CHAPTER 1
The sun shone weakly as it prepared to set when oil exploration geologist Ted Murphy arrived home from his final foreign contract. He'd soon start work as a lecturer at his old university.
As the train began moving off, the lone figure on the sole platform of the rail station of the nondescript town waved and he waved back at his sister Jenna.
The kid stayed where she was, and that puzzled Ted.
Usually she'd come running, as fast as most teens her age. She'd leap into his arms and excitedly smother him in kisses and yell to be kissed.
Ted strode toward her with a backpack and a carry bag. All of his other possessions had been freight-forwarded to the university. As he closed in, the first thing he noticed was the blonde hair of the eighteen-year old. It was now cut short and appeared curly. She had filled out and then he really focused on a pair of great looking tits.
Oh my. His little sister he'd not seen for three years was all grown up.
She said hi and made no effort to re-connect physically. So he dropped his bag and, scooping behind her knees, picked her up and kissed her.
"Put me down," she commanded but was ignored.
Ted asked, "Are you still sore at catching me with my hand up mom's dress?"
"Well a little I guess. It really shocked me at the time."
"Your mom was horny. Don't you ever get horny?"
Jenna looked away and said yes of course.
He grinned and placed her back on her feet and continued to hold her waist. He said they had a sexy mom. For some years Carol had got him to rub her off when everything began to get out of control for her, that it just wasn't as intense when she did it.
He eyed his sister. "You know she's eleven years younger than dad? I would make her wet, that's all. I've never fucked her if that's what had you worried."
She said it wasn't natural but she sounded less than convincing.
He joked, "Ah you're jealous" and she turned away again, making it impossible to read her expression. So he played big brother and said, "I suggest you carve through some of society's stupid social rules and you'd be surprised how little about human behavior is not natural."
She snorted and said rules and mores were necessary for a smoothly running society where respect for each other and other people's property allowed society to function in an orderly manner.
He mocked, "Oh you've been receiving an education since I last saw you?"
At last she smiled and she apologized for having misjudged him because she hadn't possessed the information to make a valid judgment.
"Thanks for that Jenna but please understand what I was doing was and should remain a confidential matter between our mother and me."
"I can accept that," she smiled. "Mom also asks me to keep some things confidential. Here let me kiss you properly."
The kiss was slow and sweet.
"Are you still a virgin?"
She snorted "Ted" and pulled away and sighed and said no.
"Were those encounters enjoyable?"
Grimacing she said no and waited for the embarrassing comment to arrive. But she was caught flat-footed because all he said was shall they go and picked up his bag and had taken a couple of steps before she cried to wait for her.
"I was waiting for you to ask did I think it was my fault sex was usually unrewarding, or that if I wanted a decent experience I should try you."
"Jenna," he said, pretending to be shocked.
She turned pink and flustered, "Why are you keeping me off-balance like this?"
Looking innocent he asked, "What do you mean?"
She frowned and said she'd explained herself sufficiently.
Smiling and eyeing her breasts, he said in the three years since they'd last been together she'd changed to become a young woman. "You'll be nineteen in three weeks."
Miss Pink Face looked surprised and asked did he know and remember everything.
"Only things that are important to me."
"Meaning that...?"
She hesitated,
He said, "Not only are you family Jenna but you are my only sibling."
She nodded. "Dad has never really been fond of me like he was of you and in mid-teen years mom and were somewhat off each other."
He reached out and she took his hand and came right up beside him.
He blew into her hair and she laughed and relaxed to look at him almost coquettishly and listened attentively as big brother, nine years her senior, said, "Some of those years from when you were thirteen would have been difficult years for mom and now she'll see you as a competitor. We both know just how competitive she can be and she'll know her beauty is fading and her figure has lost its elegance. In reality any tension between you two probably won't really ease till your become pregnant."
"Why's that?"
"You wait till when you're told you are to be a grandmother. That will force you to act your age. In mom's case he'll see you as a deliverer of grandchildren and forget that crap about your being a competitor."
"Are you sure about this?"
"No but I read a lot and it sure sounds like good theory to me."
"God you are impossible," she giggled and crooked her arm into his and squeezed affectionately. "You are still a fucking tease. The truth is what you said about me and mom being competitors is way off beam."
He looked shocked and said her name sharply.
"What?"
"Your use of the F-word has shattered my belief that you'd become a young lady."
She smiled and that switched to a frown.
"Mom and dad apologize for not being here. They've gone to the funeral of the woman who was mom's chief bridesmaid."
"Sara Bennett."
"God why is it you remember her?"
"Until she and her family moved from here when you were about nine she and mom were practically inseparable. Sara's older daughter is called Gwyneth after mom and Sara was the only person mom ever wrote to. All their lives those two wrote to each other every Sunday night. I remember we arriving home late from holidays on Sunday night and mom would immediately go off to write and the letter would be on the table next morning ready for dad to post on the way to work."
"Omigod you have a sensitive side to you."
"Yeah well you'll learn sooner or latter even the most nondescript people can surprise you. When's the funeral?" he asked as they reached their mom's fully restored dark blue 1973 Triumph GT6 Mk3.
"Tomorrow at 1:00."
"Right I'm going."
"What in this old heap."
He smiled and said if it got their mom the five miles to her office each workday then it would get him 450 miles to Ludlow.
"But why, Mrs Bennett is not a relative?"
"Yeah well mom would appreciate some support because dad is shallow emotionally so will just hang about, standing one pace behind her. But the real reason is Sara Bennett gave me a tricycle for my fourth birthday. It was blue and had a bell that dad disabled because I rang it incessantly. It had a metal plate over the back axle and I learned I could place one foot on that and operate my trike like a scooter."
"Omigod. I know what happened. Being an only child at that stage, that gift removed the loneliness from your life."
Her brother looked away and muttered he only came to appreciate that fact years later.
Tears in her eyes, Jenna said she would go with him.
"Why?"
"Because only now am I really learning who you are."
He frowned and said she might be disappointed and she just smiled and gave him the keys and said she needed to go home and pack a few things including her black dress.
