Chapter 6

Wednesday, March 20th, 2002

It was Mom who came to wake us, just before five thirty. I sat at my desk, trying to keep my face expressionless.

Jenny bounced out of bed, and gave me a small smile, vanished towards the bathroom. Mom turned to me as soon as Jenny was gone.

"I came by last night to see how Jennifer was, to see if you wanted anything to eat. I heard her crying through the door. No screams, no shouts... it was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, deciding to trust you and then walking away."

It seemed pretty clear that Mom wanted me to talk about why Jenny was crying. I, on the other hand, would rather visit the dentist.

I shook my head. "Everyone in this family talks too much about their own and other people's lives," I said, a little hotly. "I told Jenny I wasn't ever going to talk about her personal things." I paused, then realized that I couldn't leave it at that.

"So I'm not going to say a thing. But tell everyone you'd usually talk to that if they see her brother coming, to lock the door and call 911."

Mom froze, stared at me in shock.

I could see thoughts running through her mind; it was like I was the grown up, and she was the kid.

"And here, we've been thoughtlessly taking our pleasure from her." Her voice was bitter and angry; at herself, I was sure, and at Kim.

I shook my head. "Mom, it's not like that at all. Yes, you've made love to her, but it was Jenny's choice as much as yours."

"I can't believe we couldn't see it!" Mom said, obviously angry.

"You have no idea. I didn't tell you a thing; you're guessing."

She looked at me, laughed, and most astonishingly, gave me the finger. "Time to get ready for school, Tom."

Later Mom announced she wasn't feeling well, and was staying home from work. Uncle Craig had vanished sometime in the middle of the night. I caught JR's eye, and she smirked. I was sure Dad had slept with Penny last night as well. I couldn't see anything different about the way they behaved together. I hoped Mom had found a moment to talk to Dad.

I drove JR and Jenny to school, dropped them off. Jenny looked a lot better, JR still had a smirk.

At lunch, Shannon sat down to me and we talked; it was pleasant, I found, not to have to deal with all of the family crises even if just for a short time. Just before the period ended, I asked Shannon if she would mind if I brought along JR and Jenny on Friday, and that I'd drop them off after the dance. "Joanna, that's your sister," Shannon said, and I nodded. "Who's Jenny?"

"One of JR's friend, she's staying with us for a while. Moved in."

Shannon looked at me, as if she was on the verge of saying something. "You know Roger?" she said at last, just as the bell rang. I nodded, not well, I thought, but well enough. "Roger and Keith Driscoll are big buddies with Jennifer's older brother Sam. Son of Sam, that's what Dawn Driscoll calls him. Totally creepy. He's a freshman at State this year. Keith isn't much better, and Roger Parker is... Roger."

"Beyond totally," I said with heat, remembering what Jenny has said.

The last thing I remember is Shannon looking at me again, curious.

After school, I ran into Tony and Sue Ellen on the way out to my car, Tony waved and I went over. "What did Marsha have to say in her letter?"

I rolled my eyes. "She wants to see me again."

Tony laughed. "That'll be a trick!"

"You never know," I told him, "stranger things have happened."

He smirked, "Gotta go, Sue Ellen and I have a little quality time ahead of us." He vanished, and I picked up JR and Jenny. We got home, and Jenny promptly went in her room and closed the door, JR vanished and I went up to my room and started reading.

My mom came in after a while, sat down facing me. "I talked to Kim, she's going to talk to Penny. I've talked to Joanna." I nodded, not sure what she'd told them. "I told them we had to make sure that Jennifer's brother doesn't bother her any more."

She reached out, touched my cheek. "As a parent, you worry about your kids. It's part of life, being a Mom or Dad. You worry about them getting hurt, physically and emotionally. You hope they grow up happy, making good choices.

"I worried about you; everyone else in the family is oversexed, yet you didn't seem to be in a rush at all. I was worried, these last few years, wondering if we'd messed you up." She kissed me on the forehead. "Some things, I guess, are like vintage wine. The longer you wait, the better they taste. I have this feeling you are the most responsible person in the household, right now."

I blurted out the words, because I was afraid it was true. "Mom, are you hitting on me?"

She blinked, then pulled back, seeming flustered. "I... no... yes... ," her voice trailed away. She laughed, "Okay, yes. I'm that horny."

I sighed. "I am too." I looked at her, like I'd never looked at my mom before. Nice breasts, really nice. A pleasant face and an even better disposition.

Mom's eyes went towards my bedroom. "Right now, Joanna's not studying together with Jennifer," she said softly.

I thought that through and laughed. I looked into her eyes, instead of at her breasts. Did I really want to do it with my mom? Mom had sex with Dad, Uncle Craig, Aunt Shirley, Kim, and now Jenny. With a blink, I realized that Mom hadn't talked as much as she could about who she'd been with; there was that 'intergenerational' stuff too.

"About now," Mom said drily, "you probably figured out more."

"Have you been with JR? Penny?" I asked, not entirely sure I wanted to know the answer.

"Penny is a mink; she just plain loves to be loved. But Joanna, too. Only once, during the Christmas break when you were at Tony's. Kim's been with Joanna two or three times. You were the first boy Joanna was with. Now Craig." She huffed a sigh, "Dave's thinking about Joanna, this was his first time with Penny."

I took a breath. Do it? Or not? Our eyes were locked; then I smiled and reached out and ran my hands over her breasts. They were loose under her t-shirt, and more than filled my hands. After caressing them for a second, I felt her nipples grow taut. Very different than any of the others; her nipples were small, the centers were tiny, but turned as hard as rocks.

I met her eyes; the warm compassion I had known all of my days was there, and for a long second I could see nothing else, feel nothing else in my universe.

Something inside of me seemed to break; something like a psychic maidenhead. I leaned close, kissed her using every bit of the knowledge I'd acquired in the last few days. I wrapped my arms around her, kissed and kissed; a kiss that was returned in full measure. I starting undoing her blouse, my fingers fumbling with the buttons in my haste.

I reached between us, unsnapped her jeans, pushed them down over her hips, doing the same thing for myself. Without a word, Mom hitched her legs around my midsection, and we stood there, me buried inside of her, plunging in and out. Like Kim and Marsha, there wasn't the friction of JR or Penny, but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered but the moment; when I came, it was the sum of all those orgasms that had come before.

When sensation returned, I was standing with my arms wrapped around her bottom, supporting her weight, our tongues still joined in the kiss I was never, ever going to forget.

Mom gave a small laugh. "I never realized how strong you are." She kissed me again, less passionate. "And I'm very, very greedy. Tom, lay down on the bed."

I'm not sure what happened next; I walked over to the bed, her legs still wrapped around my waist, sat down, swung my legs up, and then she was atop me, moving on top of me. She reached for one of my hands, led it between her legs. "Rub!" she commanded. I found her clit, long and thin. I rubbed.

It was an incredible feeling; seeing her pleasure, knowing it was me that was making her feel it. She met my eyes, grinned, and started moving faster, sitting up, with me deep inside her. I responded in turn, while trying to keep rubbing her clit; the demands of the moment became confused, lost in a welter of sensation and emotion before I came again.

I pushed as hard upwards as I could, she pressed down the same way, both of us feeling the glory of orgasm. After a long moment she leaned down, put her lips against mine and kissed me very very hard for a minute, then pulled back.

"That could easily become addictive," Mom told me. "Easily." She giggled, then lifted her midsection up, and pressed down again. "Still hard!" She laughed, a deep wonderful laugh that filled her. "The energy of teenagers!" She kissed me lightly again. "God, I wish I still had it."

"You have something," I told her, "something that you never need to apologize for. No matter how old you are, or how old anyone else is."

"Hold that thought for another twenty years," she murmured, then glanced at the night stand and the clock. "I have dinner to get ready, you and the girls need to do some homework."

The mundaneness of the return to the regular world shocked and surprised me; I ran my hand down over her bottom, pressed her against me, lifting my body to move inside her. She giggled, kissed me lightly again. "Like I said, the energy of teenagers! Patience, dear heart, patience! In time, all things are possible."

She got up, and started to put her clothes on. I laid on one elbow, watching her. "Mom," I said softly, suddenly nervous. She looked at me, her panties in place, now pulling up her jeans.

"The other day, JR was afraid because she'd slept with Roger and me, that made her a slut." I sighed, couldn't believe I hadn't thought about this before. "I've made love to a whole lot more than two this week."

She finished buttoning her jeans, then sat down on the bed next to me. "Like I said, Tom, in time all things are possible. You haven't made love to a single person who didn't want you to love them in return. More importantly, with Jennifer, you didn't make love to someone who it would have hurt immeasurably. There are more people in the world, even still; ones you've met, ones you haven't. All of them capable of being loved. How many, who... that's got to be up to you and them.

"Oh, people say you can't do what we do in this family; maybe they can't, I don't know, I can't speak for them. Their opinions about what we do range from seriously negative to downright punitive; what you and I just did would land me in jail if you told anyone about it, perhaps you too."

I shook my head, shocked even at the thought.

"I'm not saying don't be judgmental; you have to take care, because if you pick wrong, you could mess up a lot of lives. On the other hand, if you don't pick, you could miss the one true love of your life.

"You are some kind of special, Tom. Very special; oh sure, different from your dad, and Craig, different in a number of ways. Craig is a take charge guy, a leader. Dave is careful and thorough, looking at everything a hundred different ways before he goes ahead. Both of them have unmatched sex drives." She smiled and reached out and took my hand.

"Don't despair; don't think badly of yourself just because you've discovered something new and wonderful, and are enjoying the learning of it. Don't be ashamed of feeling the way you do. You are a decent person Tom, a kind, wonderful, decent person. Fundamentally decent. Not one of us is jealous of the others; instead, we are so pleased to be with you, to share what's inside of us with you."

She stood up again. "Now, homework! Life doesn't stop, Tom, just because you feel good!" She grinned and left, and I laid back, staring at the ceiling. What had I thought? That sex made life complicated? I shook my head in mock despair. That was back when life was only a little complicated!

I looked at the door, thinking again about what I'd just done. My mom, I thought, is a deep person; deeper than I'd ever thought... and I'd thought she was pretty deep before. Some of the things she said, just now, what she'd said before, all of it impinged on me at once.