Chapter 4

The evening was still reasonably warm so we took our coffee outside to enjoy the last of the sunshine. Mary seemed ill at ease.

"I suppose I owe you an explanation," she began.

"You don't owe me anything."

She sighed then half turned and looked at me earnestly, her hands clasped nervously in her lap. "I feel I do. You've been... well... understanding."

I gave a small snort of disbelief. "I haven't understood anything. It's not every day that I get offered the services of not jut one but three attractive and sexy women. I'm just going with the flow." She gave a twitch of a grin. "So you owe me nothing. On the other hand, if you'd like to tell me more about Mary Jamieson, I'm all ears. I confess I find her a fascinating woman."

She flushed. "Please, Paul. That just makes it worse."

I took her hands in mine. "I'm sorry. I'll listen quietly."

She was quiet for a minute as though marshalling her words. "Although I come from up North, there's more than a hint of Spanish blood in me. Family tradition has it that it was a ship from the Armada... Whatever the origin, I've always been a sensual person. I've always liked sex - even from an early age. That's why Andrew and I got on so well. He was a passionate lover and kept me well satisfied." She sighed. "I suppose that's really why we stayed married so long. Still..."

She went on to explain life after Andrew had been very difficult - not just the fact that her had walked out and left her struggling to make ends meet and raise the girls but also the lack of regular sex. She found her health was being affected - her physical health as well as her emotional health.

She had an admirer though, a man who had made his affections for her known even before her husband left although he had not, in any sense, pursued her. Once she was on her own, Alan, her admirer, began to press his case. She liked Alan and respected him but did not love him. However, he offered her a way out of her dilemma. In effect she became his mistress. At first they tried to be discreet and keep their affair away from the girls but that had been difficult and, in the end, they started meeting at the pub.

Then two things happened. The first was that Isobel found her and Alan in bed one day. Isobel was devastated. She accused her mother of being a slut and betraying her father who, she was convinced, would return at any time. Isobel didn't speak to her mother for several weeks. In the end, however, she accepted the situation for reasons that became clear later.

The second event was that Mary caught Heather in bed with a boy - not a boy of her own age but a lad from the estate quite a bit older than her. Mary was most concerned. The estate had a bad reputation in the village proper and not without some justification. Some of the lads were unsavoury, to put it mildly, and the one Heather had taken up with was a known troublemaker.

It was then that Mary realised that her daughters had inherited her strong sex drive. After fretting about it for some time, she confided in Alan. Alan had the answer, his nephew Ian. Mary had a long and frank talk with her daughters. It turned out that Heather didn't particularly like the lad from the estate but, as she put it, "he fucks like a rabbit." She was well aware of his reputation and was slightly concerned that she might get sucked into a life-style she didn't really want. She was willing to give Ian a go. Isobel wanted in on the arrangement as well. At this, Mary put her foot down. Twelve was far to young to be thinking about sex.

I did a mental double-take at that. Sex at twelve? My God! Mind you Isobel was only fourteen now.

Things didn't work out quite as planned. Ian was very inexperienced and rather shy and, in the end, Mary had to seduce him and show him what to do. Alan, it transpired, had taken a shine for Heather who was not unwilling. Then, when Isobel turned thirteen, she decided she would wait no longer and seduced Alan.

At this, I had a momentary pang of jealousy. I would have loved to have been the one to take her virginity.

This arrangement was not satisfactory. All sorts of tensions and jealousies were simmering under the surface and it was only a matter of time before it all fell apart. Matters were taken out of their hands when Alan was made redundant and had to leave the village in search of work.

All three, however, were now used to regular sex and Mary knew it wouldn't be long before both the girls strayed, perhaps into areas she'd rather they didn't go. Again fate played a part. It transpired that her and Alan's affair was common knowledge in the village. As they had kept it quiet and Mary was well liked, nothing had been said. However, as soon as Alan was out of the picture, she was inundated with offers, some of them quite offensive. She was, after all, an attractive single woman with a known appetite for sex and with two sexually active daughters.