Sera Ch. 27

"Whatever the story," Ashleigh continued, her tone somewhat lighter, "Dolanna did say that Cary was happy. As for Finn Gallagher, we don't know much about him either. He was around the same age as Cary and came and went twice per day, once in the early morning and once in the evening and sometimes on Sunday. We know he was a big man and was allowed to enter the house without knocking. He, like Cary, would surely have belonged to Eleonore's influence from the beginning.

"So, life goes happily on for the four of them until Dolanna comes of age. It's eighteen-sixty-six and there've been a lot of changes since Eleonore showed up, most especially in her daughter. First off, Dolanna was no disappointment to the family tradition in the looks department. While not as curvy as her mother, she was tall and pretty with black hair and bright blue eyes. This was probably fortunate because she looked exactly like her mother in facial features.

"Unlike her mother, Dolanna was a much more public personality. She loved adventure, loved to laugh and she loved the throngs and the people of the city that had grown with her. She was also somewhat of a tomboy. I suppose it served her need for adventure, but that may not have been the only reason. Y'see, she also loved to... kind of show herself off. She was a bit of an exhibitionist because, according to her, she was so horny she could barely keep her hands off of herself, and she loved the idea of people looking at her with sexual thoughts because of some inappropriate outfit, or what is today called a 'wardrobe malfunction'.

"It was something her mother wasn't aware of at first, but she'd caught a lot of people's eye with some daring outfits and behaviour. As an example, she shared her mother's passion for horses, but not for a team, rather a fast mount. With the money Eleonore had been making for the past two decades, Dolanna rode a beautiful Arabian stallion which, again, spoke to her tomboy leanings. And she didn't ride sidesaddle, by the way. No, she sat astride with breeches tight enough to give Kitten's jeans a run for their money."

"Giggle!" my cousin commented.

"Yeah, that was her," Ashleigh chuckled, pointing at Kitten. "She was very bubbly and... free spirited. Unfortunately, her mother didn't think it was very funny once the rumours of Dolanna's eye popping attire and sometimes outlandish behaviour got back to her. According to Dolanna, however, this is how she controlled her sex drive. She said she got off on it to a degree that her hand could do the rest, but from her mother's perspective... well, that just wouldn't cut it with quiet, studious Eleonore, would it? No, it's clear she'd always been careful of image, and for good reasons that none here need guess at.

"In fact, Eleonore had been so good at presenting a 'nothing to see here' air about her house, that not even Dolanna knew that there was anything different about her mother. She remembered her as an intense woman with very striking, intimidating eyes and who had a very notable presence, also relating how she learned quite early that her mother would always know if she were lying and half suspected Eleonore could read her mind. A lot of kids think that of their parents at some point before they laugh it off, but she said she'd kept on believing it in some measure for years.

"So, word was getting back to Eleonore about Dolanna's public behaviour, and she and her mother had already had a few sit-downs about the issue, obviously none of them successful. Another discussion on the matter is what the young woman thought she was in for when her mother came to her room one evening. It was shortly after her eighteenth birthday and she was in the middle of- in her own words- watching the girl in the mirror, whatever that means."

Kitten

I'd been gazing at the top of Auntie's desk as she spoke, not really looking at anything on it, but listening along intently until she mentioned Dolanna watching the girl in the mirror. I knew what that meant. I jerked my head up and looked at Auntie Ashleigh with my mouth open a little, a light flush already starting.

"Oh," she said to me with a raised brow and an amused expression, "something to contribute here, sweetie pie?"

Miffy moistened as I flushed deeper and giggled nervously. Remembering Stevie was right there beside me made it worse, yet I couldn't help looking at him in stunned panic. Another stupid giggle escaped my throat as our family antagonist looked back with smiling interest. Sheila's face was full of horny curiosity, obviously able to tell that this was something sexual.

"Well, I- um, I just do stuff... in front of the mirror."

"What stuff?" Sheila wanted to know."

" ... Horny stuff," I said in a lower voice, even more embarrassed. "It's like... I like watching myself. It's hard to describe why, I just really get off on seeing myself do stuff in the mirror."

"Just you?" Stevie asked.

I turned an even deeper shade of red as I shook my head at him, giggling nervously when he let his eyes briefly wander my body again.

"I'd always wondered about that," Auntie Ashleigh leered, but I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, hm? We'll have to have a demonstration sometime."

"I second that," my other auntie put in.

Miffy got even wetter and I was glad when our elder got mercifully underway again. At least she wasn't mad anymore.

"So... heh, anyway, Eleonore comes to her daughter's room for a little visit. She sits on her bed and invites Dolanna to do the same. What surprised Dolanna was the fact that her mother was smiling. According to her it was a rarity, but there she was, sitting on the bed in her nightie while making a comfy spot for her daughter. Having been expecting trouble, Dolanna wasn't looking this particular gift horse in the mouth, but she said she was a little uncomfortable as she climbed up on the bed with her. Probably because she was just engaged with the girl in the mirror," Auntie added with a raised brow and a quick smile for me.

"Dolanna's actually quite blunt about things, by the way," Auntie went on, "or at least that's how her daughter's account of her words comes across. Dolanna tells of how Eleonore started saying some very nice things to her, about her, embracing... caressing and kissing her... Then she started talking more pointedly, giving her what we'd call the 'birds and the bees' talk, but uncommonly heavy on practical, physical examples. Her mother influenced her and she'd allowed her own little nightie to be removed with a smile as her only defense because of it. She was clear on her feelings about the 'excitingly sordid affair', explaining how she'd never had sex as good as it was with her mother, and never as good as it was on that evening.

"They came together and Dolanna was bonded. It was the beginning of her secondary education and, perhaps, her mother's greatest battle since Coby. And of course, Coby was one of the prime lessons in Dolanna's education, if not completely accurate in the telling during that early version."

"How'd she take it all?" Stevie quietly asked without attitude.

Her tone suddenly suspicious, she looked sideways at him while answering, "I'd say pretty well, but I'm guessing Eleonore had enough sense to lay it all out in such a way as Dolanna could take it as well as she ever could."

Auntie Kathleen broke in with, "I'm assuming Eleonore left her enough will to know what was going on, during and after?"

"You mean with holding her under her influence?" Auntie Ashleigh asked without waiting for clarification, "Yes, it would have made the reality of bonding, of what Eleonore told her concerning Sera, very clear. In fact, while Dolanna related in so many words that she was totally blown away by it all, never once was she said to have disbelieved it, not even for an instant. She accepted it and moved on... well, actually ran with it. Dolanna was quite a gal, believe me. If anybody on this planet was ever capable of exasperating her mother, it would have been Dolanna."

"Why?" I asked with an entertained grin, now liking Dolanna as much as I admired her mother.

"Well first of all, soon after she was bonded, she started chasing females. Never men."

"A lesbian?" I asked, barely containing a giggle.

"Oh yeah," Auntie assured with a wink. "A confirmed lezzie with absolutely no sexual use for men whatsoever, other than someone to watch her sashaying around in a pair of breeches she'd poured herself into. Up till then, her mother's biggest problem was getting her to stop looking like a little slut in public and to take more of an interest in the family business. After she was bonded, the little wingnut started running around influencing people, mostly women, and... well, you can imagine.

"She related this one story about how she influenced a past acquaintance from school and her parents. She had her father stand and watch while she, his wife and daughter had a threesome in his own home, right in his face. Still, she considered sex with her mother to be better, a funny preference considering how the two were coming increasingly at odds with each other over Dolanna's adamant sexual preference and continued public misbehaviour.

"After being caught necking with different women around town, one of them a protestant preacher's wife, Eleonore actually threatened to financially cut her off and throw her out. Dolanna didn't believe her for a second and, if there was ever any one time when Eleonore allowed anyone to get the better of her, it was this time. She obviously loved Dolanna very much despite their problems and despite how she sometimes comes off as being uncaring towards her. Dolanna herself encourages this viewpoint of her mother but, again, I disagree with how she would paint Eleonore.

"But the preacher's wife seems to have been a thing for Dolanna. She tells of how she had to smarten up about her lesbian exploits, but also of how she went back to this woman and carried on a secret affair with her for a short time. But she bored of the preacher's wife because she, in Dolanna's own words, wasn't pure enough. After that, she started chasing nuns."

I laughed aloud, covering my mouth as I squeezed and ground my thighs.

"Oh yeah, baby," Auntie laughed as the others chuckled a little too. "Like I said, Dolanna was quite a gal. She'd go around, dressed like a man but with a woman's curves, smiling and being nice to nuns in the street. It must have been quite the spectacle for anybody who looked twice, especially back then, but she herself was very clear about how she loved that aspect of this questionable behaviour.

"Before too long, when she was twenty-three years old, she found one that she said was 'pure' and actually brought her home to meet her mother. This is what she told her too, standing there before her with an influenced nun, telling her mother that she was moving her in as her wife and spiritual guide."

"Oh my god," Auntie Kathleen laughed with a dubious expression.

"This is what I mean about Dolanna," Auntie confirmed. "She was different; not a liar, but her perspectives were sometimes a little..."

"Wonky?" Sheila finished with an expression that matched Auntie Kathleen's, her younger sister's hand slowly caressing her spread inner thigh as they listened.

"'Wonky' about says it," Auntie agreed. "But it's hard not to like the woman just the same. It's not like she ever meant any harm, she just wanted her little nun."

"But," Stevie assumed, "Eleonore wasn't crazy about the idea."

"Not at all," Auntie replied, still flashing sharp eyes at him. "And for good reason."

"She was concerned," he went ahead for her, "or rather, Sera was concerned about not getting passed along. Other females are all well and fine when it's just for kicks, but only a cock is going to satisfy one of Sera's two most basic drives: The drive to procreate."

Auntie stared coldly at him before going on in a slightly hostile tone.

"Correct. As harmless as it seemed, Dolanna's sexual preference was a problem. It was something Dolanna didn't seem to take seriously, even after bonding."

Auntie looked to her right, passing her empty glass to Lynette even as our blonde servant rose to take it. I took the opportunity to quickly, surreptitiously punch Stevie in the shoulder, giving him a look that said, "FUCK – OFF!" very clearly. He looked back at me like it was my fault, but both his mummy and mine were looking at him the same way I was.

"I shouldn't say this," Auntie continued as Lynette took her glass to the wet bar, "because it's only my own impression without even Rebecca's concurrence to back it up, and I don't like to poison your mind with my own impressions of her but... Dolanna reminds me somewhat of Mum.

"Unfortunately, Eleonore would have been reminded of her mother. Yeah, she forbade it, this idea of the nun moving in, so Dolanna threatened to run away and join the convent. Well, I guess Eleonore had finally, really had it with her because she steps up and slaps the shit out of Dolanna until she drives her back and down, cowering in a corner, crying and trying to shield herself with her arms. She didn't mention any vocal anger on her mother's part, and I can't help but picture a stern, forty-two year old Eleonore silently beating her screaming and crying daughter down out of pure frustration. I can also see Dolanna submitting to that, but she said she cried even harder and begged her to stop when she then 'fixed' her nun.

"I assume Dolanna meant that Eleonore did a number on the woman's head before sending her away. I say that because Dolanna doesn't mention her nun again in the chronological account, and one has to assume that she knew she was lost to her. After all, she went back to the preacher's wife after she was caught, so she surely would have gone back to her much prized, pure and perfect nun if she thought she could. Still, one might also argue that it was Eleonore's next actions that dissuaded any desire on Dolanna's part to seek out her intended wife, despite her mother's objections.

"Uhh... in the interest of what Eleonore knew had to be done, she again visited her daughter's bedroom later that night. She talked about what happened, about Sera and certain family responsibilities that Dolanna didn't really want to hear about after losing her nun because of them. So, Eleonore influenced her, then opened the door to Finn Gallagher, who was obviously waiting outside."

"Oh oh," Auntie Kathleen's tone warned.

"She had to and it's a god-damned good thing she did," Ashleigh replied, glancing at Stevie when she did. "Not only did she have to bring Dolanna under control, but none of us would be here if she hadn't. Well, she at least accomplished the latter."

Auntie Ashleigh eyed Stevie as he got up and practically shambled to the wet bar, obviously pretty plastered by now. I was feeling pretty good too, but I wasn't apt to piss her off.

"Eleonore joined and the three of them had a night of it, Dolanna discovering the joys of the penis while her mother attended and participated in the impregnation of her daughter by her... man. Of course, this influenced impression of sex with a man couldn't last in Dolanna's mind, and this is how we know that our influence over one another isn't permanent, not like it can be with other people."

Stevie didn't look to be bothering with water this time, only tossing a few cubes of ice into his glass as Auntie explained, "And when her mother's influence did wear off, she was quite understandably upset. From her perspective, she'd been used. She'd been raped. The worst thing about it was, until then, she never had any reason to fear her mother or her influence, but that was the last time Eleonore was ever allowed in Dolanna's mind and the last time they ever had sex.

"And Dolanna was quite clear with her mother about how she felt. She told her outright that she'd never forgive the violation, nor ever have any part of the child's upbringing. So in the course of doing what had to be done, Eleonore sacrificed a great deal in terms of her relationship with Dolanna, but that wouldn't be all she'd lose to that decision."

Her eyes followed Stevie as he finished coming around her desk to flump in the chair beside me. Like me, I could tell Auntie Kathleen and Sheila were trying to ignore him in hopes Auntie Ashleigh would do the same.

"Dolanna gave birth nine months later, eighteen-seventy-two, to the baby girl who would eventually relate this history. "Eleonore, true to Dolanna's word, had to name her granddaughter and she chose, 'Odette', which means 'little wealthy one'. Further true to her word, Dolanna had nothing more to do with the child from the moment the cord was cut. Eleonore ended up raising Odette while Dolanna... well...

"She was quite upset that her body had been 'desecrated'. She described many of the psychological trauma symptoms that women who've been raped display, not the least of which depression. What was more, she then felt useless to her mother, as though her only purpose, that of a baby maker, had been served and it wouldn't matter what she did with her life from there on anyway because Eleonore had Odette. I can see her feeling this way too, given how Eleonore tended to be as a person, combined with her violation of Dolanna.

"So, Dolanna was more or less free to go back to living her life as she chose, in as much as her mother would allow, but the life she chose wasn't quite like her old one and her mother had lost much control over her from then on anyway. As I've said, she loved excitement and adventure, or at least the idea of it, and had always been an avid reader. During the later months of her pregnancy when she allowed her mother to keep her inside most of the time, she'd become enamoured with the wild western lifestyle she read about in whatever crap was coming back this way from out there.

"After giving birth, she'd started drinking a lot more than she had before, but stopped wearing risqué clothing in favour of regular men's clothing. While a little close fitting, they were only simple work clothes. Dungarees with suspenders, button up shirt and boots with a peasant hat... and a Navy Colt in a cross draw holster under her jacket. She'd acquired this somewhere- Odette never asked- and started taking it out to the woods to practice her quick draw. This is what she herself said."

While we all watched Sheila's quiet trip to the wet bar, Ashleigh went on with, "See, this is another example of what I mean about Dolanna. Anyway, she's still as interested in women as she ever was, if no longer the purity of a nun. 'Nice young ladies' is how she described them. Now they were being carefully chosen from the many ships that came and went, young ladies who'd immigrated and were on their way further inland to join waiting husbands, family or whatever. She said she'd spy the right one, a particular type who her heightened powers of observation would see as a woman who wished she could 'be somewhere and someone else'."

"The dreamer type," I put in.

"Just like her," Auntie Kathleen agreed while Sheila returned to her younger sister with two tall glasses of vodka and milk. "Looking for a partner in crime, was she?"

"No," Auntie Ashleigh said, "She kept them there at the house most of the time, sometimes two or three at once, until she'd let them go after a little while. I assume she'd get bored with them, but she never said. Meanwhile, according to Dolanna, Eleonore's not saying anything about her co-opting female travelers for weeks as they serve... Dolanna. Heh. This is because Dolanna's been visiting her mother's jobsites, probably while she was out practicing with her revolver, and it looked like she was finally taking an interest in the family business.