Stepmother

Katelyn's cheek rested for a long time against the slightly course fabric of his suit. He patted her back gently, then stroked his hand through her long, dark hair. "I'll miss you, sweetheart," he said tenderly. "I love you."

"I love you too, dad." It was strange that they had never been so close when she was younger. Most girls her age were starting to push their parents away.

But her mother's death three years ago had changed a lot of things. It wasn't dad's fault. The autopsy of the other driver had revealed a cocktail of crystal meth and alcohol, both of them at levels high enough to be dangerous. The police also estimated that he had been doing close to eighty miles per hour when he swerved out of his lane and plowed head-on into them. Katelyn remembered watching the twin headlights suddenly shift over to point right at them like something out of a dream. In her mind, the scenes moved slowly, the lights getting closer and closer, brighter and brighter. The last image she recalled was her mother's face, a halo of white light shining through her hair, as she looked back at Katelyn. "I'm sorry, baby," her eyes seemed to be saying. Katelyn had often wondered if that image was really part of the memories, or something she had only imagined.

The crash had broken Katelyn's jaw and two of her ribs. Her father, miraculously, had gotten through with only cuts and bruises. The airbag had probably saved his life, but the car had not been equipped with one for the passenger side. Her mother had suffered massive trauma to her brain, probably from striking the windshield. She was dead before the paramedics arrived on the scene.

He never spoke of it, but Katelyn sensed that her father blamed himself for what had happened. He had spent most of his free time with her at the hospital, trying to encourage her, somehow trying to fill the void left over from their loss. Once, she had woken up in the middle of the night in the hospital to hear him sobbing, repeating to himself, "It should have been me. Why wasn't it me?" All of the lights in the room were off, but she saw him, framed in the moonlight streaming through the open curtains, looking out into the darkness.

Katelyn had gotten out of bed and wrapped her arms around him. Her jaw was in a brace, but she managed, "'Sokay, daddy." They had cried together for a bit, then he put her back to bed. From then on, he seemed to have a new outlook and slowly, together, they began to move away from the grief, safe in each other's support.

Katelyn finally stepped back, smiling. "Have a safe trip, dad."

He smiled back. "Only 'cause you asked."

"How many days are you going to be gone, again?" That was Sherryl, her dad's girlfriend. She had returned from the living room carrying his coat.

"Two weeks," he answered.

Sherryl stepped up and rested her arms on his shoulders. Katelyn tried to be distracted. "I'll need fourteen kisses, then," Sherryl insisted.

"How about one big sloppy one?"

"Deal."

Katelyn slipped out of foyer, her facing burning. Her dad had met Sherry last Christmas at a company party. She had moved in a month ago. Katelyn had been uncharacteristically cold to her, if not openly hostile. Eventually, she had had to admit to herself that she was jealous. Not only that, her dad seemed to think that Sherry could just step in and be her new mom, but this woman could never be the mother she had lost. She was almost ten years younger than Katelyn's dad!

"Cat?" her dad called. "I'm leaving. Goodbye."

"'Bye!" she called back. Had they really been kissing all that time? Katelyn shook her head in disgust. She heard the door close.

Sherryl popped her head in. "Hey, you hungry?"

"No, not really." Great. Two weeks alone with Mommy Sherry. Katelyn retreated to her bedroom and flipped on the stereo. She sank back onto her bed and stared at the bumps on the ceiling. It was the end of July and the hottest part of the year. Her friends would want to wait till later in the afternoon to go out. She thought about calling someone anyway.

"Cat?"

Katelyn hated that Sherryl used her father's nickname for her. "What?"

Sherryl pushed the door wider and invited herself in. "Um, I don't know how we've gotten off to such a bad start..."

Oh, great. The Bonding attempt. "What do you mean?" Katelyn asked innocently.

"Well, I just don't feel like we're getting along like we should."

"How should we get along?"

Sherryl hesitated, but then rushed on. "I think you're dad's going to propose to me when he gets back."

Katelyn tried to hide her flash of anger. "Oh."

"How does that make you feel, Cat?"

"I dunno." She hated her. She wanted to just scream at her to go away and stop trying to butt in where she wasn't wanted.

"Look, I know you're only fifteen, and these things can be hard to take. Your dad and I just want the best for you, though. He wants us to get along, like a real family. Can't we just talk to each other?"

Katelyn gave her a sidelong glance. "About what?"

"Anything. You pick the topic."

Anything... Katelyn had to supress a sudden grin. She sat up on the bed. Alright, Mommy Sherry, try this one! "How about sex?" She was proud of herself for not giggling. She glanced over at Sherryl, expecting her to find some excuse to get herself out of it.

She did look uncertain for a moment, but then, with a tensed exhale, she said, "Okay."

So, she had accepted the challenge. This was going to be fun. "How do you do it?" She tried to give her most innocent-looking face.

Sherryl bit her lip and swallowed. Oh, it was great to watch her squirm! Her face grew more and more red as she spoke. "Well, there's intercourse, that's when a man puts his penis into a woman's vagina. There are several positions for that. Then there's oral sex, and, um, and petting."

Katelyn leaned forward slightly, giving the appearance of interest. "I've heard of those things, but how do you DO them?" Then she had a stroke of genius. "And what's doggy-style?"

"Maybe we should talk about birth control..."

Katelyn cut her off with a hand on her knee. "Please? My friends know way more than I do. They make fun of me for it."

Sherry looked like a caged animal. It was beautiful. She cleared her throat and paced around the room for a moment. "Alright," she said. She crawled onto the bed on all fours. "The woman kneels down like this, and the man kneels behind and puts his penis into her vagina."

"You've done that before?" The image that flashed into her head of her father with this woman was only worth it for the look on Sherryl's face.

"Um. Yes. Yes I have."

"Do you like it?" Katelyn half-expected Sherry to jump up and leave at that one, but the woman seemed determined to stick it through.

"I do. Sometimes. Some women don't like it because it seems to make the man dominant. But, I also like to be on top sometimes."

Katelyn had to admit, she was doing well. She had actually volunteered that last bit. "How about petting?"

She was turning red again. "A lot of women like to have their clitoris and labia massaged. That's called heavy petting. Light petting is over the rest of the body."

"Labia?"

"The um, the lips. You know."

"Where's the clitoris?"

"It's, well, kind of at the top?"

Katelyn did her best innocent little-girl impression. This would get her off her back for sure. "Can you show me?"

THAT got her. Sherryl started to shake her head, stopped, opened her mouth to say something, closed it. "You're kidding, right?" She smiled nervously.

Katelyn almost wanted to let her off the hook. Almost. "I'd really like to know."

"I don't think this is a good idea," she balked. "Your father probably wouldn't like it."

Shame on her for bringing her dad into it. "I won't tell him. It's not like he ever wants to discuss these things with me. He gets way too embarrassed."

Sherry capitulated at last. "God, this is embarrassing," she mumbled to herself, probably not intending Katelyn to hear. She began to undress, removing first her shoes and socks, then her pants and blouse. Katelyn wouldn't give her an inch, calmly watching her the whole time. Sherry finished by dropping her panties to the floor and stepping out of them. Katelyn made room for her on the bed. Now she was actually interested. She had never seen another woman fully nude before.

"Mons pubis," she said, pointing to the hair-lined mound. She spread her legs apart. "There are two sets of labia, an inner and an outer. They are often quite sensitive, especially the inner set. There's the entrance to the vagina, of course, and up here is the clitoris."

"Where? I don't see it." Katelyn seated herself next to Sherry's thigh and peered down.

"It's covered. By a hood." Sherry's fingers gently pulled the hood back to reveal the little button of flesh underneath.

"Oh," Katelyn said, feigning surprise. Sherry had seemed to get over her discomfort. It was time to turn it up a notch. "There's one more thing I wanted to ask you. Um, it's kind of embarrassing."

"It's okay, Cat." Sherry said. She had closed her legs up and rested her hand where it would cover the spot between her thighs.

"Um, I've been trying to masturbate, but I don't think I'm doing it right." The look of horror on Sherry's face was precious. Katelyn wished she could have snapped a picture just then. "Please can you show me?"

"No. I'm sorry, but I can't."

She started to get up, but Katelyn put a hand on her shoulder. "Look, I've been acting awful towards you since you moved in. I know you probably don't like me much right now, and I'm sorry about that. I'm going to try to do better." She really didn't have to carry it this far, but at this point, she was really wondering if the woman would have the nerve to go through with it.

Sherry considered that for a long time. "That's okay, Cat. I forgive you." Then she shook her head. "This is crazy." But she was lying back down on the bed.

Sherry took a deep breath and began. "Alright, here's how I do it. First I think of a fantasy. That's the most important part. And no, I won't tell you what I'm fantasizing about. The fact that it is private is what makes it a fantasy. The fantasy I play out in my mind will determine what happens next." She laid her head back and closed her eyes. Her breathing came deep and regular. Katelyn had to give her some grudging respect for what she had managed so far.

Sherry took a long, deeper-than-usual breath and let it out slowly. Her hands had begun to wander over her own body. One hand came to rest on the clasp of her bra--it was in the front--and flipped it open, drawing back the silky white lace to either side. Her other hand moved down her leg, slipping around to the inside when it reached her knee and drawing slowly back upwards. She wandered her hand around her neck and the sides of her face, then slipped it down to the space between her pale, rounded breasts. Her breathing had changed tempo slightly, becoming more ragged. She inhaled sharply when her fingers stroked the pink circle around her nipple--both of them had hardened at her touch. She played her fingers across the smooth flesh, gradually settling back to her regular breathing, only to rise sharply again as she drew a finger all along the length of the lips her sex.

She moved her fingers rhythmically over the labia, first the outer, then when they began to swell and separate, the inner. Her breathing would be interrupted every now and then with a gasp. Her other hand was now pressed to the palm against her chest, alternately massaging each breast in turn.