Chapter 1: A Vacation To Remember
Serena was furious. She was absolutely spitting nails mad, and anyone within a quarter mile of the house surely knew it. She vented her anger loudly and with abandon.
She just knew this exact scenario was going to come up. She'd been a fool to hope otherwise, but ever the optimist, she'd tried. She'd spent so much time planning this vacation on a small but lively island in the Canadian Maritimes, hoping she might be able to somehow salvage her marriage and keep her small family unit intact. Every other time in the last two years she'd planned some sort of family getaway, her husband backed out, claiming a "business emergency". This time, she planned a vacation where it would be relatively hard to leave once there. She hoped she could have some time with her husband, maybe re-ignite the old spark they'd once felt. Maybe try to get her 18 year old son to make some sort of connection with his stepfather. All in all, just get away from the rat race and relax.
At first, it seemed like it might actually happen. While hubby wasn't exactly thrilled to be going, he seemed accepting enough - no complaints voiced. Then he dropped his bombshell, mere hours before they were set to leave. Yet another, "unexpected business emergency" had come up and he couldn't go. That's when she went ballistic.
Business emergency my ass! More like a chance to fuck that slut secretary of his! She thought. That's what it was, that's what it had always been. His slut of a secretary. She tore into her husband with venomous rage, lashing him mercilessly with her tongue. Finally, shaking with rage, tears spilling from her eyes, she'd stomped to her room and slammed the door shut. She sat on the bench in front of her vanity, forehead in the palm of her hand.
Shortly, there was a small, tentative knock on her door. Before she could loose another verbal barrage, she heard her son Derek's voice, asking what was wrong. She sobbed again. She didn't want her son to see her like this, but she needed someone to talk to. "You might as well come on in," she said her voice still edged with anger and frustration.
He did, gingerly stepping into her room. "You OK, Mom?" he asked gently, moving closer.
"No! That asshole husband of mine did it again, backing out at the last minute. He didn't have the decency to say anything sooner, and I'll bet a year's pay he knew all along he wasn't going. There it goes again, everything messed up! I've already paid for everything."
"That's OK, Mom."
"No it isn't OK damn it! I'm tired of his fucking games. God, I was so looking forward to getting away for a couple of weeks, go somewhere quiet."
Derek adored his mother, and seeing her so angry, frustrated, and disappointed, made his heart ache. He came up behind her and saw the tears trickling down her face. He hesitantly reached out and touched her shoulder, not sure what to say. Then a thought struck him. It sent a queer surge through him, and he blurted it out. "Well, maybe we can go anyway? He doesn't have to be there, he'd only make us miserable." Suddenly, his heart was pounding, his insides leaden. The chance to be alone with his mother was something he'd dreamed of and prayed for.
She sighed but didn't answer right away. Of course it was the best option under the circumstances - a lot better than sitting here and stewing. "Oh, honey, why would you want to be alone with your old mother for two weeks?"
If you only knew, he thought. "'Cause I love you and I know how important this is to you. I was kinda looking forward to going myself." This last was a bold-faced lie, but it sounded good. "Besides, you wanted this to be a family vacation, and to me we're the only real family." Bitterness suddenly welled up in Derek. "He's not part of our family, not to me." For a second, Derek thought he might have said too much. For years, he'd struggled to keep his feelings on the subject of his step-father in check for his mother's sake. It was getting harder to keep those feelings inside, and sometimes they slipped out. This time, he didn't regret it. "Besides, we can have fun, just the two of us."
Serena sniffled, and a small smile appeared on her face. She looked back at her son. She was very much aware that he was her boy. She knew he'd never been happy that she'd gotten married, knew on some level it had been devastating to him, but he never complained. She'd always felt pangs of guilt for letting another man into their lives, yet at the time, it seemed so important that Derek have a father figure around, and she have a man for herself. Whatever his feelings about it, he remained her totally devoted mamma's boy. Now, looking back at her son, she saw an achingly beautiful young man who more and more often stirred feelings in her that were decidedly sexual, feelings which were at once frightening and thrilling. She looked at him for a long moment, searching his face. Yes, he was beautiful, and the adoration he felt for her was there to see. She suddenly felt a warm, pleasant flush wash over her. At last, she said, "Are you sure?'
"Oh yeah I'm sure."
She closed her eyes and laid her head back so it was resting on his chest. Oh yes, the flush she felt was undeniably sexual. "I should have known you were the only one I could ever really count on," she said softly. "Alright, We'll go, just you and me and we'll show that asshole we don't need him."
To Derek, those words were sweet music.
****
Serena was the quintessential Soccer Mom. Had a Madison Avenue agency been looking for someone to play the role in an ad campaign, she would have been a perfect fit. At 36, she was the right age. She was prettier than the average suburban soccer Mom, with her shoulder-length, curly blonde hair, bright green eyes, and a lush mouth, but she wasn't a stark beauty. At 5'4" and 130 or so pounds, she carried no extra weight, and she was blessed in that her build came naturally. The only regular exercise she got was vigorous walking several days a week.
As with the Madison Avenue image of a soccer Mom, she had a career, and a successful one at that. Her father had made something of a name for himself in the local community as a property owner. When he died four years ago, he'd left her several apartment buildings and a decent sum of money. She suddenly found herself a landlord, and she quickly excelled in her new found career. She could be cold and ruthless bitch when she had to be. Along the way, she'd gotten her real estate license, and she began to dabble in buying and selling properties. It didn't take long before she was making a tidy income from her business dealings. She certainly wasn't rich, but she was successful enough that she could live decently, even without her husband's income.
Derek was active in sports - soccer in the fall, wrestling in the winter, and baseball in the spring, and she was faithful about attending every one of his games. She made sure he always got to where he needed to be. She even drove that symbol of Soccer-Mom hood, a minivan. And of course, she was a member of the PTA and the school's athletic booster association.
If you were to pass her on the street, or see her driving about town in her minivan, or see her in the local Wal-Mart, she might have drawn an extra look and a fleeting thought that she was really nice looking, but she wouldn't have stood out in your mind as anything exceptional, just a typical middle-class suburban mother. You wouldn't remember her 5 minutes after seeing her.
Now she was driving down the interstate in her mini-van, Derek dozing in the passenger seat. The drive would be long, better than 5 hours just to reach the ferry that would carry them to the island. They'd had to get up at three in the morning. Now, the sun was just peaking over the horizon, and they were well on their way. She hoped they'd reach the Canadian border in time to be at the ferry before afternoon.
Last night, after deciding to continue on with her vacation plans, she went to her husband and unleashed a final verbal broadside. "You can rot for all I care! We're going, and fuck you and the bitch that gave birth to you!" It felt good to let her anger flow freely.
She looked over at her sleeping son, and smiled. She adored him. He'd always been the light of her life, and it was funny how he remained the only male she felt she could rely on, through thick and thin. It was impossible not to see how beautiful he was, how physically attractive he was. He wasn't all that big, certainly less than 6 feet tall and not an ounce more than 175, but he was built almost perfectly. Sleek and muscular without being muscle-bound, and in the last couple of years, he'd lost his adolescent angularity and awkwardness. He had her slightly curly blonde hair, which he always wore neat and short. He also had her bright green eyes. He had his father's strong, clean jaw line and elegant nose. Was it any wonder he stirred sexual feelings in her? She was, after all, a woman who'd always had passionate sexual appetites, and he was the kind of young man who'd stir any woman's desire.
She stared at the highway unfolding before her and let her mind drift to sex. The problem with sex, as far as she was concerned, was simply that she never got enough. Sex is what first attracted her to Derek's father, and as far as she was concerned, the time she was with him was the most sexually satisfying time of her life. His father was every bit as good looking as Derek, and he was hung like a horse. His appetites matched hers, and for several months, it had been phenomenal. They fucked constantly, fucked like rabbits, four or five times a day. They tried anything and everything they could think of, different positions, dangerous and exciting places, anal, oral, they even found a couple of girls willing to join them for threesomes. It had been sheer paradise. Then, it ended almost instantly. She was pregnant.
She thought Derek's father would be thrilled. She was certainly thrilled. She thought they were in love, and a child would be a welcome addition to their family. It wasn't to be. As good looking as he was, as passionate and loving and gentle as he could be, the instant he sniffed commitment, he vanished. Gone like the proverbial puff of smoke, leaving her to her own devices. She went from making passionate love multiple times a day to nothing at all literally overnight. Worse still was the abandonment, the devastating emotional blow to her soul, the realization she was on her own. She quickly struggled to get her mind on track and deal with her situation. She sublimated her intense sexual drive into preparing herself to bring a new life into the world and raise her as yet unborn child properly.