I had not seen her in about 8 years, but I remembered her as a young girl who was both fun and intelligent. Her mother called her Elizabeth when she was angry at her but everyone else called her Lizzie. She was my sister's daughter and she had the same energy and drive that Sarah had when she was younger.
Eight years ago, I had spent a few days with Lizzie and her family. Sarah was still married to Dan back then and I thought they were a happy family. They came to visit me for a long weekend around a Fourth of July and Miss Lizzie had spent almost all of her time in the pool behind my house. She had made friends with the next-door neighbor's daughter β Erica - and the two of them occupied themselves for hours in the privacy of my pool. The last full day of their visit, Sarah, Dan, and I had stayed inside sipping on daiquiris all afternoon until we all quite tipsy. Fortunately, Lizzie was exhausted from her day's activities and ready for bed as darkness was falling upon us.
I called Lizzie in from the pool and told her it was bedtime. Erica went home and Lizzie trudged into the house, passing by her parents who it seems had themselves suddenly become interested in the pool. I told Sarah I would make sure that Lizzie got in bed and then join them at the pool.
"Go get out of your wet suit and get ready for bed," I told her. "I'll be in to check on you in a minute."
"Okay, Uncle Ron," she replied.
After waiting a few minutes, I went into the guest bedroom to make sure Lizzie had gotten into bed. She was just pulling on a clean pair of panties but she was otherwise unclothed.
"Oh," I exclaimed as I realized the situation.
"It's okay," she said. "We walk around in our underwear at home all the time and this is what I always wear to bed."
"Okay, well . . . under the covers and out with the lights," I responded nonchalantly.
"Uncle Ron," she asked as I turned out the light, " can you give me a good night kiss? That's what Mom or Dad do at home."
"Okay, sweetie," I answered.
As I leaned over to give her a goodnight kiss, she said "You're the best uncle in the whole wide world. I think I wanna live with you one day."
"Well, you live with your parents but, if you ever need another place to live, I'll always be here for you."
I closed the bedroom door and felt the warmth in my heart. I didn't have any children of my own and this was as close as I had ever felt to a child.
As I walked out of the house and towards the pool, I could hear some teasing between Sarah and Dan.
"Ron, Sarah wants to go skinny dippin' but she's embarrassed to do that in front of you, so she's askin' me how we could conveniently get rid of you for awhile." Dan was never concerned about embarrassing Sarah.
"Ron, that's not exactly what I said. What I said was that Dan and I hadn't been skinny dippin' in a long time and he said 'so you can go skinny dippin' now if you want' and I said no because you're here. I'm not tryin' to get rid of you."
"Sarah, I had no idea that you ever went skinny dippin'," I replied. "But I do understand 'cause, if you guys weren't here, that's probably what I'd be doin' about now."
"So," Dan interjected, "if you guys both wanna go skinny dippin', you oughta just go for it. Won't bother me."
"I'm not that drunk," said Sarah.
"Well, then, I'll go fix you another daiquiri," Dan answered.
After he left, I approached Sarah. "If you wanna go skinny dippin' and maybe have sex with Dan in the pool, I can make myself disappear in a hurry. You told me you guys were havin' some problems and maybe a little spice in the sex department would help things. . . . Couldn't hurt!"
"No, no, I don't want you to leave. And I don't know about havin' sex in the pool. I was just thinkin' about when we were younger and how easy life was and if you wanted to go skinny dippin', you just did it and you didn't worry about any consequences."
"Poor Sarah," I empathized. "Life's beatin' up on you, isn't it? I'm sorry your marriage is havin' problems. Dan's always seemed to be a decent guy . . ."