Author's note: A slow-burner this. There's quite a bit of relationship stuff as I've tried to explore how a man and his mother-in-law could fall in love and all the counter-currents, emotional and cultural barriers in their way. Given the taboos involved and the mother-son surrogacy of such a relationship I think it does belong in the incest category. Having said all that there's plenty of rumpy-pumpy in it once the two protagonists get going. I hope you enjoy it.
*****
In my mid-twenties, I met a girl and fell in love. Jodie was tall, slim, blonde and very vivacious - actually a bit of a wild child. I was rather more of a steady Eddie so maybe it was the attraction of opposites, but we had a great two years together. We had a child on the way, so we decided to get married but we would have done so anyway.
Jodie's parents were a bit of an odd couple or rather oddly matched - at least I thought so. In his mid-fifties but looking slightly older, Howard, was a university professor with a rising and public reputation. Tall and thin with a balding head and glasses, he looked like the dry, fastidious academic that he was. He and I never got on. There was no overt hostility, but he showed no interest in me or any desire to get to know me.
His wife, Pat, by contrast was warm. She was a deputy headteacher in her mid-forties. Only her general classiness and depth of character prevented her from being the raging extrovert her daughter was, but she was definitely a people person in contrast to her cold and distant husband. I didn't think she was out and out beautiful when I first met her but her looks grew on me over time. She looked vaguely foreign, her skin was slightly darker than most and I found she had an Italian grandmother who'd obviously passed on her sultry good looks as well as a vivacious personality. She had black hair, a wide and generous mouth and quite pouty lips with a few laughter lines. Her eyes were mesmerising - dark brown eyes that could be soulful, thoughtful or merry depending on her mood. She also had great legs which were quite slim, but then she thickened out a little further up and her hips were noticeable. To top it all off she had a large pair of tits that were a real distraction.
In contrast to Howard, Pat really took to me and made me feel welcome when we visited. She was always interested in what I had to say and with her knowing and empathetic look in those captivating dark brown eyes she seemed to understand me instinctively. She was overjoyed when we announced we were getting married although quite disappointed that it was going to be a civil ceremony as she was quite traditional in her outlook on life and belonged to what I thought was a narrow-minded church.
Their marriage was not close so far as I could tell. Howard certainly showed little affection to Pat although he was very fond of Jodie. He ploughed all his energies into his burgeoning academic career - he often travelled to international symposiums, was on TV and radio sometimes on high-brow programmes, had a newspaper column and had published several books. Pat, on the other hand, was into various good works, she was a prominent member of her church, a parish councillor and involved with various local charities. Although I was very fond of her, I did think that she revelled in her high standing in the local community. She may have had foreign blood in her but in all other respects she was as English as, I dunno, steak and kidney pie? Daily Mail reader, conservative in outlook, respectable and a little snobby with it.
The wedding was not too lavish but good enough. In the only example of generosity in the time that I knew him, Howard was good enough to put his hand in his pocket and helped us out with the costs. My mother had sadly passed away about a year beforehand and my father a decade before that so there weren't too many of my family there. Jodie also had a small family - she had no brothers or sisters and neither did Howard nor Pat but they did have a few more distant cousins there. However, we did have lots of friends there - my friends being a bit more regular than Jodie's were. All in all there were about a hundred people there and we had a great time. Jodie's louche friends didn't get too drunk or doped up to spoil it. In the evening, Pat and I danced together and she told me that this was one of the happiest days of her life.
"I've a favour to ask, Tom," she went on, "well not so much a favour but I'd really like it if you started calling me, 'Mum'"
"Of course," I replied although I was not too keen on the idea.
She hugged me in gratitude. Her large and well upholstered tits pressed against me giving me all sorts of ambiguous thoughts.
Annabelle, our daughter was born about six months after we got married. The pregnancy and birth were not too difficult so far as I could tell and I was as supportive as I could be. The first three months after Annabelle was born were hard work but very happy. However, it soon became apparent that motherhood was not Jodie's thing at all. Never very organised at the best of times she got very frustrated at the tedium of looking after a baby. When I came home from work she could not wait to dump Annabelle on me. I was very happy about this regardless of how hard a day I'd had at work. What did irk me though was her insistence that she could take up her vigorous social life like we both had before Annabelle was born.
Rows became frequent. She chafed at any restrictions or discipline to the point where health workers started to raise concerns. As a compromise I gave up my job to look after Annabelle while she resumed her advertising career but that did not stop the partying for her. She'd always dabbled in soft drugs (and after all who doesn't like a bit of weed now and again?). However, things got worse once she started or restarted the cocaine. Apart from anything else we simply couldn't afford it. Things got very nasty.
Annabelle was only six months old when Jodie announced that she was leaving us both. I was heartbroken and devastated. She took up with a succession of boyfriends each one more dangerous than the one before until she settled down with a yardie pimp called Michael who once pulled a knife on me.
Even although she didn't want to look after Annabelle there was very bitter custody battle and divorce which dragged on for months. In essence, she wanted me to look after Annabelle whilst she could have unlimited access (which meant turning at any time of the day or night to take her away) and most of the family assets. Various injunctions and court orders were taken out, social workers got involved and I frittered away my life savings on solicitor's fees. Eventually, Jodie and I had a very uneasy truce which meant she had Annabelle every other weekend although she arrived late and dropped her off late. Once or twice she never turned up and then demanded to have her mid week which disrupted all the other child care arrangements. But this truce was all pending a final custody settlement several months away with an equally bitter divorce settlement to follow.
Pat took our split very hard. She'd been absolutely thrilled with the birth of her granddaughter and had done whatever she could to help us both when our difficulties started. She openly sympathised with me while still trying to stay loyal to her daughter but that only pissed off both of us. Pat had been seeing Annabelle several times a week but that became impossible. Once the custody battle started she was in the enemy camp as far as I was concerned and I bluntly told her that she'd no longer be welcome round my house.
"You mean I can't see Annabelle anymore!"
"I can't prevent it, but that'll have to be when Jodie has her. She's your daughter!"
"But I hardly ever see her!" she wailed.
I remember the scene vividly. Pat was dressed in a long white wrap over a closely fitting white cotton top (which accentuated her prominent breasts) accompanied by black trousers and knee-length black boots. She'd had her hair cropped to an attractive elfin look which suited her. But her attractiveness cut no ice with me.
"Pat, however hard this is for you, it's much, much harder for me!"
It was like I'd slapped her in the face. Her beautiful brown eyes filled with tears and she mumbled an apology and slumped off. I was angry and distressed the whole weekend after that scene. I knew that this was none of Pat's fault, but she was tainted by association. The hurt on her face really got to me, though and I regretted what I'd said to her.
Annabelle's first birthday was coming up, so I planned a little birthday party for her and her little pals from her nursery at one of the local play barns. Jodie and I weren't even speaking so I had no intention of telling her but I did decide to ring Pat. It was Howard who answered the phone.
"And what do you want?" he asked rather rudely.
"I'd like to speak to Pat If I may."
