John looked down into her eyes, wide and fearful, and smiled gently, even as he reached out to tap the end of her nose.
“Baby girl, ain’t nothing yawl were doin’ I ain’t done a million times. Look where you are, baby, look what’s here; this is all my stuff, I been buyin’ this stuff, so if you sick, then so am I, and I know I ain’t sick! I was shocked seeing you doin’… private stuff, you know, like that, but ‘taint shameful or nuthin, it’s natural, but now we’re here, and there ain’t no room left for lyin’ or denyin’, then I got to tell you that whatever you feelin’, I’m feelin’ it too. You seen what I got here, them gals all look like you, you must ha’ figured-out by now ’tain’t no coincidence…”
Justine stared at him in silence, her expression shocked, but also calculating, her eyes tracking up and down his face, reading him, looking for any signs of guile or untruth; there were none. Justine knew her brother, she could read him like a book, and now that she knew what to look for, she could see what he’d been trying to hide from her for so long. With a sudden surge she twisted around and slid astride him, slipping her hands under his arms and leaning against him as she hugged him, before gazing once again into his eyes.
“Johnny, I know what I’ve been thinking for the longest time, and… and I think I know what you’ve been thinking about too, but now, maybe you should tell me; all cards on the table, Country-Boy; you tell me, and I’ll tell you, deal?”
John stared at her set, pale features, at that slight narrowing of her eyes that told him she was serious, that now it was time for the truth, and suddenly, it seemed so much less complicated; she knew his secret shame, and she was still here anyway; somehow, he knew that whatever he had to say, sweet little Justy would stop, listen, and never judge him.
“Baby-girl, I reckon you know what’s goin’ on with me; I never asked for it, I never tried to push you into nuthin’ and convince you, I respected your marriage and your vows, you made them afore God, and it warn’t my place to tell you to set them aside, but damn, girl, it’s been real hard! Justy, you know now, just as well as I do, how I feel about you, and it don’t matter that you’re my baby sister; there’s no-one in the world ‘cept maybe Carlo knows who I am to you, you all I got, and I know it’s all wrong, but you all I want; if you-all want to just leave now then I won’t stop you, but I got to tell you just once, afore my own heart bursts…”
He paused, gathering his thoughts, and when he spoke, the musical, French-tinged accent of his Cajun boyhood was back, not the exaggerated ‘good ole boy’ drawl he put-on to amuse her, and that alone told her he was speaking from way deep down inside himself, the real Jean-Bastienne laying his heart open to her gaze.
“Justy, Baby-girl, yawl need to know I love you from here to the bottom o’ the ocean, and long as it takes to get from here to there and back around the long way; ain’t no way I ever gon’ hurt you, y’always been my special girl, right from when you was small an’ you was ma petite Minou-minou (kitten). You my boo’sha’, li’l girl, and y’always will be, yawl jest remember that. I love you, Minou, I think I always have. I don’t care none if’n you ma petite soeur, my li’l sister, Je t’aime si fort, Minou (I love you so much, little kitty-cat).”
John waited in anticipation, his hopes gradually dying down as Justine sat motionless astride him, her eyes searching his, looking for the lie, but just as he would turn away from her, convinced he’d read her wrong, that she didn’t feel what he was feeling, her small hands cupped his face, turning his head to face her again. His heart skipped a beat when he saw she was smiling, her small teeth nibbling her bottom lip in that way he’d always found so charming.
“Johnny, since I was a young girl you’ve been the most important thing in my life; my big, sweet, handsome brother who lived so far away, but always told me he loved me; when you came to us, I was the happiest girl alive, because I had you with me at last. I made mistakes, Johnny, there were times I knew I should have listened to you, but you never jumped all over me, you never put me down, or took anything away from me, and you never said ‘I told you so’ or made me feel like I was anything less than what I was.”
She wiped her eyes with the heels of her hands before continuing.
“I always admired you Johnny B; you’ve always been my rock, and the one thing in my life I loved more than anything, except for Mom and Daddy. What you just said, that’s just the sweetest, truest thing anyone ever said to me; now I think back on it, I don’t remember Carlo ever once telling me he loved me, but you, you had no hesitation, and that’s how I know I love you too, Johnny B; God help me, but I’m in love with my brother!”
John stared at her in shock, his heart thudding in his chest, and soaring away when she looked back up at him; her gaze was clear and direct, her heart in her eyes, and he saw the truth of her words.
“So what we do now, baby-girl?” he managed to croak.
“This!” grinned Justine, surging forward to lock her arms around his neck as her lips met his in a searing, crushing, heartfelt kiss that blew all his switches open, leaving him dazed and astounded, his head ringing and his heart thundering all over again with the power of her kiss. As she kissed him, she undulated on his lap, feeling him pulse and stiffen under her as she rubbed herself against him.
“Why mercy-me, Jean-Bastienne Deaucette, I do believe you’re feelin’ somethin’ round about now!” she breathed when she finally broke their kiss, her eyes dancing with suppressed glee as she mimicked him once again, this time with another wriggle against him, just to let him know she could feel what was happening to him. John held her away for a second so he could say something.
“Justy, I know I said what I said, and I know what I want from you, more’n anythin’ in the world, but still one thing standing ‘tween us; you a married woman, you got a husband, you made vows, what about…”
Justine silenced him with a finger on his lip.
“Shush Johnny; I know what I vowed, and I remember what Carlo vowed too. Johnny, he hasn’t touched me in maybe three years, not after he realized I wasn’t going to do any of those nasty, dirty things he demanded I do for him, like I was some cheap, slutty sex-toy he owned. He doesn’t really love me, he never did, and he doesn’t want me anyway; our vows mean nothing; they never did. I was a transaction, a way to get his hands on Daddy’s business, Mom’s insurance money, everything I had; I see that now. When my money ran out, he was done with me; he’s got someone else, anyway; he talks about someone called ‘Gina’ when he’s drunk, and all the nasty things he does with her when they’re together. He’s done with me, he’s already replaced me, I don’t owe him shit, so now I’m done with him too.”
She paused to cup his face in her small hands.
“You were right Johnny, about everything, but thank you; when you had every reason to say something, you kept shut, and you let me make my mistakes, and work it out for myself. You’ve always respected my right to be wrong, and you’ve always been there for me the way Carlo should have been, and never has, and so Carlo and me, we’re over, finished, finito, done. I don’t love him; I love you.”
Johnny looked at her closely, at her eyes and her expression, for any signs or hints of holding back, but there were none; she was telling the truth when she declared her love for him, and his heart did handstands and cartwheels at the realization she was his, and his alone.
“So what next, baby-girl?” he whispered, and grinned as he felt her small hands tugging his white tee-shirt out of his chinos.
“Big John, you and me, we’ve got some things we need to get straight between us,” she grinned, before silencing him with a kiss. She grabbed a handful of his tee shirt.
“First off, though, I wanna see the rest of what I’m getting!”
John colored when he realized what she meant, even as he held up his arms for her to tug the thin material over his head and off his arms, to throw it across the room. Justine grinned naughtily when she looked at the expression on his face.
“Why Big John B,”she exclaimed in a shocked voice, “I do believe you’re embarrassed at bein’ bare-assed nekkid in front of li’l ole me! Don’t blush, baby, I won’t bite you… not yet, anyway!” she couldn’t help adding, watching the color rise in his cheeks until even his ears were pink. Her big, hunky, bayou man-babe of a brother could be so innocent and unworldly sometimes, so more teasing was definitely in order…
“Stop staring and start doing, Johnny…” her soft voice broke him out of his trance-like stare, but her lips were curved in her warm smile, and her eyes were wide and amused.
Johnny slowly unbuttoned her shirt, watching himself doing what he’d fantasized so long, not really believing he was doing this, and waiting for the alarm to start beeping and wake him from this dream. And then her blouse was unbuttoned and she was shrugging it off her slim shoulders, her small, firm breasts in her thin white bra bobbing enticingly with the movement.