even in the evening, or for the whole night. So you have to make sure your mom doesn't have any problem with that, too. I'm not going to ask her if it is, because I'm not the one asking for us to be together — you girls are. And I don't think she would tell me she doesn't mind, for the same reason. Now, any of you could just do it, but I think that you know that even if your mom thought it was okay the first couple of times, she'd be be mad if it kept happening without you saying something first. If she got mad at me, then I'd probably have to move out — which means that we wouldn't be able to do stuff together at all any more, and I probably wouldn't be able to see all of you as often. So even if it's hard to do, I think you see that it's still best if you check with her first, right?"
Donna assured me she did, and that she and her sisters would do as I said. Next, I told her "I know I've been a stinker about doing stuff with you girls before — and now you know some of why that was. But you also heard me tell you that I've decided it's okay for me to do things with you; and that means that if one of you wants me to do something with you, you aren't going to have to try to talk me into it. If I think you understand what you're asking, then I'll probably agree — so it's going to be up to each of you to think about what you want, and make sure of it, before you come to me. I'm still not going to do anything to actually hurt any of you, ever — but I'm not going to try to stop you from doing something dumb, or embarrassing, either. So if you're going to be 'grown up' enough to want me to do sex stuff with you, it's up to you to make sure you act grown up enough to think it through beforehand."
I watched as she mulled that one over for a bit before realizing that the freedom to do what she wanted came with the responsibility for the consequences of those actions. There was no mistaking how serious she was when she nodded, letting me know that I could continue "It doesn't have to be just one of you at a time. If there's something two, or even all three, of you want to know about, then it's okay with me. You don't have to do the same things, or be together the whole time, either. I'm not saying anything like that should happen, or that I want it to… just that it's okay with me. Whether it does, or when, or how, is up to you three."
"I understand, Uncle Ted.", she assured me.
"The last thing", I told her, "is that you and your sisters know your mom better than I do — at least about stuff like this. So it's going to be up to each of you to be SURE that you don't do anything with me that your mom wouldn't like. If you're wrong, then there's the same problem as about how much time you spend with me, only worse — your mom might decide that she IS mad or upset enough to make trouble for me with the police. You've said that you trust me, and now you know how important it is that I can trust you… and what can happen if that trust is ruined because somebody did something dumb, or forgot, or got mad."
Solemn again, Donna told me "I know what you're telling me, Uncle Ted, and how much trouble there can be if we aren't careful — that we have to take care of the serious parts before we can do the fun ones."
Smiling, I told her "That's exactly right. That's what really being grown up is all about. You just listened to me talk; now it's your turn. Is there anything you want to say to me? Or ask?"
"Not right now. Later, maybe."
"That's fine, dear. Any time any of you wants to talk to me, or ask me something, that's fine. It's just about doing stuff with each other that we have to think extra about.", I told her, before taking her in my arms and giving her a hug. She readily hugged me back, and I could see that although she was still serious about what we'd talked about, she was happy that it hadn't changed how I felt about her.
My change in attitude wasn't just about me and the girls; I also began making sure that I was doing my fair share about other things, too. I began to make the time to help with some of the household chores that weren't assigned to the girls — and reminding them of the ones they did have, when necessary; taking care of the myriad of small jobs that seemed to crop up in a house, like fixing a leaky faucet or oiling a noisy door hinge; cutting the grass myself, instead of renting a neighbor kid do it.
It was maybe a couple of weeks after I'd talked to Donna, and after the girls had gone to bed one evening, when Teresa told me "I don't know what's gotten into you, Ted, or what's changed… but I haven't missed noticing that you're being a lot more 'involved' around here lately. Don't get me wrong — I appreciate it; but I wonder what brought it on, too."
"Remember a couple weeks ago, when I was having a problem with one of the girls?"
She gave me a half-smile before answering "Yeah, I remember. You were zoned out on us all through supper, and disappeared downstairs right after. You weren't entirely with us even at breakfast the next morning."
A little shame-faced, I told her "I had a lot on my mind, and the things you said to me when you got home got me thinking about a lot of other stuff, too. Along the way of getting things worked out in my head about the girls, I realized a few other things, too — one of them being that I wasn't really doing as much around here as I should. It wasn't fair to you or the girls, so I decided to stop cutting myself so much slack. I told you on the way home after we went out that night that you do a lot for me, and I figured that I was overdue to start doing things for you, too. I know I spent a lot of time just… coasting along since I got here, and I'm not going to do that any more."
I didn't know quite what to make of the expression on her face as she told me "I didn't mind that you were… coasting, as you say. You were still trying to get yourself back together after your divorce, and I knew it was different for you than it was for me — my marriage wasn't all that damn good to start with, and it ended fast and hard. I knew how hard you tried to make yours work, and how much crap you had to deal with while it dragged out; so I was fine with you coasting after something like that. But I have to admit that it's nice that you're getting it in gear, so to speak."
I gave her a wry grin as I replied "I'm not sure that I have, yet."
"I don't think you're going to slack off. When I first noticed the change, I thought maybe you were just 'working off' something, but you've kept at it — and even gotten better about it. I don't know if you realize it, but when the girls started to argue about what show they wanted to watch tonight, you gave them a chance to settle it themselves; when they didn't, you just stepped in and put an end to it — no muss, no fuss."
"I'm sorry if I stepped on your toes, or hurt anybody's feelings.", I answered, sheepish.
Teresa just laughed before saying "You didn't, not even a little bit. After you did it, I realized that they'd have kept on until I DID get annoyed with them, so you were putting an end to it before I would have had to. And it didn't hurt them or me in the slightest; when you did it, I saw that they knew what they'd been doing, and by stepping in when you did, you actually put an end to it before any of them did end up with hurt feelings — and because it was still early in the argument, you were able to squash it quieter and nicer than would have happened if you'd waited for me to do it. Ted, all of them love you as much as you love them, and you're a good influence on them, whether you or they realize it, or not. Maybe you can't see how much they've changed since you got here, but I sure can!"
She took a breath then, and with a more serious tone, told me "I think I know — at least, a little bit — what you decided about whichever one of them was troubling you that night. This last week, all three of them have actually made it a point to come and talk to me, independent from the others. All three of them have had pretty much the same things to say, but with different words, and wanted to make sure I was okay with them being with you — not just about whatever has already gone on between you and them, but that more might happen, too. I don't think that I'd have to tell you this, but I want to; I've said it before, but that was before you had your 'night out'. So here it is… I'm fine with them coming to you — whenever they want to, for however long, for whatever reason. I know that all of them want to be grown up, and sometimes even feel or think that they are; and I have every reason in the world, I think, to believe that you're trying to help them. I don't doubt for even a moment that you're trying to teach them what it means to be an adult, and how they can do it. I know, know mind you! that you aren't going to hurt them, or let them hurt themselves — but that if you have to, you'll let them learn what they have to know the hard way, too. You'll love them, and be gentle and patient with them — but without spoiling them, either. Like I told you that night — whatever one of them might come to you about, it's a pretty safe bet that it's something she'd try to find out about, anyway; for all the good that I know you'll do them, and everything else I know you'll teach them, I'm not going to quibble about something as relatively trivial as how you do those things."
Sure, I'd told the girls that I didn't need to hear from their mother that they'd talked to her, or that she would accept the increased intimacy between me and them; but since she did tell me those things, and more… well, it did a lot to put my mind at rest. I figured that turnabout was fair play, and that I could (and should) do what I could to resolve any concerns she might have.
Looking into her eyes, I told her "Thank you. Not just for letting me know that you noticed I'm participating more, but that you appreciate it. You told me that night that you didn't need to know what was wanted from me, and it didn't matter — and then told me why. You just said that you've got a little bit of an idea of what I decided that night, and from what you've told me, I think you do. You've also given me a vote of confidence by making it clear that you trust your daughters with me, and I want to thank you for that, too — and let you know that I will never give you any reason to regret doing so. You said that you don't need to know what happens between me and them, and I'll respect that. I haven't necessarily tried to be a good influence on them before; if you think that I have, anyway, then I want to tell you that I will be trying from here on. Yes, I love them — as much as if they were my own; and no, I won't hurt them, or let them hurt themselves. And if that's the way it has to be, then I'll let them learn the hard way… even if it hurts me. Above all, I'll cherish them, always."
I could see tears forming in Teresa's eyes as she quietly told me "Thank you, Ted.", with a smile on her lips.
I smiled back, and trying to tease her out of any sadness, said "Now that we've got all that mushy stuff out of the way, I think it's about time we get some sleep.", before standing up.
After a short laugh, Teresa stood up, too, then came over and gave me a hug. When she released me, I gave her a soft kiss on the lips before saying "See you in the morning.", and getting a
"Good night, Ted." in return.
Late morning the following Saturday, I was downstairs in my place watching one of the home improvement and repair programs on public television when I heard Donna call down to see if I was busy. I told her I wasn't, and turned the TV off, then heard as more than one pair of feet came down the stairs. A second later, I saw that all three girls had come down for a visit; Wendy with a book in her hand.
As I was looking at them, Karen told me "Mom went out to go visit with Martha" — one of her friends from work — "and we thought this would be a good time to maybe, uh, learn some stuff."
The way she was talking told me that all three of them were there about some aspect of sex -
but what, and why, I didn't know. That was cleared up when Donna told me "I wanted to come see you about the other stuff we talked about, and I kinda talked about it a little bit with Karen, and she said she wanted to learn some of it, too. I remembered what you said about it being okay if there was more than one of us, so I asked Wendy if there was anything she wanted to find out."
Wendy spoke up then, telling me "I… I've kinda been wondering about, um, guy stuff. Your parts, I mean — between your legs.", with a little bit of a blush. Taking a breath, she went on to say "I know what girl stuff looks like, with me and Karen and Donna all being able to see each other, and everything; and I've seen boy babies before, and even some other guys when I was littler. But I think it's probably different when they're — I mean, you're — grown; I know WE
don't look like we did before we started growing boobs and hair and everything…"
Karen picked it up from there, saying "Anyway, we figured that if it was okay with you, we could all find out about guy stuff together. Wendy'll leave after that, but I'd like to see the part where Donna is doing stuff with you — just at first, I mean, so I can see what happens to you.
After that, it'd just be you and her."
I looked at Donna, and she simply said "You said we needed to think about what we wanted, and all that, so I thought that if we did things that way, then we could all find out what we wanted to know — but not too much."
I looked at each of them for a moment, and not one of them appeared to be nervous or afraid or embarrassed — only a trifle worried that they'd picked a bad time, nothing more.
I smiled before telling them "That's fine; that's exactly the kind of thing that I want you to do -
think about what you want, and figure out how to make it happen while you help each other."
All three looked pleased as I asked them "I'm guessing you wanted it to happen now?" They nodded, and I next wanted to know "Did you want it to be down here, or someplace else?"
It was Karen that told me "We thought down here, for this. Your bed is bigger, so there would be room for all of us."
"Okay, that's fine. What did you need or want me to do?"
Wendy gestured with the book in her hand as she told me "Um, just for you to be naked at first, so we can see how real people are different than the book Mom had us all read."
To that, Donna added "We think we'll have questions, too. And… and if it's okay, we'd like to do more than just look."
"That's okay, too.", I told them.
All of us just stood there for a couple of seconds, before I realized that they needed me to get things moving. After standing up, I walked to where my queen-size bed was; the three of them followed, and silently watched as I started to get undressed. I was curious as to when (or if, in the cases of Wendy and Karen) they would get undressed to — and was mildly disappointed when none of them followed my example. They didn't need to, of course, but I would have enjoyed the view if they had.
The only noise came when I slid my shorts down, and my cock and balls slipped free — causing Wendy to gasp. Once I was naked, I calmly got onto the bed and lay down on my back so that I was as passive and non-threatening as I could be. It took a few seconds for them to get started, but all of them were soon sitting on the bed even with my thighs, facing me. Wendy opened the book where one of them had put a bookmark, then set it to where all of them could look at it. For the next several minutes, I understood how a bug under a microscope must feel as all three of them gestured between me and the book as they exchanged whispers. Once all of them were satisfied that what was in the book was a reasonable approximation of the real world, it was Wendy that asked "Why are you different here at the end, than the book? It shows something they call a 'foreskin', but you don't have one."
I carefully explained to them that I did, in fact, have a foreskin — but that it looked different because I'd been circumcised (and what that involved). They were wide-eyed by the time I was done, and I had to go on to explain to them that it had happened while I was still an infant, and that I had no memory of the experience… which visibly relieved them.
A few more questions followed, and I didn't have any problem answering to their satisfaction.
After they'd all sat there silently for several seconds, I thought to ask "You want to look closer, and touch?"