In late May, Jack banged out a term paper on Hemingway that earned him a respectable B+. (Vanessa’s paper had received an A-.) That meant that he had passed the class. So a celebration was decided upon, which would in fact commemorate three more or less simultaneous events: Jack’s real diploma (to replace the illegitimate one awarded him twenty-three years ago), Vanessa’s twenty-first birthday, and the graduation (cum laude) of Jack and Joanna’s daughter Eileen.
A swank restaurant was chosen for the occasion, and Eileen was supposed to come to the house ahead of time. Vanessa thought it odd that she hadn’t met Eileen yet, given that they were attending the same college. She could have passed her a dozen times on campus without knowing who she was! But she sensed that, even more so than in the case of his friends, Jack had felt hesitant to introduce his daughter to Vanessa–because of her age, and because of her apparent “replacement” of Joanna in Jack’s affections.
So Vanessa was prepared to encounter a frosty politeness, even frank hostility, from this young woman, who was a year older than herself. But when the doorbell rang and Jack let Eileen in, Vanessa heard a somewhat low-pitched woman’s voice saying, “Where’s Dad’s girlfriend?” She didn’t sound angry; if anything, she seemed excited.
When Eileen drifted into the living room and laid eyes on Vanessa, she held out her arms as if meeting an old friend. “Is that her?” she cried enthusiastically. Coming right up to Vanessa, Eileen took hold of her arms, swung them around, and said, “Oh, so pretty!”
Then, unexpectedly, she held Vanessa close to her chest for many moments. Vanessa definitely felt the imprint of Eileen’s large breasts against her midsection, and then felt a wet kiss planted against her cheek–or, more precisely, her neck.
As Eileen finally pulled back, but still held Vanessa at arm’s length as if to fix her image in her memory, the younger woman tried to take stock of Jack and Joanna’s daughter.
She looked remarkably similar to her mother. Eileen Martin was faintly on the zaftig side, but she conveyed a strength and fixity of purpose unusual in women. If she wasn’t, strictly speaking, beautiful, she was attractive in an indefinable way. Part of it had to do with the alertness and liveliness of her face, which seemed to carry a perpetual smile or smirk on her face; part of it had to do with her lavish figure, which, like her mother, was ample around the bosom, hips, and bottom. She was what used to be called “a fine figure of a woman.”
Even though Vanessa had been feeling more and more confident around Jack and Joanna, there was something about Eileen that made her retreat into her shell and resume her habitual shyness. She could hardly look her in the face, and didn’t know what to make of the exuberant greeting she’d received.
Things weren’t helped by the dinner at the restaurant, where the Martins inevitably talked about family matters, even though Jack–and occasionally Joanna–made fleeting efforts to bring Vanessa into the conversation. But Vanessa was happy to watch this reunited family reminisce over old times.
One phase of the conversation did interest her, however.
“Dad,” Eileen said, “I may need to camp out at the house for a few weeks–or months–until I can get on my feet and find a job. A degree in comp lit isn’t exactly a marketable asset.”
“What the hell is comp lit, anyway?” Jack said exasperatedly.
“If you need to ask, you’re better off not knowing.”
“Well, you’re welcome to stay at the house–although you should probably get Vanessa’s permission.”
Vanessa, who was lapsing into a daydream, was startled to hear her name mentioned. “What? What? My permission?” she said, flushing. “It’s your house, Jack.”
“Sure it is, but you’re living there now. You were kind enough to let Joanna stay for an indefinite period, so it’s your call about Eileen.”
“Well, um, of course you can stay, Eileen.”
“You’re a little doll!” Eileen enthused, bending forward and giving Vanessa a wet smack on the cheek. “I really don’t want to be a boomerang kid, but at the moment it can’t be helped.”
Later that evening Eileen collared Vanessa and dragged her upstairs into the room she’d be occupying. It was the second guest bedroom–not the same one she’d lived in when she was younger, but good enough for her purposes. Vanessa had a sinking feeling that, for all Eileen’s bluff good spirits, she was intent on finding out exactly what Vanessa’s “intentions” toward her father were.
Sure enough, as they sat on different corners of the bed, Eileen began by looking Jack’s lover up and down and saying slowly, “So… you and Dad.”
Another blush from Vanessa. “Yes. I guess you know how we met.”
“Yup. Mom told me. What a scream! I mean, Dad having to go back to college. Well, all I can say is, he has good taste.”
Vanessa’s blush deepened, and she looked down at her hands. “He–he’s a real sweetheart.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
“Look,” Vanessa said in a rush of words, “I know what you’re going to say. You think I’m just some kind of toy that Jack’s playing with–you know, midlife crisis and all that. But he really loves me, and I love him!”
“Hey, you don’t have to defend yourself to me. If you and he are happy, that’s all that counts.” She paused significantly. “One thing I don’t get, though: why do you let Mom stay here? Doesn’t that put–shall we say–a monkey-wrench in the works? It can’t be easy having her here while you two…” And Eileen had the decency to blush a little herself.
“I insisted on Joanna staying here.”
“You did? What on earth for?”
“Because… she needed our help, and because”–she looked soulfully over to Jack’s daughter–“she still cares for Jack, and Jack for her.”
“Do they? I have to say, they were pretty much at each other’s throats the last year I was in this house, before I trotted off to college. I could have stayed here, but I just wanted to get the hell out–all those arguments they had were a real pain!”
“I don’t know what happened, but it became clear to me that they’re still in love. So–”
“In love? You mean that?”
“Absolutely!”
“But you just said Dad loves you.”
“He does. You don’t think you can love two people at once?–or even more?”
“I guess you can. Well, sure, why not?” But the bright smile she had on her face melted away in a kind of dazed incomprehension. “You’re not telling me that you let them…” She made some obscene gestures with her fingers.
“Sure I do,” Vanessa replied calmly.
Eileen gawked at her. “You’re not serious.”
“I am serious. Why not? It wouldn’t be right to keep them apart.”
Jack’s daughter looked at Vanessa as if she were an alien from outer space. “You’re either a saint or the stupidest woman in the world. Come to think of it, you’re probably a saint.”
“I’m no saint.”
“Well, I’ve never heard of an arrangement like this!”
“Maybe not, but it seems to work for us. I have to say, your father is quite, um, potent. He’s almost like a randy college boy–and you know what they’re like!” Vanessa burst out with a trilling, high-pitched laugh.
“I don’t, in fact,” Eileen said blandly. “I’m a lesbian.”
There were several moments of awkward silence.
“Oh,” Vanessa said, looking down. “I–I didn’t know.”
“It’s not something I have tattooed on my forehead!” Eileen said with a chortle of her own. “Well, look, this has all been very educational, but I have stuff to do. Take care of Dad for me–and keep his bed warm!”
It took some days for Eileen to move all her belongings back into the house and get settled. For a while Vanessa felt like a total interloper into this unusual family, but it quickly became clear that everyone welcomed her in their own distinct way. Eileen, as the only person of approximately Vanessa’s own age, had lots of intense discussions with her about all manner of things, and they seemed to be forming a real bond. Vanessa sometimes saw Joanna beaming at them as they were chatting away–and she incongruously felt like Joanna’s younger daughter. (But daughters don’t sleep with their dads, do they?) Given that Eileen was unemployed and Vanessa was taking a well-earned rest for the summer before the start of senior year, the two young women had a lot of time on their hands.
That’s probably why the incident on that Saturday afternoon occurred.
Jack and Joanna were in the garden, putting in some new plants they had gotten from a nursery. It was a lazy day, and Vanessa didn’t feel like doing much of anything. But as she wandered out of the master bedroom and was about to head downstairs, she heard some curious noises coming from the second guest bedroom, where Eileen was holed up.
A little shiver ran through her. Surely she couldn’t be–? I guess you never know when the urge will come upon you.
Vanessa tiptoed right up to the door of the room. Yes, there was no mistaking what those sighs and moans meant.
Of course, this was a moment when Eileen’s privacy had to be respected. But then, why was Vanessa bringing a shaking hand down to the doorknob, and then opening it?
What she saw when she strode into the room made her come close to fainting.
Eileen was sitting on her bed, her back resting against the headboard, naked. Her hand was vigorously rubbing the space between her legs, and her face was beet-red.
What really struck Vanessa was the size, roundness, and firmness of Eileen’s breasts. They were huge, and yet they didn’t sag or seem flabby or shapeless. Vanessa, perennially suffering from an inferiority complex about the size of her own breasts, gazed upon Eileen’s pair in exactly the way a man would if he saw them. And the rest of her body was just as succulent, especially her fleshy thighs and the thick tuft of fur on her delta.
Incredibly, Eileen didn’t express the slightest embarrassment or outrage at Vanessa’s presence. Looking over to her without stopping her stroking, she said calmly, “Hello.”
“Hello,” Vanessa croaked.
“This usually works better with two people.”