The Descending Of Jessica Ch 15

This was supposed to be a three or four chapter story, but I suck at estimating how long a story is going to be. It was supposed to be a one part epilogue as well, but again, I suck. Finally, I promised we would be up to Valentines Day a couple epilogues back, but I am only up to Wednesday of the same week. Again, I suck. I don't know how long its going to be as I am more or less just starting a different story at this point, so I am dropping the notion that it is an epilogue all together at this point. Because I suck.

Anyway, thanks for all the feed back. Feel free to email me direct via the comment link if you like, I try to answer it all, or post it online. Either way its a bit of gratification, and is always welcome. Negative feedback is welcome as well, at least it tells me you read it, and for your time I say thanks.

This may not be the most erotic chapter, but I confess it has been my favorite one to write. I hope you enjoy it. And yes, there is some nasty stuff in it too.

Finally, as is my custom now, a shout out to my editor, Tangentjoker, for all his support and assistance at fixing my typos and grammatical errors. If you aren't reading his stories, you're missing out!

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I slept well and, when I woke, Brent was still asleep. It was a few minutes before six, and this gave me a couple of hours to get ready. If I hurried, I barely might have time to do something I had been wanting to do since I got out of the hospital.

I crept out of bed and tiptoed out of the room and downstairs, and into the kitchen where I made pancakes, bacon, eggs, juice and - at last - coffee. I put it all on two plates, and those on a tray, and carried it back upstairs. I should have just put Brent's portions on one tray and carried it, as it was quite a lot and the coffee splashed out of the cups as I reached the top of the stairs. Nevertheless only the tray got wet, not the food, so I judged my service efforts a success.

Brent woke as I entered with the tray.

"Look at you! All domesticated!" He smiled.

"Good morning! I thought you deserved breakfast in bed after all the moving and unpacking and such. And since I won't get to see you until this evening. And for putting up with me the last few months," I added with a kiss.

"I have the sweetest wife."

"Come on! Eat before it gets cold!" I insisted.

"Yes, mother." He grinned.

We ate and made chit chat, then I had to jump in the shower and get it in gear to be ready by the time Allison and Sarah arrived. I urged Brent to shower with me, but he waived off saying there wasn't time. While it was sweet that he put my shopping date with Allison and the girls ahead of his own desires, I was sort of wanting a quickie as my reward for breakfast. Oh well, I would have him make up for it in the evening.

Just as I was finishing getting ready Carolyn knocked at the door, soon followed by Sarah who threw her arms first around Brent, then around me, and just for good measure, around Carolyn.

"So, you're going to help me with math Saturday?" she asked, looking up to Carolyn.

"You bet! It will be fun!"

"I don't get it. For a while, Jessie and Brent helped me, but now I'm just lost again. It's hard!"

"It's only hard if you don't know how to do it." Carolyn smiled. "So we'll just focus on knowing how to do it! Its going to be fun, I promise!"

Allison hugged Brent and promised to have me back by dark, and I kissed him bye. As I got to Allison's Benz, he came running out the door carrying my water bottle.

"Hey! You forgot something!"

"Thanks, hon." I smiled as I took it from him. It had been my constant companion since my visit to the ER and I would have missed it within minutes had Brent not been so thoughtful. This earned him an even longer kiss by the car, which earned us belching noises from Brat. It was shaping up to be a fun girl's day out.

We spent the morning shopping mostly for Brat, my discussion with Allison the day before had apparently taken hold as far as shopping for me, but occasionally we would walk by the window of a store and she would comment how nice something would look on me. Generally, Carolyn and I would chat while Allison went to the dressing room with Sarah. By midday, we were all famished and each carrying multiple bags of purchases for Sarah. I had refilled the water bottle twice already and was in desperate need of a break.

We went to a restaurant in the shopping mall which was a brass and glass yuppitorium typical of any mall in America. The menu was the same at all of these places, mediocre but filling, and of course the wait staff wore a lot of buttons. I rushed to the ladies room to relieve myself of all the water I had consumed, while Allison and the girls got a table for us.

By the time I got there, everyone was settled in and Sarah had a smirk on her face.

"What are you smiling about?" I asked.

"Carolyn thinks our waiter is cute. She likes him," Sarah replied with brattish authority.

"Sarah!" Allison started to scold, but Carolyn interrupted,

"No, he is kinda cute. That's very observant of you, Sarah. You sure you're not the one that likes him?"

"No, its you. You're the one that was staring at him!" Sarah grinned. "His name is Andrew and Carolyn was flirting with him!"

"Andrew, ya say? Already on a first name basis?" I teased Carolyn as she blushed.

"Well," she smirked, "he did come over and say 'Hi, I'm Andrew and I'll be your server,' and he is cute, so I paid attention when he said his name. Here he comes, we ordered you tea. Is that okay?"

"Sure, anything but water right now," I said. I knew Carolyn was single and on the prowl, but doubted seriously that she was flirting. It just wasn't her style. Sarah was just enjoying teasing her, while Allison and I giggled at her applying such immature taunts to our girl's day out. Brat was such a joy.

The waiter stood over my left shoulder and distributed the drinks with the usual words of "And here is your Coke, and your diet, and this young lady's Coke, and Miss, they told me you would want tea... oh! Hey!" he said as he lowered the tray and saw my face and recognized me.

"Hey! I know you! We were in Dr. Roger's class! How are you?" I asked. I recognized him from school and class, but truthfully we had never spoken and I would not have known his name if Sarah had not already reported it. He was, in fact, quite cute. Not Brent level of hot, but not unfortunate in the looks department, either. Preppy, well groomed and slender with dark brown eyes and hair. Not bad, but not Brent.

"Everyone, this is Andrew. We had class together last fall. If you need to know anything about the Age of Enlightenment, he's your guy. Andrew, this is my mother, my little sister, and my best friend, Carolyn. We're out shopping getting ready for tomorrow. Are you all set?"

"I think so, a little nervous. This is my last day shift. I have morning classes again this semester. I hope you and I are in some together, and hey, I heard about the wreck. Are you doing okay?"

"Still recovering but getting better everyday. I was out for quite a while but, fortunately, had pretty much finished classes so I don't have to repeat anything. It has taken a while to get reoriented, and I'm still working on that, but I'm ready to start back. How did you do?"

"That's good. We were all worried about you. It's all we talked about in Rogers. I did okay. Good enough."

"'C' stands for 'Continue,'" Allison quipped.

"Indeed it does!" He laughed. "So, are you taking American Overview this spring? Maybe we could study together."

"I am! But I'll probably be studying with my husband. He's taking it, too." I replied as I saw the disappointment in his eyes.

"Oh! I didn't know you were married! When did that happen?"

"As soon as she woke up," Carolyn interrupted, "but I'm in American Overview, 9:15 tomorrow morning? And our study group meets on Thursday and Monday afternoons for it. I'd love for you to join us. I'm getting tired of watching those two make googly eyes all by myself," Carolyn said.

"And Carolyn is single," Brat added with an impish smirk.

"I, uh, I'd like that. A lot," Andrew replied, smiling at Carolyn and grinning at Brat.

"Do you have Jessie's number from last fall saved?" Carolyn asked, knowing full well I would have never given my number to any guy that wasn't Brent.

"Uh, no, I don't think so," he said.

"Okay, well, here's mine," she said as she jotted it down. "Shoot me a text when you get a chance and we'll get together. Jessie thinks we should read Howard Zinn as a supplement but she's overly ambitious that way."

Finally, through romantic tension that could be cut with a knife, Andrew took our orders and left.

"Well, that was smooth," I grinned. "I thought you said you weren't good with meeting guys. And Zinn? Seriously? If the instructor is conservative, we'll get thrown out of class!"

"Sarah and I make a pretty good team, don't we?" Carolyn asked as she smiled at my sis and held up her palm for a high five.

"Lord, you're going to use Sarah to meet guys with? Now I know why you want to teach her math. Just remember, she's too young to hit the clubs!" Allison laughed.

Maybe a minute later, Carolyn's phone vibrated and she happily said it was Andrew saving her number. A few minutes later, she received another telling her it was nice meeting her and that he was looking forward to the study group and that maybe they could have lunch tomorrow.

She replied back that she would enjoy that, and although she was texting off and on all afternoon, that was the last one she told us the contents of. The remainder she just grinned about. Each time she looked at her phone, she smiled and Allison, Sarah and I got the giggles.

After lunch, and a long goodbye conversation between Carolyn and Andrew that was superficially about our study schedule, we returned to the Benz with our packages. We set off to a second shopping center. Here, Allison decided, over Carolyn's objections, to get her an outfit for her first date with Andrew. It was totally overdone for a first day of class, but she did look amazing. My only purchase was yet another little black dress for the Dean's List dinner, which I didn't need but, again, Allison insisted.

Finally, we ended our day looking at wedding dresses. It felt like I reviewed a million of them, each eliciting comments from all three of the girls, and tried on three that I liked, only to reject one as soon as I saw it on me. The other two we marked for further review when Donna could be there, and the store was happy to make a note of the two we had liked. Before it was over, I would be trying on dresses at five different wedding shops, but not that day. Allison took pictures of the two that were acceptable to all, as well as the one I rejected and sent them by text to Donna, who texted back what she liked and didn't like about each. She apologized for not being there, and we told her she would be before any selection was made. We planned to go again on her day off next week, thus screwing up Carolyn and Brent's carefully planned afternoon study schedule for that day at least.

By the time we made it home I was worn out from looking at dresses, discussing dresses, and changing into and out of dresses. Worse, I was no closer to picking one that when I had started, nor were Allison, Carolyn and Sarah. Sarah at least made decisions faster by simply rejecting the ones she found anything to not like about quickly. I only worried about whether Brent would like me in it for the few minutes he would see it on me.

Allison dropped us off, with Sarah going into full on Brat mode when it came time to leave. She hugged each of us in turn, refusing to let go especially of me. Finally, we got her scooted into the car with a reminder Brent would be picking her up at school Friday. I walked with Allison to the driver's side door of her car to give and receive one last hug. Allison whispered in my ear, "Hey, I need to talk to you about something privately. Could you call me after class tomorrow?"

"Sure, or call me tonight. I'm just going to be reading."

"I might do that after Sarah goes to bed. You know, its been a while but, as I recall, newlyweds aren't supposed to read that much, Jessie." She smiled.

"Oh, there will be plenty of other stuff too, I'm sure." I blushed, "Is it about Sarah? Is she still adjusting?" I whispered so Brat would not hear us.

"No, no. She's doing great. Your talk did wonders. It's just, well, something has come up and Ron and I want your opinion before we look into it any more. It might rock the boat a little," Allison replied quietly.

"Oh. Should I be worried? Are you and Ron okay?"

"Better than okay! Don't worry. It's nothing bad," she continued to whisper, "I'll try to call later tonight."

"Okay, you better or I'll worry about it, anyway. I love you! Drive safe!" I said. Then to Sarah, I leaned into the door frame of the car and said, "See ya Friday, Brat! I miss you already!"

I did some laundry and Brent cooked and we enjoyed a quiet evening at home reading textbooks and generally enjoying each other's company. I was discovering that it is difficult for a newlywed to focus on reading when their spouse is present but I would not have traded the distraction for anything. Carolyn was right. We really did make googly eyes at one another a lot. Carolyn came over for dinner but didn't stay long afterwards. She was excited about the prospect of having lunch with Andrew the next day and we filled Brent in on the details. He suggested a double date later in the week if their lunch went well and that sounded like fun to all of us.

We were on the couch reading, my head resting on Brent's lap where I could feel the warmth of his... well, you know, when the phone rang a little before ten. The caller ID said it was Allison at last.

"Good evening!" I said as I answered.

"Good evening to you! Have you got a minute?"

"Always!" I responded.

"Good. Well, what I wanted to talk to you about, well it involves Sarah. Let me ask you, do you think she feels secure with us again?"

"Well, yeah. She's certainly over the fear of going back now from what I've seen the past few days. It will just take time for her to get completely adjusted, of course. It did me and I'm sure it did Brent, too. When your whole world changes you have to, well, it just takes time to get comfortable with it and where you are in it. Your place in the world. Stuff like that. You understand?"

"Well, of course. I can see that. The reason I'm asking, well, you know how much Ron and I love you kids, all of you. We really thought we would have, well, we figured we were done until Sarah came along and stole our hearts. But we stayed on the emergency foster list because, well, because we want to help kids. We never could have our, well, we couldn't have any... biologically."

"Hey, that doesn't matter. You're the best mom and dad anyone could have! Are you worried that Donna having a baby will..."

"Oh heavens, no! Don't be... well that's just dumb, Jessie!" she snapped at me, loud enough for Brent to hear, then continued, "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be so brusque, its just, I'm stressed out about... Well, children's services called and they have a little boy they would like us to consider taking, but not on emergency. He has no family left, well, not in this country anyway and, well, how do you think that would affect Sarah?"

This I did not expect.

"I better put you on speaker. Brent is here. Is that okay?" I asked.

"Sure. We'd like everyone's input and you two have a perspective we don't. Ron's right here. I'm going to put you on speaker, too."

I clicked the speaker icon as Brent took notice of my words and laid his book down.

"What's up, Mom?" He asked.

Allison gave us the short version. Alejandro was eleven, his mother deceased, his father unknown but believed to be in Honduras. He was born in the US, but little was known of his mother, who had died both suddenly and violently. He had been at a learning enrichment program at the local community center and his mother at work. A local gang that had nothing better to do than drive around looking for other gangs to shoot had killed her randomly, apparently because she worked in a store that the rival gang had dared to tag with graffiti. He had been at the group home for a week while they tried to track down any relatives. None were found or were expected to be. His mother was undocumented so even her name was suspect and if she had shared her past with anyone, they had not come forward to tell her story. It was learned that the information she provided the school, other than his Louisiana birth certificate, was false. No father was listed on it. He knew nothing about his father other than what his mother had told him, and had never met him in so far as could be determined. Since being at the group home, he had not opened up to anyone, and spent most of his time crying, sleeping or reading school books. His English was good for his age as he had grown up so far in America although he spoke some Spanish, too. He liked to be called Alex.

"What a terrible thing to have happen," I said.

"Well, we would like to help him Jessie, but we're committed to Sarah. Plain and simple, she's had trouble adjusting and if this is going to be a setback for her..." Allison's voice faded as she tried to find the words.

"Are you asking whether we think Sarah will have difficulty with a new addition?" Brent asked.

"Well, yes. I mean, I know there is some adjustment, but, well, you two have been through that from both sides I guess, and we'd like to know what you think. I mean, the social worker thinks it will be alright but, its just, well, it's a commitment for all of us. You as well, and so we want to make the decision as a family. But Sarah, well, of course we are thinking of her, but she's not really mature enough to, you know, but you two are, so..." she stammered, "I guess we're asking, how would you feel about having a new little brother, uh, in addition to the one you're already getting this summer? How do you think Sarah will feel, and do you think she will adjust okay with sharing Ron and I, and well, you two if you decide to help? I mean, you don't have to, but, its, just..."

"We're family, remember? Of course we'll help. We'll be there all the way, any time you need us, and as much time as we can that you don't. Now you're the one being dumb. When did you find out about this?" Brent said.

"They called a couple days ago. Ron and I have been thinking it over, pros and cons. Well, just pros, really. The only con is how it might affect Sarah. We'd love to have him join us but for, you know, she's had it rough and uh, we decided we needed your perspective before we dove in."

Brent and I looked at each other. I could tell he was thinking the same thing I was. Remembering the time each of us had spent in the home,feeling rejected by the world. Lonely, in a muggy hot room, leaning against the cold cinder block wall just to relieve the heat, and picked on by the older kids with juvenile records that were there because they ran away from anyone that cared about them.

We both nodded, and then I spoke into the phone.

"Can you get Alex tonight?"

"No, dear. They're already closed for the evening. They said we could think it over for a few days, but would like to know something by the weekend. You think an overnight or temporary visit would..." she got out before Brent interrupted.

"No. Not overnight. Not temporary. That gets his hopes up and makes him afraid of rejection at the same time. If you have room for him, and can afford to take care of him and his needs, and don't mind the work and, uh, the commitment, then we're with you 100%. Get him first thing in the morning. We'll skip class and go with you if you like. Don't leave that boy there any longer than you have to. And if you decide you aren't able to have him, tell them to call us and we'll take him," Brent said.