Chapter 19

I returned to the back yard and resumed sunning. My thoughts about Donna were mixed; she was growing up and experimenting, which was acceptable. From what I'd seen she hadn't had much of a hymen to rupture, so she wasn't physically injured. I decided I'd have to meet Cameron and get his side of the story. I had started to sweat by the time Donna came out of the house and joined me.

She dropped her towel, handed me a bottle of baby oil and said, "Will you do it?"

I motioned her closer and she stood with her legs spread. I put a spoonful of oil on my palm and applied it to her outer labia, using the tip of a finger to put a tiny bit down the center of her crease. It matted the sparse hair, which was almost as soft as Connie's.

I used my towel to wipe off my hand and said, "There you go."

She dabbed at the excess with her towel and lay down in the lounger next to me. Her hand sought mine and gave it a squeeze, so I held on. It might be time for a little mother-daughter bonding.

"What did today teach you?" I asked.

"Boys don't always mean what they say," she said. "It was all right when he was sucking my nipples and playing around on the outside—that felt really good—but when he put his fingers inside me, it hurt."

"Did you tell him to stop?" I asked.

"Yeah, but he said he couldn't because he was too close. He squirted all over my hand, and I had to go to the river and wash it off."

I laughed softly. "That happens with boys, sweetie. It's how they're made."

"I shouldn't have trusted him," she said.

"You've learned a lesson without being badly hurt, sweetie. You'll know better next time."

"There won't be a next time."

She'd said it with so much conviction in her voice I began to wonder what the future might be like for her. Most women, even with bad first experiences, go on to love and marry men and have babies. Had her experience soured her permanently?

"Are you going out with him again?"

"I don't think so. We don't have much in common. He can't even draw."

I laughed and let the touch of my hand sooth her. She'd broken a barrier and lost some of her innocence, but she trusted me enough to talk to me. A few minutes later, she got out of her lounge chair and climbed into mine, cuddling with me and asking me to hold her. She started crying softly.

I shook my head and let my tears flow quietly. I hugged her very tight and rocked her, softly singing a half-remembered lullaby about a mockingbird. Her tears, whether from sorrow or remorse, dripped onto my chest. Connie found us that way when she came home.

The next day, I took Donna to Medcenter and got her a prescription for birth control pills. She read the pamphlet all the way home. We went over the instructions together, and she began taking the pills a few days later.

Connie bought Donna two toys; a small cylinder-shaped vibrator about as big around as my thumb and an inch or so long, and a pink plastic vibrator about three inches long and an inch in diameter. Donna said they worked, but she needed more batteries. I increased her allowance by five dollars per week.

Connie also bought her a six-month subscription to abbywinters dot com, an Australian site that featured young, beautiful women. Most were young, sexually active women, the typical "Girl Next Door"; I'll admit to peeking at it from time to time myself. The girl/girl videos got me off every time.

The last few weeks of summer were almost perfect. My garden yielded a nice crop of tomatoes, and I made 12 quarts of salsa. Connie worked shorter hours, and she and I were able to take advantage of Donna's absence from the house to make love at odd hours of the day, a novel occurrence for both of us.

Donna stayed close to home for a few days after the river incident, but she soon returned to her friends down the road. Tanner, Libby, Jeff and Gail came to our house for supper a couple of times a week. We never did get to meet Cameron, but just before school started the new kid on the block showed up.

His name was Drew Carlisle, he was seventeen and drove a Corvette. His father was a doctor, his mother was a nurse, and their new house was only two miles north of ours. One evening Donna invited him for supper; she said he had a question to ask me.

I have to tell you, the kid was handsome. About six feet tall and athletically slim, he wore his expensive clothes very well. He had a mop of unruly dark curls that were just a bit too long and still looked perfect; his eyes were bright blue with green flecks that looked like emeralds scattered over ice, and he had good manners.

We had fish for supper, fresh walleye from the Farmer's Market over in Mandan. I'd made bread that day, and a big fresh salad. He and Donna traded jokes and flirted during the meal, but as soon as we were done he made his request in a smooth baritone.

"Mrs. McLaughlin, can Donna ride to school with me?"

You may think that was a reasonable request, and on one plane I agreed. It would save Donna from riding the bus, and she wouldn't have to cram into Tanner's car in case she was late. On the other hand, I'd seen what was left after a high-speed crash in a fiberglass car.

The look on Donna's face was the deciding factor. She'd been curious about Jared and Cameron, experimental with Yvonne and possibly others, but when she looked at him she sparkled. We gave her permission to ride with Drew.

With the kids back in school and Donna more or less settled in with her new boyfriend, Connie and I started enjoying a bit more privacy. Donna asked if she could move downstairs to the room she used to share with Sarah, and we agreed. It was easier not sharing the bathroom anymore, and I liked being able to walk around nude in one part of the house. It helped not being able to hear Donna's toys in use late at night, too.

The rest of our lives went on as usual; work was eight to five with an occasional evening required, and our social lives with friends and family continued normally. Ryan was disappointed because Donna had a new boyfriend, but he got over it. My mother and father had accepted Connie and me as a couple—at long last! —and Travis, Kathy and the kids dropped in to visit often.

I became a full-time stay-at-home mom in early November. Michael Miller didn't get re-elected, and the new State's Attorney reallocated his people and budget dollars for different priorities. The new guy, John Ballard, seemed to think white-collar crime was a serious threat. I thought the man was a serious idiot; I had house plants with higher IQs.

Lois and Amy were absorbed into Social Services, and kept doing what they'd been doing for Michael on a smaller scale. Terri Anderson resigned and went into private practice with Michael, and Connie shifted from Child Protection to Social Services in essentially the same job, with Clara Riesen as her new boss. I was retained as a part-time consultant for some of the grunt work, finding information and checking files from home.

I didn't mind the changes at all because I had time to cook, clean thoroughly and take care of my family. What little I did as a consultant usually took less than an hour each morning. And Connie came home for lunch fairly frequently, too. Remember what I said earlier about quickies? Yummmm.

Donna continued to be a normal kid, enjoying life and school. Her grades stayed high, and she informed us she was going to college in Dickinson, where they had a paleontology program that was excellent. Her relationship with Drew continued to grow, and they dated on weekends. Connie and I both assumed she was having sex with him, but we were confident she was taking her pills as prescribed and using condoms, so we weren't concerned.

We went out to the farm for Thanksgiving dinner and I got a chance to see Valerie again. Val is tall like the rest of us, but considerably thinner, almost like Connie. She looked a lot like I remembered her, except for the short hair.

She was now an accomplished pilot with hundreds of hours in helos, and had been deployed twice overseas. Her tales of hard landings and dealing with macho guys kept us laughing all through the meal. Afterward, she took me out to the back porch and closed the door.

"I can't get over how beautiful you look, Jeanie. You've grown up."

"Thanks, Val. I've got a good job, a family and a nice house. I've been pretty lucky."

"Tell me, how did you get the folks to go along with Connie?"

"I didn't; they accept us, but it was mostly Travis's doing. He got Dad and me together the first time."