No Father for Mary

You and I both know that I would never have laid a finger on you in an inappropriate way, nor did I ever strike you mother -- even though I was sorely tempted a few times! As I sat in my lonely motel room on Monday night I thought about Bill Ryan and suddenly realized that within a week, that history could be repeated with me as the central player so I resolved to do something about it before the news spread.

As luck would have it, a local investor had been trying to buy my distribution business for his son, but I was not willing to sell. I phoned him on Tuesday morning, offering him my business at a much reduced price on condition that it was settled within forty eight hours. It actually took a little longer than that but the sale went through. The problem of dealing with your mother was difficult. I hated that she had lied to put me in that position. I hated that she had cast me aside for a never-ending line of sexual partners and I hated even more the fact that she had lied to alienate me from you. With the AVO in place, I couldn't even explain my position to you.

I decided that it would be best to leave town to give me time and space to sort out the mess and paid off the house mortgage to ensure you continued to have somewhere to live. I also made arrangements to pay an allowance for you through my lawyer's office but gave him strict instructions to check that my payments were for your education and not squandered by your mother.

Needing anonymity, I headed for the city, started working in an accounting office and within a year, opened my own office. It was tough for a while but without any home life, I worked long hours, attracted a nice group of loyal customers and today I employ a staff of four. Although I was not allowed near you for three years, I'm afraid I broke the law a few times without your knowledge. I couldn't miss your high school graduation, even though I had to stand in a back corner of the hall with a wig, fake beard and moustache.

I agonized over whether or not you would want me to contact you after all this time. You never noticed me at your netball games before so this time I decided to let you know I was there in such a way that you could ignore me if you chose to do so."

The garlic prawns arrived while he was talking and we pecked at the delicious morsels and thoughtfully sipped our wine. The very thought of how deeply my dad had been hurt forced a tear to slide down my cheek. I dabbed at it with a napkin.

"Can we go somewhere private please dad?"

He paid the bill, taking my hand and leading me to his car. Fifteen minutes later he ushered me into his eighth floor apartment. On the blank wall facing the entry was a huge canvas portrait of me, taken at my graduation. He gave me a quick guided tour of the two bedroom layout, each with its own en suite. Furniture was clean and minimal -- a typical bachelor's pad, I thought.

Dad poured us each a gin and tonic before settling into a comfortable settee to continue our conversation.

"How did it ever come to this dad?" I whispered.

"That's a question I've asked myself over and over again. The original court hearing was deferred twice, so that eighteen months went by before my name was cleared, but not because the original claim was withdrawn, but because it could not be supported by evidence. It was almost the worst outcome for me, because every one of the local population would have come to the opinion that I was guilty. In the court of public opinion, I was guilty of one of the worst crimes possible, the molestation of one's own child. Even now, I cannot go back again without facing the wrath of the locals."

"That's so unfair dad!" I cried. "How can we put it right?"

"Your mother did not want you to give evidence at the hearing, saying that it would be too traumatic. It was noted that I had obeyed the terms of the AVO and seemingly posed no further risk. She could have said that nothing happened in the first place, but then she would have been guilty of perjury and the judiciary don't take too kindly to that. If I want to clear my name I have to go back to court to do so. It would mean putting you on the stand and running the risk of lawyers claiming you were coerced by me into changing your story after such a long time and exposing your mother as a liar. Much though the idea of exposing your mother appeals to me, I'm not prepared to accept the risks that come with the strategy. I've made a new life for myself here and apart from the loneliness, I'm happy."

"Don't you have any lady friends?"

"I have been out on dates from time to time and have even brought a few ladies back here for a night, but I have yet to meet anyone I would consider for a long-term arrangement."

"What a terrible waste," I observed drily. "You're a good looking man, still in your prime. Hell dad, I would go for you."

I blushed a little when I realized what I had said but it was meant in good fun.

We chattered on for hours, bringing each other up to date on what had happened to us over the years we had been apart. By two o'clock we were still going strong, having demolished two bottles of wine between us. I suppose by that time we were both talking gibberish -- I don't remember. At least we were both savvy enough to realise that heading back to my unit at this time was not a clever idea and dad led me to his spare room.

I peeled off my clothes, enjoyed a quick shower and eased myself gratefully under the covers, sleeping naked as I usually do. The combination of alcohol and the revelations about dad's disappearance allowed me to drift into a deep, peaceful sleep for the first time in ages.

The sound of dad moving about in the kitchen aroused me from my slumbers. I slid out of bed, went into the bathroom to let last night's drinks drain out of my system and stepped back into the bedroom, still naked, at precisely the same moment that dad entered with a steaming cup of coffee in hand.

"Morning, Baby. I brought you ........"

He stopped in his tracks, stammering his apology. "I'm so sorry Mary. I should have knocked. I'm really sorry to invade your privacy like this."

His eyes never left my body as he inched his way towards the bedside cabinet to put the cup down.

"My god Mary, you're beautiful."

"I'm glad you think so dad, but I'm not really. And you should get back to the kitchen while I put on some clothes."

"Yes, yes of course." He mumbled as he retreated quickly.

Looking back, I know I should have felt awkward to display myself to dad in this way. It's a funny thing though. I didn't feel awkward at all. Quite the contrary in fact. I felt proud that dad appreciated my body. I wanted him to look at me. I wanted him to think that I was attractive. Since I only had my eveningwear with me, I emerged from my bedroom in panties and bra, hands wrapped around the coffee cup.

Strangely, I had no hangover. I felt vibrant, clear headed and alive, strutting up to my father and placing a warm kiss on his lips.

"Thank you for last night," I began. "Let's build bridges and move forward from here. We've missed out on so much of each other's lives so we need to make the most of the opportunity to catch up. First up, let's tackle the most difficult issue. What can we do about mum?"

He was thoughtful for a moment. "She destroyed me in the worst possible way. We're divorced and all I feel for her is hate right now. To undo the damage she's done would probably send her to goal and although I don't like her very much right now, sending her to prison is not going to make me feel any better. I do think that we should have a conversation with her at some point, if only to find out why she went to such evil lengths to put me down."

"Agreed. She probably won't come at your invitation, but what if I invite her to the city for some reason. Once she's here we can both talk to her."

"Ambush her?"

"That's nothing to what she's done to us dad."

"OK then. You set it up."

Wearing my evening cocktail dress again, I was a bit self conscious as I returned to my accommodation, threading my way through throngs of students in their traditional jeans, sneakers and sloppy joes.

I rang mum and invited her to come and stay for a weekend and meet my key lecturers. Hesitant at first, she finally agreed when I sent her on a guilt trip about how little time she had for her only daughter. I booked her into a nearby motel, arranging a ground floor room where she could park outside the door. She promised to call me on arrival, but true to form she must have left home late for it was well after midnight when she phoned to tell me she had carried her bags inside but was too tired to see me tonight. I agreed to collect her at ten the next morning to give her a chance to rest up.

Delighted at how easily we conspired to get mum here, I rang dad. His apartment was about ten minutes away from the motel so we would all meet at his apartment straight after I had collected her in my car.

Mum was on edge when we pulled up in the underground car park.

"Where are we going Mary? Aren't we supposed to be seeing your lecturing staff?"

"There's an important guy I want you to meet first mum," I said with a grin, pressing the elevator button for the eighth floor.

She was as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs as we emerged from the elevator and I knocked on Dad's door.

"YOU SET ME UP!" she seethed when dad opened the door. "I've got nothing to say to this child abuser."

I pushed her inside to let dad close the door behind her.

"Mum, it's time to drop the child abuse charade. All three of us know that it never happened and if your version of the truth is tested in a court, then you will no doubt spend the next few years of your life behind bars. Can we drop the bullshit and talk honestly for once, within the privacy of these walls?"

Dad poured coffees for each of us while that was going on, looked at his ex-wife and said simply:

"Why, Audrey?"

She could not look at either of us, sipping her coffee with eyes downcast, considering her response.

"It's so complicated."

"So try to unravel it for us."

"I guess it all started when I had the chance to work in a bar. It spiked excitement in me. It offered me a chance to meet people from everywhere. Now you know I have always been a people person. It seemed like such a good fit. And it was good for a time. You remember -- we were so happy together, even though you used to complain about my hours.

The change came with a guy from interstate. He visited town about once a month, staying for three or four days at a time. A bit younger than us, with a charm that made him a perfect salesman, he spent a lot of evenings in the bar, always finding time to chat with me.

Then one evening he asked me if I would like to come back to his room after we locked up -- just for a coffee. Blind Freddie could have seen through that line, but he was in for the long game. He made me a coffee -- awful instant coffee from the room's mini bar -- and after we chatted for a bit, pecked me on the cheek and sent me on my way. From there it was easy for him. I stayed a little longer when he was in town until eventually we had sex. There is no easy way to explain this, but the man was a sexual magician. His cock was not unusually big, but what he did with me the first night changed my outlook on sex forever. He used his fingers, his tongue, his cock and even his arms and legs to work my whole body over until I felt like a pretzel. No orifice was spared and I orgasmed so often that I could not keep count. One minute he worked me over so gently that I felt like melting while the next he hurt me so badly that I couldn't even stand. It seemed to last forever but in fact I was with him for less than two hours. The following night I was with him for three and if he had asked me, I would willingly have spent the night. And so it continued every time he was in town. I'm sorry to tell you this but I have never experienced anyone who could make me feel the way he did. He took me to heights that I would have considered unbelievable. I had no choice -- I had to give myself that pleasure.

I am ashamed to say that I never thought about you two. I felt exhilarated and youthful. I felt wanted. It must have showed too, for between his visits, other regulars started chatting me up. I guess I was insatiable. I was getting sex at home and as much supplementary sex as I wanted after work and every few weeks my favourite man would take me to heaven again.

It was foolish to believe that I could make this last forever and when you threatened to out me to the world, I had to devise a way to stop you from doing that. I'm not proud of my plan to bring you to heel. The repercussions were far quicker and far more brutal than I ever imagined.

After you left my first concern was for Mary because our mortgage payments and school fees were well beyond what I could afford, so you can imagine my relief when I found the house paid off and a regular allowance being paid to Mary. I still can't understand why you did that after what we did to you."

"Let's get this clear. What you did to me was not a joint effort," dad interjected. "This was all your doing. And while we're at it, I didn't do that for you, I did it to make sure that your promiscuous lifestyle did not ruin our daughter's life. I hope you can begin to understand how devastating it was for me to find that I had been barred not just from my own home, but also from contacting my own daughter. I can't even begin to understand how you could do that to someone you once promised to love for life."

An awkward silence followed. There really wasn't a lot more to be said. I guess mum's declaration that she had basically tossed her husband aside for some freakish sex would not have been great for dad's ego but at least she gave us an understanding of sorts. She was stupid.

"Mum," I ventured cautiously to break the silence. "You look to have lost a bit of weight since I saw you last. Is everything OK?"

"I'm fine," she responded dismissively. "I've been trying to lose a bit of weight for ages and I've finally found a diet that seems to work."

In the bright light of dad's apartment, her skin looked rather pale and pasty, but I let it go.

Before she had the chance to give me a roasting for my trickery in getting her here, I tried the gentle approach.

"I'm sorry to drag you here under false pretenses mum, but I only met dad a few days ago and I was determined to put this to rest once and for all. I don't agree with your choices, but they are your choices and you have to live with them. I don't know if I could handle a succession of lovers. I think I'll just wait until Mr Right comes along."

"I had Mr Right once," she said wistfully. "I was too stupid to realise it. You might be interested to know that I stopped bringing men home a few months ago and I'm only working the midday to six shift these days. Spend my time thinking about the good old days. My special man who started all this stopped coming to our bar when he realized he was sharing me with other customers so from then on I only finished up with left-overs."

Epilogue:

Karma is a wondrous thing. There was a good reason for mum's weight loss. One of her many "left-overs" passed on the mother of all presents -- AIDS. She died in misery before I graduated. But dad was there to share my achievement.

Westcam's final say:

This story took a completely different direction from the original plan so I may yet feel inclined to write a follow up to bring it back on track. Who knows?

Thank you for reading.