A Tale of Two Mothers

MY INTERLUDE: MOVING ON

In the spirit of openness, Tess has written her own interlude, telling of the other women she loved and lost before Karin arrived in Australia.

Author's note: The film Petrov, mentioned towards the end of the story is my own fictional creation introduced purely to drive the plot forward. There was, I believe a film about the Petrov Affair some years ago, but it bears no relation to this 'Petrov.'

*****

It's a cold day here today, the snow came again and blanketed the streets, leaving cars covered in a thick covering of snow. It's lovely to look at but a bitch when you have to go work in it! But now that I'm home again and the stew for our evening meal is in the oven I've been thinking about the other women I loved and lost before Karin flew into Australia. Seeing as mum has written her little interlude about Karen I've decided to title this My Interlude: Moving On. It gives mum a chance to catch up with me as well!

So with that in mind let me sketch in the background. One of the first things I did after I broke up with Holly was to transfer my credits to a university course at Monash University and elect for a four year Bachelor of Arts. The primary reason being the fact that Holly was doing her TAFE college at the same campus but the secondary reason was because I wanted a decent education and that meant I'd have to put my nose down and my arse up and get to work.

Because Monash was so far from Lilydale I contemplated moving out into student digs but then Birgit found me a cheap four cylinder car and I also got a part time job working as a teacher's aide at a local high school. Added to that of course was the fact that I could now make clothes to order, mum and Birgit had bought me a sewing machine the previous year and Anna helped out with some other vital implements as well.

Another factor that played a major part in my decision to stay at home was the fact that a few years previously, we'd had an extension built in the backyard. It extends down the side of the pool and keeps the nosey guy and his even nosier sons from peeking over the fence at mum, Birgit and I. At first it was supposed to be a games room and spare bedroom because it had the wooden decking all the way along the front. But once I started making more clothes to order for friends, the games room became the sewing room. It made sense because there was enough room for a table tennis table but because the legs fold up it could be put on top of my cutting table.

Thus, I was actually in a far better position just staying at home, unlike Paul who'd finally moved in with Kelly into a unit in Warrandyte. He was working for a local builder and earning pretty decent money.

Which is how I met Emily Brown. She was from Devon, studying macroeconomics on a student visa. She had plans to apply for a bridging visa so she could stay and apply for a Temporary Graduate visa, which costs a bit of money. Emily's family back in Britain had given her money from the 'bank of mum and dad,' but she was still needing money for clothes and that's when she came to me. One of my straight girlfriends had told her I made clothes and when she met me in the student café the first thing she did was complement me on the blouse I was wearing. It was actually quite a plain ivory coloured blouse but it looked good enough for an office job, that day I was wearing jeans with it. I sympathised with her over our immigration and visa system. It's a dog's breakfast and that's being polite, and if it was a dog you'd shoot it I told her.

"But if it's clothes you want, I'll make them for you and charge you for material only, anything to help out someone in need."

I always was too soft hearted but in this case it had side benefits! When I was measuring Emily up she casually mentioned that she was gay but I value my straight girlfriends too much to come onto them. She was looking at me when she said it and I just smirked because my straight girlfriends valued my privacy too much to just tell anyone that I was gay.

"I'm the same," I shrugged, "I got with my best friend from high school and it was the worst thing we ever did together."

"Me too," she replied, "which explains why I was so keen to come here and travel, I thought if I put some distance between her and I then maybe we might be able to mend some fences."

I winced and nudged my glasses further up my nose, this was cutting close to the bone. We sat and talked for a while about our previous girlfriends. She'd had several and I'd only had one but when I left her house I felt the first quivering of desire. Emily was a petite dark haired woman with brown eyes and a gentle nature, but she also had that classic British self deprecating humour.

I found myself thinking about her over the next few weeks while I made up some clothes for her, we didn't see each other much at university because it's a big campus and our class schedules didn't exactly coincide. But after four weeks I arranged to meet her and turned up with a blouse, a top, a trouser suit and a skirt. Emily was goggle-eyed when I laid them all out and told her she could pay me now or pay me off in instalments.

"Or even when you get your first job," I joked.

"This is too much," she picked up the blouse, "how much in total?"

When I told her the price she swallowed.

"That's too little, God, I would pay ten times that for all of this."

"Consider it an act of kindness," I shrugged, "we're not all hard hearted pricks here," I looked down at myself, "come to think of it I think my prick has fallen off."

"I'll pay you now."

"No, you'll try them on first and make sure they fit," I moved towards the door, "I have to go to the toilet, so I'll be back in a few minutes."

I didn't really need to go to the toilet, but I did need to collect myself. I hadn't been with anyone since Holly and on the way over it had been on my mind that if she made the first move I wouldn't resist but I wasn't sure I'd be able to make a move on her first and thankfully I didn't need to because when I stepped into the bedroom she was just fastening the last button on the blouse.

"Well?" I closed the door.

"Everything fits," she stared at the mirror, "this is like Christmas, I should pay you more."

"Forget it," I picked at the sleeves, "it's all part of the service."

She turned to face me and I thought she was going to kiss me but then she turned back to the mirror and flipped the collar up. This blouse was particularly eye catching. It was made of ivory-coloured silk with two pleats running down each side of a placket, it buttoned to the top and had a matching satin tie.

"I haven't seen something like this for years," she murmured.

Emily took a purse out of her handbag and extracted $200 but as I grasped the money she gripped it tighter and smiled. I returned the smile and then she leaned forward and kissed me on the lips. I moved with her and put a hand on her hip and she released the money.

"Did you make this too?" Emily picked at the ruffles on my blouse. It was a low cut, dark green ruffled blouse in silk charmeuse.

"Yeah," I kept my hand on her belly, "it's silk charmeuse, it's quite hard to work with. I'd have to charge you more for something like this," I looked down as she slipped her hand up over my breast and held it there.

"How much?"

"Um," I swallowed and looked past her as Holly's face rose in my mind's eye, "seventy five or so, depending on what you wanted."

"This," she squeezed my breast and I inhaled and squeezed her waist in return, "in white."

"A hundred," I replied as she put her forehead against mine and we kissed again, when she pulled back she grinned.

"Ninety five?"

"Okay," I sighed.

Emily turned me around and took a step forward. I went with her and bumped into the bed, she brought her other hand to rest on my other breast and kissed me again, this was one of those long lingering kisses that almost made me dizzy.

"I already have your measurements," I told her as her lips left mine.

"But if I've put on weight," she smiled and pushed forward with her hands, "you might have to measure me all over again."

I felt myself overbalancing and then she pushed me backwards and I lost my balance and fell onto her bed. Emily chuckled and slid the jacket seductively over her shoulders, pushing her breasts out at the same time. She slung it over the chair where the other clothes had been put and drew her thumbs down the pleats. I felt a very familiar warmth in my belly and because Holly had never done this before I was also somewhat bemused.

"So, do you want to measure me?"

"Uh huh," I stuffed the money into the pocket of my jeans.

"Do you want me to take off all my clothes?" Emily started undoing the tie.

"All of them."

"I really shouldn't be doing this," Emily pulled the tie from her neck and draped it over the chair, "what if you're one of those lesbian types?"

I giggled as she undid the first cuff and moved to undo the second one. More out of a sense of the ridiculous I drew my finger down my fly and she grinned as the cuff fell open. Emily flicked her thumbs up and down the pleats a couple of times and then undid the top button and slicked her finger down the placket to expose the buttons. I swallowed as she undid another button, I felt as if I'd been pinned to the bed. She opened up the blouse to her waist and then undid the trousers and pulling the blouse out, undid the last button and shrugged it from her shoulders.

It slid down her back and she slung it on the bed with a flourish and slipped her hands down behind the trousers and eased them over her hips. The trousers slipped down her legs suddenly and she stepped out of them and pulled her bra straps over her shoulders.

"Completely naked?"

"Come here," I reached out for her.

Emily knelt on the bed and leaning over me, kissed me on the lips. I rose to meet her as I put my hands on her breasts and then the urge rose within me as I chased the last memories of Holly from my mind. I felt her sliding over on top of me and she arched her back so that I could slide a hand beneath her panties. She was moist down there and clean shaven.

We moved slowly around until my head was on the pillow. Emily's hands moved up and down my front but she didn't start disrobing me for a few minutes. When she unbuttoned my blouse her head dipped down and soft silky hair brushed over my skin. I saw Holly once more and then she faded from sight as Emily undid my jeans and put her hand between my legs. I was whimpering and moaning, and trying to reach for her but I'd lost my strength.

Emily took charge of the situation and disrobed me, I arched my back to unclip my bra and she pleasured my nipples until everything was at fever pitch. When her fingers slid over my pussy I cried out for more and Emily gave me more all right as she went down on me and gave me a finger licking good time. My orgasm came in a rush of heavy sighs and a lot of writhing and in the aftermath as I came back to Earth I knew that something had changed. Prior to that night I'd pined for Holly, but making love to Emily had broken the drought.

That night was the beginning of a five month long relationship that lasted until early January of the following year. I did make that blouse for her and other clothes as well, although she did insist on paying me full price. Emily had her principles. She only ever came up to to Mt Evelyn twice, the first time just to meet the family and the second time because it was Christmas and mum kind of insisted she come for dinner.

It ended however because Holly finally came to her senses and decided to mend the fences, she was going out with Helen at the time and after talking it over with Helen they both fronted up at my joint. We talked, I shed a few tears, Holly hugged me and told me that she wasn't going to let our friendship die just because we took things too far.

"And what do you think about all this?" I asked Helen.

"It was my idea," Helen shrugged.

However when I texted Emily to let her know that I'd made up with Holly the reception was totally different. Emily saw it as a potential threat to our relationship and despite the fact that I sent a picture of Holly and Helen together it was to no avail. Her last text that night actually made me burst out laughing.

"It's her or me," I showed Holly the text.

"What the fuck?" Holly glanced at Helen.

My next text was particularly catty. I sent a picture of one of my dildos with the caption: My new lover thanks you for the memories.

Emily: Sod off then!

Overall though it was an entertaining evening. Holly and Helen invited me out for drinks with the girls in two weeks time but because Elvira had already invited me to come with her to Sydney for a casting call, I had to put it off for another few weeks but when we did all go out together to a pub in the city I met my next girlfriend, Caroline and that is a story for another day I'm afraid.

***

Caroline was straight vanilla when I met her. She'd broken up with her current boyfriend two weeks before and after pining for a week, accepted Holly's invitation for a night out with the girls. Holly's circle of friends included both gays and straights so it wasn't as if she was trying to set us up. We met in a gastropub in West Richmond and I was wearing one of my creations, a stylish light brown, satin dress. It had become second nature to wear clothes I'd made because it was always a good conversation starter. Women want to know where you bought it and when they find out you made it they want one as well. I've never needed to advertise my clothes online, it's always word of mouth.

Which is how I got talking to Caroline. She admired the dress and over a few drinks we set up a time and I gave her the address. That was on the Friday night and on Sunday afternoon she came around in her car to get measured up.

I was washing our new dog, Odin. We still had Sam but he was getting quite old and so Birgit had decided to get a pup so that when it came time we would have some continuity. Caroline was dressed in a white dress and I did take a few moments to take in the dress. It had buttons on the bodice and a belt around the waist. It accentuated her figure quite nicely.

"Nice dress," I repeated the line she'd used on me a couple of nights ago.

"Thanks," she smoothed it out, "but I didn't make it."

After I'd measured her we sat and drank a Coke and she looked over at me.

"Do you mind if I ask a personal question?"

"Yeah, I'm gay," I raised my glass, "never been with a guy yet."

"Oh, okay," she smirked, "so, what's it like being with a woman?"

Now that's a loaded question but I gave her what I knew already and the conversation moved onto other things. Caroline was from a Christian family but had moved away from the church once she got into TAFE. Like me, she was doing an arts course and we found a connection there but as she was leaving she gave me a brief hug and pushed her breasts against mine. It seemed innocent to a casual observer like mum but I felt as if there was more to it, I just couldn't be sure and so I went to the one person who might know, Holly.

"I don't know about Caroline," she frowned, "I've always thought she was straight but now and then she lets something slip."

"Like what?"

"When a gay woman starts talking to her she seems interested but when the woman asks her out she suddenly gets nervous and says that she's not gay. It's happened more than once, I think she's just sitting on the fence trying to work up the courage."

Interesting news but I'd learned from Emily, never mix business with pleasure and so I set to making her the same dress I'd worn that Friday night. She wanted it in red and a few days later I popped around to the house she shared with two women in East Ringwood, Stacey and Paula. They are both quite attractive women. When I met Stacey, she was two months older than myself and had gained a Diploma of Nursing and was working as a nurse out at Maroondah Hospital. Stacey did catch my eye because of her fresh-faced innocence and thick blonde hair, and then she casually mentioned she went to some Pentecostal church in the outer eastern suburbs.

Paula was also a nurse, and a Christian, but she was nearly four years older than Stacey and had worked as a nurse in refugee camps in Jordan, Turkey, and Somalia. She'd been working for a Christian charity and had her Christian beliefs but they were a lot less obvious, in fact she even offered me a beer while I was measuring up Caroline a few days previously, which I declined because I was driving. She had long brown, straight hair and a longish face, which also drew me in. Stacey seemed quite taken by Paula, which made me suspect that there might be something between them but Caroline assured me that they were both as straight as a die.

"They're both straight, in case you're wondering," this was said in her bedroom while she took the money from her purse, "Stacey is pretty hard core with her church but Paula just goes at Easter and Christmas, apparently."

"Yeah, I kind of got that about Stacey, but Paula might swing both ways," I stared at an X Files poster with Fox and Mulder posing under the tag I Want To Believe.

"So do you find them attractive?"

"Yeah, very attractive," I confessed.

"Can I tell you something in private?" Caroline handed me the money.

"Sure, I'll be your priest."

"I think Stacey is hot."

"Hot as in hot or hot as in you'd like to fuck her?"

"The second one," she ran her hand over the dress beside her.

"Me too," I grinned, "but Paula is hot too."

"I know," she smiled sadly.

"It's the luck of the draw," I contemplated her reflection the mirror, she was wearing a white blouse and khaki safari shorts that day, and I decided to act on impulse.

"Look, I never mix business with pleasure but now that I've made you this dress would you like to wear it for me," I paused, "on a date?"

"A date?" Caroline smirked and looked at me.

"Yeah, a date, just one date. No tongue kissing or fucking, just a date."

"Okay," she flopped back on the bed, "so you don't mix business with pleasure?"

I looked at her breasts pushing through the blouse and nearly changed my mind but then I slapped her leg and stood up.

"Never, been there, got the tee shirt and now I have to love you and leave you."

I had my hand on the doorknob when I felt her hand on the small of my back and when I turned around she was pushing me against the door. She had an anxious look on her face and I thought about saying no and then she kissed me on the lips and held them there for a few seconds. Just when she was about to pull back I opened my mouth and she tilted her head and pushed against me. We stood there with my back to the door kissing, I could feel her breasts against mine as she went in a little harder and when we finally stopped she exhaled.

"Sorry," she whispered, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," I murmured, "but we have company here."

"I know," she kissed me again, "so where are you taking me?"

"Oh, the date," I finally made the connection, "um, where do you want to go?"

"Out for dinner?"

"Okay," I squeezed one of her buttocks, "you make the reservations and I'll be there."

Caroline groaned at that and put her hand on my breast and kept it there. Our lips found each other again and she moaned and slid her hands down between my legs and then it was my turn to sigh as she started rubbing me. My resolve was fast dissolving as she kept rubbing me and I moulded her buttocks slowly and resolutely as our kissing continued. When I heard the click behind me I knew that I'd left it too long as she turned the snib and pulling back slightly, pulled her phone out of her pocket and selected a playlist and tapped Play.