Sister Golden Hair Delight Ch. 25

Copyright @ calibeachgirl
All rights reserved, 2010

Late morning, Friday, August 17th

San Diego Naval Base

Meeting The Family Is Not As Simple As You Might Think

I waited at the gate and looked through the families surrounding the sailors leaving the base. Somewhere hidden in the crowed was Mike Hunter, Commander USN, now retired, the man I had hoped to marry. Like a silly schoolgirl going to the prom, I was getting anxious.

After the terrifying events in the Pacific, somehow I knew this was probably my last chance for romance and a possible family.

"Colonel Paras! Colonel Paras!"

I turned and saw an arm waving above a sea of people.

"Mike! Mike, I'm here!" I moved toward the sound of his voice, finally finding him surrounded by of five women. The familial resemblance was astounding and the ones I supposed were his sisters were almost clones of each other separated by a year or two apart.

Hunter looked at an older woman I took to be his mother and when she gave him a slight nod, he quietly approached and stood before me.

I held out my arms to embrace him but instead he took my right hand and gently kissed it. As romantic as it may have seemed, I was astonished at his behavior until I remembered what he said on the ship, his only desire was to serve, please, respect and love me and I was about to enter a world I knew almost nothing about.

"Mike, take me to your family." It almost was a command rather than a request. How easily I slipped back into my commanding Marine officer stance with him. What had caused that response from me I had no idea other than it just seemed the right thing? the correct thing? the easy thing? to do. I didn't know then and I still don't now.

"Yes, Colonel. Please follow me." I thought he would have taken my hand but he didn't. We approached the five women, the oldest one standing there in a very stern manner with her arms folded across her chest.

Mrs. Hunter stood waiting, almost like an old-fashioned school teacher with a yardstick in her hand. "Well, Michael? Aren't you going to introduce us?"

I was having misgivings from that moment. Not so much what Michael was doing, although it did seem a little strange to me at the time but the attitude steaming from the women. Did I really want a mother-in-law like her? More to the point, did I want to have sisters-in-law like them?

And so I was 'examining' them just as much if not more than they were looking at me.

Mike started speaking, "Mother, this is Colonel Maria Paras, USMC. She is the very special lady I've been emailing you about... Colonel, this is my mother and these are my sisters, Brianna, Melinda, Lizabeth, and Brenda..."

Before he could finish, Brianna, the oldest sister, put her hand on his shoulder. "OK, Michael, time to go."

It almost looked like a parent leading a wayward child away.

At the time, I was a little confused that he continued to call me 'colonel' rather than 'Maria,' but I guessed it was just his attempt to show respect since we were still on the base.

He led us away from the crowd and out the gate.

Deep In Traffic With Mother

Once outside the gate I took them to my SUVs parked on the street. As the sisters got into one car with Rico, I led Mike and his mother to the other driven by Philip.

I held the front door open for the mother, hoping that she would get the hint and sit up front. The woman smiled, kissed my cheek and sat in the front with Philip.

I had been surprised that Alessa told Philip to accompany me to San Diego. He was usually stuck to her like glue... and, he was very handsome.

Mrs. Hunter smile faded somewhat when she noticed the .45 automatic on Philip's belt and I think she was going to say something but the two cars abruptly left the curb and headed toward the Coronado Bridge for the San Diego Gaslamp District. I like that bridge for a lot.

Ever since the crash, I had nightmares, bad nightmares. Sometimes I was in the crashing plane, sometimes we both were but it always ended the same...

It had been weeks since we had seen each other although we were talking each night on the phone. That night we had together in my borrowed cabin had stuck in my mind ever since and looking back, I believe that was the greatest motivator in choosing Michael to be with me.

Yes, he was smart, physically fit, good looking and funny but his amazingly educated mouth won me over.

Shallow, selfish thinking... lonely woman selfish thinking... desperate woman selfish thinking. I admit it. At my age and situation, a normal life had already slipped by me, and this situation seemed right at the time.

Even though his mother was sitting in the front seat, I playfully put my hand on his crotch to stroke his dick through his pants. Instead of my anticipated result I felt no physical response at all. I stared at him but he cautiously pointed at his mother, looking to see if she was watching.

I knew he had commanded military personnel in times of extreme danger and so was surprised at how quickly he became subservient in the presence of his mother and Brianna, his older sister.

With the traffic downtown, it took a while for us to reach the restaurant.

I broke the silence. "Mrs. Hunter, have you ever been to a Brazilian steakhouse?"

She turned a little sideways to address me. "No, Colonel, but I hear that they are very nice."

"Please call me Maria... we're going to the Rei do Gado in the Gaslamp district. I hope that you and the girls will like it. General Crowell and I would go there when we worked together in San Diego. Ah, here we are."

The two cars parked in front of the restaurant's reserved curb and everyone got out. Philip and Rico found a sidewalk table to watch the cars and give us some privacy and started drinking their usual iced teas.

Time To Get Something To Eat

Upon seeing me walk in, the owner rushed over. "Good morning, Colonel Paras... I am so sorry to hear about what happened to Colonel Crowell. I am going to miss him very much. I have your party seated in the back to give you some privacy. Please come this way."

"Thank you. Mrs. Hunter?"

I hung back, letting the Hunter women precede me to the table. Seeing them far enough away, I reached for Mike and kissed him, putting all my passion into the embrace but before I could elicit a physical, a romantic, some kind of response Brenda walked up.

"Michael, come here!" Brenda sounded SO disapproving she surprised me.

Mike looked over at his youngest sister. "I'm sorry, we're coming." I saw he was afraid of the young woman and I began to really wonder what bizarre psychological hold they had over him.

By the time we found the table, the girls were already at the salad bar. Mike's mother patted the chair next to her and I sat down.

"Maria, can you tell me a little about how you met? Michael has been a little quiet about that. He said something about national security. I was very angry with him. He tells me everything."

I was stunned. The woman's response was unexpected.

"Mrs. Hunter... We can't talk about it. I'm glad it's over but a very good man has died and a good woman that loved him is missing him forever and his baby will never know him. Please, let's just say that Mike and I were lucky to have found each other."

More prophetic words had never been spoken... at least, by me.

The serious look on my face told the woman to drop the subject and I felt more self-assured in starting to deal with the Hunter women. I believed if I could 'control' the mother then the girls were going to be no problem no matter how they thought about themselves.

I was a Marine, damn it and we don't shit from anyone, let alone a bunch of civilians.

The sisters arrived, announcing their presence with loud laughter and talk.

"Mom, you have to hurry up! This place is great!"

At the same time as they sat down, servers began bringing out the first of many meats to our table. The mother was served first, more out of respect for her age than any perceived power. I declined anything for the moment while I put together a serious plan of action to 'save' Mike from his own family. The sisters were next in order of age. Mike was served last. I think that happened because the Brazilians were trying to flirt with the sisters.

As the waiter put the first slice on his plate, Melinda looked at him and said, "That's enough, Michael." The server was puzzled and looked at him to see if it was a joke, but Mike said nothing so the server left.

'What the hell?' I thought. If I cared for him at all, even as just a friend, I would have to get him out of their clutches as quickly as possible not matter what I would agree to with them.

I stood up and walked over to the salad bar. Talk of Jim's death had brought me down some; I still cared for him. My main concern now was Alessa who had proven to be my one true friend in life, asking nothing but friendship and love in return.

How it would end up was a question that only God knew the answer to but a sly smile appeared when I thought of our first night together. I knew how I wanted it to end up.

People walked around me as I stood there with an empty dish in my hand. When someone finally bumped me, I moved along, putting a few olives and some lettuce on my plate and returned to the table. If anyone noticed my strange selection, no one mentioned it.

"Maria?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mrs. Hunter... I was thinking of something." I opened my napkin with a flourish to mask my embarrassment.

"Girls, take Michael outside for a little walk. I'm going to talk to Colonel Paras for a moment. Don't go too far. I don't want to have to come looking for you."

"Yes, mother." Melinda nudged Mike and the three younger sisters took him away from the table and went outside. Philip told me he followed them down the street but didn't go with them because I was their responsibility and not Mike or the girls. It continued to amaze me how docile and acquiescent he was in their presence. I knew I had to get him away from them... but I still had no clear idea of what I was going to do with him once I had him.

Mrs. Hunter spoke first before I could question their actions. Where were they taking Michael anyways? If it was just privacy they were giving then they could have just went to another part of the restaurant.

"I was wondering if you are going to stay in the Marines or..."

"Well, Mrs. Hunter, I hope to find someone that loves me as much as I would him, retire from the military, work for Crowell Enterprises and possibly have a family. I have a little money saved up.

Mrs. Hunter, I'm so tired of military life and this last 'adventure' really woke me up. I'm through early next year. Whatever pension they would give me isn't worth the next five years of my life. I know I'm a little older than Mike is but I like your son... I know it's been quick but I believe he loves me. Does he? Has he said anything to you at all?"

Just as quietly, Mrs. Hunter spoke. "Yes, he does but he isn't sure that he could please you as he says you deserve. I understand that you got him a job with Crowell but will that be enough to occupy his time when you're not at home?"

"Ma'am, if I were to marry him would you be happy with that, could you be happy with that? I need to know. I realize that you've just met me and don't know me any better than you know the waiter but I'm a good person, a caring person and you would be my family."

Those words became anticlimactic as the days continued on for this new group of people that entered my life.

At that time, I still was still thinking in terms of a somewhat normal marriage.

My mind went off on a tangent of its own. I still have only one friend in the whole world, Alessa Lane. At one time, I was jealous and stupid and petty and wrong and she's the only one besides Jim Crowell who ever did me a favor just because it would make me happy. And now Alessa and I are trying to run the company after he left us. Our little cabal is desperately working to just keep it going.

"I don't know what to say, Maria. I appreciate your candor. Michael, like all my children, is very special to me... his father was killed when he was a young boy."

What was it with all these men and women losing their parents when they were young? It felt like an epidemic of death running through the people I know. And, now Alessa's unborn child will never know Jim.

"This may shock you but I think you're the right woman to appreciate what I have to say. My husband was a mean drunk and beat us when he came home. He whored around, gambled and spent his paycheck at the bars and as God is my witness, I was glad when somebody killed him in a parking lot.

As Michael was growing up, I made sure that he would never be someone like his father. Later, the girls helped me teach him the correct manner to have around a woman. Every day, we made sure he was compliant with what we wanted him to do in the house.

It's true I did hit him... so did the girls... but now, he knows his boundaries and what he is and isn't allowed to do on his own. It's just better this way."

Holy shit, no wonder he was so complacent when it came to being with them and with me. Whatever spirit he might have had was thoroughly crushed.

I questioned the nebulous idea I had about rehabilitating him into a husband. I questioned everything that I had hoped for and at that singular moment grasped the fact that the only person who was going to love me completely for myself was Alessa.

Oh, God, how had I come to this? My whole youth wasted and now this. I wanted to shrink up and just die, right there, I was so damned depressed.

Mike's mother had continued talking, not realizing that I had retreated into my own personal hell.

"...I told him to join the Navy. I knew he would accept the inherent discipline of the military. He's done well as long as he's told what to do. We moved to San Diego when he was stationed here; ever since he's always sent his money home to help us here.

I'm glad that he is out, thanks to you. I don't think he could have risen much farther at all. He is smart but does what he's told. I don't think he's had an original thought in quite a while."

Damn! What a thing to say about your own son! And, you're the reason he's screwed up! My original plan for him went up in smoke and I then recognized the best I could do for Michael was to give him a safe place to live away from his sisters and try my best to bring him some peace. How he would fit into the relationship Alessa and I already had, I did not know but vowed to make it work somehow, if just for my own peace of mind.

"Am I scaring you? I'm thinking that you might want to jump up and run away, the way you look. If that's the case, I'm sorry but I had to tell you this if you really are interested in him."

Mrs. Hunter drank some water. She carefully watched my face for some response, a response I honestly was too disturbed to have. Seeing me just sitting there listening, she continued as if my silence gave assent.

"You're right... I don't know you at all, except for what Michael has told me... but I like what I see today. You're obviously very smart and determined, especially in a man's world like the military. You're honest with your wishes and desires. You say you like my son... I know you don't really love him, even if you think you do. In such a short time and the way he is, but I do know that if you want him, he will be the perfect companion, he will soon anticipate your needs, anticipate your desires and who knows, if you really want, probably father your children. That's up to you.

"You want marriage and a family. You say you're going to leave the Marines next year. He's my son and I want the best woman for him... A strong woman who will take responsibility for him. Do you understand what I'm saying? In the hands of the right woman, Michael will serve her well. If you truly care for him then I will support you with all my heart in teaching you how to treat him. He needs a woman to tell him what to do or he will be lost.

"Is that all right with you?

"We have given him a very strong desire to please the women he is submissive to. It is his way of expressing love and devotion. What he wants and needs is a woman who will formally take control of his life... to be the authority of his life. It must be a woman he can love and trust. Are you following what I am saying, Maria?"

I was amazed at what I heard. It was like that wave that Bob Osborne saved me from, crashing all around me, tumbling me, overwhelming me.

The woman admitted to training her son to be subservient to the woman he considered his mistress. After the lost years with Crowell, God bless him, I have grown to understand him so much better as I continued to discover what he had done for me. My new relationship with Alessa... we shared our equality... she was completely in charge while we were doing business, I was when we were alone.

Mrs. Hunter turned. "Brianna?"

I looked at Michael's oldest sister. Mrs. Hunter's phrasing of her treatment of Michael was unbelievable to me. Her comments about my career in the Marines, while true, were also a little strange. What Brianna was going to say was obviously important otherwise why would the other sisters take Michael away and leave her behind? It struck me that I began thinking and calling him 'Michael' instead of the more masculine 'Mike' I had thought of for him just a few hours earlier.

"Mother, give us some privacy."

Without a word the older woman got up and also went outside somewhere. Who was the real boss here, the mother or the daughter?

"Maria, what I'm about to say may seem crazy... it may even make you want to get up and leave all of us right here, including Michael and run away as fast as you can. I am willing to take that chance."

And there I had it. Somehow, the daughter had supplanted the mother for the position of power.

"You are a strong woman. I know we've said that enough today... maybe that's what attracted him to you in the first place. Maybe you sensed something about him subconsciously, I don't know.

"Ummm... when Mother was at work my sisters and I would play with Michael. He was already 'submissive' to mother. At the time, we recognized his behavior but didn't really know what it was called or that it wasn't what we now know is the accepted behavior for an American man.

"With the five of us only a year apart we convinced to play dress-up with us."

Ah, fuck me! Was she telling me what I was thinking she was? I grew nervous and starting looking for the front door in case I decided to walk away. If I did, they'd have to find their own way home.

Brianna put her hand on mine. "Please, don't leave... at least until I can explain a little better and make a suggestion."

I decided to see just what the Hunter women had done to Michael. My curiosity got the better of me, I must admit... afraid to find out but now willing to leave until I did. The fact that I had been falling in love with all this time faded from my mind.

"Whether it was because he was so young when mother started 'training' him or is just something in his psyche, he quickly became submissive to us, also. I'm kinda ashamed to admit we had him dressed up like a girl for a long time, until he was about ten, I think. We also made him do all our chores around the house before mother came home. It was so simple..."

I didn't know whether to be angry or sad. For the third time in my life a man had let me down. First, my father, then Jim and now Michael. I just fucking gave up. I didn't need a man anyway, I tried to convince myself, not for real love and even sex now that Alessa and I are... lovers.

What about this situation, though? It was causing my head to hurt.

"...and so, now what? Is he gay? A cross-dresser?"