Chapter 1

Like most girls growing up, I guess, I had all these dreams and ideas and plans about the man I would eventually marry and just how it would be. Those ideas and dreams changed, of course, as I grew up, changing from the Prince Charming stories that seemed to be ubiquitous for young girls to teen movie and music video stars to a more mature, sane approach, a Prince Charming with a big job on Wall Street.

Well, maybe not Wall Street, but a man capable of providing for you if you wanted to take a few years off your own career track on Wall Street. Okay, not exactly that but, well a man who was steady and good and, well, sexy, too.

And, that's what I found, steady, good, and sexy. All that and one added feature: he came with a son. Yes, the man of my dreams had already been the man of someone else's dreams which, obviously, had not worked-out.

Since college, I had dated some, I really never liked the bar scene so my dates weren't very frequent and, whenever I tried a dating website, I often got paired with guys who were hundreds of miles away which just doesn't help. Why do they do that?

So, I was twenty-five when I first met my Prince Charming, Guy Adderton, and it came out on our first date that he had been married before and that he had a son under his custody.

We met through a mutual friend so it wasn't a workplace romance, so often fraught with federal and state legal implications, and I was soon introduced to Guy's son, Kenny, who was thirteen at the time.

My ideal man concept had never had anyone else coming along with him and the thought of dating, then engaging with and marrying two males was not my girlhood dream but it was what I had found. My Prince Charming came with a second prince, a junior version.

Sound familiar? It seemed that all my childhood girlfriends had ended up making similar if different compromises. Guy was also a compromise with my early dreams in one more aspect: age. Guy was thirty-seven when we met, I was twenty-five. The twelve-year difference is not insignificant and it had caused me to at times wonder if I was choosing the right man.

His having a teenaged son was even a bigger hurdle. I came close, twice, to calling it quits though as I got to know Kenny, I really did begin to like him very much, even began to see myself in the role of stepmother, of all things.

I had my image of me as a mother when I was growing up but, like most, it was of me cradling a small baby in my arms, not driving a teenaged boy that I was genetically-unrelated to soccer practice. So, there were adjustments beyond all the normal ones that come about when two people decide to be together.

Now, I wouldn't want it to sound as though I didn't want Kenny as a stepson, no, he was really a very nice young man and didn't seem to get into any trouble. His grades were good and his attitude positive which made him easy to be around.

It did mean, of course, that Guy and I had a third person with us throughout our dating and leading up to us getting married. We just couldn't have sex any place in his house or run around naked chasing each other and having fun.

Even our lovemaking had to be toned down a bit to hold the noise down. It didn't make things too difficult, it just meant there was a third person in our relationship all the time.

I had asked Guy about his son's social life and I guess he was pretty shy around girls. We were at dinner, we did leave him at home sometimes when we went out if we weren't far, he could always call on his Dad's cell if anything happened, and I asked him, "Kenny never seems to be on the phone with any girls, has he dated at all?"

"Oh, there was a dance last year, a girl asked him and he seemed to have a good time but, well, he's pretty shy."

"Not like his dad, I must say," I replied. "Too bad he didn't get your genes on that."

"Oh, he did, I was awful when I was in middle school and high school. Probably worse than Kenny."

"Really, that's hard to believe."

"Well, it's the truth, the whole girl thing just stymied me, it was like I was frozen."

"You sure grew out of it."

"It was more that I was pulled out of it, really."

"Pulled?"

"Yeah, literally pulled. You've met my Aunt Susan."

"No, really, her, your aunt?"

"Yeah, an older woman. My mom put her up to it, told her I needed a woman with some experience, someone who cared for me, would do it right. How about that? Never told you about that have I?"

"No, but, well, even now, she's quite pretty, this would be quite a few years ago, she must have been really nice."

"Oh, she was and she knew just how to handle it. I'm really glad it was an older woman who had experience and went slowly and knew what she was doing. And someone who really loved me. I really think that it helped me become a better lover."

"Well, if that's where it came from, good for her, and your mom to see what it took. Maybe you could get your aunt to reprise her act and initiate Kenny into the physical side of life?"

"Well, I'd rather he have someone a little younger. How about you?"

"Sure why not?" I joked back nudging him in the ribs.

"Wouldn't he love it? Just look at you, you're every fifteen-year old's dream."

"You don't have any younger aunts?" I asked.

He slowly shook his head from side to side.

"But you'd be perfect, hon. He'd remember it forever."

"You're not kidding, are you?"

"Well, I guess I'm not. You know I'm not the jealous type. I love my son and hope the best for him and, well, you're the best."

"Yeah, but I'm his stepmom."

"You think this never happens?"

"Oh, I'm sure it happens a lot but ... well...".

"Well, it was just an idea, I sure don't mean for it to upset you," and he leaned over and kissed me, then signaled the waiter for our bill.

Later, he was soon sound asleep but, me, I was laying there on my back staring at the ceiling which I could not see, thinking about this conversation. I was amazed at how my mind was so swirling with the whole thing, the pros, the cons, there were both, I supposed. Then, I realized that I was softly rubbing myself.

It wasn't that I was totally unaware of such things happening. I had a good friend who grew up having sex with her two brothers and her dad. The mother was part of it all as well. She loved it, used to tell me all the combinations they used to do, it was quite erotic and, well, I never looked down on her or her family, actually, I rather looked up to her for it.