Three Sons (Part 4)
Kathryn M. Burke
Over the next several weeks, James noticed that Jenny was looking a bit . . . tired. So he rounded up his brothers and gave them a stern lecture.
"Do you have sex with her every night you're with her?" he demanded of Peter.
"Well, sure," Peter said defensively. "I only have her twice a weekâmaybe three times, if we get together on a Sunday."
"How about you?" James asked Daniel.
"Yes," Daniel said in a small voice. "IâI just have to have her."
"Well, so do I. So that means she's getting it
six or seven nights a weekâ
not to mention other times when we feel like poking her. That's a lot for a woman who hasn't had regular sex for two years. We may have to ease up on her."
"I don't want to!" Peter cried. "I love her!"
"We all love her. But she's been saying we should try to find girls of our own age. We're going to have to, in the long run. I mean, we can't
marry
Mom, can we?"
"Of course not," Daniel said.
"I don't know any girls my own age," Peter said resentfully. "It's not as if they just walk into the store and say, 'Here I am.'"
Like Mrs. Stevensonâwho certainly isn't a girl of my own age, and who's already married.
"You gotta go and
find
them, Peter," James insisted. "And it shouldn't be hard for you, Danny, to find some. Your campus must be swarming with nice girls."
"I guess it is," Daniel said, "but I've been so busy with classes that it's hard to focus on that. After all, Mom is right here, and we can have her anytime."
"That's just it," James said. "It shouldn't be this easy. Getting a girlâreally winning her over, not just having her for a bit of funâis hard work. And it takes time."
All the brothers agreed in principle that James was rightâbut they were still hesitant to follow his advice. It was going to be pretty hard to find someone as perfectly suited to them as their mother.
But then, at least as far as Daniel was concerned, a possibility suddenly opened up.
By now it was second semester of Daniel's freshman year, and he found himself in an Introduction to Western History class. There was such a large amount of ground to cover in the class that he quickly found himself overwhelmed with names, dates, and concepts that he wasn't all that familiar with. But amidst his floundering he also noticed a girl, Tara O'Brien, who seemed to know more than the rest of the class put together. And even though she seemed somewhat shy, she soon became the teacher's pet, as the professor (a crusty old guy who was getting close to retirement) kept calling on her almost to the exclusion of everyone else.
One day after class was over at 3 p.m., Daniel summoned up the nerve to talk to her.
"You're really smart!" he blurted out almost directly into her ear as she was passing by him.
Tara jumped a little, not expecting this stranger to speak to her. But then she turned toward Daniel and gave him a broad smile that immediately melted his heart.
He gazed at her for a few seconds. There was a freshness, a purity, an innocence that he found utterly endearing. She was about five foot six, with wavy shoulder-length blond hair that framed a pale but rosy-cheeked face; and the rest of her wasn't bad either, with generous curves at breast and bottom (as Daniel noticed with a series of covert glances). She wasn't exactly slender, but she seemed perfectly proportioned. And, as is natural with all healthy men, he indulged in the momentary fantasy of wondering what it might be like to take this girl to bed.
Tara had blushed at Daniel's compliment, and now she looked down at the floor. "Oh, I'm not really that smart."
"Sure you are!" Daniel said. "You already seem to know everything!"
Her blush deepened. "I wouldn't say that. It's just thatâwell, I picked up a lot of this stuff in high school. Not as part of a class, but for fun."
Daniel had trouble imagining someone boning up on history "for fun"âbut it takes all kinds! He licked his lips, hoping he would have the courage toâ
"Do you think you could help me?" he said pleadingly. "I'm really all at sea here."
She smiled benevolently at him. "Sure, I'll be glad to help."
"How about right now? Do you have another class?"
"No, I'm free now. We could go to the libraryâ"
"Um, I was hoping we could go to my house."
There was an awkward silence. "Yourâyour house?" Tara stammered.
"Yeah. I only live a few blocks from campus. It's my family home. My mom and my brothers live there with me."
That seemed to reassure Tara, so she said, "Okay."
In the short walk to his house, Daniel managed to tease out a little more about this wondrous creature. She was an only child, and her family lived in a town in the far eastern corner of the state called Olean. She actually expressed envy of Daniel for having brothers: she wished she had some siblings, since being her parents' only offspring put a lot of pressure on her to succeed.
Hearing Tara chatter away in her soft, high voice, seemingly so diffident but with an undercurrent of strength and determination, was making Daniel quickly feel something he'd never felt before. He was definitely smitten.
They came to the house, and Daniel opened the door and let Tara in. The place was deserted, and only then did Daniel explain that his two brothers and his mom worked at various full-time jobs and wouldn't be home till close to 6 p.m.
Tara looked spooked, and almost felt she had been tricked. She'd expected other people to be home.
"We can study at the dining table, if you like," Daniel said, to try to get her to calm down.
That seemed like a safe enough thing to do, so she dumped her heavy winter coat on a hatrack just inside the front door and then dumped her backpack on the dining table. For the next hour or so they actually did do a lot of studyingâor, rather, Tara patiently taught Daniel the basics of how to study history. It really wasn't all about memorizing names and dates; that was old-fashioned. You had to understand broad trends and patterns.
"You're so smart," Daniel said in genuine admiration. "And beautiful too."
Tara really blushed when he said that, and she made a point of ignoring it. "You're smart too, Daniel. Maybe you just don't realize it."
All of a sudden Tara noticed the bookshelf that contained his mom's collection of classical LPs.