The whole drive home I was running the events of that morning thru my head over and over. Why hadn't Aunt Sandy gotten mad? She may have looked a little disappointed, but no anger. I read Julie's email twice to make sure I wasn't missing anything important, like when my parents would kick my door down and kill me. There was no reason to believe they would, from what Julie told me.
It would probably make things easier for you if I just copied and pasted her email into my story. So here is her letter:
Hi babe
You aren't going to believe what happened after you left. Dad went into town to get some things for the house, which left me alone with mom. It wasn't long after that she came up to see me. "Honey," mom said, "we need to talk about this morning. Are you still taking your birth control pills? I don't want you to get pregnant. I am not dumb, so don't say you didn't do anything with your cousin. You know you can never marry him, right? No matter what happens you have to always remember that."
"I'm not mad at you, either. I can see why you like him, he's a great looking guy. Very nice too. So here's what you are waiting for: I'm not mad at you, and I will not tell your father what I saw this morning."
So, holy crap Jim, I couldn't freakin believe what she said. I was waiting to get grounded for 20 years or something, but she just says she'll keep it under wraps. It wasn't too bright of me, but I had to know why, so I asked her.
"Julie, what I'm about to tell you I've never told anyone. When I was a teenager I had an affair with my cousin. We were very much in love and we stayed together for 4 years. The hardest thing we dealt with was knowing that we could never get married, and that our families would never accept us. This became a difficult issue for us, and it gradually pulled us apart. About that time I met your father, and the rest, as they say, is history."
I was flabbergasted! I never would have picked mom for doing that. Now I can see why she didn't blow a gasket when she saw us. She understands. We'll talk more about this later, but I wanted you to know what happened. Oh yeah, mom said she isn't going to tell your parents, either. I gotta run now.
Miss you much
Jules
So needless to say a huge weight was lifted off by that email, and I quickly replied to her, thanking her for letting me know. I also told her to call me when they got back home again, so we could see each other again.
I got back into my usual routine when we got back, and being busy helped me not think about how badly I missed her. We still emailed back and forth, but it's just not the same as being there. You can't see smiles and facial expressions with email. She let me know that they would be home the following Monday, and suggested that we make plans. It's actually pretty funny that we barely had seen each other in years considering she only lives 40 miles away.
Our ten days apart felt like months, and as soon as she was home I came to visit. Aunt Sandy greeted me with open arms, not hinting at all about what happened the week before. Uncle Joe said hi, and that he was glad that Julie and I were hanging out now.
"I think it's great that you guys are friends now. Cousins should be friendly, I wish I was closer to mine. I hardly ever see them. Plus it'll let me get to know my nephew better."
Julie was a little stir crazy from over 2 weeks at the cabin with her parents, so we hopped in her car and went for a drive. She lives in a more rural area than I do, so it didn't take long to be by ourselves. She drove down a gravel road that runs parallel to a river until we came to a small parking lot.
"As you can tell, I like to have my own quiet place, and this is where I come to be by myself. It's not at pretty as the woods at the lake, but it's close and people rarely come out here. I don't want to sound needy, but I've really missed you. Come over here and kiss me."
Not wanting to disappoint my lady, I grabbed her and quickly tried to make up for all those days we missed. I soon found my hands under her shirt, and discovered that she wasn't wearing a bra. We were still in plain view of the road, so I suggested that we move somewhere more private. This was her turf, so I followed her. The small trail wasn't visible until we were about 20 feet away from it. It started behind a big clump of trees, with the trail going around the first few.
It was basically a one person trail, so we followed the river for about 200 yards where we came to a opening in the canopy. It appeared to me that Julie had cleared some of the brush from here since it looked fresh.
"Julie, do you maintain this place? It looks too clean to be woods."
"Yeah, this is my spot. I usually bring a lounger out here and read or tan. I actually cut down a few small trees so I could get some sun. I cut them down close to the ground and covered them with dirt. I spend so much time here, I might as well be comfortable, right?"
"I agree, sweetie. I'm really impressed. Did you take your jock boyfriend out here?"
"No, we mostly spent time at his place, his hangouts. He did come to my house a lot, but he wasn't into actually walking somewhere. It's funny, actually. He's such a sporto, yet refused to walk a couple miles in the woods with me."
"He sounds like such a loser. I'm glad he's gone. You deserve better than that. I didn't like him the first time I heard about him, and the more I hear, the more I'm glad you got away from him. Oh, I'm such an idiot! I never asked where you were going to college. Are you staying in state?"
"It's about time you asked, you idiot, since I'll be across town from you," she said.
"You're kidding, right? Don't mess with me about this."