Forbidden, Still Unrequited by Susurrus
Hi everybody. I thought after my previous story that there'd be no more stories to tell. Rhonda's and my sex life is still going good, even though we've calmed down a little in frequency. We still average about three to four times a month, give or take, and I think we're both more content in our relationship than we'd been when I opened my last story. Our daughter Donna gets more beautiful every day as she grows to look more and more like her mother. As I closed my last story, I've had no more unfatherly reactions where she's concerned, and I'm relieved.
Donna does figure into this story, albeit as a trigger, as she did in the last one. It turns out that Donna's senior prom was coming up. Even though she had no steady boyfriend at the time, she said she intended on going.
I'd missed both my junior and senior proms. The first one, my grandmother died, and I had to go halfway across the country for the funeral, and wouldn't have been able to get home in time. Rhonda already had a dress, so I told her to find somebody else and have a good time... just not *too* good. The other one, I managed appendicitis just under a week before the date of prom. Rhonda and I weren't talking to one another at that time, so neither of us intended on going, for fear of running into the other there. As it turned out, Rhonda ended up spending prom night with me, reading me stories from my favorite book, like a right proper little nursemaid. We were okay after that.
Anyway, being a guy, missing prom just meant I didn't have to wear the damn monkey suit, and better yet, I didn't have to shell out the bucks to rent one.
Donna, however, was going. A boy had asked her, and she'd accepted. She'd told me the kid's name, but it had promptly fallen through the sieve that I now call a brain, and didn't have guts enough to ask her to tell me again. Anyhow, Donna and her mother went out to find a prom dress, and after an afternoon of shopping, came home with what I was told was the ideal one. I didn't ask to see it, and wasn't even offered, knowing I'd see it the night she wore it. Further, I refrained from asking how much it cost, even though I was burning to know. The thing that ate at me was the fact that she'd never wear the thing again. They're sort of like bridesmaid dresses that way. Rhonda has two of those from friends' weddings that just take up space in the back corner of the closet, but she can't seem to work up the courage to get rid of them. I just don't understand women and clothes, and most likely never will.
So, as the day drew nearer, the tension in the house grew. Donna obsessed about her weight, whether her hair would be okay or if she needed to go out and have it done, whether the shoes she and her mother had picked out would really work, that kind of thing. Frankly, it was driving me crazy, and I couldn't wait for the whole damn thing to be over.
Finally the big day arrived. You'd have thought she was getting married. It all started first thing in the morning, and I made a point, after seeing how things were going to be, to stay out of the house as much of the day as possible.
Eventually, though, I ran out of things to do outside and in the garage (well, not really, but starting a deck at about four in the afternoon didn't sound like the best of ideas). I went in to grab a glass of ice water, and the house was silent.
I called out a couple of times, to see if I was truly home alone. Sure sounded like it. I peeked in all the bedrooms just to be sure no one was lurking and just not answering my shouts. Evidently everybody had gone out without letting me know. I figured Donna had fussed enough that her mother broke down and took her to get her hair done.
Having nothing else I could think of to do, I sat down and turned on the TV. Quickly, I re-discovered that having cable only means that there are many more channels of nothing worth watching. I finally settled on the last two-thirds of a movie I remembered going to in high school, and found myself waking up to the sound of the girls getting home.
I got a brief glimpse of the ladies of the house rocketing upstairs without a word to me. I was beginning to wonder if I'd ceased to exist, when I heard, "Honey, would you bring me my sewing basket?"
For a brief second, I wondered what they needed the wife's sewing kit for, then realized if I asked, I was just going to get that look that says, "You're such a man. If you have to ask, you'll never understand." Therefore, I decided to just keep my big mouth shut and do as requested. With a sigh, I got up and found Rhonda's sewing stuff, then took it upstairs to the closed door of Donna's room. I wasn't sure if it was locked or not. I couldn't see why it would be, but I knocked anyway.
After a few seconds, the door opened a crack, and my wife's head popped into the gap. She saw me there with what she'd asked me to find, smiled and said, "Oh, good." Her hand reached out and grabbed the basket, she gave me a quick peck and a, "Thanks," then ducked back behind the door, leaving me standing there.
I wondered if this was how Rhonda had been before the one prom she'd gone to. It didn't really matter, but it might explain the whole day to me.
With another sigh, I went back to my place in front of the tube. The movie was just wrapping up, so I guessed I hadn't slept for long. I clicked through the channels again and found something else I figured I could stand to try watching and proceeded to do so.
One show ran into another, and before I really knew it, the doorbell rang. I still hadn't seen much more of the ladies than I've described to you, but after the second ring, I figured they weren't going to answer it.
Getting up from the chair with a groan that made me sound disturbingly like my grandfather, I shuffled to the door and opened it just as the kid outside was reaching for the button a third time. At first glance, he seemed a decent sort of boy. Of course, get almost any guy a shower and into a tuxedo, and he'll look deceptively presentable. I didn't think Donna would have accepted just anybody's invitation, though, so I figured she saw *something* in the guy.
'At least he doesn't have a hardware store poked into his face,' I thought, sounding once again like my grandfather in thinking such a thing.
I must have stood there at the door, silent, long enough to make the kid nervous. After a short while standing there looking like he was afraid I'd chew his head off, he worked up the nerve to stammer, "Uh... Good evening, Sir. I'm... uh... um... Billy. Billy Thomas. Um... Donna's date." My mind still somewhere else, and actually looking *through* the boy instead of *at* him, he continued at my lack of response, still apparently afraid, "If that's okay with you."
Finally, I snapped out of my reverie and gathered my wits. "Oh, yeah, of course. Come on in. I haven't seen Donna or her mother all day. My guess is that they've been spending all day trying to make everything perfect." I stepped aside to let the boy in.
Still looking like a dog who didn't know whether he'd be praised or punished, he skulked into the house and stood to the side of the door while I closed it behind him. 'Christ, is this what this guy's like all the time? If so what the hell does Donna see in him?"
I threw aside such uncharitable thoughts and motioned to the couch. "Sit. Billy, was it? It's okay. Relax. It's just been a weird day." I tried to keep my voice calm and reassuring. I didn't consider myself an over-protective father, and Donna had been on dates before, so why was I suddenly feeling like this kid might be some kind of threat? I trusted my daughter's judgment, believe it or not. Donna may have still been a teenager, but she'd grown into one of the most level-headed people I've ever known. If she thought this guy was okay, it was good enough for me, as far as I knew. I guess it was just the idea. The day would come when she'd be walking out my door to go to her *own* home, and that day drew closer all the time. In thinking about it later, I think that may have been why I went all strange when I opened the door and found Billy there.
Billy sat down, still looking uncomfortable. I thought about all the movies and TV shows I'd seen over the years where the boy comes to take the girl on a date and gets grilled by the girl's father. They always seemed hokey to me, but here it was. I'd had boys come in to wait on Donna's grand arrival before, why did this one seem different? I hadn't done any grilling, and had no intention to. Billy seemed terrified enough. If he was going to have any kind of good time at all, it was up to me to set the stage.
"Relax. You want something to drink?" I asked, figuring I already knew the answer. I sat back in my chair, which put me at sort of an odd angle to him, but I certainly wasn't going to sit across from him and make him feel like I was examining him.
From the sound of his voice, Billy was getting over his initial terror. "Uh, no thanks. It'd be just my luck to spill it on my pants or something. Thank you for the offer, though."
I took a sip of my iced tea. "No problem. Like I said, I haven't seen Donna or her mother all day. I hope that means that they're working on getting Donna all prettied up for the evening."
This kid had a crush on my daughter like you wouldn't believe. Now that he'd relaxed a little, he blurted out, "It wouldn't take all day for that. She's pretty enough as it is." When he realized what he'd just said, his face turned bright red and he started to stammer again, "Uh... I mean..."
I couldn't help but laugh. "That's okay. I know what you mean. You're not telling me anything I don't already know. I've gotten to watch her grow up into the young lady that you'll be going out with tonight."
And on that cue, Rhonda appeared at the base of the stairs. She saw Billy sitting there and immediately knew who he was. He jumped and turned when he heard her voice. "You must be Billy. Donna's been telling me about you today. I think you're going to have a wonderful time." She shot a glance in my direction. "I only went to prom once while I was in high school, and it was a truly memorable experience." I stifled a giggle. She'd told me that since I'd been out of state for the junior prom, she finally decided to go alone. The first guy she danced with kept stepping on her toes, and the second pulled her in close for a slow dance, and she was surprised, appalled, you name it, when she discovered the kid had a hard-on, which he insisted on pressing against her stomach. She politely refused any more dances the rest of the evening and sat at a table and just talked with other boys when they came over to try to entice her out onto the dance floor.
Anyway, when Billy heard my wife's voice, he leapt from the couch, again apprehensive, as if he'd just been told he was next in line for a punch in the gut. I didn't know if his rising was from someone's teaching him old-fashioned manners or just sheer surprise, but regardless, it put him in the proper position to see what he'd come for in the first place.
Without saying a word all eyes drew to the top of the stairs.
There stood someone I hadn't seen all day, but oh, was it worth waiting for. I couldn't remember the last time Donna looked so striking. She reminded me of my wife's and my wedding day. The dress they had found for her fit perfectly, showing off every womanly curve possible, without being provocative. Her hair was perfect. They evidently *had* gone out to have it done.
I think I was as stunned as Billy seemed to be. Whatever his feelings toward my daughter, I got the impression that he was wondering if he was suddenly out of his league. Here was one more thing I could tick off of my "father's list": I could no longer call Donna a "young" woman. My heart soared and sank at the realization that she was a fully-fledged woman, no "young" to it. I felt a swell of pride at how beautiful she looked, and a flash of incredulity that I could have had anything to do with it.
Rhonda came over to me and put her arms around my waist. I looked down into her face and was confused by the amusement I saw there. Then, it dawned on me how astounded I must have looked just then.
"She looks good, huh?"
I stood there a second before answering. "What can I say but... Wow!" Breaking away from my wife, I went to the stairs, still marveling at the gorgeous woman at the top. I held my hand out to Donna, and she started carefully descending to me. After a bit, she took my hand and smiled at me. "Do you like it, Daddy?"
I wanted to grab her close to me and never let go. "Darling, you look absolutely spectacular. I hope your date here appreciates what he's got." Turning to face Billy, I saw his intense look of dumbfounded shock had been replaced by a stupid grin. Suddenly, I thought, 'That's right. You're one lucky son of a bitch, kid.' Briefly after that, I thought, 'Hurt her and I'll break you in half, you little snot," but I knew the only way I'd really lose my cool would be if he *really* treated her badly. I remembered vaguely what I was like at his age, and I knew there were times even now when, just by existing, you were doing the woman wrong.
