(This story is posted on the Literotica website. Do not repost anywhere else without the author's consent. For fans of my stories, they know what kinds of things to expect. This story deals with similar themes as the stories by wannabeboytoy, seducedHylas, and Dark Betrayal, namely cheating, betrayal, and heartbreak. If stuff like that isn't your cup of tea, then you probably shouldn't bother reading it. I do not condone any of these actions in real life. This is just a story. Enjoy.)
(Additional note for this series: EACH CHAPTER IN THIS SERIES CAN BE READ ON ITS OWN. Each chapter is self-contained, but if you do read the whole thing, some of the specific details will become clearer and more fleshed-out. Enjoy)
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(Chapter 9)
(December 25th)
For Dan Carroll, all things considered, this Christmas was going pretty well so far.
Now, don't get him wrong, he still didn't particularly enjoy Christmas all that much anymore. He stopped really getting jazzed up for the holiday back when he was a kid, so there was a ceiling to his level of enjoyment he could reach on the big day. But compared to other Christmases, this one was going pretty good so far. The snow was falling, giving them a storybook White Christmas. All the family was around in a busy, bustling holiday morning. They all got a nice haul as far as gifts go. Breakfast was good. No one got in any fights, and everyone seemed happy with their presents. All in all, not a bad Christmas. Not at all.
So why was he the only one that seemed to be having a good time?
He fully expected to be the wet blanket, and he promised himself to at least act like he was enjoying it. And he actually was enjoying himself. Sure, he wasn't exactly full of Christmas spirit, as that ship had long set sail, but this morning was low stress and relatively relaxing, so it cleared his low bar. Yet, there just seemed to be a strange vibe with everyone.
Tim, who was normally always excited on Christmas morning, was very muted, almost withdrawn. Frank seemed a bit in his own head as well, looking around, as if something was off that he couldn't quite place. Max seemed to be in his own world, off to the side once his part of the holiday was done, texting with his girlfriend. Christiana was having a good time at least, running around, excited for all her new toys. She was driving Denise crazy trying to keep up. Connie was already on to the next thing on her schedule, getting ready to head out with some of the others for this church event they always did. Dan's mom was going too, as were some of the others.
The only one of them that seemed to be actually enjoying themselves was Gwen, Dan's 18-year-old daughter. She was happy with her gifts, she was doting on her cousin Christiana, and every so often, she'd look up and give Dan a warm smile, filling him with pride for the good job he'd done with her.
His attention drifting away from Gwen, Dan sat back on the couch, relaxing. His mom had cooked up treats for breakfast, and once that was done, he indulged in some sweets, savoring the really delicious candy cane that had ended up in his stocking. The only thing that was interrupting his comfortable morning was the fact that, for some reason, he was a bit, uh... hot under the collar. He didn't know why he was randomly so freaking hard, but it did cause him to have to shift around a few times in his seat so his current state wasn't too evident. With focus and some stealthy rearranging, he was able to cool down a bit and not be too obvious with his current distress. But that dull pressure from his groin wasn't going away, and if it didn't, he would have to start to consider his options to take care of his current state and relieve that pressure. He really didn't want to have to jack off in his old bedroom. He'd done that too many times when he was a teenager. Then again, what was one more to the count?
Other than that, he was having a good morning, sitting back and watching the chaos. He was dressed comfortably in some relaxing clothes, a simple t-shirt and some thin, comfortable lounge pants. It was Christmas morning, who was he trying to impress? But not everyone was as relaxed as he was. His wife, Connie, was fully dressed and ready to go out. He always tried to tell her to just relax sometimes and enjoy the slow moments, but she didn't have that gear. There was always something that needed to be done. Some task on her schedule.
This morning, she had this big Church thing. Admittedly, this was something they did every year, at least the ones they spent here in Deerberg. The local church did this thing after Christmas services where they would give people sacks of cheap, nice little gifts, and they would go around the neighborhoods, dropping these gifts off on people's doorsteps. It was a nice thing to do, sure, but it was a bit of work. Dan was ambivalent to the whole church thing anyways, and the addition of work to the mix didn't endear it to him. He stopped going to regular services when he was younger. For one, he had stopped believing in that kind of stuff long ago, preferring to believe in things that were more tangible, so he had kind of soured to showing up all the time for something he didn't believe in. Plus, there was the whole thing where his Dad ran off with the preacher's daughter and left his mom and his brothers to themselves. So, yeah, that didn't exactly endear him to the Church either. So, he never went beyond the bare minimum in terms of helping out his wife with Church things. He had never participated in this specific event, despite Connie's urgings. Hey, he did his time and showed up at the services the day prior. He'd had his fill.
The thing about Connie was that she was truly a good person. Better than he, Dan would fully admit, but he did his best. When he met her in college, she was part of some event to raise money for a cure to a disease he'd never heard of. But she explained it so passionately that he was taken in, both donating to the cause and asking for her number. The rest was history.
Connie was always the first to help out when someone needed it. Maybe she was too loyal to certain people, giving them way too much space to take advantage of her kindness, but that didn't stop her. When there would be some crisis, either locally, or from some major event across the country, she'd be the first to figure out what her and her Church group could do to help. Raise money or supplies, or even send people to help. Once a year, she and a group of people from the Church would fly out to some area that needed help and would help in any way they could. It was amazing. She was always so incredibly kind and empathetic, a quality he greatly admired. Even though she had gotten a bit devoted to the Church, a thing that really didn't resonate for him, her passion almost convinced him otherwise. If more people at the Church were like her, he'd be there every Sunday.
He still remembered how pretty she was when they met. That bright smile. Her dark hair. Her bright, intelligent eyes. Her slim, fit body. That image never left him. Sure, she wasn't as fit as she used to be, but she was a mom. That comes with the territory, right? But compared to some other people her age, she was fine. She looked like a wholesome mom, and he still found her very pretty. This was the woman who had birthed his children. He loved her with all his heart.
That said, she could be a handful sometimes, always moving, always doing something. Sometimes, he wanted her to just slow down and breathe. He had brought up the idea of doing something together once Gwen left for college and they became empty nesters, but she had plans and events filling her schedule. That was the one thing Dan wished of her, that they could have a bit more time together and just... live a little. He just wanted her to slow down a bit so they could have a temporary escape from their normal life.
But this was not a day she would even consider slowing down on. Christmas meant a lot to her, and she knew that it meant a lot to other people too, so she vowed to help out others, even if it meant taking time away from her own family to do so. It was something that did, admittedly, slightly annoy Dan. But she was doing some real good, so he didn't complain too much.
Connie was always able to get others to go with her to the big Church event this morning. His mom always went, but she was too old to walk the neighborhoods anymore, so she helped out at the church. But this year, she got Frank and Denise to go too. Max and Gwen always loved doing this when they were younger, but Gwen had opted out this time, preferring to just hang out and relax at the house. Max was still willing to help, but Dan suspected he would spend most of his time on his phone with his girlfriend as he handed out gifts. Tim and Viv were sticking around the house, and they would be watching Christiana while her parents were out. Other than that, Dan and Gwen were the only others sticking around the homestead, and Dan was planning on enjoying a bit of a calmer atmosphere.
As everyone got dressed and ready to go, Gwen sauntered over to him, barely concealing a grin. He smiled lightly up at her as he played with one of his new gifts, a brand-new tablet. He had always been leery of going to a tablet, as his laptop suited his needs just fine. Now that he was given the gift, he was gonna try it out and see how it felt. He was still setting it up as she took a seat next to him on the couch. She was dressed comfortably, just like he was, wearing a pair of thin lemon colored pajama pants and a slim t-shirt, hugging her form.
Even dressed down like this, Dan was struck by what a beautiful young woman Gwen had become. Sure, she'd had a few awkward, gawky years, as all teens do. But now that she had reached 18, it had all come together. She was no longer a kid. She'd become a stunning young lady. Smooth, dark hair, cascading down between her shoulder blades. A smooth, even tan, giving her skin a warm, easy glow that made her even more attractive. Bright, shining, mischievous green eyes. Plump, soft lips and a perfect set of white teeth, giving her a smile that could light up a room.
She was taller than average, standing taller than her mother, although she still had to look up to Dan. She was slim and fit and taut in a way only an 18-year-old could be. That being said, she had curves where it mattered, curves in places that it's a father's duty to ignore. And Dan, for the most part, was a good dad in that sense, beyond a few accidental glances. But he was probably one of the few men not to take every chance they could to gawk at his daughter's assets. Obviously, Dan was her father, so he didn't have the inclination to stare at her in that way. And besides... there was so much more to admire her for than just her looks.
Beyond just being fit and slim, she possessed a natural, graceful athleticism, which she had used to her advantage for a few years in track. She did it mostly for fitness rather than any great drive for competition, but she possessed a natural affinity for it that made her very good at it. And her almost liquid like motion on the track was mesmerizing, even ignoring her beauty. She was simply a natural at such things, and that was impossible to ignore. Still, she wasn't feeling any great loss at the prospect of leaving it behind once the school year was over.
