Audrey's Awaening

It was with more than just a small measure of reluctance and trepidation that I, at long last, capitulated and allowed Laura, my girlfriend of many months, to cajole me into meeting her parents. Our long-term relationship had recently taken a serious turn, as we began living together in a small one-bedroom apartment, and had even, on occasion, spoken of the possibility of marriage. To that event, a meeting with her immediate family was, indeed, long overdue and I steeled myself to the inevitability of the dubiously "momentous" occasion.

That occasion was Thanksgiving dinner, in which Laura's mother insisted that Laura attend and bring me along to meet the family.

I suppose my initial reticence was primarily due to the fact that everyone in Laura's family seemed to be a card-carrying member of the successful, upper-middle-class establishment. By stark contrast, I was, at that time, an itinerant, self-employed musician and appeared very much the antithesis of her family, with seemingly little more to offer a prospective bride than a vague promise of love and devotion.

"So, tell me about your folks," I said to pass the time during the drive to her family home. "What do I need to know about them before we get there."

Laura smiled, "Well, my Daddy's the sweetest man in the world. He works really hard at his job and often has to travel out of town, sometimes he's away for up to three weeks at a time. But, he's one of those old-fashioned guys who believes he has to do the right thing to provide for his family. You might find him a little hard to get to know though because to him I'm still his little girl...and I've always been his favorite."

I smiled, glancing over to see Laura's radiant expression as she spoke so lovingly of her father. "What exactly does he do for a living?" I asked, curious about all his travel.

"He's a senior sales rep for R&J Pharmaceuticals," she answered with pride in her expression. "His main territory is southern California, but he often goes up to San Francisco, Portland and even Seattle for meetings and conferences."

"Interesting," I said while thinking to myself 'not'. "And your Mom?"

Laura's expression changed almost immediately, "Mom manages a wool shop, she works mostly from home handling all the business end of running the shop. Be prepared to have her gush all over you, by the way. She tends to overdo it that way with most of my friends."

"Are you HER favorite too?"

Laura laughed aloud, "Hardly. She and I have never really seen eye-to-eye about much of anything. To me, she's always seemed bossy and controlling. If ever I wanted something or wanted to do something, I'd always go to daddy first to avoid the third degree I'd usually get from Mom."

I nodded knowingly and suppressed a smile.

"She's a bit of a fat cow too, these days," she blurted after a pause, indicating to me that she had been stewing about her mother silently. "I keep suggesting she do more exercise and even do a little bit of dieting, but I think she's just too lazy to do much of either. You'll see what I mean when you meet her."

We arrived at her parent's home at the appointed hour, an elegant Tudor style house, with an immaculately manicured lawn and shrubbery, in a very upscale neighborhood with a breathtaking view of the Los Angeles skyline. Laura's parents greeted us at the door and, after a perfunctory nod and a brief handshake from her father, who turned away almost immediately to resume whatever it was he had been doing when the doorbell interrupted him, Laura introduced me to her mother.

She stepped forward, out of the shadows of the darkened foyer and smiled at me warmly, holding out her hand. I was instantly captivated by the almost tangible aura of beauty and charm that seemed to radiate from her. The family resemblance to Laura was unmistakable, and it was immediately apparent from whence Laura had inherited her physical grace and beauty. Her mother's soft blue eyes and the feathery careworn creases about them gave ample evidence to a very warm and caring personality, and I was immediately charmed by her smile.

I took her extended hand in mine and, as I did so, she leaned forward and kissed me lightly on the cheek. Her scent was almost intoxicating, clean and fresh with just a subtle hint of perfumed fragrance.

"I'm so very pleased to finally meet you," she said, beaming vivaciously as she clasped my hand firmly in both of hers. "Laura has told us all so much about you, but until this moment, you've been quite the invisible man."

I returned her smile self-consciously and somehow managed to stammer some sort of polite greeting on my behalf. She turned then and embraced Laura warmly, and I was once again struck by the remarkable family likeness between the two women. Though Laura wore her hair shoulder-length, and her mother's hair was coifed stylishly short, each had the same deep, dark auburn radiance to contrast dramatically with the very same, milky white complexion and bright blue eyes.

"My name is Audrey," she said with a smile, turning to me once again and taking my arm in hers. "But, you can call me Mom if you like, everyone else around here does. And, that "gentleman" who was here just a moment ago is, of course, my husband, Ken." She leaned forward conspiratorially and spoke softly, "It might be slightly premature to begin calling him Dad if you know what I mean. He's still getting used to the idea of you two actually living together. And, please, don't be too intimidated by his gruff exterior, he's really a pussy cat when you get to know him."

With my arm in hers, she led us both down the hallway toward the living room area. "Come on, let's introduce you to everyone."

We entered the brightly lit living room where Laura's father and several others were seated comfortably in front of a television, watching the Thanksgiving Day football game. As we entered, everyone, with the exception of her father, looked up expectantly.

"Everyone!" chimed Audrey, "This is Jessie...Laura's young man that we've all heard so much about."

I was introduced to and shook hands with, Laura's brother Michael and his wife Phyllis, and to Laura's older sister, Susan and her husband, Dallas. While Laura and her mother made their way into the kitchen, to see how the dinner preparations were proceeding, I joined the group around the television. With the possible exception of her father, who kept his focus on the television, everyone seemed affable and friendly and seemed to be doing their best to make me feel comfortable.

Audrey returned several minutes later to inform us all that dinner was ready, and we all made our way to the dining room. The dinner was absolutely marvelous, with turkey and all the trimmings, and Audrey presided over the preparation and serving with a calm, efficient authority. The conversation around the table was lively, full of innocent jesting and laughter, which spoke volumes as to the entire family's respect and affection for one another. The food was so wonderful that we all tended to overdo, and soon we were all filled to repletion.

While everyone retired once again to the living room, I stayed behind and helped Laura and her mother clear the table. Then, while Laura washed, her mother and I dried and put away the dishes and cutlery. Laura winked at me and smiled with a raise of her eyebrows, indicating by doing so that my participation and assistance were graciously noted and appreciated by her mother.

Laura and her mother chatted amiably as we slowly began putting the kitchen back to its normal state of pristine neatness and charm, and I took the quiet opportunity to just stand back and reflect upon the many similarities and differences between mother and daughter as they stood side-by-side at the sink.

I was somewhat surprised to note that, while Laura had intimated her mother to be, as she put it, a fat cow, she was, in reality, nothing of the kind. While Laura was of medium height and slender, with narrow hips and small breasts, her mother was at least two inches taller and rather robustly full-figured, even Rubenesque. Looking at mother and daughter objectively from behind, I smiled appreciatively to see how both women were blessed with astonishingly shapely legs and, while Laura's were slender, Audrey's legs were more substantial and much shapelier. Audrey's full bosom and broad hips tended toward plush and curvy but fell well short of appearing unsightly or even overweight. She carried her curvaceousness exceptionally well and even maintained what I thought to be a very respectable hourglass figure.

Viewing the two women together at the sink, I found myself wondering if, in her youth, Audrey had been as slim and slender as Laura. It goes without saying that I also took great pause to reflect upon the possibility that, one day, Laura might very well inherit and grow into her mother's full figure, a prospect that I found rather pleasant to contemplate.

In the days that followed, and as my relationship with Laura continued to grow, so too did my relationship with her mother, who accepted me as a member of her extended family almost immediately and without reservation. She made me feel welcome and always took great pains to see to it that my feelings were accepted and validated. I called her Mom, as she wished, and indeed, it felt very much as if she were a surrogate mother.

Audrey was ecstatic a few weeks later when Laura and I informed the family of our intention to marry. The date was finally set, and Audrey threw herself into the wedding preparations with cheerful enthusiasm, while her father seemed to finally accept the fact of his daughter's marriage with a resignation that almost, but not quite, bordered on approval.

Not that I blamed her father one iota for his reservations, were I in his position I'd likely have the very same sentiments about MY daughter marrying some itinerant musician with little in the way of future prospects.

After the wedding, Laura and I took up residence in a new and nicer apartment and, despite the normal disagreements and differences of opinion that most married couples go through on occasion, were reasonably happy. To my complete surprise, I discovered that I very much enjoyed married life. Over the years, I had become sincerely jaded by the whole rock group/groupie scene and discovered that monogamy was something that appealed to me very much. While other members of my band partied almost every night after work, I thoroughly enjoyed going home to spend time with Laura.

Unfortunately, the same was not the case with Laura. While I had always felt that our sex life was exceptional, and something I truly treasured, Laura tearfully confessed to me one night how she had never been able to achieve orgasm during normal intercourse, and had, in all the time I had known her, merely feigned pleasure purely for my benefit. Although she always vehemently maintained that her inability to orgasm was a product of her own physical infirmity and, in no way reflected on my abilities as a lovemaker, I could sense an inner longing in her that somewhat belied her words.

Wanting very much to please her during intercourse though, we began to experiment sexually, trying out a wide variety of positions to see if we might hit upon one in particular that would work to her orgasmic benefit, but to no avail. Nothing seemed to work and all my failed efforts on her behalf only seemed to augment her frustration.

As time wore on, Laura began to feel more and more trapped by the monogamy of marriage. As she was several years younger than I, she had not had the time to experience as much of life as I had. We often had long talks where she expressed her misgivings and, after much debate on the subject, I reluctantly allowed her to lead me down the path of attempting to have an "open" marriage, where "open marriage" translated into both of us occasionally sleeping around if the spirit so moved us to do so. It did not take exceptional intellect on my part to connect the dots and reason out how, through other sex partners, Laura was searching for the perfect lover, with whom she would not have to pretend pleasure.

Though I tried, I had difficulty moving my spirit in that direction. I had been with so many women over the years, many of whom I had never even known by name, that I was actually loathed to return to that lifestyle. I certainly had ample opportunities, the groupies hung around my band like flies on dog shit, but it just seemed so shallow and unrewarding that I cheerfully passed on each and every opportunity. I actually discovered the joys and fulfillment of masturbation, which I practiced almost religiously while the band was on the road.

Of course, I realized full well that Laura was living out her libidinous fantasies while I was out of town, I had accepted that and, while it disappointed me, I resigned myself to our new relationship. We never regularly discussed our lives outside the marriage, but occasionally, after several glasses of wine, Laura would ask me about my extramarital love life. When I finally admitted to having no dalliances, her demeanor changed dramatically. I'm sure she felt more than a little guilty, the open relationship had, after all, been HER idea. And, while I accepted it, it displeased her greatly to know I was not every bit as sexually involved outside our marriage as she.

As time wore on, my faithfulness to her seemed to drive a wedge even deeper between us. She came to resent my lack of participation in the whole open marriage thing and she seemed to pull farther and farther away from me emotionally. She took her vacations without me in various exotic locations, most often Hawaii, and usually with her girlfriend Dana whom she had known for many years. Once again, it didn't take a rocket scientist to realize that her vacations were little more than an excuse to let herself go sexually and explore whatever fantasies she was entertaining at the time. Sadly, she was almost a regular customer at the local clinic for venereal disease and was frequently self-quarantining herself from me while undergoing a cure for a variety of illnesses like syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and on two separate occasions, crab lice. All of which spoke volumes as to the character of the lovers she had taken.

For my part, I continued to research the physical aspects of the female orgasm to try to understand, and possibly even circumvent, whatever physical or emotional limitations she must be having. Laura could easily masturbate to orgasm, so it wasn't achieving orgasm that was the problem, it was physically achieving orgasm during sexual intercourse. To that end, I very much enjoyed giving her oral sex, especially when I knew that doing so would give her the pleasure that she couldn't seem to get through sex. So, it had become a ritual during foreplay that I would make love to her with my tongue until she reached an orgasm, often more than once, and then I would mount her physically to use her body for my own gratification as she lay basking in the afterglow.

One day, while waiting for a dental appointment and perusing the ubiquitous magazines in the waiting room, I discovered a rather interesting article in a Woman's Health magazine regarding sexual positions and orgasm. A specific position was outlined in the article and, thinking it might be interesting, I memorized the details. It was basically a variation of the missionary position and was highly touted by many sex therapists as a means to bring direct contact to a woman's clitoris by the shaft of the man's penis.

Following the directions, Laura and I tried it out that very night. It seemed simple enough. Basically, with her on her back and her legs parted with her knees raised, I entered her and then moved my body forward until her head is at the level of my chest and my penis was almost pointing straight down. In this position, deep penetration was unable to attain, with only the tip of my erection inside her. But, in that position, the shaft of my erection was pressing directly against her clitoris.

With this position assumed, I parted my legs and then Laura lowered her legs onto mine. Almost immediately we both felt a sense of pleasurable intensity between us. If either of us moved it directly stimulated the other. To my complete astonishment, it worked beautifully, albeit with only a modicum of success. I equate the word success with the fact that, while Laura did indeed manage to achieve a rather pleasant orgasm in that position, she found the position somewhat disagreeable physically and said she much preferred to orgasm through oral sex. So, for me, it was back to the drawing board.

It was about this time in our lives when we decided to save as much money as we could in order to put money aside for an eventual down payment on a house. In that regard, we moved out of the apartment. My band was, by nature, a traveling band, and road trips of up to nine months at a time were not uncommon occurrences. Laura moved back into her parent's house, and they were thrilled to have her. I would stay at her parent's house as well whenever I was in town, usually only for a month or two at most, and would always chip in for room and board as well as help out around the house with household chores whenever I was in residence.

The living relationship actually worked out rather well for all involved. Laura and I rapidly began to build up our savings account and, as Ken's sales position necessitated that he must travel almost two weeks out of every month, I was available to be the man around the house for those chores and heavy lifting while he was away.

It goes without saying that during those times when I was in town, Audrey and I had time to become much better acquainted. I became very fond of her and enjoyed her company very much. I endeavored to help out around the house as much as I could and actually enjoyed helping her in the kitchen, preparing meals and cleaning up afterward.

On those occasions when Ken was out of town and Laura working, Audrey and I would have dinner together and spend much of the day and evening just talking and getting to know one another better. As we became better acquainted, I came to realize what a wonderful woman she really was and grew even closer to her.

When together, we seemed to enjoy one another's company very much, laughing and joking amiably as we prepared dinners or cleaned up afterward, washing and drying the dishes. Later, we would often play games, gin rummy or canasta, occasionally even chess. To my mind, she became more of a friend and confidante, and less and less a Mother figure. I very much enjoyed the time I spent with her, her intelligence and sense of humor seemed to compliment my own and we never seemed to be at a loss for words or, in any way, uncomfortable together.

Spending as much time with Audrey as I did, it is little wonder that, as my friendship and affection for her grew, so too did my physical attraction. I suppose it goes without saying that my growing relationship with her was greatly enhanced by the fact that she was, indeed, an extremely attractive woman with a tremendously appealing physical presence, and I began to take notice of and appreciate, more and more, her rather voluptuous femininity and grace. I would watch her surreptitiously and smile appreciatively to see the graceful swing of her wide hips or the way her heavy bosom would sway provocatively as she walked. And, many was the time when, while playing chess or cards, I would shade my eyes as if to study my next move but, all the while gazing with acute admiration at her sensually crossed and very shapely legs.

I adored the way Audrey dressed. To me, she was the veritable essence of femininity. Her wardrobe was predominately feminine, skirts or dresses with soft, flowing fabrics that always appeared to enhance her voluptuous, full-figure and highlighting the femininity of her every curve. And yet, doing so in a way that was always age-appropriate and never improper or immodest. I was especially fond of her exceptionally shapely legs, always displayed in glistening, nylon perfection below the hemlines of her skirts and dresses, which almost always fell just an inch or two above her knees and would ride up appealingly whenever she sat down and crossed her legs.