Message-ID: <2963eli$9708150945@qz.little-neck.ny.us> X-Archived-At: From: Krieg Lite Subject: Jenny (Mf+ teen play) Chap 11 Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d Path: qz!not-for-mail Organization: The Committee To Thwart Spam Approved: X-Moderator-Contact: Eli the Bearded X-Story-Submission: X-Original-Message-Id: <199708150159.TAA26120@shaman.lycaeum.org> As found in the noodle box... [NOTE: This is not the final chapter either. But the next one will be. It might be long, but it will be the last.] ------------------------------------------------------------ Chapter Eleven Transition Friday morning was total confusion, as I should have expected, but by noon I had a new walking cast, and Helen, Jenny, and I were on the way home. Helen had decided, very practically, that installing me in her third floor loft didn't make a great deal of sense, so for the time being at least her bedroom would be my campground. To simplify logistics while she was away, she made up a palette for me on the living room floor as well, so that I could rest down there during the day and not have to navigate the stairs. For the next week, Jenny was my designated nurse during the hours Helen was at work, and I have to admit that she played it very straight. She took excellent care of me, and aside from the occasional risque comment was a perfect lady. On the Monday following my release, I wrote a short note on the back of one of the contracts Sondra had signed explaining that I truly appreciated her offer, but I couldn't accept it. However, because of the good will she had shown in making the offer I was reducing my claim from five hundred thousand dollars to fifty thousand dollars. I added that I wished we could have met under happier circumstances, since the thought of making love to someone worth two thousand dollars a night was incredibly exciting. I signed it with a cramped, pinched scribble, and called for a courier. She worked as a low-level marketeer in a medium-sized firm downtown, and I wanted to catch her at work. As soon as the courier returned with a signed receipt, I called Roger and told him he was cleared in. Every afternoon since my little mishap, Jenny had gone to my apartment to collect mail and newspapers, and she continued the practice when I became their house guest. On Tuesday, there was a note from Sondra taped to my door asking me to call, and Jenny collected it along with the mail. Wednesday Sondra was there herself, sitting on the stairs. When she saw Jenny, she immediately asked where I was and how she could get hold of me. Jenny (I love that girl!) told her that Mrs. Palmer and I had gone to a cabin in the mountains to help my recovery, but she didn't yet know exactly where. She had no way to reach us, but she expected to hear from us soon since she was supposed to join us later. Sondra gave Jenny her number, and asked her to call her as soon as she heard from us. Jenny warned her that she didn't think she would be able to do that without getting permission from me first, but that she would ask if it was okay when she talked to me. Then she just stood there, obviously waiting for Sondra to leave until she finally did. Jenny watched until she got in her rental car and drove off. After that, Jenny always scouted the area before letting herself be seen, but Sondra made no further appearance. I got my first batch of letters from Ashleigh on the Tuesday when Jenny found Sondra's note. The first had been written Friday, at the airport, on the plane, and at her new home, and the second was written Saturday, when both had been mailed. They were on heavy pink stationery, and written in a bold hand in bright blue ink with an abundance of smiley faces and hearts for punctuation. They were pure narrative, though very colorful, telling me in great detail about her trip and her new neighborhood. Other letters arrived each day for the rest of the week, and once the initial descriptions were out of the way, they became more personal, though not intimate; she began describing more of her feelings for her new surroundings rather than the surroundings themselves. She had a real talent for writing, and I wondered if she had ever considered doing serious work. As time passed, I would learn much more about the variety of her writing moods. I stayed at Helen's all that week, and the next one, too, though I really could have managed at home by myself. The following week I returned to work and, aside from awkwardly struggling with my crutches for another couple of weeks, was back to normal. Somewhat to my surprise, Helen seemed to be busier during the summer than during the school year. She was teaching a class in summer school, and had a heavy schedule of meetings, seminars, conferences and other professional activities. It seemed to me that she was putting in less time on her own work than she had before, but she assured me that while she might be putting in fewer hours she was getting much more accomplished. We still spent most weekends together, and "Jenny's days" continued on schedule. In addition, Helen made several out of town trips ranging from overnight to three days, and while she was gone I stayed at her place with Jenny. On those occasions, Helen lifted the frequency restrictions on Jenny and told us we could spend as much time together as we could stand while she was gone, but the fundamental rule remained in place. Ashleigh continued to write at least three letters a week, and I tried to write back at least every couple of weeks. Some of her letters were hilarious, and others were thought-provoking, and others made me want to comfort her. Her letters were as honest as she was, and when she had problems, she wasn't embarrassed to write about them, nor was she embarrassed to write about things that excited her, or made her happy. To some extent, her letters let me write more honestly to her as well, and I found myself writing things I am sure I wouldn't have admitted to her earlier. I don't mean to imply that we were exchanging intimacies; at least it didn't feel like it. We were just being honest about things that we felt; she never mentioned any feelings she might have had for me, nor did I mention the subject at all. She would tease me now and then about Helen and Jenny, but always in a good-natured way. I know that she was writing to Jenny at least every week or so, and that she wrote several letters to Helen as well, and she would sometimes mention to me something that she had told them. I don't know whether either of them knew how much Ashleigh was writing to me, but I didn't try to hide it, and once Jenny commented on the size of the stack of Ash's letters on my desk. Besides her letters, I know she spoke to Jenny on the phone every week or so, and of course exchanged a word with Helen now and then as well. Throughout the summer Jenny continued to drop by my place once a week or so, but more just to visit than to do anything interesting. We were becoming more comfortable with each other, and the times we were able to spend a couple of days or so alone together made our time less frantic. The second time Helen left us on our own was over a weekend, and Jenny decided that we would spend the entire time isolated in the house sans apparel. So we did. We cooked, cleaned, played games, and generally had a perfectly normal weekend except that neither of us ever wore a stitch. Sunday afternoon, just before Helen returned, Jenny told me that her objective had been met: she wanted to see me completely "relaxed" under trying circumstances. Before I realized it, summer was over and school was about to begin. Jenny seemed to me to be somewhat down, though she put on a bright front. Ashleigh wrote that she was nervous about starting a new school, but she had at least had all summer to prepare for it and to meet a few people. I had expected Ashleigh's letters to become less frequent once school started, but they didn't. If anything, they became longer as she told me in great detail about her classes, her new friends, and her days. One day Jenny dropped by after school, and said that she couldn't stay long, but suggested that I check the view from my bedroom around six or so. I knew that she had something in mind, of course, and wasn't terribly surprised when I strolled to the back and looked in through Jenny's window. She had a guest, and a particularly lovely one with long brown hair. Jenny conned her into trying on blouses, and then finally convinced her to try on a bra as well. I had to admit that it was an interesting entertainment, but I found it difficult to generate much excitement over it. The next day Jenny came back by and asked what I thought of Cheryl. I told her that her friend was certainly pretty, and that I appreciated her generosity in putting her on display for me. She asked if I would like to see more of her. I told her that I certainly wouldn't mind, but I think she could see that I wasn't terribly interested, so she dropped it. A few days later, though we went through a similar routine with a different girl, with essentially the same result. And Jenny settled into a routine with this. Only once did she seem a little irritated and complain that I was getting pretty picky. I suppose there was some truth in that. Even though the girls were all very attractive, none of them really grabbed me, and perhaps part of that could be attributed to my somewhat active life style over the past year or so. But to tell the truth I was a little distracted as well. There was something about Ashleigh's letters as the year wore on that bothered me. She didn't really complain, but I got the feeling that she wasn't very happy in her new surroundings. Nobody can expect to be happy all the time, and if that had been the extent of it I wouldn't have been concerned, but I thought that I noticed a general deterioration in her writing ability and even worse, in her thought patterns. For some reason I had saved all of her letters, and I dug up some of her earlier ones for comparison. Where her hand before had been bold, it was now somewhat cramped. Her earlier broad sweeping curves had become more angular. And the content had changed as well. Much of the earlier imagery was gone; her sentences had become more regular in length and form, less complex. Realizing it might be a delicate subject, I raised it with Helen and asked her if she had noticed anything different about Ashleigh recently. She looked at me strangely for a second, then replied, "Yes, I have. And I don't think it's good. What have you seen?" I described for her as well as I could what I saw as the changes, and she just nodded thoughtfully and said that agreed with what she had been thinking. We were in bed at the time, and she then put her arms around me and held me close. "I'll see if I can find out something," she said softly into my chest. We never mentioned it again. Perhaps I simply hadn't noticed them the year before, but Helen's out-of-town conferences continued through the fall at about once a month, and I continued to stay with Jenny while Helen was gone. Once in early November, Jenny asked if one of her friends could stay with us, and mentioned the girl whom I had given my most glowing reviews a couple of weeks earlier. When I vetoed it, she asked if I wanted her to call Sondra Bethel, and I had to chase her down and spank her. Then she insisted that I kiss it and make it well, and being a gentleman of course I couldn't refuse. It proved to be a very stubborn injury, but eventually responded quite nicely to treatment. As Christmas approached, I began to get nervous, remembering the previous year. But Helen didn't spring any new surprises. She did tell me, though, that Jenny had asked for the rest of the package this year, and had been turned down flat. It was Helen's considered opinion that Jenny had been at least half-kidding anyway. With that out of the way, I began to relax a bit. I didn't count on my present. Actually, I'm not sure whose present it was, but it certainly felt like mine. We went to bed on Christmas Eve more or less normally. Helen had convinced me to forget my pajamas, and kissed me good night before we went to sleep, but nothing more athletic. But the next morning I woke up between Helen and Jenny, both in the most diaphanous gowns imaginable, and both languidly kissing my arms. They had their act choreographed like synchronized swimmers, moving in perfect unison as they covered me with kisses, Jenny on my right, Helen on my left. I tried to keep my reserve just to prove a point, but it was impossible once they started kissing my nipples while they stroked my thighs. I had one arm around each, and mother and daughter seemed equally firm and delightful. As they went on, I began to wonder what they would do for a finale. My writhing might have prolonged it, and if so, I was grateful, but it was far from intentional. I felt soft hair slide along my belly, lead and trail around soft lips. Soft hands cupped my balls. The lips brushed those self-same balls, then gently sucked them in as the fingers which had been holding them crept lightly down my thighs. I could feel my hips begin to thrust up from the bed, and I thought I heard an almost silent giggle from my right. When I felt the two tongues flick lightly upward along my shaft I knew that I was doomed. I began to buck uncontrollably, and felt the weight of arms pressing down against my hips. The tongues played games, circling round and round, up and down. Then the synchronized routines stopped, and I thought I would survive. Then I felt a pair of lips slide down over my shaft and I knew I would not. I couldn't see, because I couldn't force my neck down, and I'm not even sure that my eyes were open, but I knew it was Jenny's lips that held me. It was her tongue that now rolled me around her mouth, and her cheeks that sucked me. Her head moved up and down, her lips held me tightly. I knew I would explode. My hips bucked against the weight holding them down. I heard myself scream, but I didn't know it was me. The flow began, and I couldn't stop it. I spurted what seemed a continuous stream that lasted forever. And the mouth sucked, and sucked, and sucked me dry. I thought. A final spasm swept over my body and I lay limp and panting. After a few seconds, perhaps a minute, I felt bodies shifting and opened my eyes to see Jenny sliding around to kneel on the floor beside my head. She folded her arms on the bed and rested her chin on them, gazing at me with what seemed like amusement. I was trying to understand Jenny's expression when I felt gentle caresses. Helen was starting her solo. While Jenny watched with intense concentration, her mother slowly but steadily brought me back to full arousal. Despite my exhaustion and the distraction, Helen had my nerves screaming within minutes, my body quivering like a taut string. When her tongue started dancing around my cock I could feel my balls tightening again, and then she took me in her mouth. Her hands played my body, improvising and creating strange and wonderful new harmonies and building to a thunderous climax. I exploded into her mouth with an intensity that shocked me and left me helpless, sightless, suspended. Helen's gentle hands stroked me, calmed me, and her lips nuzzled me until my breathing approached normal, then she took me in her arms and cuddled me, whispering soothing words into my ear. After a few moments, she lifted herself over me and stepped from the bed to stand beside Jenny. My eyes followed her, and I saw that Jenny's expression had changed from amusement to amazement and wonder. Helen bent over and brushed my hair back from my forehead, then brushed my lips with hers. Jenny extended her hand and tentatively patted my arm, then mother and daughter stood and arm in arm walked away. I slept. It was probably over two hours before I woke up again, and the rest of the day seemed like a normal Christmas--whatever that might be. No one mentioned the morning ceremonies. That night, as Helen and I lay in bed, she turned to me and asked what I had thought of my morning. The only word I was able to produce was, "Incredible." She chuckled and explained, "I thought it was time to teach Jenny a little humility and respect for her elders. I'm afraid I have to tell you, though, that I may have created a problem for you, but I think it's one you can live with for the next few months. Jenny is going to be pretty anxious to sharpen her skills, so I think your sessions with her may become a little more taxing." I wasn't sure exactly what she meant, but I wasn't sure what question to ask, either, so I just watched her and waited for her to continue. "Until this morning, she was convinced that she could drain you completely--to the point of complete exhaustion--and leave you incapable of further activity. I told her that she didn't even understand the concept, and this morning was the proof and the end of the discussion. But now of course she wants to reach the point she thought she already had." She stopped again, thinking. Then she went on, "I'm afraid I may have added a little incentive." Another pause. "You know that Jenny will be turning sixteen next summer." Pause. "I may just have suggested that if she got good enough that I couldn't get you off again fifteen minutes after she finishes, I would get her a new car for her birthday." She began to laugh out loud, then she threw her arms around me and hugged me. "Sorry if that causes you a problem!" I lay stunned, thinking of what lay ahead and wondering if I would live through it. Then Helen added, "And just in case you might be in doubt, I have a few tricks of my own, and I don't intend to buy that car. Now go to sleep. You're going to need your rest." She fell silent, but I could feel her body heave with muffled laughter. For the next few days, both Helen and Jenny seemed to be in exceptionally good moods, and we had a lot of innocent fun. But before New Year's, Helen seemed to change. The change was subtle, but unmistakable; she seemed distracted, concerned. Jenny and I talked about it when we were alone, but neither of us could really pin it down or put a reason to it. And Jenny didn't let it distract her when her next session arrived, nor did she give me time to think about it, either. She had become a woman with a purpose. The next few months were going to be interesting, if I survived them. In mid-January, just before Jenny was to go on semester break, Helen had to make a trip out of town for a week, and as usual I had to stay with Jenny while she was gone. Jenny might have been on break, but I had to work and didn't feel like using up vacation hours, so she wound up at home by herself during the day. During the evenings, though, she became quite domestic. Over the past months I had been finding myself at Helen's more and more, and we had all settled in to a comfortable, though somewhat flexible, routine. When Jenny and I were alone, she always took advantage of the opportunity to practice and to milk me for suggestions and coaching, but there was still a relaxed and casual air; much more so really than during her "sessions". Helen called every night, of course, but always early in the evening; I suspect she was taking pains not to interfere with our activities. She had been scheduled all along to return on Saturday afternoon, and when she called on Friday night she confirmed that. It was somewhat unusual, though, when she called on Saturday afternoon to tell us that she was on her way in from the airport. I guessed that she was giving us notice to clean up our act before she arrived, even though it had never seemed to make any difference before, not even the time when she opened the door and found us both bare naked ready to greet her. We were fully clothed this time, though, when we heard her car pull into the driveway. Then the door opened and Ashleigh walked in. Jenny screamed, ran to her, and wrapped her in a bear hug. Helen strolled through the door, trying unsuccessfully to keep a broad smile from her face. After the girls wrapped up their ritual dance at the door, Ashleigh came over to me and hugged me, saying "Remember me, Larry? I told you we'd get together again." I was finding it hard to pry my arms from around her, though to be honest I wasn't really trying all that hard. "It's really good to see you again, Ashleigh." That didn't truly seem adequate to express my feelings, but then nothing else would either. "You're looking great." Which was an understatement of great magnitude. "How long will you be here?" Which was asked with somewhat more than casual interest, but I hoped it wasn't apparent. We untangled our arms, but now stood there holding hands and looking into each other's eyes. "I'm staying here, Larry. At least through the school year and probably the summer as well. I'm going to be spending a weekend in Seattle occassionally instead of the other way round." Her grin lit the room. It would probably have lit Yankee Stadium had the need arisen. I stood there dumfounded. I didn't know what to do. I looked up at Helen, who was no longer trying to conceal her smile. While offering no explanation, Helen did offer that Ashleigh would be moving into the guest room across from Jenny's room, and that the room would henceforth be known as "Ashleigh's Room". "She can have her own room-warming party as soon as the rest of her things arrive, which should be in a week or so. Larry, why don't you give me a hand with the bags while these two go start setting things up." She walked out the door without waiting for an answer. I reluctantly released Ashleigh's hands and followed Helen. Jenny and Ashleigh ran up the stairs. "What's going on?" I asked Helen as soon as we were at the car. "Spend the night with me, and I'll tell all. Come on, load that barge, tote that bale! Let's go!" She thrust a couple of suitcases at me, and drapped the strap of a smaller bag around my neck. As I trotted off, she called out that these bags were Ashleigh's, so I took them up to her new room, then returned to the car to see if there were any leftovers. Helen had already locked it, so I took that to mean that all of the cargo had been offloaded and wandered back into the house. There didn't seem to be anyone downstairs, so I headed up the stairs. At the top I heard the girls chattering and laughing in Ashleigh's room, but couldn't make out anything, and I turned the other way to head for Helen's loft. Just as I did, she appeared from the bedroom door. She walked up to me and immediately announced, "I have decided that we're going out. We have to celebrate, and I feel like Italian. Any objections?" She didn't look as though she was in the mood to brook any, and I had none anyway, so I concurred. We marched together to Ashleigh's open door and Helen repeated her decision. Jenny agreed enthusiastically, and Ashleigh said that she also thought it was an excellent idea. She gave me a wink as she did so, which caught me totally by surprise and I'm pretty sure made me blush. If it did, neither Jenny nor Ashleigh gave any indication that they had noticed it. With general agreement on Italian, Helen and Ashleigh asked for and received an hour or so to scrub off the debris from their flight. I suddenly realized that I was in somewhat of a delicate situation. I had been staying with Jenny for a week, and I had already more-or-less agreed to stay with Helen tonight. With Ashleigh in the house, I was for some reason uneasy about playing member of the household rather than house guest, and I couldn't decide whether to go home to get ready for dinner or stay here. Helen made the decision for me when she asked in front of the girls for me to come up and wash her back. As soon as she did, Jenny asked her if she and Ashleigh could get some help with their backs as well. Helen said that she didn't think I would have enough time for that and led me away to general merriment. Recurring history was the theme of the day at the restaurant. We had the same table we had the last time the four of us were there, we had the same seats, and just as she had before, Helen took Jenny off to the ladies' room as soon as we were settled. And just as she had before, Ashleigh turned to me and I heard her say, "Well, Larry. Have you thought about my question?" As soon as I heard it, I knew that my mind was playing tricks on me, and I began trying desperately to recall what she had actually said. But no matter how hard I tried, all I heard were the same words. I wanted to ask "What question?", but I was afraid of the look of confusion I would see if I did. After a few seconds, Ashleigh took pity on me. She put her hand on my arm, "I'm sorry, Larry. That wasn't fair. I just couldn't resist. I'm here, I'm happy, and I couldn't help remembering the last time we were here, and how happy it made me to hear you say, 'Let's do it.' I know you probably don't remember that, but I'll never forget it." Helen could probably hear my sigh of relief in the ladies' room. When I explained to Ashleigh why I had been sitting there like a stone, her musical laugh set my heart aflutter. This time I know I blushed, and this time she noticed. She lifted her hand from my arm to my face for a moment, then put it back. "I'm not going to let you go back on our deal, you know," she told me. "It will be a little trickier now, of course, since I'm staying with the Jenkins, but I'll find a way. Trust me. This time we don't have an early deadline to worry about." Before she could say more we saw Jenny and her mother returning to the table. For the rest of the evening, we traded stories about what had been going on over the past several months. Even though we hadn't exactly been out of communication, there was plenty of catching up to do and lots of detail to be filled in. They were all happy, happier than I had seen them in a long time. And if pressed I would confess that I was happy, too. Then Jenny popped a question that probably should have been asked much earlier "How did you get your parents to let you come back, anyway? I thought they were dead set against it." Ashleigh stopped and said, "You know, it was the strangest thing. I think that I could have talked mother into it, but dad wouldn't even discuss it. And then last week your mom was in town, and right out of the blue he told her that I wanted to come back, and that if I could stay with her he thought it would be a good thing. And the next thing I know, I'm on the way. Isn't that great?" I felt cold fingers playing down my spine. I glanced at Helen; she was a picture of innocence, but was avoiding my eyes. I couldn't wait to get her in bed. I freely admit that that wasn't unusual, but this time was different. I don't remember a single thing that any of us said for the rest of the evening, including me. When we got home that night, it was after twelve, but this time we all got home at the same place. It was a strange feeling. If Ashleigh was the least surprised that I was spending the night with Helen, she didn't show it. Of course she had known for a long time that Helen and I were doing interesting things, but I somehow thought that the openness of it might at least raise an eyebrow. On the other hand, she knew Helen well, so probably nothing would surprise her. Regardless, we all climbed the stairs together, Jenny and Ashleigh heading right at the top as Helen and I turned left. There was a chorus of goodnights, and then Helen and I were alone. As soon as we were on the stairs leading to her loft, I asked her what she had engineered. She didn't say a word, just took me by the hand and led me to her bed, then turned and started unbuttoning my shirt. As she concentrated on the buttons, she started talking. "I didn't give away a thing. I didn't have to. Little Kenny surrendered at the first sign of action." She began unbuckling my pants. "When I flew out there I wasn't sure what it would take, but I was ready to use my whole arsenal if necessary. I grabbed a hotel right outside SeaTac and called his office as soon as I got to my room. All I did was leave a message for him to call me." She pulled my shirt off and tugged my undershirt over my head. "Mr. High Roller called me back in less than an hour. We chatted a bit and agreed to get together for lunch. Lift." I did, and she pulled my shoes and socks off and removed my pants. Then pulled my briefs down and off. "It's pajama night, bucko," she said and pointed me at the closet as she began undressing. She stopped talking while she was changing to her gown, and I suspect she may have been considering how she was going to continue her story. Still silent, she walked to a small refrigerator in the corner and pulled out a bucket of ice, a bottle of champagne, and a pair of tulip glasses. She walked back to the bed, sat crosslegged on it, and said, "Sit." I complied. She poured us each a glass of champagne, handed me mine, touched it with hers, and sipped. I sipped and listened. "When I saw him walk in I knew he was rattled, but I didn't know why. It didn't take me long to figure it out. He started lying through his teeth, but that was just habit. He was going on about his new branch, rattling nonsense; I don't think he was even seriously trying to be plausible. Then I had an idea. I asked him about Janet. He got more nervous, but he talked about how well she liked Seattle and how the new environment had renewed their relationship and all that bull shit. I let him go for awhile, then asked about Ashleigh. He gave the same kind of spiel he had put together for Janet. I decided I would take a chance, and I got lucky. I gave him a demure little smile and told him flat out, "Ken, you've found yourself a little honey and you're getting ready to dump Janet, aren't you?" He turned white as a sheet. Bingo. Then I told him that I had known he was a rat ever since he seduced me when Jenny was a baby. I asked him if had ever told Janet about our little roll in the hay. Larry, that was twelve years ago, but you should have seen his face; he was still scared to death Janet would find out. I would lay big odds that he's cheated on her many, many times since then. I don't know whether she had suspected something about us and he had denied it or whether he thought it counted more fucking her friend. I'm sure that part of it was timing. If he was getting ready to dump her, it could get very expensive if she got vindictive. Anyway, I let him stew for a few minutes while I chattered on, then I mentioned that I had heard that Ashleigh wanted to come back and finish school with Jenny, and asked very nicely if he had thought about that. He stuttered and stammered for a while, then I said that I was sorry but I really had to run, but that I really wanted to have a little heart-to-heart chat with Janet, too, and I would give them a call that night, and that I really wished he would give some consideration to Ashleigh's coming back to stay with us, and if he could see his way clear to let her do it, to let me know when I called and I would see what I could do. I stood up and walked out of the place leaving him there still stuttering and stammering. I didn't call that night. But the next day I called him at his office again, and this time he called back within ten minutes. I apologized for not calling before, but promised him I really did want to talk to Janet and that he could be sure I would call, unless he would rather get together for dinner. I have no idea what he was thinking of, but he thought dinner was a great idea. Maybe he thought I wouldn't make a scene in public, or maybe he thought that he would have a better chance face-to-face than over the phone. I didn't care, I was just talking anyway, and he surprised me by agreeing to dinner. I sweetly suggested that it wouldn't be a real party without Ashleigh, and he said that of course she would be with us. Then as though it had just occurred to me, I suggested that it might be a little less messy when he abandoned his family if Ashleigh were staying with us. I rattled on without giving him a chance to say anything before I said goodbye and hung up." She poured us each another glass. "Can you imagine what I was feeling? I had come prepared to do violent battle, and this asshole was going to fold just because he's afraid his wife will find out about a one-nighter he had twelve years ago. I was going to win, and still have everything I needed to burn him really bad once he finally dumped that little wife. It was all I could do to keep from starting a victory bonfire in the hotel lobby. That night we had dinner at a restaurant downtown near his new office. It was great. Ken was putting on a first-rate act: one of his better efforts, really. Janet was Janet. And Ashleigh was delightful, as always. I started talking about old times, and all the fun we had had back then, and all the bridge trips we had made, and all of the crazy things we had done, and I could see Ken getting more and more nervous. I made a point nearly every time I told a story of turning to Ken and saying, "Remember, Ken?" It was wonderful watching him. He knew exactly what was coming, and since I was telling my stories in chronological order, he knew how close I was getting. I had changed topics a couple of times to bring the conversation around to current events both in Seattle and back home, so it seemed perfectly natural when I asked Ken if he remembered that regional in Syracuse where we ran into Kaplan and Kay. He knew what was coming, but he had to say he did. Then I turned to Ashleigh, and said that I just remembered that Jenny had told me to ask her when she was going to get a chance to come visit us. Poor Ashleigh had no idea what the hell I was trying to get her to say, and I could tell she was trying to think of something she could say without making trouble when good ol' Ken perks right up and said that he wasn't really satisfied with Ashleigh's school work since she had come to Seattle and thought she might do much better if she could go back to her old school, and that he knew it was a real imposition particularly on such short notice but he was asking as an old friend if Ashleigh could stay with us for the rest of the year while she went to school. I will remember that moment until I die." She stopped and smiled at me with a distant look, and I knew that she was seeing it again as she spoke. "Janet's chin bounced right off the table, but I think she was pleased, too. I blithely ignored the reactions around the table and took it as a routine question. I just answered, 'Why, of course she can!' and the table went wild. When things settled down, Ashleigh asked what had happened in Syracuse, and I said, 'Your father forgot to knock out an entry and let Norman Kay catch me in a strip squeeze for an overtrick.' And dear Ken was terribly upset. I don't know why. I didn't say anything about what happened after the game." She gave me a wicked smirk. "I let him rant for a while about how his play was correct and how I had always been a result merchant, then I reached over and patted his hand and said with as much condescension as I could manage, 'It's all right Ken, it was a tough play.' Poor Janet was sitting there about to burst with laughter, but Ashleigh didn't even try to hold it in." She finished off the champagne. "I think that now I understand the attractions of the age of chivalry: slaying foul dragons and rescuing fair maidens is such great fun." She stood up and started clearing away the debris. "The rest of the trip was all just tieing up loose ends and taking care of the details. Oh. And I did happen to call one of my old buddies and tell him that I thought that I might be getting ready to feed the sharks pretty soon, and that it would be nice if he would spread the word, and that a little work just might turn up a young lady who would bear watching." With that she turned back toward the bed with an expression of joy that would have been a credit to a Superbowl winning quarterback, pumped her fist in the air a couple of times, then dived into the bed beside me. "Now. You. Give me that reward I have so nobly earned." So I did. Ashleigh's arrival changed things, of course. I still stayed with Helen on most weekends, and on the odd day during the week, but Jenny was in an awkward position and started banking days. It honestly didn't bother me. The whole family, and I included all four of us in that, was happy. It was a very good time. Once Ashleigh had truly settled in, Jenny really did throw a welcome-back party for her. I had planned to stay away on that night, but Helen asked me to help out and I did. It was a good group of kids, roughly half and half boys and girls, but I didn't notice any obvious pairing off. I recognized a couple of the girls from Jenny's exhibitions and, purely as a mental exercise, forced myself to remember what they looked like when wearing somewhat less. Despite my misgivings, it turned out to be a very entertaining evening. Over the next few weeks, I thought I noticed a bit of growing tension. Not the bad kind: everyone still seemed to be honestly enjoying the others. It seemed to me that it might be sexual tension because of Jenny's sudden abstinence and Ashleigh's continued wait, but I didn't want to give myself too much credit. As it turned out, perhaps I didn't give myself enough. -- +--------------' Story submission `-+-' Moderator contact `------------+ | story-submit@qz.little-neck.ny.us | story-admin@qz.little-neck.ny.us | | Archive site +--------------------+------------------+ Newsgroup FAQ | \ .../assm/faq.html> /