Thanksgivings

Through the climax he'd had his eyes closed, but he opened them to see me smiling up at him sweetly. I continued sucking him until his erection was diminished. It was only diminished a bit. He could have probably gone again with a little encouragement. I climbed up beside him and kissed him deeply. I could taste myself on his lips and wondered if he could taste himself on mine. After a long kiss and snuggling, I pulled his arm around my waist so he would spoon against me. His penis snuggled between my ass cheeks and legs. We pulled the covers over us and I turned out the lamp with three clicks.

---

The morning came all too quickly. I awoke still embraced by Mike. His cock had become very erect and throbbed against my clitoris. It took every bit of my will to leave the bed without having it in me, but there was already some noise coming from the kitchen below us. I turned to see Mike's antique mantle clock that ticked gently on his desk. It showed a quarter-to-eight, so, I roused Mike. We put our pajamas back on and we went down to see who was up.

Mom was there with Rachel. Mom was working on turkeys in the sink. Rachel was laying out a variety of bagels. There were two big trays with at least a dozen bagels on each. There was a wide variety of condiments: butter, cream cheese, various jellies and of course lox. Mike and I both like the seedy bagels with cream cheese and lox.

"Morning, Mom, Rachel. How are you this beautiful morning?" Mike asked them.

"I slept like a baby," Rachel said. "It so nice coming back here."

"You and Jon need to get back here more often," Mom complained. "I'm missing seeing my granddaughter; Mellony's going to be a young woman before I know it."

"We want to, Mom, it's just he's got such a good job. Staff surgeon positions don't open up that often."

"He'd probably do better here as an independent," Mom offered hopefully.

I could see Rachel's wheels spinning. "Yeah, I guess he might at that." Then she said, "You two help yourselves. The kids won't be up for another hour or two and I'm guessing the men will be sleeping in, too."

"You want me to fix you one?" I asked Mike.

"I'll love you forever, if you do," he teased.

"That's so sweet," Rachel said.

Mom, however, glanced back over her shoulder and gave him a queer look. I thought about what Dalia had asked me yesterday as I sliced the bagel open. Placing it in the toaster, I turned to study Mom's expression while I waited. She was definitely pensive, but continued working on the two turkeys in the sink. One turkey had been placed in each basin last night with water to thaw. Now she was preparing them to go into two enameled roasting pans. She had the necks and parts just starting to boil in a large sauce pan on the stove already and the extra legs appeared to be in the top double oven in a pan with tin foil over the top. Almost everyone liked the dark meat more, so Mom always had extras.

"What can I do to help?" I asked her.

"Um - well, these are really the last things to fix. The other dishes are out in the fridge in the garage - play room. A couple have to be reheated, but other than the turkeys, there's only the gravy," Mom said.

Then the bagel was done and I put the next one in whilst I spread cream cheese on Mike's.

"Here, Mike, I know you like to pick your own smoked salmon," I said, as I handed it off.

"Thanks," he said, as a big smile spread across his face.

"Rachel, you want one?" I asked.

"I'll fix one in a minute. I want to go check on Mellony," she said.

"Mom? How about you?"

"Not now dear, I'm good."

Rachel headed out of the kitchen to check on Mellony, who was a ten-year-old only child. Rachel seemed overly protective of her, but I could imagine how that could happen. I wondered if she and Jon were done having kids or if they were trying and having difficulty. Lots of times children from big families go the other way. I wondered how many kids I wanted. For whatever reason that made me look over at Mike.

Mike was over by the large salmon plate with various thicknesses of lox. He picked several very thin ones, being very particular about these things. Then he pressed several capers into the open areas between the salmon. My bagel popped up and took my attention away from Mike. I gave mine a similar amount of cream cheese, but I liked my salmon a bit thicker and my bagel more loaded than Mike. After he finished, I gathered several of the meatier pieces and joined him at the table.

Mom popped the turkeys in the double ovens, washed her hands and started to make her bagel.

"Mom, I offered to fix you one."

"Don't be silly, Maya. When I can't make a bagel anymore, you put me in a home, okay?"

She was always like that. She didn't want help from anyone. I guess it'd been how she'd made it through law school when she did. She was one of the very few women in her class. She joined us at the table and sat beside me, with a bagel that looked exactly like the one I'd made myself.

Mike was about finished with his bagel when he asked, "Anyone else want some milk?"

Both Mom and I said, "Yes".

Just then Rachel came back with a sleepy headed girl by her side. I guess she'd woken her up. She proceeded to make them both a half a bagel with cream cheese and blueberry preserves. Then they joined us at the table. Mike waited for her to finish and then got up to get three glasses from the cabinet over the toaster.

Moments after Rachel and Mellony had seated themselves, Dalia appeared. "Frank's sleeping in," she said through a yawn. She liked her bagel whole, untoasted and with stuff smeared on the outside. Mike was making his second trip to the table with his glass of milk, having already delivered mine and Mom's. When Dalia went to give Mike a peck on the cheek, she made a funny face and stopped him by his pajama sleeve. Then she whispered something in his ear. Mike placed his milk on the counter and left the room quickly. She joined us at the table and sat beside Mike's seat with her bagel smeared with cream cheese and honey pooled on her plate.

After a few minutes, Mike rejoined us, collected his milk glass and sat in his seat. It looked like maybe he'd shaved. It was then that I realized what had happened and now Dalia was staring at me from across the table. Her eyes didn't look judgmental, but definitely had a knowing behind them. I guess we'd messed up, but I almost didn't care. I wasn't blushing and neither was Mike. We weren't ashamed, but we also weren't sharing.

I finished my light breakfast and said, "I'm going to get a shower and get dressed before all the hot water is gone. I suggest you all do the same."

Everyone laughed and agreed they would. In reality there were two water heaters for the two sides of the house and it only ran out if people used it nonstop, but with this many people in the house, that seemed like a real possibility.

Mike didn't follow immediately, he was picking at the remainder of his bagel and still had a nearly full glass of milk. I figured he was delaying but I hoped that he'd join me soon. I really wanted to know what Dalia had said. How much trouble would we be in? What could we do? I undressed and waited for him. It seemed like minutes were passing and he hadn't come. I went ahead into the bathroom. Frank was in my old room opposite the Jack-n-Jill bath, so I figured I probably didn't need to lock the door. I turned on the shower and stepped in once it was warm. I showered and managed to keep my hair mostly dry. No one ever came into Mike's room. I finished up and took my towel from the bar. I couldn't understand why Mike hadn't followed. I dried, got dressed in some clean white panties, socks, jeans, a flannel shirt and my shoes. Then I return the damp towel to the bar in the bathroom to dry.

I waited for Mike a bit longer, I knew he was going to follow me up, I must have just been being impatient. My curiosity got the better of me and I went back to that drawer and took out that magazine and thumbed through her pictures again. A shiver went up my spine as I thought about last night and how Mike must have studied her picture thinking of me. He'd asked me if I masturbated, and he'd admitted to doing so, sometimes a lot. Now I was very eager to know, I don't know how it made a difference, but thinking of him masturbating while thinking of me made me tingle. Several minutes had passed by now and when Mike still hadn't shown up after another five minutes I decided to go back down. Carefully replacing the magazine, I closed the drawer and went downstairs.

Back downstairs some of the men were up and in the family room with Bubbe who was seated in a chair. Her walker was off to the side and she was sipping some tea. There were also more people awake and in the kitchen now and someone had started coffee in our large stainless percolator. The Mr. Coffee had been set atop the refrigerator to make room for the two gallon percolator that probably held fifty cups. I always thought the taste of the percolated coffee was more robust than the Mr. Coffee, but it took longer to make and we frequently only had a few people in the house. The aroma became stronger as I joined the group in the kitchen where Sarah and Robert were getting themselves coffee and bagels. Jon and Rachel sat on either side of Mellony at the dining room table. Mom was just leaving the stove where she'd been stirring the gravy and went to the ovens to check the turkeys, which were starting to smell really good.

Mike was nowhere to be seen and neither was Dalia, so I joined Frank, who evidently didn't sleep in as long as I'd expected. His wheelchair was positioned at the end of the long kitchen table where he was drinking his coffee. The seat next to him had another coffee cup and a partially eaten untoasted bagel. I busied myself chatting quietly with him, while I wondered in the back of my mind where Mike might be. Frank indicated he would be taking over the majority of the management of the law firm as Mom was moving into semi-retirement. Neither of us thought she'd fully retire, it wasn't her nature, but she'd already started picking only cases she wanted or liked, special projects that needed her touch. Finally, he got around to asking me about me.

"How are your courses going? Are you adjusting to college?"

"They are going pretty well. There are definitely things I miss about home. Being here now reminds me how much I love this place."

"Just the place?" he asked with a wink.

I felt flushed as I took the implication. "The people, my family too, of course. Didn't you ever get home sick at college?"

"Oh, sure. You remember we came home many weekends and every summer or holiday break."

His use of 'we' struck me oddly with all that was going on between Mike and me. He and Dalia had gone to their first four years of college together. They'd shared an apartment and had often come home together during school breaks. Shortly after college, she'd married that cheating bum, Alex. She stuck it out three and a half years and ended it in June before the accident.

"So, what did you miss? You had Dalia with you in Boston," I pressed the issue a bit. I was sure no one was listening and we were speaking quietly.

"Yes, but you and Mike were here and Mom and Dad," he said looking distant.

"Were you visiting a girlfriend?"

"No, I never had time for one. That's why -" he cut himself short, as his eyes darted towards the back door and mud room area. "We probably ought to have this conversation another time."

Then I saw Dalia coming back in through the mud room door followed by Mike. His eyes were red and he went directly off towards his room. What could have happened? At this point Dalia sat across from me next to Frank. Nothing was said, she merely started drinking the coffee and eating the unfinished bagel. I didn't exactly feel I could just get up and follow Mike, it'd be too obvious. Although, clearly they suspected or even knew something. I sat there silently and neither Frank nor Dalia spoke. Frank's silence now and his abrupt curtailment of our previous conversation was weighing on me.

"I'm going to see if I can help Mom," I said, eventually. "I'll catch up with you two later."

They both nodded and exchanged some kind of glance. I got up and went to find Mom who was no longer puttering around the kitchen. I hadn't seen her leave, but I suspected she was making preparations in the game room. When I pushed through the double hinged door from the kitchen, I found her down the short flight of brick steps setting up the kids table.

"Mom, I asked if I could help."

"I know, dear, but I can do this."

Mom was stubborn and she was continuing to shelter us, but it didn't keep me from trying to help her. I took several of the metal folding chairs out of the storage rack and placed them at the table with her. Then we put the table cloth on the long folding table and clipped it down at the corners and the middle. She seemed happy to have someone helping her despite her independent streak. For me, I always liked helping and too, it was calming to merely do something. She put a big stack of napkins in the middle and I place one at each seat. She put a couple baskets for bread at each end and then silverware at each setting. The kids were going to be eating off thick molded paper plates, but Mom had gotten out her old flatware for them to use at the kids table.

"You want to help me carry in some of these things from the fridge?" she asked me when we were done.

"Yeah, I like helping."

She smiled, "I know and you do, dear. Don't think I don't know what you've done for Mike."

"What?" I asked trying not to sound overly defensive.

"He was - he often still is - a mess," she said in a somewhat reserved and measured way. Then she grabbed a big casserole dish from the bottom shelf and started for the steps.

"I have hopes that he'll be okay."

I grabbed a cranberry, nut and gelatin mold from the fridge, closed the door and followed her towards the steps leading up to the kitchen.

"Me too. That's why I don't care," she said from the top of the steps. She pushed the door open and disappeared back into the kitchen without giving me a chance to respond.

It was probably a good thing too, since I nearly tripped on the step and caught myself against the sturdy rail attached to the wall. Somehow, I'd managed to keep from dropping the mold. I stood there stunned for several moments. I was pretty sure she was telling me she knew. Of course we hadn't done much. I took the mold in and set it on the counter. Mom was busy checking things and I made several more trips to and from the game room kind of in a daze. There were a few more dishes that would need to be reheated. A corn pudding, a spoon bread, a dressing and an asparagus dish with cream of mushroom soup and little French fried onion rings atop would all need turns in the ovens.

Mom, was busy replacing the turkey legs with one of the stuffing casserole dishes in the oven and she didn't even make eye contact with me. Just at that moment, Mike appeared back in the kitchen. He was fully dressed and his eyes were no longer red or at least less red. He gave me a head tilt towards the back door and went outside.

I glanced over and saw Mom was working on rolling out biscuits now, her apron was dusted with flower. She was working the dough intently and she seemed oblivious to my presence. I walked over to stand beside her and gave her a kiss on her cheek.

"You want some help?"

"No, these are about done. You go see what Mike wants."

I didn't reply; there was simply nothing to say and I traversed the path through the kitchen, eating area and mud-room in a stunned stupor. Opening the door, I stepped through into the bright daylight outside where Mike stood at the bottom of the steps. I pulled the door closed and went to him.

"We need to talk," he said. "Let's go for a walk, or a ride on our bikes or get away from here in your car."

"Mike, I think Mom knows."

"Let's go away from here for a bit. They aren't going to start for a couple more hours," he implored me.

"Let's walk, it'll be safer," I said. My head was still swimming from what Mom had said.

With that we walked around the house to the front. The garage was full now. There were several cars parked beside it and a few off of the long drive. We walked down the long cobblestone drive and then out onto the street before a word was spoken.

"What happened," I asked, when we had walked a bit more.

"Dalia confronted me," he said. "She smelled you on my face this morning and she told me we had to stop. She said a bunch of other stuff about how and why it'll never work. I stopped listening -"

"It doesn't seem fair for her to ask that of us, because I'm almost certain she and Frank have a similar situation."

"Frank's paralyzed," Mike said, as if that meant nothing could happen.

"He's lost most of his movement below the waist," I countered. "And Dalia said something very odd to me when I asked her about Frank getting up the stairs."

"What?"

"She said, I'd be surprised at what Frank can do."

"Well, she said what we're doing will break Mom's heart."

"I think Mom already knows."

"You think Dalia told her?" he asked. "That's not fair - she told me to stop - but she didn't even give us a chance."

"I don't think so. I think Mom just knows."

"I don't know what to do. I love you," he said.

We had reached the small park near the house. We continued into it and found it nearly empty. A few kids were playing touch football out on the field. We found a secluded place by some swings and sat facing one another gripping the chains.

"What makes you think Mom knows?" he asked, as he looked deeply into my eyes.

"She said she knew what I was doing for you and she didn't care. That's not quite right but that's how it sounded."

"She doesn't care?"

"I was stunned, Mike. We were in the game room setting up the table. When we were coming back inside she said that, and I didn't ask her what she meant." I was too afraid to ask. "How could it be that they knew before we've really even done anything?"

"I wonder..."

"What are we going to do?"

"I only need your love, Maya. We don't have to have sex."

Mike meant that and I fully believed him. He wanted the sex, badly, but he didn't have to have it. If he had to settle for only one, he would definitively take my love. It felt like a terribly unfair sacrifice, but it showed how far he would go to have me in his life. I didn't want Mike to have to choose. I eased my swing sideways until the chains touched. I embraced Mike and kissed him deeply. Our tongues were in each other's mouths at once. Unflinchingly, I put my hand on his crotch. He let out a soft moan into my mouth as we continued kissing. The thickness of the bulge in his jeans seemed even larger today. We had to find a way. We needed to find a way to explore this further. I broke the kiss.

"I don't want you to do without and I don't want to either." I pulled him from the swing. "Let's walk some more."

I could feel the moistness between my legs as we walked. It caused my lips to slide against one another, adding reinforcement to my excitement. We headed off through the woods on a well-worn path that ended at the street. Across the street and a little further down the road, there was a back way on to our property that passed by an abandoned tree house. We both walked along the overgrown path that led to it. I thought fleetingly about making use of it. Mike must have been thinking the same thing as we came to a stop below it.

"I don't know if it'd be safe for us to use, Maya," he said, as he studied it.

Releasing my hand, he climbed the steps up into it and disappeared into the rectangular entry.

"What do you think?" I called up to him.

"It's pretty far gone," he said, as he descended the steps.