Linda had been gone and out of the house for a while. Coming home after several years on her own was not her first choice, but it was necessary for several reason.
She had a room to herself, her own bathroom... space to herself when she wanted it. Mom had kept the house pretty much as she always had... bookshelves full of books, knickknacks needing to be dusted every day scattered about, over stuffed chairs, artwork covering every conceivable space on every wall.
Dad had degraded some... one of the reasons for coming home... 6'4" and 250 lbs, he could be a handful when not cooperative. Brain damage from a work accident had changed their lives when Linda was almost too young to remember. Left alone he was pretty quiet and stable, he did not like to me bothered. He was bull strong, always had been, but now he got confused easily. He had finally found work digging ditches for a construction company. A foreman that saw his abilities took him under his wing and makes sure he gets to work and home everyday. Point him at a job, give him a starting point and an end point, then get out of, and stay out of, his way, and he could out work any three men.
Mom was 5'4", thin waist, hips to birth babies with and breasts to feed families with. She had always been a pretty woman, but shy and reserved with very low self esteem due to issues with her own mother and father. Linda's grandmother was a spoiled child. Pretty and well off, she was very self focused. Her grandfather was an exceptionally handsome man that liked the ladies, including, but not exclusively, his wife. Smart with numbers, he made a ton of money running books for a prominent aerospace company. All was well until Linda's mother was born. All of a sudden grandma had someone else to do for that did not reward her... in fact, grandpa seemed to have no time or patience for the drudgery of fatherhood and the fun wife that had became an occupied mother. Linda's grandmother blamed little Betsy for all of her ills. It was Betsy's fault that her figure took a hit, that her perfect breasts had a few stretch marks, that they were not as perky as when she was younger. It was Betsy's fault that her father drank heavy and gambled more and caroused till all hours and it was Betsy's fault that her father eventually left her mother. Times were hard, there was never enough money, Betsy's fault again, and her mother had no skills with which to earn. The only thing she seemed capable of doing well was feeling sorry for herself and blaming her daughter, oh... and punishing her.
Linda's grandmother hated alcohol, because of her husband's abuse, so she self medicated with prescription drugs, made available through the very good insurance policy provided through the aerospace firm. There were barbiturates and amphetamines and muscle relaxants and pain killers. She had access to them all and used them extensively because they were prescribed by the doctor. Betsy learned quickly to avoid her mother when she was sober, because she was mean and vindictive. Betsey learned to earn money after school by doing house cleaning or run errands for the stewardesses that lived in their apartment complex. After meeting her mother, they would make work for her, to make sure she could take money home to hand mom and avoid some of the inevitable beatings.
Betsy also learned to keep her mouth shut about what her mother would do because the few times she trusted an adult and told, they had wanted to help, but only made it worse by meddling without any way to affect change.
Betsy met Tom in high-school. She was shy and reserved until they went in their first date and Tom met her mother. Having grown up in a dysfunctional home himself, he knew what he was seeing and hearing but he was already big and no one had pushed him around for a long time. Tom told Betsy that he would not let her mother hurt her anymore, and followed up on it. He spent the night on their second date sleeping in the same bed, waiting to be discovered in the morning.
Betsy's mother went ballistic but Tom would not let her touch Betsy.
He moved in that day, paying half the rent and power bills and most of the groceries from then on. Tom graduated and went from a part time job to full time, after which they moved out and never looked back. During that almost two year time Betsy's mother had tried to reassert her authority, but never when Tom was around. Betsy was always terrified... she never really got over those very deeply buried feelings of fear and helplessness in her mother's presence but knowing Tom was there for her, and had her back, gave her the courage to stand up to her mother.
Tom was everything that Betsy's father had not been. Loyal, committed, steady and sober. The day that Tom moved into her bedroom Betsy turned a corner. She came completely out of her shell. She dressed the way he wanted, did anything and everything that he wanted, and more. She became a sexual dynamo. If his cock was not in her pussy it was in her mouth or moving from one to the other. Within the week there was not a single part of her body that could be marked "virgin territory" and she was game for anything and everything. Betsy was working hard to be what she thought was worthy of Tom's love and protection. There was only one line she would not cross, and they discovered it rather quickly.
Betsy was so aggressive when sucking his dick, that Tom did not get a chance to grab her head and hold her until weeks into their relationship. He had talked dirty to her, calling her his nasty naughty girl. And she had answered his and only his... but when he held her, she reacted with unreasonable fear. Feeling as if he were forcing her, holding her down. After calming down she begged him to never hold her down or force her. She would do anything willingly, but he could not force her or punish her. She could not do that, would not do that. So he would tell her, ask her, suggest to her, what ever he wanted, and Betsy out did herself, and his imagination, at every turn, hardly ever waiting for him to ask. She was usually way ahead of him. She made it her mission to seduce him every day. She would meet him at the door... sometimes in costume, sometimes naked... always ready and willing. When she got pregnant with Linda, Betsy worked hard to make sure things did not change much. She did not want the shadow of her mother infecting their lives.
Soon after Linda was born, Tom was hurt at work. A load line snapped and the static end whipped back wildly, catching Tom in the head.
Despite all intention and desires, an injury like this changes everything. Recovery was slow. Long term memories were lost, short term memory was haphazard at best. Tom's personality changed. Frustration was the emotion that surfaced most often, but morphed into anger and depression with equal frequency.
Betsey became scared of him during the mood swings, which only fueled his frustration. In his more lucid moments, they talked and re-dedicated themselves to each other, vowing to see it through.
Betsy channeled any tendency to blame onto herself, not wanting to "become" her mother and repeat the abuse she lived through onto her own daughter.
They worked hard, and they changed themselves into survivors. Tom locked down his reactions which built a shell of passivity built on a foundation of depression. If he truly felt nothing, then he would not frighten the woman he loved. She shut down her expectations and desires... if she expected nothing from him and put no pressure on him then he would not feel less than what he was. Their sex became non-existent. Her control of his every movement or thought emasculated him to the point that his cock stayed limp. Tests came back with normal hormone levels and so Betsy was convinced that he did not want her because she was not good enough... Tom figured that he could not blame her for not wanting him as he could no longer be the man she had loved. It was a vicious circle of self fulfilling prophecy.
