Lost And Found A Charm For Trinity Ch 02

This is the concluding part, and my final foray into the world of Springfield and the families there; the names and faces are here, see if you spot them as they flit past...

My thanks, as always, to GrandTeton for his endless patience and superlative editing skills, and to everyone with the patience to follow my sometimes derailed train of thought with this particular story-cycle.

If you particularly liked this story, please rate it, and if you didn't, please tell me why; all comment is regarded as fair comment, except for the pointlessly rude, or the hopelessly insane.

All characters indulging in consensual sexual activity herein are at least 18 years of age or older.

Thank you for keeping me company over the years with this saga.

beachbum1958

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Part II: Another life in another town...

After helping us to celebrate our wedding, our relationship with Stella, already close, became even closer; she became more like the mother I needed so badly, and less like our landlady.

She'd call me up to help her move stuff around, or help out at the beauty parlour she owned, or get my opinion on a batch of cookies she'd baked, or to try out a new casserole recipe, things that once upon a time I'd only dreamed about doing with my real mom.

We'd go into Valdez together to do our grocery shopping when Scotty was away at work, as we only had the car, and laugh and talk like a mom and her daughter are supposed to do; for the first time in a very long time, I had a real mom again, someone who kissed it better, made things right, and talked straight when she thought I needed it.

Stella and I usually got together around about mid-morning, whether in her place or ours, having brunch together, or laughing over coffee at the trashy daytime TV shows, or maybe at the beauty parlour, gossiping with the ladies of the town; she taught me to cook, proper, satisfying, man-food, as she called it, and she'd often sit me down and brush and then braid my long hair, something she confided she'd always wanted to do but never had a chance, as she only had two boys.

I could confide in Stella in ways I never could with Mom, and slowly the sense of loss over my former life in Stillman diminished; I'd lost my mom, but I'd found another one. I even suspected she'd had a quiet word with her brother, Scotty's supervisor, because suddenly Scott Corden was the new flavor of the month, promotions and increments in salary gradually inching him up the corporate tree.

I was still a stay-at-home; I had no real marketable skills, and there were precious few jobs of the 'would you like fries with that?' variety anywhere in town anyway. I was resigned to being Stella's gossip and shopping buddy, until one morning, while we were sitting in the beauty parlour, drinking coffee during a lull between appointments, she asked me if I'd like to train to be a hairdresser.

She'd seen me flicking through some of the magazines and comparing my hairstyle with the girls in there, wondering how I'd look with this or that cut or color. Stella had noticed my interest, and so she asked me if I thought I could learn to do that. The money wasn't great, but the work was steady, she had a good reputation in the surrounding towns, and people came a long way to have Stella do their hair, get a manicure or pedicure or just plumb the depths of the latest gossip.

Of course I said yes; I wasn't trained to do anything, sitting alone at home was so lonely, and I was chafing with the need to do something, anything to make the day seem less empty when Scotty wasn't there.

Thanks to Stella, most of the ladies in town now knew me, and the parlour was the hub of the great Mid-Western Gossip Network; if you wanted to know what was really going on thirty miles in any direction, who was up to what, or who needed to keep closer tabs on her man, you came in, poured yourself a coffee, and pricked-up your ears. Believe me, Western Union and Associated Press had nothing on Stella and her ladies.

And so I became Holden Crossing's newest hairdresser; Stella was a good boss, tough but fair, and she taught well. I was a quick study. I soon realized I had a natural aptitude for hairdressing, and I quickly developed a real interest in what I was doing. I ordered some of the magazines from New York, Los Angeles, even London and Paris, and tried out the latest high-fashion looks on some of the other girls in town, which went down really well.

We managed to capture the teen market, too; now they didn't have to go into Springfield or Monte Vista to find a stylist who'd give them something up to date and fashionable; they could get it right here in Holden's Crossing.

Pretty soon people were coming in and asking for Trini rather than Stella, and I could see how pleased she was that I'd got it so quickly. I also sent away for a nail embossing kit and a couple of books, and pretty soon the ladies and teenage girls in town were walking around with fancy stars and stripes nails, glittery metal-flake nails, smiley-face nails and my piece de resistance, newsprint nails.

When word got around that we could do just about any kind of nails, just like those people in New York and Hollywood, the place went nuts, and we were soon looking for extra staff; Stella told me she was so impressed with the way I'd turned things on their head around there she was contemplating leaving the running of the business to me and letting me train the new girls to do what I did, the way I did it.

At last I'd found something I was good at, and Scotty and I were finally a real part of the town.

Occasionally, though, just for old-times' sake, Scotty would take the afternoon off and we'd go to the movie theater in Chavez, and there in the deserted theater, safely anonymous in the back row, I'd suck his cock to get him ready, and then he'd pull me astride him and just fuck the hell out of me, rubbing my clit against him while he sucked and chewed on my swollen, throbbing nipples, or kissing me frenziedly while he pumped his fingers into my ass, until I came in a hot blast of orgasmic delight.

Then came his turn, with his cock jammed in my ass while I sat squirming on his lap, working his cock with my ass muscles while he rubbed and squeezed my clit and my nipples, making me cum again and again until he couldn't hold back any more, explosively filling my ass with what felt like gallons of hot, creamy sperm!

That's how our life together was: Scott worked, slowly climbing the corporate ladder, while I studied hairdressing and grew ever closer to Stella, our surrogate mother; she was the perfect person to tell our troubles to, non-judgemental and sympathetic, and to share a glass of chilled wine or a cold beer on the porch on a hot night.

She never asked us about our family; I guess she thought if it was something we wanted to talk about, we'd have told her, and she didn't pry, bless her. If only my own mom had been one tenth as understanding or compassionate, maybe Scotty and I wouldn't be living here far from everything and everyone we knew, or if we were, at least we would have had her and Daddy in our corner.

But Mom slammed that door in our faces, and now Stella was my mom, not that woman back to home, so imagine my shock and surprise when I answered a knock at the door late one afternoon, almost exactly two years after we left home, to find Mom standing there, the one person in the entire world I honestly never thought I'd ever see or hear from again.

"Hello baby-girl!" she whispered, and reached out to touch me. I instinctively backed away, remembering the look on her face and the things she'd said the last time I'd seen her, and instantly felt a twinge of guilt as hurt and remorse flashed across her face.

"How have you been, Trini? I miss you, baby; I miss Scotty too, is he alright? Where is he?"

Her voice was still no more than a whisper, but I could hear something there, something I'd never heard before; it almost sounded like she was sorry, and that couldn't be right; my mom had never apologized to me once in all the times she hurt my feelings or made me cry, and I backed away even further, suspecting some kind of trick.

"Scott's not here, and my name's Trinity! I'm alone, so you'll understand if I don't ask you in!" I said, once again seeing that flicker of hurt in her eyes. "What are you doing here, and want do you want with me; I'm a whore, remember?" I snarled at her, any nostalgia at seeing her suddenly overwritten by what she'd said, what she'd called me, and how deeply she'd hurt my Scotty.

"I won't hurt you baby, I...I just wanted to see you, I just wanted to know you're both okay, that's all; I'm alone, too; your father doesn't know I'm here, and I won't tell him where you are. Please baby, it's been too long. Just talk to me, please!"

"How did you find me!?" I gritted again, and she looked down, her voice almost inaudible.

"I went to Scotty's office, but they wouldn't let me see him, they wouldn't put my calls through, nothing; I tried so many times, until finally his boss felt sorry for me and told me where you were, but he said I couldn't tell anyone I'd heard it from him. Scott had made it clear to him that didn't want to be contacted by your daddy or me, ever."

She paused, her eyes sad and far away, and what looked like tears glimmered in the corners.

"He thought Scotty was wrong, that it was wrong for families to fall-out like that, that this had all gone on long enough, so he told me. He must really think a lot of Scotty to protect him for so long; you and Scott are so lucky to have good people like that on your side. Please talk to me, Trini; I'm so sorry, what I did was wrong, please let me try and put it right!"

I stared at her for a long moment, then nodded and stepped aside so she could come in. I'd just put coffee on; Scotty would be home soon, and he liked a fresh brew when he came in. I offered her a cup, which she accepted with a smile.

"Your hair looks nice, baby, it suits you," she began, commenting on the fact that I'd gone golden blonde on Stella's advice, as it made me look less like Scotty, so other people wouldn't notice the similarities in our features as quickly as she had. Scotty hadn't liked it; he loved my light brown hair, he said it looked and shone like spun sugar, and if he wanted a blonde, he'd have married one, but, after a little friction, and a lot of sweaty, make-up sex, he'd learned to like it...

"I had to Mom; I couldn't have people guessing I was fornicating with my brother, now could I?" I flashed back at her, watching the barb sink home.

Mom looked at me over the rim of her cup, her eyes sad.

"I'm sorry I said that, baby, it was stupid and cruel; I'm sorry about everything I said, baby. I was wrong, I should have listened to my children, not driven them out!"

I wished Scotty were here; she was starting to get to me, and I didn't want that; I wanted to keep on hating her, she'd called me a whole string of foul names and driven us out. Throughout my life she'd made me cry so many times, always dismissing me, always so busy with her church that she didn't have time to deal with my 'childishness'; her damned church and that bastard preacher of hers had always come first, then Scotty, with me a very poor third. Scotty had been so attentive to me because she wasn't, and now she was sitting on my couch saying she was sorry? How about when I'd really needed her, was she sorry about that as well? Time to give her something to chew on.

"Mom, I know you're sorry now, but it's too late; you called me filthy names, you accused me of all kinds of crimes against your god, you were more concerned about what your damned pastor was going to think than about Scotty, or me, and now you're sitting here saying you're sorry? It's not enough; 'cept for just a little while, when I was real small, you were never a mommy, never there when I needed you, but Scotty was always there, right from the beginning."

I had to pause, there was so much I wanted to say, so much remembered anger; it was threatening to overwhelm me, and I had to stop and gather myself to tell her why she had nothing more to do with my life.

"You gave me to Scotty, you made me love him, and then you got all mad and self-righteous when I chose him over you! What was I supposed to do? You chose your god over us, and you chose leave me out and never be there for me, not once, not even when I needed you most; but Scotty was, every single time, and that's why I love him, and that's why I'm here right now; because you made it happen!"

I paused for breath, blinking back the angry tears and watching her eyes widen as she finally got to hear what I had to say, the things she'd never given Scotty and me a chance to say.

"You wouldn't listen, Mom. You called me a whore who seduced and stole your son; you said only whores and degenerates behaved like me, remember? You hurt me, Mom, you set yourself up as judge, jury and executioner, you never once listened to what I had to say, you hurt my Scotty and made him cry, for the first time in his life, and for that alone, I don't know how to forgive you!"

Mom put her cup down, the base chattering on the saucer from the trembling of her hand, and looked at me with tears in her eyes.

"Everything you're saying is true, Trinity. I was wrong to say the things I said; I should have been your Mom, not your judge. I didn't understand what was happening between the two of you, I was confused and angry, and I did what I've always done: I took refuge in the bible. I was angry, and it was my anger and ignorance making me spout all that nonsense at you, instead of just listening, and I was wrong to do that. I didn't want to drive my babies away, I didn't mean to hurt them, but I did, and I'm so sorry!"

I still wasn't about to let it go.

"And what about Dad, all that stuff he said, all that self-righteous, mealy-mouthed God stuff about me seducing Scotty, all that other stuff from Leviticus and Deuteronomy, about incest and sin and fornicating, and all the time he's stashing away incest porn in the garage? Scotty was right; we were doing what he was fantasizing about. He had his hand in his pants thinking about what we were doing, and he had the gall to preach at us about it? He's a hypocrite, and both of you made us leave!"

Mom looked at the floor while she dabbed at her eyes.

"Your father and me, we...had our problems, and yes, I know about the...the things he had hidden away, and that's my fault; I wasn't as...attentive as I should have been."

She swallowed,and I heard her throat click dryly; she took a tremulous sip of her coffee and continued.

"I thought praising God was a better way of life than keeping my husband happy, and so he...he found another way. I know what he said and did was wrong, but he had his reasons, at the time he thought they were good reasons, but we talked about it a lot since you've been gone, and we know now how wrong we were..."

She looked away, her mouth working, her eyes staring into space, seeing something I couldn't, then looked back at me, her eyes soft and sorrowful.

"Things have happened, baby, things that started because of what Scott said, because of what he thought of me. Your daddy, he...took steps to make it right, because of what Scotty accused me of, and because of what Pastor Bell tried to do to me."

She looked away again, her eyes not meeting mine, but I saw a fleeting expression cross her face, one I hadn't seen in a very long time; for that second, she looked like my mom again, the beautiful, fun, funny Mom I remembered and lost so long ago.

"Your daddy's a good man, baby; he lost his way because I let him go, because I let someone into my life who was dangerous and evil. Daddy and I, we let him tell us what to think; we looked at the glowing picture he painted and we believed him. You and Scott, you could see through the picture, you saw what was really there, you saw it all along..."

She took another sip of her coffee, her eyes still far away, looking at something I couldn't see.

"I'm sorry baby. I came here to tell you I was sorry, I was wrong, I left you out and followed a dream, but it was a nightmare, and I dragged Daddy into it, and made him see what I was seeing. I know he wants to say sorry too; he just has to find a way, so please, give him time, and, if you can, let him back in; he's as lost as I was, and he needs you, too."

She went to sip her coffee and saw her cup was empty, so I refilled it for her, getting a small smile in return. I could see she wasn't finished, so I indicated that she continue.

"After everything was over, we finally realized that being members of the church in good standing was no substitute for having our babies with us; we were both so concerned about the next world we forgot how to live in this one, and we lost you because of it. Now, all I want is to find a way to win you back, both of you; you're my babies, and I miss you."

I was pondering what she said when the door opened and Scotty walked in; I looked at the wall-clock in wonder; I hadn't realized it was so late. The look on Scotty's face when he saw Mom spoke volumes.

"Baby, what the hell's she doing here?" was his first question, and Mom literally quailed at the anger in his voice; it seemed Scotty hadn't forgiven or forgotten what she'd called us either...

I jumped up and ran into his arms, feeling safe again now he was here. Mom looked on as Scotty kissed me, her expression unchanged as he ran his hands over my back and gently squeezed my ass as he kissed me deeply, something we did every evening when he came in; I guess he wasn't going to hold back just because our estranged mother was in the room. When he'd kissed me properly, he looked over at her almost challengingly, as if he was daring her to say something, but she just smiled.

"Don't worry, Scott, after what I walked in on, I think I can handle a little kiss and cuddle!"

I had to hide my quick grin, and even Scott's defiant expression softened slightly.

"So why are you here, Mom? Last time you didn't wait to hear our side, you just lit right into us; what are you doing here now?"

Mom looked at me and sat up a little straighter.

"I finally saw how foolish I'd been, how blind and gullible I was, and what I'd done to my babies, and I knew I had to try and win you back, both of you, no matter what it took. I was such a fool, babies, you have no idea..."

I could feel something coming, something she didn't want to share, but had to get out, something that sickened her; Scott could feel it too, judging by the way he held me closer.

"Babies, I don't know how to tell you this, even now it makes me sick to my stomach when I think how I..."

She shook her head in disgust, but plowed on.

"After you left, Pastor Bell came to see me; your father was out doing work for the parish, and...that...that man wanted to know why I hadn't been to church or contacted him. When I told him you both had left because of me, he started talking about how immoral my family was, that you and Scott were the way you were because you were sinfully conceived, that your daddy was the bad seed, he was cursed, and he'd passed that curse to both of you. He started saying that you both had strayed from the true path because of your daddy, that he was past saving, but that he could save me, that I should leave your father, because your leaving was the Lord's way of telling me my marriage to your sinful father was over, that I should get a divorce, and start a new life, with him, and he'd help me put my life back together."

"At first I didn't understand what he was saying; I love your daddy, I always have, even if I didn't treat him too well. I've never dishonored my marriage vows, I promise you, no matter what it looked like, and your father knows it too. When I realized what Bell was saying, of course, I rejected him, but then he began touching me...everywhere, fondling me, holding me, tearing my clothes off, shouting that I was the bride promised to him, forcing himself on me, I was so frightened..."