Chapter 2: Jennifer's Arrival

Angela spent nearly two weeks wrapping things up. Most days, Frank and Angela talked long on the phone, and Frank helped her through the estate and funeral legalities, remembering his own experience when his parents died.

Frank flew out for two days to attend Terrence's funeral and help with packing. The funeral was one of the most depressing events Frank had ever attended. The weather was cold and damp. Angela was red-eyed. Jennifer was completely silent and stone-faced as she huddled in her parka.

There were heartbreakingly few people at the funeral. There were some neighbors and a handful of Terrence's colleagues. Terrence was liked at work, and his colleagues were eager to tell stories of his honesty, hard work and general friendliness. The absence of relatives was apparently not some familial rift; Terrence's parents had died several years earlier; he was an only child. There were no cousins or uncles.

Frank thought of Jennifer; Angela was her only relative. Frank's thoughts turned morbid, as they did at funerals. If he died, who would come to his funeral? A few colleagues, especially Mary and his supervising partner, Zack, would show up. Angela would certainly come. Would any of his family come? They were not close, either in relationship or in distance.

Frank resolved to update his will. Angela, and perhaps eventually Jennifer, could make better use of his money than his distant cousins or the state.

After the funeral they went home to receive the last few awkward visits, and to finish packing. Jennifer's things were being shipped to Frank's condo; Angela was taking photographs and a few souvenirs. A liquidator was coming to clean up the place. He would sell off what he could, dump the rest and give Angela a few hundred dollars.

Terrence did leave a will; everything he had went to his daughter. Angela as executor, with Frank's advice, was liquidating his assets and transferring everything to an account she set up for Jennifer. Between Terrence's savings, retirement account, his life insurance, and almost new car, Jennifer would be well set for college.

Jennifer was desperately unhappy. Aside from losing her father whom she loved, she was leaving her school in the middle of the school year.

"I will barely be able to say goodbye to my friends! The vacation ends next Monday, and you are taking me away on Wednesday morning. Why can't I stay here and go to Green Oak Middle School until the end of the year?"

"I have already got the landlord to cancel the lease at the end of this month. In any case, you can't stay here without an adult, and I can't stay here for five or six months. I have to work..."

"If you loved me, you would stay here with me. If you were a good mother you would have lived with us in the first place!" Jennifer sobbed and ran to her room, the room that would be hers for only a few more days.

Angela looked lost as she gazed at Frank. Frank, having no idea of what to say, hugged his girlfriend.

A week later, Jennifer was installed in the small room on the upper floor of Frank's tall and narrow condominium.

"It's too small! And the roof slopes over it, so I can't straighten up near the walls. It's too high up, I have to run up and down stairs all the time. Two floors to the kitchen, one floor to the bathroom. And I have to dress to go to the shower because Frank is here. Why can't we live by ourselves?" Frank overheard Jennifer complaining. Not that she was trying to hide her unhappiness from him.

Jennifer was gloomily silent for the next several weeks, with periodic breaks to complain. Angela registered her in the local school, which, of course, was not as good as her old one in Jennifer's loudly expressed opinion.

In late February, they ran into a logistical problem. Angela's work schedule in the hospital was fairly rigid, especially as a new nurse, with a recent two-week absence in her record. Jennifer's school wanted a meeting in the early afternoon. The counselor insisted on seeing Jennifer's parent or guardian on a "pressing matter".

Frank's schedule was a lot more flexible, despite having insane hours. He could also do some of the work from home. To Jennifer's silent but very visible disgust, Angela granted temporary guardianship to Frank, and he went in loco parentis.

"I am a little concerned about Jennifer," said Mrs. Roobie, the counselor. "I hear from her teachers that she isn't participating in class. Her homework is also below expectations. I am deeply sympathetic with her recent loss, but if she can't cope with the schoolwork, there are easier classes that may be appropriate ... There are also a couple of psychologists I can recommend that have experience with bereavement."

"I ... we will talk to Jennifer. She had good grades in her old school. Maybe she needs a bit more time."

"Well, if her work doesn't improve in a few weeks, we'll have to make some changes. Without trying to sound harsh, we need to protect the educational needs of hundreds of children. Here is the contact information for two psychologists."

Frank was out of his depth, and irritated with the counselor, Jennifer, and the whole situation. Driving Jennifer to a psychologist would be time-consuming. Would Angela's medical plan pay for it? Or was this a school service?

On the way home, he tried to reason with Jennifer. "Do you know what Mrs. Roobie wanted to talk about?"

Jennifer broke her vow of silence. "Why do you want me to guess? It would save everybody time and irritation if you would just tell me what's wrong with me, and I could resume ignoring you. Although I could tell you exactly what's wrong with me: my father who loved me has died in a stupid accident, and now I am stuck with a mother who didn't care for me enough to stick around to raise me, and her self-important boyfriend."

Frank sighed. "I'm sorry if I seem to play a guessing game. I don't know how to handle these things. I never knew your father, so I cannot pretend to grieve for him. You obviously do grieve, so Mrs. Roobie recommended some specialists for bereavement counseling. Maybe if you talk to..."

"No! I don't need to talk to shrinks about how I feel! I feel lousy. I just need you to leave me alone!"

Frank decided on a new tack. Appealing for sympathy for Angela's or his own busy schedules would be unlikely to work. "Jennifer, she mentioned that you are falling behind in schoolwork. No, don't interrupt yet. Let me ask: have you met anybody in school that you like?"

"All my friends are at Green Oak. I don't have any friends here."

"What, nobody you talk to? Nobody to eat lunch with?"

"Well, there is Michele, and Sally. Not friends, but somebody to talk to. Why do you want to know?"

"If you can't make passing grades in your classes, you will be yanked out of them, and put into remedial ones. You'll probably have no classes with your new non-friends, and maybe have a different lunch period." Frank was probably overstating the case, but he figured the stigma of remedial classes for the formerly mostly-A student would sting on its own.

Evidently it did. Jennifer gave a little gasp. She was silent for a couple of minutes. "I will try to do better," she said quietly.

Frank was silent for a minute. "I appreciate that. I am not your favorite person, but if there is anything I can do to help, please ask."

"I doubt it," responded Jennifer quickly, but her voice did not hold the usual animosity.

Jennifer continued to decline counseling. Her grades improved, so nobody pushed the issue.

Frank went to several more school meetings and functions.

"Jennifer is doing very well in mathematics, Mr. Clare," the math teacher said, obviously pleased. "I think your daughter is going to do very well in the school contest next month.

Frank did not correct the term; it wasn't worth explaining that he was Jennifer's mother's boyfriend. It wasn't the first time, either. While the school had the guardianship paper on file, most teachers were neither aware nor interested in their students' family situations. Having a child with a different surname than her parent was not unusual anymore.

Frank's formal dress, fastidious speech and graying temples gave him the appearance of an older man, something useful when he negotiated. Nobody at school knew he was twenty-four, and Frank was content to leave it that way.

"We haven't been to a nightclub or a nice restaurant in months," said Angela with a sigh. "Having a child makes a difference in your social life."

"How about a vacation? What kind of a trip would work for all of us? Would Jennifer like hiking in the Southwest?"

"Not sure. Let's ask her tomorrow. Maybe Disney World? You realize we'd need a separate room for her? She's recently started menstruating and she is very body-conscious; she won't want to share a bedroom with you."

"Yeah, I know," said Frank. Jennifer was a bit more civil, but her presence was still a strain.

"No! I don't want to go on vacation with the two of you. I don't want to go hiking, and I don't want to go to Disney. That's for kids! Daddy took me there years ago."

Jennifer was not enthusiastic about a family vacation. Frank suppressed a sigh. He thought Jennifer did not want to think of the three of them as family. He was not sure he did, either.

Angela's and Frank's social life took a dive with Jennifer's arrival. Jennifer's sullen presence also leached the fun out of their home life. But Angela was adapting faster than any of them.

They were finishing up dinner when Angela said, "Let's play backgammon. Jennifer, do you know how to play?"

"No. What is that?"

"It's an ancient board game. Want to learn?"

"No," was the predictable response.

"Okay. You can finish your homework, or if it's done, you can listen to music or watch TV. We'll play in the kitchen."

Jennifer looked nonplussed. She probably expected Angela to try to drag her into the family activity.

"Frank, get the board. I start."

Jennifer stalked off. An hour later she showed up to watch the game. After she watched two games, Angela asked, "Do you want to try a game?"

"Ye-es," Jennifer answered.

Frank rose. "I need to send some emails. Why don't you two play?"

Jennifer looked relieved. She had given up ignoring Frank, but still preferred not to interact with him too much.

An hour later, as Frank was lying in bed about to fall asleep, Angela came from the shower.

"She is getting better. I am so glad!" Angela was excited. "You know, I was getting frustrated about all the fun I was missing, and at the same time feeling guilty about having fun when Jennifer was suffering. But now I think that gloom is not the answer. You and I will enjoy ourselves, and if Jennifer joins, so much the better for her. If not, I don't need to feel guilty."

"Well, there is one fun activity which Jennifer will not be joining," said Frank, and grabbed for Angela's nipples.

"Yes!" Angela pushed Frank down, and climbed on his lap. "Prepare to be ridden!"

Over the previous few months, their sex was quiet and almost surreptitious, with Jennifer one floor above. Evidently, Angela decided not to hide this aspect either. As she rode Frank, she wasn't trying to be quiet.

"Yes, yes, yes! More!" Angela had obviously missed being uninhibited. Frank doubted that the closed door blocked Angela's cries, but he didn't care. He had been feeling constrained too, and the release was wonderful. He exploded into Angela, and felt her shudder. Angela wasn't ready to retire though; she kept kissing and licking his neck, while playing with his cock. Very quickly, Frank felt it filling with blood again, and he rolled them over to plunge into Angela in the missionary position.

If anything, Angela was even hotter now. Frank, with his first ejaculation out of the way, was able to last longer. The generous lubrication reduced friction and made his endurance even better. As Frank kept plunging in and retreating, he played with different movements. When their pelvises touched, he rubbed first in small circles, then up and down, then side to side, and back to circles again. Angela loved it, and kept having small orgasms. She wasn't giving up yet, though and periodically tightened her legs around Frank, urging him to thrust harder. Her yells had degenerated into loud grunts.

Frank was sweating, and watching the drops of sweat transfer to Angela's shiny breasts. Finally, he felt the familiar pulsing behind his balls, and started thrusting even faster. For the final few seconds, he pushed as deep as he could and clasped Angela until she could barely breathe. With a loud grunt, he expelled the second load, and had barely enough strength to roll aside.