Notes:
This story uses
italics
in various places for emphasis, to denote book titles, and to denote non-English words. Titles for sections of the story are marked in
bold
.
Consider
The Story of O
and
9-1/2 Weeks
. This story is an exploration of the question: why would any woman consent to persist in a relationship that, by any standard, would be considered abusive? There are many possible answers, each of which could be the basis for other stories. I hope that "Allie" well presents one answer.
Introduction to Chapters 1-11:
This fantasy has been living in my head for a year, and it was time to let it out so maybe it would stop bothering me. It concerns the lengthy seduction of a stepdaughter by her stepfather.
The phenomenon of 'false memory' is real, and there is a real article in
Scientific American
on the subject (
Scientific American
September, 1997, volume 277, number 3, pages 70-75). A Google search for "scientific american false memory" should pick it up. In any case, I commend it to the attention of other authors, particularly in the MC genre, because I haven't exploited it to the full.
If you're looking for a stroke story, this probably isn't it. All places, events, and persons (including the author) are fictitious.
Acknowledgments: The single best example of intentionally bad writing I know of, from Penelope Ashe. The idea of the notebooks comes directly from "Second Best," by Thinking Horndog. A line from
Guns of Navarone
, by Alistair MacLean. The yoga lesson, from a yoga book by Jean Couch. Long after I wrote this, I realized that much of the "training" theme was inspired by "Owning Mother and Daughter" by Pedro Vila.
Other influences will be obvious to those who spend too much time reading this sort of thing. Thanks to all.
Chapter 1: The Perils of Prevarication
Jane Adams was my first wife, and I was her second husband. She had been widowed several years earlier by a drunk driver, leaving her with an 8-year old daughter to raise on her own. She stood up to the challenge, and did her best after her own lights, which is as much as anyone can ask of a parent. We met in the line of work, found that we hit it off, and in due course we decided to marry. After the wedding ceremony, which was not memorable to any one not directly involved, I moved in with them. Work it out: she had a house that had already accommodated a married couple with child, and, while I was very well off from my work in technical training, I had up to then chosen to stick with a bachelor pad. The three of us worked into a comfortable household. Jane had traditional views, and changed her last name, and her daughter's, to mine (Kennedy, if it matters).
Of my relationship with Jane and her daughter at the time, the only element that is germane to this story is that Jane had firm and non-negotiable ideas about how her daughter should be raised: Catholic/parochial girls' schools, and no dating until college. That wasn't right to my way of thinking, but Allison wasn't my daughter, and I didn't get to vote on it. I'll spare you any stories about sexual activities between her daughter Allison (
never
"Allie") and myself as Allison grew up, simply because they didn't happen. I did what I could to help with Allison's school courses, tried to provide when asked whatever passes for wise advice to an adolescent of any gender, be a provider, and be a model of the male role. In Jane's mind, the male role included the exercise of discipline, on the extremely rare occasions that Allison's usually-exemplary behavior warranted it. In time, Allison accepted me as Father, Version 2.0, and called me "daddy," and no, it didn't give me any special charge. When it became clear that the now-teenage Allison was beginning to chafe under the "no dating" rule, it was made clear that that was Jane's rule, and that was that.
Not that my prick didn't scent Allison from time to time. Allison had bloomed into a beautiful specimen of the feminine gender. But Jane was a good wife--she'd had years of practice in a previous successful relationship, after all. Some say that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, or his balls. Jane kept both of those avenues well serviced. Some say that the way to keep a man faithful is to keep him happy, and tired. She ensured that I was both.
Then, near the end of Allison's junior year at Saint Virginia High School, the universe of drunk drivers visited again, and took Jane from us. In a paradoxical way, Allison took it better than I did, perhaps because it had happened to her before, and she had learned how to cope, a little. We were both damaged--there's no other word for it. No, it didn't "drive us together," and I didn't see her step in to be "the woman of the house." After a month or so we began to return to something like normalcy in our reduced household, and we redistributed the chores between the two of us.
When the mourning period had passed, I became aware that Allison was restless. I had been around her for more than several years now, after all, and I'd have to be denser than a brick not to pick up on her moods, at least a little bit. And I could guess the cause: she was approaching the end of her junior year of high school, and she wanted to date. Her hormones were undeniably active, witness her enchanting growth, and I suspected that she felt that after her senior year, she'd be an "old maid." I also suspected that she felt that she had a window of opportunity to appeal the "no dating" rule that her mother had enforced. In any case, I knew enough about parenting not to offer advice until it was demanded.
Consequently, it was no great surprise when, one Friday evening, in fact, the day she finished her junior year, Allison came up to the doorway of the study/office of the master bedroom suite and made it clear that she wanted an audience. She was still in her school uniform from the day. She was technically a high school senior as of today, and she felt that at 18 years of age she was in a position to have some influence over her own future. I was sitting at my desk, and she stood across from me.
"Um, daddy, I'd like to talk to you about switching schools next year."
"Oh? Where to, and why?"
She had clearly rehearsed this speech in her mind. "I'd like to switch to Central High." (the local public high school) "I think I'd get a better science education there, in prep for going to college. The Sisters at SV" (local speak for "Saint Virginia") "don't have the science labs to give what it takes to prepare us for the best schools." She stopped. End of prepared speech. In her mind, the next thing that happens is that daddy agrees.
I regarded her. The silence dragged on, her gaze wavered, and she began to shift from one foot to the other. I began to show anger.
"Young lady, the last time I visited them, the science labs at Saint Virginia appeared entirely up to snuff, and I know something about the subject. I don't know why you want to switch schools, but it has nothing to do with science labs. You're lying to me, Allison, and I don't take kindly to being lied to." She went pale.
I made a show of restraining my mounting anger. "I'll offer you a choice. I can punish you for your lying, after which we can start this discussion over again, without prejudice, but with no promises on my decision one way or the other. Or, you can avoid the punishment, but go to Saint Virginia again next year, no appeals. What is your decision?"