Freshers Ch. 05 - A Christmas to Remember

Author's note:

Well, dear readers, here we have a special bonus chapter of Freshers, set during Christmas of 1985. I hope you'll enjoy finding out how Tommy, Beth and Terri spent their Christmas back in Westborough-on-sea, and where a certain Mrs. Stroud - Terri's mother - is reunited with her errant daughter, and meets Tommy for the first time. Will Tommy manage to escape his encounter with Terri's overzealously puritanical mother with his genitals intact? Read on to find out!

As always, all characters are over 18, and any resemblance to any person, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and unintentional.

Enjoy!

Freshers - A Christmas To Remember

Christmas Eve, 1985

Meeting Mrs. Stroud (Tommy)

"It'll all be fine," my mother insisted as she busied herself in the kitchen, preparing for the imminent arrival of Terri's Mum.

"So you keep saying," I replied nervously. "But your reassurances aren't really working - I mean, what if things turn ugly?"

"They won't," Mum assured me. "I'm sure Terri's mother is a rational enough woman."

"That's not how Terri describes her," I huffed in reply. "Over-zealous puritan crackpot, is more how she speaks of her."

"Oh, come on - I doubt she's that bad!" Mum scoffed as she finished preparing a plate of cucumber sandwiches. "But, if I can, I'll try and have a woman to woman chat with her. I know you're nervous, sweetheart, but your dad and I, and Beth and Terri as well for that matter, won't let her do anything to you."

"I know, I know," I groaned in answer. "But you're not the one who has to tell this woman that you took her daughter's virginity!"

"Look, worrying about it is only going to make matters worse," Mum turned and replied sternly. "She'll be here any minute, so get this stuff put out on the table, and for pity's sake stop fretting!"

"Yes, Mum," I sighed, and took the freshly prepared clingfilm covered plate of sandwiches into the dining room next door.

If I sound like I was absolutely terrified, take it from me, I genuinely was. In a short while I would have to stand in front of Terri's mother and admit to her that I'd had sex with her only daughter. Now, I know that I shouldn't be nervous, but then I'd listened to all of the horror stories Terri had told me about her mother and all the times during her childhood when she'd punished her for reading or watching things that she didn't approve of. Suffice it to say, that Terri had painted quite a vivid picture of her mother, and I'd lost count of the amount of times she'd recalled the fateful argument that saw her leaving home.

Terri, of course, hadn't been let in on what was planned for that evening, we'd all kept it from her out of fear that she might run away again if she found out. And likewise, Terri's mum had been kept in the dark as well. All she knew was that she'd been invited to tea by a nice couple who vaguely knew her through the local school parents association.

As I set the plate of sandwiches down on the dining room table along with everything else, Terri came downstairs. As far as she knew, our parents had just invited a few of their friends around, and was blissfully unaware of what we had planned. She looked wonderful in a smart black dress she'd borrowed from Beth, which complimented her blond hair and the tasteful jewellery she wore (also borrowed from my sister). It was all a far cry from her normal clothes, and as stark a contrast as could possibly be from the strip-o-gram girl that she'd become back up in York.

"How do I look?" she asked me as she gave me a quick twirl.

"Wonderful," I replied, and gave her a brief kiss.

I felt like cheekily adding that she'd look even better without the dress on, but it was neither the time nor the place to make such a comment so I had to bite my tongue.

"Do you know these friends of your parents?" Terri queried.

"A little," I replied, keeping the fact that only one person, her mum, had actually been invited. "Don't know much about them though."

Just then the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" I heard Mum call from the kitchen.

Mum dashed from the kitchen and into the hallway to let our only invited guest in. This was it - the moment of truth - from now on there was no going back. I heard Mum exchange a few pleasantries, and they were both joined by Dad a few moments later. Beth also came downstairs and joined in the greeting. Their voices were a little muffled through the wall, so Terri was still mercifully unaware of the identity of our guest. But all that was about to change.

I'll never forget that moment - the moment the door into the living room opened and Terri's mother stepped in. I'd expected Mrs. Stroud, Terri's mother, to look like some puritanical matriarch, like the woman from Grant Wood's famous painting American Gothic. I hadn't expected her to look so normal and dressed in such normal clothes. There was no doubt that the woman that entered the room was Terri's mother - she had the same nose, the same eyes, and her hair was the exact same vibrant blond, albeit greying a little in places.

"Mum?!?" Terri shrieked.

"Theresa!" Mrs. Stroud replied, clearly taken aback and not expecting her estranged daughter to be there.

"I'm afraid I have a little confession to make, Terri," Mum said as she followed the woman inside. "Mrs. Stroud, the reason we invited you here today is to give you and Terri an opportunity to hopefully make amends on neutral territory. I'm sorry it's come as a shock, but we had to keep the real reason from you both - I hope you can understand."

"Theresa! Oh, my beautiful girl!" Mrs. Stroud exclaimed with open arms.

If she was angry about anything, she clearly wasn't showing it - yet. Terri, on the other hand, appeared both shocked and apprehensive, leaving her mother in the middle of the room with her arms outstretched. Beth however, came to the rescue and gently pushed her friend forward. Taking the hint, Terri allowed herself to be taken into her mother's embrace. It was a genuinely touching moment, seeing mother and daughter reunited after so many weeks apart. The spell was broken rather abruptly, however.

"You stupid, stupid girl, Theresa!" Mrs. Stroud scolded tearfully. "Why on earth did you have to go running away like that? You could have been killed or something!"

"You know damned well why, Mother!" Terri answered back. "You basically called me a whore, just because I had sex with a boy on holiday!"

"He stole your virtue!" Terri's mother retorted. "Sex outside the sanctity of marriage is a sin, as well you should know, my girl!"

"Oh, for God's sake, Mum!" Terri replied curtly. "You make it sound like he raped me or something! Did you ever stop to consider that he didn't take my virginity - I gave it to him, willingly, because I was in love with him."

"Yes, and where is he now, this lover-boy of yours, hmm?" Mrs. Stroud fired back, with barely constrained ire in her voice. "Back in France, smoking those disgusting cigarettes and probably in bed with another slut as we speak! Don't you see, my girl? You're just another conquest to this boy - just another notch on his bedpost! Another easy foreign girl who drops her knickers and opens her legs as soon as she's out from under her mother's protection!"

"Mum!" Terri responded angrily.

"That's enough, Mrs. Stroud!" I interjected, having finally had enough of her damning rhetoric. "I won't have you talk to Terri like that!"

"Tommy, don't!" Terri said. "Let me handle her."

"And just who are you, boy?" Terri's mother enquired tersely.

"This is Tommy, Mum, he..." Terri began before her mother interrupted.

"He can speak for himself, Theresa!"

"Mrs. Stroud, I don't like the way you're talking to Terri," I said calmly, even though my heart was pounding in my chest.

"And who are you to tell me how to talk to my daughter?" Mrs. Stroud fired back.

"It wasn't some random French Lothario that 'stole her virtue' as you put it," I said, before Terri's mother interrupted me.

"And just how would you know? Hmm?"

This was it - this was the moment I'd been dreading all this time. I took a deep breath, and spoke as clearly as my pounding heart would let me.

"Because it was me."

"You?!?" Mrs. Stroud gasped, partly in surprise, and partly out of rage. "You raped my daughter?!"

"Mum! Nobody raped anyone!" Terri shouted, and slapped her mother across her face. "I told you, I gave him my virginity!"

Terri's mother staggered backwards a little, reeling from the shock of being struck in the face by her own daughter.

"Don't you ever call Tommy a rapist again!" Terri added with a venomous snarl.

"And I gave Terri my virginity," I added calmly.

That wasn't strictly true of course, but for the sake of keeping mine and Beth's sexual relationship and the ménage á trois that existed between the three of us a secret, it was the story the girls and I had agreed on.

"I love your daughter, Mrs. Stroud," I said proudly. "And I want you to know that I respect her, totally."

That much at least was perfectly true. I did love Terri - maybe not as intensely as I loved Beth, but if my sister wasn't in the picture she'd certainly be the only girl I could ever love in the same way. Clearly still reeling from being slapped by Terri, her mother seemed a little lost for words, so Terri and I pressed our advantage.

"It was totally consensual, Mum," Terri went on. "Neither of us forced each other into doing anything the other didn't want to do, and I insisted on taking precautions."

"We did the responsible, adult, thing, Mrs. Stroud - Terri insisted I wore a condom, and so I did," I added.

"Whether you both consented and put one of those rubber johnnies onto your... your... man-parts is of no consequence!" Terri's mother glowered. "You had sex outside the sanctity of marriage, which means you shall both burn in hell for what you've done!"

"Mum! That's enough!" Terri interjected sternly. "Let me ask you this - do you still love me?"

"Of course I do! What a daft question, you stupid girl!" Mrs. Stroud replied.

"Do you still want me?" Terri added.

"Do I still want you?"

"As a daughter."

"Why would I not want you as a daughter?" Mrs. Stroud scoffed derisively, as though it was the most stupid question ever asked, with the most obvious answer.

"Because, from the way you're talking to me, by calling me a slut that would drop my knickers at the drop of a hat to any boy that wants to shove his cock into me, makes me wonder if you really do want me!" Terri replied sharply. "Not to mention labelling my boyfriend as a rapist!"

Her words apparently utterly discombobulated her mother, and seemed to catch her completely off guard. Pressing her advantage, Terri went on.

"Tommy loves me, Mum, and I love him - why can't you be happy for me for once, instead of forcing me to live up to your antiquated moral standards? I know you think that you're protecting me from what you perceive as all the evils of the world, and believe it or not I genuinely appreciate it, but I'm an adult now, and I need to have the opportunity to live my own life and learn from my own mistakes. I need a mother who will be there for me, to console me when I need it, not condemn me for every little thing you don't approve of."

A long and uneasy silence ensued.

"You genuinely love this boy?" Mrs. Stroud asked after what seemed like an age.

"Yes, Mum, I do," Terri replied honestly. "And he has a name - I suggest you start using it."

"Would you be prepared to marry him? To commit yourself to him before the Lord?"

"If he agrees to it, yes," Terri answered. "But only if that's what he wants too - I'm not going to force him into it and get him to propose to me right now, if that's what you're thinking."

Well, that was a relief at least!

"So you'll be happy to live in sin with him instead, hmm?" Terri's mother said glibly.

"Oh, for pity's sake, Mum!" Terri exclaimed in exasperation. "It's the nineteen-eighties! Nobody 'lives in sin' these days!"

"But, sex before marriage is a sin!" Terri's mum insisted.

"Maybe it was back in the nineteenth century! But this is now, not then - and you'll just have to get used to it!" Terri retorted.

Mrs. Stroud looked utterly taken aback, that her daughter was answering back for probably the first time in her life, and tears began to streak down her cheeks.

"I'll give you a choice, Mum," Terri went on. "Either you accept Tommy as my boyfriend and let me live my life the way I want to live it, or never speak to me again and totally disown me right here and now! It's your call, Mum, the ball is in your court, because either way, Tommy is a part of my life whether you like it or not."

"I - I don't want to lose you!" Mrs. Stroud answered in tears. "I love you, Theresa! You're my only daughter - the only part of my life that's left of your father, the man I loved. Please don't do this."

"Choose," Terri said forcefully in an assertive pose with her arms crossed.

Things went eerily quiet for a few moments before Terri's mother let out a deeply resigned sigh.

"Very well," she replied eventually. "I genuinely don't want to lose you, Theresa, I love you more than you could possibly know."

"Oh, Mum!" Terri burst into tears and mother and daughter immediately took each other into a tearful embrace.

Beth, my parents and I could only look on - it looked as though the intervention had had the desired effect. I felt a lump in my throat as I watched the scene unfold - mother and daughter reunited and hopefully, taking the first critical step toward repairing their strained relationship.

"I can't say that I approve, mind you," Mrs. Stroud cautioned her daughter. "But I'd much rather that than live without you. You understand, I'll be praying for your salvation every day."

"Of course, Mum, and I do appreciate it, really, I do," Terri sniffled into her mother's arms.

"And I promise I won't force you into marrying him or anything," Mrs. Stroud added, also in tears. "Just as long as you promise me you'll be careful."

"Of course I will," Terri replied.

"And I promise you, Mrs. Stroud, I'll take good care of her," I pledged - even though marrying her wasn't what either of us wanted at that time, it seemed like the right thing to say at that moment.

"Well, if you're going to be my daughter's boyfriend, I guess you'd better start calling me Edwina," Mrs. Stroud said. "Seeing as how things are supposed to be so informal these days - I guess I'll just have to get used to it."

It was a vital first step to repairing their relationship, and at that moment there wasn't a single dry eye in the house. Both Beth and I joined in the group embrace while Mum and Dad looked on. Of course, had Terri's mother been aware of certain other aspects of her daughter's life, such as her sharing me with Beth, and her job as a bikini-wearing promotions girl by day and stripper by night, things between mother and daughter would have soured instantly. But it was necessary to keep Mrs. Stroud in the dark about all that - it was more important to get the two of them reconciled first, and then it would be up to Terri to tell her mother about the rest of her life when she felt more comfortable. One thing was for sure, neither Beth nor I would betray her in that respect.

Aftermath (Beth)

Well, that was an interesting experience! Clearly my efforts to get Terri to become more assertive had paid off - I never knew she had it in her to finally speak up against her mother's domineering ways. With the initial argument now firmly in the past, the rest of the evening was mercifully peaceful. Terri and her mother had much catching up to do, and though things were still a little uneasy between them, it was clear from the tongue-biting between them that they were both at least making an effort. After a while, and after everyone had enjoyed several platefuls of sandwiches, mini sausage rolls, crisps and various crudités and assorted dips, I eventually had a few moments with my friend.

"You alright?" I asked her as she came and sat beside me by the fireplace.

"Well I'll admit I was shocked that you'd all invited my mum here," Terri began. "And I was pretty pissed off about it to begin with. But I guess you all did the right thing - we both kind of needed our heads banging together."

"Do you think you'll be able to get on with each other?"

"I hope so," Terri replied. "I really do, but at least thanks to you and Tommy, and your parents too, the worst part is out of the way. I'd been dreading seeing her again ever since I first arrived at your place all those weeks ago. And I do mean it - thanks, for intervening and everything. I'd still be refusing to be anywhere near her after what she said about me. She's apologised, by the way, for calling me a slut and everything."

"I doubt she ever really meant it," I said. "People sometimes accidentally say the most hurtful things in the heat of the moment without thinking. I never doubted she doesn't still love you."

"Still, at least the air between us has cleared a bit now," Terri answered with a sigh. "You should have heard her that night, Beth, she was screaming and calling me every hurtful thing you can imagine, damning me to hell and cursing the boy who 'did the dirty deed'. I couldn't stay there a moment longer - I had to get out of there. Fortunately, you and Tommy took me in during my hour of need."

"You know Tommy and would never have turned you away - certainly not in the state you were in when you arrived on our doorstep."

"I know, but still, I never really thanked you both properly," Terri said.

"You don't have to," I replied. "We both love you, Terri, we're a strange little group, and goodness knows we're about as unconventional as it gets, but we're united by our love for each other. I'm sure most people wouldn't understand, or would even be repulsed by our arrangement - especially when it comes to Tommy and me - but what matters is that we'll always have each other."

"I guess," Terri sighed.

"And before you ask, no - I won't tell your mum about, y'know, your job and everything. I'll let you have that conversation with her whenever you're ready," I said, looking her in the eye to convey my sincerity. "Just remember that me and Tommy will be only too happy to support you should you ever decide to quit. At least until you can find another job."

"But I like my job, as weird as it may sound to you," Terri insisted. "I like the rush I get from it, and the feeling of empowerment it gives me."

"Yes, well, like your mother, I can't say I approve, but if it's what you want to do then all I can do is to accept that it's your life and your choice," I replied.

Our gaze was suddenly drawn to the other side of the room, where Terri's mum was sat on the settee next to Tommy.

"At least it's nice to see Mum getting to know Tommy a bit," Terri sighed.

"Poor boy was terrified she might castrate him with a carving knife or something," I commented with a slight giggle.

"At least she seems to be prepared to be civil with him," Terri added. "Although that night when I left home I wouldn't have put it past her to hunt him down and cut his balls off!"

"What do you think they're talking about?"

"She's probably making him swear to her that he will protect my honour at all costs and lay down his life in order to protect me," Terri replied.

"Well, it seems to be going okay so far," I said. "He'd do anything for you, well, for both of us really."

"I guess we're both really lucky to have a man like him in our lives," Terri mused, her voice barely above a whisper. "A man who loves us, who cooks such wonderful food, who is prepared to defend us and puts our pleasure before his own. You know, since the first time you introduced him to me, when he allowed me to see him, y'know, naked and everything, I knew he was the only man I could ever want. When I found out that night on holiday that you and he were, y'know, together, I was utterly distraught - not because he was taken by you, but that he was taken, full stop."