@2

I turned, trying to hide the bulge in my pants, and entered the bathroom. As I closed the door, I scanned the bathroom. There was a scattering of discarded clothes all over the floor and a phone plugged into the outlet for charging. I didn't recognize it so figured Rachel left it there when she showered.I went to the shower and turned the water on to get it nice and hot. While the water was warming up, I started gathering the clothes and putting them in piles. Then my hand came across a discarded bra and under that was a pair of matching panties. They weren't anything I would consider sexy. It didn't dawn on me until I looked at the tag that I wasn't holding my wife's underwear, but my daughter's. The inside tag said "34C". I dropped the pair and the panties at my feet. Shit. Of course they weren't Alice's. She only had a bathrobe on. Rachel's going to know I was holding her intimates. Fuck. Where did I pick them up from? I tried to drop them close to where I thought they were and hoped she wouldn't notice.

By this point, the water was beginning to steam up the bathroom. I quickly undressed and dropped my clothes on top of my pile of clothes from last night. I stepped into the shower and just let the hot water wash over me. I started to lather up my dick. It hadn't fully subsided and the suds were really starting to feel good. But the thoughts in my head were of Rachel. I wondered if she shaved. Or if she left a landing strip, like Alice. Having that short, young woman in my arms. Dreaming of her pressing her back into my chest as I fondled her breasts. I was startled out of my fantasy with the opening of the door.

"Sorry, hun. Needed to use the bathroom."

"No problem. Just scared me."

She peeked in the shower. "So what an interesting development," she smiled noticing my hard on. She glanced back at the door and came to a quick decision. She looked up at me saying, "As long as you don't get my hair wet, I think we need to take care of this big guy here." She had started to rub my wet dick with her delicate hands.

She backed up and let the bathrobe she had on fall to the floor and then entered the shower from the opposite end of the shower head. She backed up to the wall, splayed her arms to the side, and spread her legs for me. I couldn't resist. I stepped up to her and again I was inside my wife. I am not sure what got into me recently, but we never get this worked up. Nor am I one that can usually go this quickly after sex. Don't judge me. It's one of the downsides of getting older. But right now, I felt like I was feeling like I was in my twenties again.

"Gotta hurry, babe. Not sure how long I can 'pretend' to be peeing."

"No worries. It won't take long." Her leg wrapped around mine as I just rammed into her. Her arms were wrapped around me urging me towards my orgasm. I was fucking my wife, but the idea of my daughter taking my cock caused me to erupt quickly. I tried my hardest to wipe the thought out of my head, but nothing worked. Fuck. What is wrong with me. It has to be the vicinity and all the shit Alice and I've been doing. It's fucking with my head. It'll go back to normal once we get home. Surely.

Once I finished, my wife kneeled down and took me in her mouth cleaning my cock of our combined juices. She then got up and started cleaning out my spend from her pussy, kissed me on the cheek and then flushed the toilet when she stepped out of the tub. Slipping on the robe again, she got to the door, turned to me and gave me a finger wave as she slipped out of the bathroom.

I quickly finished the shower. Avoiding the discarded panties and bra, I dried off and put on the boxers I wore to bed and the pants and undershirt from yesterday's reception we went to. I'd get a different shirt, though, from my bag. I wiped the mirror down and brushed my teeth. I rubbed my jaw and thought about shaving, but decided I could let it go for a day and exited the bathroom.

Immediately, Rachel asked if I had seen her phone. "Yeah. It's charging in the bathroom."

"Oh. That's right. Sometimes I feel like I'd forget my head sometimes."

"I know the feeling. You ready to go or do you need to change?"

Rachel looked down at herself. "I didn't really think of bringing clothes to meet a lawyer with me. Do you think...well, it doesn't matter, right? We're meeting him at my house. I can just change there, I think."

"Yeah. That should be fine. I just need a shirt."

"Oh, we're leaving right now? Okay. I won't take too long." She dropped that robe she loved so much leaving Rachel and I gobsmacked. She didn't even glance our way as she bent down rummaging around for her clothes for the day.

Rachel gasped and in a reverent whisper, "Wow."

I was less tactful. "ALICE! What. The. Fuck?"

She had grabbed her clothes and stood up by this point and turned to us. "What? Rachel's seen naked women, right?" She looked over at Rachel who just meekly nodded her head, but her eyes never left my wife's nude body. "And you've seen me like this plenty of times." She looked at me, daring me to make her stop doing whatever it was she was doing. "So, Rachel, is this making you uncomfortable?"

Rachel silently shook her head. "It's," she croaked and cleared her throat, "it's fine. This is your, um, room, I guess. You should be free to, um, use it as you want." She finally lowered her head to avert her eyes.

I merely raised my hands up in defeat. My wife strode, naked, to Rachel. She took her chin to force Rachel to look into her eyes. "I want you to be comfortable with us, okay? If we do anything, anywhere—whether it is here, your house, our house—anywhere that makes you uncomfortable, I want you to promise me you speak up okay?"

Rachel just nodded her head. "And that goes towards anyone. Not just us too."

"You want me to report to you when, um, anyone makes me uncomfortable?"

"No, no. Sorry that came out wrong. You should feel free to tell people that they are making you uncomfortable." She leaned in and gave Rachel a kiss. It looked like she was aiming for the cheek, but she somehow missed and got the edge of her mouth instead. To anyone else, it looked innocent enough. I mean Rachel could have moved her head slightly to make the aim go off course. But with everything that's been going on recently, I wasn't entirely sure my wife was being innocent. Not one bit. I was going to need to find out what Alice was playing at, but something had to be done.

We made it to the house well before the lawyer was to show up. Rachel led us around giving us a tour. I could tell it was hard for her to be in here. She would often stop and look around as if she were seeing her memories play out in front of her eyes. Her hands ran along the walls, pictures and surfaces. My wife sidled up to her and just placed a hand on her shoulder in comfort. After the tour, we sat in silence in the living room for a bit. I would catch myself watching Rachel, but she was off in her own thoughts.

Alice nudged me gently, "Can I talk to you? Privately. Perhaps in the kitchen," she whispered. I merely nodded my head.

Getting off the sofa, I said, "Can I get you a water or something Rachel?" She looked up at us startled, almost like she forgot we were even there.

She opened her mouth to speak, but decided to just nod her head instead. My wife and I exited the room giving her some space. Once we got to the kitchen, I began getting glasses filled with water since that was the pretense of why we came in here.

"We should see if Rachel wants to come down with us," my wife abruptly stated.

"What? Really? Why...I mean, would she even want to? She barely even knows us," I stammered.

"Do you see her?" She stuck her head around the corner motioning me to do the same. "She is completely distraught and can barely function here." She turned back fully into the kitchen. "Look, she may not accept. She may think it'd be more awkward with us than here. I just think we, or rather you as her father, should be the one to offer. And, before you start, I know she doesn't want to acknowledge you as her father, but you did offer her any help she needed. She may not, nor I to be honest, know what if any limitations are on the aid you are willing to provide. But she damned well needs to get out of this place for a time."

I knew I had sprung helping Rachel on my wife. I wasn't exactly sure what I was comfortable, either. But I did offer. And I really ached for that girl sitting alone in the living room right now. All the times I could have been with her, should have been. If only I had been a better man. I, again, just nodded. I grabbed two glasses of water and went back to the living room.

I offered one glass to Rachel, who gratefully accepted it. I sat down on the sofa end nearest the love seat Rachel lounged in. "Rachel," I got her attention off whatever thought was swimming around for a brief time, "Alice and I were just talking," I glanced at my wife who nodded, "and we were curious if you'd like to come down to Indy with us." Her eyes got huge in surprise at this invitation, seemingly out of the blue. I carried on, "You don't have to accept, of course. I just didn't think you would have asked, either. This way you know, if you wanted to get away for a little while, you'd have a place to stay."

"You two, you wouldn't mind?" We both shook our heads negatively. "For how long?"

I glanced at my wife and she shrugged and just pointed at me. I turned my head and replied, "However long you'd like. In fact, if you liked it, you could stay and go to college there if you'd want. I mean, seriously, we have more space than we really need for just the two of us. I'm sure we can make room for you. There'd be a lot of work to do, but..." I was interrupted by a knock at the door.

Rachel smiled and got up to check the door. She opened it and I heard some mumbling voices. When she returned, a man about my age in suit and tie with a briefcase followed her and a second man considerably younger, also in suit and tie but sans briefcase. He put his briefcase down on the coffee table and grabbed a chair, one that my wife or I had used at the reception, and carried it over to where we sat. He looked at us determining why we were present.

Rachel addressed him, "Mr. Jackson. You're here to go over my mother's will, right?"

He turned his body to face Rachel, "Yes, Miss Wilcock. I have it right here, but do you want your guests to be present?"

"It's alright. They're, um, friends and just here for emotional support, really." She gave a wan smile.

"Ah. Very well." He opened the briefcase and came out with a rather thick file folder. He began flipping through them before getting to the page he required. "So, unsurprisingly, your mother left you with all of her possessions. While rather modest, still there is quite some hefty assets. Let's see. So there is her banking accounts, which I have all of their numbers. A vehicle..."

"We already sold that, before she die...er, passed. She felt that since she couldn't drive any more and I had my own car already, we could use the money from the sell."

"Ah, okay. Moving on. Her house, which she, about two years ago after she had paid her mortgage off, had the house appraised for about $215,000. And, finally, there is an account in your name for..."

"Wait. An account with my name on it? Why? When did she do that?"

"I don't know anything more than what I have on file really. But the amount is for a little more than $51,000. There is a letter here I am supposed to give you as well." He held it out to Rachel who reached out with a shaky hand.

She pulled her hand back to rub at it. "Would you read it, please?"

"Of course." He pulled it from the envelope. The flap had been folded inside the slit rather than sealed. He unfolded the piece of paper and began to read:

"My dearest Rachel, I know my time with you has drawn to a close. I am so sorry that I won't be there to see you grow up into the woman I know you will become. I am so grateful, though, to have had the time I did have with you. You are the best thing in my life. My brightest light in this ever-darkening world. There is so much I wish I could have shared with you. So much I know you wished to have known. I thought I'd have had more time to get over my own insecurities to share them with you. So I hope you find comfort in what I am going to say. While I am going to condense the story because I still can't come to terms to deal with it all, I hope you gain a little clarity into my past and why I did the things I did.

"I had a husband before. His name is Mark. He is your father. I left him while I was pregnant with you. I feared for my safety as well as yours. I had had many physical altercations with him. Twice before, had had miscarriages. I never told him about those pregnancies. One night, he came home. He had lost our rent money gambling. He got angry with me and knocked me to the ground. He eventually left our house and went out. To where, I don't know. Maybe a bar to get drunk. I quickly packed a bag of anything I could think of, got into my car and drove away. I never talked to him nor saw him again. He tried to contact me years later. Tried to explain he had gotten help and was sober. But I wanted nothing to do with him. I didn't want to give him any absolution for what he did to me.

"I am often asking myself if I should have, though. You often asked why you had no father. And I continually refused to answer you. In hindsight, my hatred for him may have diminished the joy in my life. One thing I don't regret, though, he sent me checks on a monthly basis. I guess about 12 years ago. Maybe a little longer. He indicated on the first check that he wanted to be able to provide financial support for you regardless that I never sought out child support from the judicial system. I never used any of that money. In fact, I was highly tempted to rip them in shreds, but I didn't do that either. Instead, I deposited each check, in their entirety, into an account I opened up specifically for you. I suppose I could have provided a better life, worked less and been there for you more, had I just let go of my bitterness. I am content, however since I can't change time, that I can pass this money on to you to help you through the remainder of your life.

"I want you to know. Without a doubt. You were and always will be my shining star. Whenever life looked its bleakest, you were what got me through my darkest days. Even now with cancer slowly killing me, I can get through it because you are with me. I always thought Mark killed off my ability to find love. But he didn't. He gave me the truest love of my life. You. So while I may not be with you, I will always be with you.

"With all of my love, Mom."

The lawyer carefully folded the letter back up and slid it into the envelope and placed it on the coffee table. Rachel looked on tears streaming down her face. She leant forward and took the envelope and clutched it to her chest. I did a quick calculation in my head during the reading. Between my savings for Rachel, her mom's savings for her and the house she just got somewhere in the ballpark of $300,000, depending on the retail market and any assets Olivia had in her other accounts, life insurance and things like jewelry.

The lawyer sat there letting Rachel compose herself before he started rattling off more figures. Medical bills still pending payment, credit card bills, how much life insurance would be left after funeral costs and the bills. Once he had thoroughly gone over every last bit of information, had Rachel sign and initial with the young man verifying everything as well as the lawyer.

After everything was finished, he stood up, "I am terribly sorry for your loss, Miss Wilcock. If there is anything we can do or questions we can answer, please do not hesitate to call." He handed her a business card.

There was an awkward pause as Rachel just stood there looking at his business card and the lawyer looking like he wanted to get out of the house, but didn't want to seem rude by showing himself out. So I stood and extended a hand. "Let me show you to the door, Mr. Jackson, was it?"

He accepted my hand with a relieved look on his face, "Yes. Thank you. I didn't catch your name."

"Mark. Mark Andrews," I said shaking his hand.

His eyes widened. Not enough to be noticed by everyone, but I could tell this was definitely a shock to him. "The...," he didn't finish the statement. I just gave a single dip of my head in acknowledgment to the unspoken question.

Once I shut the door behind the lawyer and his aide, I headed back to the two women. I saw my wife cradling Rachel in the love seat. Alice whispering into Rachel's ear slowly rocking back and forth. At this moment, I really wish that Alice could have been a mom. It was not a sentiment I ever had. I hadn't known her before the accident, but she had expressed to me while we were dating the impact of that news she got as a teenager. It never occurred to me how deeply she felt the loss of being childless. She never once asked, and maybe I should have asked her, about the possibility of adoption. But seeing her with my daughter, I knew she would have been an incredible mother.

I just stood there watching. Rachel looked up and saw me. She untangled herself from my wife and sprinted to me to give me a huge hug. We stood there quietly. I began to stroke her back. She finally looked up at me. "I never got a chance to answer you." I looked down at her puzzled. "About coming to stay with you and Alice." Recognition dawned on my face. "I think I'd like that. If it really is okay. I don't want to be a burden. The moment I am..."

I placed a finger on her lips, shushing her. "You will never be a burden." My wife had gotten off her seat and come behind Rachel as she embraced her from the back. We stood together in a group hug. A Rachel sandwich. I pulled away from them both. "We are here until Saturday. That gives us a couple days. Is there anything you would like to do here until then?"

She looked around the house. "I mean everything seems so...impossible right now."

Alice, still standing beside her with her hand still on her back, said, "Not impossible. Once it gets started, it'll become less and less huge. Why don't we start with one thing. If you are going to stay with us, indefinitely, you definitely need clothes. Perhaps a laptop or tablet or something. So if we just start taking things from your room and packing them up, first, then we can see about other rooms. Okay?"

Rachel just nodded as my wife led her to her bedroom. We worked all through the day packing up her room and bathroom. We went through other rooms packing up anything Rachel decided she couldn't part with like photo albums, her mom's jewelry, hand-me-downs that had survived generations. We ate lunch from whatever had been brought by well-wishers from the reception. Some dishes had names and numbers attached so we made sure to clean and wash those dishes so we could get them back to their respective owners. Any boxed or canned goods we packaged up to donate to a food bank.

It was a hard day's work. We were all exhausted when we got back to the hotel. I was in bed falling asleep when I felt my wife slide under the covers. I slipped my arm around her and pulled her in tight to me. It was then that I realized she was again naked, but I didn't care as I was soon fast asleep.

Friday was much the same. Rachel would start a section and dictate what was important to her and my wife and I would pack it up making sure to label the box to the best of our abilities. Rachel would then go off and sort out other things until we had too much for the two of us to handle, then Rachel would settle in and help with the packing. We, again, ate something from the leftovers for lunch. Then it was back to packing.

We decided to stop a bit earlier than yesterday as we had made some serious progress. I suggested we go out to eat to a Chili's or Applebee's. So we cleaned ourselves up at the hotel and got into something a bit nicer than dirty jeans and t-shirts. Alice and I hadn't packed many clothes so had opted to wear the same jeans and tees from Thursday's pack-fest since we weren't going to be out in public anyway.When we got to Applebee's, there was a bit of a wait being Friday. We thought about heading to another restaurant, but opted not to since we thought they would all be like this since it was Friday. The hostess suggested we wait in the bar, but I quickly nixed that idea. Sure, I could probably handle myself sitting in a bar section, especially with my wife there next to me. But I have been sober long enough to have worked out how to avoid temptation and one of those is to avoid bars. Even in restaurants.

A little over half an hour passed before we were seated. Which for us was fine. We began playing the game My N.A.M.E. In which we use the letters of our name as an acronym, to describe something about ourselves. We went in order based on the length of our names starting with the shortest to the longest. So I went first, followed by Alice and then ending with Rachel.

For those not familiar with the game, using my name Mark, I was going to use married for M, but the two women shot that down. So I had to think of another M word to use. So I went with multiplayer since I loved to relax with some multiplayer shooter games. A I used autumn since it was my favorite season. Railroad was my word for R. I had always wanted to travel by train, but it just took so long to get anywhere. I had a hard time with K, but went with katana. I've always loved swords and always wanted some to display. (I think Alice was shocked to know about those last two, which I admit I kinda liked being able to surprise her still.)

Alice's acronym was architect (for her career), log cabin (she loves staying in the mountains in the winter), Iowa State (her alma mater), coffee (her favorite drink), and equestrian (she used to ride horses). She really hadn't surprised me much about her answers, but this was meant more for Rachel to get to know us and us her. I was really eager to learn more about Rachel. Her words were Rome (she really wanted to visit), Australia (same thing). My wife and I told her she couldn't just name places she wanted to visit, but we allowed her to keep Rome and Australia. So she had to use a little more time to think of other words to describe her self. When she finished thinking, she used cooking (something she loves to do), Harry Potter (her favorite series both book and movie), elf (she loved fantasy novels with elves and dwarves and magic) and Lake Michigan (her favorite vacations had been on Lake Michigan).

We sat around and just chatted after the game while we waited for our table. The hostess called for us soon after. While we were eating, "I've been thinking these last couple days about what you said," Rachel directed at me, which confused me, "about what my mother would want me to do. About the house and whether to keep it or not. Then I think about the letter she wrote to me about all she wanted was for me to be happy. I think, I think I want to sell it. I mean part of me does. The part that tells me that I probably won't be coming back here. I mean I have no family...sorry, I didn't mean..."

"It's fine," I told her.

"Really? That sounded mean," she queried.

"Honestly, I understand. Promise," I assured her.

"Okay. And my friends are off at college living their lives. These last months I've felt isolated and so alone. I just don't see anything drawing me back. At least in the near future. I also don't want to keep a house I have no intention of maintaining because who knows when, or if, I would come back and what shape it'd be in if I did. But the other part of me, doesn't want to let a piece of my mother go, either."

My wife reached her hand out and grasped Rachel's hand. "Sweetie, your mom isn't in the house. She's wherever you are. Sure, the house will elicit memories of her more easily, perhaps. But those memories will come to you at any point. Hell, I had a memory of my mom one day as I was straining noodles a couple months ago and my parents died almost twenty years ago. Letting go of items is always difficult when there is meaning in those items. But this isn't a ring or bracelet or even a stuffed animal your first boyfriend won you at the fair. This is a house, which has a lot of responsibilities attached to it. If you are truly thinking you aren't wanting to live here, then it would be best to sell it."

"I'd have to agree with Alice here. I mean, you could put it up for rent, but that, too, has a lot of responsibility. Look, the note did say she wanted you happy. If you sold the house and saved the funds, by the time you wanted to move into a new house, you'd have plenty of money to afford just about anything you'd want."

"Thanks. This was a huge help. You've both been incredible to me. I don't know what I would have done without you two. I'll think things over some more. If that's alright." We both nodded and all of us finished dinner.

When Alice and I woke up the next morning, we found fresh, hot coffee waiting for us and an exuberant Rachel smiling at us. My wife, naked as she had been this entire week in bed, got up and donned a bathrobe and picked up her coffee. She walked to Rachel and gave her a kiss on the top of her head before sipping her brew.

I turned to the side and put my feet on the ground, "Thanks, Rachel, but you didn't need to do this for us."

"I know. I wanted to. I mean it was free and I was awake so it wasn't anything special."

My wife had come back from the bathroom, coffee cup still in hand, and sat next to Rachel, "Nonsense! Any act of kindness is special. How did you know exactly how I liked my coffee?"

"Well, I watched Mark making yours when he went downstairs." She blushed profusely, "I also got you a second cup. Just like Mark does." She shyly pointed to the table where, in fact, another cup of coffee sat.

My wife fiercely hugged Rachel and looked at me, "Can we keep her, please? I want to keep her, Mark."

I heard giggling muffled by my wife's body before I saw Rachel able to pop her face back into view and batted her eyes at me.

"This is not fair. I will not tolerate this. You two can not gang up on me like this. I refuse..."

My wife stood up and pulled Rachel with her. She gently pushed Rachel to sit on one side of me and she took a seat on the other. With one hand, the one not holding her coffee, she placed it on my chest. She put her head on my shoulder and looked at me with these puppy dog eyes. Alice saw her and mimicked he posture.

"Please, hubby-wubby, let me keep her," my wife pleaded.

"Please, Marky-warky," Rachel tried. She made a face. "Yeah. Sorry that seems weird. Sorry," as she stood up and retreated to her bed.

My wife just laughed and reiterated, "Marky-warky."

"Okay. You've had your fun. One of us should shower if we are to get the day started, though."

"Fine, Marky-warky. I'll go get ready." Alice leaned in for a kiss and sashayed into the bathroom.

"So, um, Mark. What would we need to do to put the house up for sale?"

"So you decided then?"

She nodded her head. "I was tossing and turning all night until I finally decided to sell it. It was like...the massive weight was lifted off me. I know there's a lot to do to sell. Have to remove everything out, but I just feel...freer, I guess."

"Well, you're right. We'd probably want to contact a realtor, since we won't be local to show the house. We'd, also, want to sell most of the items. Alice and I have a decent amount of space for three people, but not enough to store everything from a second house. If we didn't want to price, organize and be there for an estate sale, we could hire a company to do it. They'd charge us of course, but it would make things easier."

"That doesn't sound like something to be done in a day."

"No. Definitely not." I got out my laptop to start a search for estate sales companies and realtor listings. Most of the listings I found were closed on Saturdays for consultations. Probably busy with the respective sales and showings.

I heard my wife get out of the shower. Rachel asked if I was going to shower or if she could go first, which I told her I'd jump in after she was finished. I wanted to talk to my wife for a bit.

When the door closed, I told my wife, "Seems Rachel decided she wanted to sell the house."

"I figured she might. She seemed to be leaning in that direction."

"Yeah. Problem is while we got a lot done these last couple days, getting the house ready to sell will take longer."

"I was afraid of that. How much longer?"

"At least a week. Not saying everything would be finalized or even started by then, but in order to have a plan for it all. A week, minimum. If there are no snags."

"I can't miss another week of work. I was barely able to get this one off. At least this short notice. Can you?"

"I know you wouldn't be able to. I was looking at my schedule and I can manage. Tony and Alex can handle anything we have going on right now and I wasn't looking at any new projects until we had some of the ones I have going on were further along or nearing completion any way."

"So...that means what? We drive back to Indy and you head back up here Monday?"

I shrugged. "Unless there's another option. You have to get to Indy. I mean even taking a bus requires you to get back home some how. This would be the easiest solution."

"There could be another." We looked up to see Rachel having exited the bathroom, changed. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop, I swear, but um...I have a car. I was thinking I'd have to drive and follow you down, but this way someone can drive my car, whether it was me and Mark rode down in it or it was you, Alice, driving it down."

"Well, if that's the case, I think it'd be better if Alice drove Rachel's car since I need the truck to pull a trailer with Rachel's boxes." I looked at Alice if she was okay with this arrangement. She thought it over and nodded her agreement.

I smiled and kissed my wife on the cheek and made my way to get my shower. Before we left the hotel, I talked to the front clerk to see if we could extend the stay for an additional week. As they weren't busy this time of year, they were able to accommodate us.

The day was a relatively light day. We had most of the packing we needed to get done already. We busied ourselves with cleaning the house from top to bottom. Dusting, mopping and vacuuming. Since we planned on having an estate sale and to sell the house, we opted to keep the power on, but we got the water and gas turned off as well as internet and cable. We also forwarded all mail to our house.

My wife decided to leave that afternoon. She wanted a chance to wash the clothes and tidy up our house, since we hadn't done any cleaning for a week there. She could also use that time to catch up on any work she missed that she'd need to know for the upcoming week. We went into the garage to retrieve a remarkably nice Honda Accord hybrid. We really never even ventured into the garage all this time we spent at the house.

"This is your car?," Alice asked. Rachel just nodded. "This is really nice. Pretty expensive."

"Yeah. I told my mom it was too much, but she insisted I deserved a nice car for graduation. She had saved up money for me to go to college, but I had gotten scholarships and grants that paid for tuition. Since I lived at home, all I really needed was money for books. And there are websites I can get used text books for really cheap. So she decided to get me a car that would last for a long time and wouldn't use a lot of gas. Hence the hybrid."

"I'm surprised this wasn't in the assets the lawyer presented."

"Oh. Mom made sure, before all her medical bills started piling up, to make sure to pay off the car and to put it in my name. She didn't want my car to be repo'd because of her bills. It was also, about this time, she decided to sell off her car as well." Rachel handed Alice the car keys.

Alice and I got into my truck as Rachel followed us to the hotel. We got a quick lunch and Rachel, with her bags in the car, headed home. The following week was easy if not hectic. We had a lot to do, but it mostly consisted of phone calls and appointments and less about physical labor. But things went fairly quickly. It was lucky, in a way, that the time of year didn't have a whole lot going on.

We secured a company to handle the estate sales on Monday. By Wednesday, they met with us at the house to look everything over. The estate sale wouldn't happen for another month, but they wanted to see everything that needed to be appraised, evaluate the space and to estimate their costs and what they might be able to get out of it. It might sound callous, but they are a business and they had to make a profit. We were able to work out an agreement. Their commission was on the heavier side, but they were going to deal with any unsold items (we told them send it to Salvation Army or Goodwill, that we had everything we wanted already), advertisements, appraisals and pricing of items and, most importantly to me, run the sale. Sure we were going to lose out on some money, but I informed Rachel that with the sell of the house and the two savings accounts now in her name the sales in the house wouldn't be missed. She agreed.

By Tuesday, we hired a realtor to sell the house. On that same Wednesday, the realtor came in to inspect the house. The timing was impeccable. I was leading the realtor out of the house as the estate sales manager was coming in. So I introduced them, they knew and had worked conjointly before. So I informed them of Rachel's intentions so we were able to arrange, after the estate sale, to have the sales manager to pass the key off to the realtor. The realtor was also going to be informed when the estate sale was going to happen so as to encourage potential buyers to go in to view the house.

This was much quicker than I had anticipated so I made arrangements, after consulting with Rachel if she needed or wanted to do anything else in or with the house, to pick up a trailer to load up her boxes. We picked it up first thing Thursday and loaded it up before lunch and we were headed back down to Indy. I managed to reach Alice at lunch and tell her we were coming home sooner than we thought. I told her not to worry about dinner tonight; I'd be home to fix something. She seemed overjoyed. She told me not to go into the basement. She had a surprise for me.

Rachel and I made good time and were home well before my wife would be getting off work. I helped Rachel get her packed clothes and toiletries out of the back seat of the truck. There wasn't a lot of space at the moment where Rachel was going to be able to stay. Alice and I had arranged to have her stay on the sofa, temporarily. The best place for her clothes, however, would be in the second room we had converted over the pandemic to a home office.

Rachel wanted to freshen up after the drive. So I started rummaging through the food in the refrigerator and pantry to figure out what to eat. I saw we had some boneless chicken breasts, breading and noodles. So I opted to fix chicken parmesan. I preheated the oven and started boiling water for the linguine. Then started breading the chicken. I was preoccupied with the preparations when I felt a presence behind me sitting at the kitchen island. Since I hadn't heard the front door, I knew Rachel had finished in the bathroom.

She finally broke the silence, "Is there anything I can do to help out?"

"Well, once I get the noodles boiling and the chicken in the oven, I'll probably take a shower. So you can watch the noodles and maybe make a salad for us?"

"Sure. I could do that. So what's for dinner anyway?"

"Chicken parm. It was something simple and we had everything we needed so didn't have to go out to get anything."

"Sounds delicious."

It wasn't long after that exchange when I made my way out of the kitchen and let Rachel take over. I went and sorted my dirty clothes and put them in the hamper. I'd take care of those later. I took a nice long shower letting my muscles relax after driving all day.

I got out of the shower and changed into some sweatpants and tee. When I got to the kitchen, I saw my wife had changed into her lounging outfit and was helping Rachel as they were chatting. I slipped in undetected and wrapped my wife in my arms. She squealed when I snuck up behind her, but cooed when I kissed the base of her neck.

I looked over her shoulders to inspect how dinner was progressing and noticed the linguine had been removed from the boiling water and been set up in the sink in a colander draining excess water. Rachel had placed the Prego sauce in another pot that had the majority of the noodle water in the other side of the sink. We still had a few minutes before the chicken was done, though. I released my wife and started getting some water poured and took the glasses to the table, which I saw was already set.

When everything was done, we began eating and chatting about my wife's work, everything Rachel and I had been up to. I tried to get an idea about this surprise my wife had for me, but she wasn't telling me anything about it.

After dinner, I started gathering the dishes to take to rinse off and place in the dishwasher. Rachel got up and stopped me, "Let me get these." I tried to protest. "You and Alice have done so much already for me. I don't want you to feel like I am taking advantage of your goodwill."

"I don't think either Alice or I feel like you are," I looked over at Alice who just shook her head, "But I won't say no to any help around the house, either. Thanks."

"It's the least I can do," she said with a smile.

My wife stood from the table, "If you'd like, I'll tell you about that surprise I had for you." She led me to the bedroom. I was a bit apprehensive, but I followed her nonetheless. When we got to the bedroom, she guided me to the chest we had at the edge of the bed and had me sit down. She went to the door to pull it closed and came back shedding clothes.

"But first, let me show you how much I missed you."

"Alice, Rachel's right outside the door." She got to me and started taking my t-shirt off me.

"I know. What? Are we going to live like celibate monks while she stays here?," she asks. It was hard to disagree with her on that point. "She's going to have to learn that I love my husband." She had managed to take off my sweats and boxers. "And that he loves me. And because of that, we love showing how much we love each other."

She got on her knees and started sucking on my cock getting me instantly hard. I leaned back, resting my weight on my elbows I had placed on the bed, luxuriating in what my wife's moth was doing to me.

She stopped and pulled off my dick. Leaning over me, she engaged me to a passionate kiss while fondling my cock and balls. Pulling back, "And right now, I need to show you how much I missed you." She turned around facing away from me. "And need you to show me how much you love me." She grabbed my penis and guided me into her warm embrace as I entered her from behind.

She started rocking her hips. "God, Mark. I was going crazy without you. I kept...kept thinking about you. Wondering...what you could be doing...I used my vibe...mmmm...used my vibrator on me nightly. It felt so good...but not as...oh, fuck...not as good as the real thing."

I saw the door creak open. Turns out my wife hadn't latched the door, as it was slowly slowly swinging open. I thought I saw a shadow in the doorway, but my wife's moan of ecstasy snapped my attention back to what I was doing. My wife knew that in this position I wasn't going to orgasm quickly. So I let her use me for her pleasure, but I wasn't going to sit idly, either.

"So all you need...all you want...is some toy to please you? Or," I sat up and grabbed her arms and wrapped them behind her. If I had access to a scarf, tie, or that bathrobe belt, I would have tied her arms behind her. But I didn't and I wasn't going to stop what she was doing. "Or do you want me to take control? Really make you feel this."

"Take me. Show me what a man can do." I released her arms behind her, but before she could move them out of the way, I held my chest up against her back trapping her arms. I slipped one hand to my wife's mouth where I slowly inserted two fingers for her to suck on. When they were nice and wet, I ran them down my wife's body until I reached her clit and started rubbing her love button. "YESSS!"

I put two fingers from my other hand in her mouth, which she readily sucked as well. This time my wet fingers went to her nipple as I circled her areola. I lowered my mouth to the nape of her neck and kissed my way around to her clavicle, over her jaw and up to her ear. I growled in her ear, "No touching. I am going to be the only one going to make you cum. You understand?" She nodded her head. "No. Use your words. Tell me you understand. Or I will stop and we will go back out to the living room and watch some TV." There was no way I was going to be able to keep that threat, but I knew my wife wouldn't test me in her state.

"Yes...only you...only you can make me...make me...OH GOD! CUM! Fuck me...cumming. Goddammit. Cumming. On. Your. Fucking. COCK!" She was panting heavily, leaning fully into me. She had stopped her slow rocking as her orgasm took possession of her. She had no intention of taking control of her arms.

As her orgasm subsided, her head leaning back on my shoulder and her arms still trapped between us, "I need you to fuck me. Take your pleasure from me. Show me your love by cumming deep in me. Fuck me like the slut I am." I kissed her. My tongue taking possession of her mouth just like my cock was in her nether lips.

I lifted her off me and turned her so her head was on the mattress. Her hands, now unimpeded, were placed on the back edge of the chest as I entered her once again. I smacked her ass once I had half my length in her. She backed up into my crotch fully sheathing myself in her folds. She let a long moan as I bottomed out. I planted both hands on her waist and pounded into her cunt. I felt a slender hand reach between us as she fondled my balls and her clit as she coaxed me to my orgasm. After my wife had come back home, I had had no release. A young, nubile woman sleeping not even six feet away. Seeing her in sleepwear, even modest ones, thinking of her in the shower. Damn my wife for planting these thoughts increasingly into my head last week. I was going to take out my frustrations on my wife right now. And she was going to take it. I let out a loud groan as I emptied my balls.

As my deflating cock slipped out of my wife, I turned and sat back on the chest. Alice kneeled down in front of me and proceeded to suck my penis. I had my eyes closed as she was lovingly licked the combined juices off my dick. I thought I heard a noise coming from the cracked door, but when I looked I didn't see anything. Maybe Rachel had just come out of the bathroom.

Once we caught our breath, we quickly got our clothes back on. My wife looked over her shoulder at me, "So the surprise I had."

"Oh. You really had a surprise? I thought you just wanted in my pants."

She grinned brilliantly at me. "Oh. I did, but doesn't mean I was lying about the surprise, either." She turned around finally decent enough to leave the room, what with a new guest living with us. "It's in the office." So I followed her from our room across the hall to the converted office.

This room had been several different allocated intentions from a workout area to a gaming room so I didn't tie up our main TV for some shooters. During the pandemic, my wife needed a place to work from home—like many people, I suspect, did. So we turned it into an office for her. I still had access to the room since all I really needed was a corner for a TV, console and chair. But it made it real convenient for my wife, even after the pandemic. Her office realized how effective off-site work could be so about six days a month, sometimes more, or instead of taking sick days, she would work from home.

On the desk, was a piece of paper with a floor plan. It was professionally done, but was not printed as an actual blueprint. It didn't need to be since it was not a big project. Being a contractor, I quickly looked over the design specs laid out before me. My wife was pointing out things telling me her thoughts on the walls, why she made certain decisions, asking me my opinions.

"This is amazing. This is the basement, right?"

"Yes. Think Rachel'll like it?"

"I'm sure she will, but I think she might like just about anything, honestly. I'd say we could let her choose the colors she wants. Hopefully, steer her away from darker shades, perhaps, to help lighten up the basement since the windows are really just slits. I just wonder if we gave enough room for the bathroom downstairs, though."

"I thought about that, too, but I figured a shower, toilet and sink would be plenty. Do you think she'd prefer to have a tub? I just thought a bigger room would be better."

"Well, we could do both. We just move the walls further into the open area for...her living room, I take it?"

"Yeah. I thought it might be nice to have like a one-bedroom apartment downstairs for her. We couldn't add a full kitchen down there so she'd have to use the one up stairs, but a small fridge for some cold drinks and a place to watch TV without us, if she wanted some privacy."

"Makes sense. So if I were a teenage girl, knowing how much you love your baths, I'd probably go with a full tub and slightly smaller living room. Of course, we could also ask Rachel."

"Ask me what?," came a voice from outside the office.

"Oh," my wife jumped. "We, well I, was just showing Mark my plans for the basement. Would you like to see the plans? Since you will be living here."

"I'm sure it'll be fine. Whatever you want to do. It is your house and I am just happy to have a place to stay."

My wife pulled her into the room, "Nonsense! This is going to be your house too. We want you to feel comfortable here and feel like this isn't such much our house," she motioned between herself and me, "but OUR house." She circled the room with her finger between all three of us.

"Yeah, Rachel. We want you to know we want you here. For as long as you want to be here. In fact, I just suggested to Alice that you pick out the paint and carpet you would want downstairs."

"Really? You'll let me paint it any color?"

The "any color" frightened me a bit, but my wife and I had had many plans to convert the basement over the years. However, in the eight years we owned the place, we still haven't gotten around to doing anything with it except store things in it, like old work out equipment. So realistically, why would I really care what Rachel would want it to look like.

"Yep. Any color. Let's take this to the table. There's better lighting and more room so we don't just cram in over this desk."

I thought I heard Rachel mutter, "That could be nice." But when I asked her to repeat what she had said she just responded with, "Nothing. Nevermind." And walked out of the room. I looked at Alice who just shrugged and followed Rachel out. So I let it slide and grabbed the plans on my way behind the two women.

Alice would detail all of the rooms and her thoughts she had to Rachel who absorbed everything. She would even comment about where certain furniture could go. When asked about a shower or tub, she tried to let us decide. Alice wouldn't let her just pass this decision off saying this was her first executive decision of the house, or at least the basement. Alice said we weren't going to help her decide on that, nor the paint and carpets, nor the furniture. This was her living area, so thus her decision.

Rachel thought for a bit and decided she wanted a tub. Then asked if she could pick out the tiles for the bathroom as well. We were both okay with that, but I did suggest a white color. Not necessarily a bright white, but something neutral. And so the tiles should be complementary to that. She nodded her head in understanding. My wife gave me a stern look, but I insisted it was the only unsolicited input I would offer.

My wife ran back to the office and came back with a color chart to show Rachel. Rachel's eyes lit up as they talked about color samples. Rachel pointed out a shade of white to me and asked if that would be fine in the bathroom. I looked and saw it was actually a shade of blue, but it was such a light shade it almost looked white. I thought it would look amazing, and told her so. She was leaning towards a couple shades of yellow for her room and a brown shade for the rest of the basement.

"I have another surprise, honey," my wife blurted with excitement. "But you have to go to the basement to see it."

"Okay," I nervously replied. She had me, once I got to the door to the basement, close my eyes as I descended. When I reached the bottom, she grabbed my hand to lead me further into the basement. When she let me open them up, I was utterly shocked. The basement was completely cleaned out. Well not completely. The items we had stashed down here were all placed off to one side of the basement. Even the bathroom walls had been removed as had any ceiling panels. Not only that, but any dirt and dust from the removal had also been cleaned up.

Now I was a little annoyed with my wife. Sure, this was amazing and would make my life easier to get the basement renovated for Rachel, but my wife tends to jump head first into projects and can have the tendency to ignore her own needs. Doing all of this, plus working at her job and making the floor plans for the basement, wouldn't have left her much time for herself and I was afraid she may have gone too far.

I tried to measure my words carefully so as to not offend my wife, "When did you have time to do all this?"

"Do you like it?"

"I mean, yeah, it's great. I just...this was quite the ordeal you undertook, is all."

Realization showed on her face, "Oh. No this wasn't me. Let me explain. So I had dinner with Tony and Alex and their wives. When you had mentioned you needed another week off and they would be in charge, you also mentioned I was going to be coming home. So Trish, that's Tony's wife," she explained for Rachel, "and Becky, Alex's wife, invited me over for dinner one night. I mentioned we were having Rachel move into our house. I had already started designing the floor plan by then and told them about renovating the basement for a living area for her."

"Okay. But what about..."

"Getting there. So I was telling them all the plans I had, and you know how Tony and Alex are, they got invested in shop talk so I told them what we had in the basement and what needed to be done. So the next day, after work, they came over with some of the guys and just started in on the work. Becky, Trish, and I went through the stuff downstairs and sorted it out into piles of trash, donations and things to keep. It's all labeled. I figured when you return the trailer, you could drop off the donation stuff and take the trash to a dumpster."

"I can't believe the guys...no, actually that sounds just like them. I'll have to call them tonight to have them come over. I wanted them to come by tomorrow before work, any way, so I could see how everything was going in my absence. Now I'll also have to thank them for their help." I pulled my wife in and kissed her in appreciation. Now that I found out that my wife hadn't done it all on her own I could truly stand amazed at the work that was done.

We made our way up the stairs, my wife and Rachel headed to the couch. I heard Alice ask, "Have you watched House of the Dragon? What about Game of Thrones? Okay. Well, Mark and I..." That's all I heard as I went into the bedroom to retrieve my phone. I sent out a quick text, no need to call for a quick heads up, Tony and Alex that I'd like to see them first thing before work at my house. I got quick replies from each to confirm they would be there. I assured them nothing was wrong just wanted to touch base. No need to worry them for no reason. They were wonderful employees.

I made my way back to the women and saw Alice was on the left side of the couch with Rachel in the reclining chair. My wife saw me make my way over to them, "So Rachel hasn't seen any of House of the Dragons, so I didn't think we should finish the show. She'd be completely lost."

"It's fine really. I'm pretty tired any way and probably be going to bed."

"And where would you sleep, sweetie? We're sitting on your bed."

"Oh. Right, well, I mean I don't..."

"No. It's fine." She looked back up to me, "So I thought maybe we should just start from the beginning of Game of Thrones. I think it would make more sense than starting at House of the Dragons even though it actually takes place before."

"That sounds great." You learn, in marriage, there are times to just go with what your wife wants. "Do you want popcorn?"

"Yes. That sounds wonderful." My wife reached behind her to pull off the blanket from the back of the couch. I made myself to the kitchen and microwaved some popcorn and carried it back in a plastic bucket after drizzling some melted butter. Real butter, not that fake shit they have at the theaters.

I sat down in the middle of the couch, I preferred to be on either side with an armrest, but my wife insisted I sit next to her. So I sat down. She covered my lap with the blanket and I put the bucket in my lap. My wife looked over to Alice and motioned her over to the couch. Rachel tried to refuse, but my wife was very insistent. And at the mention of popcorn, Rachel relented.

Almost immediately, after the title credits started rolling, my wife had fished out my penis and was slowly stroking me to hardness. I put the bucket down between Rachel and myself, hopefully shielding her view of the rhythmic movement of the blanket suspiciously at my groin area by the popcorn. The hand movement was kept slow and imperceptible, until the sex scenes. And, as memory served, during the first few seasons the sex scenes were vast.

We were into the third episode when I nudged Alice to show her a sleeping Rachel on my shoulder. She smiled and turned off the TV. I quickly put my dick away and withdrew from Rachel's embrace. She stirred at my movement and stared, blatantly, at where my cock jutted out. I looked down and, in horror, quickly placed the now mostly empty bucket in front of my erection.

My wife leaned over her and kissed her on the cheek, again closer to her mouth than her cheek. "Sorry, we are keeping you up so late. You really must be tired."

"No. It's fine. We can finish..."

"Sweetie, it's fine. We'll just start the episode over tomorrow. Besides, I need to get my beauty rest."

"You really don't..." Her eyes bugged out when she realized what she was about to say.

But wife caught on and wasn't about to let her clam up, "I don't what?"

Rachel looked like she was trying to get the sofa to swallow her up. She had her head bowed down before she finished, "need any more...I mean, you are pretty enough as is. Or rather, oh God, I just mean..."

"Oh sweetie, you're too kind. Thanks." Again she kissed Rachel but this time actually on her lips. Just a quick peck and her lips were gone. But Rachel was in utter shock. "Good night, sweetie. Have a good night's sleep."

She turned and went off to bed. She turned her head over her shoulder at me, "Coming honey?"

"Umm, yeah. On my way." I forgot I still had the bucket.

"I don't think we need popcorn, Mark," she said in a sing-song voice.

"Oh, er, right. No, of course not."

My wife was in bed curled up facing away from the door when I entered. So I just got into bed, pulled the covers over us and wrapped her in my arms. My erection pressed between her delicious orbs. She sighed in pleasure. I tried to ask her what she was trying to do, but she would just say it was nothing, just harmless flirting and to go to sleep. Eventually, I did.

Friday morning came. I set about my usual routine. Wake up, go to the bathroom, fix coffee and scroll through my phone for headlines. Not much was going on that I followed, but there were some games that were on so I looked over the scores and standings. If you would have told me the Pacers were doing going to be doing better than the Colts at the beginning of summer, I'd have suspected you were on drugs.

I heard a groan from the living room before soft padding of feet headed my way. I looked up to see a disheveled young woman with bleary eyes. "Morning. I got coffee coming shortly." I looked over at the coffee maker, "Probably have time to wash your face real quick before Alice gets her shower."

She placed her head in her arms on top of the island top. "Or you can just sleep up here, if you prefer."

"How are you up so early?," I heard her mumble.

"Ah. This is normal for us." I sat down across from her. "I get up, get the coffee going, some mornings I'll fix some breakfast—usually it's just cereal or oatmeal, though—so Alice can get a shower. When she finishes, it's my turn to shower. I am typically out of the shower as she finishes getting ready so I get a kiss on the way out the door and I leave shortly after."

Her head had left the confines of her folded arms and looked at me as I was telling her our routine. "I suppose, until we get your living area completed, we might be a bit cramped up here with only one bathroom. So I guess it was a good thing to get the morning schedule ironed out already."

The alarm sounded on the coffee maker announcing we had coffee brewing. I had doubled the usual amount today as I knew Tony and Alex were coming by plus Rachel. I looked at the time again and started to pour out some cereal and threw a couple bagel slices into our bagel toaster. As I was preparing for my wife's entrance, Rachel got mugs out and started pouring coffee for the three of us. I was curious how she took hers. I knew she already had our preferences memorized, having been the one to get our coffees while at the hotel. Half creamer, half coffee and lots of sugar gotta remember to have lots of creamer at the house then.

My wife had impeccable timing. I swear my wife has a wi-fi connection to our coffee maker that lets her know when her coffee is ready. Or just superhero-esque olfactory senses, like the super-smelling version of Daredevil. As she entered the kitchen, she was greeted face first to a steaming mug of coffee. She stopped short of running right into Rachel, who had her arm raised offering up the mug.

"Wow. Um, thanks, Rachel." She took the coffee from Rachel and took a sip. She leaned down and gave her a quick peck on the lips. "Mmmm. Perfect." She sat at the island in front of her dry cereal and bagel. I poured some milk before schmearing the bagel for her. "I could seriously get used to this type of treatment. So who's on foot duty?" She lifted her feet and wiggled her toes. "I could really use a foot massage while I eat," she said mirthfully.

Rachel was about ready to climb under the island top and do as Alice had requested before my wife laughed heartily, "I'm glad you are so eager, but I was just kidding. I don't expect to be waited on hand and foot. Go on and get something to eat. I am sure Mark has tons of work planned to do and you'll want your energy."

She looked over at me as I was fixing my own cereal, adding some fresh berries to it, and bagel. "Speaking of plans, what are yours today, Mark?"

"Well, I don't have as much...," the doorbell chimed interrupting me. "One sec, that my be the guys." Sure enough Tony and Alex were both at the door. They lived close enough together that they often carpooled, unless I had them on separate projects. "Come in. Want some coffee?"

"Sure. We haven't stopped off to get our morning fix quite yet." There was a local deli that served some amazing sandwiches, pastries and coffee. On top of being better than Starbucks, was also much cheaper. So we frequented that establishment. Also, helps the owners were really nice. I led them into the kitchen and prepared them a couple to go cups of coffee to their liking. I noticed Rachel had scampered off and heard the shower running."I just want to thank the two of you for the work you did downstairs. It's not the entire reason why I had you come over today, but wanted to mention it meant a lot to me."

"Well, it wasn't just us. In fact, we had a number of guys try to get in to help," Tony said. Tony was the older of the two by about 6 or 7 years, being closer to my age than Alex. But when Alex had started out with us, Tony had been a mentor to him and there had always been a bond.

Alex chuckled, "You can say that. I think some were trying to trade favors to get to help you out, Boss."

"Really?" I looked over at Alice, "how much did you offer to pay these guys?" She just shook her head.

"Really, Mark? You really don't see it do you?" I gave Tony a blank stare, I truly had no idea what he was talking about. I knew the guys liked working for me. Sure I ran them ragged some days. Construction is tough work, but I treated them fairly and paid them well. Anything I asked them to do, they knew I would be right there working alongside them. I appreciated them and made sure they knew it.

Alex opined, "I am sure we have some guys that'd kill for ya, if need be. And I don't mean that figuratively, either. You or Mrs. Andrews." Well, on that matter, I wasn't surprised. I had started this business, but needed an influx of workers.

Tony and Alex worked with me at another construction company, but the owner was a real piece of work. So one night we were drinking, yes this was before I stopped drinking, and lambasting the owner. We were talking about how we would run the business. Well, Alex, being the young buck he was, still had dreams that hadn't been stamped down over time. He mentioned that I could run a better company than our boss ever could and if I ever did start one, he'd come with me. Tony agreed.

A few years later, and sober by this point, I'd had it. I guess the alcohol had helped lubricate my ability to put up with shit. I had been able to save money at this point and decided to start my own construction business. I told Alex and Tony over dinner one night, our significant others (Tony was married and Alex was in a steady relationship with his future wife, I hadn't met Alice, yet). And they quickly agreed to join me, but we needed workers.

Alex mentioned his brother was a parole officer and was always criticizing how the system fails parolees. Alex relayed that businesses don't often give ex-cons a fair shake to a legitimate career. Oftentimes, the pay or conditions or, hell, both suck. To the point where their options are to struggle to make ends meet legally, or to revert to their former lifestyle and hope they don't get caught again. So I had Alex call his brother to meet with me.

I talked with Alex's brother and made arrangements to contact some of his parolees. I discussed everything with Tony and Alex and they thought my plan was brilliant. I was going to name the business Second Chance Construction and we were going to work with parole officers and get parolees hired. We had other, non-ex-cons, working for us as well. But it was definitely a 40-60 split, sometimes in favor of the ex-cons. Many have been able to use the job to get hired at better rates, some went on to college, some have even stayed on to help integrate recent parolees into life outside. So, yes, there may be one or two that would shoot or know someone to call for that kind of service.

"Come on, Alex. I hang out with your wife. We have dinner all the time. You can call me Alice. We're friends, for Christsakes. And don't give me that 'respect your elders' bullshit, either!"

"Sorry. I meant that as what the guys call you. At work. But seriously, Mark. This job, what you've given 'em is more'n some of their parents ever had. Shit, most of society ever did. So the chance to show their appreciation, yeah, they're all scramblin' to give somethin' back."

"Man. I don't know what to say to that."

"Just say thanks when they show up to help finish this thing," Tony advised.

"Wait. Finish?"

"Yeah, Boss. Soon as these guys hear you're back, they're all gonna wonder when the renovation is goin' to happen."

"How'd they know in the first place?"

"Well, shit, Boss. We told 'em. Then the ones that helped with the demo and clean-up told 'em what Alice said about fixing it up into an apartment and well those guys gossip more'n a salon full of women. And I ain't gonna lie, but soon as I see 'em, I'ma tell 'em you're back already workin' in the basement already. How much you wanna bet, Tony, some'll try to skip outta work to come straight over here."

"Shit. Yeah. We gotta be smart, Alex. We need to just tell them Mark is just getting prep work done and the real work starts tomorrow, else we'd best just close for the day."

"Hey! I'm the boss here. Don't I have a say what's going on?"

"Sure. They may not listen to 'Don't worry I got this' this time, though. Sure enough one'll come by and offer his help. He'll text a couple say he's helping the Bossman and a couple more will come by. At least this way, you know they're coming and can plan for it."

I hadn't heard the shower turn off, nor the door open or close. I had been wrapping my head around this new information. I did notice Rachel approach and stop as she saw two strange men in the kitchen.

"Babe, I'd say you are outvoted here." My wife got up, having finished her breakfast. "I gotta get ready for work." She wrapped me up in a hug from behind and kissed me on my cheek. As she walked out of the kitchen, "Bye Tony. Bye Alex. Thanks again for the help this week."

She brushed by Rachel and leaned in to whisper something in her ear and walked on. Rachel came into view of Tony and Alex and meekly said, "Hi," as she walked past them to refill her mug and also a bagel.

"Hot da...howdy!," Alex stammered. Luckily, Rachel was turned away from the guys or she'd have seen Tony backhand Alex upside the head.

Rachel turned to face them, bagel in hand. Tony stuck out his hand, "I'm Tony. This idiot's Alex. You must be Rachel, right?"

She gingerly shook the proffered hand and nodded her head. "How'd you know?," she looked in my direction.

"Alice mentioned they were expecting a guest to stay over. From what I gather, not for a short time, either. Well, not based on her plans."

"Well, um, yeah. It's not, well I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet."

Alex spoke up, "Well, really, you'd really be...or rather, you'd do worse, um staying at Boss's would be cool. I mean, for you, not me."

Tony just rubbed his eyes, "Come on, Alex. We got work to get to and you need to see a foot doctor."

"What?"

"To have it removed from your mouth. Let's get."

"Hold up," I said. "I was hoping for an update on our projects. How's everything coming? Anything I should know about?"

Tony turned around, "Nah. We're on schedule. Maybe even a little ahead. Think the guys wanted to show you they could be dependable without you. Maybe convince you to take a vacation every once in a while. We got this, 'til you come back...Monday?"

"Yeah. Back on Monday."

"Okay. We'll probably see you after work. Maybe not, actually, gotta show the wives we still remember them before we spring it on them that we're going to be here this weekend working."

"Come on. You don't have..."

"We know, but we'd feel pretty bad if we didn't. Besides, the way I hear it, they are planning something with your wife. But you didn't hear it from me." And the two of them left with their coffees.

I sat at the table, the floor plans still there from the night before, with a pad of paper and my cellphone out for the calculator. I started a shopping list of the hardware I'd need to renovate the basement. I didn't notice the time until my wife rubbed my back.

During the renovations, I managed to fix dinner as usual. After dinner, the three of us would watch a couple episodes of Game of Thrones to relax and unwind for the day. Then, we would head to bed leaving Rachel the couch.

One night, I started cleaning up the table, but Rachel stopped me. "Let me. I need to start feeling useful around here."

"You don't have to. You've been plenty useful with the renovation downstairs and..."

"You and Alice always say it's my place now, too. Right?" I nodded my head. "It doesn't feel like it. Not when you and Alice do so much around the house, do things for me. Please, let me help around the house. You won't let me pay you rent, you do everything around the house. I can help out. I want—need—to help. Just to feel like I'm not mooching of you."

"You aren't mooching off us. You're our gue..."

"If you say guest, I swear! I can't be your guest AND have this be my home, too."

I looked over at my wife who had sat silently up to this point. She shrugged her shoulders, "Don't look at me. She has a point. Either she's a guest or she's a resident. Besides, it would be nice to have someone cleaning up around here. Would make things easier on us. Like a, a maid," Alice said with a smirk.

I didn't get another word in on this discussion. Seems, the females in this household were going to outnumber the males and I was either going to argue with them both or learn to just accept their decrees. Hopefully, it wasn't going to be this lopsided every time, but in the interim I just held my hands up in defeat and sat back down. Rachel began clearing the table and loading the dishwasher.

After that, Rachel began waking up before me and having coffee and breakfast ready. The house was almost always cleaned by the time I got home, thus giving me more free-time to work a bit more downstairs. In fact some days, Rachel would have dinner prepped with only needing to throw it in the oven. I had to admit it was nice having help around the house.

During the weekends, the guys would come by and help finish the basement. My wife and the girls (Trish, Becky, and Rachel), would go out together and as to get out of our way. The first weekend, they went out looking at furniture, carpeting, tiles and paint. Another Saturday, they had all gone out to the spa for a "rest and beauty" day. Another weekend, they had manicures and hair done. And yet another weekend, was a shopping spree for an updated wardrobe for Rachel.

Some time after the shopping spree, I would notice Rachel getting more and more comfortable around the house. One day, I came home and saw her wearing a maid outfit. A French maid babydoll that looked like it came from Lion's Den, or some variant on that store. Sure there had been the fleeting joke about Rachel being our maid, but it was in jest. No way Alice or I ever actually treated her like a maid. Asking for services in lieu of rent. So her bent over in that tiny outfit had me stammering a quick greeting and quickly exiting to my room.

When my wife came home, I confronted her in our room. "You wouldn't guess what I came home to." Without giving her a chance to guess, "Rachel was cleaning the kitchen wearing a maid outfit!"

She turned to face me, "What? Really?!?" She started to laugh. "Oh my God. I only meant that as a joke." Continuing to laugh, "I can't believe she actually wore that! And to clean in, as well!"

"Wait. You got her that? What were you thinking?!?"

"Relax. I got it as a gag. I've mentioned on a couple occasions her being a maid. I bought the outfit with a letter about being properly attired for a maid. I thought for sure she would see the garment and instinctively know it was a joke. Who would realistically ever expect someone to clean in that! Obviously, she didn't realize it was a joke. Or..."

"Or?"

"Or, she really wanted to wear that around the house." She pressed her body firmly to mine. "Around you." She turned to face away from me, her ass rubbing up against my growing bulge. "Wanting to show off her body. To her hot. Sexy. Daddy."

She bent forward, hands on her knees. I ran my hands over her rump. I removed one and brought it back to her upturned ass...SMACK! "This what you want. Trying to get my daughter to show herself off to me?" SMACK!

"I'm just a slut, babe. A slut all wet for you." SMACK!

"Am I not satisfying enough for you? You got to get Rachel involved too?" SMACK!

"Oh, God. No. No. No. You are enough. I just can't help it." SMACK!

"We have to stop. You have to stop." SMACK!

"I...I can't. She has to know...has to know she's beautiful. Not to hide that gorgeous body in...in simple, loose-fitting clothes. I just want her..." SMACK!

"Want her to gain confidence." She turned to look over her shoulder. "Fuck me. Fuck my slutty cunt...Daddy." I raised my hand again for another smack, but that look on her face stayed my hand. I reached around and unfastened her pants she had worn and pulled it and her panties down her legs. I turned her around to face the wall while dropping my jeans and boxers down and impaled her on my stiff rod.

There was no love-making. It was animalistic, fucking. She was diddling her clit as I drove forcibly in her from behind. She kept muttering, "Fuck me daddy. Fuck your slutty daughter. Make her cum." And God help me, I did. I really needed to get to the bottom of what my wife was role-playing and why. I noticed, belatedly, that the door wasn't fully closed, either.

At dinner that night, my wife brought up the maid outfit. "Rachel, Mark mentioned you wore the maid outfit today."

"Oh, um, yeah. I wasn't sure about it. I mean it was really short and kinda transparent." My wife tried to interject, but Rachel kept talking. "I tried it on. Just to see how it looked. And it, well, it, um, I kind of liked it. So I thought I'd try and, well, I spent the day in it. You know, just to, I don't know, I guess, get used to it. I kinda forgot I had it on while I started cleaning, that is, until Mark came home."

She turned to me, "I am so sorry. I lost track of time. I didn't mean for you to see me in it. I just, please, I don't want this to be, I don't want to have to leave. I won't do this again, I promise."

I felt like I had to apologize as she started to tear up. "It's okay. I swear. I mean, yeah, it caught me off guard, but you should feel comfortable here to wear whatever. I mean, Alice and I, I'm sure you've noticed, us in some sort of undress. Since living here."

"So it's okay if I keep wearing the maid dress to clean?"

I looked at my wife. I was completely lost at this point. How had she gotten me to apologize to her for her wearing something so scandalous around the house. And now I somehow gave her permission to do it again? I was flummoxed.

"You realize—and I want to make this abundantly clear, Sweetie—you don't have to wear that outfit," my wife started, "I only got that as a gag. Because you've done so much cleaning and cooking. It was like we had a maid in the house. But that's all it was, was a joke." Rachel looked crestfallen. "But that's not to say you can't wear it." I looked at my wife as if she had sprouted two additional heads and her limbs turned into thick octopus-like tentacles. Like we have been saying, we want you to be comfortable here. Both in the house and in your own body. This is a safe place," she reached out and grasped Rachel's nearest hand, "and you should be able to determine your own comfort level."

With this permission, Rachel beamed. After this encounter, her lounging wear got shorter and skimpier, thus showing more and more skin. After dinner, she would usually go to change out of her lounging clothes and, ostensibly, into her sleepwear for our nightly TV. She'd wear tees, without a bra, that showed so much skin that the underside of her breasts would peak out when she would stretch her arms out. Her bottoms started out as really short shorts. Almost shorter than even the Hooters uniform shorts. But those started disappearing as she would just lounge in panties. Never thongs, but boy shorts and hip huggers. And, quite frequently, that little maid outfit made its appearances when I would come home.

It was around this time that the estate sale had been completed. Rachel got a nice check back, minus their commission. The realtor had also called giving her some updates on prospective buyers. We finally got the basement completed and furnished. Rachel seemed in awe of her new living area and hugged both Alice and myself.

We had made great time getting Rachel's apartment finish, but I felt guilty. I had spent so much time and energy I feel like I neglected my wife, but our days were long and hard and we were both exhausted. As such, sex with Alice dwindled down to almost nothing. We were still affectionate; kissing, the gentle rubbing and stroking of body parts (mainly keeping away from erogenous zones, though), and of course snuggling both under the blanket on the couch and in bed.

So I made a reservation at a fancy restaurant. I had showered, shaved and made sure my best suit had been dry cleaned. I got a text message that my wife wasn't going to be able to make our date. I was bummed, but I texted that I understood. I was about to call up Alex or Tony and let them have our reservations when I got another text message from Alice. She suggested I ask Rachel to go with me.

I was bummed I couldn't have this one date night, in what seemed like forever, with my wife. But I thought maybe Rachel would appreciate a night out as well. So I walked downstairs, I rarely came down here letting her have her space, and knocked on her door frame since the door itself was cracked open.

"Oh shit! Um, don't come in! I'll be right there," came from somewhere behind the door before a head appeared through the crack and little else. "Yes?"

"Hey, so I had dinner plans with Alice, but she's not going to be able to make it. She thought I should ask you if you'd like to join me instead."

"Yeah. Um, she already texted me." Wait really? She just finished texting me. "She said it was a nice restaurant. Real upscale?" I nodded my head. "So suit and tie? For you, I mean. And a nice dress for me?" Again I nodded. "One sec, I want your opinion." At that point, the head disappeared and I heard rustling in the room.

Shortly afterward, the door swung open and standing before me was one of the most gorgeous sights I had ever seen. Rachel stood before me in a black dress with dark red outlines of roses. It had a deep, plunging neckline that came almost to her navel. The longest hem reached her ankles, but with an asymmetrical hem the right side bared most of her thigh. She turned around so I could see her back and it was just as stunning. The straps crisscrossed multiple times down her back. The back was low enough to show off her dimples of Venus.

When she turned back to face me, she asked, "How does this look? Is it fine for where we are eating?"

I, still stunned, nodded my head, "Yeah. Yes. The dress looks..." I stopped talking. I have been married long enough to notice the look she had in her eye. She wasn't asking me how the dress looked. She was fishing for a compliment on her look. I quickly amended, "You look gorgeous. Any man would be lucky to be your companion for the night. I just hope I can clean up enough so you aren't embarrassed by me."

At that point, she demurely smiled and gave me a big hug. "I don't think I...well, I haven't even finished getting ready, yet. I was just hoping the dress would be fine. Alice helped pick it out, but I haven't had any reason to dress up, really, and just wanted a reason to wear it." She let me go. "I'm just glad you liked it so much." I did my best to turn my waist so as to not give away how much I liked that outfit, but I feel like I wasn't at all successful in that regard.

"Well, I think...I mean, I need to go...get ready, that is. Um, so, the reservation is in an hour and a half. So we should probably leave in about forty-five minutes, or so," I stammered.

"Sounds good; I'll be ready by then." She turned and re-entered her room. stared blankly to where she had vanished before I was able to will myself to move. I quickly showered and, guiltily, relieved myself. I rationalized masturbating by, ignorantly, hoping that maybe it would subside any other incidents over the course of our dinner tonight. After showering, I quickly shaved and styled my hair.

I picked out a nice charcoal suit with faint gray pinstripes, a white button-up shirt with a dark red tie. Having seen the dress, I figured I'd do my best to match what Rachel was wearing. I have learned, being with my wife as long as I have, how to dress up in order to both be an accessory to my wife and to accentuate my wife's beauty without taking the focus away from her. (Most of the times I had to dress up like this was for her work engagements or for date nights so the focus, when I dress up, is always directed on her.) I found my dress oxfords, which thankfully, since I rarely wore them, didn't need to be shined.

Looking at myself in the mirror, I straightened out the belt and fussed with some lint on my lapel. I figured I looked as good as I was going to and headed out of the bedroom. I was going to head downstairs to collect Rachel, but was shocked to see her in the kitchen sipping on some water.

She must have heard me behind her. She turned my way and looked me over. So I quietly turned, my arms spread out forming a T. When I faced her again, "So how do I look? Am I presentable enough to escort you to dinner?"

"You look great! You really can clean up nicely," she said with a smile. "So you're ready?"

"I am, if you are." She nodded her head, but before heading towards the door, she took her glass and dumped the rest of the water in the sink. She headed to me and, as a gentleman, I presented her my arm which she slipped her hand through and grasped my elbow. She was wearing heels so her 5'2" frame had her head just even with my shoulder.

We made it to my truck and I realized it might be awkward for her to get in and out of my vehicle in that dress. "Would you mind if we take your car? I just don't think thi..."

"Yes! Please. I really didn't think this through fully. I just don't know where we are eating."

"I can drive if you'd like. When Alice and I go out, I tend to drive her car as well. Just more sensible on a date."

She went through her tiny clutch purse and found her keys, which she handed to me, "So is this a date?"

"Well, um, I mean..." I kept stumbling over my words like I was some freshman high school virgin. I opened the door and helped her into the passenger side.

Before I could answer or close the door, she looked up at me, "Alice mentioned I should treat this like a date. I know it might be weird, but I don't have a whole lot of experience and she thought this would be a nice practice."

"Sure." I was lucky I could get that much out of my mouth. With the way that dress was made, there was no way a bra would work with it. Thus, her sitting lower than me and me having to look down to talk to her left me a view straight down her dress. Those young breasts were topped by pink nipples that were already elongated, either from the slightly cold breeze or she was turned on, I knew not.

We managed to get to the restaurant about fifteen minutes early. I handed the valet the keys to her Accord and got a ticket in return. I ushered her into the building as the doorman held the door open. The maître d' checked our reservations and led us to the table. He asked us if we wanted wine while we waited, which was politely declined. As he left, he wished my daughter and I have a wonderful evening. Rachel, however, was quick to point out I wasn't her dad, but was my date tonight. He quickly looked my way with an arched eyebrow, but said nothing.

Once he was out of earshot, Rachel leaned over conspiratorially, "Do you think I'm an escort and you hired me?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "How else do you think a guy like me gets a date that looks like you? If, not for the exchange of money?"

She leaned back, "I don't know. I have heard mention you aren't lacking..." She lowered her voice barely above a whisper, "In the bedroom." So that absolutely confirmed my fears. She was well aware of Alice and my proclivities, at least to a certain point. Hopefully, some of the role-plays my wife initiated were a bit more secretive, but my hopes were not high for that possibility.

We had a fabulous dinner. We chatted about what her goals were for her future. How I got started in construction. She even discussed my wife and what it took her to become an architect. I gathered she really had no clue what she wanted to do for a career, let alone what to study in school. So I asked her how she did in school. What her best subjects were. Trying to get a feel for what she was like growing up. I tried to lead the conversations more toward her. I feared if she knew too much about me she would run off, like her mom had, and I would again lose her.

During the dinner, I learned my ex had turned to religion and became quite devout. To the point of being rather rigid when it came to Rachel. Not allowing her to date or wear clothes that accentuated her body. Which explains her shyness, early on at any rate, of my wife's more relaxed style as well as her more apprehensive adoption of her now new style. With her mom's rigid stance and having to leave school to care for her mom, it left Rachel with not much opportunity to go out with the opposite sex. Hence, my wife's recommendation of a practice date with me.

The date was a wonderful success, if I don't say so myself. I had completely forgot that the young woman sitting across from me was in fact my blood related daughter. I was transfixed with her all through dinner. Her stories were engaging and I was really hoping the dreams she had for her life came to fruition. I would do everything I could to make sure she could achieve everything her heart desired.

The waiter asked us if we still had room for dessert. Rachel had eyed the dessert tray lustfully, but had mentioned she didn't think she could finish any of them by herself. So I asked her which one she wanted the most and told the waiter we'd split the dessert. I also asked him to box up another dessert. I figured I'd make sure to get my wife something sweet for setting up this lovely night.