My Sister's Love

He moved up beside me and held me there, stroking my hair as he kissed my cheek. "Your wish, my love, is my command." Our lips connected, distracting me as my eyes closed and I tried to pull him tight to me. He was moving again, though, and with gentle touches and nudges, he had my legs spread wide, my knees up and feet dangling, with him positioned between them. The head of his engorged member rubbed against me before grazing lightly through my valley. A second brush opened me a bit wider and on the third, he slipped just inside.

"This may hurt a little, my love, so tell me if you need me to stop or relax or anything, okay?"

"Do it, Leo. Make love to me," I said, my hands sliding to his buttocks and pulling him, trying to force him into me. "Love me, Leo."

"I do love, Clara, now and always," he said as he rocked forward. With his cock being much larger than my two fingers, or even his two he'd used earlier, I felt a moment of discomfort, perhaps as he pushed past what may have been left of my hymen or maybe because of my difficulty getting used to it. Whatever the cause, it was momentary and soon I was trying to emulate and complement his motions as he rocked in and out of me.

He was slow and steady, his hard thrust in jolting me as he crashed against me. On his slow ride out, I tried to hold him, clamping down to further slow his escape.

"Oh, Clara, you feel so good," he whispered in my ear as we went on, but my breathing was getting faster as was his and I was starting to tire. Mom had told me in our private conversation that my muscles would improve over time as I worked them, and I wondered why she hadn't told me that years earlier so I could have been ready!

There was no time to worry about that, though, as Leo was now breathing faster and his driving force was matching his breath. Faster and harder he went, causing me to moan, short and sharp, in time with him. It struck me then that I felt it, another different orgasm building. Leo was still going though, moving faster still, so I fought it, trying to save it for him so I'd be with him until we ended together.

My face must have looked like one of those moving picture creatures, scrunched up and hideous as I screwed my eyes shut and made the worst sort of grimace as I fought to keep from going over the edge. I was probably holding Leo far too tight in the process, too, but he suddenly groaned as he slammed into me a final time. I may have felt him throbbing as he emptied his seed into me, but I'm not sure since that was when I let myself go and my orgasm engulfed me.

We were both still breathing hard when I opened my eyes; whether seconds or minutes had passed I didn't know. Leo was next to me, looking at me with the most serene smile.

"I love you, Clara. You're so incredible."

I leaned over and kissed him before responding. "And I love you, too, Leo. As for you, I'm glad you're mine."

***

Chapter 14

We spent a week at Cape May, making love several times a day for the first few days, and eventually getting out to walk the beaches and see the area. Leo even spoke with the lightkeeper and got permission for us to climb the lighthouse a couple of miles west of our hotel. The lightkeeper said it was a 199 steps up, which left Leo's stump hurting in his prosthesis before we were even two-thirds of the way up. Still, he pressed on and we made it to the top, looking out over the Atlantic to the east and south, Delaware Bay to the west, and the state of Delaware to the southwest across the bay.

It was a cold, windy day, so we didn't stay up there too long. As we climbed down the spiral stair and walked back to the car, I was feeling bad that this would be our last night in this place and that I would have to deny Leo our special time together before heading back to Philly to see our kids and my parents in the morning.

Since we wanted to wait a while before having more children, I had been lucky that my cycle had been right for us to be rather carefree with our conjugal activities for the first few days, but now I was nearing my fertile period of the month and Mom had warned me to be careful if we didn't want more baby Walshes to join Christopher and Amanda. For the past two days as my fertility period approached, Leo had been careful to spray his seed at the end of our sessions rather than sowing it within me. I was awed at his prowess and was rather dismayed at the resulting mess at first until I learned how easy it was to clean up.

Therefore, when we retired to our room after dinner that evening, Leo held me close, knowing, that our activities would have to be limited to avoid pregnancy.

"I'm sorry, Leo, for I really want to make love to you again tonight, but—"

He shook his head, smiling. "It's okay, Sweetheart. We've talked about this. We have to be careful for a while until we're sure we're ready for another child."

"Well, we talked about most of it," I agreed as I pushed him back against the bed. I undid his belt and his pants before pushing it all down, exposing his rapidly hardening member. Dropping to my knees in front of him, I ran my tongue up its side, like an ice cream cone, and then did the other. His mouth dropped open in surprise as he realized what I was doing and when I was done, we were both smiling, even before he returned the favor for me.

***

We left Cape May that Friday morning and arrived at my parents' home in Philadelphia by midafternoon. We hugged and kissed our children, who were excited to see us, and then hugged Mom, too. She gave me an inquisitive look over her glasses when she was sure Leo was occupied, and taking it to mean either "How was it?" or "Were you careful?", I nodded with a smile since the answer to both was "yes!" We spent the rest of the afternoon with our children and with her, but it wasn't long before I became apprehensive about Dad's arrival and what I had to say to him.

He'd tried to get Leo to move on so I could get on with my life, but that would have meant losing Leo and my kids, so I was still upset with him about it. I had to clear the air, to tell him how it had hurt me, and to forgive him if we were to have the loving relationship we'd had throughout my life to that point.

"What's wrong, Sweetheart?" asked Leo late that afternoon when he caught me staring at the clock in the kitchen.

"Oh, nothing, really. Just that Dad's going to be home soon and I've got to talk to him. We, ah, had something happen between us, and I need to talk to him about it."

He looked puzzled and was about to ask if he could help but I shook my head. "No, Leo. I've got it."

He nodded in response just as Amanda came and threw her arms around his leg and said, "Pick up. Pick up!"

Dad arrived home just minutes later with a big grin, having received Mom's message of our arrival. He hugged each of his grandkids and then picked me up in his mighty hug and spun me around like I was still their age.

"And welcome home to you, Clara! It's so good to see you, girlie!" He kissed me several times like I was no bigger than Amanda before finally putting me down and turning to Leo. They shook hands, too, before Dad drew him into a rather manly hug. "Welcome, Leo! We're so glad to have you here, too."

Turning back to me, Dad continued, "I'm so sorry we barely had time to talk last week before your wedding, but I'm off all weekend and am looking forward to spending part of it with you. You both look so good, happier than I've seen you since...well, in a long time."

Wanting to get it out of the way so we could enjoy our time together, I was about to ask Dad if we could speak privately, but Dad was already speaking with Leo.

"...and I'm so glad you took my advice and that it all worked out in the end."

"Yes, sir," Leo said, smiling. "I actually had an unexpected detour when an old friend came calling, but that was probably for the best in that I proved to myself that there wasn't anything between us and it gave her time to figure out what she wanted."

"Wait! What do you mean, your advice?" I demanded, focusing on what he was saying. My hands were on my hips as I looked at my dad, thinking of the discussion I'd overhead in Leo's study over eleven months earlier.

"Well," he said, hem-hawing about as I hadn't seen him do in years, "when Leo asked if he could court you when you were both ready, I...ah...told him not to wait too long since you both needed to move on."

"Oh, you're talking about when Leo came after me when I left Columbus," I said, feeling let down but Leo was shaking his head.

"No, Sweetheart. When they were with us in January for Christopher's birthday. But then you were never ready and you seemed to be pushing me away. It was only when Cynthia came calling that I confirmed in my heart that it was you I truly wanted to be with."

"But when I asked you on the way home from Philadelphia if you'd asked Dad's permission, you told me you had."

"Yes, I had, but you didn't ask when. It was back in January," said Leo, smiling. "Tom told me to give you the time you needed but not to wait too long since he and your mom both want you to be happy and we all knew that being the kid's nanny would never be enough."

I looked away, trying to hide my embarrassment on finally understanding what Dad had meant, but Leo took me in his arms and held me. My penchant for eavesdropping had come back to bite me and almost ruined it all, but this time, it had worked out for the best and Leo and I had gotten the love we wanted for ourselves and our children.

As Leo and I held each other, Christopher and Amanda threw their little arms around our legs, too. It was then that I saw the photo of Mary in her wedding dress, smiling, on my parents' mantle. In looking at it, I couldn't help but imagine her up in heaven smiling down on us all before we reached down and picked up our kids.

The End

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End Notes:

Thanks for reading! Please feel free to leave feedback. Votes, comments, favorites, and author favorites are all greatly appreciated.

While this story is a work of fiction, it was inspired by genealogical research that showed one of our distant relatives died shortly after childbirth. Her younger sister took care of her children in the months that followed, before later falling in love with and marrying her big sister's love. The couple was together for well over four decades until finally being parted by the death of the first spouse. Research shows that, with mortality during childbirth being relatively high, this was actually fairly common (and sometimes even encouraged) during the period.

Historical Notes:

Following are a number of historical points referenced in the story. This is sort of long (sorry!) so it's only recommended for history buffs who might be interested or those who questioned specific points.

The Stetson Hat Factory was the largest hat manufacturing plant in the world in the early 1900s. John B. Stetson, the inventor of the famed Stetson hat and head of the company, died in February 1906.

The famous silent comedy film "Teddy at the Throttle," with Gloria Swanson chained to the railroad track by the evil villain (played by her then husband, Wallace Beery) with the locomotive approaching, was released in 1917. It was later spoofed in countless ways, including by Clara and by Snidely Whiplash of the Dudley Do-Right cartoons.

The majority of the fighting in World War I stopped in accordance with the Armistice signed earlier that day at 11 AM on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, but the war itself didn't officially end until the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919.

The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, generally called Prohibition, outlawed the use of alcohol in the United States. It went into effect on January 17, 1920, and caused a dramatic decrease in alcohol use and alcohol-related medical conditions in the country. However, it also led to a period of bootlegging of alcohol and a great spike in organized crime during what was known as the Roaring 20s. Many of the most notorious gangsters in American history operated during Prohibition, often pursued by agents of the Bureau of Investigation, which later became the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The 18th Amendment was repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933.

The 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote went into effect once certified on August 26, 1920. While some states already offered women the right to vote, it became a right nationwide for the national election in November 1920.

While ice cream cones had been a round in some form since at least 1825, the first commercial ice cream cone maker was patented in 1912. Cones quickly became a hit across the U.S. and around the world.

The snowstorm of January 2 and 3, 1925, referenced in the story was an actual event affecting much of the northeastern U.S., with heavy snow and high winds.

According to the Roman Catholic Church's 1917 Code of Canon Law, it wasn't allowed for a surviving spouse to marry a sibling of a deceased spouse, but using Leo's basic argument that it wasn't against divine law, Pope John Paul II changed this restriction in the 1983 Code of Canon Law, now making it possible according to ecclesiastical law. However, even between 1917 and 1983, it could be possible for such a marriage to occur with dispensation to the impediment of affinity from the bishop. That's the course Leo and Clara sought in the story.

Bishop Michael Joseph Crane was the pastor of St. Francis de Sales Roman Catholic Church and was the Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia from 1921 to his death in 1928. Bishop James Joseph Hartley was the Bishop of the Columbus diocese from 1904 to 1944. While not appearing in the story, both are referenced in their historical roles.

As noted in the story, the Chalfonte Hotel was built as a private residence in 1876. According to the Cape May National Register of Historic Places application in 1976, "additions [in] 1879 and later converted it to hotel use" and it was recognized as "the oldest and most ornate large hotel in Cape May." It is still open for business at the time of this writing.

For anyone who questioned Clara's difficulty, zippers started being used in the U.S. in 1923 for rubber boots and in leather jackets starting in 1925, but they weren't commonly used in other clothing until the 1930s, including the zippered fly following the "Battle of the Fly" in 1937 where the zipper was shown by French fashion designers to outperform the traditional buttoned fly.

Clara unbuttoned her bloomers since elastic bands weren't commonly used in underwear until the 1930s and 1940s. They sometimes had string ties at the sides for adjusting the fit, and the button in front to keep them in place.

Finally, the current Cape May lighthouse, the third built in the area, was constructed in 1859. It is 157 feet tall and has 199 steps to the top as noted. It was converted to automated operation in 1946 and is still active today. It has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1973.