While Liv recuperates in the hospital, her son and Cody's best friend Jack visits, his girlfriend Yv with him. Cody walks in on the two of them fucking hard; only Yv notices, and later follows Cody upstairs alone while Jack sleeps his climax off. Still eager and needful, Yv pulls Cody into Liv's bed, and into her. The next morning, overwhelmed by passion, Cody and Carla end up in the shower, then in bed together. Carla tells Cody she also watched her brother and Yv on the couch, then Yv came to her room afterwards to make out with and go down on her. Liv figures out what happened between Cody and Carla, and gives them her blessing to continue while she convalesces.
The hospital was less busy than Saturday, but the word on me and Liv seemed to have gotten out, since we were now under the careful surveillance of the nurse's station. When we shut the door to go over paperwork, a grim iron-haired nurse, built like a palace guardsman, opened the door, peering inside every five minutes to confirm, I'm sure, that I hadn't tempted her heart patient to test the bounds of recovery.
Liv kissed me tenderly when I arrived, then hugged me tight. "Cody, I miss you every day." Then she released me, still clutching my hands. "How is it going?" Eagerness shone brightly in her eyes, and I wondered if they had her on any pain meds, but discarded that thought quickly. I knew that what she had bestowed upon us was because she loved us.
"It's...going, Liv. I love you."
She kissed me again. "Good. To both. I don't want any details, but you know I meant you and Carla."
If I'd felt awkward before, that was nothing to alluding to my lady love about intimacy between me and her daughter. The conversation seemed unreal, something I never imagined I would ever have a need to talk about or even consider. "Liv, I'm still..."
"Conflicted, my love? I gave the two of you my blessing to do this, and you know if I was healthy it would be, always has been, you and me tearing up the sheets.." She was gentle, as loving as ever.
"Baby, I wish it
was
you..."
"Not Carla, not just a little bit?" Her eyes sparkled with good humor, and It felt like she was goading me into an admission of...what? Not guilt, since this was her idea. And mine. And Carla's. I finally realized she wanted, not to taunt me, but to have me accept the situation, her gift as much as Carla's.
I closed my eyes and exhaled, still holding her hands. "Okay Liv, more than a little bit. Carla is a wonderful...woman. Just like her beautiful, sexy mom."
Her eyes were filled with merriment. "I bet you say that to all the sexy women whose daughters you have sex with!"
"No, actually, just you." I searched her eyes, but saw only desire, no pain, there.
She looked into my eyes very matter-of-factly. "Cody, I didn't do this lightly or on the spur of the moment. I wish it were me also. More than you know, since I've been all over you and our bed for the past eight months, and those two incredible months back in Concord. I know the two of you are attracted to each other. A great deal. I can see it in her eyes, and in yours. I'm still very much in love with you, and always will be. I want to be selfish..."
"Liv, I'm okay with you being selfish..."
She quieted me with a frown. "Cody, I never admitted it before, but I actually
was
jealous the first time Sally told me about Sheila and later Hilda. A little less so when you told me about your
menage
with Nancy, since it was you and Sheila sharing her. At the same time, I wanted you to be here to warm my bed, love me all night, and even attend college out here so I would have you all to myself. I knew I was being jealous, and it was stupid to want you only for myself, but it didn't stop the hurt.
"Right now, it's not fair to you to keep you waiting for me until I'm totally well. Not at your age, babe." She reached up to caress my cheek. "You're not sneaking around behind my back, nor is Carla. I already told you I don't want details, from either of you, but my imagination is running wild with all the things you and I have done, and will do, later in the Fall when I'm ready for it, to have you back in my bed."
She leaned forward again, her eyes smoldering with passion and lust and love. "Cody, I
love
you and that means not trying to possess or control you." She kissed me again, a lingering kiss and opened her mouth, which I happily responded to, until we heard a gruff
ahem
at the door, the iron-haired nurse reminding us she was watching.
Disengaging from Liv's kiss very slowly, I waved the nurse away, and said, "We'll behave ourselves." She stalked off to seek out and interrupt another convalescing couple, I suspected.
As if we hadn't been interrupted, Liv grinned at me, still a little weakly, but noticeably stronger than the past couple of weeks. "Cody, there is no other man I would trust to 'cheat' on me"--using air quotes--"while I'm laid up..."
"Liv, I'd rather you were getting
laid
..."
Her laugh was delighted, delightful, and stronger than it had been recently. "Fuck, so would I, my sexy man! If I thought we could get away with it again, I would take the gown off and beg you to feel me up again." She winked. "I'm sure I mentioned regular sponge baths once I get home..."
"You did, on demand. Liv, I just feel wrong about being with Carla."
"No, I think you feel fine about that, at least in the moment. You just wish it were me."
"True. Very true."
I stayed almost to the end of visiting hours, and the nurses were very indulgent, as though it was very cute that such a young man was so devoted to this older woman. I suspect they had their own hopes and dreams in that direction, the attentions of some strapping younger man, say in his forties (for some of them) to fill their off-time with romance and plenty of sex. Under my breath, I sincerely wished them all luck.
Carla visited with her the rest of the time, while I sat in the waiting room reading a magazine that had been out-of-date before the Carter administration, showing homes and décor I didn't care about but it was all that was available to read except the contents of my briefcase, and one time was enough now that Liv had signed off on the documents.
Afterwards, looking tired but happy, Carla came out and hugged me very calmly, no kissing at all, which would have renewed the disapproving looks from the nurses' station in short order. I went in and kissed Liv goodbye for now, and promised to return the next evening after work.
"Cody, one last thing. Tanya dropped by and said you're really doing a great job. I have to agree with her, and you're really growing in the position." She blushed at her own phrasing. "She thinks you could be in line to be in charge of Analytics someday."
I felt very flattered, but also like things were moving faster than I was really comfortable with. "That will be a long time coming, Liv. First thing is to get
you
home, and
you
cumming, my love. You also remember I told you I would always do my best for you"
"Oh, you have Cody, you always do." Her smile lit the room, and made the world nearly perfect.
****************
Carla and I drove home slowly, didn't even hold hands until the hospital was ten minutes behind us in the rear-view mirror. Then she leaned over and put her head on my shoulder, smiling with real joy. "Mom's going to be out on Tuesday, Cody. We can bring her home, and she'll get better there, no nurses to scowl at the two of you."
"Carla, you and your mother are the most amazing women. You've finally gotten a chance to get me into your bed, with your mother's permission, and you're positively giddy about her being at home, where I'm going to be giving her very
special
sponge baths. Meanwhile, she knows and approves of the two of
us
sleeping together."
"Your point, Cody? You know we both love you. Any time I get with you is going to be well spent, and I just hope she's right that we can get each other out of our systems before she whisks you off to some sinful nude beach to while away the days with an all-you-can-eat buffet..."
I laughed. "There'll be restaurants, too, Carla."
****************
Tuesday arrived with bad news, not the worst news I could have imagined, but bad enough. We had planned to head over to the hospital in the afternoon to pick Liv up and bring her home to recuperate. Tanya had already given me the afternoon off, and I wondered whether she would have done so if she had known I was now sleeping with Liv's daughter.
Carla called me at the office around ten, and told me very soberly the doctor called her an hour after I got to work, and told her that her mother couldn't come home yet. Liv was back in the ICU.
I immediately told Tanya, who looked gravely concerned, and told me I had the rest of the day off, and just to get to Liv. I rushed back home to pick Carla up, and we dashed to the hospital. We were both terrified it was another heart attack, but the doctor explained to Carla it was an infection, and they would have it under control in a couple of days. She'd be out of ICU by Friday, and could probably go home in another week after that. The cruelest thing was that once again I couldn't see her, hold her hand, be there for her when she was awake. Carla was understanding, and kept me up on how her mother was doing.
That night, I held Carla while she cried herself to sleep. In bed naked, we didn't make love all evening, and neither of us missed it. Just being there for each other was enough.
****************
Thursday I could finally visit Liv again, and this time she looked weaker, more drawn. Carla and I took turns holding her hand as she slept. She awoke to see us, and burst into tears of joy. "Thank you both for coming for me. I'm so sorry Tuesday was such a mess..."
We explained it was more than okay, we just wanted her to be well and safe. "I will be, as soon as I'm out of here and home with you both." We visited for a couple of hours, Liv's the only hands we held, as we ignored that we had just fucked standing up in the shower that same morning. Liv told us she loved us both, and was happy we were taking care of each other. Completely innocent to anyone who might have listened in, but I felt my face burn, and saw Carla's do the same.
On the way home, we stopped at a nice restaurant, some steak place, and had the first really solid meal we'd enjoyed in a week. Over our salads, Carla became more animated, started to talk to me for the first time in two days beyond monosyllabic answers and just holding onto me, before, during and after sex. "Cody, I feel bad my mom's still in the hospital, but I'm just so worn out, so tired from worrying."
