Eric or Erica? Pt. 06

I kissed him deeply. "Baby, there's no need to apologize. I'm the one who begged you to come over. You're amazing in bed and I appreciate your open mindedness about my clit." I kissed him again and pushed him out of the bed towards his clothes. As he was getting dressed, I stood there modeling and posing for him in just my lingerie, stockings, and heels. He started getting hard again.

"That's no fair!" he laughed. I grabbed a condom out of my bag and threw it to him.

"You can masturbate on the way home, thinking about the visual I just gave you."

"You are so fucking hot, Erica O'Brien"

He reached for me, and I stepped into his arms. We kissed and my fingertips were playing over the bulge in the front of his pants.

"If I don't leave now, I'm never going to get out of here."

I smiled at him as I stepped to the door and opened it for him. A young couple was passing by. I made no move to hide behind the door. They both got an eyeful; the young woman saw her partner's eyes lingering on me and she elbowed him in the gut. I could hear him drunkenly mumbling, "Why don't you ever wear anything like that for me?" as she pulled him down the hall.

George gave me one last kiss and I playfully slapped his ass on the way out the door. I texted him 15 minutes later. "Are you jerking off thinking about me?"

"Nnnnnngggggggghhhhhhhh!!!!" was his only reply. I let him drive the rest of the way without bothering him. I felt wonderful, I felt fulfilled. Being in the hometown of Eric O'Brien checking on our parents seemed to be the only thing I still had in common with him. Eric O'Brien was just someone who had to be born before giving birth to Erica O'Brien.

I picked my mother up the next day, and we headed to the hospital. I was still in my androgynous Eric garb. Dad seemed much more alert. I could see him sneaking surreptitious glances in my direction. I looked at mom and she nodded. "I'm going to find a bathroom and go pee. I won't be gone too long." I said.

When I got back, dad stared at me directly. "Mom has filled me in on what's going on in your life. Are you sure this is what you want?"

"About as sure as I've been about anything recently. I've been clean and sober for 154 days now. I haven't been sober this long since high school. I almost died of hypothermia the night the rehabilitation center rescued me. I discovered a large part of the reason for my drinking was my confusion about my gender identity. As I started to get that figured out, my insecurity started to go away. I didn't feel like drinking. I've had opportunities in the last 154 days but just haven't been tempted."

He smiled at me and held out his hand. "Eric or Erica, you're my child and I love you. I can't live your life for you, but I can be there to support you. When I kicked you out of the house, I told you not to come back until you could stick with rehab. If becoming Erica is what it takes, I'm all for it."

I leaned down and hugged dad carefully around all the tubes and wires. He hugged me back weakly. I could hear mom sniffling in the background. The nurse came in and smiled. He told the three of us that if dad could continue his same rate of progress over the next two days, he would be able to go home. He did caution us that dad had suffered a massive heart attack and would continue to need in-home care for a couple of weeks before transitioning into physical therapy.

Three days later, dad came home. He looked the best I'd seen him since I got there. We got him settled in a guest bedroom on the first floor so he wouldn't have to navigate the stairs. The bedroom had an en suite bathroom so that wouldn't be a problem either. There wasn't much food in the house; mom was out shopping while I heated some soup for dad. He ate heartily and I took his dishes to the kitchen.

"Erica?" he called.

I ran to the bedroom; afraid something was wrong. "Is everything OK?" I asked worriedly.

"Yes and no." He shook his head resignedly.

"What is THAT supposed to mean?"

"I don't want your mother to find out, but I was trying to scrimp on the family budget, saving for our retirement. In-home care and physical therapy are NOT on our insurance plan. The cost is in the tens of thousands of dollars. We'll have to pay for it out of our retirement savings. Your mother will be devastated. I don't know how to tell her."

"You don't have to tell her."

"WHAT? You want me to lie to your mother? I will not lie to her about this; I will take accountability for my boneheaded decision."

"I'm not asking you to lie, dad. When the bills start to come in, send them to me. The rehabilitation center has a working relationship with a casino in Nevada. Lots of the patients get jobs there. I've been working for more than four months now. The job pays extremely well plus I got a small settlement for a minor accident that occurred at the casino. Please let me do this for you, and mom?"

I don't know if this goes beyond the scope of little white lies but there was a lot of truth in how I was explaining this to dad. I also know I was leaving WAY more of the truth out of my explanation, but I didn't think any of the three of us were ready for that.

Dad looked at me intently. "You're SURE this is not going to be causing you any financial hardship?"

"That I can promise. I'm pretty sure my accident settlement alone will more than cover this."

He lay on the bed, relaxing. "You have no idea how much of a load off my mind this is. I'll pay you back some day; I promise."

"No, you won't. You already paid me 'back' a long, long time ago."

"We'll argue about this later young lady! I'm starting to get tired; I'd like to take a nap."

"Fair enough and thank you!"

"Thank me? What on earth for?"

"For calling me 'young lady,' dad."

"Speaking of which, when do your mother and I get to meet our daughter?" He fell asleep almost before he finished his question. I heard mom pull into the driveway. I covered him up and went to help her bring in the groceries.

"He's sleeping peacefully mom. He ate all his soup and took his meds. I've got a little shopping of my own to do. Text me if you need anything, anything at all."

"It's so good to have you back home, honey. Thank you, thank you for everything. Are you sure you don't want to check out of your hotel and stay in your room?"

"That was never Erica's room, mom. Someday for sure but not right now. I think you and dad just need some peace and quiet. I'm not far away and I'll be over early tomorrow." We hugged, kissed each other on the cheek, and I left.

George texted as I got into the car. "Any chance of us getting together soon?" he asked.

"As much as I would like to, I'm laser focused on helping my parents. I've got some errands to run, and I need to get a good night's sleep before I go back to see them tomorrow."

"I understand and I approve of the dutiful daughter. Take care of your parents, family comes first!" 😘

I smiled to myself and sent this reply. 💋

I headed to the nearest mall to buy some more sedate-looking (at least for me!) clothing. A nice sundress, a sweater dress, and a skirt suit along with some lower 2 3/4" heels. I purchased some daytime makeup, a couple of pairs of pantyhose and I was all set. I got up early the next morning and took a hot bubble bath to help soothe my jangled nerves. I tried on all my new outfits twice before settling on the sweater dress. My hands were shaking so badly I had to stop for a moment; I didn't want to ruin my mascara. It was one thing for my parents to be so accepting of Erica, it was another thing for them to meet her in person!

I drove over and rang the doorbell. Mom answered to let me in. She took one look at me and just beamed. "My darling daughter, you are so lovely." Clasping my hand, she led me to my father's room. He was finished with breakfast, sitting up in bed and just resting. "Honey, our daughter's here to see you."

I stepped out from behind mom, I guess I'd been kind of hiding. Dad looked at me with an appraising eye. Then he too smiled. "Erica O'Brien, I like the sound of that. Your mother and I always wanted a daughter also. You are almost as lovely as your mother was at that age."

My mother giggled. "Stop it dear. You know she's way prettier than I ever was."

Mom went and got us a cup of coffee and a cup of decaf tea for dad. The three of us just chatted, in many ways like old times before I fucked up completely, in many ways finding our way to new places that only Erica could go. I stayed all day, even though dad took a couple of naps. The in-home care provider stopped over and introduced herself to mom while checking on dad. She very much approved of the ground floor accommodation. She also told mom that physical therapy probably wouldn't start for a few days.

I walked her to the door as she was leaving. I had already written the address of the mansion on a piece of paper along with the instructions, "Please send all bills for in-home care and physical therapy for Donald O'Brien directly to Erica O'Brien at this address." My dad and I had both signed it. She looked at me quizzically but nodded agreement.

I left shortly after dinner; I didn't want to tire dad out; I wanted him to go to sleep when he felt like it and not try to stay awake because I was there. Mom and I hugged at the door. "I'll be here tomorrow mom, but my flight to Nevada is the day after. I have to get back to work. I'm pretty happy with how this is all playing out for dad. Given the circumstances, I don't think it could be going much better. He seems to be in a good mood and well on the road to recovery."

"And part of that is because he sees how happy and comfortable you are. He feels really good about your situation. So do I."

I got back to my hotel and thought about texting George, but I was just exhausted, mentally and emotionally. My phone chimed and I assumed it was George. I was surprised to see a text from Mr. Z. "I hope all is going well. If you need more time, I would like you to take it. We can work out the details later."

"Dimitri, how sweet of you! Honestly, I don't think things could be going much better given the circumstances. I'm planning on keeping my return flight in two days and am looking forward to being back home at the mansion."

"Home? I thought you were home now?"

"This is where I grew up, but I no longer think of it as home. The mansion is my home now. You, and Tina, and Dan are as much my family now."

"We will see you in two days then. Daniel will pick you up at the airport and bring you back to the mansion."