Amy - Day 03

When Emma finally let me go, I was introduced to Allen. He looked about as average as you could get and his face had a "Why am I here?" look to it. I felt bad for the guy but I was glad he was here.

Then came Bill. Jesus, he was huge. He had to be a good foot taller than me and he was built like a linebacker. Of course, that means he decided to bear hug me.

"I've been waiting to meet you," Bill exclaimed. "I was so damn happy when you called me, yesterday!"

"I'm really glad you could make it up," I said when I could breathe again.

Once Bill let me down, I turned to Emma and Saul. "I want to thank you both so much," I said.

"What for, son," Saul asked.

"For doing what my parents failed to do. For loving Amy and raising her to be such a great person."

Emma teared up and Saul was blinking rapidly as he searched for something to say. Suddenly, I was engulfed in another monster hug from Bill. He lifted me off the ground.

"You and I are going to be friends," he said.

When he set me down I said, "I think we probably already are."

Part Four:

The afternoon was in full swing. Everyone had overeaten as required by Aunt Ellie. Chris was happily playing with his new distant cousins and Clare was chatting away with Rose about teaching and cooking. Clare was well on track to going to the Culinary Institute of America and Rose was more than a little jealous.

Amy sat down next to me in a lounger and smiled at the scene. "This is so lovely," she said.

I had been mulling a thought for a little while about taking Amy on a walk to the far side of the farm. No, not for pervy reasons. The family cemetery was there.

Okay, so maybe I did want a few minutes alone with her.

"Where are your parents," I asked.

"They're completely taken with Aunt Ellie. They're off doing old people stuff."

"Want to go for a walk?"

"Yeah, sure," she answered.

We stood up and I made a quick detour to a card table where Sophie, Lys, Bill and Allen were playing "Uno". I could see that Sophie was playing as cut-throat as I taught her and I was amused to see Allen was giving her a run for her money. "Give her Hell, Allen. She thinks she's the queen," I said.

Everyone chuckled and I continued, "If anyone is looking for us, I'm taking Amy out to the grove."

Sophie looked at me in surprise. "*You're* going to the grove?"

"Yeah, I think Amy should see it."

We bid goodbye and began to walk across the field behind the main house. I led Amy to a well-manicured path and we followed it across the property as it wound up a hill. As soon as we knew we were out of sight Amy's hand intertwined with mine and she asked, "What's the grove?"

"It is the family cemetery," I said, "I don't normally go out to it. I'm not religious and I think a body is just a body. The person is long gone. But I think you should see it all the same."

She reached up and kissed my cheek but kept her thoughts to herself.

Ten minutes later we came to the top of the hill. A well-maintained lawn stretched out dotted with graves. The graves dated as late as 2020 and as far back as the 1700s. We were a big family. There were a lot of graves.

Amy wandered them for a few moments and then I led her to a few specific ones.

"This is our grandparents, Jane and Wendell Borden. They were married at 19 and were told it would never work. They stayed married until Grandpop's death in 1977. The ones immediately around us are all of our aunts and uncles. Couple of cousins, too."

She looked at each in turn then I led her near the edge of the grove. "This is Mom and Dad."

Amy kneeled down and put her hands on the headstone. I heard her speaking quietly to them but I didn't feel right listening. I picked up a few words and phrases; among them, "I don't understand yet," and "but I do forgive you. David will too, someday."

I know by this point I again had tears in my eyes. I didn't deserve this woman as either a sister or a lover but by someone's blessing I had her as both. "Don't fuck this up," I said to myself though the voice in my head sounded more like my father than me.

"Is she here," Amy asked. She didn't have to specify; I knew who she meant.

I pointed to a lone grave at the very edge. I knew the epitaph on the headstone by heart. "Grace Elizabeth Drake. Beloved Wife and Mother. Only You."

"Only you" was what Grace and I said to each other in addition to "I love you". It was our way of saying we had eyes for nobody else. It was the last thing she said to me before her lungs failed her and they had to intubate her. And it was here that I was turning that into a lie.

Amy knelt down next to Grace's stone. "Hi Grace," she began, "I'm Amy, your sister-in-law. Yeah, surprise! You have a sister-in-law. I am so, so sorry that we never got to meet but I feel like I'm getting to know you. I see you in Rose and Sophie; and even in David. I would have loved to have had long talks with you and had drinks and dinners and girls' nights. I don't know what you think of what's going on, but I hope you understand. I've loved David for all my life. I've dreamt of him. And you, through his eyes. I hope you understand and can accept me as ... well whatever this becomes. And thank you. Thank you for taking such good care of my brother until I found him. Thank you for helping his heart. I feel like I love you as well for everything you did. If you're watching, please know that you can rest. The girls and I will make sure he still remembers to live. Thank you so much, Grace."

Everything went numb and I sat down hard on the ground and started sobbing. My whole body was wracked with gasping sobs. It was embarrassing at first but I quickly didn't care. When Grace died Rose was barely 19. I had to hold strong through the funeral. I never shed a single tear. I drank-boy did I drink. But I never cried.

I felt Amy's arms surround me. She touched her face to mine and we sat cheek to cheek. Her cheeks were as wet as mine.

"It will be okay, David," Amy said again and again.

Amy and I turned to face each other and gently kissed one another. I held her there then, forehead to forehead as I pulled myself together.

"It'll be okay," she repeated. "We'll figure this out."

I took Amy's hand and kissed it. "C'mon. There's one more place I want to show you."

I stood up and led Amy up another path on the other side of the grove. We climbed a small hill up to a gazebo that had a view of most of the farm.

"Grandpop built this," I explained. "It is my favorite spot on the farm. I would sit here for hours as a kid."

"It is beautiful," she said.

We sat down on the bench with a perfect view of the house down below. "What are we doing, Amy?"

"I'm not sure," she said. "I know I like it. A lot."

"Sophie asked me that this morning. I told her it was like two strangers who had found comfort and pleasure in each other. I don't think that's entirely the truth, is it? We aren't strangers at all, are we?"

"No," she said, quietly.

"Sophie asked me if I love you."

"What did you say," Amy asked looking at me.

"I told her 'I don't know. Maybe. Probably," I leaned close to Amy, our lips almost touching, "Yeah," I said quietly and then kissed her again.

"I love you, too," she said. "As a brother, as a lover, as someone that makes me whole."

"You're going to make me cry again," I said with a smile.

"Asshole," she slapped my arm, but her smile betrayed how happy she was. "We should probably head back before people start to ask questions."

We stood up and I started heading down the hill toward the house.

"What are you doing," she asked, "I can't go down that hill. That way is way too steep!"

I turned around and grabbed Amy by the waste. She gave off a gasp of surprise, "What are you doing?" I smiled in answer and picked her up putting her into a "fireman's carry" with her head at my ass.

"DAVE! Put me down," she shrieked. "Put me DOWN!"

I ignored her completely and began walking down the hill. As we got further down I could see relatives pointing and laughing. Cheers of "Go Dave" and "Get her, Caveman!" rang up the hill. I admit I damn near dropped her when we heard Bill yell out, "Better pray he doesn't fart, sis!"

Amy went rigid with the possibility. "If you fart on me you're a dead man," Amy hissed at me.

To the continued cheers of the family we made it down the hill and I put Amy back on her feet. Aunt Ellie was shaking her head at me trying to fix me with a disapproving look. I could see Amy's father and "Bill laughing the hardest. I raised my arms in triumph and gave a caveman-like grunt.

"You're going to pay for that later," Amy whispered to me.

"I'm counting on it," I replied.

Part V

The afternoon wore on and the sun set, cooling everything off. Cousin Eddie built a bonfire but I stayed up near the porch drinking a Coke. Bill sat down next to me, nursing a beer.

"I can't thank you enough for inviting us," Bill said.

"I'm really glad you could make it," I said. "I think it helped Amy to have her people here."

"You're a good man, David. I'm really glad Amy found you."

I gave Bill a salute with my Coke can and said, "Thank you, Bill. I'm really glad to have met you all, too. Though I don't know how to read Allen, yet."

"Oh...Allen's okay. He's a little worried that you'll take his little sister away from us. I'll tell you this though: Allen is a hypochondriac. Having access to a doctor all day has him in his element!"

I laughed and shook my head. "I hope he's keeping Sophie on her toes."

Bill's face turned a little more serious. "You know that Amy dreamt about you, right?"

"Ya. She told me about the dreams and showed me the sketches. Fucking uncanny."

"Yeah," Bill agreed. "When she showed me a picture of you after she found you, I nearly shit myself."

Bill took a long sip from his beer and resigned himself to say, "I need you to listen to this, so you understand. When Amy was little, she had the dreams several times a week. Every morning after she had one, she'd say things like, 'the boy is cute, the boy is smart, or the boy is kind.' Sometimes it was, 'the boy is lonely.' As she got older, she had the dreams less and less, but they never went away. Eventually it became, 'the boy is hot' and 'the boy is a genius.' As we got into high school it was 'the boy is angry.' She said that one a lot. One day in our 20s it became 'the man,' as in, 'the man is married.' She seemed pretty sad over that one; she'd long since decided she was in love with you, I think. Then one day it was, 'the man is a father.' That one made her happy; I never knew why. She got older, got married, had her kids. I never liked Christopher. He was--he is a douche. I always felt like she was settling. Then came August of 202. She called me in tears one morning and said, 'the man is alone.' She felt what you felt. I assume that was when your wife passed."

I nodded and sat back, eyeing Bill's beer with a thirst as he continued, "That's when things went to shit with her and Christopher. She won't admit it but the dreams picked up again. Christopher couldn't handle it. Then about a year ago he takes off with this bimbo. They divorced and two weeks ago she gets the notification from that DNA outfit that you exist. She found your picture and shit went nuts. Then 'bam!' Here we are.

All I could say was, "Fuck."

"Yeah. Allen and I told her not to expect too much, but Mom and Dad wanted her to come meet you. This brings us to yesterday morning when I get a text from her saying, 'I think the man loves me, too.'"

Oh shit. I was certain I was a dead man.

"I'm not going to ask," he said. "I really don't want to know. But she is in love with you. You need to know this. She has been in love with you her entire life. If you take advantage of that or if you hurt her..." he crushed his beer can flat.

"Bill," I said solemnly, I would rather step into a cage match with you than hurt her."

"You and I," Bill began, "we're going to really become friends. Dave, I really like you. I think we could become like brothers. But remember, Amy and you may have shared a womb for nine months but she's been my sister for a lot longer."

We sat in silence for a moment before I asked, "Did you really just give me a brother to boyfriend speech?"

"I think I did," he said while watching the nearby bonfire.

"Fair," I said, "I'd do the same."

"And that's why I already like you," he laughed. And just like that any tension evaporated and we started to laugh. We laughed long and hard until Amy came over to see what the hell was going on.

"Brother stuff," Bill answered, sending us both back into laughter.

"I may have made a mistake," Amy signed. I gave her a wink and I swear she blushed!

Amy grabbed an empty chair and sat down. "Mom and Dad are getting tired and want to be on their way, soon. Sophie and Lys said they'd ride home with Rose and Steven. Then if you're okay the kids can ride with us and stay at your place tonight before we go home tomorrow."

"That was my plan," I said. "But you don't have to leave tomorrow if you don't want to. Stay a few more days. We can do laundry..."

This time Amy cut me off, "No, we do have to go home. I have a funeral Wednesday and I have to prep for it, Tuesday."

"Okay," I said, more than a little disappointed.

Bill got up saying he'd round up the folks leaving Amy and I alone for a moment.

"Thank you," I said, "for a wonderful few days. I am really going to miss you."

"New Paltz is only an hour and a half away. You aren't getting rid of me that easy," Amy said. A moment later she added, "How are we going to handle this? You know, with the kids and the family?"

"I won't lie to your kids," I said, "or mine. If we're going to be together at all we have to find a way to tell them. Anything else is unfair. As for your folks and brothers? I have no fucking clue yet. But I think Bill expects it to happen."

"Really," she asked shocked.

"Yeah. He filled me in on the rest of your dreams. And let me tell you, 'the man' is going to find a way to fuck you tonight."

"Oh," she blushed again.

"If you can keep that banshee wail down, that is."

Amy looked at me, shook her head, and said, "Asshole."

Part VI:

Twenty minutes later found us packing the kids and the bags into the Jeep. We had a lot of tearful goodbyes and hugs and promises to see each other soon. Then we left for the house.

We pulled into my drive a little before midnight. Upon seeing the house Clare uttered a simple, "wow." Chris was out cold ten minutes after we left the farm.

Once inside, Clare picked a bedroom and Amy carried Chris into another. When Amy came downstairs Lys excused herself leaving us alone with Sophie.

"I'll be at work by the time you guys wake up tomorrow," Sophie said. "I wanted to say goodbye and thank you to you, Aunt Amy."

"You're welcome," Amy said, "But what for?"

"For bringing my father back," Sophie answered. "And I'm sorry for this morning. It is none of my business."

"Yes, it is," I said. "You are my daughter and this affects you, too."

"No, it really doesn't. Shut up for a minute," Sophie said sternly. "Dad, you were right. What bothered me is that Amy's not Mom, but I was wrong. I love you and whatever brings you back to me is okay with me."

Sophie gave each of us hugs and said good night, leaving Amy and I to each other. I sat down on my favorite chair and my lover, my beautiful sister, sat down on my lap. I held her close to me, breathing in her scent. We sat in silence for several minutes simply enjoying each other's company. Her body was warm and soft against me. Where our skin touched I still felt the electricity I felt Friday night at Frank's.

Amy leaned back into me, pressing me into the chair back. She finally broke the silence, "What are you thinking?"

"Honestly? I'm scared to death," I said. I was but this was the first moment I could put it into words.

"Why, baby," she asked, "Did someone say something?"

"No, no, no. Nothing like that."

Amy twisted around in the chair so she could face me. She gently touched my face and said, "I know that frown. Out with it, mister."

Swallowing I nodded my head, "For three years I felt like I've been punished. By God, or by the universe, or by whatever I don't know. But I feel like for daring to ever be happy I've been punished. That I don't deserve to be happy. The last time I was happy Grace was taken from me. And now if I get to a point of 'happy' I'm scared it'll be you or the girls. We've only just found each other and already the thought of losing you has me sick with terror."

Amy began to shake her head and she kissed me softly. "I. Am. Not. Going. Anywhere."

I pulled Amy into an embrace, fighting back more tears. She spun back around so my arms were crossed just above her breasts. I put my face near her shoulder, my mouth sitting in the space where her neck and shoulder met. Amy let out a soft cooing noise.

I remembered what I wanted to do to this spot of skin when I first saw it at Frank's. I began to gently kiss her, trailing the kisses from back to front and back again. Every so often I'd let my tongue taste the saltiness of her skin.

"No," she said with a giggle. "You're in trouble for manhandling me down that hill, remember?"

I failed to listen and my kisses turned to a light sucking as I necked my sister.

"No!" She was still giggling. "Don't you dare leave a mark that I'll have to explain to Clare."

I ignored her and alternated kisses and gentle sucks.

"Dammit, you're being punished. No nookie for you."

I started to combine sucking and kissing.

"Then again," she began to reason, I would really be punishing myself, too. And that would just be silly."

I dropped my hands to Amy's breasts and began to squeeze them and rub her nipples through her clothes.

"Okay then," she said adamantly, "upstairs. Bed. Now."

I picked Amy up as I stood and headed toward the stairs. As I was taking each step, she told me that I didn't play fair.

She was right, of course. I'd never tell her but this was a very practiced technique.

We reached the landing and she patted me on the back, "Put me down for a second. I want to check on the kids. I'll meet you in the bedroom."

After I put Amy down I went into my room, undressed, and got into bed. I heard Amy open and close doors down the hall and then open and close the door to "her" room. A minute later she walked back into my room, closed, and locked the door behind her.

Amy was wearing a jade kimono that she had failed to fasten. The edges of the robe hid her nipples but left her shaven mound clearly visible. "Chris is out cold and Clare is wearing ear pods and listening to her death metal. They won't hear a damn thing."

Amy posed with her left leg angled against her right allowing the kimono to open more and exposing her breasts. "Do you like?"

"Immensely," I answered. "But there is one thing I want to know. It is pretty rare for a woman our age and a mother to boot to shave their pubic hair."

"You don't like," she asked.

"Oh no, I like it very much. Always have."

"I kept them shaved in school when I was dating Bridget, my ex-girlfriend. Christopher hated the look. He said it made me look like a child and that creeped him out. Once he was gone, I shaved again because I like the look."

"Well to each their own," I said. "But personally, I think Christopher was an idiot."

Amy pulled the sheet from me; my cock was at full mast. "No wasting this one!" She was never going to let that go.

"To tell you the truth, they're coming a lot easier with you around," I said with a grin.

"You're still in trouble, mister. You're doing all the work, tonight."

"Not seeing the punishment," I said as I started kissing her on her toes and slowly, I began to climb her body. I kissed and licked my way up Amy's shins, her knees, and her thighs. Finally, I ran my tongue through her folds and nibbled on her nub. She was already soaked.