After my Mature short story "Princess" appeared, a young lady suggested I might write one about an uncle/niece affair based partially on her personal experience. We discussed several story options and I finally came up with this version. Thank you, Jennifer. The situation Molly and James find themselves in is, unfortunately, very similar to my own personal circumstance. All else is fiction (darn it).
*****
Jennifer hated conflict. She supposed that was why she was always so accommodating. If someone asked her to do something for them she was very likely to say yes just to avoid an argument or hard feelings. Also, she genuinely liked most people. She was one of those that would inconvenience herself to help another even if there was no risk of anger.
But a fight, with screaming and cursing and shouted insults was nearly intolerable. She could never treat anyone like that, and she couldn't understand how others could. If she got into a fight like that she'd be shaking for hours afterward and unable to get it out of her mind for days...or nights. She might lie awake for hours every night, going over the conflict in her mind, replaying her words and those of her adversary, until she fell into a stressed and unrestful sleep. The next night would be the same, and the one after that; it might be ten days or more before she managed to leave it behind. She supposed she was a wimp, but doubted she could change.
When two requests were mutually exclusive, there was going to be conflict. She knew that sometime in the next three weeks there would be an argument if she was lucky; a high-volume exchange of cursing and name-calling if she was not.
Her mother had practically begged her to spend up to three weeks to help her uncle and aunt. They grew green beans commercially for a cannery twenty miles away. The beans were ready to pick starting early in August. For those two-plus weeks or so her Uncle Jim would need to be out in the fields supervising the migrant workers. He'd spend at least fourteen hours a day there unless it rained. If it rained hard the trucks couldn't get into the fields because of the mud. Then work stopped for a day or two.
Jen's Aunt Molly had serious medical problems and couldn't be left alone all day. Jen really liked her Aunt Molly...and her Uncle Jim, too, she supposed. But sometimes he went out of his way to act like a perv. And her aunt always laughed it off and explained that dirty old men behaved like dirty old men.
Jen had learned to treat his exaggerated advances with good-natured deflection. It was a game they played and they both understood the rules. At least, she hoped he did. Jim was still a good-looking man. He was rangy, with big hands and big forearms and a trim waist. There was very little gray in his hair, but sun and wind had furrowed his forehead and cheeks. She had no particular attraction for older men, but if he wasn't her uncle she might respond favorably to his attentions.
Her aunt and uncle were not the reason for her anticipated unhappiness.
That would be her boyfriend, Ben.
Ben was gorgeous. He had been captain of the track team and the best pole vaulter in the state. Jen was one of the best swimmers on her high school team, but didn't go out for swimming in college.
When they were having sex he often insisted she get on top because, he said, she was the best pole vaulter in the state. Then he'd confirm it by blowing his load in two minutes.
If they did it with him on top, he blew his load in three minutes. Doggy style? About the same. Jen hadn't enjoyed an orgasm with Ben yet. She—he—was zero for sixteen and she'd about given up. Maybe it was time to move on to someone who thought less of himself and more of his girl. He'd chosen to go to the state college there in town, as she had.
She suspected he just wanted an automatic fuck that he wouldn't have to work for. But the thought of breaking up with him, the shouting and anger and cursing, filled her with dread. She cursed herself and her weakness, but doubted she had the courage to break it off even though he had not demonstrated any sincere affection for over a month. The kisses were just ritual to get out of the way before sex.
He would be pissed. He had wanted her to go on a three-day camp-out with him and four of his buddies and their girls. There would be drinking and smoking weed, nude sun bathing, nude swimming, and, of course, fucking. And she would not go. Her obligation was here, with her aunt and uncle.
When she knocked on the front door it was opened immediately by her uncle. He welcomed her in and took her suitcase. Jen's Aunt Molly struggled up off the couch and shuffled forward to give Jen a big hug and kiss on the cheek.
"Jen, I'm so glad to see you! Thank you so much for coming! I know it's quite a sacrifice for you to give up your late summer plans to spend three weeks with a sick old lady and her horny old goat husband."
They separated from the hug and before Jen could respond Jim gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. And then one on the lips. It was not an "uncle-ish" kiss.
Jen pushed him away firmly, laughing. "Uncle Jim, you pervert! I'm your niece!" But she had also noticed, brief as it was, that his kiss felt nice.
He grinned, unashamed, and gave her an exaggerated leer. "Only by marriage, Beautiful."
Then he approached again, slowly, and gave her an affectionate hug around the shoulders.
"Sincerely, Jen, thank you for comin'. I'm sorry we had to ask. I just can't be in two places at once and Molly needs extra attention right now.
"We're hopin' the damn doctors got it right this time."
"Don't apologize! I'm glad I can help you and do Mom a favor too. Plus, well, there was a camp-out I didn't really want to go to, but my boyfriend decided for me that I did. Now I've got a good reason to not go."
She did not mention that she knew Ben would be pissed and they'd end up fighting and cussing each other and screaming. She hated the thought of it. It would tear her guts out. Not the break-up, the fight.
But she'd also decided that in the long run she had to stand up for herself. She was not Ben's automatic fuck date and it was time he knew it. Especially since he was a lousy lay.
Her aunt slept in a hospital bed in the only downstairs bedroom. Uncle Jim slept upstairs and so would she. There were three bedrooms and a full bath upstairs.
When he took her up she was surprised to see his bedroom hadn't changed since she was here years before, when her aunt had slept there too. But Aunt Molly couldn't handle the stairs anymore, and the downstairs bedroom was too small to accommodate a bigger bed.
Her aunt and uncle had been sleeping apart for over a year.
But except for the stairs, Molly had been able to handle the cooking and dishwashing and be alone for a lot of the day. Not now.
Jen had some misgivings about being upstairs at night with her uncle. The bathroom door had a lock, but the bedroom doors did not.
Her uncle addressed her unvoiced concerns when he showed her her room and put her suitcase on the bed.
"Jennifer, I really am a dirty old man, or, as Molly says, a horny old goat. But I'm also her husband, which means her welfare is the most important thing in my life.
"If I bothered you up here you might leave while we still need you. So don't worry about it.
"If you really want to feel safe, I can install a bolt lock on the door."
She hesitated then gave him an affectionate hug and kiss on the cheek. He did not try for one on the lips.
"Thank you, Uncle Jim. That won't be necessary. I'll make sure I don't provoke your old goat horniness."
"I must warn you, though. I don't sleep in any clothes at all. So if you happen to be up at the wrong time to visit the bathroom you might see me walkin' around in my altogether."
Then he gave her another lecherous grin. "Of course, that might just be the opportunity you want!"
"Or not," she responded tartly, with a smirk.
He grinned and then left her to get settled. By the time she was and went downstairs it was time for lunch. Jennifer helped her uncle prepare sandwiches and learned her way around the kitchen. Jim would be gone early in the morning and Jen would have to fix breakfast. That evening Jim insisted on fixing dinner, but allowed Jen to help.
While they were both in the pantry Jim hugged her around the waist from behind and kissed the side of her neck through her hair.
She shrugged him away and turned on him. She hissed, "I thought you weren't going to do anything like that!"
He grinned, unashamed. "Upstairs. Down here, though, I might give in to my natural base instincts once in a while."
"Aunt Mol!" Jen hollered, "The perv is molesting me!"
Her aunt called back, "Jim! Behave yourself! If you're going to seduce our guest, at least take her out for dinner and drinks first!"
"Aunt Mol!" Jen hurried out to the living room where her aunt sat, watching t.v. and grinning at the joke.
"Jen, just ignore him. Or whop him upside the ear. He gets very little entertainment lately, and now he can tease you."
Then she got serious. "Do you truly dislike his little attentions? If it seriously makes you uncomfortable, I'll tell him to stop."
Jen thought about it. Did she really mind? His kiss on the lips earlier had felt nice, and this encounter had too. She realized with a bit of a shock that those two moments of contact demonstrated more real male affection than anything she'd received from Ben in at least a year. Even the fucking didn't have much affection.
She shrugged and smiled. "I guess not too much. And since it's okay with you, a whack on the ear might just straighten him out."
She turned toward the kitchen and saw her uncle standing there, grinning. She poked her tongue at him along with an expression of superiority as she passed him on the way.
Later, as she did the dishes, she sensed him come in and open the refrigerator behind her. Her stomach tightened, wondering if he would give her another hug around the waist, or some other gesture of affection.
She could barely believe it when he did not and she felt a pang of disappointment.
Over the next few days the three settled into a routine. Jen was surprised to find that her aunt and uncle each had a cell phone. Just ancient flip-tops, but they allowed the two to text and talk during the day. Jim was always up early, fixed himself breakfast, and was gone by the time the ladies were up and about.
Jennifer helped her aunt out of bed when she needed it and helped her get her socks and shoes on and helped her in the bathroom. Then she'd make sure her aunt was comfortable on the sofa while she fixed breakfast.
The two ladies took the opportunity of the quiet days together to get to know each other better. Molly didn't watch a lot of television, but the radio or the CD player was almost always on, providing a backdrop of the same classic rock Jen's parents listened to throughout the day. Most of her friends—Ben particularly—disrespected that music, but Jen grew up hearing it and she liked it.
During her stay she found out a lot about her mother—and her aunt and uncle—that she had never suspected.
"Jen, your Uncle Jim was almost your father."
"Huh? How?"
