I was unsure which category to place this story under. Some people will insist that it should come under 'Incest/Taboo' but by no means – even under the widest possible definitions of Incest – are the events described here incestuous. And Taboo is a wide open and fairly meaningless definition, 'Erotic Couplings' it had to be as the least worst choice.
For those who like to take these things too seriously and feel it necessary to deliver a moral lecture about the events described, it might be best if they cease reading now. This is a work of complete imagination, fiction and fantasy – no such things have ever happened – not to me, at least, or if they have, I have no intention of telling any of you. The normal rules, conventions and considerations of real life are suspended until you reach the end of the story. It is just a story.
*****
I hate weddings – I really do. I'll happily attend the ceremony itself to wish the happy couple well but receptions are inevitably a drag. The food tends to be second-rate – or worse – which gets things off to a bad start as far as I'm concerned, but maybe you can't expect gourmet cooking when dozens of people have to be catered for. The worst bit, though, comes when guests stick rigidly together in their own circles – family, friends, work colleagues. That's fine if you happen to be part of one of the groups but if you're not it can be difficult to break into them and if you're not careful you're left standing around like a total idiot.
Steve and Caroline's wedding was one of the worst I'd ever attended as far as this was concerned. I'd once worked with Steve for a number of years and, when his first marriage broke up, I'd helped to keep him on the rails. It had taken him a long while to get over coming home early one day to find his wife getting royally fucked by someone who had, until then, been one of his best mates. But then I got a new job and moved away and we didn't see much of each other – it didn't help that my then wife didn't like him, which put paid to getting together socially – but we'd kept in occasional touch and it wasn't a surprise when I got the invitation to his wedding.
And that was how I came to be standing around on my own in a draughty marquee with only a pint and a few nibbles for company. I'd gravitated towards the entrance. Hide away in a corner and you stand out immediately as the odd one out. Near the entrance it looks like you've only just arrived or you're waiting for someone who has popped out for a moment. Not everyone was fooled though, certainly not the attractive woman who sidled up next to me and leaned over to speak quietly into my ear.
'I know who you are', she murmured. That worried me because I had no idea at all who she was but then she explained. 'Since I'm the odd one out among Caroline's guests, you must be the odd one out among Steve's. Am I right?'
'Is it that obvious?' I replied, laughing. And then, spotting the opportunity to get a conversation flowing and even the chance of an upturn to the evening, I went on 'So how come they picked you as Caroline's odd soul?'
'Caroline and I were students together', my new companion explained, 'back in the days when it was becoming fashionable for girls to have a lesbian affair, so we did. It didn't last, of course; both of us soon discovered that we needed more than just fingers and plastic substitutes. But we stayed friends – good friends – and we do still occasionally...' She trailed off, leaving the rest to my imagination, before adding 'My name's Georgina, by the way.'
'Sam', I introduced myself. 'I'm afraid my story's nothing like as fascinating.'
I told her nevertheless and she tried to make the best of it.
'"My then wife" suggests that you're no longer with her.'
'Correct', I replied. 'The ironic thing is that that was one of the few weddings I've ever really enjoyed. It was the aftermath that was disastrous. She turned into a tyrant. I walked out after three months – that's how I came to move away from my job with Steve.'
I paused for just long enough to allow a slight change of direction but not long enough to give her a chance of getting a word in.
'Is there a Mr Georgina?'
'There've been two', she said, 'but no more. The first one – hormone-fuelled teenage daughter, harridan wife approaching forty – it suddenly wasn't how he pictured life. His PA seemed a much better bet and her tits were bigger than mine. The second one died in a car crash last year. I wasn't too unhappy.'
There's not a lot you can really say to a statement like that.
'Look', I said, 'is it too early to make our excuses and slip away? Perhaps we could go for a more relaxing drink somewhere else.'
She placed a guiding hand on my elbow. 'Let's go and say goodbye to the happy couple.'
*****
We had that drink and I ended up spending the night at her home – fortunately her daughter Alice was away for the weekend with grandparents. It never became a whirlwind romance but we enjoyed each other's company and spent a lot of time together, in and out of bed. Both of us, though, enjoyed the luxury of saying goodbye and locking our own front doors. Fortunately, I got on really well with Alice. She'd now just turned 18 and awkward teenager was turning into beautiful young woman.
*****
Georgina turned to me.
'Can I ask you a very big favour, Sam?' she said.
Adding my name to the question meant it was going to be a very big favour indeed.
'Of course,' I replied, 'ask away, but I'm not saying yes until I know what it is.'
'Ok, I'll go for that. Tell me,' she continued, 'the first time you had sex did you know much about women's bodies?'
You'll realise by now that she had a habit of starting a conversation with a provocative statement. In the absence of a gentle build-up I took a second to marshal my thoughts.
'Not really, I suppose, looking back on it. Most of what I thought I knew came from men's magazines. Not that it seemed anywhere near enough when I needed it.'
'I thought that might have been the case', Georgina replied. 'It was much the same with me – only mine was women's magazines. A lot of what I knew came from the things that my girlfriends and I talked about. It all came as a bit of a shock when it happened for real. I can't believe how ignorant I was.'
'That's probably true for all of us, but where does that fit in with the favour you want me to do for you?'
'That's quite simple', she continued. 'Alice has never seen a man naked – not close up, at any rate – and I think she should before she has sex for the first time. At least then she won't be a complete innocent. So the favour I want to ask you is: would you let her see you naked? Well, look at you and – err – touch you perhaps. I know it's a bit out of the ordinary but I hope you're not offended. I'm not asking too much, am I?'
'A bit out of the ordinary' wasn't exactly how most people might have described it, but that's Georgina for you. Convention wasn't one of her strong points. She'd simply decided she wanted to give her daughter's sex life a better start than she'd had.
'Well, it's not every day that I get asked to take my clothes off in front of an 18-year old girl but I suppose I could get used to it.' I hoped my laugh didn't sound like a snigger. 'How did you imagine we'd go about this idea of yours', I asked. 'She might get a shock if she walks into the room and I'm sitting here with nothing on.'
'Yes, she might. Why don't you just leave it to me', she suggested.
*****
A few days later we were having a 'family' evening in. As usual, Georgina started things off in typical blunt fashion. She put her arm around Alice's shoulders and drew her close towards her. She turned to her and spoke softly.
'Darling, I love the way we find it so easy to talk about personal things, you know, relationships, bodies, sex – that kind of thing. I think you enjoy it too and I hope you never find it embarrassing.'
'Oh no, mum, I love our chats. When I hear other girls I'm so glad I have someone like you. None of them can talk to their mothers as we do. Lots of the things we talk about are total mysteries to them.'
'I'm so glad about that. Can I ask you something really personal, then? Have you ever seen a man naked?'
Alice laughed. 'Funny you should ask that. Last week Jamie Smith got far too drunk and ended up dropping his trousers and a couple of the others joined in to keep him company. But apart from that, not really – only pictures.'
'It's just that Sam and I were talking the other night about the first time we each had our first sex and how it was the first time we'd actually seen someone naked close up. It was so awkward. Knowing all about the birds and the bees is one thing but fumbling around, not knowing what's what, is something else entirely. I'd have done almost anything to avoid all that embarrassment.'
'Yes, that has crossed my mind, mum, but I don't quite know what to do about it. If I asked a boy to strip off in front of me he's going to think sex and we'd be back to square one.'
'I've thought about that, darling, and I've talked to Sam about it. He is willing to undress in front of you so that you can take a close look at him and see a man's body for real. Do you like the sound of that?'