Ann: A Love Story Ch. 94

Thanks once again to Annanova, not only for editing this latest chapter, but for giving me some much appreciated perspective on one of the story threads. I'm so grateful for your words of wisdom!

© 2012, All rights reserved -- mimaster

~*~*~*~*~*~

It was like I'd gone back into time somehow. I wondered if I'd stumbled unwittingly into a time machine or fallen into some hidden portal that had transported me to my youth. There I was, sitting in a chair with a folding tray in front of me, eating a bowl of cereal. Next to me was my brother Gene, years older and none the wiser, doing the same thing as we watched Bugs Bunny and his friends cavort on the television just a few feet in front of us.

It was like any one of a couple hundred Saturday mornings from my childhood, the two of us glued to the screen as we ate our breakfast, the characters of Warner Brothers occupying our minds as we woke up. I was eating my Rice Krispies, while Gene was busy munching on his second bowl of Cheerios. That my mother actually had both varieties in the pantry didn't surprise either of us.

We were pretty much eating in silence, the television turned down low so we wouldn't wake up the rest of the house. And it was a full one.

~*~*~*~*~*~

I walked into my parents' house after dropping off Ann, feeling like I'd arrived at the rehearsal dinner after party. There were half a dozen cars in the driveway and a couple more parked along the street. That included mine, unable to park in my normal spot. I walked up the sidewalk to the front door instead of going through the garage like I usually did, ringing the doorbell. Dad opened the door for me, a beer in his hand.

"Hey, were wondering when you'd get here," he grinned, patting me on the back.

"I had to drop off Ann. What's going on?"

"We're just visiting with some folks that came into town for the wedding. Actually, there are a lot staying here at the house tonight. We never got the chance to go over the sleeping arrangements."

"I don't care where I sleep, Dad. You know that."

"I know, but we should have told you before now. There aren't enough hotel rooms in town and I didn't want everyone staying so far away for tomorrow, so we're going to be a bit crowded."

Walking into the family room, I was greeted by a standing ovation. Well, everyone was already standing, and several people clapped. Mostly it was hugs and kisses from people I hadn't seen yet. Gene and his wife Rebecca were at the rehearsal and the dinner, but my dad's brother Daniel and his wife Kaye weren't, having just driven in from Chicago. Neither were my mom's sister Dixie and her husband Lee, who had arrived on their trip from Cincinnati at almost the same time.

It was great to see them, and they were excited for me, although I couldn't help but feel some pangs of guilt. After all, they'd all showed up for my first wedding. I felt awkward that they came again for my second, but as Aunt Dixie told me, it was all about love and support. They all knew what I'd been through. They also knew what my parents had to endure. It wasn't hard to understand that they were there as much for them as they were for me and Ann.

But my respective aunts and uncles weren't the ones staying at the house. They'd made reservations for rooms at the local motel almost soon as they'd gotten the invitations. No, there were other guests staying at the house that weren't related, other than Gene and Rebecca. But they might as well have been.

Coming across the room to greet me were the sisters. Well, they were my mother's sorority sisters. Carrie made it to me first, her huge cleavage spilling out of her tight, low cut blouse. That was normal attire for her; I'd seen the big inner globes of her massive chest practically my entire life. Once she stopped hugging me, Paula latched on. She gave me a tight squeeze, her hand drifting down my back toward my ass, but stopping at my hip. She gave me a kiss on the cheek and I felt her tongue against my skin for the briefest of moments. Then she winked as she pulled back.

I thought back to the last time I'd seen Paula. I'd just finished eating her pussy and she walked out of the living room where I'd been sleeping...totally naked. I didn't fuck her and she hadn't done anything at all to me, other than trying to seduce me. Still, it wasn't something I was necessarily ashamed of. After all, Ann knew about it, and she was more than okay with it.

Paula was a very sexual woman. Really, she always had been. I'd just never picked up on that as a kid. Carrie flaunted her big breasts, and Paula flirted, so it really wasn't a surprise that they had approached me the way they had. That's who they were.

Because of that, I brushed it off, taking the kiss on the cheek in stride, thanking Paula for the well wishes. Yet out of the corner of my eye I saw my mother approaching, the look on her face one that startled me. While she was smiling, I could see the fire in her eyes as she walked up between us, taking Paula by the arm.

"Neil, I hope you don't mind, but Paula and Rob are going to be staying in your old room again tonight."

"Why would I mind?" I laughed. "It's not my room anymore. I don't live here, remember?"

"That's right. You don't live here, do you? That's because you're getting married tomorrow," she said, simultaneously giving Paula an icy stare.

"Betsy, I --"

"Need to come with me. I have something to new I'd like to show you."

Before I could say anything, mom was escorting Paula to the back of the house, her fingernails gripping into her arm as she led her through the foyer and down the hall.

I tried to put that out of my mind when Carrie came back over with her husband Mack, the two of them making small talk with me. I couldn't help but steal glances toward the entrance to the foyer, wondering what was happening. I finally caught a glimpse of my mother back in the room taking to my father, but she disappeared again seconds later.

As time passed, it actually did sort of slip my mind. I had too many people talking to me, congratulating me again for what was yet to happen. Sure, it was only a day away, but it seemed odd. Perhaps that was because I didn't have Ann by my side. Frankly, all the attention was a little unnerving; I hadn't expected to come home to another celebration, even if it wasn't my home any more. I was really hoping to go to bed. But as I did the math, I knew where I'd be sleeping, and that meant I wouldn't be going to sleep any time soon.

Knowing that my relatives were staying at the motel, there would be nine people staying at the house, including four couples. With Rob and Paula taking my old room, and my parents in theirs, I could only assume that Connie and Mack would be staying in the spare bedroom they'd slept in the last time they were there. That meant Gene and Rebecca would be on the pull out couch in the living room. Being the odd man out, I knew I'd be relegated to the couch in the family room. The same room everyone was currently congregated in.

Well, almost everyone.

I bumped into my dad in the kitchen, fetching another beer for one of the guests. Checking to see if we were alone, I stopped him. "Dad, what's going on?"

"Uh...I'm getting your Uncle Lee another beer, why?"

"Not that. Where's Mom?"

"She's...she's back in our room," he replied, being very careful with his words.

"And Paula?"

"She's with your mom."

"They've been gone for forty-five minutes."

"And?" he smirked, taking a swig from his own beer as he leaned casually against the counter.

"And? What do you mean 'and'? What the hell's going on?"

"What do you want to know?"

"Mom got kind of mad at Paula. At least, she seemed to be. She said she wanted to show her something and they left. I haven't seen either of them since. Well, that's not true. I saw Mom talk to you for a minute and I saw you nod, but other than that...."

"Are you sure you want to know?" he asked, arching his eyebrow.

Thinking about the ramifications of his question, I wondered if I actually did. I knew it had something to do with what happened between me and Paula. Then I remembered my mother's cryptic promise about somehow evening the score between the two of them, saying Paula had crossed the line by pursuing me sexually.

Still, all she had done this time was hug me and plant a kiss on the cheek. Sure, the kiss was a little over the top, but I was certain no one had been able to notice that.

Deciding my curiosity had been piqued enough, I replied, "Yes, I'd like to know."

"Know what?" my Mom asked happily, walking past me to kiss my father flush on the lips. "Sorry that took so long, honey. Thanks for letting me take care of it."

"Take care of what?" I wondered, more confused than ever.

"Neil wants answers, Bets. It's up to you to tell him. I'm taking Lee his beer." Patting me on the back, he chuckled, "Be careful what you ask, Neil. She just might tell you."

Once he left, she said, "So you want to know what I did with Paula, right?"

"Uh...maybe?" I said sheepishly, unnerved by her frankness.

"There's no maybe, sweetie. It's either yes or no; which is it?"

"Could you give me the Cliff Notes version?"

"Neil, I love Paula. She's a dear friend and I know her very well...in some ways I know her too well. I don't blame you for what happened between the two of you. I'm sure it was just innocent fun between consenting adults. But she crossed a line having sex with you."

"Mom, I --"

She patted me on the face, the loving look in her eyes matching her smile. "I don't need to know the details to know something happened. Besides, she confessed, so there's nothing to worry about."

"I'm not worried. I just...what did you do with her? I still don't see her," I asked, looking out into the family room.

"She's in bed where I left her," she grinned.

"Uh, I'm afraid to ask what that means."

"It doesn't matter, because I wouldn't tell you anyway. That's between me and Paula, although she did say that Ann's a very lucky girl." "Huh?"

She rubbed her hand back and forth across my arm, the way she always did when she'd have a little chat with me. "Paula told me about what you did for her. It's nice to know that you know there's more than one way to please a woman. Apparently take after your father that way too, sweetie," she whispered, leaving me in the kitchen to pick up my jaw off the floor.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Lying on the couch, I wondered if I was going to fall asleep at all. There were so many things going through my mind all at once I felt bombarded. And none of them had anything to do with Ann, or the wedding.

Remembering the last time I'd been in my parent's house with that many people, most of them the same cast of characters, I kept waiting for the sounds of sex to start, wondering who would be first and how loud it would be. I was almost straining my ears to hear, and yet I didn't want to. I hoped not to. I wanted to go to sleep, but my mind kept telling me it was going to happen.

It almost did. Well, actually it did, just not to the degree I'd thought. I'd been on the couch for twenty minutes or so, staring at the clock as it passed midnight when I heard Gene and Rebecca. We were literally just a few feet apart, separated only by the wall between us. I didn't think they were fucking at first, because I never dreamed she would let her guard down in the house.

Rebecca was a very attractive woman, but not one I'd ever considered sexual. She seemed more stoic than that, more refined. Gene had tried to marry someone like our mother. Mom had always come across as a Southern Belle, having lived in the south for a while during our time in Virginia. Yet Rebecca was more the real deal, born and raised in South Carolina, where she and Gene still lived.

Her dark chestnut hair was long and flowing, cascading over her shoulders. She was a woman of curves, with larger than average breasts and very shapely legs. And her personality was very similar to Mom's, which I was sure helped attract Gene. What he likely didn't know was that our mother, while seeming the prim and proper type, was not only sexually active, she was a bit of a slut. I'd never known that until I'd gotten divorced and moved back home. As I heard Rebecca start to squeak from the pounding she was taking, I wondered if I'd misjudged her as well.

I never really got the chance to make an informed decision on that. I groaned, thinking their romp in the living room was going to start a chain reaction throughout the rest of the house. Instead, it was over in what seemed like minutes from when I first heard them. I checked the clock on the VCR again and shook my head when I did the math.

"Six minutes?" I questioned, not believing it had been so short. "Jeez, Gene, I hope there was at least a lot of foreplay," I mused, but I knew there hadn't been.

At that point, I was hoping that perhaps it was just one of those quick, intense fucks, where the passion becomes so overwhelming that the action becomes like a comet burning across the sky. When I heard the muttering from the other side of the wall, I knew better. Rebecca was upset and Gene appeared to be apologizing. At least, that was the impression I had.

Their discussion quickly ended, and I could hear the heated silence coming through the air vents. My ears were ringing as I listened, not sure what I was listening for. Gene and Rebecca remained quiet, as did the rest of the house. While I expected someone else in the house to start up, it never happened. Finally rolling onto my side, I closed my eyes, worried I'd get no rest for the biggest day of my life.

~*~*~*~*~*~

I'd woken up with a start. Actually, it happened several times, my body snapping upright. At first I thought it was one of those sleep depraved moments where you're so tired you jerk yourself awake just as you're drifting off. Yet the second time it happened I was sure I heard something, only to come to the conclusion that I'd been dreaming.

I suppose it could have been the sounds of sex coming from one of the back bedrooms; after all, that very fear was on my mind from the moment I laid down on the couch. But at that point I didn't really care; I was so exhausted I'd fall back to sleep as soon as my head went back to my pillow. Luckily, I eventually fell into such a deep slumber that I felt totally rested and relaxed hours later as I sat next to Gene eating my cereal.

Well, as relaxed as I could be under the scrutinizing stare coming from Rebecca, who was sitting on the couch I'd slept on. She wasn't really glaring at me. I was just in the way of her intended target; Gene was using me as some kind of shield to hide from her penetrating eyes.

I'd seen that look several times in the twelve years they'd been married. Rebecca was pissed, and Gene was laying low until the heat was off. Unfortunately, I'd inadvertently sat in the line of fire. Every once in a while I'd tear my attention away from the cartoon and glance over, flashing a smile that softened her mood for a moment. Yet that was temporary, her steely brown eyes narrowing again once whenever I'd return to the antics on the screen a few feet in front of me.

I had gotten up to take my bowl to the kitchen and as I was rinsing it out in the sink, I felt I was being watched. Turning my head, I found her standing to my right, her ass pressed up against the counter.

"Hey Sis," I smiled, calling her by the name I usually used whenever we were together.

"Hi. Big day, huh?"

"Yeah, pretty big," I nodded, wondering where the conversation was going. She just stood there, staring at the linoleum on the floor, her bare feet shifting back and forth like she couldn't get comfortable. "Are you okay?" I finally asked, bending down slightly to try and get her to make eye contact.

"That obvious?" She shifted her eyes to meet mine, her head still down.

"What's wrong?"

"I got to meet Ann last night. She's amazing, Neil. I feel like she's my sister-in-law already."

"That's what's wrong, you met Ann?"

"Ha...no. I guess I'm just a little jealous."

"Jealous? Of what?"

"You. And her. I don't know how it happened, but we started talking about...well, sex."

"HA! That's really not hard to believe with Ann, Rebecca. It would be stranger if she didn't bring it up."

Her big eyelashes started batting at me; the bashful expression on her face one I'd never seen on her before. "She...she told me what you did."

"She did? Oh, okay. Uh...what did I do?"

"She told me what you did...at the church," she smiled nervously, biting the corner of her lip. "Was she telling the truth?"

"Ann always tells the truth. What exactly did she tell you?"

"She said you...licked her."

Laughing again, I shrugged. "I'd like to think I did more than just that. But yeah, it happened."

"You're not upset that she told me, are you?"

"Why should I be? I'm sure she had a reason."

"Well, she said that she wanted to tell someone."

"Why do you think she really told you?"

She thought about it for a moment, finally saying, "I think she just wanted to confide in someone."

"She wanted to confide in you, Sis. I think that was her way of letting you know that she wants to trust you."

"Wow. That's a pretty big secret, don't you think?"

"Sure, but I know you'll keep it. She also probably wanted to feel you out."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'm guessing she wanted to find out your feelings on the subject. She is who she is, but if she got the impression you were uncomfortable talking about sex, she'd shy away from talking about it around you."

Rebecca wrinkled her nose and said, "Why would she think I'm uncomfortable talking about it? Does she really think that?"

"How would I know? We didn't talk about your views on sexuality. I'm just saying she would want you to be comfortable around her. Obviously she must feel that you don't have a problem with it or she wouldn't have told you."

"Do you think I'm uncomfortable with sex?"

"Talking about it...or having it?" I laughed.

"You know what I mean."

"Not necessarily. But you do come across as prim and proper most of the time."

"I'm not a prude, Neil."

"I never said you were. Do you have a problem with what Ann and I did?"

"No. Hell no. That was one of the hottest things I've ever heard. I can't remember the last time I got that turned on," she grinned, looking at the floor again.

"Oooohhh," I nodded, suddenly getting the bigger picture.

She looked up, her eyes squinting as she wondered about my response. "Ooh, what?"

"Uh, nothing, Sis," I waved, hoping to deflect her inquiry.

"Please, Neil," she said as she touched my forearm.

"It's just that I...I heard you and Gene last night."

Her hand flew over her mouth, covering up her reaction. "You did?"

"Well yeah, I slept on the couch. You were just on the other side of the wall. What did you expect?"

"Actually, I expected...more," she confessed.

"Yeah, I could kind of tell."

"Oh God, you heard us arguing too," she gasped, her hushed voice sounding despondent.

I put my arm around her shoulder and said, "Not really. I could just tell you were disappointed."

"Well yeah...another night without a happy ending. I love your brother, Neil, but I wish he were a little more like you, sometimes."

"What in the world makes you say that?"

"I talked to Ann, remember," she smiled bashfully. "We ended up talking about more than just what you did at the church."

"I can only imagine."

"She's a remarkable woman. And whatever she said, please know that I won't tell anyone. I can keep a secret."

I arched my eyebrow, thinking of several times where Rebecca had innocently burned me by spilling something I'd told her in confidence. Thinking of the most recent, I said, "Yeah, like when I told you last October that I bought Gene the new graphite driver he wanted for Christmas, and then he called me the next day to thank me?"