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Chapter 2: Obviously, Brenda Filzen did something to drive Pat away from Karen; however, she seems to have lost her grip on Pat fairly soon. Pat, however, does not seek Karen out until it’s too late. Karen Brushes off his late attempt to at least have lunch with her, and she walks off into the mist. Karen meets Pat’s parents and likes them immediately. They meet again at graduation and Sylvia senses immediately that Pat has somehow wronged Karen.

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Introduction:

Chapter 2: Obviously, Brenda Filzen did something to drive Pat away from Karen; however, she seems to have lost her grip on Pat fairly soon. Pat, however, does not seek Karen out until it’s too late. Karen Brushes off his late attempt to at least have lunch with her, and she walks off into the mist. Karen meets Pat’s parents and likes them immediately. They meet again at graduation and Sylvia senses immediately that Pat has somehow wronged Karen.

Chapter 3: brings us briefly back to the present. Karen learns more about Pat’s older brother and his outgoing wife, Amy. We first met Amy in “Who is Sylvia” when she was just an infant. After a wonderful dinner at The Ranch, Joe and Amy head to their home in Eureka. They reminisce about their wonderful life together and discuss their impressions of Karen. Their evening ends very pleasantly.

Author's Note:There are references to characters in previous novels, and I would strongly recommend that you read them if you haven’t already done so. Musetta Gigliotti O’Donnell is mentioned and referred to several times. Although she has been deceased for many years before this story begins, her influence is very strong. ‘Musetta’s Waltz’ is not very long and will give some important background. Musetta is a wonderful transgendered woman who overcomes extreme adversity.

This story is the fifth in the series and to date, the entire series covers nearly 100 years and five generations. The first story is “The Heart of the Beholder” and deals with the early life of Mike and Jo O’Donnell. “The Narragansett Fork” is about Fanny, the O’Donnell’s adopted daughter and a rather remarkable individual. It is in this book that we first meet Musetta. “Musetta’s Waltz” is her autobiography and the third book in the series. “Who Is Sylvia” is the story about Sylvia O’Donnell and how Phil Esterházy wins her. That brings us to the current story, which takes place 37 years or so after the end of the previous story.

Being transgendered or intersexed is not the main theme of this story. This is a story about a rather large family where two people happened to be intersexed and another, now deceased, was transgendered. This is a story about how people find love, over and above everything else.

There is a little mystery that shouldn’t be too hard to figure out. The clues are there. There are 34 chapters plus a prologue and epilogue. The story is complete. I am not sure how it will be posted. Regardless of the voting and comments, or lack there of, I will post it until completion. I’ll try not to let hurt feelings get in the way.

My thanks must go to Holly H. Hart for taking time from her harried life to correct the multitude of errors made while creating this story.

This work is copyrighted by the author and any publication or distribution without the written consent of the author is strictly prohibited. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of the characters to persons living or dead is coincidental.

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Chapters 2 & 3
 
Chapter 2 – Karen and Patrick

San Louis Obispo, California, 2075

Over the next three months they saw each other every day. There were two mandatory advanced classes, Marine Phycology (the study of marine algae) and Mycology (the study of fungi), that they were taking together. The classes were small, and there were seldom more than 10 students. They also were taking an advance Marine Ecology course that complemented the Marine Phycology course. It was fun, and they were able to combine some projects. Their interests lay more with the terrestrial plants and ecologies; however, they both enjoyed the shore and the tide pool regions.

Pat was considerably more agile or at least his longer legs gave him an advantage when they worked their way through the algae covered boulders and pools during low tide. It was not easy walking, and more than once Karen found herself sliding into the cool salt water, not that Pat didn’t find a wet step or two on his own. He was always there to help Karen up if she did slide in. He was quite strong, and could easily lift Karen up to secure footing with one arm.

He did have one weakness, though it did not affect him academically, and that was he loved to fish. He was like his great uncle Pat had been, and his mom and dad in that regard. He carried a short pole and some frozen bait fish in his pack, and when they came across a tide pool that promised the appropriate shelter, he would quickly bait up and toss the morsel to drift down among the rocks. There were always large sculpins, various species of rock-bass, and every once in a while a ling cod or moray eel.

There was a small group of students and one of the faculty members who seemed to drift into a small group, and after a day’s work/research/fun and fishing they would migrate to a small sheltered area against one of the cliffs. There never seemed to be a question that Karen would join them. Bottles of wine would show up, even a small ‘keglet’ of beer in an ice chest might be there. Pat would fillet the fish, and there would be various vegetables that could be skewered or foil wrapped and cooked in or above the coals of a driftwood fire.

It wasn’t too long before Karen found herself sampling some of the exotic delicacies that could be found in the pools and rocks. There were some of the spring tides, when the moon was new, when they could literally harvest some large abalone that were attached to the sheltered sides of the boulders. These areas would normally be under five or six feet of water. They would slice the white meat into thin slices and pound it for some time to tenderize it. They would then batter the fillets and pan fry them over the open fire. Karen thought it was delicious. As the weeks progressed she became bolder, and one evening Pat dared her to try something new.

“What is it?” she asked.

“I’m not going to tell you. You are going to have to trust me. Close your eyes and open your mouth.”

Karen did as she was told, and Pat dropped a small morsel on her tongue. It was salty, and the aroma of the ocean was instantaneous. She gently savored it, not being very sure how to approach it. She chewed and tasted some more. Whatever it was it was slightly sweet and very rich like butter. It reminded her a little bit of hard sauce without the alcohol.

“What is that?” she asked. “It’s delicious.”

“Sea urchin gonads,” was Pat’s matter of fact reply.

Karen’s first reaction was to want to spit out what remained, and then she realized there was nothing to spit out. She opened her eyes to see everyone looking at her. She had the feeling they were prepared to laugh at her reaction to the little joke at her expense. She realized something else at that point. She had passed a test, whether it was a conscious effort on their part or not. For the first time in a long time she was being accepted by a group of folks she knew little about. She knew something else that day. She could absolutely trust Pat and his judgment.

“I would like some more, if you don’t mind.” The group cheered. The hors d’oeuvre went very well with the local chardonnay.

They were sitting on a large driftwood log upwind from the fire, and there was a bit of a chill in the air. Karen scooted closer to Pat, and suddenly his arm was around her. She was very comfortable.

“Karen, this has been a fun summer. It’s too bad that the fall semester is starting soon, and we’re going to have take classes a bit more seriously.

“Look, I’m not very good at this sort of thing, but I was wondering if you would like to go to dinner with me – just you and I, none of these other guys.”

Karen thought about it for a moment, and little shivers of anticipation went down her spine. Yes she would very much like to do that.

“Yes, Pat, I would love to go to dinner with you.”

Over the next few weeks they managed to go out several times. Sometimes it was an informal meal and a movie. A couple of times they went to one of the nicer restaurants in the area, and Pat even managed to find a sport coat. It was during this time that Karen decided Pat was the one, and she was going to give herself to him.

Things to this point had been pretty chaste, and had not gone beyond a nice kiss when Pat left her at the dorm. She felt he was holding back and needed encouragement. She knew that she would let him know maybe not in words but in actions that she wanted to get serious.

The campus was a pretty quiet place during the summer sessions. Most of the students were area residents, and many of them were attending other universities during the school year. It gave them an opportunity to take a course or two without the pressures of a heavy load. When the fall semester started, it was a totally different matter. The campus bustled. There were the new students who, for the first few weeks, looked totally lost. Then there were the students from previous years.

During the summer session, Karen and Pat ate lunch in the student union most days, when they weren’t out doing research. Once the fall session started, they didn’t have the same schedule, and their thesis programs had them going in different directions. Still they managed to meet most mornings for coffee.

Pat usually arrived earlier than Karen, and she would find him seated near a window at the far side. It was a pleasant spot with a view of a garden area. It was the second week of the fall semester when Karen’s heart was chilled. Pat was not waiting alone, and the person seated with him was someone she knew as a fellow student, not as a close friend.

Brenda Filzen was a graduate student in Drama, and had been a past Miss California contestant. She was very attractive, and her beauty for the most part was natural. Her nose was a little too perfect, though, and the word was that she’d had a nose job when she was in high school. She had an excellent voice and was an acceptable pianist. As pretty and talented as she was, there was another side to her that many were not aware of. She was greedy, self centered, and had the personality of a wolverine under a veneer of sugar and spice. She had an entourage of sycophants who were mostly unknown to those outside the drama circle.

Karen, because of her brief trysts with two of her roommates, had spent some time with them at Brenda’s off campus residence. Brenda was clearly self enamored, and had surrounded herself with several students and others who were willing to play up to her ego. She was clearly bi-sexual and had a ravenous sexual appetite; however, she never made even a hint of an advance toward Karen. It wasn’t for that reason that Karen didn’t like her. There was something toxic about Brenda. Her gay followers seemed to be immune; however, straight males were lured in and discarded with regularity. They seemed to be shells of their former selves once they were cast aside.

Karen probably felt a twinge of jealousy, but she also felt anxiety for Pat. They weren’t lovers, and as much as she wanted it to be, they weren’t an official item. If she had been a bit more experienced she would have realized that things were progressing slowly, but very favorably as far as her relationship with Pat was concerned. The thing she felt was fear for Pat’s sake. She knew how Brenda operated, and when she set her sights on someone, she usually succeeded.

As far as Brenda was concerned, Pat was fresh meat. He was tall, good looking (in spite of the facial foliage), and athletic, and as Karen had recently found out; his brother was the Olympic Champion in the decathlon in consecutive Olympics. Then there were his parents. They were both college professors, well known for their environmentalist activities. His grandfather had been a Medal of Honor recipient, and several of his closest relatives were renowned musicians and composers. Brenda realized that without connections it was going to be difficult for her to make it in the world of entertainment. If she could entrap Pat and get him under her spell, there would be some valuable connections to take advantage of. She might have to change her modus operandi for a while, though.

Karen Markley had presented a bit of a problem that she would have to take care of. ‘She is such a loser. I don’t see what he sees in her. She’s built like a fireplug. Shit, her ass is huge and she doesn’t have any tits to speak of. I’ll show him what a real woman looks and feels like, and he’ll forget he even knew her.’

Subtlety was not Brenda’s strength; however, she had a plan in mind, and she felt it would work. She would play to Karen’s self doubt and destroy the image that Pat had of her. It would be easy. She would seduce Pat and give him the best sex he ever had.

Karen was not aware of any plans Brenda had for Pat; however, she didn’t need to. Brenda was sitting at the table having coffee with Pat. She wasn’t there because Karen would be having coffee with Pat. She was there because she was making a move on Pat.

Karen, trying to hide her uneasiness slid into the chair next to Pat. “Hi, Brenda, I see you and Pat have met.”

“Yes, we have an advanced literature class together. So, how have you been? How’s your love life?”

Karen felt the heat rising. ‘I was doing fine until you showed up,’ she thought. “Just fine,” she said quietly. “I haven’t seen you all summer. What have you been up to?”

“We spent most of the first part in Italy. Daddy has some wine interests there. Wine is so boring. I spent some time auditioning for some upcoming roles in Milan. They have an opera house there, you know.”

Pat’s ears perked up. “Yes, my sister sings there regularly. She will be doing ‘The Ring Cycle’ there this fall. She’s Brünnhilde. Her husband is Wotan. That would really be something if you could get a role there.”

Actually, Brenda couldn’t get through the front door at the Milan Opera House (Teatro alla Scala). She had visited a couple of the smaller houses in the area; however, her lack of language abilities severely limited her attractiveness for the European theater. She decided to change the subject to some less sensitive areas.

“We spent several weeks in Monaco and the Riviera. You know how those beaches are over there. I was able to get an all over tan; well, almost. It’s so gross in Italy. A lot of the women don’t shave their pits.”

Karen began to think that the best defense was a good offense. “Pat, are things still on for this Friday? Seeing that play should be a lot of fun. The reviews were great. They said the two leads were outstanding.” Karen may have gone a bit too far. She knew that Brenda had auditioned for one of the major roles and didn’t get the part. Nor did she get any of the minor parts. Rumors had it she may have been under the influence of something, and it didn’t go over very well with the director, David Morales, who was a very devout Christian and family man.

Brenda had been able to get her way in the past by bestowing sexual favors on key personnel in organizations, and apparently had tried to seduce Morales. Someone, not a friend of Brenda, said they could hear him yelling at her to get her clothes on and get the hell out of the theater and never come back. A few minutes later, a somewhat disheveled Brenda was seen leaving the theater in a huff. It was said she almost hit some pedestrians and a postal delivery truck on her way out of the parking lot.

“Pat, I’ll see you later.” Then looking daggers at Karen as she stood to leave, she said, “Karen, it was nice seeing you again.”

The next day, when Karen arrived for coffee, instead of Brenda, there were two much older adults seated with Pat. Pat stood as Karen approached, “Mom, Dad, I would like you to meet Karen Markley. She’s a graduate student in Botany, also, and we managed to have several classes together over the summer sessions.

“Karen, this is my mother, Dr. Sylvia Esterházy and my dad, Dr. Phil Esterházy. They are down here for a seminar.”

Now Karen knew where Pat got his good looks. She knew Pat was the youngest of five children. She assumed, but didn’t know for sure, that Pat was her age or around 23. Pat’s oldest brother was in his late 30’s, and this would mean his parents were at least in their middle 60’s. They didn’t look it. They were bright eyed, tight skinned and quite athletic looking. There was also a youthful exuberance about them.

They were very interested in Pat’s as well as Karen’s thesis projects, and before she realized it, they were heavily involved in discussing both of them. Phil was really into what Karen was doing with the Monterey Pines, and brought up some interesting aspects that Karen had not considered.

Karen was a bit in awe of Pat’s parents. His mother was the head of the Division of Botany, and his father was the head of the Department of Forestry at Humboldt State. His mother had written one of the texts that Karen used in her undergraduate studies.

When she first met Pat she didn’t connect the name to the author of the book. All the graduate students had nooks for a desk and a bookcase or two. They were discussing a joint paper they were working on when Pat looked at Karen’s library. “So, what do you think of Mom’s book?”

“Your Mom’s book, what book is that?”

“Native Grasses of the Pacific Coast”: she wrote it while I was growing up. The kids used to help her collect specimens. It was interesting work, and Mom was tough to please. She’s the reason I’m in Botany. My oldest brother ended up being the best athlete, and is teaching Physics, Geology, and coaching track and field at Eureka High. My middle sister, Demeter, is an opera singer, and travels all over the world with her husband and family. She lives in Italy. Persephone’s my oldest sister, and she is a psychiatrist. She lives in San Francesco. My youngest sister, she’s two years older than I am, is a concert pianist. We’ve had many musicians in my family. I love music. It’s just that I like the outdoors even more.

“The music comes from my mother’s side of the family. My grandmother was a medical doctor, but she made many recordings as a pianist. She and my grandfather loved the outdoors, and that love seems to have been passed on to all of us.”

Karen wasn’t sure why all this information was being passed on to her, but as she was to find out over the next few weeks, the Esterházy family was a very diversified and interesting group of people, and now she was sharing coffee with two of the preeminent botanists in California.

Over the next couple of weeks Karen realized that her tactics with Brenda had little or no effect. Brenda always seemed to be there sharing coffee with Pat. She seemed to be getting much more familiar with him than Karen liked. There were several times she arrived at the table to see Brenda grasping Pat’s hand in hers as it lay on the table top. Then there was the clincher. Pat didn’t ask Karen out.

Karen arrived at the table one morning to find Brenda was just getting up to leave.

“I’ll see you tonight at 7:00, OK?”

Pat was a bit uneasy as he saw Karen approaching. “Yes, 7:00 o’clock, I’ll see you then.”

Brenda turned to Karen, and gave her a withering smile. Karen’s heart sank. It was all over. Brenda would have her way with Pat. Karen knew that she was foolish in thinking she ever had a chance with Brenda being around. She didn’t cry, but the tears weren’t far below the surface.

As she stood there trying to think of something to say to Pat, he stood while draining his cup of coffee, gathered his books and papers into his pack, and with a “See you later” took off in the direction that Brenda had taken. When Karen returned the next day, Pat was not at the usual spot. She looked around and spotted Pat in a far corner. The table was placed so that only two people could use it, and Brenda was occupying the other chair.

For the remainder of that semester and the next, Pat never asked Karen out again. She was miserable, and the inferiority complex that she had almost forgotten about was back with a vengeance. It was worse than that. It was the onset of a depression like she had experienced after her parents’ death.

The romance between Pat and Brenda, if it was a romance, lasted only until early spring. Karen had found that having coffee in the student union was almost a painful experience. Too many times there and elsewhere she would see Pat, and Brenda would be hovering around him, almost clinging at times. Karen retreated to her little graduate student cubbyhole, and drank the tasteless coffee mixed with artificial creamer. She saw Pat several times a week in one of their classes, and she would see him at his desk not far from hers.

The crunch was on. Their theses were completed, and they had to defend them in front of their respective committees. Their defenses were the same morning. For Karen, it was grueling. Her self confidence had taken a severe beating, and it took her a few minutes to get her feet on the ground. Once she hit her stride, she was on autopilot. It didn’t seem like any time at all when the head of her committee turned to her other tormentors. They conferred briefly, and then the committee chairman turned back to her.

“Ms. Markley, you have done an excellent job. Your thesis is first class, and after those few stumbles early on, probably due to nerves, you supported what we have believed ever since your undergraduate days. You are an outstanding student and a credit to this university. I know everyone on the committee agrees. You passed with flying colors. We’ll see you at graduation.”

They gathered around her, offering their congratulations. After only a few minutes, they dispersed to their own inner sanctums to prepare for the next thesis grilling. Karen looked at her watch. What had seemed like forty-five minutes had been nearly four hours. She was exhausted.

She stepped out the door into the hall, and almost ran into Pat. He had been waiting for her.

“So, how did it go?”

“Very well, how about you?” she said with little emotion.

“It was tough, but I knew my stuff. It’s hard to believe it’s over. Would you like to have some lunch?”

Karen paused for a moment before answering. “Isn’t there someone else you would rather be with?” She turned and walked down the hall to the exit door. The May fog was thicker than usual, and it suited her mood. There was a light drizzle, and she pulled her hood over her head. No one noticed the tears that were running down her cheeks.

Fortunately, the graduation ceremony was not the pomp and circumstance that it was for the undergraduates. It was formal, and there were several speeches before they got on with the presentation of the diplomas.

Karen had, at least on the surface, overcome much of her sadness and depression over the last few weeks. She didn’t hate Pat. Far from it, she felt a deeper affection than she ever had. She was sorry for rejecting him like she did, but she was tired of being Brenda’s doormat, and her anger and hurt had been real. The trouble was she didn’t know how to deal with the rejection she felt. Other than her parents, there had never been anyone she had ever felt as close to as she felt about Pat.

Her subconscious had been working a bit overtime over the last few weeks. She knew Pat was continuing his studies at the University of California at Davis, and probably would be there for several years while working on his doctorate. She had no desire to leave California, and wanted to stay close to the area she was familiar with. She applied and interviewed for a teaching position in the Sacramento Public School System, and was quickly accepted. Karen spoke Spanish fluently, and it was probably a determining factor in her getting the job.

Karen had noticed something over the last few weeks. Brenda no longer seemed to be in the picture as far as Pat was concerned. In fact, she was conspicuous in her absence. Karen hoped that Pat might want to re-establish their relationship, but other than being friendly when they met during their school work or infrequently around the campus, Pat did not outwardly express any desire to get back with Karen.

Now it was graduation. Fortunately, the graduation ceremony was not the pomp and circumstance that it was for the undergraduates. It was formal, and there were several speeches before they got on with the presentation of the diplomas.

As the last speaker was winding up his talk and would be passing along his blessing to the graduates, Karen looked out over the small crowd of attendees, and spotted Pat’s parents. She would have to say goodbye to them if she could. She had really enjoyed meeting them earlier that year, and realized they were rather special people.

The graduates were finally dismissed and marched (not really) up the aisle, through the door, and outside. The guests would follow shortly. Pat, being ahead in the alphabet was standing near a large oak, and Karen spotted him immediately.

“Hi, Pat, I wanted to say hello to your folks, and goodbye, too.”

“So, what are you going to do? We haven’t talked much lately, and I….”

“Pat,” she interrupted, “I’m going out there on my own for a while. I’m going to teach school and take things a day at a time. I’ll just have to see what happens….Oh, here’re your mom and dad.”

“Hi, Karen,” said Sylvia as she greeted her son with a hug and kiss. His dad followed it up with a hug and handshake. Sylvia turned, and gave Karen a congratulatory hug also.

“Look, you two look great. Let’s get a picture of the two graduates under that oak.” Sylvia took a couple of shots, and then talked a nearby parent into taking a picture of the four of them.

Karen was getting a bit edgy. The emotions were starting to rise again. “Doctors…, er, how does one address two PhD’s anyway?”

“How about Phil and Sylvia?”

“Sylvia, Phil, Pat, it’s been great knowing you. I’ve got to hit the road. I have a long trip ahead of me, and don’t want to drive in the dark. So, I guess this is goodbye.” Karen gave each of them one last hug, and headed for the parking lot and her car.

“Pat,” said Sylvia as she watched Karen disappear around some bushes, “something’s wrong. Did you hurt her?”

“I think I did. Shit, I know I did. Mom, I really fucked things up. She’s leaving and I don’t know where she’s going. She wouldn’t tell me.”

Sylvia looked at her youngest son, and could see his lower lip was quivering.

 

“Er, what?”

“Would you like some more wine.”

“Yes, please. I’m sorry, I was wool gathering.”

“Phil, why don’t you hold off on the wine? Karen’s had a long day, and we can have a glass of port before turning in.

It had been a wonderful dinner. Phil and Sylvia were excellent cooks, and Karen knew that it had been many years since she’d had a home cooked meal as good as this one. She had been thinking about Pat, and began to realize she was being welcomed very warmly into a family that she didn’t know very much about. Everywhere she looked there were welcoming arms and smiles.

Clara seemed to be particularly interested in her childhood, and Karen related some of the tale that was still a bit difficult for her to talk about; however, in this company, it seemed a bit easier than times before. She talked about growing up in Sunnyvale, an only child, and having to convince her parents to let her have some free rein as she reached adolescence. She talked about her acquired love for the outdoors and nature, and how much she had enjoyed working with Pat in graduate school.

The younger children were long in bed when Joe and Amy gathered two of the older children, one sleepy little girl, and prepared to head back to Eureka.

“So, you have three?” questioned Karen as she helped Amy get the little girl ready for the trip back.

“Actually, we have five and one on the way. I’m two months pregnant. Our oldest, Michael, is on a trip with a church group in Europe with his girlfriend. He will be a senior at Humboldt this fall. Our oldest daughter Frances is doing an internship with the National Park Service in Yellowstone. She will be a sophomore at Humboldt next fall. Joe and I got an early start in the baby making department, and it seems we aren’t quite through yet.”

“We aren’t ashamed about it, but I seduced him when we were in high school. Actually, he was just out of junior high. I’m a year older than he is and took charge. Needless to say, he was pretty eager about it. We had known each other since we were babies, and after some early childhood spats, we found we were best friends. Mom and Dad will tell you the story, I’m sure. Our families were very close due to some really strange circumstances, and we would visit each other frequently over the years. Anyway, we took precautions, and didn’t get caught until birth control failed.

“Our parents were cool about it, but they certainly weren’t pleased. Joe and I were seriously in love, and we married right after I graduated high school. Joe had a year to go in high school, and I moved up here. We stayed at the house, here, until Joe graduated. I had Michael seven weeks after we were married.

“Joe had a full athletic scholarship, and he majored in Physics. I have two degrees in secondary education. My grades were good in high school and I was the beneficiary of an insurance policy. It was tough for a while. We rented an apartment not far from the campus while we were in college. It’s a nice coincidence as it was the same house Phil stayed in before he bought this place.

“Humboldt state was a wannabee school as far athletics were concerned for many years. They won a few conference championships, and a few athletes went on to respectable careers in professional sports. The women’s softball team won the national championship at least once. Then Joe came along.

“He could do it all, still can as far as I’m concerned. Track and field was his specialty, but he was also an outstanding baseball player and wide receiver in football. All he wanted to do was get his master’s degree, teach school, and be a father to his family. Anyway, his track coach thought he could do more, and convinced him to try to qualify for the decathlon for the Olympics. He set the Olympic and world record, and then broke it four years later. We had Frances the year after the first Olympics. We had a very enjoyable honeymoon in Europe. The Olympics were in San Francesco the second time, and all of our families were able to see him do it in person. It was a special time, and it has never been less than special since.

“We’ll talk some more tomorrow. We have classes to teach tomorrow morning for the summer session, but we will be back in the evening. Aunt Fanny and Uncle John should be here by then. You will love them. Aunt Fanny is a little fire ball. You would never guess she’s close to eighty. She’s one of the few adults around here who is shorter than you and I are.”

The families gathered around the car as Amy strapped the sleeping bundle in her seat. There were the standard hugs and kisses, and Amy started to get into the front seat, but hesitated. She stepped back down and pulled Karen away from the others.

“I don’t think I’m out of line telling you this. Pat loves you, and Sylvia knows it. He has been miserable ever since graduation. We don’t know what happened, and probably don’t need to know; however, your being here confirms pretty much that you love him too. Pat needs to grow up, and I think you shocked him into it. Now you just need to go get him, bring him back, and set him straight.”

Amy gave Karen a hug and then gently reached up and wiped a tear from her cheek with her thumb. “Get some rest. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

Once back in the house, Sylvia led Karen to Pat’s bedroom. The children had taken her small suitcase there earlier. The room looked just the way Karen thought it would. There were all sorts of little things that reminded her of Pat, and when she snuggled down between the sheets, she could smell him, maybe not so much smell him but in some way sense that this had been the place where he slept. Suddenly, she was at peace, and sleep came to her very quickly.

~*~

The car wound its way down the Mad River Canyon towards Butler Valley and Butler Valley Road as Joe, Amy and family headed back to Eureka. It was slow going even in the best of conditions.

Joe glanced over to the woman he had married 20 years before. When they discovered they really liked each other after they got over the boy-girl rivalry things that many children go through during their elementary school days, their friendship became stronger and stronger. Adolescence struck, and the little girl suddenly became a young woman. She wasn’t exceptionally pretty nor was she unattractive. Most today would say she was cute; however, she had inherited her mother’s traits in the breast department, and she wasn’t afraid to show them off a bit. Puberty hit her first, and for a while Joe was left behind while watching the mystery unfold.

Amy had always been a bit plump as a child, and took after her mother who was also a bit plump and spectacularly endowed. Her father had been very tall and rangy. He had also been quite insane, and had attempted to kill her, her mother, and Sylvia and Phil Esterházy as well. After divorcing her natural father who was in a facility for the criminally insane, her mother married Tom Barrett, the Sheriff of Mariposa County. It was her mother’s fourth marriage, and it was wonderful for Amy and her adoptive father. The marriage lasted more than thirty years until her ‘Dad’ passed away at the age of 85. Her mother was now 76 and a cancer survivor. She lived in a retirement home near Willits, but still enjoyed relatively good health.

She had a younger half brother who was a career Air Force Officer and member of the Astronaut Corps. She also had two much older step brothers and a step sister. She was very close to her stepsister who was in her fifties; however, her stepbrothers were more like very distant relatives than anything else. When she was old enough to remember them, they were long gone from the area with families of their own. She seldom saw them.

Even before Joe and Amy could remember, the Esterházys would take trips to Mariposa and Yosemite. Phil’s best friend and his vivacious wife, Joe and Athena (Teena) Evans, lived in Yosemite where Joe was the Park Superintendant. The Barretts would also make trips to the northwest coast of California. They eventually moved to Willits when Tom Barrett retired. Willits had been the home of Trish’s parents, from whom she had been estranged for years until shortly after the birth of Amy.

To Joseph Esterházy, puberty was that unknown thing that struck all sooner or later. His father and mother had the ‘talk’ with him; however, he had grown up hearing the half truths and dirty jokes that no one understood, but laughed at anyway. He remembered in sixth grade when one of the other students brought some rubbers to school, and proudly displayed them to his circle of friends. Most didn’t have a clue, and one of his clique members took one, and used it to put his marbles in. The whole episode was rather grotesque, and embarrassing as the poor kid who brought them didn’t really understand what it was all about.

One thing that Joe realized about the time he was nine and Amy was ten was that she was pretty cool. She wasn’t afraid of anything. She wasn’t foolhardy. She knew what she was doing, even if it was a bit risky. She loved the outdoors and, in spite of her short stature, could hike with the best of them, and Joe loved to hike and fish.

“You’re being awful quiet, Big Boy. You haven’t said a thing since we started down the mountain.”

“I was just thinking about you and all the fun we had as kids.”

“You mean all that sex?”

“You know there was so much more to it than that; however, I’ll have to admit, that sort of sealed the deal.”

“Are you sorry I got pregnant?”

“You know I’m not. I’m not one bit sorry, and I know you weren’t either. Yeah, Mom and Dad weren’t happy about it, and I know your folks, especially your mom, weren’t very pleased. I think they knew we were in love, and Mom told me afterwards she wasn’t surprised that we were making love. She just didn’t realize how long we had been doing it. Jesus, I was just fourteen when you seduced me.”

“Joe, you seduced me whether you realize it or not. You are so darned handsome. When you started to grow up and become a man, you just turned me on. I remember watching you change. All of a sudden you had all those muscles and hair. Then there was that weapon you were carrying between your legs. I wasn’t about to let anyone else get that.

“It was a lot more than that, though. We had so much fun when we were together. I remember how you used to quiz me on all the plants and flowers. Your mom and dad were so proud of you, and I wanted them to be proud of me, too. I don’t think we failed them at all.”

It was a twisty drive, and the heavy fog that persisted in the area during the summer didn’t help. Every little turn, rock, and shrub was imbedded in their memory; however, the fog always made the drive interesting, especially at night. There were many who drove too fast. They seemed to think that there wouldn’t be anyone else on ‘their road’. There was a problem with the modern electric automobiles, and that was they were basically silent, and if you didn’t see their headlights in the fog, someone could be on top of you before you knew it. This night wasn’t any different, and Joe had to climb the shoulder twice to get out of the way of approaching drivers.

“Well, I’m going to have to have a little talk with Adam Scott tomorrow. I feel sorry for the kid. He’s a good student, and is trying to keep his grades up so he can get some tuition assistance. That was his father who just ran us off the road, and I am willing to bet he’s intoxicated. Jake doesn’t have a job, and probably won’t get up to drive Adam to school in the morning. That means Adam will have to hitchhike, and will probably be late for class again.

“I think Jake’s abusing Adam, too. I’ve seen the signs. I’ve seen some other signs, too, as I told you the other day. I was talking to Persi about it earlier today. I think he’s gay or maybe even transgendered. It scares me to death that he hitchhikes to and from school. All he needs is to be picked up by some predator, and be raped or worse.”

Amy was silent for only a few seconds before she spoke, “We could put him up at our place. We have plenty of room. Michael wants to move in with his girlfriend, if she still is his girlfriend after this European trip. Regardless, we have plenty of room for any abused child. How old is he?”

“He’s fifteen but looks twelve. Let’s see what we can do. I’ll talk to him, and maybe we can get Clara or Persi to talk to him as well. If we can prove there is abuse, getting custody or finding someone who would look out after him shouldn’t be a problem.

“We have something else to talk about. You and Karen seemed to be having a pretty deep conversation. What do you think about her?”

“She’s pretty special to have come up here to see Pat, particularly after what he did; whatever it was. You know the doofus loves her. Mom and I have been talking about it (Amy called Sylvia ‘Mom’. Her mother was ‘Mommy’.) He went into a funk after graduation. Mom sensed something was wrong right away, and asked him if he had hurt her. He said he had, and that he had ‘fucked up’.

“Mom was tired of his moping around here, and told him to go out and get his mind straightened out, and that maybe the best thing was for him to get to work on his doctorate project. She also told him that the only way he was going to start feeling better about himself was to find Karen and apologize. I think she told him what your grandmother told her when she realized how much she loved your father, and that was to get down on his knees and grovel if he had to.”

Stephan and Musetta had fallen asleep on the way back to the house, and little Annie had been long gone before they had pulled out of the parking area at The Ranch. They pulled into the wide drive in front of the garage, and the two older children woke automatically. Annie wouldn’t waken until the next morning. The Eureka area was known for its Victorian Era homes, some of which were world famous for their design. The Esterházy’s home was not as ostentatious as that. It had fallen into disrepair before they bought it; however, they were able to have it lovingly restored. Joe’s earnings from his endorsements after his two Olympic Victories made it possible.

His earnings helped bring their life style a notch above other recent college graduates. Joe could have easily been drafted near the top in the NFL Draft, and Major League baseball teams were sending people to try to get him to sign with them. He didn’t want that life. He had two small children and a loving wife. He loved the small town life of the northern California coast, and had no desire to leave. Amy would have supported his decision if he had gone into professional sports, but was very happy when he didn’t.

The harassment was getting so severe that he finally had to have a news conference where he announced he had no desire to play in professional sports. The Oakland Raiders still wasted a first round draft pick on him. Neither Joe nor Amy regretted his turning down the fifty million dollar bonus the Raiders were willing to dish out, though many thought he was crazy.

Joe headed for the shower while Amy made sure the children were OK. Amy was teaching one class and working in the office at her school. Normally, she didn’t teach as she was the principal of the junior high school; however, she loved to teach, and the reduced activity of the summer period allowed her to teach while she kept up with the minimal administrative duties. Stephen would watch the children while she was at school, and she would be gone for just a little over four hours.

Joe had a heavier class load, teaching geology and physics. There was a field trip at least once a week for the geology class. Sometimes the trips were in the afternoon; however, some of the trips required a full Saturday.

Joe had finished his shower and was under the blankets by the time Amy had returned for her shower. She didn’t spend a lot of time, and quickly got under the covers to find that Joe was as naked as she was.

“Oh, goody, you stayed up for me. Did all that talk about your baby brother being in love get you all horny for me?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever not been horny for you.”

Amy straddled his belly and leaned over a bit, dragging the nipples of her ponderous breasts across his chest. He reached up and pulled her left breast to his mouth. Her nipples, already hard in anticipation, hardened even more as he pulled on her left one and then administered to her right one. She hummed almost sub-vocally as the pleasure spread through her body.

His hands caressed her buttocks and wandered to her nether regions. He teased the area around her clit, and she had a mini orgasm almost immediately. She shivered, and he could feel the goose bumps rising all over her skin. Her humming became considerably louder.

Amy slid down and grasped his erection and laved her attention on it. She had never been able to deep throat him. He was too big and she was too small; however, she was very good at what she could do, and she knew she could get him off quickly if she wanted to. It was a school night, and they needed to get their sleep so she didn’t struggle when he gently pushed her over to her side, and then arranged her on her back and spread her legs. His tongue spread her lips and probed her depths. He teased her clit until her thighs started vibrating.

“Get up here and get that big thing in me before I go off without you.”

He didn’t need any encouragement, and slid gently and quickly into her. That first time many years before had not been as easy; however, it was pleasurable then, and always would be. He rolled to a sitting position on the edge of the bed and brought her with him, keeping her impaled. Her weight was on her lower legs, and she started to rise and fall on his length, undulating her hips and belly in time with his thrusts. His strong arms held her close, chest to breast. Her orgasm arrived first, but he was close behind.

It was a very pleasant way to end a very interesting day.

~*~

Author's Note: So ends Chapter 3. For the next few chapters we are going to learn about Joe and Amy's early life. Amy really is an adventurous young lady; however, she is true to Joe. They have their teenage romps, but have to become adults much sooner than they anticipated. As smart as Phil and Sylvia are, they fail to recognize the signs of what is going on. They too have to make some unexpected adjustments. Then there was that “damn snake”. Many of the outdoor adventures are drawn from the author’s own experiences. They really happened, but not in the same context.

Thanks again to Holly H. Hart for her very professional assistance.

Portia Bennett

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