Chapter 9

The next few weeks were torture for Jessica. With Donna taking a hands-off policy and there being no way she could talk with Marge and Allen about her quandary, she was left to deal with the situation by herself. Donna had indicated she would be supportive of whatever decision Jessica made, but the question was, what should she do? Kenny was staying true to his word: sleeping in his room and asking for none of the intimacies they had previously shared. But it was evident they both missed the physical aspects of their previous relationship.

Jessica was determined, however, and so she avoided any physical contact. The result was that both woman and boy/man were miserable. Jessica, on several occasions read the intense longing in the boy's eyes. She knew what he yearned for, and in moments of brutal honesty she admitted to herself that the only real moments of happiness she had experienced since Kenny's death were those in which she held the boy closely and shared her breasts with him. Yet she also remembered, to her utter shame the day he had fondled her, brought her to orgasm. Convinced she simply could not allow such incestuous behavior ever again, she maintained a distance between them. So the two struggled on, trying to maintain a relationship with which neither was comfortable or happy.

It was on a late summer's evening. Being Friday with no school the next day, they had just finished watching a movie on TV which dealt with a love affair between a young man and an older woman. They had tried talking about it but the conversation always got around to them. Jessica saw the longing in Kenny's face and knew it was reflecting her own. She longed to hold him against her.

"Do we really want to keep up this charade?" he asked.

"I don't know what you..."

"You know exactly what I mean. You want me and I want you. We love each other Jessie. We should be together."

"But we are together."

"You know what I mean. I don't think either of us can allow this wall you've placed between us to stand much longer."

"You said you wouldn't..."

"I won't. I told you I would honor your wishes, but I'm not at all convinced these are your wishes... keeping us apart when we belong in each other's arms."

"You shouldn't talk like that."

"Do you deny you want me? Don't lie to me, Jessie."

"I... I... can't talk about this any more."

"Come to me Jessie. If you won't let me come to your room, come to mine."

"I... couldn't."

"You can and you will. Just let your feelings guide you. You know it's what we both want and need."

"I... just can't," she cried, tears misting as she rose and headed for her bedroom.

"I'll wait for you Jessie... as long as it takes."

"No, I can't."

"Time isn't on our side, Jessie. We've wasted too much time already. Who knows how much more time we have."

She looked at him a final time, her heart aching, then sadly turned and disappeared into her room.

Kenny tried watching another movie, but he too lonely, his thoughts too focused on the beautiful woman down the hall, so he followed suit and retired to his room.

It was about three hours later when both were asleep that the storm broke, bringing tumultuous thunder and lightning, the wind roaring and the driving rain beating madly against the roof and siding of the small house. Each thunderclap seemed louder than the last and the wind seemed driven by howling banshees. The windows rattled and and branches from the oak tree out front battered the front corner of the house.

Jessica had always been frightened of storms. As a little girl she had crawled in bed with her parents who would safely snuggle her between them until the storm passed. Later it had been Kenny who had provided the strong arms of shelter to protect and comfort her until the winds and rain abated. On more than one occasion when the storm was severe, he had made love to her to take her mind off the tempest raging outside.

Now however, Jessica huddled alone in her bed, shivering with fright as each bolt of lightning and accompanying roar of thunder sent her into another paroxysm of panic. Despite herself, she whimpered like a child, pulling her pillow over her head futilely trying to ward off the demons of the storm.

Kenny had been awakened by the storm as well. Like the father he had no fear of storms, but was acutely aware of the terror that the woman who called herself his mother felt while the storm raged. He knew he had agreed to stay away from her bedroom, but he also knew what agony she must be experiencing. He slipped from his bed and walked down the hall stopping outside her room and listening. As another flash of lightning lit up the interior from the outside and a horrendous crack shook the house, he heard her cry out in fear.

"Jessie. Jessie!" he called. "I'm here for you. I'll be in my room if you need me." he waited for a response, but when there was none, walked back to his room and lay waiting -- hoping.

Instead of abating, the storm seemed to intensify, the noise of wind, rain and thunder contributing to a din unlike any storms either of them could remember. Lightning flashes were coming so frequently they seemed more like the strobe lights at a disco, but with a hundred times the intensity.

Jessica jumped as a renewed attack of wind and rain battered the small house and seemed as if it would shatter the thin layer of glass which separated the terrified woman from the storm. She had heard Kenny's reassuring voice, but then it had ceased as he had withdrawn, leaving her to withstand the fury alone. Another lightning bolt, another heart rending crack, then another, then another. I can't take any more! she thought. I just can't take any more!

Kenny thought he heard movement in the hall, but with the storm raging it was hard to tell. His eyes fixated on the door. There was another thunderous boom and he saw the door handle turn. Slowly the door opened and when another flash of lightning lit the room he saw her trembling, standing barefoot, terrified in her oversized man's tee shirt which she used as a nighty. Her face held a look of desperation. She had tried, but her crumbling will and now the storm had simply been too much.

Silently he drew back the cover, offering her the sanctuary she so urgently sought. As she approached the bed, he simply could not resist.

"You never needed one of those before," he said gently, eyeing the tee shirt.

Resigned and shivering as another bolt of lightning lit up the room, Jessica slipped off the shirt and, naked, slipped into bed beside him.

"I... I..." she stammered not knowing what to say. A blast of rain thudded against the house as two near simultaneous crashes of thunder bombarded the small house. Jessica, who at first had designs on simply lying in bed nest to the boy/man was suddenly in his arms. To her dismay she realized that he too was nude.

"Kenny, I... I don't know..."

"I do," he answered and held her trembling body against his. He could feel her heart beating wildly in terror. He heard her gasp, then whimper as the storm raged unchecked.

She felt his arms pull her closely and he pulled the covers over their heads.

"Just like I used to," he smiled.

She returned a nervous smile, but shivered both from her trip down the hall in her bare feet and from the knowledge she lay naked against the very man/boy she had worked so hard to avoid.