Chapter 16

Ruth watched Tim leave and was smiling when she looked back at the girls.

"You like him a lot don't you Aunt Ruth?" Mandy asked.

"Yes honey, I do," Ruth replied without hesitation. Her deep bass rumble seemed gentler than the girls could remember it being before. "He's different than anyone I've met before."

"Is that why you had to agree to do sex things with him?" Beth asked quizzically. She wasn't being hateful about the question or trying to be inappropriate. She was simply curious and had always been able to ask her Aunt Ruth anything.

Ruth blushed but gave a direct and uncomplicated answer anyway. That was the way it had always been between her and her adopted nieces. "I think you have it backwards honey. I had to convince him to do sex things with me."

"Really?" Mandy asked. Her eyes got big and her mouth had dropped open. "You mean he didn't want to do stuff?"

Ruth chuckled ruefully when she said, "Oh he wanted to do stuff but he was perfectly willing to wait until after we got married. I wasn't."

"I thought the guys were always the ones that, ah, well, you know," Beth stammered.

"Are you asking if guys are always the aggressors?" Ruth asked with a smile.

"Uh, yeah," Beth said blushing.

"I think when guys are younger they have a reputation to protect," Ruth answered thoughtfully. "Plus they haven't learned how to handle all those hormones running around in their blood. So, yeah, I guess the guys are the aggressors when they are younger. Maybe one of the ways of telling when they start to grow up is when they are more willing to talk than, ah, do other things."

"Did you ever, you know, do it, ah, well, before?" Beth asked. Before Ruth could answer Beth asked, "Did mom?"

Ruth looked at her blankly for a moment. She decided to ignore the first question. The second question was a lot easier and a lot less embarrassing. "Since you are sitting here I would have to say yes your mom did it before," Ruth answered with a smile.

"I think she means before us Aunt Ruth," Mandy said dryly.

Ruth looked back and forth between the girls and asked, "OK. What's going on here? You said you came over to ask something about sex. Is this about what your mom did before she got married?"

The girls looked at each other wondering which would answer. Finally Mandy sighed and said, "Yeah, it is kind of about that."

Ruth looked a little angry and started to say something but stopped. She considered the girls for a moment. They weren't bad kids. There had to be a reason for them to ask a question about something like their mom's sex life prior to her getting married. She visibly changed what she was going to say. "Normally I would tell you it is none of your business and if you want to know to go ask your mom. That is still my inclination but, I will give you a chance to convince me otherwise. Why are you asking me this?"

"Well, we heard mom say a lot of things this morning when she was talking to Bill," Mandy started.

"Mom said that she went through a phase and didn't want us to go through a phase like she did," Beth embellished.

"And we wondered about it. Was, ah, did mom do, ah, when mom was in school did she do, ah," Mandy tried to ask. She couldn't get it out for a lot of reasons. It wasn't just because she was talking to her Aunt Ruth. She was asking it about her mom. She didn't even know how to ask if her mom was a, well, a slut.

"Mom also said some stuff about Bill looking at us," Beth said.

That got Ruth's attention and she started getting alarmed. "Was he trying to look at you?" she asked angrily.

"No," Mandy and Beth said together shocked at the idea.

Beth reasonably continued with, "He's only supposed to look when we show him stuff."

Ruth, even more alarmed asked, "So you're supposed to show him stuff and he's supposed to look?"

"Beth, shut up. You're messing it up," Mandy said.

"Honey, if someone's telling you to show yourself to a man and he is supposed to look at you, well, that's just wrong. I don't care if it is your mom," Ruth said angrily as she stood and turned towards the door.

"No Aunt Ruth," Mandy said starting to panic. She sensed the situation was getting out of hand. "It isn't like that. It isn't like Beth said. We, ah, we've been kind of flirting with Bill and Mom said that he is supposed to let us and appreciate it because that is how we learn how to flirt."

Beth looked at her sister puzzled and asked, "Isn't that what I said?"

Ruth looked at Beth as she sat back down. "More like her mother every day," she muttered. She shook her head and looked back at Mandy. "OK young lady. Start at the beginning and don't leave anything out. If this isn't a bad thing then it is too much good stuff to pick on your mom with to pass up."