Linda's Legacy - Sex Stories

Linda's Legacy

... Carol."

"She cheated on Bob?"

"No, she cheated on James, Jim's father. While he was sick and dying, she had a boyfriend named Ralph. After James passed, she married the man. It didn't last. They were both cheaters, so there was no trust. She met Bob in some cancer family support group a few years later. Jim barely spoke to his mother for six or seven years. He blamed her for his father's death. Not for the cancer, but because James had lost the will to live. He'd found out about Ralph right away and didn't last long after that. You were just a baby. I'm not surprised you didn't know any of this."

"I only got to know Gamma Carol and Bob when we started going to visit them in Colorado. I think you and dad were already divorced by then."

"That's right. Our divorce was when he started talking to her again."

"He forgave her?"

"Eventually. But it was always a sore spot. Carol blamed herself for James' death, too. She and Jim agreed about that. It helped them bridge the divide. And then Jim made friends with Bob, who hadn't done anything wrong."

"So, dad forgave his mother. But he didn't forgive you." "He did, eventually. At your wedding, in fact. It took him twenty years, and I didn't even deserve it then. I'd been completely unrepentant. I'd told him 'I'm sorry,' any number of times, but it was always about what it cost us. It was always about his hurt feelings, which I clearly believed were his fault. I'd never actually been sorry for my affair. I'm ashamed ...

... to say I was proud of it. My pride was the whole point."

"It didn't sound like it was an affair. It was just one night, right?"

"No."

"No?"

Mom looked even more distraught.

"Emma, I'm terrified of being single. I've never done it. I wouldn't know how to exist. I haven't been single for even one full day of my life since I was sixteen. When one relationship was about to end, I always made sure to have another one all set up and ready to go. I could never face the possibility of being alone. Your father was so much smarter about it than I was. He had the wisdom to give himself the time to figure himself out before he got seriously involved with anyone else. I don't know how he managed it."

"I gave Marc my number that first night. We were calling and messaging each other after that. And even though we didn't plan on it, he caught me at another one of his pickup spots two weeks later. It was St. Patrick's day at one of those Irish pubs, and I behaved just as shamefully. When my marriage was hanging in the balance, I kept seeing him, quietly, on and off, even while I was still trying to patch things up with your father. I thought that it didn't have anything to do with my relationship with Jim, and what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. God, I can't even believe it myself. So STUPID. So FOOLISH. I even pretended to break up with Marc. We staged a phone call where I told him to leave me alone and never speak to me again, and I played the recording for Jim. But Marc ...