I know now that not all stories have a happy ending. I wish mine did, but it doesn't and this is hard for me to put into words. It's been a year and five months since she has been gone. How do you really tell others of the desires of your heart, or the most intimate details of the life you had with someone? But the story must be put into words, for my own healing. After all these are just words here, but what I lived with her was real, vital and genuine!
We were two years 4 months apart. My mother had died giving me the gift of life but due to the fact I was her first child and the labor had been long and intense, her heart failed and I came into the world without a mother to nurture me or to love me.
Her father had died in Vietnam. A hero's death on the battlefield had been his fate. Her mother was only 19 when she learned of his fate and the fact that she would be bring forth a child so soon in life, unwed.
When I was 4 our parents met and fell in love. They were married 2 years later and a new family was formed from the ghosts and the ashes of the past.
As we grew up together, our family grew stronger. The pain of the past was replaced with love. Our mother, Wendy, loved me as much as she loved her own daughter. My father likewise, treated my stepsister as his very own. From their union love, respect, and caring can to fruition and our family grew stronger with every day that passed.
My sister, Marja, was two years younger then I. Marja had retained her father's last name of Petroski. She was really my stepsister, but through the years we came to think of our family as a natural entity. We had both been too young to know our natural deceased parents.
Marja was a real beauty for as long as I could remember. Her long light brown hair was down to the middle of her back. Nightly for as long as I could remember, she would brush her hair before she went to bed. Sometimes she would come into my room and sit while we talked, watched TV, or studied our school work as she brush her long, luscious light brown hair.
As Marja matured she soon became a very popular girl with the boys. By the time she was 16, the phone was always ringing for her.
Marja and I were very close about as close as any natural brother and sister could be.
During the summer, our family would spend three weeks in the mountains. Our parents had a cabin on the Naches River. Marja and I would often take day hikes to some destination for the day while our parents either joined us or ventured off on their own.
I had just graduated from high school that summer. Marja was entering into her junior year. She knew that her body was blossoming. She had been a merciless tease all year long, and I had been her target.
We had hiked up the Naches to a falls. It had been a 7 mile hike and we were a little tired and hungry. We decided to eat our lunch before returning to the cabin.
The day had been very warm. It was mid August and it was over 90 degrees out in the sun. I was in shorts and a t-shirt. Marja had been wearing short shorts and a tank top that revealed her maturing bosoms and her luscious young body.
"Greg. I want to take a swim. Will you keep an eye open for me?" She asked.
"All right." I said and lay back on the huge smooth boulder and took in the sun. My eyes were hidden behind sunglasses and I began to close my eyes and relax. I decided that a short nap was in order.
I heard Marja gasp as she stepped into the water.
"Greg!" She called to me.
I sat up.
"Come on!" She yelled to me and splashed some water with her foot in my general direction.
My eyes widened as I saw her nude body near the edge of the pool as she dove into the water.
"Come on!" She urged me again and then she took a few steps closer to me and tried to splash me again. Her breasts no longer were under the water. Her nipples were poking straight out. She stood there for a moment in all of her glory, until she realized that I was staring at her.
"Naughty!" She teased and gracefully turned around and dived back into the water.
I stripped off my clothes quickly and ran to the pool and waded out into its depths.
"Brrr!" I hollered. The water was very cold. It was snow run-off from up in the mountains.
Marja walked over to me and put her arms around my neck. The water was up to my mid-chest as she pushed me under and held me there for a moment and then swam away.
"Got you!" She giggled as she squatted in the shallows. A smile brightened her lovely face.
"Yeah. My turn now." As I rushed towards her. She squealed as I cornered her against a bolder. She tried to duck under me, but I caught her by the waist and picked her up and threw her away from me into the deeper part of the pool.
She stood up, brushing the hair from her eyes and smiled.
"I'll get you for that." She said and splashed water in my direction. She stood her ground as I swam towards her.
"No more. I give." She said. Her voice was soft. She wrapped her arms around my neck and we stood there.
"You really are a nice brother." She said. I looked into her blue-green eyes, mesmerized her seductive smile.
"Right now I wish I wasn't your brother." I confided to her.
Marja placed her head on my shoulder and we remained like that for a few moments.
She stood up straight, her chin barely above the water. She untwined her fingers and took my hands in hers. Placing my hands on her breasts, she looked into my eyes.
"We're not really brother and sister, you know." Her mouth formed a seductive smile.
"Marja I know. But..." She interrupted me with a kiss. It was a soft kiss. Not the passionate soul consuming kind.
My hands were still on her breasts; her hands over mine holding them in place as she looked into my eyes again.
"Greg...some day I am going to be your wife." She said and her hands went around my shoulders again. Her face was serious.
My excitement was evident. She nestled her body closer to mine and we stood there for awhile. Both of us not willing to break our hold on the other. Marja wiggled against my erection and moaned.
"I see someone is happy." She teased me. Immediately I was embarrassed and removed my hands from her breasts and stepped back. Marja had maintained her hold on my neck and again a mischievous smile crossed her face. She dunked me again, pushing my head down under the water. When I was able to stand up and wipe the water from my eyes, she was already walking towards the shore where our daypacks and towels were.
She opened her pack and pulled out a towel and was drying herself as I walked up to the shore.
She threw me her towel and as I was drying myself, she had already put on her shorts and tank top.
"Water cold?" She asked me and then snickered.
As I finished drying, Marja's eyes remained fixed on my shriveled manhood. She had won today's teasing contest, I said to myself.
After we had eaten our sandwiches, Marja lay her head in my lap. We chatted as I stroked her hair.
"Marja. You were teasing earlier, right?" I asked her.
"Depends." She said.
"I mean when you said... you know." I hinted.
"Maybe." Her eyes were closed. She was sunning in the afternoon warmth.
"Yeah right." I said.
Marja turned her head and looked up at me. Her eyes opened and a serious look was on her face.
"You don't believe that I think you are the nicest person I have ever met? Greg, we may have been raised as brother and sister, but my feelings for you are anything but sisterly! Most of the girls I know would kill to trade places with me! They all think that youβre such a hunk." Her tone was serious and she sat up as she spoke and turned to face me.
"I want to kiss you again." She simply said and placed her hands behind my head and pulled me towards her.
Our lips met and my tongue pried her mouth open. Our tongues met and we played tongue tag as the kiss increased its intensity.