Chapter 19

The rest of the week seemed to drag, in the sense that none of them had spent this much time with each other in years, and they soon ran out of things to talk about. Some subjects might have provided more fodder for discussion, but those subjects were avoided, at least in the hospital room. But the week was also glorious, at least for Jennifer. Every day, she told Bob he couldn't have sex and every day, he made love to her for hours.

It got to the point where, one day, she said, "Remember, Bob, no sex!" and his response was "Are you horny again? I think you might have traded your stutter for nymphomania!" She just ignored him and got naked. Then, because he hadn't, she struggled to get his clothes off.

He was soft, and she complained about that before taking him into her mouth. By now she had lots of practice and she soon had his cock straining upward. Still he didn't move, but she didn't care, mounting him like a horse and riding her way to two lusty orgasms.

Then, because of a dream she'd had the night before, when she felt him swell, she hopped off and, for the first time, drank his semen, sucking the tip of his cock like it was a straw. She hadn't been sure she'd like it, but decided it wasn't so bad after all. Bob groaned his way through the whole thing, raising his head to look down at her.

"What was that all about?" he gasped.

"I had this crazy dream," she said.

"What dream?"

"I was pregnant," she said. "And I mean really pregnant. I was out to here." She held her hand away from her stomach as far as she could reach. "I stuck out so much that I couldn't stand up. I kept falling over ... you know, like one of those blow up clowns that you punch and it falls over and then rolls back up? Well, it was the opposite with me. I fell over and just rolled around on my belly, until somebody came along and stood me back up. It was awful." She licked her lips and swallowed one more time. "It's getting kind of close to being dangerous to let you just squirt in me."

He dropped his head and sighed. He had no idea when it had happened, but he'd just given up on the idea of protecting her from being knocked up. In fact, more and more often, as he came in her velvety depths, his secret desire was that his seed take root in her. He felt guilty about that, but he was also painfully aware that he was addicted to trying to breed this woman. His orgasms were so much stronger and more protracted with her than they'd been with any woman he could remember. But he was quite sure that getting her pregnant was the worst thing he could possibly do, because it would remove so many of her options for life.

Part of Bob Jefferson was firmly convinced that Jennifer would, some day, become attracted to a man closer to her own age. He knew that would be a bittersweet time for him - bitter because he'd lose the physical relationship with her, but sweet because she deserved to be gloriously happy. Now he resolved to start using condoms. He hoped it wasn't too late already.

"I'm glad that one of us is smart enough to know that getting you pregnant isn't a good idea," he said.

"Yeah," she sighed. She also thought, '"Not yet, ' but didn't voice it. If she had, things would have gotten very interesting at that moment.

Because she didn't, they got interesting much later.

The question of what they were going to do in the future was still unresolved. It was fairly easy for both Bob and Jennifer to leave it that way, because they spent all their time together. It's easy to ignore the future when you're living in the present.

It was Don who ratcheted up the tension.

It happened on the sixth day Bob and Jennifer were visiting the hospital. No one had come to any decision about how long they were actually going to stay, though everyone knew that they couldn't stay forever. Don had been distracted by what was happening to his little girl. She had changed so much in the short time he'd been in the hospital he couldn't wrap his mind around it. It wasn't just the fact that her stuttering had magically stopped. That was crazy enough, but other things were vying for his attention, too. She had matured ... somehow ... in ways that he knew were there, but couldn't put his finger on.

Susan wasn't telling him much, except to say that everything was under control. He'd insisted on knowing what she'd meant about Bob spanking Jennifer's bare butt again, and she'd simply told him that Jennifer had thrown a tantrum and Bob had spanked her, plain and simple.

"On her bare butt?!" he'd almost yelled.

"Don!" Susan had said firmly. "Do you want your daughter to be happy?"

"Of course I do," he'd said automatically. At the same time he wondered what her happiness had to do with being spanked.

"Then let her be happy! Now, I'm tired, and I'm in pain, and I'd like to go to sleep."

After that, whenever he brought it up, she refused to tell him anything.

Now he looked up as he heard his daughter and best friend approaching the room. He could see them in the hallway, walking slowly towards him. They were talking about something and Jennifer was leaning against Bob's shoulder. He knew that shouldn't seem strange, but it did, somehow. He looked at Jennifer's face as she looked up at his friend and said something. Bob looked down at her and she smiled. The look on her face was ... happy. It was obvious. He blinked. No ... it wasn't happiness ... it was something more intense. He blinked again.

It was adoration.

Then, so casually that Don almost missed it, Bob's right hand reached back and slapped Jennifer on the butt. She punched him in the arm, laughing and then ... they were there. They came into the room just like they had so many times before. Jennifer smiled at him and gave him her standard, "Hi Daddy! How are you feeling today?" Bob looked around like he always did, even though the chair he inevitably sat in was in the same place it had always been. Jennifer then ignored him to go lean down and kiss her mother's cheek. Their heads stayed together as they talked quietly, just like they usually did.

Don looked at Bob and, for the first time in his memory, he saw a man, instead of Bob ... or Snake. His head swiveled and he watched Jennifer whispering to his wife. He saw a woman ... relaxed ... content ... beautiful. She looked so much like Susan had when she was younger. Don turned his head to look at Bob again. Bob was watching the women. He looked content in a way that seemed foreign, now that Don thought about it. He remembered that look on Jennifer's face when she had looked up at Bob in the hallway. He'd seen that look before ... on Susan's face ... right after he'd gotten back from the Navy and they'd started dating. He felt his heart thud in his chest.

"You've been porking my daughter!" he gasped. He hadn't meant to say it. It had leapt into his head and out of his mouth in almost the same instant.

There was dead silence in the room. Don looked over at the women, both of whom were staring at him. Jennifer's face was getting pinker and pinker as he watched. Then she looked down at her mother and said, Mom!"

Susan turned her head to look at Jennifer. "I didn't tell him," she said, her voice tired.

"You have!" yelped Don. He sat up in bed. It was a convulsive movement, and it was extremely ill advised. He felt pain streak through his leg as his hip muscles pulled at things that shouldn't be pulled. His ribs and abdominal muscles screamed at him, too. He flopped back down with a tortured groan.

Jennifer was at his bedside almost immediately. Her hands lay gently on his shoulders.

"Stop it, Daddy," she said. "You'll hurt yourself."

Don's pain distracted him long enough for Bob to come up with the reply he knew would be required. While he sometimes didn't know what to say to Jennifer, this was different. Now he was talking to his best friend, the man he knew better than any other human being on Earth. His thoughts gelled quickly.

"It was an accident, Don," he said, standing up and moving right next to the bed. "Neither of us planned it, and even now I'm not sure I understand how it happened, but we fell in love and..."

"Crazy!" panted Don, still trying subconsciously not to breathe deeply.

"I know, man," said Bob, shrugging his shoulders. "I thought she just had a little crush on me the whole time I was walking right into the kill zone. I thought I could manage things. She's a very strong-willed girl, though. There was a serious flaw in my strategic posture. Basically she flanked me every time I tried to move to a new position."

Don had recovered enough to frown, instead of grimacing. He also had more thoughts.

"I can't believe you'd do this to me," he said, his voice low. "I trusted you!"

"Don, please shut up," his wife's voice came from the next bed.

His head rolled toward her. "And you knew! Didn't you?!"

"Of course I knew," said Susan. "Jennifer and I talked about it."

"You talked about it?!" he groaned.

"She's grown up, Don," said Susan patiently. "Why can't she make her own decisions, like you and I did?"

"Because it's Bob!" groaned Don.

"So," said Bob softly, "what you're really saying is I'm not good enough for your daughter."

Don's response was immediate. "Snake, you know good and well that no man is good enough for my baby."

Jennifer had remained silent throughout the whole exchange. She'd stared into her father's face the entire time, whether he was the one speaking or not. She had become, quite suddenly, very afraid that something bad was happening, but she had to wait to find out for sure or she could be the trigger to make it into something bad. She couldn't stay quiet any longer, though.

"So, Daddy," she asked sweetly. "What you're saying is that, since there is no man good enough for me, I'll never get to fall in love, and have my own home, and start my own family ... right?

Don knew a trap when he heard one.

"I'm not saying that at all," he blustered weakly. "I'm just saying it can't be Bob."

"So he really isn't good enough for me," said Jennifer. "What, exactly, is wrong with him, Daddy?"

"I didn't say there was anything wrong with him!" yelped Don. "He just can't marry you, that's all."

"I never said anything about marrying him," said Jennifer. "He hasn't asked me to marry him. In fact, when we talked about that he said I should think about going to college now that I don't stutter any more."