Rush Hour

Author's notes: This is the third installment of the continuing romance between a married couple, Tom and Laura. If you haven't read the first Mother Road, to fully understand Tom and Laura's relationship, you should. This story takes place 6.5 years after Mother Road.

Thanks as always to my wonderful muse RiverMaya, to my editor/advisor Verbalinians, and my newest editing team member WindySwimming for volunteering their input and assistance on this one. With the 2nd story phase spanning 36,000 words, I needed all the help I could get!

• All sexual activity in this story is between consenting adults 18 and over.

• All characters and organizations named are purely fictional.

• NOTE: This story contains no incest.

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DECEMBER - Out Of The Cold

"When one door closes another opens", is one way people look at life. My view of life is "it never rains but it pours". Like that story of the little Dutch boy who patched up one hole in the dike, only to have another section spring a leak.

Our daughter Ava is eighteen and our second-oldest girl. Like the detective Nancy Drew as a kid, Ava was always into things, trying to figure stuff out. She's probably the smartest child we have. Olivia is certainly no dummy, and James is fairly sharp (totally unlike his sweet but goofball twin brother Liam), but Ava has been in advanced classes in darn near every grade since I met her over six years ago, when she was twelve.

Ava is fluent in English and Spanish, semi-fluent in French. She can also do complex math calculations in her head, stuff even I need a calculator for. But here's the thing - Ava is a miniature version of Laura, in looks and personality. Headstrong doesn't begin to cover it, the kid can be an unstoppable force when she's got up a head of steam. With her personality, her looks and her brains, our daughter is one powerful person.

Laura tells me Ava has been strong and self-reliant almost since she could walk. I've seen for myself how the girl seldom asks for anything, including help. It should have been a warning to Laura and me on that fateful night when strong, smart and independent 18-year-old Ava came into the living room and said, "Momma, Daddy, my friend Ashley is on the porch. She needs a place to stay. Can she stay with us?"

I put down the copy of the Architectural Digest I was reading. My wife put aside her knitting and said, "Well, what are you waiting for? Bring her in, Ava!"

Ava had known Ashley Novoa since first grade. They were forever buddies, doing everything together. Laura had met Ashley's parents a few times. They were religious zealots of some kind, striking Laura as kind of creepy. My wife is one of those people who likes pretty much everybody, so if she said they were creepy, that was saying something. Ashley stepped into the living room. She was tall and rail-thin with long black hair, a real contrast to Ava, who was a carbon copy of her mother - light red hair, round-faced with a cute turned-up nose, incredible green eyes and rather busty.

"Ashley's been kicked out of her parent's house, so I told her maybe she could stay in the motorhome or the cabin for a while."

Laura was immediately on alert: "Shouldn't we call Child Services? This looks and sounds like abuse!"

"No, Momma, Ashley just turned eighteen. She tried to come out to her parents. When she told them she was gay, they beat her and threw her out, no coat or anything!" It was getting dark, so I turned on the lamp in the living room. (The lone surviving lamp, I should add. The others had been broken by children - who shall remain anonymous - playing ball inside the house instead of outside.)

That's when we saw Ashley had bruises on her face, her bare arms, and a black eye. She was also shivering, wearing just a t-shirt, jeans and sneakers when the temperature outside had dropped below 40 degrees.

"Oh, NO!" A horrified Laura was on her feet in a flash, embracing the girl. Apparently, Ashley had been holding in a lot of emotion until Laura's embrace. The dam broke and she began to sob, deep mournful sobs as if she'd been carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders.

My wife held her, stroking her head and whispering, "It's ok, baby, you're safe now, you're staying with us. Nobody's going to hurt you again." I walked up and awkwardly wrapped my arms around both women as best I could.

"Laura's right, Ashley, you're safe here," I said. "The smaller kids can double-bunk, you can stay in their room." The girl's sobs had slowed now.

"Thank you", she whispered.

Ava stepped up next to me and suggested quietly, "Daddy, since Amelia has her own room now, maybe Ashley could share my room for a while. That way if she gets scared in the middle of the night or something, she wouldn't be alone."

"If that's what you and Ashley want, I think that's fine," I responded, "Laura, is that OK with you?"

"Yes, that's probably a good thing," my wife answered. I could see her in full mom-protection mode, focusing entirely on Ashley. Being the mother of 8, Laura had zero patience when it came to children being abused.

Even though Ashley was 18, in Laura's mind the girl was still a child deserving of protection. (Laura's incredible compassion was something else I'd learned to love about her.) Taking her hand, Ava led Ashley upstairs. Laura followed, coming back down two minutes later. Her eyes were wide, and her anger was boiling over.

"TOM!! Those bastards kicked her out with NOTHING! That poor girl only has the clothes on her back, not even a toothbrush!" she fumed. Her eyes were teared up in fury. "Tomorrow you and Ava will take Ashley shopping at the mall. Get her everything - clothes, shoes, underwear, toiletries, and a damned suitcase to carry it all! I don't care how much you spend, just DO IT!!"

I smiled and wrapped my arms around my passionate wife. "Your wish is my command, my love," I intoned, and kissed her softly. We'd been married long enough that I knew it would be a good three hours until her anger subsided. She looked so sexy with her face flushed and red. As tempting as it was, trying to initiate anything carnal before then would have been a waste of time.

As the weeks passed Ashley seemed to really relax and come out of her shell. She had a blast being an unofficial big sister to Elijah, Amelia, Lucas and Pearl. The kids loved playing board games with her. I suspect she often let them win.

At bedtime Ashley put herself in charge of making sure all four little ones had brushed their teeth. Six-year-old Pearl had modified her bedtime routine now to include kissing Ashley goodnight as well as Laura and me. When Ashley asked if she could start calling Laura and me "Mom and Dad", we were delighted to agree.

Unless one of them was helping with chores or taking care of the younger children, Ava and Ashley were inseparable. They were an odd couple, little Ava being whip-smart with a near-manic personality, versus tall quiet Ashley with her gentle personality and innocent naivete. They seemed truly Yin and Yang. One night I remarked to Laura how they were seldom apart.

"Yes, I noticed," Laura replied. "I imagine Ashley's missed out on a lot in high school, hiding the fact she's gay. The poor girl is probably playing a lot of emotional catch-up."

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JANUARY - Ava's Surprises; James' Revelation

One January night, I felt Laura gently shake me. "Tom wake up."

I was sleeping on my left side, my face turned towards the wall. Opening my eyes just a crack, I saw the clock on the nightstand showing 2:17am. I turned over on my right side, facing Laura. I leaned in and kissed her, and put my hands on her breasts, feeling them though her V-necked nightshirt. "Mmmm, this is nice."

Laura gently pushed my hands off. "Tom, can you please stop being a sex maniac for just a second?"

"Nope," I mumbled, and buried my face in her cleavage. I took the opportunity to slip my left hand down to caress her soft thigh. Suddenly she pushed me on my back and climbed on top of me.

"Well, all RIGHT, baby," I said, waking up and reaching down both hands to grab her sweet ass. She responded by gently slapping my face.

"Damn it, Tom, I'm serious! Listen! Do you hear that noise?" I listened for a moment. Nothing.

"Laura, how can you hear anything, I put soundproofing in our bedroom walls, remember?"

Shortly after we were married, I did a little remodeling, as well as putting an addition on the house so the kids would have more bedrooms, plus adding a master bath to our room. Since our master bedroom was upstairs and close to some of the kids' rooms, I added sound deadeners inside the walls so Mommy and Daddy could have sexy time without disturbing the kids.

Then I heard it, a little "thump" through the wall from the room next to ours - Ava's room. Then came a slight groan.

"Laura, it's coming from Ava's room. I think we should go in together." I was wearing pajama bottoms, so I threw a sweatshirt over my naked chest. Laura got up and wrapped herself in a bathrobe, and we slowly opened our door (it was an old house, even after the remodel the damned door still creaked) and crept down the hallway to Ava's door. There was another thump, and another groan.

Laura tapped quietly on the door, and softly called out, "Ava, Ashley, is everything alright?"

Not hearing a response, she gently turned the knob and pushed the door open a crack. That's when we caught a glimpse of Ashley, illuminated by moonlight, bare-breasted and sitting upright against the headboard with her head thrown back in pleasure.

Her breathing was shallow; her legs were spread but partially covered by the bedsheet; a red-haired pale-skinned shape, presumably Ava, was nestled between her legs and the source of Ashley's pleasure. Just then Ashley let out a groan of ecstasy slightly louder than the previous ones we'd heard.

After what felt like a week but was probably just a few seconds, a stunned Laura quietly pulled the door closed and led a stunned me back to our bedroom and into bed. (95% of the time, Laura leading me into bed meant sex, but sadly this occasion was part of the 5% that meant NO sex, dammit.) It's safe to say we were both in a state of shock at what we'd seen, but this might need to be delicately discussed in the morning, so we just spooned and talked.

I started, "Well, thaaaaat was interesting. I wonder how long it's been going on?"

Laura murmured, "What do we even say, Tom? Ava's 18 and an adult. Ashley's 18 as well. We were naïve in never setting any rule about no sex in the house."

"Yeah, you know come to think of it, we never thought to ask Ava the reason why she never went out with boys."

"Well, there was that one kid, Andre I think his name was? The skinny boy who took her to prom? I got the distinct impression he was just a friend who liked her companionship."

"Looks like you were right about that," I chuckled.

The next morning, since it was a weekend, Laura and I slept in. Olivia was gone; on Friday, she'd left with Brad to spend the weekend at his parent's place. Brad had confided to Laura that he was going to try to propose to Olivia again this weekend. Laura solemnly wished him luck, knowing the fix was already in.

Olly told us just before she left that she was ready to accept his proposal now. I had to hand it to Brad, he'd worked his ass off wooing that girl. It almost made me feel bad about how somebody torched his Corvette. Almost, but not quite.

Liam had left early for his job; he'd gotten a position with an electronics store as part of their "Nerd Patrol" service team repairing laptops. I was delighted to find out he was quite good at it. When my laptop containing client files crashed, he'd had it fixed and my files restored within three hours. After that, Liam taught me how to store my files on the cloud.

We hadn't been seeing much of Liam lately, it seemed like he worked a lot of hours, coming and going quietly. He'd made it clear he had no intention of going to a regular university like Olly; he was happy learning things on the job.

James mentioned one day that Liam had been dating someone and seemed to be getting serious about her. Never a big one for extended discussions, that's all we could get out of our oldest son. (Oldest, as in, born exactly 12 minutes before Liam).

As for James, frankly Laura and I were worried about him. While never a social butterfly like his twin brother, as of late he'd become a recluse. He'd been taking business classes at a local junior college working towards an AA in business. Lately, despite the cold he'd been sleeping in the motorhome for some reason. He was even more of a mystery man than Liam had become.

That Saturday morning, Elijah, Amelia, Lucas and Pearl had all had their breakfast and were gathered in front of the television watching cartoons. Ava and Ashley came down for breakfast like usual, but today they were holding hands.

Laura poured Ava a cup of coffee; like her mother, Ava needed her caffeine jolt in the morning. She offered some to Ashley, but Ashley requested a glass of orange juice instead. I scrambled some eggs for the lovebirds, waiting for someone to say something. Finally, Ava spoke up.

"Momma, Daddy, I have two pieces of news," she announced. Laura and I exchanged glances but waited for Ava to finish. "First, I took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test and won a scholarship. I've been accepted by the University of Illinois at Chicago in the fall, and I'm going to pursue a degree in Architecture like Daddy."

I leaned forward, my head shaking in surprise. "Wow, Ava. That's amazing news! Congratulations! I know people there that can help you find a place to live and help you get set up!" My daughter was following in my footsteps. DAMN! I was so proud, I wanted to burst.

Laura piped in, "You're the second girl in the family to go to college! I'm so proud!" Laura had grown up poor in little Rankin, Texas, oldest of 11 children, and had married an itinerant preacher just to get out of town She'd never been educated but having Olivia and now Ava go to college was a sweet accomplishment for her.

Then Ava hit us with her other news. "Now that we're both over 18, Ashley and I want to get married before I leave for school. I proposed to her last night, I love her, and I want her to come to Chicago with me." Ashley showed us her left hand, with a tiny diamond ring on finger.

John Lennon once said, "Life is what happens while you're making plans.", Boy,was he right! Here Laura and I were thinking we were going to have a little discussion with our daughter and her friend about having sex in the house with the younger ones around. But Ava had deftly flipped the discussion into a whole new direction like Mr. Green had flipped that loveseat at Brad's frat house.

I could see Laura was stunned, unsure how to respond. I was in the same boat, but seeing that this was our impatient Ava who would expect an immediate response, I turned on my client-facing diplomacy skills and bought us some time.

"Whoa, Ava, that's mind-boggling. You just dropped huge news on us before we've even had breakfast. Let Mom and I get some coffee and toast to take upstairs, she and I need to talk for a few minutes."

When we got alone in the bedroom, we knew we needed an Ava expert to talk to; fortunately, a text message later we were able to get on a videoconference with Olivia. We filled her in on what was happening, and she seemed amused more than anything.

I asked her, "Olly, did you know Ava's a lesbian?"

Olivia shot back, "You're kidding, right? Were you two really that clueless? Ava figured out she was gay when she was 11, right after puberty kicked in."

Laura was shocked, "You knew? Why didn't you tell us?"

"Mom! She's my little sister and I love her. You and I usually share everything, but I wasn't about to go outing Ava. It was her story to tell, not mine. Do you have a problem with her being gay like Ashley's parents did?"

I jumped in, "Oh, no, heavens no! Her being gay just came as a bit of a shock, what with it being slipped in along with the news about her scholarship, studying architecture, moving to Chicago, and GETTING MARRIED AT 18!"

Olly laughed, "Well that's Ava! Having next to no patience, she's got the subtlety of a battering ram. I think that's why she and Ashley are a good pair. They're total opposites. Ashley needs Ava to steer her in the right direction. Ava needs Ashley's calmness to keep her grounded.

They've been friends since freshman year in high school; Ashley was struggling with her math homework one day and asked Ava to help. As smart as Ava is, she knew how to break complex concepts down so Ashley could understand them. They spent so much time together everybody just assumed they were best friends, which for three years they were. It was during senior year Ava actually started having feelings for Ashley, and vice versa. Laura jumped in, "What about that Andre kid that took her to senior prom?"

"Oh, Mom, seriously? Andre is gay, too. Ava and Andre made a deal. Andre would take Ava to prom, and his boyfriend David would take Ashley. Each of them danced with their dates and got prom pictures taken so people would assume they were straight. t the end of the night when their classmates were leaving for after-prom parties, Ava and Ashley finally danced with each other, and so did Andre and David. Ava told me that the senior prom was when she really knew she loved Ashley."

I was dumbfounded. Being gay in Oklahoma was not only frowned upon by a lot of people, but it could also be downright dangerous. Yet our girl Ava let nothing deter her from being in love. I was actually proud of her!

Olly went on, "When Ashley finally turned 18, she worked up the courage to come out to her family but ended up beaten and disowned for it. Ava didn't tell you, but she was with Ashley at the time as moral support. She witnessed the whole thing and felt horrible, but there was nothing she could do.

If the two of them hadn't gotten out of there when they did, Ashley's parents would probably have beaten Ava as well. Once they were clear of the craziness, Ava knew what to do - she brought Ashley straight to you, where the girl she loved would be safe and protected. And that's it!"

I looked at Laura, and her eyes were tearing up. The things Olly was telling us were both shocking and tough to hear at the same time.

In a soft voice, I asked, "Olly, you know your sister. What do you think? Is she making a mistake? She's so young, this all seems so much so soon!"

Olivia laughed and said, "When Momma fell in love with this goofy moon-eyed guy who showed up in a motorhome and then married him after only three and a half weeks, I thought she might have been making a mistake, too. But that goofy moon-eyed guy turned out to be exactly what both of us needed." Hearing my sweet Olivia say that gave me a lump in my throat.

Listening to her oldest child, Laura was crying quietly, but happy tears. Olivia continued, "Think about it, Daddy. You've already shown Ashley that you and Mom love her. You took her in without question and gave her the care and safety she needed when she had nowhere else to go. She fit right in; the younger kids adore her. Face it, she's already family.

My sister may be headstrong and rushing things a bit, but she's also fearless; that's who she is, it's who you guys allowed her to be when she was growing up. We all know Ava's incredibly smart. I think my sister just needs us to just shut up and support her."

Olly stopped talking, took a breath; she looked exhausted. I hear pregnancy will do that to you. I'd heard enough; the lesson was over. I stood up. "Thank you, Olivia," I said, waving goodbye. "That was great advice. I've never been prouder to be your dad."