused on getting clean. After all evidence was removed, we dried off and went back to my room. Before she dressed, Brooke sprayed on her body spray, which I’d suggested she bring. The last thing we needed was a situation like Aunt Kara’s mom figuring out that she and Dad had fooled around because they had showered.

Once we were dressed, we left the coach house and got into Dad’s BMW so I could drive Brooke home.

“Nice car!” she said.

“It’s Dad’s, and he covers insurance and gas because I can’t really work because of hockey.”

“My parents felt I didn’t need my license because we live in the city. I’ll get it next year, before I graduate. Do you know what you’re going to study in college?”

“Business, with a focus on sports management.”

“Will you play hockey?”

“If I can make the team, yes, though I might opt to just play for a club team because it’s less intensive. I know I can’t make the NHL, so I plan to be a scout or work in hockey operations. From there, it’s coaching or front office.”

“That’s cool.”

“What about you?”

“Physics, but I’m not sure which branch. It’s the best way to be a mathaholic and still be able to get a fun job that pays well.”

“Are you going away to college?”

“Yes. I want to go to MIT, and I should be able to get in. I’m going to a math camp they sponsor this Summer.”

“I’m going to hockey camp. I think mine will be WAY more fun!”

Brooke laughed, “Unless I find some other math nerd who wants to integrate!”

🎤 Steve

“We should talk about how things will work in the future,” I said when Tabitha and I went down to the guest room on Sunday evening.

“You mean me living here?”

“I assumed that you were going to stick to your plan to find a place of your own.”

“Yes, I am. I plan to start looking for an apartment tomorrow. Hope gave me a list of places to look.”

“You don’t have a credit card, do you?”

“No, just my ATM card.”

“OK. Then you won’t have much of a credit history, if any. That’s usually not a problem, because most students don’t have one. If it is, let me know and I’ll work something out. There are a few things to consider besides the rent. Some places include utilities, some only include gas, and some don’t. Make sure you factor that in when you consider if you can afford a place. Most places should be able to tell you the estimated utility costs. If you want cable TV, some places include it, others you need to pay.”

“I think I’ll make a spreadsheet, well, if I can use your computer.”

“You can. I have both Mac and PC, so whichever you’re more comfortable with.”

“PC. That’s what we used in school.”

“The other thing to remember is that you’ll need furniture. My suggestion is IKEA, because it’s good quality and not expensive. You have to assemble it yourself, but you could have a few friends over to help you and have a furniture assembling party. Beyond that, you’ll need bedding, towels, plates, flatware, glasses, pots, pans, and so on. I have the impression you don’t know how to cook and you may never have done laundry.”

“Right on the first one, but I have run a washing machine and dryer a few times.”

“Yuriko agreed to teach you to cook. As for household chores, Birgit will show you, so you can contribute while you’re here.”

“She’s very mature and advanced for thirteen.”

“That she is!”

“I think I need to make a list of all of those things and figure out a budget.”

“That’s a good plan. Do that before you sign a lease so you know for sure you can afford the rent on your income. How many hours will you have?”

“Forty. They hired me for the day shift, because students can’t work days during the week, or if they can, it’s only for a couple of hours during morning rush hour.”

“That’s good. Work out how much you’ll make, then you can do your budget. The other thing is that if you’re going to be here a few months, we think you should move up to the rooms off the kitchen. It’s a large private room and there’s a bathroom as well. The live-in nannies who worked for us when the kids were younger used it.”

“Thank you.”

“There’s one other topic we need to discuss.”

“You and me, right?”

“Yes. I was thinking about it, and it seems like Wednesday is the first day of your new job and that seems like a good time to reconfigure our relationship to a mentorship.”

“So Tuesday night would be the last time? Ever?”

“I think that’s for the best, given the circumstances. You plan to try to meet someone at some point, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then that’s where your focus should be.”

“Then I suppose there is only one thing to do,” she said impishly.

March 11, 2002, Chicago, Illinois

🎤 Birgit

“Is Tabitha going to be a new wife?” I asked Dad when we cuddled on Monday before school.

“No. Why do you think that?”

“I was just asking. You seem to collect wives the same way Nicholas collects Pokémon cards!”

Dad laughed, “That’s not true and you know it, Pumpkin!”

“So what is Tabitha?”

“What you used to call a ‘dall-yance’. She’s going to look for an apartment, and I think you know she starts a job at Starbucks on Wednesday.”

“I don’t understand why her parents were so upset! She’s nineteen, so she can do whatever she wants!”

“Because they planned for her to marry a boy from their church and be a pastor’s wife.”

I rolled my eyes, “Oh, right, because I would let you and Mom pick my husband! Not in THIS life or any other!”

“I didn’t say it was a good idea, or that I was going to suggest it!” Dad said, laughing.

“Didn’t Mom’s dad try to arrange for her to marry someone?”

“Yes, from her old church. Tabitha attended the same kind of church.”

“That’s just nuts, Dad! Speaking of church and nuts, did you hear what happened to Jesse yesterday?”

“No. Is it something you should share?”

I laughed, “For sure! The deacon’s daughter decided to stand next to him and that made Macrina angry.”

“She is beautiful,” I said.

“Give me a break. Have you seen CeCe, Riya, and Akiko? And it’s not like Macrina is plain or anything!”

“True.”

“And there’s no way Jesse is going steady with anyone. He’s having too much fun!”

“Breakfast!” Mom said from the door to the sunroom. “See you in three minutes!”

I snuggled close and dad tightened his arms around me. I felt so safe and loved, and dreamed of what it might be like if I could convince him to give me the best birthday present ever in the history of the world.

🎤 Steve

My mobile phone rang just as I was getting out of my car at the NIKA offices.

“Steve Adams.”

“Mr. Adams, this is Ken Atherton from the State’s Attorney’s office.”

“Good morning. How can I help you?”

“We reached a plea agreement with Arnold Gardner. The plea will be entered at 9:00am on Thursday in the Cook County Circuit Court. You are welcome to attend, as is your daughter.”

“What sentence?”

“One year in prison, two years of mandatory supervised release, and sex-offender counseling, There is also lifetime registration as a child sex offender, which is by statute, and not part of the actual sentence.”

“My daughter would have to miss school, but I think it’s important for her to be there. May I ask about Mr. Gardner’s gonads?”

Assistant State’s Attorney Atherton laughed, “Technically, such details aren’t shared, but in this case, I’ll let you know there was no permanent damage.”

“I believe my daughter’s response would be ‘bummer’.”

He laughed again, “She appears to be a feisty one. It’ll be a pleasure to meet her on Thursday, though I wish the circumstances weren’t necessary.”

“Me, too.”

“One more thing — if you are there, the judge may ask if Birgit would like to make a victim statement. There’s no requirement to do so, but she’s welcome to speak if she wants.”