The Girls of Delta Theta Phi

"I'll just be a minute, Mom." the blonde haired girl said as she took the phone and walked a few feet away to take the call in private.

While Courtney chatted just out of earshot, Cynthia found herself staring at Edward. The little exhibition last night had left her feeling very horny, a sensation she hadn't felt in some time. Not even a pleasing masturbation session last night and again this morning had helped to satisfy her urge.

Watching the tall well built young man play with his silver rimmed glasses, Cynthia was reminded of a night not so long ago. The hockey team that Edward played on had just won the local championship and the two of them had stayed up late into the night celebrating. Edward, because hockey was one of the most important things in his life, and Cynthia because she just needed to have a little fun.

After a few bottles of very expensive wine which Cynthia had liberated from her husband's prized collection, Edward began to look very good to her. She had been sorely tempted to try and entice him into her bed, a bed her husband had so long ago vacated. Finally common sense had prevailed and she realized that a one night stand wasn't worth upsetting the apple cart. Still, if he'd been just some young man she'd met.

"Good morning." Nicole said as she walked up to the table. "I hope I haven't kept anyone waiting."

"No, of course not." Cynthia said, dismissing her idle fantasy from her mind. "Please have a seat."

It was hard for Cynthia not to sneak looks at Nicole as she ate. The image of her naked form being serviced by her daughter was still too fresh in her mind.

An unhappy look covered Courtney's face as she returned from her telephone call. Whatever it had been about, it wasn't good news.

"Trouble honey?" Cynthia asked as she rose from the table.

"I'm afraid so." came her reply. "I'm going to have to cut the weekend short, they need me back in Manhattan right away."

"That's terrible." Cynthia commented.

"I'll go and pack." Nicole said.

"Oh no, there's no reason for you to have your weekend ruined too." Courtney said. "Why don't you stay here and enjoyed it. I did promise you a few days in the country."

Nicole waited before answering, her line of sight shifting from Courtney to Cynthia.

"It's OK isn't it, Mom." Courtney asked as she followed Nicole's gaze.

"Of course it is." Cynthia said, unsure what else she could say.

"Great." Courtney said. "Edward's going into town anyway so he'll give me a ride to the train. If I hurry, I can catch the 10:30 to Penn Station."

Cynthia was disappointed that her daughter's visit was going to be cut short, but she understood all too well how important Courtney's job was to her. Hugs and kisses were quickly exchanged, as well as the promise to get together again as soon as possible.

Once Courtney and Edward had left, Cynthia quickly completed some paper work she had brought home for the weekend. She had only brought a small amount home with her, assuming that she was going to need a lot of free time to spend with her daughter. She considered calling the office and having one of the staff run some more out to her, then decided against it. She took so little time off these days, she deserved a little play time.

It wasn't until late afternoon that she even saw Nicole again. Her houseguest seemed to be as much a workaholic as she was, spending a good part of the day on her cellular phone. True, laying on a lawn chair in the garden was a lot better than being locked up in an airtight office. Well, Cynthia thought, I guess you don't get to be partner in a prestigious law firm at 32 by taking it easy.

After lunch, Cynthia decided to spend some time in the pool out back. It was one of her favorite places to relax. Her husband had really gone through the roof the year she had workman construct a removable cover over the pool so it could be heated and used in the winter. Still, half the profits from the company were hers to use as she wished. After all, she had never complained about his numerous excursions around the country - or the various "assistants" who accompanied him.

"That looks inviting." Nicole said as she walked up to the edge of the pool where Cynthia was just relaxing after finishing her laps.

The tall cinnamon hued lawyer had changed into a simple, comfortable white T-shirt and blue shorts. Even in that plain attire, she looked like a model out of town and country.

"You're welcome to join me." Cynthia said as she smiled up at the older woman. "There's extra suits in the pool house, I'm sure you'll be able to find something that'll fit you."

"Oh I never bother with a suit." Nicole quipped as she grabbed the bottom edges of her shirt and pulled it up and over her head. Her braless breasts bounced free in the air, giving Cynthia a close up view of the round orbs she had only seen at a distance the night before. The blue shorts quickly followed, adding her dark curly haired bush to the list of Nicole's attractions.

Cynthia had only a brief instant to recall the image of her daughter's tongue buried up within that mound. With a powerful leap into the air, the now nude muscular young woman dived into the deeper end of the pool.

She dropped all the way to the bottom before pushing herself back up. She broke the surface with a large splash, before flipping over and traversing the length of the pool with a series of textbook strokes. Executing a flawless flip at the far end of the pool, Nicole recrossed the length of the pool and moved up to where Cynthia was just drifting lazily.

"The water feels wonderful." Nicole beamed as she pulled herself up alongside Cynthia. "If I had one of these, I'd never be out of shape."

"You're not exactly out of shape." Cynthia laughed.

"Compared to when I was in college I am." Nicole replied. "I can never seem to find the time to get to the gym anymore."

"I imagine you must keep busy." Cynthia noted.

It was at that moment that the younger woman noticed that Cynthia was staring at her naked breasts. The droplet covered mounds were only a foot away from her now.

"Does this bother you?" Nicole asked. "My not wearing a suit I mean."

"No, not at all." Cynthia answered. "If you feel more comfortable that way, who am I to say no."

"It really is a lot more comfortable than wearing a confining suit." Nicole commented. "You should try it."

"When I was young, we used to go to a place down in the islands where we'd go skinny dipping." Cynthia said as she leisurely splashed her legs in the water. "I remember it as being a lot of fun. Once you got used to all the naked bodies." she laughingly added.

"Did that turn you on?" Nicole abruptly asked.

"Excuse me?" Cynthia asked after pausing a few beats, wondering how the conversation had taken such an abrupt turn.

"I asked if that turned you on," Nicole repeated. "All those naked bodies?"

"What would make you asked a question like that?"

It took even longer for Nicole to answer. It seemed for a few moments that she might be reconsidering her question. Then, with deliberation, she went on.

"Last night you seemed to spend a considerable amount of time watching Courtney and me. A lot longer than someone who had just accidentally walked into an embarrassing situation. Most people would've just stepped back out. You stood there and watched for a while."

Cynthia's face blushed, she hadn't realized Nicole had seen her. Then a more embarrassing thought replaced that. Had she told Courtney?

"Was it the sight of our naked bodies that interested you so much?" Nicole continued.

Cynthia was speechless, she didn't have an answer. She really didn't know herself why she had stayed there so long.

"Know what I think?" Nicole said, and then continued without waiting for an answer. "I think it was the sex that interested you so much. I think that the fact that it was your daughter that was eating my pussy was secondary to the act itself. I think you got really hot watching two women get it on."

Nicole had automatically switched to what she offtimes referred to as her inquisitor mode. The conviction in her voice grew with each word.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Cynthia finally managed to stammer. She wasn't used to being on the defensive.

"Oh yes you do." Nicole retorted with the same confidence she had exhibited in front of some of the states most noted judges.

Cynthia sensed that something she would rather not have remembered was about to resurface. She wanted to jump out of the pool and run. Yet, a small voice deep within her called out for attention. It urged her to let matters take their course.

"When you mentioned last night that you had pledged mid-year back in 1950, it really didn't sound right to me. I don't know why, maybe just the investigator in me playing out a hunch. It's one of my bad habits, I can't let a feeling like that go by without following up on it. On the positive side, following some of those hunches have gotten me where I am today."

Nicole paused for a moment, waiting to see if Cynthia was going to object to her going on any further.

"Anyway, a client of mine, is the current recording secretary for the Delta Theta Phi alumni association. She's class of '87 by the way and also a lesbian. You might find that interesting. Anyway, going on the idea that my memory might just be faulty, I called her this morning and asked her to look up and see if there had ever been a mid-term pledging in 1950 or any other year. She said that since all the old records had been computerized a few years back it would be no trouble to find out. She called me back only an hour ago with the information."

Cynthia was now totally still as well as silent.

"She said that there had never been a mid-term pledge in '50 or any other year. She asked why and I told her I was working on a discrimination case remarkable like the Jennifer Hallis scandal of that year. I just wanted to use it as a little background. I asked if we had any current information on the girls involved in the incident. She said unfortunately no, most of the girls who where kicked out had their records expunged by the college administration. In fact, except for the file on Jennifer herself, there were no other entries on who even was involved. I had thanked her and was about to hang up when she casually mentioned that there was another name in the file - Jennifer's roommate that last year. It was just an entry in the room assignment form, there was nothing else on the girl. The name was Cynthia Donnelley."

Cynthia's face turned pale.

"I remember Courtney mentioning her grandmother Donnelley." Nicole said excitedly. "That was your maiden name..wasn't it?"

The older woman's silence confirmed it.

"You were her roommate." She continued, making it a statement more than a question.

"Yes." Cynthia meekly answered, decades of denial lifting with that single syllable.

"....and her lover."

"Yes, ... I was." this time it came easier.

A level of excitement filled Nicole. The same excitement that filled her when she broke a guilty party on the witness stand. The elation was short lived as she suddenly realized what she had actually done. This wasn't some courtroom, it was the home of a friend. And this wasn't an adversary but simply a woman who had told a simple lie about her life of almost half a century before.

"Oh damn, Cynthia." Nicole recalled in horror at what she'd done. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me. I can't believe I acted like I did."

"It's OK." Cynthia said, knowing that the younger woman was honestly upset at what she'd done. "It's OK, it doesn't matter. I don't know why I still lied about it all these years. It was so long ago."

"Does Courtney know?" Nicole asked, partly out of a curiosity that couldn't be suppressed and a desire not to be the one to accidentally tell her.

"No, she doesn't know anything about that period of my life or that her mother was once also into women."

"Women?" Nicole repeated. "You had other lovers after that?"

"What the hell, I might as well tell you the whole story." Cynthia said with a smile. "Someone should know what it was really like back then."

"You don't have to." Nicole said, hoping at the same time that she would. "I was way out of line with what I did."

"What's done is done." started Cynthia. "Besides, now that I want to get it all out, maybe it'll be easier telling it to a stranger." She paused for a few beats and then added. "Then when I'm done, we wouldn't really be strangers anymore."

Now it was Nicole's turn to remain silent and just listen. Cynthia seemed to be looking far away, even though she was looking straight at her. The lawyer knew the older woman was looking past the mist of years past.

"Most of what you heard about the Jennifer Hallis story is pretty much true. My father was on the Board of Trustees for Sara Douglas, just as his father was before him. There was no way that they was going to tag the daughter and granddaughter of the Donnelly's of Tarrytown with a lesbian label. So my own involvement in the incident was the first one removed. A stern facility monitor put an end to the parties and such, but she couldn't be everywhere and where there was a will there was always a way."

Nicole listened intently, her mind carefully absorbing every word.

"Right after graduation, my parents married me off to Courtney's father. It was almost an arranged marriage. It wasn't so bad at first. I liked men too and much to my own mother's horror, wasn't a virgin on my wedding night. We had a lot in common back then, and to be honest the prospect of the lesbian lifestyle back in the Eisenhower Era was non-existent. We were as happy as could be expected for the first year or so. Then things began to change."

"How so?" Nicole inquired.

"It would been nice to say it was John who strayed first. Given his current predilection for such things, it would be easy to say. But if I'm going to set the lies to rest the truth will have to prevail. So I have to admit that I was the first one to break our vows. And as I'm sure you've discovered on your own, once you've crossed that forbidden line the first time, the second time is a lot easier."

"First time?" Nicole asked, a little confused.

"I say first time because it was a lot different in college than the real world. Even back then, you could do things that might not exactly be socially acceptable in college and get away with them. So I've always considered my first encounter with another woman outside of that safe and controlled environment as my first time."

Nicole saw that there was a certain sense to what she'd said and nodded.

About a year and a half after we'd been married, long before I was pregnant with Courtney, we moved to San Francisco for John to take a graduate program out there. It seemed a good idea at the time. We were starting to have our problems and a fresh start in a new local might've been just what we needed. As with most quick fixes, this didn't solve anything. We'd brought out problems with us."

"Anyway, we'd gone out one night to a go-go bar - John's idea. I'm not sure if you really understand what one of those was, there's really no current equivalent. They'd have girls dancing either on stage or on podiums scattered around the club. Understand that these were dancers, not strippers and definitely not hookers. Although I was told there were other clubs that had both."

"After the show, John had invited one of the dancers over to our tables to have a drink. This in itself wasn't that unusual as we'd been to similar clubs before and John had also invited dancers for a drink. What greatly surprised me this time was that the dancer was a young black woman. John had never shown any interest in black women before. And of course this was the late 50's, years before interracial affairs were all the rage. Her name if I recall correctly was Diane. We chatted a while and had a few more drinks besides. Like he was wont to do, John flirted with the young lady who couldn't have been much more than 20. She seemed so young as I think about it, yet I was only 26 myself back then."

"I suddenly became aware of a touch against my leg. At first I chalked it up to John being playful under the small table, then realized it was on the wrong leg for it to be John. I turned to Diane and with a smile she acknowledged what was obviously an invitation. To this day, I don't know if she somehow knew I might be receptive or just tried that with any woman she found interesting, trusting that they wouldn't make a scene in front of their husbands."

"I excused myself to use the ladies room and Diane said she'd join me. No sooner had the door closed behind us when she grabbed me and pushed me against the wall and kissed me. She hadn't even made sure that all the stalls were empty, trusting instead that there were few women in attendance that night and that the other dancers would use the rest room backstage."

"I can still recall the taste of her lips against mine and the fire it send through me. I was like a woman who'd been denied water for a long time, suddenly tossed into a clear pool of sweet liquid. We pulled at each other's clothes, and I found her lips now on my breasts, then her fingers against my clit. It couldn't have taken me more than a few minutes to reach orgasm, a climax that I still remember as leaving me weak in the knees. Then as quick as it all had been, it was all over. We made ourselves presentable and rejoined my husband. The only indication he ever had that something had changed that night was that he found me somewhat unresponsive later that night. Usually after a visit to one of those bars I was as horny as could be. As we were leaving, John asked Diane for her phone number saying that maybe the three of us could get together sometime. With smile she wrote it out and then ripped it in half when John wasn't looking. She handed him the top half and while he concentrated on looking down her blouse, pressed the bottom half of the note into my hand. John's note turned out to contain the number for the public library. Mine was her home number. I was to have an affair with her that lasted until John graduated and we moved back east."

"So you like black women?" Nicole asked.

"I never really gave the color of her skin much thought." said Cynthia. "It was the person inside, not the wrapping she came in that interested me."

"After that, I knew it was going to take some strong medicine to put the genie back in the bottle, so to speak." Cynthia continued. "Medicine that John just wasn't able to supply. Still we made the best of it all. We started our business when we got back home, and a family as well. Courtney's older brother, John Jr. who lives in Florida now was born in '59. Sue, our other daughter was born in '62 and lives with her husband and kids in New Jersey. After a while, your life tends to go on a sort of auto-pilot. You watch your kids grow, try to build a better life for them."

"Sexually speaking, those were pretty dry years. John and I had occasional relations, enough to surprise me with a pregnancy for my 40th birthday. Courtney's birth brought another turning point into my life. In a direct cause and effect way, it led to my first real love affair with another woman. As opposed to the primarily sexual encounters I'd had in the past."

Nicole had to admit to herself that she found Cynthia's personal history to be fascinating.

"Our company was undergoing some critical changes at that time, so I felt that it would be a bad idea for me to take a leave of absence like I'd done for John Jr. and Sue. So I hired a nurse/governess to watch after Courtney during the day. Her name was Sonja Brundtland and she had just moved to the United States from Norway. Although ten years younger then me, Sonja and I became fast friends. As time passed, we discovered to our mutual delight that we shared a certain other taste as well. It was the first time I really felt for another woman on an emotional level. I guess it was that ease that we both felt around each other that caused us to become careless."