Little Packages Ch. 06

Judging by how his father looked, my Daddy was going to be a handsome man for a long time.

If I didn't wear him out first, of course.

If Daddy's mom was a hugger, his father was a bit more formal. He smiled and it was like he was still figuring out exactly how to work the muscles to make that happen. But he'd been practicing and getting better. He also stuck out his hand. No hugs here. I stuck out my hand and gave what I'm sure was a very girly handshake.

"It's nice to meet the girl who's captured my boy's heart," he said. 'Girl' and 'boy'. Psychiatrists could have a field day interpreting all of that.

"It's nice to meet you too, sir," I said.

The smile got a little wider. "Mike will do just fine. And I'm sure Helen will faint if you call her, ma'am," he said.

Behind him I could see Meg. She was smiling at the whole situation. I knew I let her off too easy. And in all of this, I still hadn't had a chance to give Daddy a hug, let alone a kiss, to welcome him home. I was about to turn and rectify that situation, but his mom had grabbed him and was asking him where various cooking instruments were located in the kitchen, and his dad wandered off and was clearly evaluating the house his son had bought.

Suddenly I was standing in the middle of the dining area by myself wondering what had just happened. That's when Meg came up next to me.

"They do make an impression, don't they?" she said.

"I'm not sure what just happened," I said.

"Oh, don't worry. They'll swing around for a second strafing run in a few moments. Right now they had to confirm that he actually owns the house and has a girlfriend. They'll swing back to take over the place and begin prying you for information in a few minutes," she said, and then gave me a helpless shrug of "I'd help, but what can I do?"

Of course this was payback for me torturing her for months, which I kinda deserved, but this was starting to freak me out when Helen came over and reengaged.

"Now, my love, why don't you show us around the house? I have to send Ben out to pick up a few urgent things for the kitchen so that just leaves you to show us around."

And, sure enough, there was my Daddy heading down the hall. He glanced back at me and gave me a kind of helpless look. We had gone shopping a few days before in anticipation of what he called his mother's "impending invasion of his kitchen." He even asked her what she needed in advance to try and avoid a situation where I'd be left alone with his parents.

I didn't like this. Yes, Helen seemed nice, but she had to know that leaving me alone with her without Ben nearby would be really stressful, right? I could feel the frustration escalating into something that could become unpleasant. I hadn't seen my Daddy in days, I was getting overwhelmed by his parents, and now he was being sent away again and I hadn't had a chance to be with him yet and this wasn't fair....

And that's when Meg, perhaps realizing the teasing and pressure was getting to me, swooped in for a rescue.

"Helen," she said, "the poor girl hasn't had a chance to give her boyfriend a hug since he came home, let alone say hello to him. Why don't we give them a few minutes before you send him out again. Come on, the view from the deck is really nice and it'll give you a chance to get some of the Toronto air out of your lungs."

She seemed slightly baffled about being herded out of the kitchen towards the deck and even Mike seemed to realize they were being a bit much and mouthed "sorry" to me as he helped Meg get his wife outside.

Once they were out of sight I ran towards Daddy and buried my face in his chest and wrapped my arms around him. He hugged me back and kissed the top of my head.

"I am so sorry, Kitten," he said. "That got out of hand much quicker than I expected."

It was an effort to pull back; I just wanted to breathe him in for a few moments to help center myself again. But I was being a big girl for the next few days and being Little right now was not going to help me deal any better.

"Sorry, Daddy," I said quietly, just in case they were still within earshot. "I promise, I was chill this morning and your mom just swept in and...boom."

He shook his head. "She can take over a room, that's for sure. I talked to her about this last night and on the car ride here and she still blew through here like Hurricane Helen. I'll go have a chat with her. There's absolutely nothing extra she needs in the kitchen anyway."

I took a deep breath. "No, I'll be ok, Daddy. I just needed a few moments to reset. You go to the store and get the things she needs. I'll be fine."

Well, I hoped I would be fine. It was difficult to explain how my energy levels worked sometimes. I was fine 10 minutes ago and completely ready to deal with his parents. Then, boom! I hit a stressful situation, and then desperately wanted to be a little girl with my Daddy protecting me. He knew me better than just about anyone and even he didn't always get it right. Being Little was a huge recharge for me. Daddy liked his downtime where he could just read. My downtime was when I was a little girl, didn't have to think, and Daddy was in charge.

But I'd been working all week and we'd been busy preparing for his parents arrival. So right when I was mentally crying out to be his little girl, we didn't have the time or ability to do it. There was no getting around it; I was just going to have to be a big girl for the next few days, unless we got very lucky. But once his parents were on their way again, I was going to crash hard. I was going to be deeply Little. I might even take a few days off work.

Still, there must have been something on my face. Maybe my resolve wasn't as strong as I thought. Or maybe he just knew his little girl very well.

"No. I appreciate you being brave, but this is mom thinking she's being clever chasing me out of the house on a fool's errand so she can get you alone and see what makes you tick. She's a good woman, I swear, but sometimes she just gets in her own way.

"So I'm going to say that I know none of the local stores have what she needs and I'm not spending an hour driving back and forth to Kingston because my knee is bothering me right now. Which is not 100% inaccurate after driving for several hours. And together we'll show her around. How's that sound?"

I hugged him again.

"That sounds great. I love you, Daddy," I said.

He bent down and and kissed me and suddenly all the freaking out of the last few minutes just washed away.

"I love you too, princess," he said. "Now, let's go rescue Meg before she flees back to Toronto and leaves us both trapped with my parents."

***

While Daddy was calming me down, Meg and Mike must have been having a chat with Helen on the deck. A compromise had been reached on just how much Helen was going to take over the house now that she was here. Daddy claimed his knee was aching and he didn't really want to drive for an hour to find the things she needed got a slightly sheepish look from her.

Crisis averted.

I felt a little bad about it. She kind of looked a bit confused afterwards and I didn't want to be mean to his mom. She just came on stronger than I anticipated. Maybe if I was fully charged I could have handled it better. Daddy must have seen the guilty look on my face because he just kissed the top of my head and told me not to worry, that everything would be fine.

And things did settle down. We did a proper tour of the house, which they mostly liked. They liked the deck and the view from the living room. Helen loved the space in the kitchen and I could tell was itching to get back in there to start making things. Both of his parents were politely baffled by his office with all the graphic novels and artwork. I couldn't help but smile a bit at that.

I didn't think the spare room where Meg was staying was much; neither one of us used it all that much, but Meg happily sat on the bed and pointed out the window. "There's trees," she said. "I live in a condo where I can only stare at my ugly, tragically naked neighbours. I'll take trees."

We quickly rushed them through our bedroom. I did a thorough job hiding away anything incriminating. There was no lingerie in sight, no sex toys, or cat ears, and I'd removed the bondage straps on the bed that Daddy had bought a few weeks ago "just to try out". Which we did. Multiple times. Still, I was paranoid about them lingering there. It was bad enough that Daddy was saying that we might not have sex while they were staying there because they were both light sleepers. And I wasn't exactly quiet.

I was going to negotiate that point...vigorously.

Their room was my work room, which I'd cleaned up and stashed away most of my fabric and clutter. Their visit was a much needed kick in my ass to clean the place up. Daddy hadn't said anything, but the room was a disaster area. At least now they had a place to sleep and I'd stashed most of my costumes and supplies in the outside shed for their visit.

The only thing left in the room belonging to me was my sewing machine resting on a table. Helen immediately latched onto it.

"My goodness, I had a machine just like that decades ago," she said, running her hands over it.

"I was still using it at school last year but then...Ben bought me a new one for there. He then took this one and got it repaired for me as a surprise and so I could do school projects on weekends while I'm here," I said.

Helen thought that was adorable and was talking about the things she'd made over the years using that machine. I was mentally going over how close I'd come to saying 'Daddy had bought me a new one.'

This was an ongoing paranoia at the best of times. Michelle clearly suspected something, given the number of times I've tripped or hesitated over Ben's name. And it was only getting worse over the last few weeks when I've been living with him full time. I'd catch myself way too much getting ready to say 'Daddy'. It was only a fraction of a second each time, but it felt like hours.

I was going to slip up at some point. I knew it. And with my luck it would be in front of his parents. Still, a quick look around and no one seemed to notice my hesitation, so crisis averted for the moment.

I was jostled out of thoughts by Helen giving me some tips on how to best use the device. The others cleared out for a moment to get the luggage and to be spared the intricacies of sewing machine use. I was nodding and smiling politely. It might be an old machine, but I'd been using it since I was a kid. I could make that thing stand up and do a jig if I needed to.

"It's just nice to have someone talk to about sewing and crafting things. I'm glad you'll be able to take care of Ben when he needs something hemmed or made. Poor Beth was never really much good at that sort of thing," Helen said.

I mean, seriously, how do you respond to that? I suspected this was her way of trying to bond with me, but God, I didn't want to do that by throwing a dead woman I didn't know under the bus. Daddy would never forgive me.

Fortunately I was saved when Mike brought their luggage into the room, and I gave them some time to get squared away. I tried to bury the incident just because I didn't want either Daddy or Meg to ask what was wrong because that was not a conversation I wanted to have with either of them.

But it kept cropping up during the rest of the day. Just little mentions when no one else was in earshot. Helen said how lovely I looked, which was nice because Beth was very....relaxed about her appearance. And when I was trying to give her a hand prepping supper while Daddy was outside barbecuing, She was making a pie while I put together a salad and some mashed potatoes. Bare bones stuff, but I got a reference that Beth didn't like to cook much and her and Ben used to eat too much take-out for her liking.

I was trying to figure out a way to delicately say that perhaps she might want to dial it back a bit in case Ben or Meg heard when she hit me with the big one.

"I know how much he loves you. It's so each to tell, which is good because we were so worried about him after Beth passed. And I know it's early yet, but hopefully the two of you will have kids. I mean, not just because Mike and I would love to spoil some grandchildren, but I know how crushed Ben was when he found out Beth couldn't have kids. He always wanted them, but by the time he found out, they were married, and what could he do then?" she said.

That was, in no way, anything resembling what Daddy told me had happened. I was about to ramble out something about we hadn't really talked about children yet, when I looked up from the cutting board and saw Meg.

Over the last six or seven months Meg has humiliated me, infuriated me, made me laugh, been a good sounding board and, gradually, she was becoming a friend. Never in all that time did I feel sorry for her.

Right until that second. She just looked....ashen.

I was going to say something, but she waved me off.

"Helen, the boys have just about finished the steaks. You've got your five minute warning," she said, and forced a smile.

"Thank you, dear. We are just about ready for them."

Meg forced the smile again and walked back towards the front deck. Ok, waved off or not, I had to say something or it was going to be four days of uncomfortable criticisms of Beth. And Daddy was going to hear it at some point and it would break his heart.

"Helen," I said, tentatively, somewhat aware she was holding a knife.

"Yes, dear?"

"I really am appreciative of how welcoming you've been. We sometimes get looks because Ben has a few years on me, so it's really great how ok you are with this," I said.

She came over and chopped up some more veggies and threw them in a bowl. Apparently my salad was deficient. "You make him happy. That's all that matters to me."

"I'm glad," I said. I hesitated for a second and then took the plunge. "You know, he still talks about Beth to me fairly regularly."

She looked at me, surprised and with a look indicating she was puzzled why her son would talk about his dead wife with his current girlfriend.

I continued. "And I'm glad he does. I want to know about her because he's so important to me and she was so important to him. She helped shape who he is now. And I think talking about her helps when he gets sad. Which still happens sometimes."

She shook her head. "It's been almost three years. He should be over that accident by now. I hoped he was now that he's with you."

"I'm not sure he will ever be 100% over it. It was traumatic. And...and I think he would be really hurt if he overheard you talking about Beth like that, or comparing her to me. So maybe while visiting you could perhaps take it easy on that. Please. I'd hate for him to get upset."

It was a wussy way of going about it, but I couldn't exactly tell my potential future mother-in-law to fuck off comparing me to my boyfriend's dead wife because it's really tacky, but it was as delicate as I could muster. I hoped she would take it ok.

I saw the look on her face. Hope away, Kitten because she's not happy.

"I see," she said. "Well, I'll try and be more careful of what I say in the future."

Oh boy. Fortunately, Daddy and Mike came in with a plate of steaks, mercifully ending the awkwardness. Still, I'd probably just made the next three days incredibly awkward because I felt sorry for someone that still drove me nuts half the time.

Supper was slightly weird, but Daddy and Mike seemed too distracted to pick up the weird vibe coming from the women at the table. After supper, Daddy offered to do the dishes and, to his surprise, his mom said that would be lovely. She was feeling tired and was going to lie down for a bit. Mike said he'd join her. Meg said she was going to go for a walk and, spur of the moment, I asked if she wanted some company.

"Actually, yeah," she said.

"Great, so I'm stuck with doing all the dishes," Daddy complained.

"I'll make it up to you later," I said, getting on my toes and kissing him on the cheek.

"Promises, promises," he grumbled.

"I always keep my promises, Daddy," I whispered.

Now all he had to do was let me keep my promise. I hadn't been fucked in days and I was getting antsy.

It was still plenty warm enough when we got outside and the sun wasn't going to set for another hour or so. Meg was waiting outside by her car and looked a little sheepish.

"I was actually just going to go up behind the sauna and sneak a cigarette, but now I guess I have to exercise or something. Where do we go?" she asked.

"Actually, if you think you can handle a short walk, I know the perfect place," I said. She gestured for me to take the lead and I began marching up the hill, past the sauna and jacuzzi and followed a path into the woods.

I had never been much interested in exploring the rest of the land Daddy owned. The house was on a couple of acres of land. I viewed it more as a buffer from neighbors than something to be explored. But once I moved here at the end of April, Daddy insisted on doing some hiking. And it turns out there's some nice trails and spots. I was taking Meg to one of them now.

She didn't say much during the hike. I figured she was just being contemplative, but she also might have been just trying to save her breath. The trail sloped upwards most of the way. After about 15 minutes the climb stopped and we came to the edge of a rise. Below was a stream which had about a 20 foot waterfall, and then a small pool before continuing on its way down to the lake.

I'd hinted to Daddy that might be a good spot to do some clothing optional swimming, but he hadn't taken me up on it....yet.

I could hear Meg trying to catch her breath a bit. I pointed out some rocks where she could sit down. She trudged over and sat down.

"I was beginning to think this was a particularly masochistic way of trying to kill me," she said.

"Please, you walk everywhere in Toronto," I said, sitting down next to her. She pulled out a pack of cigarettes from a pocket in her shorts and shook one out. She was waiting to catch her breath before lighting it.

"Yes, but everywhere is flat. I take elevators if I have to climb more than two flights of stairs," she said. I shook my head, and then the two of us lapsed into silence, just enjoying the waterfalls and the view. I knew she wanted to talk, so I figured I'd let her make the first move.

After about five minutes of sitting and fussing with the cigarette, she pulled out a lighter, lit it, and took a deep pull. She exhaled the smoke away from me.

"They keep forgetting, you know," she said.

"Forgetting what?"

"That Beth wasn't just Ben's wife, she was my best friend," she said, her voice getting uncharacteristically soft. "She moved onto my street in Grade 3 and we were inseparable. We slept over at each other's house. We talked about who we had a crush on. Our first periods started the same week, for Christ's sake. She was the first person I told that I might like girls...."

"I didn't know you were gay," I said. "Ben never mentioned it."

"Bi," she explained. "My first marriage was to a guy, and it was a disaster so I thought I should just go back to chasing after girls. Got married again, this time to a woman. Another disaster. I'm just not the marrying kind, apparently.

"Anyway, we did everything together. When Ben wanted to marry her, he didn't ask her father for permission, he asked me. And I said yes, but that he always had to protect her because she was the most important person in the world to me," she said, and now she choked back a sob.

There have been times when I would have cheerfully strangled Meg, but I wasn't so big a bitch that my heart wasn't breaking a bit listening to her. I leaned over and put my arm around her and squeezed. She didn't object and for a few moments we were quiet.