When Greg left Janet to go and live with another woman it came as no great surprise to her, the bloom had gone off the marriage a long time ago. Greg made no difficulty about money, and he could well afford it being an executive in a robotics engineering business.
Janet got the house as well, and so there was little in the way of material problems for her. Her difficulties lay elsewhere, specifically when Greg departed she was seven months pregnant, in addition she had their nineteen – approaching twenty – year old son, David, living with her.
The pregnancy had come about because Greg had said "It'll pull the marriage together." Janet had thought this a vain hope since such pregnancies are more likely to pull the marriage apart, but she acquiesced and stopped taking the pill, not even sure that at thirty eight she could still get pregnant.
The parting when it came had not been exactly affable and Greg, as if to justify his action, had gone with a parting shot.
"Now I'm gone you and that boy can get on with the fucking."
That had cut deep because there was an element of truth in what Greg had said.
When David had been born Greg had been delighted and remained delighted for some time, but then things started to go off the rails. Janet was devoted to her son and in return he had adored her. This had brought about a rift between husband and wife, Greg thinking that Janet paid more attention to David than to him.
To Janet it seemed that it was downhill all the way in the marriage. Greg began to neglect her and she turned to her son for the sort of affection she needed, this in turn led to even more neglect by Greg and consequently Janet turned even more to her now teenage son.
It is not altogether fair to blame Greg for ending the marriage. Jealous of his son's relationship with Janet, he sought his affection elsewhere and by the time he made his ill advised suggestion of another child it was really all too late.
Just how much Greg understood about Janet's relationship with David is uncertain, but as the marriage gradually fell apart and Janet and David grew closer, a sexual element crept in.
Not that Janet would have considered letting that element become a physical reality because for her there was that dread trio of underage sex with a boy, adultery and incest, and to her these would be insurmountable barriers to giving physical expression to her love for David.
Things changed once Greg had left her; firstly David was no longer under age; secondly, Greg having gone to be with another woman, the adultery aspect seemed less important, and in any case she knew that eventually there would be a divorce.
Incest still remained as a barrier, and being well on in her pregnancy, and experiencing the grief that can occur in the break up of even a really unsatisfactory marriage, Janet was not inclined to worry about an incestuous relationship with David, or a sexual relationship with anyone for that matter. And so that aspect of her life was in abeyance.
* * * * * * * *
David was ambivalent about his father leaving Janet. On the one hand he was furious that his father had left when Janet was pregnant, on the other hand he was pleased to have his mother to himself.
Following in his father's footsteps he was studying robotic engineering, a very demanding course. Somehow he also followed in his father's footsteps and began to behave more like a husband than a son towards pregnant Janet, perhaps even more so as he fussed and fretted over her well being.
When eventually Janet went into labour and gave birth to a girl, David was almost the archetypal anxious father pacing the waiting room. He would even have gone to witness the birth if he had not been barred by the hospital authorities.
Janet had been anxious that David would resent having a baby sister around the place, but on the contrary he acted the anxious husband and father. He took particular delight in seeing Janet breast feed the baby, and that was something that Greg had found distasteful to watch.
Janet was deeply moved by David's obvious concern for her and the baby and their relationship, already very close, moved forward another notch. Janet felt some unease about this now very intimate relationship with her son. It was not so much the potentially incestuous nature of the relationship, but the thought that David's relationship with her - the time he spent with her and the baby - might be deterring him from establishing relationships with girls.
As Janet recovered from the birth and her heartache over the break up of her marriage started to fade, her previously strong sexual appetite returned. Given David's care for her and their mutual love, there was some inevitability about what happened next. It was never put in these terms, but if David behaved like a husband and father, he might as well be one.
In our sexual fantasies we tend to imagine ideal romantic circumstances usually involving a spacious bed. If and when our fantasies become reality it is often when we least expect it, and not always in the comfortable and spacious bed. So it was for Janet and David.
Normally during the evenings David was in his room studying. Janet had taken up a correspondence course that promised to turn her into a writer of fiction. The truth or falsity of this claim was yet to be tested but she'd had one short story in the local newspaper.
On the night in question they decided to set aside their tasks and spend a relaxing evening together. Sitting together on the divan they had watched a somewhat boring film on television. When the film ended the television was turned off they sat on, David's arm round Janet and her head resting against his chest.
He felt her stir slightly and he looked down at her. He saw her eyes fixed on him, large blue eyes and they seemed to be silently questioning him. He touched her long dark hair, stroking and running his fingers through as he had when a child.
She moistened her plump lips with tip of her tongue and when she spoke her voice was soft and low; "Kiss me darling."
He brought his mouth to hers and kissed her in the way he always had but there was something new in her response that made left him breathless when their faces parted, and she continued to hold him tightly to her. Janet was wearing only a loose fitting dress and she felt very vulnerable. She was not wearing a bra so her breasts were naked. She put her hand behind his head and drew his face to hers, and they kissed again. She pushed his mouth open with her tongue.
If David had any doubts about where they were heading they now fled. He pulled the thin straps that were holding her dress up from her shoulders and peeled the dress down. His hands found her swollen breasts and she felt a pang of pleasure – she knew what was going to happen and was powerless to stop it. He gently pressed one of her breasts and she felt her nipple spurt warm milk and she flushed with embarrassment. "Oh God, I'm sorry but I can't help it."
"It's all right" he said, and caressed each of her breasts in turn and they became slippery all over, "It's normal, very sexy," he said.
He shifted their positions and brought his face to her chest and started to kiss her breasts and stroked them at the same time, and gradually she relaxed and started to enjoy the sensation.
