Chapter 10

As my aunt and Joe had promised, things speeded up and after the events of the weekend. Everything that had to be moved was moved to Joe's house and at last we were all living together under one roof. I realised I was falling more into my proper role of a fourteen year old and now easily thought of Isa as my aunt and related to Joe as an uncle. This did not mean I was unaware of my greater experience of life than would be normal for a teenager, but I was getting more comfortable with my young body and the role that I had to adopt because of this.

Now that Katy had professed her love for me and I for her, this also helped to make me feel at home with what had happened as the result of Peter's death and the inheritance I had gained from him. While it had been easy for Joe to accept me as his daughter's boy friend, the same was not true of Isa. This is not to say she objected, but because of her knowledge of what had happened she felt a degree of unease about the relationship. When we discussed it privately it was clear that she worried that my greater experience of life would cause me to take advantage of Katy's relative innocence and lead her into a sexual relationship that she was not ready for.

In the course of our discussion about this I tried to make it clear that there were advantages which my greater experience brought to the situation. I pointed out that while it was true my teenage body experienced all the normal sexual drives and urges of a horny fourteen year old my greater knowledge and experiences of life made it easier for me to keep them under control. I told her that Katy was delightful young woman and one with whom it was easy for me to fall in love.

I went on to say that as I was in love with her, mine's would be a more mature love than the one she felt for me since I had the maturity not only to want what was best for my beloved but to make sure I did not harm her ... This meant I would to exercise the control that would enable me to move the relationship along at her pace rather than the pace that real Peter might have forced on her. Because of his inexperience there would have been a greater likelihood that he would have been much less able to control his sexual drives.

I think by the end of the conversation I had with her about my relationship with Katy she was more at ease with the situation. She accepted that I had Katy's best interests at heart I would not take advantage to her. It also helped that she was able to see how my friendship with Katy had not only protected her against the actions of those who had sought to bully her, but that my greater social awareness and ability to make friends had also helped her confidence. This had and enabled her to be at ease with the friends we had made because of it. She may have found this confidence eventually, but with her father as a role model and his inability make friends because of his shyness, this was by no means certain. Isa saw that there were probably more benefits than drawbacks to my relationship with her new step daughter and accordingly gave it her blessing

I think this decision was further enhanced because of her experiences and discussions with me which had led to her relationship with Joe in the first place. Because of how I had interacted with her and the support and guidance that I had given her she had learned to trust me with her own well being. As a result of this she was now prepared to trust me in the same way with the well being of her step daughter whom she had come to love as much as I had. I was grateful to her for this.

The few weeks to the wedding flew past. When the day finally arrived, Isa looked the truly beautiful woman she was, and the adult within me envied Joe his bride. However, as we stood at the altar awaiting the arrival of the bride at the church I had to support a very nervous groom. As the wedding march struck up and as she walked down the aisle on the arm of Mr McMillan, my mum and dad's family lawyer and a true family friend, Joe turned to look at his bride and I heard him gasp. Not only did he see a truly beautiful woman being led towards him, he also saw someone who was radiant with happiness and this shone from her face. Mr McMillan handed her to her husband and stood beside her awaiting the question, "who gives this woman to be married." he said he felt truly privileged at being asked to perform this task and was obviously enjoying his day.

Our new friends were in the congregation and as was promised the girls were in all their finery and looked truly beautiful themselves. I have to say that Charlie and Bobby scrubbed up pretty well too and both sets of friends made truly handsome couples. One of the girls from the office who had been invited was asked to be a signatory of the marriage register along with Mr McMillan and then we proceeded to the meal. I had to give a speech and managed to do so passably. As the stand in for the father of the bride, Mr McMillan also had to give one and he was incredibly funny and not afraid to tell jokes against himself as well as the bride and groom.

One of them really brought the house down, when he told of a lawyer a doctor and a clergyman who had been shipwrecked in the darkness while sailing together in the Pacific. When they woke up in the morning after being washed ashore found themselves on a rocky atoll with virtually no vegetation. As they perused the wreck of their boat they felt that eventually they would die of starvation once their provisions ran out.

However when they surveyed the scene, they found that about thirty yards away across a narrow straight was another small island lush in vegetation. So they stripped off in order to swim across. But just as they were about to plunge in to the sea they noticed several shark fins patrolling the straight. This called for a rethink. They found that from the wreck of their boat they could fashion a rope that stretched the thirty yards and decided to draw lots to see who would attempt the swim. The lawyer drew the short straw. He tied the rope around his waist and the other end was attached to a boulder part of the way up the rock. If he made it to the other side he was to attach the other end to a tree and the others would swing across on the rope.

As the lawyer plunged into the shark infested water the minister knelt and prayed. When he looked up he saw that the lawyer was swimming down the middle of a double line of sharks that stretched all the way to the other island. The minster raised his eyes and his hands to heaven and cried,

"A miracle! God be praised, a miracle!"

The doctor looked at him cynically.

"A miracle is damned!" he said, "That is just a guard of honour for the biggest shark of the lot."

After that story the laughter took quite a time to subside.

Before the meal, and over drinks, Mr McMillan had spoken to me about the progress of my damages suit and informed me that a substantial offer had recently been made by the company's insurers. He was going back to them with a slightly higher proposal and he felt that they would probably accept it. He did not want to give me a figure at present but would certainly do so as soon as he heard from them about his counter offer. Whether or not they accepted his higher figure he would let me decide what I wanted to do.

After the meal, Joe and Isa with had, with our consent, booked a night in the hotel where the meal was held. They had arranged that a friend was to run us back to the house. We had all agreed that we were quite old enough not to require a baby sitter. So it was that Katy and I returned to the house and had it to ourselves. Having been dressed up for most of the day and since it was not overly cold Katy suggested that once we had recovered from eating such a large meal we should get changed and go for a swim. If we felt cold afterwards we could always warm up in the Jacuzzi. I agreed and we turned on the Jacuzzi and chatted about the day's events over a hot chocolate.

When I had turned on the lights around the pool area my girl emerged in her bikini. I felt myself harden as I perused her beautiful figure. To avoid her seeing this I was forced to plunge into the pool without even testing the temperature of the water and it would have been cold enough to take my breath away if Katy's beauty had not already done so.

Once in the water however our bodies became accustomed to the temperature and we were able to swim for twenty minutes before heading to the hot tub. As we sat together among the bubbles my girl snuggled up to me and we hugged and kissed as we chatted. I had to exercise a fair degree of control not to let my hand wander and start fondling her obviously maturing breasts. After a time we retreated to the showers and rinsed off before going our separate ways to change.

When we were back in the kitchen with another hot drink, it became obvious that in the interim before the wedding Katy had been discussing with Di and Jenny the state of their respective love affairs. It seemed that Charlie and Di, who were a few months older than us, had gone all the way. Jenny on the other hand was still a virgin but she and Bobby engaged in some heavy petting. This raised some questions in my girls mind.

When she finished recounting some of the things that she had learned from the other two she then turned to me with her questions.

"I know it isn't very long since we acknowledged how we feel about one another," She said, "But we have shared a lot and spent a lot of time together over the past six or seven months. I love it when we kiss and hug, but after listening to Jenny and Di I wonder if you are frightened to try anything with me in case it scares or offends me"

I have asked myself this several times in recent weeks and now I did it again. Where had that painfully shy young woman gone that I started befriending when Isa and Joe began their courtship? Was she now telling me that she wanted to go further in our love making? I thought for a few minutes before replying to her questions.

"No I am not scared to try anything with you," I told her. "And I am not scared

that if I do it will offend you. It is just that when I first knew you; you were painfully shy. So I don't want to rush you. At the same time I don't want you to think that you don't affect me sexually and arouse me, because you do."

She giggled at this remark.

"I know that," she said. "Once or twice when we have been hugging and kissing or when I have sat on your lap, I have felt you getting hard," she told me blushing.

"I am glad you know that," I replied. "One of the reasons I was so quick into the water tonight when you appeared in your bikini was because just the sight of you was enough to make me hard and I did not want you to see it. But now that you are aware of the effect you have on me I will not be so embarrassed if you see it in future."