THE MEASURE OF MAN

An Epic by Gil Gamesh

Chapter Twenty-Six

As for you, Gilgamesh, fill your belly with good things; day and night, night and day, dance and be merry, feast and rejoice. Let your clothes be fresh, bathe yourself in water, cherish the little child that holds your hand, and make your wife happy in your embrace; for this too is the measure of man.

<><><>

CAST OF CHARACTERS:
Kieran Stuart, 43; Siobhan Stuart, 42; Kavan Stuart, 16; Arial Stuart, 14 (and ½); Kerry Stuart, 11 (almost 12)

Kathryn Jenssen, 17, Lauren Andersen, 51

TELLING THE STORY
Kieran Stuart
Siobhan Stuart
Kerry Stuart

<><><>

 (SIOBHAN)

On Sunday morning, Kieran was out of bed early. He tried to be quiet while getting his running gear but he woke me as usual. I tried to decide whether I wanted to go pee and go back to sleep or go pee and make a pot of coffee. Pee and coffee won.

I was sitting on a stool in the kitchen, white robe and socks, when Lauren came in, white robe and socks. Our matching outfits got a smile from of both of us. I poured her a cup of coffee.

“How do you feel this morning?” I asked. 

“I’m tired and a little sore. Good sore. I’d forgotten how good it is to feel this way from making love. Whose bed am I sleeping in? Arial’s?” she asked.

“Yes, the kids were very agreeable in reshuffling when they found out you’d be staying with us.” I answered. “Arial wanted you to have her queen-size bed and said she’d sleep on the living room couch. Kerry offered Arial his twin-size bed and said he’d sleep on the couch. I wonder now if he was hoping he’d get to sleep with you. Did he bother you in bed last night?   ” 

She smiled. “No, he didn’t bother me. I got out a nightgown and started to put it on. He told me I wouldn’t need it. When I got in bed, he snuggled up behind me. He reached around and put one hand on my breast and that’s the way we went to sleep. Does Kieran like to do that?”

“Yes. Kerry’s just like his father. Is he still sleeping?”

“He woke up when I was getting my robe out of the closet. We had the blanket over us last night and he kicked it off when I got up. I wish you could have seen him stretch. Long arms and legs all over the place and it looked like he grew an inch while doing it. I guess he had to show me his morning hard-on. Quite a show. He mumbled something about sleeping with him again tonight, about wanting me to himself or wanting to do something by himself. I pulled the blanket up to his shoulders, kissed him on the cheek, and told him ‘Yes, Kerry.’ He pulled the blanket over his head. I think he wants to sleep some more.”

“Seems like you’ve already got a date for tonight then.”

“Already? Did you have something else in mind?”

“Yes, if we can talk Kerry into sharing you. I’d like you to sleep with me and Kieran Monday night.”

She hesitated in answering.

“I’m not sure that’s wise, Siobhan. I didn’t come here to cause problems for you two. Your marriage bed doesn’t need anyone else in it.”

“You won’t cause any problems, Lauren. I know how strong our marriage is. When Kieran told the kids you were lonely, Kerry came up with the idea of making you part of our family. They talked it over and then talked me and Kieran into it. They think being loved can make anybody feel better. I agreed about the love part but I wasn’t sure how you’d be with the sex part.”

“Then they’re very smart children. When we talked on the phone, I’m just glad you told me what might happen. I told you I hadn’t had sex with another man, except for Kieran, since Paul and I married. I thought I was ready for whatever might happen. Quite frankly, all of you sort of overwhelmed me last night.”

“I warned you we played at sex with the kids. But last night was a surprise to me too. We’ve never done anything like that before.”

She put her hand on mine. “It was fun, Siobhan. I needed something to make me feel alive again.”

“If you sleep with us Monday night, I’d like to do something for you and for Kieran both.”

“What?”

“Somebody taught him about oral sex. He loves it. Me too. After all these years of marriage, he still loves to get his mouth down there. I just thought we’d give him a two-for-one. You know, both of us, at the same time, and him. All the pussy he can eat. As far as I know, that’s one he’s never done before.”

“And what do we do for him?”

“After that, I hope you’ll let him give you a good old-fashioned fuck. You know, missionary position, legs up around his ass, him pounding away until you can’t take it any more. I love it when he gets me that way. Maybe you might enjoy it too.”

“And what are you going to do when he’s pounding on me.”

“Recuperating. You make sure Kerry has a good time tonight; I’ll make sure Kieran has one too.”

“Siobhan,” she said,” I’ve never done anything quite like last night either. I wasn’t expecting it and I guess I’d been denying myself too long. Let me enjoy being loved by all of you for a few days. I made a decision last night that I should have made months ago. There’s a man I’ve been thinking about, a widower, whose wife died not long after Paul. There’s so much I’ve got to do in the next month or so but I want to give him a call. If it works out, I think I’d like to get married again.”

I leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’m glad you’re thinking like that. You should open yourself to love again. Don’t you think Paul would want you to?”

She nodded and smiled at me. 

“Now help me with Kieran,” I said. “He’s going to have a hard day today. He’s scared of calling Stuart. He knows he’s got to tell the kids the truth about how he helped you have Stuart. They’re not going to be satisfied until he tells them the whole truth. Will you be OK with that?”

“Do you know about us? The whole truth?”

“Yes, he told me maybe ten years ago. I suppose he thought he’d never see you again.”

I heard Kieran coming up the stairs from the basement. I held my finger up to my lips. She nodded her understanding.

<><><>

(KIERAN)

On Sunday morning, I slipped out of bed early as usual. Weekday habits were hard to break on weekends. I got my running shoes, shirt and shorts, and tiptoed into the family room. I listened but I didn’t hear any one else. I went out the back door and then down the hill for a run near the creek bank.

When I came back, dripping sweat and exhausted, Siobhan and Lauren were sitting on the counter stools in the kitchen. They both had on a robe but neither seemed to care if it was open or closed. Why would flashes of a woman’s body, when she was clothed, be more erotic than the same peeks when she was nude? I stripped off my wet clothes and saw two women looking at my naked body.

Siobhan had already poured me a big glass of orange juice. I drained it without putting it down. She handed me a small towel and I wiped off some of the sweat. She poured me a cup of coffee and I sat down on a stool with them. I looked at Lauren. “How are you this morning?”

“I’m fine, Kieran. A little sore but fine.”

“Are you OK with what we did? It’s the first time we’ve done anything like that, the boys and me, I mean. The kids hatched the plot. I’ll admit I didn’t need much convincing. Do you understand what we were trying to do? It wasn’t just sex.”

“Siobhan and I’ve been talking about it. She said Kerry came up with the idea of reminding me how good life can be. He got the other kids to help and they convinced you and Siobhan.”

“That’s Kerry. He’s our love child. We hadn’t planned on having him. Siobhan’s birth control pills didn’t work because of an antibiotic. We both think he’s the closest thing to an angel we’ve ever seen.”

Lauren laughed. “Even when the little angel is making love to an old woman?”

Kieran asked, “How many kids his age could understand like he does? That when you’re lonely, making love can remind you how good life can be? He was having fun. But what he did was for you as well as for himself.”

“I can’t keep sleeping with him, you know. I’m old enough to be his grandmother.”

“We know. Siobhan and I talked about that. Puberty hit him about six months ago. He keeps bugging us to learn. We thought you’d be a good teacher. You taught me very well.”

I could see her eyes becoming moist and she sat sipping her cup of coffee for a minute or so. Finally she looked at both of us and asked, “Is there a nice place where we could go to brunch this morning? I’d like all of us to dress up a little and go someplace real nice. And it’s my treat; don’t argue with me.”

Siobhan stood up. “Let’s wake up the kids and tell them to shower and get dressed.” She put her hand on Lauren’s arm. “And would you shower with me and old stinky here? It might take two of us to get the sweat off him.” 

Siobhan led her into our bedroom and on into our bath. I remembered my first shower with a woman – Lauren – so many years ago. They both helped in scrubbing me clean. They giggled like schoolgirls together in washing my cock. It rose in appreciation to a tired but willing state. I was glad when they let it be. 

Afterwards, Siobhan sat down on the stool in the bathroom so I could blow-dry her hair and comb it out. Lauren sat down on the commode and watched. “Do me next?” she asked. I nodded. They swapped places and I dried and combed Lauren’s shorter straight hair. Siobhan pushed me down on the stool so she could try to comb my hair. She never got it right. I always had to do it again when she wasn’t looking.

I caught Lauren’s hand and looked up at her and Siobhan. “There’re a couple of things I’ve got to do today. I’ve got to tell the kids about us. I want them to know you and Paul asked me to be the sperm donor for Stuart. I’m not going to lie about how I donated that sperm. After that, I want to call Stuart and invite him and his family to come for a visit with us.”

“Are you going to try to put them up here, in your house?” Lauren asked. 

“Yes, we keep some foam mats here that we use at the cabin. We can put the kids on those. We can put Stuart and Joanne in the basement in Kavan and Kathryn’s room. They can sleep on foam mats. I think they could sleep anywhere.”

“Could I make a suggestion?” she asked.

“Sure.”

“Let Stuart and Joanne have Arial’s bedroom where I’ve been sleeping with Kerry. Let me move into Kerry’s bedroom. We can put Arial and Kerry and little Paul on mats in the living room. Tell them we need them to help take care of the baby.”

Lauren and I looked at each other. A perfect solution – it solved more than one problem. We nodded in agreement.

<><><>

Lauren insisted so we went to the best place in town for brunch. The prices were certainly high enough. I still wondered how they could make a profit after watching the kids eat. Even Arial went back for more a couple of times. 

<><><>

After brunch, we went back home, got undressed, and all started doing whatever we wanted to do. I took the Sunday paper to the deck and started reading. Kavan and Kathryn disappeared downstairs to their bedroom. They didn’t tell anybody what they were going to do but their laughter on the way downstairs told us. Arial and Kerry got books to read. In the summer, they always had something to finish before their Monday morning trip to the library. They curled up together on the couch on the deck.

Lauren complained of a little headache and some residual jet lag. She asked for something for the headache and wanted to lie down and rest for an hour or so. Siobhan wanted to rest too so she invited Lauren to join her in our bedroom.

After a while, I wandered into the bedroom. They both appeared to be sleeping. Lauren was curled up against Siobhan. I stood watching for a minute. Then I slipped quietly into bed with them and curled up behind Lauren.

I must have had a good nap because I felt fine when I woke up. I looked up and Arial and Kerry were at the foot of the bed, looking at the three of us. When I moved, Lauren and Siobhan did too and I wondered how long they had been awake. Lauren held out her arms to the kids and they crawled in bed with us. Lauren was included in all the hugs and kisses, just as though she had always been part of our family.

I knew it was time. I asked Kerry to tell Kavan and Kathryn to come up to the family room. I knew I had to tell them about my relationship with Lauren and Paul. They had to know I had a son with Lauren and that I was already a grandfather.

Siobhan made us a big pitcher of lemonade. I needed it. My mouth was dry and my hands were sweating. She must have felt my anxiety.

“I want you kids to sit and listen to what your father has to say. He’s got something important to tell you. Don’t you dare interrupt until he’s finished! You can ask questions then.”

She looked at me, smiled, and nodded. I looked at Lauren. She gave me another smile and nod. I looked at the kids and started.

“I told you kids that Lauren was a very good friend when I was a teenager. There’s a lot more I didn’t tell you. Lauren was married to Paul when I met them. Paul had fertility problems. They had one little girl who was conceived by artificial insemination – from an anonymous sperm donor. They wanted to have another child. The second time, they chose the sperm donor. They chose me because I was so much like Paul. Lauren and I have a son together. His first name is Stuart, the same as our last name. I’ve only seen him once, when he was two. He’s twenty-eight now. He’s married to Joanne. They have a son who’s named after his grandfather, Paul. And Stuart wants to come visit us.”

Telling them took only a few minutes. Answering all the questions took almost an hour. Arial was tickled to learn she had another brother. I reminded her that Stuart was her half-brother. Kavan understood that I was a grandfather and called me Grandpa during the questions. Kerry asked the most direct question of all. He looked at Lauren and then at me, evidently thinking, and then asked how I had donated the sperm. I knew there was no use in trying to hide anything from our kids.

“I donated the sperm the old-fashioned way. Lauren was my first teacher about love and sex, when I was sixteen. I made love with her over a period of about three months. Paul knew about it and was there when most of it occurred.”

That provoked a torrent of questions. I started stumbling in answering. With Lauren sitting next to me, I didn’t know how much she wanted me to tell. She settled that. She started helping me tell the story. The kids got the honest unvarnished truth about every bit of it. When Lauren told them about me smoking pot and some of the things I’d done with Paul, I wondered what they thought of me.

Kavan gave me an answer to that. He stated laughing, said I’d been bad, and he was going to give me a noogie when we finished our story. His knuckles on my head didn’t hurt. His arm around my neck felt just fine. While I was getting the treatment from Kavan, I watched Arial hugging and kissing Lauren. Arial was crying and so was Lauren. Kerry hugged Lauren next. He was almost as tall as she was. He whispered something in her ear and she smiled and nodded at him.

Late that afternoon, I called Stuart. When he answered, I told him who was calling. I told him I had him on a speakerphone and Lauren and my family were listening. He was silent for a few seconds.

“Lauren said you wanted to talk to me. She said it would be OK if I called you.”

“I do,” he answered, in a voice full of barely-contained emotions. “I’ve been trying to decide what to do. When Mom told me she’d called you, I wanted to call you then. She told me she was going to go see you herself and she’d let me know what to do. So I assume she’s OK with us talking and seeing each other whenever we can.”

“Yes, I’m taking her advice, s…” I caught myself before I called him son. I was quiet for a moment.

“You were about to call me son, weren’t you?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“It’s OK. I am your son. But Paul was my father. I always called him Dad. I can’t call you that.”

“I don’t want you to. Your father was a friend to a teen-aged kid. I’ve had a lot of years to think about what I did at his request. It took a real man to let me help him and your mother have a family. I don’t want you to think of him in any other way but as your Dad.”

“You can call me Stuart. But I won’t mind being called son by you. Paul loved you a great deal. I think he saw you as the sort of son he wanted. I know he was happy with the one he got.”

“You can call me Kieran if you wish. I’ll even answer to Grandpa. I think it’s going to take some time for me to get used to that.”

“OK, Grandpa it is then. Just wait until you see your grandson Paul.”

I watched my family as I talked to Stuart. Arial was sitting next to Lauren on the couch holding her hand. Kerry was stretched out on the couch, his head in Lauren’s lap and his long legs over the end of the couch. Kavan and Kathryn were sprawled on the floor. Siobhan was sitting near me. Gradually over the next hour or so, they began to speak to Stuart. Stuart changed to speakerphone too so his wife Joanne could listen and talk. Even their three-year-old Paul got in on the conversation. Before it was over, we had arranged for them to fly in on Thursday night, six days after Lauren’s arrival.

When I hung up the phone, it occurred to me that buying airline tickets that quickly would be expensive. And that Stuart might not be earning enough yet to afford them.

“Could I pay for the tickets for Paul and his family, Lauren? I imagine I can afford them easier than he can.”

She smiled at me. “You don’t need to worry about that, Kieran. I can afford to buy them too. I bought all our tickets weeks ago, just after I talked to your parents.”

The kids had more questions for me but I had one for Lauren. “You bought the tickets after you talked to my parents? How did you know things would work out this well?”

“I talked to your parents. They remembered me. I think your mother even had an idea of what we did when you were sixteen. She told me enough about you so I knew you hadn’t changed. I knew you pretty well too. I didn’t think we’d have any problems in getting our families together.”

The kids offered to fix Sunday night pizza for us. We kept the crusts in the freezer and they each had their own favorite version. We’d eaten all of their experiments except for the one when Arial put two cans of anchovies on one pizza. I asked Kerry to check the beer supply. I always wanted beer with my pizza and Siobhan had even decided she liked it with pizza too. I let Kavan and Kathryn have what they wanted to drink and I’d never seen Kavan have more than two. When Kavan reported back that the old refrigerator in the basement was well stocked, I asked Lauren if beer was OK with her. She nodded yes and I sent the kids off to create.

Siobhan brought up something I’d been thinking about.

“Lauren, would it be OK if we invited another young couple to come for a visit? If we’re going to Cabin in the Woods on Saturday, they could meet us there. It’s Luke and Rachael Bridges and their daughter Adrianna. She’s three, just like Paul, and Luke and Rachael are about the same ages as Stuart and Joanne. If Luke can get off work they might be able to stay the whole week.”

Lauren looked from Siobhan to me and then back. She must have guessed there was a story behind Luke and Rachael.

“Tell me about them?” she asked.

I told here the short cleaned-up version, that Luke had lived with us for his senior year in high school when he’d met Rachael, and we’d been friends ever since, that they came for a visit every few months, and that their little girl Adrianna even called me Pop, for Grandpa.

Lauren saw Siobhan smiling and evidently guessed there was more to the story. 

We gave her the full story. She laughed when she heard about my battle with Rachael. 

“Please invite them, Kieran. It sounds like they’re part of your family already. I don’t think the week would be complete without them.”

<><><>

(KERRY)

I found Dad sitting on the deck after dinner. He was just sitting there staring at nothing. I guess he was thinking about all that stuff he did when he was a kid. And then getting Lauren pregnant. Boy, that’s something. I’ve got a brother, half-brother, who’s old enough to be my dad. That’s scary. Hope I like him. I sure like his mom. Hope I don’t get her pregnant.

“Hello, Squirt. You sleeping with Lauren again tonight?”

“Yeah, Dad, that’s what I wanna talk to you about - sleeping with Lauren - and having sex with her.”

“Are you OK about her having sex with you last night? And then Kavan and me?”

“Yeah, Dad, I think I understand what me and Kavan and you were doing. We weren’t just having sex with Lauren, were we? We were doing what I wanted to do for her. We were showing her how good it feels to be loved, weren’t we.”

He looked at me like I was somebody he didn’t know.

“No Kerry, it’s not just about sex. Lauren’s been very lonely and unhappy since her husband Paul died. When we played together with her last night, she had a lot of fun and we made her happy again. Can you understand that?”

“Sure, it’s just like when I’m being a mean little bastard. You and Mom love me into being good. When Mom pulls me up against her with my head on her shoulder and then you hold me from behind, it’s like you’re ganging up on me to make me straighten up. It makes me want to be good to you in return. If you can love me out of being bad, I guess you can love her out of unhappiness.”

Dad looked at me as though I’d just discovered electricity or something.

“What, Dad? I’m not a dummy, you know.”

“No, Kerry, you’re certainly not. But if you want to have sex with Lauren tonight, that’s between the two of you. You know what I’ve told you about that.”

“Yeah, Dad, your usual lecture. Like if a girl gives me a blowjob and the guys at school ask me if she sucks cock, I’m supposed to say I tried to kiss her and she wouldn’t even let me do that. I understand why a real man doesn’t talk about what he does with a woman. Cause it’s nobody else’s business.”

“That’s just about it, Kerry. You may want to brag but that just means you’re hurting her first and yourself second. Don’t do it.”

“OK Dad, skip the lecture. Lauren and I didn’t have sex when we slept together Friday night. We didn’t even do it any more after we went to bed last night. I think we’re going to tonight but I need to talk to you first.”

“Let me get this straight, Son. You’ve slept with her a couple of times. You didn’t have sex either night? Except for what we did together last night?”

“No Dad, I don’t think either of us needed to. She let me put my hand on her breasts, like Mom does sometimes. She even let me suck on them. When I put my hand between her legs, she didn’t slap my hand away like Mom does. I even got my finger in her pussy. Boy, was she wet!” 

“And that’s all you did, both nights?”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much it. Last night, I was lying on my back and she put her hand over my dick. She pushed my foreskin back and played with the head with her fingers. When I got hard, she put her hand over it and held it down against my stomach. She played with my balls with her fingertips and it tickled but I liked it.”

“And how did Lauren seem to be about all that. Did she seem happy? Did you know if she had any trouble sleeping?”

“I don’t think so. I spooned up behind her, just like you do with Mom. She put my hand on her breast and held it there. We just went to sleep like that. I hope she liked it. I liked it a lot.”

“If you woke up during the night, was she still in bed with you? You didn’t wake up and find her crying, did you?”

“No, I woke up the first night ‘cause her head was on my shoulder and my arm had gone to sleep. Her eyes were open and she was looking at me. I just moved over and kissed her on the lips and then we went back to sleep. I didn’t even wake up last night”

“But you want to sleep with her again tonight? And this time you want to have sex, is that right?”

“Yeah, Dad, I wanna sleep with her. And I want to do some other stuff too. I don’t understand what I want to do. I wanna put my face on her pussy like you do with Mom. I wanna fuck her too but I guess she’d say my dick’s too little.”

“Kerry, your dick’s not too little. It’s lots bigger now than it was a year ago. You’re probably going to have one like Kavan and me. Yours is already big enough now to make a woman come, isn’t it?”

“Did I really make her come, Dad? I sorta figured she was just saying that to be nice ‘cause I’m a little kid.”

“She told you she had an orgasm with you last night. Your Mom asked her about it and she said you really did make her come.”

“I guess I came too ‘cause it got to where I couldn’t stand to do it any more. I felt like something was squeezing me and it felt real good. Is that like a real orgasm?”

“Sounds like it, Kerry. Are you ejaculating yet when you jack off?”

“I guess so. Some. I don’t squirt out as much as Kavan does. And it’s not all white like his. More like water, a little white in it. The white stuff’s the sperm, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, that’s right. And it feels real good when it comes out, like you can’t stand to rub your dick anymore?”

“Yeah, first I don’t wanna stop and then, when that happens, I can’t stand to do it any more for a few minutes.”

“Well, keep practicing. Seems like you’re having real orgasms. They’ll get better. I think you’re growing up right on schedule, Son.”

“Can I sleep with her tonight, Dad?”

“May I?”

“No, Dad, not you, me!”

“Kerry, you know the difference. Don’t play dumb. You’ve always got to ask Lauren, not me.”

“May I, Dad? I’ve already asked her. She says it’s OK. But I want you to tell me it’s OK. I want to have sex with her again. I want you to tell me it’s OK for me to do that with her. I’m just a kid and she’s a grown woman.”

“Son, you’re going to make some woman a fine husband one of these days. You know that woman can’t be Lauren. Just don’t get too possessive over her. She’s a lot older than you are. You know you can’t keep sleeping with her, don’t you?”

“I know that, Dad. But she’s still a beautiful woman. And If I talk with Lauren and we agree on doing something, it’s OK with you and Mom?”

“Yes, Kerry, it’s fine with us. You’re fine with both of us.

<><><>

After I talked to Dad, I took a bath by myself in the basement shower. I put on some underarm deodorant. Mom says I smell sometimes now and she got me my own deodorant. I never smell myself but I can smell Kavan and Dad. I looked close under my arms but I couldn’t see but a few hairs yet. I checked around my dick and didn’t see any more than last time I looked - just some around the base of my dick. My dick was a lot bigger than last year but I couldn’t tell if it had grown any lately. My dick decided by itself to get hard, like it does sometimes. I rubbed it to help it. When it was hard, I got the ruler off the shelf where I keep it and checked. It was a little over five inches, maybe more. About the same as it was when I checked it a couple of weeks ago. I checked again. It was definitely a little over five. My balls were lots bigger than they were last summer. It was kind of funny the way my scrotum was now. It was looser and thinner and my balls hung down lower. I wondered how low they’d get before I was grown. I checked my mustache in the mirror. Dad calls it a mustache even if you can’t see it unless you look close. He told me I didn’t need to worry about shaving yet. I hope I don’t get zits.

I put on my pajama shorts and a white terry robe. When I went upstairs, I checked the clock. It was a few minutes before eight. I went in the family room and found Lauren. She was talking to Mom and Dad. Arial was reading. Kavan and Kathryn were groping each other.

I walked up to Lauren and held out my hand to her. She looked at me and smiled. Mom and Dad were looking at me. I looked around and Arial and Kavan and Kathryn were looking at me.

“What? Lauren says she wants to go to bed early. She says we’ve got a busy day tomorrow.”

Lauren took my hand and we went down the hallway to Arial’s bedroom. I don’t know why they all had to watch. I shut the door behind us. I didn’t want anybody bothering us. 

Lauren gave me another big smile. She was beautiful when she smiled.

“I want to take a quick shower, Kerry. I won’t be but just a few minutes.

One of her suitcases was open and I stood looking at it. On the top on one side I saw a white nightgown. On the opposite side I saw her underwear, bras in one stack and panties in another. The nightgown looked fresh and smooth. I guessed she hadn’t worn it since she was at our house. I picked up the nightgown and smelled it. It smelled nice but it didn’t smell like her. I picked up a pair of panties and smelled them too. They didn’t smell like anything. I thought of something Dad and I had talked about once. I took the nightgown and panties in the bathroom and laid them on the commode. I don’t even think she heard me come in.

I went back to her bedroom and took my robe off. I sat down on the bed Indian fashion. Dad kids me when I sit like that. He says it looks like I’m meditating. I made sure she couldn’t see anything down the legs of my pajamas.

When she came out, she had on the nightgown. I guessed she had on the panties but I couldn’t see them. She looked in her suitcase and found a hairbrush and started brushing her hair.

“Don’t you want to sleep with me without anything on tonight?” she asked.

I nodded that I did.

“Then why did you bring me the nightgown and panties?”

“Your nightgown was on top of the stuff in your suitcase. It made me think of something Dad and I talked about once.”

“Are you going to tell me?”

 “I asked Dad why Mom wore a nightgown and panties sometimes and he wore pajamas. He said it was because the gift is more precious when you have a beautiful package to unwrap. I thought that made sense.”

“Kerry, you are an amazing boy. You’ve got more sense than a lot of men.”

“Then it’s OK if I unwrap the package? And it’s OK if I want to do some other stuff before we go to sleep? Dad say’s it’s OK with him if I just ask you.”

“What do you want to do, Kerry?”

“You taught Dad about making love. I think that’s why he doesn’t want us to call it fucking, why he says he makes love with Mom. That’s what I want to do - make love with you. Saturday night was fun but too many of us were playing at the same time. I want to play with just you this time. I want to make love with you.”

“I’d like that too, Kerry.”

“Can I ask one more question before we do anything?”

“May I?”

“Yeah, you may. Come on, Lauren. I know the difference. I just don’t think of it every time.”

“Yes, you may.”

“Is my dick too little? Arial says it is. She says grown women want somebody with a big dick like Dad’s. Maybe like Kavan’s. His is big now.”

She looked at me kind of funny like. Mom and Dad do it all the time. I never know if it’s because I’ve asked a stupid question or a smart one.

“Kerry, when you open your package tonight, I want you to put one finger in my vagina as deep as you can and just think about what it feels like around your finger. Do you think you can do that?”

“Sure.”

“When you do, think about how my vagina touches all around your finger. When put you dick in me, it’ll expand to hold you the same way. If your father puts his in me, it expands the same way.”

“But mine’s not long like Dad’s. His is at about two inches longer than mine when we’re both hard, maybe three.”

“Yours will be longer, Kerry. It will be bigger. But you need to understand something. Most of the nerves that make it feel so good for a woman are in the part you can touch with your finger. Most of the nerves that make it feel so good for you are in the head of your dick, aren’t they?”

I thought about that for a while. She was right about my dick.

“So I can make you come even if my dick isn’t big and long like Kavan’s and Dad’s.”

“You did that last night, Kerry. I’ll bet you can do it again tonight.”

That was what I wanted to know.

Lauren lay down on the bed and I turned over on my side so I could look at her. I didn’t know what to do first. Was I supposed to kiss her first and then feel her? When was I supposed to unwrap her package? I thought maybe I’d better ask her.

“What do you want to do first?”

“I thought you men decided that, Kerry. Will you really let me do what I want to first?”

“Sure, I’ll let you do anything you want to.”

“It’s sort of a secret fantasy of mine, Kerry. It’s something I’ve wanted to do since the first time I saw you. I’d really like to do it if you’ll let me.”

I knew she was teasing me. I’m no dummy. “I’ll let you, Lauren. I might even help you. What is it?”

“I want to unwrap your package. I want you to lie down and let me play with it while it’s wrapped up. Then I want to unwrap it and play with it some more. Then I want to put my mouth on it and see if I can make you come.”

My dick was already hard. It got harder when she said that. When she put her hand on my shorts and felt it, I think it got harder again. When she pulled it out through the fly, I was afraid she was going to break it off. She played with it some more. I guess she liked sliding the skin up and down on it as much as I did. She started to pull my shorts down and I lifted my hips up and helped her.

When she leaned over and took half of it in her mouth and sucked on it, it felt like it was going to burst. Then she did something I couldn’t believe. She pushed her mouth down until her lips were around the base of my cock, in my pubic hair. I don’t know where the head went. She let most of it slip out, took a deep breath, and did it again. I was about to rip the sheets off the bed. She kept doing it. Then she started sucking hard on the head and then going down on it.

I knew I was going to bust wide open. I tried to tell her something was going to happen if she didn’t stop. But I couldn’t say anything. I could feel it starting somewhere back behind my balls. It was like a big hand squeezing somewhere in there and it felt the best of anything I’d ever felt. I thought I couldn’t stand it anymore. Then it started pumping and squeezing something out through my dick. That felt the best of all. When it stopped, Lauren took another deep breath and swallowed. She gave me a big smile and said, “Kerry, you taste good.”

I was glad my dick stayed hard because I wanted to do something to her. I was glad she gave me a couple of minutes to rest up, though.

After that, she made me be real slow about everything else. She showed me now she liked to be kissed. She let me play with her through her nightgown and let me put my hand under it and on her panties. I pushed them to one side and teased my finger into her pussy. I tried to feel it all around my finger like she said. I decided it was time for me to unwrap my package. She pulled her nightgown up and I pulled it over her head. All she had on was the panties. She lay back down and gave me a big grin. I rolled over on her with my mouth at her breasts and sucked on her nipples. She put her hands underneath her breasts and gave me first one and then the other to suck on. I really liked doing that. I decided it was time to go down on her like Dad had told me.

When I got down there, I wasn’t sure what to do. I got my nose between her legs next to her panties and smelled them again. They sure smelled different now. I pulled them to one side and tried to find out where to put my mouth. I’d seen pussies before, Mom’s and Arial’s and Kathryn’s. I knew they sometimes sort of closed up and then sometimes they were wide open. Lauren’s was kind of closed up. I guessed I’d better take her panties off. She lifted her hips up to help me. I got back down and tried kissing her pussy and then licking but all I got was hair in my mouth. Lauren put her hands on both sides of my head and sort of showed me where to lick. It was right up at the top of her pussy. I’d have never found it without help. I licked it and sucked it like Dad told me to do. She must have liked it because she started squirming. I was hoping I could make her come like I was supposed to but she decided she wanted me to fuck her.

She started saying stuff like, “Come on, Kerry; fuck me. Come on, baby; fuck me. I want to feel your big dick.”

I crawled up on her and she held my big dick while I pushed and it went in her pussy like it was greased. I didn’t ever want to take it out. I tried to push it in as deep as I could. She raised her legs up and wrapped them around my ass. I could feel my dick in her up to my balls. She squeezed me with her legs like she wanted me to stay in her. I tried to stay still but I couldn’t. My dick wanted to slide in and out so it did. I liked that even better.

I guess Lauren did too because after a while she started making noises. I was really getting to like it when something happened. She started cussing, saying stuff like, “Oh, shit. Oh, damn.” Over and over. I felt something squeezing on my dick. I liked that too. I kept pushing in her and pulling it out and I felt the squeezing start in my insides too. When it started this time, I went somewhere. I don’t know where. When I came back, I was laying on top of Lauren. My face was buried in her hair, beside her neck. She was breathing real hard. So was I.

I looked at the clock. It was only nine fifteen. Good! I had time to do some more stuff with her before my bedtime.

<><><>

(SIOBHAN)

Monday morning, I woke up without an alarm clock at six as usual. I was nestled up against Kieran. I slipped out quietly and went to the bathroom. I peed, washed my face and hands and brushed my hair. The morning was a little cool so I slipped on a robe and found some white socks for my feet. When I opened the bedroom door, Lauren was just coming out of the room she was sharing with Kerry, white socks and robe again.

In the kitchen, I asked Lauren to make a pot of coffee while I began assembling breakfast. I’d taken a banana-nut bread out of the freezer the night before and it was on the counter ready for slicing and toasting. Lauren made a big bowl of fresh mixed fruit. I made a big ham and cheddar frittata for the ones who wanted it. I sat the orange juice cartons on the kitchen counter and decided that was enough. I sat down on a stool and poured two cups of coffee.

While we were sipping our coffee, we heard metal clanging against metal down in the basement.

“Kavan’s lifting weights,” I told Lauren. “He and Kathryn have part time jobs working for a landscaping company this summer. They need to be there by eight and they’ll quit about noon. They should be back by about twelve thirty.”

The clanging noise got louder.

“Kavan’ll be up in a few minutes with shorts and shirt on. He likes to wear sweatshirts with the sleeves cut off so he can show off his biceps. Make sure you admire his muscles.”

“He lifts weights like that every morning? You don’t need an alarm clock, do you?”

“Not exactly like that. Let me tell you what happened a couple of weeks ago.” I leaned closer to Lauren and she leaned across the counter top.

“I heard the weights clanging and Kathryn and Kavan laughing. I opened the basement doors and yelled at them, asking what they were doing. Kathryn invited me down. When I got downstairs, Kavan was on the exercise bench lifting weights. He was naked and so was Kathryn. She was sitting on top of him, straddling his body.”

“You mean they were having sex while he was lifting weights?”

 “Yes,” I giggled, “sex like you wouldn’t believe. She was sitting on his dick, facing toward his feet. He was lifting his usual one hundred pounds of weight. When he let the weight down, he lifted his butt up off the bench and Kathryn’s feet came off the floor. She had to hold on to his legs to keep from falling off. He’d lift the weights and then Kathryn. Did it maybe a half dozen times. Then he really had to show off. He took some deep breaths, lifted the weights up until his arms were straight, then lifted Kathryn up with his stomach and hip and legs muscles – at the same time.”

“You’re kidding. He’s that strong?”

“Yes, but that’s not the best part. He was looking at me while I was watching him do it. He held the weights and Kathryn at the same time and still managed to grunt out something to me. He said, ‘Tell Dad having orgasms like this is great. You two ought to try it.’”

“Did you tell Kieran?”

“No, I don’t know whether to or not.”

That was our last quiet moment together for a while. It was laundry day. Kavan brought his and Kathryn’s stuff from the basement in two baskets. Arial brought hers in her arms. Kieran brought in a basketful from our bedroom. Kerry brought in one too. I could see he’d brought Lauren’s dirty clothes with his own. I went over and started sorting everything out in piles on the kitchen floor. Lauren started helping me without saying a word, just smiling. I carried a basket into the laundry room and started the first load.

Arial came back carrying a book. She poured herself orange juice and then started reading. Kerry came back with his arms full of sheets and pillowcases from the bed where he and Lauren were sleeping. He piled them with the other sheets, went over to Lauren and kissed her on the cheek. Arial was watching. When Kerry looked at her, she stuck her tongue out at him. He sat down beside her and started reading her book while he ate. He liked the frittata. Arial put the book where they both could read and nibbled on the banana-nut bread. 

Kieran came in again dressed for work, suit, no coat on yet. He asked me to call Luke and Rachael and invite them to come for a visit. Lauren and I talked while he ate. He kissed every one of us, as usual, and left.

Kavan and Kathryn ate their customary big breakfasts and left for work. They both kissed me and Lauren goodbye. Kathryn whispered something to Lauren and Lauren said something I couldn’t hear back to her. They kept whispering until Kathryn seemed satisfied and left with Kavan. Arial and Kerry wandered off somewhere.

Lauren and I were suddenly alone. I poured us another cup of coffee. Since I’d started using half and half decaffeinated and regular, I allowed myself a second cup. We cleaned up the remnants of the bread and frittata and fresh fruit.

“What did Kathryn want?” I asked. 

“She said she and Kavan want me to sleep with them. I told her I couldn’t because I was sleeping with you and Kieran tonight. She asked me for Tuesday night and I said OK.”

“Did you enjoy sex with Kerry last night?” I asked. “Was he a good lover?”

She told me, in detail. I was very proud of my son.

We took Arial and Kerry to the library by nine so they could get their bi-weekly collection of books. Arial had discovered William Butler Yeats and 18th century English women writers. Kerry was reading books about geology and paleontology. I couldn’t follow him when he skipped from Lucy to plate tectonics. I couldn’t understand why the librarian wanted them to have restricted library cards. I thought they should be able to check out anything. They said they’d meet me out front at eleven.

We dropped off the dry cleaning and then ran back by the house to start another load of laundry and to fold the ones in the dryer. We went to the grocery store. Lauren wanted to pay for the groceries but I insisted she was our guest. We went back home and I put away the groceries while she made telephone calls. I started another load in the washer and folded a load out of the dryer. When I went looking for Lauren, she was in the family room. She had a laptop computer open on the coffee table and was typing on it while she talked. I looked for the phone she was using to talk and didn’t see one. Then I saw she had on a small headset.

We went to pick up Arial and Kerry at the library at eleven. They both had their arms full. Lauren asked if they really read so many books. I told her it was their bi-weekly checkout and sometimes they had to renew some of the books. We were folding the last load of laundry when she asked me about getting a real estate agent.

“Could you or Kieran recommend a good real-estate agent for me, Siobhan? I want to look for a house – one big enough for me and Stuart and Joanne and Paul. And I’ll probably be buying some more property when I find it. There’ll be a good bit of money involved and I want somebody I can trust to look out for my interests.”

“I know a young man I think you’d like,” I said. “Kieran’s company uses him and he’s worked with him on a number of transactions. Let’s talk to Kieran and see what he thinks.”

“I may move rather fast. I need the house before the fall semester starts at the university. That’s about four weeks.”

“You’ve already decided to move here then? And Stuart and his family?”

“We decided on that weeks ago. We just had to check out one last thing – the Stuart family. I just called Stuart – That’s going to get confusing, isn’t it, having a son called Stuart and being involved with a family of Stuarts? – and he’s calling the university right now to accept a job. And he’s calling the research center too, to accept a job with them.

Names weren’t the only thing confusing. I let it show.

“Siobhan, Stuart’s a brilliant young man, high-genius IQ. He’s been offered a research position at the university and another with a company in the research park. They both want him and they’ve agreed to share him. The jobs overlap anyway. I don’t understand what he does but he can handle it. He’s always handled everything. He and Joanne and little Paul moved in with me when big Paul got bad sick. We like living together. We’re going to stay together when we move here.”

“And you had all this worked out before you ever called us?”

“Well, I didn’t do all of it. Stuart and I made most of the plans. He found the jobs and liked them so that sort of clinched it. The only thing I didn’t have worked out was you and Kieran and your family. That’s why I decided to come see you.” 

At noon, we fixed lunch for the crew, sandwiches and fruit and iced tea. Kavan and Kathryn came in hot and tired and thirsty. They stripped off dirty clothes and took them in the laundry room. They wanted to eat first and shower later. We all fixed our plates and went out on the deck to eat. Kavan whispered something to Lauren and she nodded. He smiled back at her. After lunch, they wanted to shower and rest for a while. I knew that meant sex for a while. They invited the rest of us to shower with them. Kavan and Kathryn were already naked. Arial stood up and kept reading while she took off her shirt and shorts. She was ready. Kerry had his nose buried in a new book. I leaned over and turned it upside down. He looked around at the other kids and took off his shorts and shirt. I looked at Lauren for her response.

“Could we just watch? I can’t keep up with you kids. I’m not a teenager any more, you know.”

Sweet Kerry, dear Kerry. Somehow, he knew just the words to say.

“Well, you were last night.”

I made a mental note to kiss him for that. Maybe Lauren did too.

Lauren and I sat on the steps while they showered. The four of them started two showerheads and Arial and Kerry helped the two workers scrub clean. They’d done it quite often this summer. They started their horseplay – grab-ass, Kerry called it – and soon he and Kavan were sporting hard-ons. I think Lauren was surprised again when first Kathryn and then Arial kneeled down and sucked on their dicks for a minute or so.

Kavan finally had enough. He grabbed Kathryn, both still dripping wet, and dragged her into the basement bedroom. Kerry and Arial turned off the shower, got towels, and dried off. They followed us back up the stairs to the kitchen, both got a book to read, and went out on the deck. Kerry still had an erection. It was all an everyday scene to me. I wondered how it looked to Lauren.

I sorted the clean folded laundry and started putting them in the baskets. Lauren asked me how I knew what went to each. I told her that the boys all had different waist sizes so their underwear was easy. Same with shorts. Kieran and Kavan wore the same size knit shirt and they didn’t care who got what. Arial and I wore different sizes in everything. Towels didn’t matter. Sheets did but there were two king-size beds, Arial’s queen-size, and Kerry’s twin. The baskets were color-coded. We all made the system work without even thinking about it.

By mid-afternoon, I had everything done. I made a pot of hot tea and found some lemon cookies I liked. I invited Lauren to sit with me on the deck while we had tea and cookies. I knew what I was going to fix for supper – Beef bourguignon with bread and salad. It wouldn’t take long. I had never read all of the Sunday paper so I got that. We didn’t subscribe to the daily paper because nobody ever had time to read it. I was in the Arts and Entertainment section while Lauren looked at the Real Estate.

She started reading me a description of a property that was for sale: 300 + acres in horse-shoe bend of river, old house on promontory of ridge, heavily wooded with hardwood trees, cliff, cave, some remaining bottom land for crops.

Kerry didn’t even lift his eyes from the book he was reading. “That’s the Freeloft property. Mrs. Freeloft says she’s got to sell it. Her husband is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. She says they’re land rich and money poor.”

Lauren looked at me. I shrugged my shoulders. I didn’t know how he knew about it. He looked up and saw we were waiting.

“We found if when we were exploring down the river, me and Larry and Kirk. If you go down the creek to where it runs into the river and then down the river a little, that’s the Freeloft property. It’s about thirty minutes walking.”

“You know Mrs. Freeloft?” I asked.

“Yeah, Mom, we met her last year. We were trying to figure out the geology on the cliffs down there. We cut over the hill on the way back and saw the house. They were out in the yard. They invited us in for something to drink and we stayed for a while. We see them every time we go down there. They always ask us to come back soon.”

“Would you tell me about them?” Lauren asked. “You say Mr. Freeloft has Alzheimer’s. What else do you know about them?”

“They’re real nice to us. Seems like they’re always glad to see us. They’re close to eighty years old. Don’t have any kids. They seem like they’re in good health except Mr. Freeloft’s getting confused and forgetful.”

“She said they were land rich and money poor? Those are her words?”

“Yeah, she said she wants to move into town so she can have somebody to take care of them. She’s already having problems with Mr. Freeloft going off and forgetting how to get home. She says she doesn’t have much money but the land is worth a lot. She wants to sell it so she can take care of Mr. Freeloft and herself.”

“Can you tell me about the property?”

“She says it’s about three hundred acres. Sort of in a horseshoe bend in the river. On the north side, there’re limestone cliffs. The south side slopes down to bottomland that they used to farm. If you turn off Highway 20, there’s a dirt road about a half-mile long that goes to two houses. The old house’s a stone house that nobody lives in. They live in a brick house close to it. She told us Mr. Freeloft’s great grandfather built the stone house. Nobody’s lived in it for years and years. She says keeping a good roof on it and paying property taxes are just too much.”

“Could you take me to the property tomorrow afternoon? I’d rather drive than walk. Could you show me around the property? And introduce me to the Freelofts?”

“Sure, Kavan knows them too. We could show you all over the property. We’ve explored almost all of it. About the only place we’ve never gone is the cave. They asked us to stay out of it.”

I could tell that Lauren was interested in the property. I had no idea how interested. She turned to me. 

“Siobhan, I’m impulsive. But I know what I want and I usually get it. Will you help me get something started without asking too many questions?”

“I will if Kieran helps too.”

“Fine. Now first I want a good lawyer, one that knows property and trusts and corporations. One that I can keep for years. He’ll be glad he has me for a client. I want him to contact the Freelofts. I want to see the property tomorrow. I want the lawyer to be ready to offer them $100,000 for an option on the property. I want the property off the market immediately. If it turns out to be what I want, I want to buy the property from them. I’ll offer them a good price on the property that’ll include a trust to care for both of them as long as necessary. Can you call Kieran and you two help me get a lawyer to do the work for me? We can get that young real estate agent working on it too, if Kieran agrees.”

This was a Lauren I hadn’t seen before. “You want me to call him now? He’ll be home in a few hours.”

“Now! I want to have a lawyer representing me tomorrow morning. I want him to start planning tomorrow morning. If I give him the go-ahead tomorrow after I see the property, I want him and the agent to start working on it this week. I want the property off the market by Wednesday afternoon, earlier if possible.”

She turned back to Kerry.

“Kerry, would you like to have a job working for me?”

Kerry looked at me. I knew he didn’t know what to say.

“Lauren, do you mean you want to hire him as an employee or do you just want him to help you with something?

“I want to hire him as an employee. Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing. I’m going to be starting a company, a corporation, here. Kerry’s going to be my first employee. Kavan’s going to be my second. And you’re my third. As soon as you help me get that lawyer, I’ll have him set up the corporation and start hiring. Kerry and Kavan need to start keeping time sheets of how much they work for me. Kerry can have an hour for this afternoon. When they take me to the Freeloft property tomorrow afternoon, they need to put it on their timesheets. I’ll set up their pay rates and pay schedule when I have time. You’re salaried so don’t worry about timesheets.”

She looked back at Kerry. He was watching us in bewilderment. He wasn’t the only one who was bewildered. This was a Lauren I hadn’t expected. I went in the house to call Kieran. He was certainly right when he said our lives were going to change when Lauren came. I wondered how much more they were going to change.


TO BE CONTINUED:
