I was looking forward to meeting Julius's parents--until I learned that we'd only be meeting one of them. It had taken me quite a while to pry out of him the fact that his mom and dad had split up several months ago, just around the time we'd gotten together. I imagine he felt ashamed of that, given his more or less conservative outlook on domestic issues. He complained that neither his father nor his mother (with whom he'd almost lost touch) would explain the causes of their separation. They weren't officially divorced yet, but a permanent breakup seemed imminent. I felt sad, of course, but largely for the selfish reason that I really wanted to meet both parents--so that I could get a better idea of what made my lover tick.
So when we came to his family home and I was introduced to his father, Henry, I was prepared to meet a man who may have been a little saddened, even shellshocked, at the departure of his wife of more than twenty years from the premises. My own separation from my husband had been bad enough, but we'd not been married nearly that long. I don't know how I would have reacted to a breakup after all that time--and I could see at once, to my grief, that Henry wasn't dealing with the situation at all well.
He was about as down in the dumps as a man could be. It wasn't that he'd come to rely on his wife for the usual cooking and cleaning that women usually tend to in a household; like Julius, Henry was a pretty good cook in his own right. It was simply that he was feeling horribly, devastatingly lonely--and he made little effort to hide it.
If he hadn't been so morose, he'd have been an exceptionally attractive man. Quite a bit darker in complexion than Julius, he was nearly as tall (five foot eleven) and was robustly muscular in physique (maybe he worked out a lot in an effort to forget about his solitude). If he'd only smiled more often he'd be a real heartbreaker for any number of women of whatever age or race. Under that lugubrious exterior I could sense a tenderness, a compassion, and a sensitivity that he had clearly passed on to his son.
There was no way that I, as a stranger, could make even the most token inquiries of Henry as to why his wife had left him--or whether he had somehow banished her from his house. After our initial meeting, Julius and I went upstairs to put our things away in his old bedroom. As we were doing that, I said to him:
"You don't think your mom... did anything she shouldn't have?"
He glared at me in an almost hostile manner. "You mean, did she cheat on him? No way."
"And I can't possibly imagine your father doing anything like that."
"Not a chance. He's very religious--goes to church several times a week."
"Then I just don't get it. Had they been arguing, or anything like that?"
"I don't think so."
"Henry really never told you
anything
about this whole situation?"
"No."
"Isn't that odd? Don't you have a right to know?"
"I guess I do. But I can't force him--or her--to spill the beans."
But as the days passed, my heart ached more and more for this splendid man trapped in his own melancholy. And when he kept glancing in my direction, looking me up and down when he thought I wasn't paying attention, I began wonder whether--
No, there's no way I could do that. Julius wouldn't condone such a thing.
But then, on the third night of our stay, Julius himself, cuddling me absently as we lay on his queen-size bed, whispered into my ear: "Why don't you sleep with him?"
A shudder passed through me. "What did you say?" I gasped.
"You heard me," he said severely, with a scowl on his face.
"You--you want me to sleep with your dad?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"It would make him feel better. He's taken a real shine to you."
"Julius, I'm
your
girlfriend--if I can call myself that." Actually, I wasn't sure what I was in relation to him.
"You slept with your dad--and your mom," he pointed out.
"Okay, yes--but that was different."
"Was it?"
"Well, maybe there are some similarities."
"It's not as if you're related to him."
"I know, Julius, but--"
"He wants you."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Can't you tell?"
"I suppose I can. But I don't really want it to seem like--" I couldn't say those most horrible words:
a pity fuck.
Julius read my mind. "I don't think it would be that. You like him, don't you?"
"More than like! He's a fabulous guy."
"He's only eight years older than you. He had me when he was twenty and Mom was nineteen."
"You don't have to rub it in." In other words, I was closer in age to Henry than I was to Julius.
"I'm just saying..."
"Okay, fine, I'll do it. When?"
"How about right now?"
"
Now?
Are you serious?"