The McCall Oregon Trail

Author's note: This is my first time posting to Literotica, so I appreciate your feedback on what works and what I could improve on. References to real cities are fictionalized, and all characters participating in sexual activity are consenting adults. This story takes a bit to get to the action, but I hope it is worth your patience!

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They had never known their mother, Parvati McCall, who had passed away before either Tara or her brother, River, had formed any concrete memories. As a result, they both grew up with their dad, Camden McCall, in a small two-bedroom apartment in the outskirts of Eugene, Oregon. Though he kept to himself most of the time, he was a good and kind father who always did whatever he could to keep them healthy and fed and supported a little bit of his children's higher education even though his job as a trucker didn't leave much for his own retirement. And last night, he had passed away too. Tara could not bear to think of how she could live without him, let alone finish the last of her exams at the local university.

Bleary eyed and standing in the driveway as the hearse carried him away, she finally called her brother who was out in Montana on a construction gig.

"What happened?" he picked up, already knowing by sense that something had gone terribly wrong.

"Dad's dead," she said quietly.

"Fuck. FUCK! Hold on Tara, I'll pack a few things and drive back right now, okay?"

"God, I need you, River," she said, eyes closed, and mind calmed after hearing his voice.

"I know. I'll be there soon. Now, eat some breakfast and do whatever you need to keep yourself going. Love you," he said, cutting off the call before she had the chance to say them back, words stuck in her throat.

She sighed and went back inside, choking down some cereal and tea that she could hardly stomach, jumping in the shower, and going to class, hoping that would take her mind off all the funeral arrangements to be made and the twelve hours it would take for River to reach Eugene.

It didn't work, of course, but that did not matter since the class was just a review session for the exam in the evening that she had already studied for. The rest of the day passed in a blur, exams finished, knowing she would get her diploma in the weekend. Even though she had been looking forward to graduation, she now thought it pointless without both her dad and brother there.

As she walked back to her dad's apartment, the thought struck her: where would she live now? She hardly had enough money saved up from her part-time job to cover her food expenses and would need to start looking for post-graduate jobs soon. Her head ached as she threw off her clothes and flopped down on the bottom level of the bunk bed she used to share with her brother, falling into a restless sleep.

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River grabbed a few pieces of clothing from his closet and stuffed them into his duffel bag, throwing it into the back of his pickup. As he gripped the wheel anxiously, he drove off onto the highway, mind jumbled between the stripes on the road, thoughts about his dad, and now, more pressingly, how his sister was doing. As the landscapes flew by, farms and trees and the national forests morphed into each other. He crossed Idaho into Eastern Washington and drove along the Columbia River, reminded of his childhood days when him and his sister would tag along with their father in his rig, whispering secrets and playing games in the back as Camden tapped the steering wheel and hummed one of his improvised melancholy tunes. And when they were old enough to take care of themselves, they would hop off at Hood River and spend a few days together enjoying the cool weather as they awaited their father's return. He missed those days filled with hikes and smiles and comfortable silence.

Though he truly enjoyed his profession, he now regretted going away out of the state to apprentice as a carpenter. As his mind ran empty, the question of why he left his sister repeated in his head over and over, even though his mind, heart, and well, other places, knew the answer. He jolted out of his thoughts as he finally pulled into the driveway of his father's apartment. Shifting into park, he hopped off and hauled his duffel up the two steps to their half of the duplex. He was about to knock on the door, when he decided to just use his key since it was ten o'clock at night and he didn't know whether his sister had gone to sleep yet. Tossing off his shoes, he noticed that she had fallen asleep already. He set down his bag softly, undressed, and climbed onto the top bunk, already relaxed by the sight of his sister. He quickly fell asleep, content to be back home.

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Tara's eyes slowly fluttered open and glanced at the clock that read one-thirty am. She shifted onto her back and immediately sat up in the dark, nearly knocking her head in the process. She smelled the distinct sawdust aroma that she knew to be her brother's and swiveled out of the bed. Gingerly climbing up to confirm, she let out a sigh of relief as she saw River's gentle outline in the darkness. Though she knew it was too small for both now that they were both grown up, she climbed along with him on the top bunk and snuggled her body next to his, both only wearing undergarments. River slightly shifted over in his sleep and wrapped his arm around her, holding her closer.

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He woke first to find them wrapped around each other. Embarrassingly, his morning wood was pressed against the outside of her bare thigh too. He marveled in her softness as he reluctantly released her from their entwined state. They had not slept close together like this since before adolescence, but he couldn't think of a better way to have spent their first few hours together after three years. After he took a shower and started up some pancakes, Tara woke up, jumped down, and threw on a bathrobe, padding out to the kitchen. Both fell into the silent rhythm they used to have in the mornings, not at all rusty from their time apart. Finally, they sat down with full plates and River broke the silence.

"I missed you so much," he said in his gravelly morning voice. She felt her heart reverberate with his deep words.

"You have no idea how I thought of you every day, River."

"I shouldn't have ever left you," he blurted, almost inaudibly.

"Nonsense. You had to go out to do what you love. Now eat."

He knew what she said was partially accurate, but he did nothing to tell her the full truth as to why he had left. They ate once again, falling into a silence that was only interrupted by the blinking answering machine. She motioned to playing the messages, and he nodded, taking a deep breath knowing what was to come.

Message after message were condolences from friends, some who they knew, and the ones they didn't, likely acquaintances from their dad's work. As they cleared them out, they became progressively more dazed as the reality of their father's passing sank in. Finally, the last one played.

"Hi, I'm Matthew Greber, the attorney of Mr. Camden McCall. I am so sorry to his children for their loss. I hope this message reaches them as I have some important details regarding their father's will to discuss. Please give me a call back as soon as possible. Thank you and take care."

They looked at each other, unsure of what to think. As far as either of them knew, their father didn't have much except for their rented apartment, a small savings account, and his treasured big rig. Setting that matter aside for the moment, they called the funeral home and arranged the cremation as per their father's wishes to have an unassuming funeral ceremony. Since they didn't really have any family other than their father left, it made the process easy.

In the afternoon, they drove to the funeral home to take a last look at their father, both holding on to each other as Tara cried on River's shoulder. He, in turn, wept in her silken black hair, soaking strands that slowly caked and dried together in salty clumps. Expunging the ugly sounds that they only felt comfortable sharing with each other as they let out their sorrow, they watched as Camden's lifeless body was taken away. After waiting in the musty reception room for an hour, they received an urn with their father's ashes, which they knew would mean their last trip to the Columbia Gorge with their dad. This time, instead of being with him alive, they would be releasing his cold ashes to the wind. The last thing that remained was the arrangement of the will.

After calling back Matthew, they let him into their father's living room, not sure what awaited them.

"Your father left a simple will," Matthew settled down. "As you both know, Camden loved you both immensely, and wanted both of you to split all his assets equally, though how you choose to do so will be up to your discretion."

They nodded, and he continued. "A total of $70,065 remain in his savings account. Besides that, there is his truck, which he wished stay within the family and not be sold unless absolutely necessary."

"Of course," River said, wary of how they were going to deal with the apartment now that it was too big for one person if his sister chose to continue staying there. A pang of jealousy struck him as he imagined her with a family of her own occupying the place. Shaking his head, he brought back his attention.

"There is one last item. I'm not sure how much you knew about your mother's family, but only a few relatives remain. When she passed away, she left your father with a house on a hundred acres near Astoria, Oregon. That house now belongs to you both, and as per his instructions, you may do what you choose with it, though he specifically said that you must visit it at least once together before making any decisions. And of course, the amount in your father's savings account should be more than sufficient to cover the estate taxes that will need to be paid this year."

Both Tara and River stared at each other, stunned that their father had never spoken of this house. It slowly began to make sense, as their father seldom spoke of their mother. And when he did, they could see the pain of lost love in his eyes. Hence, they didn't know much more than her name, the photo he kept in his wallet, and the story of how they met. And her mother's leaving her family house to Camden probably drove away the relatives that remained, explaining why they had never met.

"So that's why he stayed in Astoria a few weeks ago," Tara mused, finding clarity. "He knew, he knew that he didn't have much time left. And he didn't tell us?" she spat, anger rising in her stomach. River could not bear to see his sister so angry, so he grasped her hand, calming her down.

After getting the details of the will and sending off the attorney, River paced across the living room.

"Let's go," they both said at the same time, smiling, weakly, albeit, for the first time since they had gotten back together. They discussed with one another, and River decided to take a three-week vacation from his job in Montana, and Tara figured that they might as well skip graduation and have the diploma mailed since there wasn't anything left holding her down in Eugene. They loaded their father's urn and a couple necessities along with River's pickup into Camden's classic forest green '78 Peterbilt sleeper and decided they would drive over to their mom's house the following morning, hoping that it would be in a livable condition until they decided what to do with it.

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Mid-morning the next day, as they drove along the Columbia River, they detoured for a moment, parking Camden's truck at the base of Vista Crown Point and walked up all the way to the top. The seventy mile an hour winds whipped them together, blowing Tara's hair around River's shoulders and the top of his head, veiling both as they let the wind gusts carry Camden's ashes out over the highway running below and across the river. He was finally gone. Tear streaks dried on their faces as they turned away and trekked back down, climbing into the cab, and driving off.

As they finally turned into the driveway of their inherited house, sun setting in the distance, their hopes were lowered, seeing as to how it was overgrown, branches and leaves whispering against the truck as it lumbered up into a clearing. Taking a first look at the house, their hearts rose, then fell. It was hauntingly beautiful, a 19th century Victorian farmhouse, though in bad disrepair. The roof was collapsed in a few places, and the windows were broken, letting god knew how many years of water and critters into the house.

"Dibs on the bed!" River exclaimed, knowing it would be hard to fit both in the bed at the back of the truck cab.

"Dammit, I'm gonna have to sleep in the seat, aren't I?" she asked in frustration.

"You could try the house," he joked as he walked over and prodded the rotten porch before trying the front door. It opened, and he stepped in, taking a quick look around. He decided it would probably be wise to not try his luck with the stairs up to the second floor, though he ached to go up to the faux lighthouse lookout that would surely have a stunning view over the trees out into the ocean.

She rolled her eyes and said practically, "Should we keep it?"

He paused and shrugged. "It's not anything I couldn't fix in a couple of months."

"Yeah, right, more like a couple years!" she exclaimed sarcastically.

"Why don't we take it a day at a time, and poke around. Maybe we'll grow to like it," he said, secretly already in love with the place, and knowing he would throw a fit if Tara insisted that they sell the place.

Tara smiled to herself, knowing that he was already besotted with the house and would not let go, judging by the way he looked at the rotting details, well defined jaws tensing and relaxing in the way he did while calculating in his mind how he would go about fixing something up.

Her stomach grumbled in hunger, prompting her to grab his arm and steer him back to the truck. She motioned with her other palm to hand her the keys and he obliged.

She backed the pickup out of the trailer and stuck her head out the front window. "Let's grab some dinner in town, Mr. Carpenter," she said in a sassy voice, chin upturned and a demanding look in her eyes. He knew she was hungry and needed food soon, but the tone of her voice made him harden. Adjusting himself discreetly, he got in and they drove into a diner. Chewing their food in silence, they took in the small-town activity on the street.

"City Hall's down the block," he noted.

"Maybe we can visit tomorrow to figure out if we could put some history on the house together," she exclaimed excitedly, the architectural degree she had just finished turning cogs in her brain.

River smiled smugly to himself, knowing he had clinched the deal by piquing her curiosity and passion for architectural design and history. After a while of quiet musing to themselves, they paid the bill and drove back home, ready to sleep.

He quickly climbed into the bed before Tara could catch him and settled down. She sighed dramatically and pulled a blanket over herself in the front passenger seat, mentally preparing herself for the kinks in her back tomorrow.

"You're such an asshole," she grumbled, though River was already soundly asleep and couldn't hear her.

She finally gave up struggling to find a comfortable position, got up, and slipped her body half against the cushioned back wall and half on top of her brother's body, her legs intertwined with his. At last, she settled in and drifted off to sleep, their breathing rhythms going in and out of sync.

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River slowly woke up, aware of something pressed up against his side. He relaxed, smelling Tara's hair draped over his shoulder, then tensed again as he realized his unyielding erection was shoved in between her soft thighs. Little did he know that Tara had woken up already and felt his hard cock against her, but had left her eyes closed, comforted by the hot heat the rigid length radiated into her core. He shifted slightly, retracting it from its smooth and warm purchase, shuddering at the friction caused by his action. A little abashed at waking up hard nearly in his sister, he quietly climbed out of bed and brewed some coffee on the camp stove outside.

She rose after a few minutes and padded outside in a baggy T-shirt, hiding her stiff nipples and wet panties. Flexing her toes on her bare feet into the soft mossy ground outside, she watched the steam rise from the water pot. She sat down on the step above the fuel tank as he handed her a cup of strong coffee. River mildly rocked back and forth on his feet as he drank down his own mug, looking towards the dilapidated house absently.

He mused, "Why don't you take the truck into City Hall to see what you can find out? I'll look around here and take inventory of what we'll need to fix up the bones of the house. Then maybe you can use your fancy degree to design the details of how to renovate the look of the inside and outside to your taste."

She smiled and nodded, warmth from the coffee mixing with her brother's thoughtfulness, giving her space to do what she loved to do. She felt like she finally had a place along his side and looked forward to working as a team, not just because she would get the chance to see River's muscular physique in action as he fixed things up, but also because they would get to do something both enjoyed together. River thought along the same lines, though both of their thoughts were dampened as they were reminded that he would have to go back to his job in two weeks.

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Walking into City Hall, she made the request for the building and property records from the clerk and waited. As they were brought out, she glanced them over and was entranced by the original architectural sketch of the house as it had been at its prime included in the permit. She had expected that her mother's family must have bought the property within the past few decades, but skimming over the deed, she was shocked that they were the ones who had bought the land back in the 1800s and built the house. This was especially surprising since they would have been among the first Indian Americans, or for that matter, first people of color to be permitted to purchase property in the state.

She took pictures of all the documents and headed back to the house where she snapped a couple photos of its current condition and saved it to her device. As she poked and prodded around, taking photographs of the house's decrepit condition, it struck her that she didn't know how they were going to pay for all the repairs. She said as much to River as soon as she saw him, only to find him unfazed.

"Don't worry, love, I've got some money that I'd saved up to buy a house, but I figure I'll use it for this instead."

She froze for a moment.

"So, you're really planning on settling down here then?"

He hesitated, unsure if it would be a good idea to stay so close to her, afraid she would see how he loved her in such an unbrotherlike way.

Giving a noncommittal grunt, he responded, "We'll see, I've got to get back to my job, but this is our family's place, and I think we should make sure it stays for our children--" he broke off, quickly adding, "if either of us has any."

She blushed, for a moment imagining what it would be like to have children with him. She swiftly turned her head away, hiding the yearning of how much she wanted what she could not have from him. She sincerely doubted that he wanted her that way but contented herself in just being able to be with him as much as he let her. Ever since her adolescence she had wanted him so badly to be hers in the most complete sense, but was shy and scared, mortified that if she asked or made a move to suggest her true feelings, she would ruin what they had together.