This is set in the UK in the 1970s, so attitudes are very different. There is no social media, mobile phones, or internet. It was also easier in many ways to disappear and leave your past behind. It is a different POV but overlaps the second chapter of Losing Inhibitions, which is in Loving Wives.
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James played tennis with his sisters on Grampa's tennis court on Wednesday morning. They'd improved a lot from last year. He was finding it hard to judge how well he had to play to be seen as taking them seriously and not so well as to discourage them. This was another problem of them moving from girls to potential adults. Hell, in a few years, they would have to take it easy with him, or he'd have to play as Mother did nowadays and rely on positioning rather than strength. Mother had perfected a light drop shot, which just got over the net and hardly bounced.
At around 11, Mother and his aunt Juliette arrived back from the latest shopping expedition and emerged from the car with more bags of clothes. The twins ran towards the two women. It was interesting to him that seeing their new aunt Juliette in the polka dot dress on Monday night had changed their opinion of the woman who was only five years older than them. They liked her on first meeting, but she was now becoming a glamourous older sister. They had already moved from talking about Aunt Juliette to just Juliette. He hoped that it would have the same effect on Uncle Bernard.
Grampa had shown him the photographs he had taken on Monday night. It was a little unnerving to realise how attractive he found his new aunt now Mother had started taking her in hand. The next step would be the hairdresser, and he understood an appointment had been arranged for Friday morning so that when Uncle Bernard reappeared on Friday evening, he would be meeting a transformed wife.
He hoped Uncle Bernard would appreciate Mother's efforts. He had known boys at school who had reminded him of Uncle Bernard, and they fundamentally believed that sex was dirty and hated the fact that their bodies betrayed them at the slightest provocation. It was a difficult line to tread between making Juliette attractive to Uncle Bernard and making him think that she was a scarlet woman like Aunt Cora. He decided that he would have a word with Mother. For understandable reasons, the men who knew Mother rather liked women. She may be an expert on Uncle Bernard as a young man, but most men she knew were more like Grampa.
Mother packed him and the twins off to see the variety show at the end of the pier while she, Grampa and Juliette had a new photographic session. During the interval, he discovered that Mother had also commandeered the twins. Naomi said, "Mother says that Juliette did not have enough hugs when growing up."
That sounded like something Mother would say, and he replied, "She's probably right." Maybe she was. Juliette had lost her parents at twelve, and Grampa had noted that the aunt who had looked after her was a good rather than a demonstrative person. Certainly, Juliette hadn't hugged the bridesmaids at the wedding, and for a bride and bridegroom, she and Bernard had barely touched each other during the wedding reception. Looked at each other, yes.
Naomi continued, "Mother's bought her a new swimming suit, and as we have sunny weather coming, she wants her to get a suntan."
"That'll go well with the new clothes."
"She's made us promise not to snigger when you put the suntan lotion on Juliette tomorrow."
"What?"
"Mother says she needs to get used to being touched without flinching or becoming embarrassed."
Just then, the bell sounded for the second half, and they moved back into the auditorium.
"Thanks for the warning."
"No problem.
Oh, well played, Mother (and Naomi on her timing). He couldn't tell the twins why he was not happy about the proposal, and when he thought about it, he realised that Mother was probably right in theory. After all, Juliette needed to get used to being touched by a man. Uncle Bernard would not be relaxed about touching her, and James could be trusted not to take advantage of her. Getting someone outside the family to touch her up would be risky and better for him than Grampa to do the honours within the family.
He hadn't been expecting to spend his holiday helping Uncle Bernard's sex life, let alone acting as Grampa's proxy with the waitress, Samantha. Her willingness on Monday to get his dick out had excited Grampa, who was no doubt looking for any opportunity to add a new photograph to the Albums.
James wasn't certain what to make about Samantha. He liked the woman and realised she was more intelligent than most women he had flings with. Mother had tried to persuade him that the girl could look after herself and had known many Samanthas when she had been in the ATS and the Colonel's wife in the regiment. Her message was that provided he was honest about this being a summertime fling and treated the girl with respect, then he would do her no harm. Well, also use a Durex, but that rather went without saying. It was just rather hard to work out how to try and give Grampa a chance to enjoy her favours and treat her with respect simultaneously.
His problem was that he felt guilty about thinking about her as someone who would be a fun experience and no more. Bluntly, the girl had a brain and was underselling herself. While it suited him for the relationship to be a pragmatic, short-term, fun one, he felt he was exploiting her.
Mother had bought some more clothes to give Samantha. These included lingerie and an outfit which mirrored one of those which Grampa had photographed Samantha's mother wearing 19 years ago. It had become clear that Diane Fraser had been one of Grampa's most enthusiastic and flexible models. He and Mother both suspected that the ten photographs Grampa had shown them were the tip of the iceberg.
He and Mother had also discussed the next book to give her. Mother had dug out a copy of a Nancy Mitford book, The Pursuit of Love. She said that it was amusing and that there was a good chance Samantha would never have heard of it. She gave him a quick synopsis of it, and he realised he would need to read it himself. While it was one thing to admit that he had taken Grampa's advice on her measurements for the clothes, acknowledging that his mother had chosen the books and the clothes did not seem a good idea if he wanted to go as far with Samantha as he and Grampa hoped to.
He had read the Muriel Spark book and realised that if Samantha was two-thirds as intelligent as he thought she might be, Mother had risked him being left up shit creek with no paddle. Luckily, it was a short book, and he was a speed reader. He had reread the book a little more slowly and interrogated Mother about what people thought about it. In particular, he asked her what the response might be to someone who might identify with the most sexually active character.
On Thursday morning, he put on his swimming trunks under his trousers when they went down to the seaside. They were amongst the first people on the beach. The tide was coming in, so Mother placed them a fair bit away from the sea. She'd also insisted that they bring the windbreaks with them, and they protected the family group on three sides. He was puzzled as normally mother enjoyed the male view.
Mother did not go swimming, so she was in her usual shorts, bikini top, and sunglasses. There had also been a blouse, but that was taken off when they sat on the towels. The twins were in their one-pieces. Both had had a growing spurt this year, and most of their clothes were new. Juliet had also put her swimming costume on before she left the house.
Mother had done good work again. It was a mostly backless one-piece. Still, Juliette couldn't see the amount of skin shown, and besides this, the back was not seen as too outrageous a piece of skin to display. It had a halter top behind her neck and another strap across her back. He hoped for Juliette's sake that the knot at the top of the suit was good.
Mother sent Juliette and the twins down to the sea, but before doing so said to James. "Time for you to be useful. Could you rub in the suntan lotion for me on my back and legs?"
Mother usually took care of her legs herself and got one of the twins to deal with her back. Still, although initially surprised, he quickly worked out what she was up to. If Juliette saw that his mother was okay with James rubbing in suntan lotion for her, she would be happier about him doing the honours for her.
