The Classical Twins

This story was suggested by the wonderful Wickedpen, who helped with suggestions and comments throughout. I am most grateful for her encouragement and constructive criticism. As a Brit writing an American story, there may be some slips into British English, so apologies to my American readers for any glaring errors. I hope people enjoy my first foray into father daughter incest. Constructive feedback and criticism is very welcome.

*****

Tom had already ignored the house phone twice in the last ten minutes but when it rang a third time, he decided that perhaps it might be important for someone to ring so frequently. He set aside the plate of Titian's Sleeping Venus in the book he was studying and, with a reluctant final glance at the recumbent goddess's exquisite curves, stretched out his arm for the receiver. "Yes, what is it?" he asked gruffly.

"Dad?" A familiar voice asked above the background noise of a public address announcement. Tom's heart went cold for a moment and he looked over at the clock on his office desk. Shit, it was 3.42 and the girls' flight was supposed to have landed at 3 o'clock.

"Cassie?" Tom said. "Oh God, I'm sorry. I got distracted by work and forgot all about your flight. I'm so sorry darling." He could hear his daughter chuckle but with a hint of annoyance and resigned acceptance.

"Par for the course, Dad," she said, trying to keep her temper. "Don't worry, we'll wait but get a move on, 'kay?" She said. "We've been here twenty minutes already and I've tried your cell like four times plus the house phone."

"Yes, sorry," Tom mumbled in reply. "My phone's on silent and I thought the house phone was just some telesales crap so I left it. No one rings landlines any more do they?"

"They do if their father isn't picking up his cell," Cassie stated huffily.

"Sure, sure," Tom stalled, "you're right. Am really sorry darling, I'll be with you both soon, I promise."

"Ok Dad, see you soon. We'll go to a coffee shop and text you which one, 'kay? Just don't get the wrong terminal," she added before she rung off. Tom jumped out of his chair, grabbed his jacket and headed for the door. He'd got outside before he realised he'd left the car keys behind and he had to go back. What the hell was wrong with him? Jennifer always said that he'd forget his head if it wasn't screwed on. Jennifer. He sighed at the thought of her as he retreated back into the house and searched his desk and then various coat pockets for his car keys before he finally located them. How long was it now since she had passed? Four years, two months and seventeen days. He knew, always knew, how long it had been since she'd died, taken from him by cancer at just 41. Jennifer had been his light, so bright and vivacious and full of life. It seemed so unfair that death had snuffed all that out in just a few weeks. One moment she'd been well, then after a check-up for a few headaches an inoperable brain tumour and then gone before they'd all had a chance even to adjust to the possibility.

Tom had always assumed that he'd go first. He was older than her after all. He'd been a star junior professor and she'd been his doctoral student. Not exactly a new story but, before Jennifer, Tom had been entirely dedicated to is work. She'd brought him out of himself, made him more human, more gregarious but then she was gone. He'd retreated into himself since then, focused now only on his work and their girls, wanting to fulfil his last promise to Jennifer. He could feel her hand on his even now, all her remaining strength seemed to be concentrated into her small hand as she gripped him tightly and looked into his green eyes. "Promise me Tom," she had whispered hoarsely, her voice barely recognisable. "Swear it, that you'll not let them down like I have." He had tears in his eyes as he told her that she'd not let them down, any of them, but that he'd bring up the girls the way she'd be proud of and that they'd want for nothing.

He wiped away fresh tears now as he tried to see which exit to take out of town and towards the airport. Get a grip man, he told himself. She wouldn't want to see you crying. She would, though, he reflected. At least it showed he cared about something. These days people said that the only things Tom Richardson cared about were his book on depictions of the classic world in the Renaissance and his two girls. He felt guilty that this afternoon he'd prioritised one over the other. He promised himself that while they were with him for Spring Break, he would give them proper time.

"He's on his way Andi," Cassie said as she hung up and turned to her twin sister. "I was right, he forgot about it and was still at home."

"Oh," her sister said. "I guess he's been super busy and we just slipped his mind." Andi said gently. She was always more prepared to see the best in people and give them the benefit of the doubt. She'd thought that when Cassie couldn't get through on their father's cell that he must have been in the car. It was Cassie who'd suggested it was more likely that he was still at home lost in the 16th century.

"Come on," Cassie said, taking the handle of her suitcase and wheeling it towards a Starbucks. "I told him we'd get a coffee while we wait. You're buying as I was right." She said confidently and, as usual, Andi acquiesced. Cassie was always the more assertive one. She lead and Andi followed. It was usually the only way you could tell the twins apart. Identical twins, now twenty years of age, Cassie and Andi were exactly the same and completely different. They did most things together, almost invariably at Cassie's instance, and they loved and knew each other with that fierce intensity that only identical twins possess. They could finish each other's sentences and always seemed to know what the other was thinking. Their personalities, however, were very different, as if Mother Nature, having created a physical carbon copy, had reacted against this when shaping their personalities. Cassie was loud, dominating most conversations, sharp tongued and adventurous, while Andi was much more gentle, timid even at times, more understanding and empathetic towards others. Andi often had to pick up the pieces after Cassie's whirlwind had torn through a situation. They suited each other perfectly, however, and people tended to think they were getting two friends for the price of one with the Richardson twins and between them they offered everything that one might want in a friend and more.

The barista admired the long legs and long red hair of the two girls and, when they turned away to carry the coffees to their table, he blew out his cheeks at the thought of Andi's pert ass, bending over to place the cups carefully on the table. The two girls sat down to wait for their father. They were approaching the end of their second year at NYU now and, while they had received plenty of invitations to go down to Florida or some other holiday hot spot for Spring Break, they'd decided to head home to Georgia for the vacation to spend some quality time with their father. Actually it had been Andi's decision. Cassie was all for going to Florida with some of the guys from the men's water polo team (her being captain of the female team), but for once Andi had insisted that their father needed them at home. They hadn't seen him since Christmas and she was worried about him. Cassie had reluctantly agreed, though secretly she missed her dad as much as Andi. She just hid it better.

They chatted idly about school and what this break might bring. They lived near Chattahooche Hills, a small place just outside Atlanta that had retained its rural character better than most of the environs of Georgia's capital. While the city wasn't far away and they would be able to escape there, the girls knew that their father liked to avoid leaving their ramshackle farmstead unless he had to go in to lecture at Georgia State. The old farmhouse was charming and cosy in its way but was in need of refurbishment. They'd bought it when the girls were thirteen. For Tom it was a chance to escape the city, while Jennifer and the girls were enthusiastic about the opportunities of a makeover project. Then the girls had discovered that boys and sports were more interesting than home improvements and not long after that Jennifer had got sick. With Jennifer gone, Tom had neither the time, inclination nor the money to do anything more, so it had remained largely untouched, bar the odd emergency repair, since their mother had died.

Both girls agreed that while home offered comforts and familiarity and, of course, their father, being stuck there for two weeks wasn't an option. Fortunately, they had a number of friends who'd stayed local for College so there'd be plenty of opportunities for meeting up and having fun. As ever with Cassie, however, it didn't take too long for the conversation to slip into boys. Cassie wasn't easy but she did believe that being young was an opportunity to have fun and that being beautiful, as she undoubtedly was, simply afforded one more opportunities to have fun and with better-looking guys. Andi, on the other hand, was steadier in her affections. She'd had only two boyfriends in time at NYU and while she liked to party too, she always politely turned down the attempts of guys to get her to cheat. She was, however, currently single, having dumped her boyfriend a few weeks back. She'd let him down gently but he'd been flooding her phone trying to win her back since.

Andi let Cassie run on, listing the boys she liked and those whom she thought that Andi ought to go for now she was single again. Andi just smiled politely as her sister ticked off names on her fingers only adding the occasional comment as to why they weren't suitable or a bemused snort at one or two of Cassie's more outlandish suggestions. Cassie realised that she wasn't going to get anyway with this tack, so she began to discuss their professors instead and both girls giggled in horror as they discussed the obese Professor Kowalski in Psych and the dandruff problem that Professor Gordon in Ancient History suffered from. Cassie eventually settled on their Government professor, Jamie Hislop, something of a rockstar among the NYU faculty. In his early forties, tall, stylish and with a fashionable beard, he was very much the epitome of a hipster academic and Cassie had had a long-range crush on him since their first semester. Andi rolled her eyes at her sister, as this was hardly the first time that she'd mentioned Professor Hislop, or Jamie as she liked to call him dreamily.

"Come on," said Cassie, "don't roll your eyes at me Andi. He's gorgeous. Name one academic who's sexier than him," she challenged and bent forward as she lifted her oversized coffee mug to her glossy pink lips content that her sister wouldn't be able to find a single one.

"Daddy," Andi replied and then blushed furiously, her skin blotching under the freckles that dotted her face, as she realised what she'd said. Cassie almost chocked on her cappuccino and stared at her twin, her green eyes wide in disbelief.

"WTF Andi?" She said, "Dad? You're not serious," She paused and her eyes narrowed as she looked searchingly at Andi, reaching into her soul in the way that only a twin can. "Holy fuck, you do mean it." Andi blushed an even deeper red and began to stammer a denial. How could she have been so thoughtless? Her crush on her father was the one secret she resolutely kept from Cassie. I mean how could you tell even your twin sister that you loved your father the way she did? She just hadn't been thinking that moment and it had slipped out. Andi could feel her heart suddenly pounding at what felt like a million beats a minute and Cassie could see that, having been flushed red a moment ago, all the blood had now drained away and she was as pale as a ghost.

Cassie reached out and touched her sister's hand, squeezing it gently, reassuringly. "It's ok Andi," she said softly. "Jeez, though, how long? Seriously?" She asked in shocked fascination. Andi bit her lip, nodded and then looked down and away, trying to hide her face and her shame behind the long flame-colored hair that all their friends and admirers agreed was one of the twins' most alluring assets. She couldn't lie to her sister. She didn't want to and, anyway, Cassie would know instantly. A sin of omission was one thing but openly lying to Cassie was something Andi never did.

"I dunno exactly," she mumbled. "It kinda crept up on me, you know?" Cassie didn't know but she made an encouraging sound, designed to elicit more information. Andi looked up and into Cassie's eyes. "Shit Cassie, I never meant for you, or anyone, to find out. It's not like I'm proud of it," she added, the blush flushing over her face once more. "It just sorta happened."

"Jeez, Andi," Cassie said, "That's not why you really broke up with Josh was it? Because we're coming home and you wanted a crack at Dad?" She joked, almost because she didn't know what else to do. Andi looked at her sharply.

"No, of course not. You know why Josh and I ended. And don't joke Cass, it's not funny."

"No," Cassie said and touched her sister's hand again. "No, I suppose it isn't. I'm sorry, I just didn't know what else to say. I mean, they don't provide a manual for when your twin confesses that she wants to bang your Dad," she joked again and this time even Andi smiled. She blew out her cheeks. It felt good, in a way, finally to have this out in the open with Cassie. Andi knew that at least she wouldn't judge her too harshly, whatever anyone else might think.

"No, I guess they don't. I'm sorry to freak you out Cass," she said softly. "I don't expect you to understand or anything. I know it freaky and all that, believe me I've been telling myself that. I'm sure I'll get over it and all, but, well, the heart can't help what the heart feels, right?" Cassie looked a bit skeptical but then shrugged.

"I guess not. I mean I once fancied Pete Selby's Dad and what the hell was that about?" She said and both girls laughed at the memory. It felt good to laugh about it, Andi thought.

"What are you two girls laughing about?" They both jumped at the deep, resonant voice of their father, a voice that many a Georgia State student had fallen in love with over the years including, of course, their own mother. "I'm so sorry I'm late Cassandra, Andromeda," he said, raising his palms in apology. "Can you forgive me?"

Andi blushed when coming face to face with her crush and covered it the only way she could by burying her face in his strong chest with a hug, breathing in his familiar lemony aftershave that always made her feel safe and warm. Cassie was slower to get to her feet, less willing to forgive him for his tardiness but also taking a moment to look at him properly as a man for the first time, rather than simply as their dad.

Tom was tall, over six feet and broad-chested, his body kept in shape by the long runs he liked to do every morning which, he always said, helped to clear his head. His face was tanned and furrowed with worry and thought lines that seemed to map his life. His eyes, like theirs, were lively and green and held one's attention easily behind the slightly battered black framed-glasses that had been fashionable five years ago when Jennifer had bought them for him. His hair was strawberry blond and neatly cut. He certainly hadn't let himself go when his wife had died. Perhaps, Cassie reflected, that had been part of his promise to their mom. He was fifty-two, she knew, and he looked it but it was a distinguished older-guy sort of fifty-two rather than a man gone to seed. She tilted her head slightly to look at him. Yes, objectively she could certainly see what Andi saw in him. If he weren't their dad, of course. That was just weird. Wasn't it?

"Everything ok Cassandra?" Tom asked, breaking into her reverie. "Are you still pissed at me for being late, or are you gonna give your old man a hug? I've not seen you since Christmas after all." Cassie smiled, especially at his use of her full name. He was the only person who still did it. Being an academic interested in the Classical world, he'd naturally named his daughters after two women from the Greek myths, never thinking about what being saddled with the names Cassandra and Andromeda might mean for girls growing up in Georgia. Fortunately, Jennifer had agreed to the names on the proviso that they were known generally as Cassie and Andi. Tom mostly stuck to that but he liked occasionally to remind them of their real names.

"Sure Dad," Cassie said eventually and hugged her father. Tom kissed the top of her head and Cassie, like Andi, breathed in his comforting scent, experienced his strong arms around her and felt good. "It's good to see you," she said in his chest, "even if you are nearly an hour late," she added and gave him a gentle whack on the bicep. Tom chuckled and she felt the movement against her chest and a funny warmth inside.

"I'm sorry angel," he said. "Come on, the car's this way."

"I call shotgun," Cassie said, slipping her arm around his waist and then adding after a pause, "for Andi. She's been saying how much she's been missing you, plus I wanna stretch out on the backseat, my legs are killing me after being cooped up in that cabin." Andi, who'd taken up position on Tom's other side shot her sister a filthy look and Tom figured that he was clearly missing some private joke here. He felt a twinge of guilt that he wasn't able to afford to fly them back business class, or even premium coach, having to make do with simple coach class. The girls' long, shapely legs, now clearly on display would have been cramped on the two-and-a-half-hour flight from La Guardia.

Still, now they were home, he'd be able to look after them properly. More likely, though, they'd end up looking after him. Andi was an excellent cook and Cassie's zest would lift him temporarily out of the gloom he'd fallen into in recent weeks. Every time they went away he found it harder to cope without them, knowing that every visit was one closer to when they'd leave home permanently and he'd be alone with his thoughts and memories in the big empty house.

Whenever they were back home the twins shared a bedroom, as they did a dorm room on campus. There were enough bedrooms for them to have one of their own in the farmhouse but they'd always shared together, a pattern only broken at NYU when one of them had a man over for the night. They were back in that large attic room now, adjusting to the stillness of darkness in the countryside compared with the constant noise and light pollution of New York. Andi had cooked them dinner, making the best of the spare ingredients that she'd found in Tom's cupboards, and then Tom had wanted to catch up on all their news. He was an attentive and caring father and genuinely interested in their lives. He seemed to come to life when talking with them, in stark contrast to how he felt when they were absent.

The girls dissected the evening's conversation again when they were alone, quite a common thing for them to do and Cassie probed Andi a little further about her feelings for their dad. The more she asked the more intrigued Cassie became. Andi was clearly deeply embarrassed but it wasn't hard to see the depth of her feelings. It wasn't just some taboo kink, this was real. She even confessed that with Josh, every time they had sex she was thinking of their father and it was only that which allowed her to get off. For Andi these confessions were a weight off her heart. It felt good finally to have someone to talk to, someone who she knew wouldn't condemn her or judge her. She knew that it would never lead to anything, that she'd have to get over but maybe, she thought, that getting it out in the open with her twin might help her begin to move beyond it.