Chapter 22

The aftermath of the night that changed everything for both Erica and Will Bradford was surprisingly anticlimactic for both of them.

Bobby was gone when Christy pushed Will up the ramp and into the house. Will was nervous, but his sister smiled tentatively at him and welcomed Christy, who didn’t stay long since Jillian was in the car.

Both siblings were feeling similar things. Both felt desirable and like there was a new kind of hope in their lives. For Will, that hope was for a continuing relationship with Christy. For Erica, the hope was for continuing success in her professional pursuits, which had broadened, as well as anticipation for another night ... some night ... like last night. Bobby’s cautioning comments about how she should think about things, and his lack of an attempt to climb on top of her before he left, had cemented in her mind that he was completely trustworthy and that he’d never try to manipulate her. She already knew that the next time she spread her thighs for a man, it would be intentional and it would be Bobby Dalton again. She just didn’t know when that would be.

That contented feeling was what smoothed the initial reunion of brother and sister. Both had eaten breakfast. After perhaps ten minutes of slightly uncomfortable tension, Erica broke it.

“Did you have a good time last night?” she asked.

“I did,” he said. He’d already decided that what had happened was so important that he and his sister would have to come to grips with it somehow.

“That’s good,” she said. “I did too.” She’d already decided that if Will was somehow in a relationship that would keep him out all night, he’d have to understand that she could have that kind of relationship too.

“Bobby brought you home, didn’t he?” asked Will softly.

She was surprised.

“Yes,” she said.

“And you had a good time with him?”

“Yes,” she said, more carefully.

“Did he stay all night?” asked Will. Christy had told him a lot about Bobby Dalton as they lay together that morning. She had insisted that before he made real decisions, he know the truth.

Erica hadn’t planned on getting into it quite this quickly or quite this boldly, but something in his voice demanded the truth.

“Yes,” she said.

Her brother’s next comment astonished her.

“I think you can trust him.”

“What?”

“I think you can trust him,” said Will. “He cares about the women he sleeps with.”

“Will!” moaned Erica. This was going much too quickly and much too plainly.

“As long as you’re on the pill, anyway,” said Will.

“Will!” she moaned again. Her hands over her face muffled her voice a little. “What are you talking about?”

Will felt his first misgivings. Christy hadn’t demanded that anything she told him be kept secret, though it was obvious it wouldn’t do anybody any good to be bandied about in public. And one of the things he had worried about for years was that his sister’s beliefs would keep her from finding a man to love. Based on what Christy had told him, it wasn’t likely that Erica would fall in love with Bobby or vice versa, but it was possible. He didn’t want to queer the deal by telling her things that might drive them apart. That was Bobby’s responsibility ... not his. And if Bobby hadn’t “broken her in,” then she most certainly didn’t need to know about his ... other pursuits.

“I’m just saying that accidents can happen,” he said vaguely. “Sometimes things happen that aren’t planned.”

That resonated with Erica, but she was embarrassed now. She wanted to change the subject.

“Was she good to you?” asked Erica.

“I hope Bobby was half as good to you as she was to me,” sighed Will.

“I still love you,” she said.

“I love you too,” he responded. “I’ll always love you.”

“What does this mean?” she asked. “About us?” she clarified.

“I don’t want to sleep alone ever again,” sighed Will.

“Me either,” thought his sister. She wasn’t aware she had actually said it softly.

It wasn’t unusual for Bobby to stay away from home for a night. Both his mother and the twins had gotten used to that idea. It would be too much to say they had resigned themselves to him being gone some nights. That would indicate that they relied on him more heavily than they actually did. All three women loved him and loved spending time with him in bed, both for lovemaking and for just sleeping in his arms. But they had their own lives, too, and Bobby being gone didn’t stop life from happening.

Life was going on, in fact, when Bobby got home. Mirriam was getting a roast ready for the oven. Matilda was gathering eggs and Betty, to Bobby’s surprise, was painting the walls of Florence’s old room. He found that out when his mother turned to greet him as he came in and said, “Go check on Betty. I’m not sure she knows what she’s doing, even if she swears she does.”

That was all she’d said. It was Betty who explained what had happened while Bobby was at the musical.

“Your girlfriend called,” said Betty, bending over to load a roller with apricot colored paint. She’d put down one of Bobby’s ground cloths and had already prepped the wall by using a brush to put a three inch swath of the new color along the ceiling.

“My girlfriend?” he asked.

“Misty,” she said, as if that was no longer anything special.

“I wasn’t aware Misty was my girlfriend,” he said.

“Then why is she coming here again?” asked Betty.

She broke then. She’d been trying to act casual, but couldn’t pull it off. She turned and her arms went out and it was obvious she was going to hug Bobby. He managed to take the roller away from her before she enveloped him in her arms. She ground her pussy on his hip, having to lean back a little to make that happen. The twins were four months along and beginning to show in that obvious way that makes people look twice. She was giggling and trying to kiss him, but couldn’t do that at the same time she rubbed.

“I’m horny,” she sighed, giving up on his leg and rocking forward for the kiss.

“Tell me about Misty,” he said.

She pouted.

“She called last night. She’s coming for a visit.”

“Did she say why?” he asked.

“She said something about business,” said Betty. “She talked to Mamma mostly. Tildy answered the phone. I didn’t get to do anything but say hi.”

“I’d better go talk to Mamma,” he said.

“But I’m horny!” she complained.

“Will you still be horny after lunch, when Mamma takes her nap?” he asked.

“Of course,” she said. “I’m horny all the time, since you knocked us up.”

“Betty!” he moaned. “I didn’t knock you up. I made you pregnant. We made a baby together. Our love resulted in conception. I can think of a dozen ways to say it that don’t bring the image to my mind of me swinging a two by four around while you two run naked, trying to escape.”

She grinned. “All I know is that I’m horny all the time since you spurted a baby into my belly.”

“I’ll see you after lunch,” he sighed. He handed her the roller back and started to leave. Then he paused. “You’re doing a good job, by the way.”

She beamed at him.

“Thank you!”

Back in the kitchen, Bobby got the whole story from his mother. Misty had said she just needed to get away for a couple of days, to write some songs without the normal interruptions.

“She asked about you,” said his mother, her eyes narrowing.

He hadn’t told his mother that Misty was pregnant. He hadn’t really thought she’d come back to Kansas. He thought. She’d be a little more than two months along. She might not be showing that much. He knew he had to say something, because his mother was staring at him, waiting.

“We get along much better these days,” he said carefully.

Mirriam saw the caution flash in her son’s eyes. She wasn’t sure how to evaluate that, though.

“You’re to pick her up at the airport next Thursday.”

For Erica, the angst she felt about everything seemed to calm down in some ways and heat up in others. The night after both brother and sister found ecstasy in the arms of others, they slept together. That had been a little tense for both of them, for the same reason.

Will had always had the urge to find out what Erica’s pussy felt like wrapped around his prick. Now, Erica wondered the same thing. She knew, on a cerebral level, that her dream had been about Will’s penis, because it was the only penis she was really familiar with. But the image of her brother’s penis poised above her pussy lips could not be banished. There were two images she could summon up now. Neither could be banished.

Both siblings knew, however, that they had already pushed their relationship beyond the point where anyone would understand. Bobby hadn’t judged Erica, but she couldn’t believe he would be supportive. For that reason, their passions did not inflame that night and they just slept together.

The next night was the same. Both Bobby and Christy seemed to be letting their new lovers have the time to think about things. That didn’t satisfy new longings, though, and on the third night both Will and Erica were missing what they’d had together.

They finally talked about it, long into the night. A few more details of each other’s nights of passion were shared and they confessed some of the urges they had had for each other. As they talked, her hand drifted to his stomach and her fingertips played with the hair just above his prick, which was stiff.

“Is it wrong for me to think about you that way?” asked Erica.

“I think about it too,” he sighed. “All I know is I love you and I think I love Christy too. It’s weird. Six months ago I looked forward to a nurse stopping by for ten minutes, and figured that was all I could ever look forward to.”

“Six months ago I didn’t look forward to anything that had to do with sex,” said his sister.

“It’s better now ... for both of us ... isn’t it?” His voice made it plain he wanted her to agree with him.

“Yes,” she said softly. “I can’t imagine going back to where I was then.”

“Just with me?” he asked, wondering if he would have to give up Christy to keep from abandoning his sister.

“Not just you,” she said, her voice just above an audible whisper. “You deserve a full life with a woman you can take out in public. What will happen with you and Christy?” she asked, her voice louder.

“She said she’d call me,” he said. The concept of “taking a woman out in public” would have made him howl with mixed anger and laughter, a month before this. Now it went over his head as if it wasn’t an issue at all. “She said she wanted to see me lots more.” He paused. “What about you ... and Bobby?”

“I’m not in love with him,” she said. “If that’s what you mean. I love what happened, but it’s not like I found my prince and can never leave his side.”

“Will you see him again ... like that?” he asked. He was assuming some things, but she’d hinted strongly that they’d spent the night in bed, and not sitting up talking.