It was an innocent question that opened the floodgates. âRobert, how come you never see any of these girls more than once or twice?â
âMom,â he said, âitâs horrible; not one of these girls is interesting to me, not one of them excites me. Even if I had the chance I wouldnât want to go to bed with them.â
I laughed, âI thought a boy of your age wanted to go to bed with every girl he saw.â
I think my laughing angered and emboldened him. Richard looked at me for a long time and said, âNo mom, I just want one, and itâs your fault.â
That brought me to attention and before I could say anything he added, âI saw you with Paul mom; I saw what you did.â
Robert and I had been living alone for about three months after Paul left. I guess I should say after my ex left, and then Paul left six months later. Paul is my oldest.
My ex left because I wanted him to, and Paul left because he wanted to. I call him my ex because even the sound of his name is like chalk on a blackboard. My ex wasnât a good husband, he wasnât a good father, he wasnât a good lover, and he wasnât a good person. His resume speaks for itself, enough said.
On the day Mr.Ex left, Paul said, âDoreen, heâs history?â I said yes and he said, âOh.â Paul never mentioned or asked about his father again. Thatâs the way he is, a shrug of his shoulders and on to the next thing.
Paul had taken to calling me Doreen since he was about twelve and no matter what I said about it, he just kept on calling me Doreen and finally I just said to myself, âHeâs not on drugs, he comes home at night, whatâs the difference what he calls you?â
Robert my youngest seemed even more relieved than I on the day his father left. He asked me so many questions, he made my head spin. When he asked if my ex was a good sex partner, I drew the line and said, âEnd of discussion.â
That was about the time that Robert began confiding in me. When he was very young, whenever I turned to look for him, he was by my side. There he was finishing high school and he seemed to have returned. He was unhappy, he had no friends, and I instinctively wanted to help him. He had always been high-strung, shy, and unable to get out from under the shadow of his older brother Paul.
I had always pushed him to be more social, setting him up with some dates, but they inevitably ended poorly. Contrary to my expectations he had gotten worse after Paul left the house. I thought he would bloom, but he only stayed closer to home and closer to me.
When Robert said that heâd seen me with Paul, I couldnât swallow. Images of my older son making love to me flooded my mind. I saw him above me, taking me, fucking me for hours into the night. I said, âNo honeyâŚno.â I fought for more denials and none came, then I began choking up.
âI saw it lots of times momâ he said. âWhen you thought I wasnât home. I saw how you looked at him mom. I canât stop thinking about it.â
My head swirled and I knew that it would be fruitless to say it didnât happen. âOh honey, what happened between Paul and me was wrong; it was a mistake.â I was trailing off into a whisper. âYou think Iâm terribleâŚmaybe youâre right honeyâŚmaybe I am a terrible mother⌠I know itâs hard for you to understand what happenedâŚIâm sorry you saw it babyâŚit was wrong.â
I spoke for a while like that and he stopped talking; he just stared at me. I was probably less than convincing because I had never convinced myself. What was wrong was that Paul had left me. It sounds pathetic even to me, but what was wrong, was that my son had broken my heart.
If one revelation wasnât enough the second certainly was. Robert said, âI donât think youâre terrible mom; I just want you to look at me like that for once. Donât you understand?â I didnât; it just wouldnât register. Finally it started to sink in. âMom, the reason Iâm not interested in other girls is becauseâŚI want you the way Paul wanted you.â
âOh Robert no, you donât mean that. Itâs just that what you sawâŚmaybe it made you thinkâŚâ
âNo mom, Iâm not a kid anymore, I can vote and I can drink and I can want who I want. Mom I want you; I want to be with you.â
Robert continued to tell me that he was in love with me. I could see he was getting excited because I was letting him say things a son shouldnât be saying to his mother. âMom I want to be inside you so bad; I just want you to open yourself once for me like you did for Paul, so I can be the one thatâs inside you. I just want to love you like he did.â
All I kept saying was that it was wrong but that only inflamed him more. He came within a few inches of me and whispered fiercely, âIt wasnât wrong with him was it? And where is he? Heâs gone. Mom, Iâm here, and I love you, and I want you so much; I canât think of being with anyone else.â
At that moment I fully understood why people say, âTurned offâ and âTurned on.â After Paul left, I had masturbated frequently. That didnât last long, and after a few weeks it tailed off and I stopped caring about sex. I was depressed for months and my sexual impulses had virtually shut down. The look in my young sonâs face, the heated smell coming off his body, and his mouth so close to mine; opened the floodgates. I felt the flush, the rapid rise and fall of my breasts, the wetness between my legs.
I didnât know what I believed anymore and I knew he was about to kiss meâŚsweet kiss, hard, and then softer, until I felt him loving me in my mouth with his tongue. I should have shut it down right away but I didnât, or I couldnât. I didnât know the difference at the time. It wasnât how I thought of myself. I wasnât a woman who would let her son have sex with her, and yet I was about to do it again.