Motherly Concern

Thank you in advance for taking a chance on my story. This is new for me and I would appreciate any feedback and suggestions. Thank you!

* * * * *

As far as funerals go, it was a lovely one. She had to laugh at that thought simply because she found it quite comical when she would hear people say that, "Oh, it was such a lovely funeral, wasn't it?" How many times had someone walked up to her today and said that. How she longed to say, "Hell no, it was nothing close to lovely. I just put someone I care for in the ground forever."

Patty still loved her ex husband, Michael. She always loved him, but their relationship was better as exes than it had been as husband and wife. When he had been diagnosed with lung cancer, it was only natural that she stepped in to help his son, James, take care of him. Michael was very young when he and his girlfriend became pregnant with James. They married out of duty to their parents, but divorced when James was seven. Since Patty and Michael moved about four hours away from James and his mother, she did not really get to know him until the recent tragic situation brought them together. Patty was amazed as to how much James, now 27, reminded her of a younger Michael. He could take her back to when she and Michael first met with just a similar movement or facial expression. She tried to fight the fact that she had found herself thinking of James in a very un-motherly way. The fact that they were together taking care of a man they both loved made her feel even guiltier.

She had decided to stay the rest of the week at Michael's house. She was still listed as executor of his will and had some items to take care of before she could just leave. Standing in the guest room, she removed her dress and hose and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She had not realized how much weight she had lost. The last months of Michael's illness had taken its toll. She had always been considered thin, but she thought she looked like a bag of bones. She sighed as she pulled on a lounging set and knew that now she had a lot of time to devote to taking care of herself.

James' voice came from the other side of the door, "Patty, do you want some coffee? I was going to put some on and will make extra if you want to join me." She answered back that she would love some and would be out soon.

The smell of the coffee filled her sense as soon as she opened the bedroom door. She passed the living room and saw a tray with coffee and pastries on the table in front of the couch. James walked in as she was curling her legs underneath her on the couch, taking her fist sip of coffee. She looked up at him as he approached the couch. He was so incredibly handsome and she was again reminded of the man she fell in love with and married. He sat on the opposite end of the couch and reached for his coffee cup. They sat in silence for several minutes. She looked up to catch James' gaze and smiled at him. Her eyes softened when she saw what was on his face. The unmistaken look of pain. She put her cup on the table and reached forward and placed her hand on his. "He was an incredible person, James and I will miss him too.

"He is so much better off, Patty. How I hated seeing him suffer so much in the end. Now I have to think that his suffering is over. I have trouble understanding the whole God concept, but just knowing he is not in pain is comforting."

She saw the tear, the one single tear escape over the edge of his eye and fall down his cheek. Without thinking, she reached up and stopped it with her finger. She reached out and hugged him and tried to force her mind to ignore how he felt in her arms. They sat, holding each other for hours, reminiscing and laughing about life with Michael. As the sun disappeared, their words became more scarce and they were content to comfort each other in silence and ever growing darkness. She did not even realize she drifted off.

Michael was kissing her in her dream. It was the soft, passionate kisses she remembered so well from their marriage. How she loved the way he kissed her. She used to call it making love with their mouths because their kisses contained so much passion. IN her dream, it was a young Michael that was kissing her, caressing her, whispering how much he had always loved her. She started surfacing out of her sleepy state and a sense of utter confusion overtook her mind. She knew that she was awakening from a very sweet dream, but if she was dreaming, why was she still feeling Michael's kisses and hands on her bare back. As she became fully awake, the panic took a hold of her. She was in James arms, not Michael's. She pulled away, looking at him in a way that her confusion could not be overlooked. "James??? We, we cannot…."

"Patty, I am sorry, I just need you. I hurt so much, I need to have part of my father with me right now. He loved you so much, even after your divorce. I need you. I need you in a way I cannot explain. Please, don't turn me away."

Her mind was spinning but her heart was opening to him. Her mind kept telling her that it was so wrong, but her body was just not listening. She reached for him, cupping his face in her hands. She kissed his forehead, trailed a soft kiss down to his eyelids and then found his mouth. She kissed him tentatively at first but they both grew in urgency as they became accustomed to each other's passion. Their kisses became deeper and the more she tried to push Michael out of her mind, the more he overtook her thoughts. It was uncanny; the similarities were uncanny. The next few minutes were a blur, and before she knew it, they were both nude and lying on the floor next to the fireplace. Touches, caresses and tears all mixed into each other. "Patty, I love you, I need you."

"Oh Michael, make love to me." She did not even realize that she used Michael's name. She was going back and forth between what was real and what she really wanted. She opened her eyes and saw the look on James' face as he entered her. Her body instinctively reached up to him as he inserted all of himself in her. They both cried out in pleasure, gripping at each other with hands that could not stay still on each other's body. They moved, slowly, softly and always together. They were helping each other, helping ease the pain of loosing someone they both loved and discovering a level of passion that neither knew existed. They rolled over and she straddled him as she lowered herself and felt him slowly slide back inside of her. She again closed her eyes and tilted her head back. He reached up and caressed her, always caressing her. He called out to her, "Oh Patty, I am so close to coming, Please let me come in side of you, I need to come inside of you." She reached down and softly stroked her hard nub, bringing her orgasm almost instantly. "James, come with me. I want to feel you come inside of me, and I want you to feel me come on you."

They climaxed together, crying out and moaning into each other's mouth as they continued to ride their pleasure. Once they finished, she collapsed on top of him and they lay like that for almost thirty minutes. For those thirty minutes, they cried with each other and realized they had each helped each other in ways they did not even realize they needed. Without words, they got up and went into her bedroom and fell asleep holding each other.

The following morning she awoke to find his side of the bed empty. She walked into the kitchen to find him at the stove cooking breakfast. He turned to look at her and they embraced. Their embrace was one of a stepmother and son rather than lovers. Nothing was said of what happened the previous evening, not that morning nor ever again. The healing, however, they provided each other lasted a lifetime.