by Mary Jaine
"I would however urge you to carefully consider what you're doing if the subject of children raises its head. Close monitoring of any pregnancy will be a must, and early testing to ensure no genetic anomalies are being expressed is highly indicated. I would recommend you both come and talk to me before you do embark on a pregnancy, just so we all know where this could go, and if you do go ahead, I would definitely urge an amniocentesis and periodic MRI scans. The clinic where I work has advanced pre-natal care facilities and I can make them available to you if and when you need them. There is a good chance that your children will be unaffected, but there's also a definite possibility that they could, it's a coin-toss, so think carefully."
"As you are currently under my care, any conversations I have with you, or confidences you ask me to keep are covered by privilege, so I can't and won't discuss this with anyone without your express consent. I hope I've opened your eyes to the possible consequences of your relationship with Ashley. Personally, I hope you and Ashley succeed; I like her a lot, and she needs the kind of stability a strong relationship can offer."
He smiled and stood up.
"Now I think we've left Ashley alone too long out there with Judy, never a good idea! Shall we rejoin them?"
We left together, my mind at ease now. Judy's dad was a regular human-type person when he wasn't wearing his 'Dr. Nixon' hat. He'd given me some food for thought, while clearly stating his intention to stay out of our business, so I could put Ashley's fears to bed too. There was no more reason to hide the truth from mother, but the rest of the community certainly didn't need to know.
As I was climbing into the car a thought struck me, and I looked for Dr. Nixon again.
"Dr. Nixon, as I'm here, are you sure you don't want to check me over again, or..."
He actually blushed. "Actually, Nick, I'm really quite busy, but I'll be over this evening, if you could let your mother know I'll be there about Seven o'clock or thereabouts...!"
I thanked him, watching him still blushing furiously, and told him I'd look forward to his visit, and with that we pulled away.
Judy was grinning like a chimp, so I asked her what had got her so happy.
"He's so full of it, he's not busy, he's not working today, he'll be in his study watching 'Rocket Monkeys' on Nickelodeon all afternoon! He just wants to make sure he has another chance to meet up with your mom!"
When we arrived back home, Ashley dragged Judy in with her, much against her will; mother had really put the wind up her, and she didn't relish spending any time anywhere near her just now, but Ashley insisted; she wanted her oldest friend with her right now, and Judy gave in.
Lunch wasn't strained or particularly atmospheric; mother was friendly and gracious, spooking Judy even further; she sat on the edge of her seat the whole time. I didn't know what she thought, that mother was suddenly going to reach over and stab her with a fork, or gouge her eye out with a spoon or something, but she was visibly relieved when lunch was over and we cleared-up and returned to the living room. Judy noted where mother sat, then chose the furthest point from her; I had to hide a grin, poor Judy really was spooked bad!
Mother composed herself, obviously gathering her thoughts, and began.
"Nicky, Ashley, I've been thinking about what happened this morning, about the two of you, and I need you both to tell me where this is going, what you think the future holds. Ashley?"
Ashley glanced at me, and started.
"Mom, we didn't mean for this to happen, and Nicky didn't set out to seduce me, as you put it; if anything, I jumped him, and he gave me umpteen chances to back out and not have to be doing this someday. I saw him, and I saw my future, I can't put it any other way. I love him, and I will marry him; he's already asked me, and I've accepted. Oh, we're not getting married tomorrow, Nick wants to get a job first, get settled-in, but eventually we will get married, have our own home, babies, everything."
"Mom, I know you think this is wrong, but it feels right to me, Nicky makes me feel happy all the way through, I believe in him, and I believe he's sincere when he tells me he loves me."
Mother nodded all through this, then cocked an eyebrow at me.
"And you, Nicky, what do you have to say?"
I swallowed, and took-up where Ashley left off.
"I love Ashley, mum, I think I loved her from the first time I actually saw at her, and when I did, it was like something clicked-on in my head, and I knew she was the one. I don't want to break up this family, and we don't have to; like you said, we can't be your kids in here and a couple out there, so we'll be one thing all the time, just Ashley and Nick, a couple, but you'll always be my mum, and we're still going to be your children, that will never change."
"I want to marry Ashley, I know from deep down inside that she's the one I want, and I promise I'll always make her day end with a smile; I won't promise we won't fight, I can't do that, but I do promise we'll never end the day in anger. That's one thing I learned from Barbara; even when I made her mad enough to send me to my room, she still came and wished me goodnight and told me she still loved me, and I would tell her I was sorry."
"Life's too short, mum, and you may not ever get the chance to say sorry, so I always say it first. I'm sorry, mum, for not telling you sooner, and I apologise for hurting you, but I love Ashley, and I want her to be my wife; I know it seems too short a time, but it isn't, not for me; I knew from the moment I saw her, and nothing's going to change that. I will always love her, and I will never make her cry, I swear to you."
Mother looked at me, and back to Ashley, then down at her hands folded in her lap.
"This is not what I dreamed for you Ashley. I had so much planned for you. I know that things happened to take all that away, and I learned to live with what I could salvage, but I never thought I'd be giving you away to my son, but..."
"But mom, you said....!" burst out Ashley, but mother held her hand up to silence her.
"No, baby, let me finish. What I was going to say was, I'm glad for you, because you're happy, at last. Your happiness is the only thing I've ever wanted. All I wanted was for us to be a strong, close-knit family, but I didn't want it at any price, including breaking your heart or driving you away because of what I thought was right or wrong. You love Nicky, and I can see that he loves you. He's an honest, compassionate, loving young man; he'll be a strong arm for you to lean on."
"My children need to be happy; too much has happened to them already in their short lives for me to take that away from them, and either I fight against this because of what people say is wrong, and lose them, or I accept it because it's right for my children. I have to accept that you both are together, that you love each other, and that you want to make a life together. If you're both happy together, I don't dare come between you and risk losing both of you. I lost my little boy for so long, I can't lose him again just when I've got him back."
"So this is what we'll have to do. You'll both live here, my daughter and her fiancé, we'll turn Nicky's room into your room, we'll move some things around to give you a bit more room in there. What I said earlier, about being...together, in front of me, forget that; if you can't be together and be in love in your own home, why bother living there? And Nicky, please, just keep calling me mum; as far as the world knows or cares, you're my son-in-law to-be, so it'll seem normal. In due course, you may decide to get a place of your own, get married and have a family, I'll be there for you both then as well. Did I miss anything?"
I looked on in open-mouthed astonishment. Mother had just given me the biggest, most desired gift of all, Ashley, without batting an eyelid. Ashley was in a similar state; we'd expected hostility, some backtracking and negotiation, but this, this was just...incredible. Ashley was the first to move, hugging her mom tightly, tears on her cheeks while mother smiled indulgently, even though I could see in her eyes what this decision was really costing her. I hung back until Ashley let me near mother, but I gave up waiting and squeezed them both, mother again grinning as I bear
-hugged my family.
"Nick...Nick...can't breathe"! laughed mother, and I released them, un-squashing Ashley in the process, who grinned and jabbed me with her elbow as payback for nearly flattening her.
Eventually Ashley let go of her so I could get a chance to hug her and thank her, choosing to go to our room with Judy and do whatever it was the two of them did in there, and leaving me some space to talk with our mother.
Mother smiled at me. "Something on your mind, Nicky?" and I had to grin. I didn't know where to start.
"Mum...I will do everything I can for Ashley, I wasn't lying, or feeding you a line; she means the world to me, and I don't know why, or how it happened so quickly, but it did, and I won't let her go, not until she wants to go."
Mother looked at me, and leaned over and kissed me lightly on the cheek.
"I believe you Nicky, and I trust you to do the right thing by her, always. She's not just your girl, she's also your little sister, and you have to remember that when you deal with her; there are going to be 'my girlfriend' times, and there are going to be 'my kid sister' times, you have to keep them separate and deal with them like that. I don't think it will be too difficult; Ashley's made up her mind about you, and when she makes up her mind, she tends to be the immovable object, so take fair warning; don't try and butt heads with her unless you want to lose like a girl!"
I smiled; I'd sort of come to the same conclusion, but I also had some other questions for her.
"If Ashley and I decide to have children, and I don't think it's a very big 'if', how are you going to be with that?"
Mother leaned back and smiled to herself. "Nicky, I often wondered during the last two years if I ever would have grandchildren; I didn't think I would, to be honest, I thought Ashley was never going to be whole again, she never dated, she never went out unless she had Judy with her, she always got back before dark, and she made no plans to go to college or do anything. Then you came along, and it's like a light went on inside her, and now she's making plans, she's becoming outgoing and more like herself again, and she's planning her future. That's because of you, Nicky, and if the two of you have children, it'll be because you wanted them, and I'll love them as much as I love my daughter and my long-lost son. Does that answer your question, Nick?"
I had to grin. "Yes it does, mum, and thank you. I'll always try and be worthy of her, she's a fabulous girl, and I still can't believe she loves me as much as I love her, and I promise you, she'll always come first with me, in everything. Tell me one last thing, mum, when you came back this morning, was it because you were hoping to catch us in...er, 'flagrante', or why did you come back so soon?"
Her eyes opened wide, and she grinned.
"I completely forgot, I came back so quickly because I brought something for Ashley and with everything last night I clean forgot to give it to her, it's in the car, and in the middle of all this, I forgot why I came back! Wait here, I'll just get it from the car. Ashley!"
Ashley and Judy came out of her room as mum came back in with a case and handed it to her.
"What is it, mom?" grinned Ashley.
"Open it, it's for you!" smiled mother.
Ashley opened it and squealed; inside was a new Dell laptop.
"It's got a webcam built-in apparently, and I know we don't have Wi-Fi, but we soon will; the company's paying for a fast broadband link for me so I can work at home, so they're installing a...a hub, I think he called it, so you'll be able to do whatever it is you need a laptop for! Later, you'll have to go downtown with Nicky and buy a printer, I'm sure he knows what to look for."
Ashley was ecstatic, gabbling her thanks to mother, but she waved it off. "Thank Nicky, honey, he gave me the money, and we promised you a laptop, so there it is!"
Ashley kissed me on the cheek, and whispered "I'll thank you properly tonight, baby!" Of course I blushed, mother was standing two feet away!
Ashley and Judy disappeared back into her room to try out her new toy, leaving mother and I sitting together on the couch.
I finally asked the question I'd wanted to ask since mother had told me about her husband.
"Mum," I asked softly, "how did Ashley's father die?"
She looked at me levelly.
"James died of advanced Stage Four Pharyngeal cancer; when the doctors finally realised what they were dealing with, it had progressed beyond the scope of available treatment; all they could give was palliative care. Poor James, his tongue and throat were worst affected, he developed secondary cancers in his mouth, at the base of his tongue, and in his oesophagus; at the end he couldn't talk or swallow, or even whisper properly."
"Ashley saw all this happen, how he deteriorated almost daily, how all our money went on care and pain meds, she was only twelve years old when he was diagnosed, and she watched as he deteriorated a little more every day. He died two years later. That's why I'm so concerned for her; nothing has gone right for her for so long, I really can't bear to see her lose and get hurt again. You promised me you'd always take care of her, please, just make sure you do!"
I held her hands, seeing the plea in her eyes.
"I promised you, and I was telling the truth; Ashley will never have anything from me except the best I can give her, always!"
Mother seemed satisfied with that, and patted my knee. "OK, now that's sorted, let's go and set up that bedroom for you and Ashley, and I can't believe I just said that!" she grinned.
I went and collared Ashley, and press-ganged Judy into helping us clear the room I was staying in and moving Ashley's stuff in there. Her current room was right next to mother's room, to be as close to her as possible at night, and my room was at the other end of the house. I knew why mother wanted us in there, and it did give me a pang for a moment, but Ashley also twigged why mother was moving us as far away from her as possible; sound carries well, at night...
We laboured for a couple of hours, getting the room just so, according to some complex organisational vision she had, and Judy and I just followed orders; well, I did; after a while, Judy decided to not assist any further and just climbed on the bed and lay back to watch. Her reasoning was disarmingly simple; it was our den of iniquity, not hers, so she didn't see why we couldn't set it up ourselves. As a bonus, the room was larger than Ashley's old room, so she had more room to spread out in. As mentioned earlier, I only had a holdall and a few new shirts, so I wasn't overburdened with a need for closet space just yet. While we, correction, I laboured, mother began putting dinner together.
Once I'd finished, I wandered in and started giving mother a hand with dinner; (and before you think it, I'm not some kind of goody-goody or brown-noser; the fact was, with no job, and Ashley and Judy closeted with their heads together, I'd run out of things to do and people to talk to, I was at a complete loose end, and I don't do sitting around idly well, so I thought I'd make myself useful for a while).
Mother had me peeling potatoes and chopping carrots while she chatted about her job, about her husband, about Ashley when she was small, filling me in on my sister's life a little, giving me a better picture of the girl I loved. From mother's description of how it used to be, they'd had a pretty good life; James had been a contractor, making a very healthy living out of urban renewal projects, and building several housing developments.
They used to live elsewhere in Albany, a place called Crestwood, and they'd bought this house a a development project to renovate and remodel in line with the surrounding dwellings, and then James had become sick, and had to stop working, and the money ran out very quickly. The house in Crestwood was foreclosed, and this dilapidated house became the family home. Ashley had been most affected; she'd lived in a large house with a pool and a summerhouse, with her own playroom, everything she'd wanted or needed, vacations at Cape Cod and Nantucket Island, and then it was all gone.
I pondered all this while we were getting everything ready, and I also reminded mother that Dr. Nixon was coming over later, so perhaps he'd appreciate being invited to join us for din
ner...?
Mother readily agreed, flushing slightly. Oho, I thought, Judy was right, there's definitely something there, well, well, well!
I asked her if she needed anything else done, and she smiled and said she was fine, I'd done enough for now, so I went off in search of Ashley. I found her still in my (our!) room. She'd gotten dressed now, out of her baggy T-shirt and into a summer top with spaghetti straps and a pair of unfeasibly tight jeans; they looked sprayed on! They showed every curve and line of her long, elegant legs, and her smooth, rounded, delectable bum, and I have no problem admitting they made my mouth water! Ashley saw me looking and stretched out like a photo-shoot model.
"You like, young Sir?" she asked coquettishly, and I nodded, still busy ogling her, because she was definitely worth every second of ogle I could squeeze out of the moment!
Judy grinned at us.
"Why don't you two get a room? Oh yes, you have! Do you want me to leave?"
Ashley grinned even wider.
"Shush, Judy, my boy wants to ogle me, I quite like being an object of ogle!"
"You said you wanted some jeans tight enough to give mum a stroke, I'm going out on a limb here and supposing these are one and the same?" I asked, and she smiled back.
"Yup, but they're not really jeans, they're Jeggings, leggings made to look like jeans, feel them, they're made of spandex or something, not denim. Very big in England right now, I hear, so you should feel right at home!"
She undulated to illustrate just how figure hugging they were, her lovely behind and flanks rippling and quivering fetchingly, making me feel weak and horny and completely fetched! I also failed to see any VPL, no matter how closely I looked. Ashley grinned happily at me.
"I'm not wearing any, not with these, well, you just can't...!"
