All characters in this story engaged in sexual activity are over the age of eighteen.
Janet mostly blamed herself for the situation as it had evolved, but in part she also blamed her husband Wilfred. Had Wilfred given her what she needed, and in her view it was something that was her right as his wife, nothing might have developed between her and Adrian, although that was something that will remain forever unknown.
The plain fact was that Wilfred had, as he had told her quite bluntly, "Gone off her."
Such assessment of a wife by her husband would usually be quite devastating for the woman and it certainly had been for Janet. She tried to question Wilfred on the matter, but got nowhere. His response in some respects sounded quite reasonable, involving a lengthy speech explaining in excruciating detail that all marriages eventually go off the boil and she was lucky their sexual activity had lasted so long.
Wilfred was so convincing that Janet was almost persuaded, but not quite completely. There remained a worm of doubt in the form of an affair she suspected Wilfred was having. This worm was reinforced when first, he removed himself from the marital bed, and then from their shared bedroom.
When and where this notional affair was carried out was a question Janet never found the answer to. Setting aside the lack of affection and sexual gratification he no longer gave Janet, he seemed quite content with all the other domestic arrangements, and what had been his regular habits of coming and going seemed to stay the same. In short he was satisfied with his situation.
Janet, however, was far from content with her situation. She had weighed up the possibilities of divorce, having an affair, or both since an affair might lead on to divorce if discovered.
The question might be asked, "Would any man want to have an affair with Janet?" I think I can safely say that the answer is "Yes."
The words pretty or beautiful are inappropriate to describe her but the bone structure on which female attractiveness is moulded is revealed in her high cheek bones and the well-defined but delicate line of the chin. Her dark hair was cut short and brushed back from her face in strong waves, but it has to be said that she tended to be buxom in a voluptuous way.
Her voluptuousness was of the sort that would attract many men; it was what was once called an "hour glass figure:" a slender waist above nicely swelling hips, and well developed breasts, together with legs that some buxom women seem to have, sturdy but well shaped and with slim ankles.
But it wasn't only her physical appearance but something more, something hard to define, and "sensual" is the only word I can think of, an odd though it may sound, but she was the sort of woman who made men think about impregnation and babies.
With these female assets it might be wondered why Wilfred had gone off the boil, sexually speaking. Now there is a mystery that never seems to have been resolved, and the odd thing is that if they run off with another woman that woman is often less attractive than the wife they have just left.
As I say, it is a mystery and the only thing I can come up with is the old clichΓ©, "Familiarity breeds contempt." That's about the only thing I can say on the subject, except to point out that clichΓ©s often encapsulate a truth.
It still might be wondered why Janet remained in the situation, and the only answer seems to be, the domestic scene was too comfortable. Yes, "comfortable" is the operative word, not wealthy but comfortable: a husband who earned a decent salary; Janet with what she called, "A nice little part-time job" filling in as a receptionist at the local medical centre; and then there was Adrian, doing well at high school and with every possibility of going to university. Being a dutiful and loving mother she didn't want to disrupt her son's progress.
These and other minor matters restrained Janet from taking the obvious step and getting out of the marriage. I wonder how many women find themselves in that situation?
* * * * * * * *
So that was how things stood for Janet after eighteen years of marriage. Stated simply, no sex and not even any affection, and Janet might just as well have been a housekeeper; a very unexciting lifestyle to say the least.
Who then can blame Janet when she turned to Adrian for the affection that Wilfred failed to give her?
I don't mean she turned to Adrian for sex. From him she sought that mild affection communicated through tender physical touching and the goodbye, hello and goodnight kiss.
I must however admit that these expressions of love and affection, mild though they may seem, often carry within them the unacknowledged seeds of sexual attraction, If those seeds were present in Janet's relationship with Adrian, then they were certainly unacknowledged by her. What she didn't seem to realise was that in engaging in even this pleasant intimacy with Adrian she was playing a dangerous game.
Jane and her son had always engaged in some affectionate behaviour, but it was when Adrian was sixteen and Wilfred had made it clear he no longer fancied Janet, that the affectionate behaviour was intensified by Janet. and it was a case of "Mother beware."
A hundred years ago any sexual attraction between a mother and her son would have been passionately denied by most people, but in the twenty first century, and given the knowledge we now have on this subject, denial is almost culpable.
To what extent Janet was aware of this attraction is unknown, but if she was unaware then she was soon to be enlightened.
Whereas their affectionate behaviour during Adrian's childhood and into his teen years had been what people might call "natural," perhaps the normal bonding behaviour of mother and son, but it was fated to become something more than that.
Janet, with her need for warm affection began to actively seek out Adrian for this affection. It might have stopped their, but after a while Janet noticed that the roles seemed to be reversing and Adrian was actively seeking her out for affection.
This was all very nice and did good things for her shattered female ego, but it was as she started to notice what these loving sessions were doing to Adrian that the first inkling of danger emerged.
For good or bad Janet ignored the danger signs because she enjoyed the hugs and the kisses β kisses that seemed to linger longer as time went by - and kisses to which Janet began to respond.
In Janet's view it still seemed to be harmless, a mother and son giving expression to their mutual love, but it was when she noticed Adrian getting erections, not only during the love sessions but often when they were simply in each other's presence; and since they were now actively seeking each other's presence those occasions became ever more frequent.
To make matters even riskier Janet began to respond to Adrian's obvious sexual attraction to her in her female way: the blood engorging of her genitals, the wetness in her vagina and at the top of her thighs, the throbbing sensation in her clitoris and the extending and hardening of her nipples.
All the warning signs were there and Janet knew they were there, but such was the pleasure she got from their love encounters she failed to stop them until it was almost too late.
Once more I must point out that Janet, a naturally libidinous woman, deprived of an outlet for her demanding libido, found some gratification, despite the frustration, in her relationship with Adrian, but the idea that they would one day finally give expression to their love in actual sexual intercourse was rejected by Janet, but that didn't take account of what Adrian might do.
It was when he was near to the end of his high school studies and choice was being made of which university he would attend and what subjects he would study, that the crisis emerged.
It was as mother and son were engaged in what Janet thought of as their "love sessions," that the critical moment arrived.
* * * * * * * *
It was Wilfred's evening out at the darts club at the local pub and he always came home late on those evenings. It was during those evenings when mother and son, taking advantage of his absence, usually engaged in particularly fervent love sessions.
Janet had long before allowed deep, tongue probing kisses, and in fact it was she who initiated them. She even allowed Adrian's hand to brush over her breasts occasionally, but of course her breasts were well covered.
However, on the evening in question things went farther than normal.
They usually engaged in these love sessions on the divan, and all seemed to go as usual: the initial hug, a kiss that seemed to linger longer than usual; Adrian's hand touching her breasts more firmly than usual. These things Janet accepted, and even when for the first time Adrian unbuttoned her blouse to expose her braless breasts and began to caress them, she still made no objection.
This was farther than they had ever gone in what was essentially sexual foreplay and Janet was revelling in it, hoping that Adrian might go as far as sucking her nipples.
He didn't suck her nipples but went beyond that.
It was as his hand crept up her thighs and his fingers began to pull aside the gusset of her panties that Janet was suddenly jolted out of her delight at what they had been doing.
She pushed Adrian away crying out, "No...no...no darling, we can't do that, you know we can't."
"But mum..." Adrian began to protest, but Janet interrupted.
Rising she said, "No, we can't....not...not that."
For a few moments mother and son stared at each other, Janet determined that things had gone as far as she would allow, and Adrian was frustrated and bewildered.
She turned and hurried from the room, and it was in that moment the relationship between mother and son changed. Janet, now fully aware of where their activities had been heading no longer sought love sessions with her son.