When Mother was finished in the bathroom she walked into my bedroom. She'd changed into a different dress; this one might once have been red but had faded to the point it was now almost pink. It was also one of the few sleeveless ones she had. "I need some stuff from the store," she said. "You want to drive me?"
I grinned at her. "If I want to eat, I guess I better." Normally my father took shopping lists she made up and bought the things she needed. I've always believed that was another of his ways of keeping her isolated. Only rarely did she get out to do any shopping on her own. "When do you want to go?"
"I'm ready any time you are," she said.
"Now's as good a time as any," I replied. "Let's go." I shut down my computer and we left.
"We took a real chance doin' what we done in the barn," Mother commented as I drove down the winding dirt road that led from our house to the paved county road that, eventually, led to what passed for civilization in our neck of the woods. "Your daddy coulda' come back and caught us."
I glanced over at her and smiled. "Was what we did this morning as thrilling for you as it was for me?" I asked, glancing over at her again.
Mother's face reddened and she nodded. "Yeah, it sure was," she said. She laid her hand on my leg. "How come it was so intense? Was it 'cause it we coulda got caught?"
Mother's intuitiveness never ceased to amaze me. I nodded. "I think it may have been the possibility of getting caught," I agreed. "You know, there actually are people who go around trying to get away with having sex in public places for the thrill."
"Public places!" Mother exclaimed. "What kinda public places?"
"You name a public place, somebody's probably tried making love there," I said.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see her staring at me. "You...did you ever...you know...do...um...anything like that?" she asked.
"I'm not that adventuresome," I laughed.
Before we went to the store, I went through the drive-up at a local fast food outlet and we had lunch in the car.
"You really think this stuff is good?" Mother asked as we at our burgers and fries.
"It's food," I said. "And it's fast."
"OK, you got that right," she agreed.
Mother got off the mountain and out in the world so little that going to the supermarket was an adventure for her. And it was a delight for me to watch her discover things that had changed since the last time she'd been in the grocery store. She wasn't at all impressed by the items for sale in the supermarket. "I don't believe they sell meatloaf they make in a factory," she said as we walked by the meat case. "Mashed potatoes, too. Don't people do anything for themself any more?"
"It's the way it is," I said. "Folks convince themselves they're too busy to cook, I guess."
"I think it's just bein' lazy," Mother snorted.
I was pushing the shopping cart and Mother was walking beside me. I slipped my arm around her waist and gave her a half-hug. "You're right, I think," I said. "Besides, I tried the ready-made meatloaf when I was in college. It tastes like cardboard compared to your meatloaf."
"Seems as though it would haveta. Can't imagine a factory making any kind of good meatloaf...or anything else for that matter."
We continued walking through the store, picking up things Mother needed. I added a few things I needed, too. When we had everything on her list, we headed for the checkout.
The woman staffing the cash register in the line we were in was a buxom blonde who was probably my age but looked older. Her hair was done up in a kind of sloppy bouffant hairdo that most likely required a whole can of hairspray to achieve a look that was years out of date everywhere but here in our county. She had on a bright red pullover shirt that was at least a size too small for her and a straight skirt that looked as if it had been painted on. Fortunately, much of her outfit was covered by the store's smock she wore. There may have been a time she was attractive, but now she looked pretty much used up.
As she was running items by the scanner, she smiled at me. A couple of her upper front teeth had discolored spots. "Hey, you're J.J. Wallace, ain't you?" she asked, giving me a smile that for her, I suppose, was seductive.
"Ah...yeah...I am," I replied. I could see Mother frowning at me out of the corner of my eye.
"I'm Carol Lee Mabry," she said. She giggled a little. Actually cackled might be a better description of the sound that came out. "I'm actually Carol Lee Barnes now," she went on. "I useta be Carol Lee Mabry. You was a coupla classes aheada me in school."
"Oh, yeah," I said. I remembered her now. She'd been a lot prettier back then. She'd also quit school in the eighth grade after she got pregnant.
"You married Billy Ray Barnes," I said.
Carol Lee grinned and shrugged. "Sorta, I guess," she replied. "But he's gone and run off on me again, so I guess you could say I'm...you know...unattached right now." She tried what passed for her seductive smile on me again. "I heard you went off to college then come back to work for the Sheriff. That right?"
I glanced over and saw that Mother was frowning. "That's right," I said.
She let out another unnerving giggle. "I always thought you were kinda cute back in school," she said. "But you was older than me and didn't pay me no mind."
It wasn't that I was older that kept me from showing interest in her. When I knew her in school she had the reputation for being sexually available to almost anybody and there were also rumors she'd had various sexually transmitted diseases as well. Being a normal teenage male, I didn't mind the getting laid part, but I did have enough sense not to want to get the clap. That meant Carol Lee wasn't anyone I'd have been interested in. And I'd heard enough about her and her husband from other deputies to know I didn't really want anything to do with her now.
Carol Lee finished with our order and I paid for it. When the machine spit out the receipt, she bent and wrote something on it before she handed it to me. "That's my phone number," she said as she handed the paper to me, being sure her hand and mine made contact. "Like I said, I'm unattached right now."
Mother didn't look at me or say anything when I pushed the cart carrying our purchases out to my car. While I loaded things in the car, she climbed into the passenger seat. It didn't take a genius to see she was upset about something. It also didn't take a genius to figure out that something was probably a blowzy blonde named Carol Lee.
It was warm out and I did have the air conditioning on as we drove back to the house, but given the frosty way Mother was acting, I probably could have left the A/C off. Things were more than a little chilly between us.
"Mother, what's going on?" I asked as we wended our way back up the hill.
"Nothin'" she murmured. "Nothin' at all."
"You sure are being quiet," I said.
"Don't have nothin' to say."
Since the change in her behavior occurred while we were at the checkout, I was almost positive she was jealous of Carol Lee. The reality was, however, that she had absolutely no reason whatever to be jealous of Carol Lee, or anyone else for that matter.
"Am I seeing the Green Eyed Monster at work here?" I asked. I steered around the sharp curve about a mile below our house.
"What are you talkin' about?" Mother retorted.
"I think you're jealous," I said.
"Why should I be jealous?" Mother snapped back.
"Good question," I said. "Why should you be?"
"I'm not."
"You sure?"
"I'm not jealous."
"OK."
We arrived at the house and carried the bags from the supermarket in without talking. There was no conversation while we put the things we'd purchased away, either. I knew I had to do something. We were wasting time we had alone and that was the last thing I wanted to do.
I had taken the things I bought into my room and put them away, then I returned to the kitchen. Mother was standing at the sink, looking out the window. I could see the glint of a tear in her eye. I walked over behind her and began combing my fingers through her hair.
"You don't need to be jealous of Carol Lee...or anyone else," I said.
"She...she was comin' on to you," Mother said. "She wants to have sex with you."
I couldn't help but chuckle. "Carol Lee wants to have sex with anyone who wears pants," I said. "She always has, ever since I knew her in school."
"Did...did you ever...you know...have...um...sex with her?" Mother asked.
"No way," I said. "There were rumors she had the clap and stuff. No way did I want to get sick." I chuckled again. "You know, she has four kids."
"Yeah, so?" Mother said.
"Well, from what the other guys on the department say, not one of them was fathered by Billy Ray. Apparently Billy Ray's equipment doesn't work. Think about it, he's left her four times, each time he left her she went out with other guys and now she's got four kids."
"You sayin' she let someone else get her pregnant?" Mother asked. She didn't turn around. She didn't want me to stop playing with her hair.
"That's what folks say," I said.
"But...but Billy Ray says the kids are his, doesn't he?" Mother asked. "Doesn't he know they aren't?"
"Billy Ray isn't the smartest guy in the county," I said. "And he always been kind of bull-headed and proud. I think he knows the kids aren't his, but he can't admit it." I began running my fingers lightly up and down Mother's bare arms and could feel goose bumps rising on her skin. She leaned back against me and I felt a little shudder run through her. I'd already started to get an erection; having her bottom pressing against me hastened the effect.
"Why would I want someone like Carol Ann when I've already got the most beautiful woman in the world?" I asked. I bent my head and kissed Mother's neck under her hair. She shuddered again. Another tremor ran through her. It caused her bottom to move wonderfully against my erection. I slid my hands down her arms again, then I moved them and cupped her breasts. This time Mother gasped.
"Do you like what I'm doing, Jonelle?" I had my face buried in her hair, kissing her neck.
"You know I do."
"Want me to stop?"
"No...please..."
I squeezed her breasts gently and began sweeping my thumbs back and forth across her rigid nipples.
Another tremor raced through her, stronger than the earlier ones. She moaned softly. "Oh, Lord, J.J.," she murmured. "We...we shouldn't be...doing...this...here...here in...in the...kitchen."
"Why not?" I asked. "Who's going to see us?" Anyone coming to our house would be driving and we'd hear a car or truck approaching early enough to make ourselves presentable before a visitor - or my father - arrived at the house. I let go of Mother's right breast, slid my hand down, opened a couple just below the waist, then slid my hand inside the dress and inside her soft cotton panties, too. My venturing fingers soon encountered her crinkly pubic hair, then dampness. "You really do like this, don't you, Jonelle?" I whispered and licked Mother's ear.
"Oh, Lord, J.J.!" she moaned.
I let my fingers probe between her legs and her hips rocked forward, as if seeking my caresses. I extended my middle finger and carefully slid it down between her arousal-slick labia.
"Mnnnnn!" Mother groaned. She quivered against me.
I slid my finger back up to the top of her vaginal opening and began sweeping it gently back and forth over her swollen, slippery clit. I was still rubbing the thumb of my other hand over her erect left nipple. Her hips were moving around and in and out and she was making soft gasps and moans.
"J.J., you're makin' me crazy!" she moaned.
"That's the whole idea," I whispered in reply. I kissed her neck, then licked her earlobe and ear.
"You...you keep that up...you...you're gonna...make...me...come," she murmured, her voice plaintive. "I...I want you...I want you in me...please!"
She was shaking and squirming in my arms and I was having a hard time holding her up. I looked at the kitchen table for a second, but I decided making love in the kitchen wasn't what either of us wanted, so I stopped caressing her, scooped her up in my arms, and headed for my bedroom. She teased my short hair with her fingers and kissed me as I carried her through the house.
In my bedroom, I laid her gently on the bed then, as she stared up at me with her gorgeous brown eyes wide open and filled with love, I began unbuttoning her dress. Once the buttons were undone, I spread the dress apart, then I quickly slipped my pants and underpants down and kicked off my loafers and got on the bed, kneeling between my mother's splayed legs, looking down at her. My erection jutted from my middle, pointing at the spot where it - and I - desperately wanted it to be.
I shuffled a little farther up, then leaned over Mother and held my body up off hers on my straight arms. Slowly I lowered my hips and felt the tip of my rigid penis rubbing against Mother's need-slippery vaginal lips. Without any guidance on her part, or mine, the flared head parted the silky skin guarding her portal and began to slide into the heat and dampness of her core.
I lowered myself by flexing my arms, our lips joined, and we shared yet another wonderful kiss while my erection probed deeper and deeper into her and wild, wonderful sensations coursed through me. I felt her hips rising a bit, welcoming me into her. Then I felt our pubic bones pressing against each other and was buried as deep inside Mother as I could be.
We continued to exchange warm, fervent kisses, leaving our hips still. Even so, ecstatic sensations swelled up through me and, judging from the fervency of Mother's kisses, she was having a similar experience. I continued kissing her, licking her tongue, chewing gently on her lips and tongue and wondered if we might wind up sharing an orgasm, even without moving our hips. Even if it didn't happen that way, I knew that one way or another, we would share one.
I was so wrapped up in necking with Mother I didn't realize she had started moving her hips until I noticed that the sensations rippling through me were getting stronger and stronger. Actually, I'm not sure she was aware she was moving her hips, either, but she was. Unable to lie still, I began matching her movements with my hips. I felt the urgency growing in me, just as it always did when Mother and I made love. We continued kissing and I felt her hands racing up and down my back, pulling at me, trying to pull me tighter against her. At the same time the movement of her hips grew more and more frantic.
We were both moaning and gasping, but the sounds were muffled as we continued to exchange passionate kisses. Our tongues continued to lash. My hips were moving faster, shoving my steel-hard penis as deep as possible into Mother. I'd never dreamed making love could feel as wonderful as it always was with her.
"Oh, Lord, J.J.! Oh, Lord!" Mother gasped when I lifted my mouth from hers so we could both take a breath. Her fingers were locked onto my rising and falling buttocks. I looked down and was again struck by how clearly her face showed the pleasure she was feeling from what we were doing. It was as if she was experiencing the most wonder it was possible for a person to feel, and I was the person causing her to feel that way.
I knew I wouldn't be able to put off my orgasm much longer, nor did I believe Mother would. She continued to clutch at me frantically, her fingers digging into my skin, her body straining against mine. She was panting and moaning and occasionally babbling my name. Her middle was rocking up against mine and twisting and mine was pressing down against it.
Then it happened. I can't tell you if her orgasm triggered mine, or mine hers, but it seemed as if, at the same instant, we erupted into shared ecstasy. I could hear myself groaning Mother's name while she echoed my groans with my name. Our bodies struggled against each other; two entities that had once been a single entity seemed to be trying to become one again. Our pubic bones were grinding and it felt as if my body was pumping an unending amount of hot fluids into hers. Vaguely I could feel her vaginal walls rippling around my embedded erection.
Our frantic motions began to calm eventually. I held the weight of my upper body off her on straightened arms and smiled down at her.
Mother gazed up at me with the look of love and satisfaction I so treasured. "Oh, Lord, J.J., you always make me feel so incredible," she murmured.
"You make me feel pretty incredible, too," I told her. I lowered myself so I could plant a gentle kiss on her lips, then straightened my arms, lifting my upper body again. I was surprised to find that my erection, though a bit softer than it had been, wasn't completely flaccid yet. Grinning, I rocked my hips, thrusting it into Mother.
"Oh, Lord, J.J.! You're...you're still hard!" Mother exclaimed.
I lifted my hips, pulling almost all the way out of her, then lowered them and buried myself in her again. "That feel good?" I asked her. I didn't need to hear her answer, what I saw in her eyes told me it did.
I began thrusting into her in earnest while holding myself up on my straightened arms. It was almost as good as having her on top because it let me see her face and how it showed what was happening inside her. I could literally see her arousal building in her eyes, almost before I felt it in the way her body reacted to my thrusts.
This time, because I wasn't coming, I could feel the rippling of her vaginal walls when she did. I could also see it blossoming in her eyes at the same time. It was one of the neatest things I'd yet shared with her.
"J.J.! Oh, Lord, J.J.! Oh, Lord!" she groaned, while her body bucked up against mine once more, but with less force than it had during our earlier shared orgasm.
When Mother had settled down after her second orgasm, I slipped my now-soft penis out of her and dropped to my side on the bed next to her. She rolled over, pressed against me, and kissed me. "I love you, J.J.," she said.
"I love you, too, Jonelle," I replied. "You never have to worry. You'll always be the only woman in my life."
"And you're the only man in my life," she said. "You're the only man I've ever had in my life."
We laid there in each other's arms for quite a while, not saying anything, just savoring having our naked flesh in contact. I occasionally stroked Mother's hair.
"There's one thing I wish I could do that I can't," I said, breaking our silence after perhaps a half-hour.
Mother leaned back and looked at me. "What's that?" she asked.
"I wish there was some way we could spend the night together...all night," I told her. "God, I'd love to wake up in the morning and have you be the first thing I see."
"We can't do that," she said, "I'd love that, too. Lord, I lay there in my bed at night wishin' I was lyin' next to you. But..."
"It's just a dream right now," I said. "Someday, maybe, we'll be able to figure out how we can do it."
Mother kissed me gently. "I sure hope so," she said. "I hate bein' in the same room with that man. Especially at night."
"Maybe I could build another room onto the house for you," I said.
"You already spent way too much money on this place," she said. "You don't have to do that."
"But if it would make you happier..." I said.
"Nothin' could make me any happier than you already made me," Mother said.
After another half-hour or so of lying in each other's arms, we got up, got ourselves cleaned up, went out to the kitchen, and began making dinner. Once the meal was ready, we sat down and ate. After we finished, I insisted on doing the dishes and told Mother to watch TV until I was done. Instead, she sat in the kitchen and chatted with me. She tried drying the dishes after I washed them, but I wouldn't let her do that, either.
When the dishes were finally done and put away, we moved to the living room, sat down on the sofa together, and watched TV for a while. At some point we again found ourselves necking - it started shortly after I began tickling Mother's arm, I think.
The thing is, we don't seem to be able to just kiss, as wonderful as that is. Before long, I was kissing my way down Mother's neck, listening to her groans, savoring the feel of her silky skin against my lips. My fingers, as if acting on their own, began opening her dress and soon I was suckling one of her incredible nipples while she gasped, shuddered, and clutched my head against her.
"Oh, Lord, J.J.," she whimpered. I was continuing to unbutton her dress. "Is...is this normal? To...to want to...to make love...as...as much as...we do?"
I hated to abandon her nipple, but I did. I looked up at her and said, "It apparently is for us." I lowered my head and gently sucked her other nipple into my mouth. Her response was to wrap her hands around my head again and emit a delightful soft, passionate moan.
Our actions grew more and more feverish. I continued to suckle her nipples and, once I had her dress opened, I began caressing her vagina, at first through her panties, then under them. At some point my pants wound up open and her hand wrapped around my erection and began stroking it gently.
Caressing each other and kissing the way we were, as wonderful as it was, wasn't going to be enough for either of us for very long. My need continued to grow and, judging from her constant moans and the amount of wetness I could feel as I caressed her middle, so had Mother's.
It probably would have been smart for us to go into my bedroom, but we didn't do that. I'm not sure either of us could have managed to get to our feet and walk even that short distance. It was late in the evening and even though I knew we were taking a risk that my father might come home, I pushed Mother back on the sofa. As she laid there with one leg on the floor, I stretched out on top of her and felt her hand moving my erection toward her vagina.
"Oh, God!" I groaned when I felt her warmth and dampness caressing the tip. "Oh, God, yes!" I added when I lowered my hips and sank into her.
"Do it!" Mother murmured. Her hips were pressing up against mine, twisting and turning. "Do it now! Don't make me wait! I need it! I need you!"
There was nothing else I wanted to do, nor could have done. I began lunging my hips against hers and felt her clutching my buttocks as I did.
"Oh, yeah! Oh, God, yeah!" I heard myself chanting as I plunged into her delightful warm cavern again and again.
"Yes! Yes! Oh, Lord, J.J., yes!" Mother murmured in reply.
I felt my orgasm starting and made no attempt to stop it, not that I could have. My insides convulsed and my juices shot up through my penis and into Mother. About that time I felt her fingers digging into my bottom and realized she was coming, too. The sounds we were making were no longer intelligible as waves of ecstasy swept over both of us. I think I remember yelling, "Jonelle, I love you!" but I'm not sure.
After my passion was spent and I could move, I managed to get myself off Mother and collapsed against the arm of the sofa. I looked at her, she looked at me, and we both giggled nervously.
"What woulda happened if your daddy had come home while we was...um...you know?" Mother asked. She was still naked, a little breathless, and her nipples were still hard.
I couldn't help myself. I said, "He'd have seen how a man should make love to his woman."
Mother's face turned bright red. "J.J., this isn't funny," she said sternly. She sat up and began buttoning her dress.
"I know," I said. "We do need to be more careful." I took a deep breath. "But God, I wish we didn't have to."
Mother slid over, took my face in her hands, and kissed me softly. "I know, I wish we didn't, too, but that's the way it is." She kissed me again. "I gotta go to the bathroom and get cleaned up..." She paused and grinned at me. "Because 'a you." I got another gentle kiss, then she stood up and walked out of the room.
I got my clothes back in some semblance of order and flipped over the sofa cushions to hide the wet spot we'd left. I got up, went into my room, and got a spray can of deodorant to hide the smell of love-making that still hung in the air, too. I heard Mother come out of the bathroom, so I headed in that direction.
I met Mother in the hallway outside the bathroom and we shared a gentle, loving kiss and hug. "I think I'm gonna go to bed," she said after the kiss ended.
"Yeah, I guess I will, too," I said glumly. "You know...you could come to bed with me...maybe he..." The sound of a vehicle coming up the road made me stop. I sighed. "I guess he's coming home, huh?"
Mother looked as glum as I felt. "Looks that way," she said. She gave me another quick kiss. "Maybe he'll take off and be gone all day tomorrow, like today," she added, then she headed into her bedroom.
I went into the bathroom fuming about the irony of my situation. That morning I'd established myself as the "alpha male" in the household, but Mother was still sleeping in the same room as my father although, blessedly, not in the same bed. Was there anything I could ever do about that?