. 02

Author's note:

This is, in all its seven parts and their many chapters, one very,

very

long story. If long stories bother you, I suggest you read something else.

No part of this story is written so as to stand on its own. I strongly suggest that you start with

the beginning of Part 1

and read sequentially—giving up at any point you choose, of course.

All sexual activity portrayed anywhere in this story involves only people at least eighteen years old.

In fact, nowhere in Part 6 is there any explicit sexual activity. (This should surprise no one who has read Part 5.)

This entire story is posted only on literotica.com. Any other public posting without my permission in writing is a violation of my copyright.

The flight itself took five hours and more, and then there was the three-hour time difference, so it was evening when we got in, even with a morning departure. Mom met us at the airport—Dad was in a late meeting. We had agreed that it didn't make sense for her to go through any security at all, so she waited in the main lobby, and we touched bases by phone when we arrived and when we had collected our luggage.

She greeted Ellen warmly, offering a hug, which surprised me a little. On the one hand, they had talked some whenever we called. And I thought that perhaps, whatever concern my parents had originally felt when I told them we would be living together, they had been getting used to the idea for months, and they understood that this really was the woman I was going to marry. I was sure that Mom, at least, liked what she had heard from Ellen, and her real concerns were about having me married so young, without really having established a place for myself in the world. Still, Mom just wasn't a hugger, so I was surprised.

When we got home, there was no nonsense about whether we were sharing a room—my room—and certainly no visible disapproval on Mom's part. She talked to us as we got our stuff settled. Closet and drawers were mostly empty, and what was in the drawers was almost all my parents' stuff. Mom said, "I'm sorry, you knew your bed was twin size, but I didn't think about it in time to do anything. And it's a small, cramped room for a bigger bed."

I said, "Mom. This may be the best time to raise this, while Dad's not here.

"First off, we are going to be married in a church, by the pastor of that church. And no, neither of us is a believer, but I seem to be headed strongly that way, and I think Ellen is, too. Her questions and her reasons aren't exactly the same as mine." Ellen nodded, but didn't say anything. She looked as serious as I felt.

"And understand. We've been—we are—continuing to live together, even sharing our bed, but at the pastor's strong request we're not having sex again until the wedding. If at some point that gets too hard, I will be sleeping on the couch. We don't need to make a big deal of this, but you at least should know it.

"As far as this bed goes, it will make things a little harder, but no harder than senior year, sharing with Ellen—or Sam or Jenny in those days—during their periods. I hope so, anyway. Those beds were at least six or eight inches narrower. If we can't stand it, though, I think my sleeping bag is still in the back of my closet. You didn't take it away, did you?" Mom shook her head.

"Um. Even when we were making love, at school, those beds were so narrow that sleeping together was a little hard, anyway. No room to move, and you always disturbed each other."

Mom kind of sat back and looked at me, and then at Ellen. After a long pause, a minute or more, she said, "You're probably wise to not bring this up with your father present, but he really has to know well before the wedding. I think I can convince him to be more agreeable than he usually is about such things—or at least less rude. For myself, I'm really not entirely surprised, I think. Your grandparents raised you as much as we did, and you've said a few things. And I saw years ago that you disapproved of your father's approach—not his beliefs, though you may not approve of those either, but his way of expressing them, especially when it really wasn't his business to say anything at all. I appreciate, very much, your courtesy and respect in not going after him in a similar way.

"But whenever it finally comes up, I will tell him that I am not going to see him spoil your wedding day by being rude. I will say that if he won't guarantee common courtesy, I will go alone or we will both stay home. And if I must stay home, he will understand that I will be greatly hurt by not seeing my only son married."

I felt ready to cry. "Mom, thank you. You know I'd do almost anything rather than make trouble between you and Dad. Or rather, you don't know, but I would.

"I'm afraid there's one thing more, too. I'll try not to make a production out of this, either, but here it is. Sam's aunt and uncle accepted me as an, um, not an adopted nephew, but something close to that, maybe an honorary nephew. Her uncle reminds me an awful lot of Granddad, and that's part of it, but not all. But it made me realize how much I missed having aunts and uncles. Sometime in the next day or two, I'm going to locate and go see—both of us will go see at least a couple of those families, if we can, and I hope all of them eventually. I'm going to have to make clear that I'm not speaking for Dad or even you, but also that I do not feel the same way he does, and I want at least to be known to them and on friendly terms with them.

She looked at me pretty seriously. "Phil, I haven't ever mentioned it to your father, but a few years ago I was kind of thrown together with two of your aunts. Betty and Mary." I nodded. I knew names of my father's siblings and their spouses. And over the years, they had all come to talk to Granddad or Grandmom while I was in their care, and I had been introduced, but they had gone off by themselves for the conversations, so I knew no more than names and faces. Betty was Dad's oldest sister, and her husband was Jim. Mary was Uncle Joe's wife.

"We were all at a meeting, a light luncheon for volunteers at a charity, seated at the same table. I think maybe whoever organized it assumed we knew each other well. At any rate, afterward they went out for coffee together, and they invited me, so we talked for an hour or so. And we've gotten together occasionally since then. They—well, Ellen said it a few weeks ago, and you did just now in another way, Phil. They don't want to drive a wedge between your father and me—they believe a husband and wife should stand together—but they understand that I'm not responsible for your dad's relationship with your aunts and uncles. I can tell you that those two at least will welcome you, and I think any of them will. They're all close, and I'm sure Betty and Mary have talked with them all, about me."

She hesitated for a moment, then said, "In fact, may I call Betty right now and tell her you'd like to visit them while you're here?"

"Mom, that would be great!"

So she dialed, and they just talked for a few moments. She said, "Betty, the reason I'm calling is that Phil is home for a few days. He has his girlfriend—his soon-to-be fiancée—with him, and we were talking. He said that one thing he wanted to do while he's home is seek out his aunts and uncles and meet you all, as many as he can." She listened for a bit. "No, Bob's not home yet, and I think our plan is to keep this quiet for the moment, but if it does come up Phil is pretty determined. You know you've told me you're all about as stubborn as Bob is, and Phil can be that way if he thinks it's important." She listened a little more, and then said, "Hold on a moment." She held out the phone to me. "She wants to talk to you."

I took the phone. We greeted each other, and I said, "Aunt Betty, I'd really like to meet you, with some time to talk. Any of you all. Mom's right, we're coming up to several things where I probably am going to have to dig my heels in with Dad. I'll avoid trouble as much as I can, but, um, I'm grown up now and I'm going to have to act as I think best."

"Phil, we would love to meet you, more than just being introduced at Dad's a few times. We all agreed, years ago, not to put you in—in an awkward position—but we all wished we could get to know you. Dad and Mom did tell us about you, of course, and your mom has said some too. Could you come tomorrow afternoon?"

"Just a minute." I asked Mom, and she told me that she had no specific plans and that Dad was working, probably another long day. "Aunt Betty, that sounds wonderful. Would one o'clock be OK? And I'll be bringing Ellen along."

"We'll look for you then, Phil. I do hope this doesn't bring you trouble, really, but it means a lot to me, and it will to everyone else, too. Is it all right if I ask the others over too, if they can make it? Or would you rather take it slowly?"

"That would be truly wonderful! It will save me a lot of time, trying to get around to you one at a time, and trying to work around Dad's schedule. A couple of friends from high school will probably be here Friday and Saturday, too." Mom looked a little surprised. I had mentioned, weeks earlier, maybe having Sam and Jenny stop in to meet them, but I hadn't said anything specific, or mentioned it since. "We'll need to spend time with them, and get them to and from airports, so we won't be free then."

We said goodbye and disconnected. I handed Mom's phone back to her.

"Mom, I'm sorry. I did say that Jenny and Sam were hoping to see us while we're on this end of the country, but that was a long time ago, and I never told you how the specifics were working out. They're both with their families now, and if we hadn't been with Ellen's family we could have visited Sam out there. But they're coming back this way a couple of days early to see us, and they both want to meet you and Dad as well."

"That will be fine, Phil. We didn't have any big plans. I had just forgotten, and I'm sure your dad has, too. We'll have to come up with sleeping arrangements, though."

"As I said, I have my sleeping bag here somewhere, and you won't have gotten rid of yours, will you? I'll let you think about the best options for two young women, but we'll manage. But I'm really sorry I didn't keep you up to date on this. Things have been really crazy."

"Well, right now we need to get you two fed, before you faint and fall over. Your father will have eaten during his meeting, and I ate hours ago, before I went to pick you up. But I've got things keeping warm in the oven, and we need to get them dished up."

Ellen and I ate in the kitchen, and Mom sat and talked with us some more. She asked questions about high school and college, both. We had talked a little about high school on my three breaks a year, but too often she had been away with Dad. I had come home by myself twice, but mostly stayed at school on those occasions—and when they were home and we talked, we had mainly discussed academics. I told her that there was a lot to tell, pretty involved, and that I really thought Dad needed to be in on the important things, too. She said that Dad was taking Friday, the weekend, and Monday off, to be able to be with us. The whole four-day weekend—hard as it was to imagine. If it isn't hard for you to imagine, that's because you didn't grow up with Dad's schedule.

Ellen and I both talked about our college classes somewhat. Mom was very surprised to hear that we got up early to run, six days a week. That was completely unlike me, all my life up through middle school.

"You should remember that our high school was very big on physical fitness, Mom. '

Mens sana in corpore sano

' is something they take seriously. And yes, I know that phrase was taken out of context, and its meaning changed, but I'm talking about the way it's used today. They really do think that physical laziness is one big source of what they take to be serious moral and social problems. I'm inclined to agree, on the whole—even when I'd rather sleep in.

"In fact, our own class wasn't doing well enough in that area—and I was one of the guilty, I admit—and a fairly drastic solution was tried out. That's one of the things we need to tell you and Dad about—it's why Ellen and I are together. Too complicated for tonight, I assure you, even if Dad were here right now. But it did result in my getting serious about running. Well—Ellen's more committed than I am, and I've got her to keep me honest, too.

"But anyway, besides that, we fairly recently have gotten back to some weight training too, and I've just begun learning taekwondo. Ellen thinks I may need to be able to defend myself someday, and in all seriousness she's worried about that. And I really need to spend some time on that, and probably at least pushups as a substitute for weights, since I slacked off while we were with her folks." I definitely didn't want to get into why Ellen was worried.

"Ellen isn't one who has problems in that area, mostly. We have separate running partners because she's just way too fast for me. Up until senior year, she was doing gymnastics, at a level that made me think she had her heart set on the Olympics someday."

I could see that all this left Mom with more questions than ever. Ellen said, "I never was headed for the Olympics, not by a long shot. That requires something like a monomania, to get to that level—your whole life comes to be devoted to that one goal. I'd rather do other things—in particular, Phil, all by himself, is worth more of my attention than full-time training would leave me. But I hope that once we've graduated, I can get back to the gymnastics, just for fun and all-around fitness." Mom still had questions, obviously, but this new light on her daughter in law elected seemed to have derailed a lot of them.

We talked about what we were learning in our classes, and about my own frustrations at the beginning of the year. Dad arrived during this, and we took time out for greetings and introductions. Ellen talked about her classes, both parents asking her intelligent questions.

Mom asked about my plans for after graduation.

"I'm probably heading for teaching, but that surely means more school." I went through most of the same explanations I'd given Ellen's parents when they had asked the same question. I did not include the description of our weekly get-togethers with Kelly. If it had been just Mom, I would have.

I told Dad that our time there was already looking kind of full. "Friends I've mentioned before, Sam and Jenny, are expecting to fly in on Friday and fly out on Saturday. We're looking forward to seeing them again, for a lot of reasons, and they want to meet you." I'm not sure what they made of that last part. "Sam's the one I stayed with for a couple of weeks at the end of August, since I couldn't move in to my apartment right away. Her guardians are her aunt and uncle, and I got to know them very well. They're the ones who invited Ellen and me for Thanksgiving weekend, too, and that was a wonderful time. Their home is pretty near our university.

"Jenny's family lives in the Midwest." I mentioned the town and state. "We really want to meet her parents, too, and there's a possibility that we may be not far from there for a while after the wedding. Which is all really tentative now, except that one way or another it's going to happen, probably in June.

"Our flight is for early Sunday. At least going that way, we gain from the time change, but I'm sure we'll have trouble getting up Monday."

Ellen looked kind of worried. She said, "Phil, you've forgotten some things. Jenny and Sam are leaving on Saturday OK, but they're taking trains, not flying." She said to Mom and Dad, "Especially for Jenny, transit time isn't all that much longer, and I think the check-in hassle is less. But if we take them to the airport, they'll never make it. And we will have a few days next week."

I had indeed gotten myself confused when we were first planning things—I'd thought our classes started right after New Year's Day, when we actually had a week more. Sam's and Jenny's were starting on Tuesday, though. I explained the source of my confusion on that point, feeling really embarrassed. Ellen had caught my mistake, and she had arranged our plane flight home, but she had discussed it with me first. Obviously, my mind had been on studying or something at the time—but by now I should have remembered, so I was pretty bothered by this lapse in my memory. I could see Ellen was, too.

We left it at that for a couple of minutes. Then I said, "Dad, I told Mom there's a lot you should know about our high school, and especially the last year, but it's so involved we can't get started tonight, and you need to be there too. Mom says you'll be home Friday, but we'll be busy a lot getting Jenny and Sam. If you're home at dinner time tomorrow, there's a lot we can say then, I think, but we definitely need several hours if we're going to say anything at all." Mom had said she thought that would be a long day for him, but I wanted to offer it.

"I'll see what I can do, Phil. There's a meeting, including dinner, but quite honestly there's no reason I need to be there for it all—except that other people disagree. But I've got the next four days off, Friday through Monday. Short of a crisis." And crises were pretty common, as I knew.

"The reason I brought that up right now is this. We've got a couple of things to show you. They relate to things that will take a lot of time to tell, but if you're willing to get only a quick explanation now, I thought you could look at them now. Then we can expand on it when we have time."

They both agreed, sounding a little bit puzzled. Ellen looked puzzled too, not so much "What are you talking about?" as "Are you sure this is a good idea?" At least it wasn't, "Are you out of your mind?" But she got up and went off to my room—our room—and came back with Sam's drawings—her copies—and handed them to me. I gave her back the second one, for the moment.

"These are gifts from Sam, drawings she did. She gave me the original of this one, but this copy is Ellen's, made before we, um, combined our households. The background you really need just runs too deep for tonight, but here's the foreground. It's about two separate events. They both happened on the running course you see here.

"I told Mom that our class had kind of fallen down on fitness by the beginning of senior year, and those in charge thought something needed to be done. Something drastic, if necessary. They take this seriously! What they tried was a game, beginning almost at the beginning of the year. There's a lot to it, but for now just this." I described the game, omitting all mention of sex, saying that there were penalties without giving details.

"And before I get to my point, let me say that for all its huge faults, this was pretty effective. Most everyone started eating better or running and exercising more consistently, and we all could see that most people were way, way more fit, sooner than you'd think. I'd been running two or three times a week, myself, and after this started I ran every day—though Jenny was partly responsible for that. A lot of people had just quit running at all before this point.

"Anyway, the girl there is Jenny, my partner the very first day. We had been bio lab partners freshman year, and become really good friends, then drifted apart into other friendships. I did catch her. She could have run faster, but so could I—we both were going near the fastest we could keep up all the way around, I think, but not quite that hard. But anyway, that rekindled our friendship, and it blossomed into romance. Things were very different senior year. Before that romantic relationships were not just discouraged but crushed, if discouraging wasn't enough. But senior year they were allowed—even encouraged, in a way, a little later on. More on all that later—it's important.