Chapter 11
The day before Thanksgiving was one of the busiest travel days of the year… and Kit was caught up in the middle of that hurricane.
Bergstrom was packed. His intent to be there three hours before his 6:00pm flight turned out to be wise, for he cleared security literally ten minutes before his plane pulled away from the gate. All the workers in the airport were surly and short-tempered, and the security guard that screened him was irate and unpleasant. The gate was filled and the plane was already boarding when he got there, putting him at the back of the line. The plane was packed as well, but at least he got lucky as far as seating assignments went. He had an aisle seat at the front of coach, and the seat beside him was taken by a short, quiet female rabbit that didn't feel like talking, who was traveling with a teenage femme rabbit that looked like either her sister or cousin. The younger one had her nose pressed to the window, looking out with silent interest when he stowed his backpack in the overhead compartment and sat down, pinching his tail a little in the narrow seat as he pulled it around his hips so he could sit down.
The plane taxied out fifteen minutes late, and then spent nearly a half an hour sitting at the end of the runway. When they finally did get into the air, the first half of the flight was anxiously boring, as Kit felt like a kid waiting for his parents to wake up on Christmas morning so he could open his presents, and the second half was unpleasant. The plane hit a weather front on the way to Cincinnati, running them through two separate episodes of turbulence. They were delayed again when they got to Cincinnati, as Kit began to get anxious and excited about the idea of seeing Jessie. They had snow there, and they were stuck circling the airport as the ground crew cleared the runway so they could land. Every circle around the airport just made Kit that much more anxious and impatient, and he had to focus on keeping himself from losing his composure. He didn't want to be rude to the politely quiet rabbit sitting next to him, who had been the soul of courtesy during the entire flight.
When the plane finally landed, over an hour late, Kit had to hold onto the armrests to keep himself in his seat. When the plane taxied up and stopped at the gate, he was up the instant the plane came to rest, pulling down his carry-on and handing the two rabbits their luggage with a nod and a polite smile. Since they were in the front of coach, they were the first out after the first class people, and he poured out into a hugely busy and populated terminal, filled with furs of all breeds, shapes, and colors. He was on the phone the instant he was out of the tunnel, calling Jessie. "Hello? Kit?" she called.
"I just got off the plane," he informed her, looking up at the signs hanging from the ceiling to get his bearings. "Where are you?"
"Umm, we're just inside the terminal, between the main door and the United counter," she answered. "We're moving towards the gate where your plane arrived. We'll meet you just outside the security checkpoint, okay?"
"I'll see you in a few minutes. I can't wait to see you."
"I know the feeling," she giggled, then she hung up. Really, there was no reason for her to say goodbye, given she'd be seeing him in person in just a minute.
Kit hurried down a very long terminal, so long it had moving walkways… and of course, his gate was at the very end. Instead of using the walkway, he instead walked briskly beside it, outpacing those on the walkway by almost double. There were too many people on the moving walkway to do anything but stand on it. It took him almost five minutes to walk down to the other end of the terminal, until he reached the security gate that stopped people from coming in. He stepped through it, and even with all the furs crowding the terminal, he saw her. He saw her jump up to look over all the heads, on the far side, and she raised her black-mittened paw and waved vigorously. Kit almost bulled people out of his way and he rushed to her, and then she was right there, arms open and rushing towards him. He took her in in that moment, seeing her with her jeans and winter boots she bought in Austin, and a thick downy red vest-coat worn over denim jacket.
"Kit!"
He buried her in his arms, holding her tightly, rocking her back and forth. For a long moment, he just held her, eyes closed, reveling in her presence, feeling five days of longing fade away when he could touch her, smell her long, gorgeous hair, feel her paws gripping his back, hear her breathing. He put a paw on her upper back and gripped her shoulder as one of her paws dug under his shirt and immediately came to rest over his scars.
"I missed you so much," Kit breathed quietly, nuzzling her cheek and neck with the side of his muzzle.
"I missed you too," she returned, pulling back just enough to give him a long, sensual, lingering, intimately passionate kiss.
It was heaven… until a polite cough behind Jessie reminded both of them they weren't alone.
Jessie's cheeks ruffled as she let go of him and snuggled under his left arm, then she giggled ruefully. Behind Jessie was a rather short, slender male cat, middle aged, with crème colored fur and a slightly darker patch over his face, almost like a Siamese but not quite, wearing a heavy tan coat and a pair of dark slacks. He was wearing boots as well. Kit had seen a picture of this cat… it was John Williams, Jessie's father.
"Mister Williams, it's good to finally meet you," Kit said, offering his paw to the small cat.
"Please, call me John," he smiled, taking Kit's paw in a firm grip. "How was the flight?"
"Rough," he replied. "And long."
"Well, you're here now, even if you're a little late," John chuckled, and they started out, Kit and Jessie walking arm in arm beside her father. "You might want to consider calling your boss and warning him you might be late getting back," he cautioned. "They're saying we might get up to six inches of snow by tomorrow night, and you can imagine how that's going to snarl things."
"That's not a pleasant thought, but if it buys me more time with Jessie, I'll take it."
"Sitting in an airport waiting is never fun," John chuckled.
They had to all but swim through a sea of other furs as they made their way down the terminal, but when everyone else went to baggage claim, they managed to break free of the pack and get into a little less crowded surroundings. Kit really didn't care now, all he could feel or think about was Jessie, walking along with him, her tail coiling around his own tail playfully as they walked. He did start to care, though, when they got outside. It was bitingly cold, and all he'd brought was a windbreaker and a pair of winter shoes. Jessie snuggled up to him as John led them along streetlit sidewalks to a large parking lot, and then through most of it to reach a Chevy Impala parked near a parking garage. John opened the passenger side door for him, and there was a momentary confusion on just how they were going to do this. Jessie wouldn't let go of his paw, urging him to the back seat so they could sit together, but he kissed her on the cheek and urged her into the front seat. Kit got into the back, sitting behind Jessie, and he immediately leaned forward and reached over the seat to put a paw on her shoulder. "Hannah mentioned that you're going to a conference this weekend?"
"Oho, you call me 'Mister Williams,' but you call my wife Hannah?" he asked with a slight smile as he backed out of the space.
Kit chuckled. "Well, she gave me permission to call her that a while ago, in our letters."
"You know, I was very impressed by those letters," John told him as Jessie turned on the heater. "You're a fairly good writer, Kit. You did a good job explaining how you feel."
"Thanks. They didn't do much good, though."
"Oh, they did a lot of good," John chuckled. "Now, Hannah doesn't absolutely hate you, she just dislikes you."
Kit laughed. "Well, I'll take what I can get. I hope she doesn't give me the third degree tonight. I'm kinda tired."
"No, I think she's saving that until tomorrow. Right now, she's in a huff." Jessie laughed, and John gave her a sharp look. "That's enough of that, young lady," he warned. "I think you did that on purpose."
"Did what?"
"Jessie and Hannah had a very heated argument over your sleeping arrangements."
Kit sighed. "Pretty kitty, I warned you–"
"I will not spend another night alone, and definitely not when you're in the same house!" she protested. "Mom can put our video camera in the room to make sure we behave, but you will be sleeping in my room."
"Oh, wonderful," Kit sighed. He wasn't even there yet, and already Jessie had managed to put him on the wrong foot with Hannah.
"I was saying about the same thing," John said. "Jessie doesn't seem to understand that these fights with her mother don't just inconvenience her. I'm the one that has to listen to Hannah storm over it for hours afterwards."
"Mom needs to understand that I'm an adult, Dad," she challenged.
"Kitten, intentionally rubbing your mother's nose in her perceived failure is not a mature act," he said patiently.
"Well if she wants to treat me like a kid, I'll be one when it annoys her," Jessie said sternly.
"And that's what we've been dealing with since Jessie got home," John sighed, glancing back at him as they got on an interstate.
"I know, Jessie's told me about it, and the letter Hannah sent on Tuesday wasn't like her. She was much more annoyed than usual."
"They've been fighting like their tails were tied together," John lamented.
"You're not going to make this easy on me, are you love?" Kit asked with a rueful chuckle.
"I've been trying to be civil, Kit," she said. "But Mom's been relentless."
"I'd have to agree with Jessica," John added. "Her mother has been the one starting the fights. She's been after her since the minute she got off the plane."
"Well, then I have an idea of what kind of reception I'm going to get," he predicted.
"No, I think you'll be rather surprised," John said with a chuckle. "Hannah's gotten it into her head that you'll do whatever Jessica wants, so she's focusing all her efforts on convincing Jessica to call off the wedding."
"Which will never happen," Jessie said adamantly.
"Which I wouldn't allow either," Kit agreed. "I got my ring on her, and she's going to follow through. Even if I have to drag her down the aisle. A Vulpan never lets someone back out of a deal."
Jessie laughed, and John gave him a sudden look, both surprised and amused. "I could see that. A shotgun wedding, just with the shotgun trained on the bride instead of the groom."
"You don't let a femme like Jessie get away, John. It'd be monumentally stupid. I may get annoyed with Hannah, but the one thing I can thank you and her for is raising the most perfect femme in the world."
"Aww, you're so sweet," Jessie said, looking back at him with a loving smile.
"I'm not so sure I could call Jessica perfect," John chuckled, "but I do have to admit that she wasn't a complete disappointment."
"Dad!" Jessie protested.
The Williams house was inside Cincinnati, near the eastern city limit, on a pleasant little street surrounded by middle class homes, and a little store and restaurant sitting on the corner of their block. They had a two story house of no particular design Kit could identify, painted what looked like a yellow in the illumination of the streetlight on the street before it, and shrubs flanking the walkway leading to the front door. It had a driveway on the left side that went back behind the house, where there was a detached garage on the edge of the back yard, behind a large paved area where cars could park or turn around without having to back all the way down to the street. There was a basketball hoop hanging over the garage door back there, he noticed through a thickening snowfall.
"Strange weather," John said as he stopped the car on that pad. Kit saw that there was a back door hidden just behind the back corner of the house, with a light turned on over it. "I can't remember the last time we had a white Thanksgiving."
"I'm kinda used to snow," Kit said as he opened the door and got out, dragging his carry-on by the strap and then slinging it over his shoulder. "We get enough of it in Massachusetts."
"Well, Kit, this is your last chance to run," John said with a grin. "Once we open that door, you're committed."
"The path to the altar is through that door, John," he said simply. "I'm ready."
John chuckled and urged him to follow.
The door opened into a laundry room of sorts, with the washer and dryer on the right and a window and narrow table on the left. "Leave your shoes here," he said as he kicked off his own shoes, setting them under the narrow table. Kit took off the winter shoes he'd bought for the trip up and set them neatly under the table himself, and steadied Jessie as she struggled to take off her boots. After they were unshoed, John led them into a very large kitchen, with a counter in the center that had pans and utensils hanging off a rack suspended from the ceiling. They had a huge stove, with six burners rather than four, and a large stainless steel paneled refrigerator sitting beside a vertical stand-alone freezer. A microwave and toaster oven stood on the far counter, next to a coffee maker, sitting by a small door that led to what was probably a pantry. There were two doorways across the kitchen, one facing them that led into a dining room that had shutters to hide the kitchen from it, and another on the right wall that was an open archway. A tall male came into the kitchen through the open archway on the other side of the counter. He was a very muscular young male, wearing a muscle shirt that showed off his wide shoulders and corded arms, who had cream-colored fur with a dark patch spread on his right shoulder, under his shirt. "Heya, you must be Kit," he said, coming around the counter and offering his paw. "I'm Ben, Jessie's little brother."
"Only by age," Kit chuckled as he shook Ben's paw.
"I'm the outcast in the family," he grinned.
"I still say you were switched at birth, son," John grinned at him. "I don't know where he got his height from. Certainly not his parents."
"Where's your mother?"
"Upstairs, fussing at Jenny," he answered, going to the refrigerator and taking out a V-8. "Mom! Jenny! They're back!" Ben shouted as he went into the next room.
Kit clearly heard the feet pattering on the ceiling, hurrying across it, then the footsteps were on the stairs across the living room. It was definitely the living room of a family, with two chairs in the middle of the floor and a pair of couches flanking them, creating an enclosed space of sorts that encapsulated the TV. There was a piano on the far end of the living room, behind one of the couches, near the stairs. There were pictures everywhere, pictures of the kids and family on tables, in a curio cabinet, on top of the entertainment center, and hanging on the walls. Two sets of feet appeared on the stairs, and as they came down, Kit got his first good look at the rest of Jessie's family.
The first one down was a little carbon copy of Jessie. She was a touch shorter and her chest was a little flatter, but the resemblance between Jessie and this, which had to be her sister, was profound. She looked just like her sister, except her eyes were amber where Jessie's eyes were blue. They had the same cream-colored fur as their father, but the younger sister lacked the fox-like markings that Jessie had. She did, however, have a longhaired tail, like her sister, and she had a dark band of fur on her face right over her eyes, almost looking like a mask, which Kit thought looked rather attractive. She was wearing a half-shirt tank top and a pair of jeans with holes worn through them.
The other femme was undeniably Hannah. She was a shorter, more mature version of Jessie, with the same basic facial structure, and she had interesting fur. She had black-tipped ears and tawny, golden colored fur and hair, but just like Kit and other foxes, the sides and underside of her muzzle, as well as the lower half of her face and front of her neck, was white. The boundary between tawny and white fur was very defined and striking. That white streak went down her neck and vanished under her blouse. Her tail was not longhaired, but she had the similar color patterns of a fox at the tip, going from tawny to white to black at the very tip, just like Kit's own tail; the three-colored tail was another Vulpan family trait. Outside of those three features, nobody could look at Hannah and believe that she was half fox. She looked all cat, having only inherited cosmetic fur coloration patterns from her fox parent.
"Well, it's nice to meet you face to face, Kit," Hannah told him in a surprisingly warm voice, reaching her paw out to him. He took it and shook it warmly.
"I'm glad to be here," he said.
"I'm sure that opinion will change," she said with a serious look, which made him chuckle.
"Hi, I'm Jenny," Jessie's sister said brightly, nudging her mother out of the way and taking Kit's paw between hers. "Jessie wasn't kidding, you really are handsome!" she announced.
"Well, thanks," Kit said mildly. "But I'm taken."
Jenny gave him a wild look, then laughed. "Maybe if I'm lucky, you'll have that sisters fantasy."
"Jennifer Ophelia Williams!" Hannah snapped in shock and outrage, which just made Jenny explode into laughter. That earned her a smack on the bottom from her mother.
"I'm just kidding, Mom, sheesh!" she protested.
"You don't make jokes like that!" Hannah said hotly.
"It's alright, Hannah, Jessie warned me about Jenny already," Kit said calmly.
"Oh? And what did she warn you about?" Jenny asked.
"That," he chuckled, tugging a little on his bag.
"Let me take you up so you can drop off your bag, love," Jessie said, taking his paw. That statement got Jessie a white-hot look of anger from Hannah, but Jessie simply stepped past her mother and led him towards the stairs. "We'll be right back down," she announced.
Hannah looked about to follow them up, but John put a paw on her elbow and stayed her.
Kit followed Jessie upstairs and to the first door on the right. Within was the room he'd seen through the computer, with the teenager's posters and the collection of unicorn figurines on the far dresser. "Well, here it is," she said. "Just drop your bag anywhere, love. Go ahead and test the bed."
He nodded, setting his bag on the floor and sitting on the bed, then leaning back on it. It felt a little soft, but it didn't feel all that bad on the average. "I don't think it's going to be that bad," he told her. "A little on the soft side, but I think I can manage it."
"Manage what?" Hannah asked, standing in the doorway, and her tone was not friendly.
"I told you mother, Kit has a bad back," Jessie said, rather belligerently. "He can't sleep on something that's too soft, or he's in a lot of pain the next day. That's only one of the reasons why he's not sleeping on the couch. He wouldn't be able to move in the morning!"
"He can sleep in one of the other kids' beds and they can sleep on the couch."
"We're not having this argument again, mother," Jessie said in a steely tone. "If you don't recall, we already live together. I'm not going to sleep separate from him under the same roof!"
"Jessie," Kit warned. "Hannah. I can appreciate your position, but please understand that I'd like to sleep in here. I haven't had more than three hours of sleep since Jessie came back here, because I got so used to her sleeping beside me. We'll leave the door open, you can put a camera in here, but please allow us this one indulgence. It's the only thing I'll ask you for while I'm here."
Hannah gave him a long, searching look, then sighed and nodded. "I don't like it, but I'll bend on this, at least this time. You do look a little exhausted."
"You have no idea," he said wearily. "I haven't got much sleep, and it's been a very long day."
"Well, come down and at least chat for a little while, then you can get some sleep," she told him.
After they came back downstairs, they did just that. Kit chatted amiably with Jessie's family, getting to know them. They told him about their work, their schools. Ben told him about his football career and his hopes he'd get a scholarship offer from a good school, and Jenny told him about Ohio State and her plans to become a nurse. Kit reciprocated by telling them about his job in Austin, and then, after Jenny pressed him on it, told them about his trip across the eastern half of America as a wandering laborer. "It certainly wasn't all fun and games, but I met quite a few very interesting people, and learned a great deal," he summarized after the tale ended with Austin.
"I'd imagine there's no end of homeless bums and riffraff in places like that," Hannah said.
"Well, yes, but some of them were very interesting people. You'd be surprised at how some of them ended up where they did. Most got there through bad luck, but some of them were like me, there by choice."
"Who would choose a life like that?" she asked.
"You'd be surprised," he said. "I met a fellow who had a doctorate in physics in a homeless shelter in Montgomery, Alabama."
"No way! A Doctorate?" Jenny gasped.
"He showed it to me," he chuckled in reply. "When I asked him why he was standing in a soup line, he answered that he realized that living life in society was living a lie, and giving it all up freed his mind from the distractions of trying to live life by stupid rules that made no sense and just bogged his mind down on frivolous concerns. So he gave it all up. He'd sit outside on the steps and just think, for hours at a time. Just sit there and think. Sometimes the others would sit there and watch him, like it was some kind of spectator sport," he said, which made Jenny giggle. "The first time I saw him do it, when he finally did move, I asked him what he was thinking about. He answered that he was thinking about what his wife would do to him if she found him."
That made all of them, even Hannah, explode into laughter.
"The others said they always thought he was sitting there thinking about physics, you know, solving the mysteries of the universe. I guess sometimes he was, but not that day. He told me later that my arrival made him think of the life he gave up, since I was kinda doing the same thing as him. Sometimes I think I'd like to find him and see how he's doing. He was a very, very interesting guy."
"Uh, Kit, mind a personal question?" Jenny asked.
"If it involves me taking off my clothes, yes," he answered.
She giggled. "Jessie told us about the lawsuit. Why don't you go after your fair share of the money?"
He looked at Jenny steadily. "It's not something I can easily explain unless you know what it's like to be rich, Jenny. But the best way I can explain it is this. Money in moderation is a good thing, but when you reach a certain point, money becomes a curse. Money destroyed my family, Jenny. My family isn't a family. It's a collection of shallow, vain, hateful, greedy people bound together by money and our family name. Money and power is all they care about. They've forgotten what it's like to be happy. They think money is happiness, and I won't ever allow myself to become like them. I want no part of that. This is happiness, Jenny," he said, motioning around himself. "A house full of a family that loves and cares about each other. It's the one thing I wish I had, but all I had was money. Can you understand that?"
"I guess I can, in a way, but it seems a little strange."
He found himself yawning, and covered his maw with his paw. "Excuse me. I think it might be about time for me to go to bed. I had a very long day."
"Understandable. It was a madhouse at the airport," John chuckled.
Jessie stood up deliberately. "I think I'll go ahead and turn in myself."
Hannah gave Jessie a hard stare, but nodded. "Keep the door open," she ordered.
"We will. Goodnight everyone, see you in the morning."
They said goodnight in return, and Jessie led Kit upstairs and into her old room. "Bathroom's down at the end of the hall," she said before he even asked.
They gathered together into the bathroom and brushed their teeth together, then returned to her bedroom. Jessie closed the door to change clothes while Kit unpacked his carry-on, setting his laptop on her desk beside her own and stacking the few clothes he brought with him on top of it. He was setting out a fresh pair of underwear and a shirt when the door banged open suddenly, startling him. "I told you to–" Hannah snapped, but came up short when Jessie gave out a startled cry and snatched at her bedspread, clutching it to her naked body.
"Mother!" Jessie gasped. "Do you mind?"
"I do mind if you're in here naked with him!" she snapped.
"Mother," Jessie said in a deceptively low voice. "He's seen every part of me, from every angle, and every distance," she said rather bluntly. "We sleep naked, he couldn't possibly miss it."
The graphic visual a statement like that could induce played across Hannah's face. She looked outraged, then embarrassed, then a little sheepish. Then her eyes hardened, and she pointed at her daughter. "I'll not have that going on in my house!" she warned. "I was willing to bend on this outrageous idea to keep the peace, but if you're sleeping in that bed together, you're wearing something!"
"Hannah," John said, coming up behind her and putting a paw on her arm. "You're being a touch silly, dear. You can't change it, and forbidding it now doesn't change the fact that it's already happened, and will keep on happening when they go home. Leave them be."
"John, you can't be serious!"
"I'm quite serious. Now leave them alone. And for Pete's sake, close the door."
Hannah seemed torn for a moment, looking between Kit, who was still dressed, and Jessie, who was nude behind the bed, covering herself with the bedspread, then blew out her breath and gave them a long, flinty look. "There'd better not be any foolishness in here," she threatened.
"Mother," Jessie said calmly, "if I decide I want to have sex–"
"Jess," Kit warned in an authoritative tone. That startled Jessie a little; she almost never heard him speak that way. "Stop baiting your mother. It's rude."
"She started it!" she protested. "She's treating us like children!"
"This is her house," Kit told her simply. "Now be grateful for what she gives us, instead of trying to take the whole mile."
Hannah gave Kit a long, searching look, then nodded. "I'm glad at least one of you has some manners," she declared. "Good night. Sleep well."
"Good night, Hannah, John. And thanks again."
"Any time, Kit, any time," John said from behind the wall, and Hannah reached in and grabbed the door, then closed it.
Jessie growled in her throat and dropped the bedspread. "Now do you see what I've been dealing with all week?" she demanded.
"And how many times did you goad your mother into it?" he asked simply as he pulled off his shirt.
"Well a few, but she's been hounding me since the moment I got off the plane," she admitted, pulling the covers down.
Kit shed the rest of his clothes and climbed into bed. Jessie slid in with him and turned off the light, then snuggled down into his arms. "Hi there, Mister Vulpan," she said in a purring, loving tone.
"Well hello there, future Misses Vulpan, fancy meeting you here," he returned, putting his nose right against hers on the pillows. She inched closer and gave him a long, sensual, tender kiss, filled with the longing of five days of separation, her paws encircling him as she kissed him with gentle love and tenderness, a kiss that celebrated their reunion more than an invitation to make love. He felt quite overwhelmed by her sensual kiss, surrendering to it and to her, then she sighed and snuggled against his chest. "My, what a welcome," he said breathlessly. "I'm glad I was already laying down or you'd be picking me up off the floor."
She giggled. "You know something?"
"What?"
"Right now, I'll take a good night's sleep over ticking off Mom by making love."
He laughed helplessly and nuzzled her. "I'm glad I'm not the only one who was thinking that. Finally, a good night's sleep," he said with dreamy contentment.
"Mmmm," she hummed in agreement, and fell asleep within a matter of seconds.
Kit was just behind her. It wasn't home, it wasn't their bed, but she was there. Her warmth comforted him, the smell of her hair and fur soothed him, and the sound of her breathing was like the sweetest music in his ears. Days of frustration trying to fall asleep melted away with her touch, with touching her, and the accumulated sleep deprivation tugged at his consciousness like an anchor. Reunited with her, he was able to drift into gentle, restful sleep in a matter of moments.
Hannah was up early… but then again, she always was. John himself was usually up quite early because of his job, but he did like to indulge in the occasional late morning on holidays. But she was being a little silly, in his opinion. Since five in the morning, Hannah would creep up to Jessica's door and listen intently, then creep away, every five or so minutes.
It was a surprise to John that Hannah gave in on the matter. Jessica was an adult, and though John personally wished she'd wait to get married until after she finished school, he wasn't opposed to the idea of it. Then again, his opposition to the idea stemmed on the chance that it might disrupt her school, but she seemed to have settled into a domestic life with Kit without her grades suffering, and, well, them marrying now was a simple technicality. They lived together, shared the same bed, and that was the aspect of married life that John feared would interfere with her schoolwork. But he'd been wrong about that, and he could admit it. John could see now that Kit's sister had been right. Kit was good for Jessica, just as Jessica was good for Kit. He kept her on track to get her degree, was just as adamant about it as they were, and Jessica filled a need in Kit, a desperate need to be part of a loving relationship, filling the void in him left when his family deserted him.
Vilenne was not kidding when she said that she knew her brother. John had read all the letters Kit had sent Hannah, so he had a very good understanding of the young male now. At first glance, one might think that shy Jessica was the one that was hanging onto Kit, attached to him, but it was the other way around. Kit was almost slavishly devoted to Jessica, a powerful bond that, thankfully, seemed to go both ways. Jessica adored Kit, loved him deeply, and from what he'd seen, seemed to come out of her shell with him. He'd always been worried that his shy yet stubborn daughter wouldn't be able to find her own voice, would just accept her husband's wishes, and then her stubbornness would poison the marriage as she resented his perceived control over her. But it wasn't like that at all with them. In just one evening, he saw that Jessica was utterly comfortable with Kit, and what was most important to him, she was just as willing to give Kit orders as she was to take them from him. John was amazed that Jessica had stood her ground against her mother over having Kit sleep in her room, for she usually avoided conflict. For that matter, John had been perpetually surprised by his daughter since she told them about him. Kit seemed to bring the strength out in her, gently causing her to come out of her shell and be herself, be the adult femme that was hiding within the shy girl who had left home with a suitcase and trembling paws. Vilenne had been right. Kit was what was best for Jessica, even as Jessica was what was best for Kit.
They were a perfect match.
Now, if only Hannah could admit it to herself. John knew his lovely wife, knew that despite her flaws, she was a beautiful femme who he still loved just as passionately as he did when they first met. Hannah didn't want to admit to herself that Kit was the right male for Jessica, which was becoming harder and harder for her. Kit's letters had moved Hannah. That boy had worked miracles when he started sending those letters, letting Hannah get to know him in a passive, non-confrontational matter, and he'd caught her humming to herself when she re-read letters he'd sent to her weeks ago. Hannah liked Kit. She really did. But she still was adamantly opposed to the marriage, because she still feared that he would abandon Jessica when the fire faded from their relationship… which was its own little problem, he could see. Hannah wanted to get to know the boy in person, she wanted to be nice to him, but she was afraid to do it, afraid that she would get burned along with Jessica if Kit left their daughter. She wanted to get to know him, find out how much of those letters were carefully prepared and how much of it was the true him, but the spectre of her father kept getting in the way. Kit's main task here, he could see, would be showing Hannah he was not her father, but that would be an uphill battle. Kit's family was very odd and unpleasant, but to Hannah, Kit had left them, and that made him look unreliable in her eyes. Hannah was devoted to her family, almost obsessively so, and Kit's abandonment of his own family, no matter how much they deserved it, was a mark against him.
And yet, even with that black mark, Hannah still was inclined to like the boy. So did John.
Hannah was there again when John got out of the shower, her ear pressed up against Jessica's door, listening intently. John went past the door to their bedroom and came up to her, and tapped her on the shoulder. "Dear, leave them alone," he whispered.
Hannah was about to say something, but a very faint, muffled sound came out from under the door, and Hannah's eyes went wide. She grabbed the doorknob and opened the door a crack, and John couldn't resist peeking inside himself, looking over his shorter wife.
They were still asleep. Whatever sound John had heard had to be some dream-induced mumble. Kit was laying on his stomach, left paw tucked under the pillow, and Jessica was crowded up against his side with her arm thrown over him, her paw gripping his shoulder. John felt his cheeks ruffle a bit when he realized that Jessica was nude, at least from the waist up, since the covers were only covering them to that point. Thank goodness he couldn't see anything, Jessica's arm and Kit's body were quite conveniently covering what John shouldn't see. It was just the realization that his shy, modest daughter, who triplechecked to make sure she locked the door when she took a shower, was topless and uncovered that got to him.
John urged Hannah to close the door. "Come on, dear, just let them be," he whispered again.
"I don't want any foolishness going on in there!" she hissed in a low tone.
"Hannah, dear, you're guarding the back door with the front door wide open," he told her, putting his paw on her arm and gently yet firmly pulling her from the door. "Admit it, dear. They're already at that point. Stopping them means nothing when they go home. And they'll be married in less than a month."
"Don't remind me!" she sighed as they went downstairs.
"Answer me one question, dear."
"What?"
"When they send you pictures of the wedding, what will you do with them?"
Hannah was quiet a long moment as they went down to the kitchen, then she laughed ruefully. "I, I have no idea. I'm still debating if I should object at the wedding."
"If you do that, Jessica will never forgive you," he warned.
"I know," she all but groaned. "Do you have any idea how it feels, John? I can't object or I'll lose my daughter, but what she's doing is the biggest mistake of her life!"
"Then you have two choices, dear. You can live up to the title of Momzilla, or you can do what you can to make sure Jessica has a welcoming shoulder when she needs it."
"There's a third option, John. Jessica sees the light and doesn't go through with it."
"That's just wishful thinking, dear," John sighed as he started the coffee. "Jessica is committed to going through with this marriage. So is Kit."
"He's committed now," she said scathingly. "What about in a year, when our daughter has a baby and can't go to school, and he finds some other female?"
"Dear, that's a risk all furs take when they get married. Jessica and Kit are no different. We just have to support them as best we can."
"We never took that risk!"
"Dear, we're not special. The reason we endured is because we love each other."
"But how do we know Kit loves her, or if it's just a flame that'll die out with the first stiff breeze?"
"That, my dear love, is the chance we all take. Who's to say that your flame doesn't blow out tomorrow?"
"Oh, be serious, dear," she laughed ruefully. "The only way you'll pry me off is with a crowbar."
"But who's to say?"
"You're being ridiculous. We've been married for twenty-three years, John, but Jessica and Kit haven't even known each other for four months!"
"So, you admit that if they'd known each other longer, you wouldn't be half as opposed to this marriage?"
"Well, yes, of course," she admitted. "They're jumping into this entirely too fast, John! How do we know Kit will be faithful to Jessica?"
"Well, dear, how do we know Jessica will be faithful to Kit?"
"She'd better be!" Hannah said sternly as she got out eggs and bacon from the refrigerator. "I didn't raise her to be a tramp!"
"Would you two give it a rest?" Jenny complained as she came into the kitchen. She was wearing a nightshirt that came down to her thighs that had a red star on the front.
"Go back upstairs and put on proper clothes, young lady!" Hannah barked at her, pointing to the archway. "You'll not walk around half naked when we have a guest in this house!"
"They're asleep, and I'm not worried about it," Jenny shrugged, getting a bottle of water out of the refrigerator. In a bit of rubbing it in, Jennifer flicked her tail at her mother as she padded out of the kitchen, which exposed her panties. In Ohio, a tail flick like that one was considered a rude gesture among the younger generation, a snub while walking away, and though Hannah was an older femme, she was worldly enough to understand its meaning.
"Jennifer Ophelia Williams!" Hannah shouted, storming off after her daughter, who had bolted for the stairs as soon as she got into the living room.
John had to laugh. Where Jessica was shy, Jennifer was anything but. She was a very extroverted girl, social and chatty, who had lots of friends in high school and ran with the popular crowd. That had been quite a trial for Hannah, for Jessica had been a model student in school and, which very pretty, was too shy to be part of the "in" crowd. She had quite a few friends, but they weren't the kinds of friends that Hannah worried would steer Jessica down the wrong path. Jennifer was the exact opposite. Hannah thought she was going to have the same easy time with Jennifer she did with Jessica, but Jennifer was a complete pawful.
Well, this day was already shaping up to be quite interesting.
Kit was startled awake by the sound of yelling.
It took him a minute to remember where he was, in that groggy half-asleep world, then, when he heard a door slam, he heard Hannah's voice shouting, then her heavy footsteps stormed past the closed door. He opened his eyes and saw a wall of posters of pop singers, and realized he was in Jessie's room. He felt her pressed up against him, her arm on his back, and she shifted, her claws digging into his shoulder. "Is it morning?" she asked blearily.
"I don't know," Kit answered in a fuzzy voice. "Let's go back to sleep until we're sure."
"Mmmph, now I gotta pee," she complained, climbing out of bed. He rolled over onto his side and felt his back protest, aching from the unfamiliar mattress. He saw her pull on a nightshirt and then go out the door. He dozed off, and woke back up when she climbed back into bed. She pulled the nightshirt back off and tossed it aside, then burrowed into his arms and snuggled against him. "Mmm, back okay?"
"A little sore, but not bad," he answered, closing his eyes.
"Mmmm," she hummed, and was asleep again.
Kit tried to go back to sleep, but the sounds outside the door told him it was morning. Too many people were up and about, and now that he was awake, the nagging ache in his back was keeping him from falling asleep. He laid there, though, and allowed Jessie to fully fall back into sleep. Besides, he was enjoying the feel of her nestled against him. He waited a goodly while, and then slowly and carefully started extricating himself from her. There was a moment where she dug her claws in to prevent him from moving, a habit she had, and he had to be careful not to get scratched up as he disengaged her claws. He finally got untangled from her without waking her, dressed while sitting in the chair by her desk, and meandered out of her room with a paw on his back. After relieving himself, he went downstairs, and found Hannah and John up and about. Hannah was in the kitchen, doing dishes, while John was sitting in a chair in the living room. "Morning, Kit," he said pleasantly. "Sleep well?"
"A little too well," he said, putting both paws on his back. "Have any aspirin? Jessie's bed doesn't agree with me."
"You alright?"
"Fine, just achy. It's a sign of my old age," he said dryly, which made John laugh. "I slept like a log."
"There's some Tylenol in the medicine cabinet upstairs," John told him. "And coffee in the coffee pot."
"I'm a tea drinker, John. I'm from Boston," he chuckled.
"Jessie bought some tea yesterday. I guess she was thinking of you," he chuckled.
Kit first went and got Tylenol, then invaded the kitchen as Hannah finished up the dishes. "Good morning, Hannah," he said. "I promise, we behaved last night."
She actually chuckled. "Jessica bought you some tea," she said. "In the pantry, second shelf on the left."
Kit wandered into the pantry and found it, an opened box next to a half-empty box of Lipton teabags. It was Earl Grey, and was from Twinings, an international tea company that was pretty good, but a little expensive. Kit was fond of Earl Grey from time to time as a change of pace from regular tea, but he hadn't had any since he left Boston. People outside of New England just couldn't seem to get it right. He preferred Harmon and Sons, an upscale Connecticut tea company, when it came to exotic or flavored teas. Jessie had been drinking the Lipton, but had gone out and bought him a gourmet tea for his visit. That was rather thoughtful of her. "Hmm," he said, coming out of the pantry with the box. "She bought Earl Grey."
"What's the difference?"
"Earl Grey is flavored tea," he told her. "It has a citrus taste to it."
"I hope you like it. Jessie spent a long time looking for it."
"Oh, I'm fine with it," he chuckled. "It's just that she bought Twinings. That's kinda expensive."
"She took me to four different stores until she found that," Hannah said, a bit sourly. She went to the kitchen window and looked out, then sighed. "Look at that."
Kit came over and looked out, and saw the backyard blanketed in about five inches of snow. "John said that snow was rare for Cincinnati this time of year."
"I've never seen this much snow this early, and I've lived in Ohio all my life," she told him, then she glanced at him and seemed to bristle a little. "I do not approve of this marriage, Kit," she stated flatly. "I think you're going way too fast, and it's bound to end in heartache and disaster."
"Hannah, I understand your position," he said honestly. "I think we've gone a little too fast myself sometimes. We've only known each other for three months, but…" he trailed off. "It's hard to explain. I look at her, and I just know. You know?"
"No, I don't," she said calmly.
"After our first date, I was thinking about the engagement ring," he admitted in a musing kind of way as he opened the tea package. Hannah took a kettle from a cabinet and started filling it with water. "I spent a month eating ramen noodles and walking to work to save up for it."
"You should have waited!" she said sternly.
"I waited until I was sure I was stable enough to give Jessie a good home," he answered calmly. "I wasn't sure when I was going to propose to her, but after I was shot, it was a moot point. Did Jessie tell you what happened?"
"No, she's been very tight-lipped about that."
"Well, the short of it is, Hannah, she proposed to me."
"What?" she asked in surprise.
"She beat me to it," he chuckled. "She did it through the magazine where I work. I can show it to you. Anyway, after she did that, I gave her the ring and proposed to her properly."
"I can't believe that Jessica was the one that proposed. That's a scandal!" Hannah said hotly. "A young lady doesn't do something like that!"
"I think my injury scared her," Kit said sagely. "After I was shot, she said she realized how transient life really is, and she didn't want to wait, because who was to say if we'd still be here tomorrow?" He put the box down. "Show me where you keep your computer, Hannah. I'll show you the drawing that Jeffrey did for Jessie that was her proposal."
Hannah led him to a den on the far side of the dining room, where they kept their computer. Kit went to the magazine's website, and brought up the proposal strip that Jeffrey had done. "This ran in our magazine right before I was released from the hospital. I had no idea they were doing it until I read it in the magazine."
"My," Hannah said, reading it over and over again.
"You said she didn't tell you about when I got shot?"
"No, very little."
"Hmm," he said, as the kettle began to whistle in the kitchen. They returned to the kitchen, and Hannah offered him a teacup from the cupboard. "Thank you," he said, then began making his tea. "I'm a little surprised. I would have thought she'd have told you about that."
"All she really said was that you were shot, that it wasn't bad, and you proposed to her after you got out of the hospital."
"That was wrong of her," he sighed. "I told her that I wanted you to understand the full truth, and that was hiding it."
"Why? What's going on?"
"The truth of it, Hannah, is someone tried to kill me," he said honestly. "The leopard that shot me was a hitman. The cops still don't know who hired him, and my sister's trying to find out, but she hasn't had any luck yet."
"What do you mean? Why would someone try to kill you?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," he shrugged. "I think it was one of my uncles, making it clear how much he objects to my relationship with Jessie. I told you in the letters, most of my family are rabid, fanatical purists. The only ones who aren't are my sister and a few of my cousins. It would certainly be something they'd do."
"Are you saying my daughter's in danger because of you?" she asked in an intense tone.
"I'm not entirely sure. I can't rule it out," he admitted. "When I tried to explain it to Jessie, she just blew me off. She said that she won't let them scare her away." He picked up the teacup and dipped the teabag into the water over and over. "My pretty kitty's quite adamant about it, Hannah. She's made it clear that she won't let anything come between us. Not even my family. I swear, she's ten times braver than me," he chuckled. "She beat my fear of my family out of me in about a week. When she made it clear to me that I had to get over my family to be with her, that motivated me. It's amazing what you can do when someone dangles the right reward at the finish line."
"I'm a little shocked, Kit," Hannah said seriously.
"There's not much I can say in my defense, Hannah," he said honestly. "All I can say is Jessie understands the situation, and it doesn't seem to bother her. But she should have told you the truth. She shouldn't have hid it from you." He leaned against the counter, feeling his back twitch a little. "All I can say is I'm sorry. I'll have to have a little talk with her about that, I suppose."
Hannah was quiet a long time, but didn't leave the kitchen. Kit stayed, sipping at his tea, waiting for her to either say something or leave. He would make himself available, he wouldn't hide or run away. "Are you sure that she's safe?" she finally asked.
"I think we are. Vil went nuts after I was shot, and she's had security guards watching over us since. They keep us safe in Austin, and Vil's been putting Boston through the wringer to find who did it."
"I'm really worried about this, Kit."
"So am I. You think I sleep well at night knowing someone tried to have me killed? And what's worse for me is that Jessie is close to it. I've always feared that my family would threaten my happiness, but I was very worried when–" he blew out his breath. "But Jessie has a way of making me forget that. She always tells me that I'm worth the risk. How can I say no to her, Hannah? She means everything to me." He sighed. "That's my one weakness, I guess. I just can't say no to her, ever. If I think it makes her happy, I can't say no." He chuckled ruefully. "I guess I'll have to join Whipped Husbands Anonymous when we get married."
Hannah actually laughed. "I'd rather you said no to her about this, Kit. I won't lie about that. You're too young and you haven't known each other long enough to get married. It's doomed to fail. I'm a little worried now even over that because of what you told me, but if you believe you can keep Jessie safe, well, I'll have to trust you on it."
Kit gave her a surprised look. "I thought you'd be a little more, well, vocal about it."
"I have to face the truth, Kit," she sighed. "You're going to get married, and if I try to stop it, I'll lose my daughter. She's very stubborn, and if she pushes me away, it'll take me years to get back to where she'll talk to me. All I can do is make it clear I object to this, then wait and watch."
"I'd rather you do more than that," Kit said simply. "I don't want you to feel that you're not part of our lives. You are. I don't want you to feel like I'm stealing your daughter. I don't want you to vanish after the wedding. I want you to visit, I want to visit you. I want to find out what a real family is like, not that insane mess that I thought was a family up in Boston."
"Well, I appreciate that, Kit," she told him as he took another sip of tea. "I guess I can see fit to invite you to Christmas."
"Hmm," he mused. "We're getting married on Friday the eighteenth, that puts Christmas on Friday. I'm not getting much in the way of time off. Vil's letting us stay at her condo in Florida for the weekend after the ceremony for a honeymoon. I guess we can do what I did, fly up on Thursday night and fly back on Saturday morning. I think Rick'll let me come in late on Saturday."
"You're welcome to."
"Thanks. I'd really like to be here for Christmas. It'll be the first one I've looked forward to since I was nine."
"How do you mean?"
"After Mom died, Christmas didn't really mean anything to me. Dad left us to Clancy and a procession of nannies, so there wasn't anything to it but gifts, and well, I was a rich kid. I had everything already. We either spent Christmas alone or with an uncle or aunt, who just tried to buy our favor with gifts, then took us to formal parties where all they ever did was tell us to sit up straight and be quiet while the adults talked. Over the years, it became just another day," he shrugged. "Then after I was disowned, there wasn't anything to celebrate."
Hannah was silent. He glanced at her, and saw that she had a pensive, distant look on her face. He wondered what she was thinking.
"How is the tea?" she finally asked.
"Not bad," he replied. "When you start cooking, would you like some help? I know my way around a kitchen."
"Oh no, I'll have no males in here interfering with dinner!" she declared. "You can watch football with the rest of them!"
"Football eh?"
"Yes, the Bengals are playing today," she said, rolling her eyes.
"Oh yeah, John's a Bengals fan," Kit chuckled. "So, what's on the menu?"
"Turkey, stuffing, green beans, mashed potatoes, potato salad, beets, salad, and pumpkin pie," she answered. "If you're hungry, we have cereal, eggs, bacon, sausage, and oatmeal."
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to invade your kitchen a little," he told her. "Jessie will be up soon, and I like to have a hot breakfast waiting for her."
"Oh no, out!" she demanded, shooing him away. "This is my kitchen! What do you want?"
"I can cook it myself."
"Not in my house you won't!" she challenged.
Kit laughed. "Well, scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon then, please. Enough for two. Jessie never sleeps for long after I get up. I'll make her tea."
"I'd love to know how you got her hooked on tea," Hannah chuckled.
"I guess cause it's always there," he shrugged as he made her a cup of Earl Grey. "I'm a tea junkie, Hannah. I drink it the way other people drink coffee. I'm glad she's drinking it, it's better for her than soda."
Much as Kit predicted, Jessie came into the kitchen as Hannah was cooking her breakfast. She yawned, showing off her small yet sharp little canines, then leaned against him and kissed him on the cheek. "Mmmm, Morning," she greeted. "Want some breakfast?"
"I'm cooking your breakfast right now," Hannah told her. "Now out of my kitchen!"
"Here," he said, handing her a cup of tea.
"Oooh, is this that fancy tea I bought for you? I wanted to try it," she said as they evacuated the kitchen. They went into the living room, and as John greeted his daughter, she sat down on the couch with him and tasted it. "Oh, this is good!" she declared, taking a bigger drink. "What kind is this?"
"Earl Grey," Kit chuckled. "You didn't even look at what you bought?"
She laughed. "I'd heard of it somewhere before, and when I saw the box, I thought you might like to try it. I thought it was some kind of brand, I didn't realize it was flavored. It's almost like those herbal teas."
"Did you sleep well, Jessica?" John asked.
"Mmm," she hummed with a nod. "For the first time since I got home. How's your back, love?"
"I took some Tylenol, so it's fine," he answered. "I had a little talk with your mother, Jess. Why didn't you tell her everything?"
She winced a little and set her cup down on the coffee table. "I couldn't think of a way to break it to her without her going nuts," she told him in an honest voice.
"Tell her what?" John asked.
As Jessie looked a little embarrassed, Kit explained the circumstances of him getting shot to him. He pulled no punches, but also made it clear that they were being well protected. "Vil has people watching over us at home, and she's been taking Boston apart looking for whoever hired the hitman," he concluded. "She knows the order came from Boston, but not who. I'm a little worried, and I'm sorry I brought this into my pretty kitty's life, but there's not much else I can really do."
"Why didn't you tell us this, Jessica?" John demanded.
"Because I thought you'd overreact," she answered. "Vil has it all covered, and I'm not letting them scare me away from him. If we broke it off or I left him, it would just be letting them win. Well, I'm not going to let them win," she stated bluntly, putting her paw on Kit's knee. "Kit is worth the risk. I won't let them break us up."
"Well, that does explain one thing," John chuckled, taking a drink of his coffee. "I was a little surprised you were so willing to stand up to your mother. Well, she's not really all that scary compared to some other things, is she?"
Jessie giggled, leaning against Kit. "Not really," she agreed. "I guess after nearly losing Kit, the idea of standing up to Mom didn't seem all that intimidating."
"I see," he smiled.
Ben came downstairs, wearing nothing but a pair of shorts. Jessie's brother was heavily built, but yet also sleek, the perfect physique for a running back. He was the perfect combination of power and agility, strength and speed. Ben had the body of a player who could fake a defender out of his shoes, then slam into the line and move it a good three yards before someone finally brought him down. "Morning," he called. "Is mom making breakfast?"
"Not for lazyheads I'm not!" she shouted from the kitchen.
"Aww, come on, Mom, I'm a growing boy!"
"Well get in here and take out the trash, and I'll think about putting something on for you," she called.
"Sure," he said, hurrying into the kitchen.
"Benjamin Franklin Williams!" she shouted in shock. "Go put some clothes on right now, young man! I'll not have you gallivanting around this house all but naked when we have guests!"
"And so it goes," John chuckled. "Jenny got a similar shout-down when she came down this morning."
"Sheesh, it's not like I'm wearing a G-string," he protested as he came out of the kitchen.
"Ben!" Hannah snapped.
Ben did go up and get dressed, and Jenny came back down with him. Ben was wearing a tank top and sweatpants, and Jenny was wearing an Ohio State tee shirt and a pair of knee-length jeans. "Hey," she called, flopping in the opposite couch. She picked up the remote and turned on the TV, and to his surprise, instead of turning it to MTV or something like that, she turned it to ESPN. "So, Kit, you a Bengals fan?" Jenny asked, which made John and Ben laugh.
"He'd better be or we'll lynch him," Ben said. "This is a Bengals house."
"Afraid I'm a Patriots fan," he admitted. "Growing up in Boston will do that to a guy."
"Well, that's a different division, so we'll let you slide on that one," John grinned. "If you were a Steelers or Browns fan, we might have had to do something to you."
"Aren't the Browns in your own state?"
"That just makes us hate them more," John told him.
"And I thought Red Sox fans were the only ones that hated," Kit laughed.
"Oh, were you in Boston when they finally won the World Series?" Ben asked.
Kit nodded. "The whole city seemed to shut down. I think they celebrated for weeks."
Kit expected Ben to be into sports, but it blew him away that Jenny seemed to be the real sports nut in the family. She knew about every sport, and bantered with Kit over football, basketball, baseball, and even hockey, teasing him over the Boston Bruins' inability to do much of anything for the last several years. Kit laughed when she said she was a Blackhawks fan. "You're gonna make some guy very happy, Jenny, at least after he gets over being jealous that his wife knows more about sports than he does."
"Blame him," she said, pointing at her father. "He's the one that dragged us to Bengal games wearing face paint."
"You know, I'd have expected a little… more, from someone that into football," Kit chuckled.
"You haven't taken him downstairs?" Ben asked.
"I'm saving it for game time," John said mildly.
"What's downstairs?"
"You'll see," Ben laughed.
"Breakfast is ready," Hannah called from the archway. "Come eat!"
Kit, Ben, and Jessie enjoyed breakfast in the dining room, as Hannah got after Jenny over something, and Kit got to know Ben. Ben was a very large male, strong and powerful, but he was also very modest and down to earth, and friendly. He was also very, very smart, who wanted to major in accounting in college. "Accounting?" Kit asked with a surprised chuckle.
"Why not? I've always been good with numbers. I think I'll be a good accountant!"
"You won't have much time to do any accounting if you make it into the NFL."
"Yeah, well, first I have to make it, and second, I have to get there without tearing myself up. When Dad realized I was serious about football, he warned me I shouldn't put all my eggs in that basket, and he's right. I'm always just one bad play away from never playing in college. I want to play football more than anything, but it's a rough sport, and I'd better be ready if I get hurt or I don't make the cut. I have to have a plan B."
"I know that feeling," he sighed. "I wanted to go into the Air Force and fly planes, but when I was hit by that car, that ended that."
"I'm sorry to hear about that," Ben said compassionately.
"Eh, it led me to Jessie, so I won't complain all that much. And I did get a pilot's license out of the deal too," he chuckled.
"Hate to sound sadistic, but I'm almost glad you were hit by that car, love," Jessie told him. "If not for that, we'd never have met."
"I guess there's a silver lining in anything," Kit said sagely. "But you have the right idea, Ben. Always keep Plan B ready in case something bad happens."
After breakfast, Kit sat and talked more with Jessie's family as a whole, just basic chitchat that let him get to know them, and them him. Jenny was the middle wild child, with a cheeky disposition and an almost mean-spirited enjoyment out of outraging and angering her mother. She was a sports nut, but she was also very, very smart, and talked often about maybe switching over to premed instead of nursing school, but lamenting that that was a heck of a lot of money for her parents to try to put up with Jessie also being in college. It was more interesting to watch their parents interact with them, though. Hannah was definitely the authoritarian between the two, the one to give them orders and call them down when she thought they were being impertinent. John was very mild-mannered and unassuming, but Kit didn't miss that everyone in the family hopped when he said jump, including Hannah. But belligerence wasn't John's style, so he just let things go as they went and only put a word in when they went in a direction he didn't like.
But they didn't sit around in conversation for long. Hannah got up and announced that she had to start on Thanksgiving dinner, and Jenny wandered off to the den to use the computer for a while. Kit and Jessie spent some time with Ben and John, as the two of them told quite a few stories about Jessie, more than one of them making Jessie's face ruffle in a blush. She gave out a plaintive "Daaaad!" when he offered to show Kit Jessie's baby pictures.
"I'd love to," Kit said immediately.
"Kit, those pictures are embarrassing!" Jessie protested.
"Seeing you as a baby is embarrassing how?"
"Dad always shows the picture of me with no clothes on," she told him.
Kit looked her up and down in a way that made Ben laugh and Jessie's cheeks ruffle. "And what more will I see in the picture that I haven't already seen?" he asked directly.
"Kit!" Jessie said with a gasp.
Her indignation didn't last long, though. John retrieved quite a few photo albums, and they spent nearly two hours going through them. Kit got to see hundreds of pictures of Jessie's family, around the house, on vacations, pictures of relatives and friends, pictures of their hold house and cars, even pictures of John and Hannah from when they lived in Columbus.
"Who is this?" Kit asked as he held up the album and pointed to a very, very old poor quality photo of a male fox and a dark-furred female cat standing in front of a car that must have been on the road in the fifties.
"Oh, that's Hannah's father," John told him. "I'm sure that Jessica told you she's mixed."
He nodded, looking at Jessie. "So that's your grandfather?"
"Yeah," Jessie nodded. "I never met him, though. He died before I was born."
"Which of these are your parents, John?" he asked.
"Oh, this one right here," he said, turning the page and pointing to a pair of older cats, the cream-furred male wearing a suit and the gray-furred female in a tan dress, standing in front of a window. "This was taken on the day of our wedding."
"Where do they live?"
"My father passed away six years ago," he replied. "My mother lives with my brother Jim in Florida."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"Thank you. I have two other brothers and a sister. Sam lives in Seattle, Susan lives in Phoenix, and Bob still lives in Columbus."
"Wow, your family spread out."
"Well, Sam went into the Navy after high school, and settled in Seattle when he retired two years ago. Susan got married, and her husband got a job for IBM, and they moved to Phoenix. I didn't go far from Columbus," he chuckled, "and Jim moved to Florida after he retired from the phone company. He works part-time down there for a phone company, and his wife retired from working for a county 911 organization to take a job as a disaster preparedness consultant for hurricanes down there."
"Sounds like you had a full house."
"Not for long. I'm the baby of the family, three years younger than Susan," he chuckled. "Sam left for the Navy when I was eleven, and by the time I was in high school, they were all out of the house."
"Dad, it's pregame time!" Jenny called from the den.
"Already? My, where does the time go? Let's go down to the Bengal Den," he grinned.
John's Bengal Den was a football fan's dream. It took up most of the basement, and Bengal memorabilia was everywhere. Bengal posters, Bengal colors painted on the walls, complete with the stripes, pictures of Bengal players, even a Bengal carpet under a pair of couches covered Bengal upholstery covers. Those couches faced a huge theater-style television, one of the biggest he'd ever seen, part of an entertainment center that took up the entire basement wall.
"Wow," Kit breathed, staring at it in wonder.
"Now this is suitable for watching a Bengals game," John said grandly, motioning at the TV with his paw. "It's not as good as being in the stadium, but it's good enough."
"This must have cost a fortune!" Kit marveled.
"I saved for it for two years," John chuckled as Jenny and Ben took seats, and Jenny turned on that mammoth TV. "It took a long time to talk Hannah into it, at least until I promised to buy a home theater to go along with the TV so she can watch movies."
"It's great for watching porn," Jenny noted with a wicked grin at her father. "They can hear the femmes screaming 'yes!' all the way down on Wilkerson Street."
"That'll do, young lady," John said coolly.
"Jennifer! Jessica! Come up here!" Hannah called from the top of the stairs.
"Oh, here we go," Jenny sighed. "Now comes the cooking lessons."
"I wouldn't mind a few," Kit chuckled.
"Then I'll pass them down when we get home," Jessie winked as she got up.
"She lets you guys off easy, doesn't she," Kit mused as the two femmes went upstairs.
"No, we'll have to do the cleanup after dinner," Ben chuckled.
"It's only fair," Kit shrugged.
Kit was initiated into a Williams family ritual… football. They watched as the Cincinnati Bengals played the Detroit Lions in the first game of the Thanksgiving double-header, and Kit was submerged under an avalanche of enthusiasm and statistics. John knew every member of the team by name and number, and he spouted statistics and predictions throughout the game, yelling and screaming like he was in the stands with thousands of other fans. It was almost funny to see that small, slim, unassuming cat transform into this screaming wildfur, cheering his team on to ultimate victory.
Kit guessed everyone had a secret side to themselves that only came out in certain circumstances.
Hannah seemed to time dinner with the end of the game, for it was on the table and ready when it was over. They went upstairs and enjoyed one of the best meals Kit had ever eaten, paws down. Hannah was a fantastic cook, and she'd done herself proud with that meal. The turkey was cooked to perfection, the dressing was sumptuous, the beets delightful. Hannah blended spices in with the mashed potatoes, which made them taste exceptional, and when he was stuffed, she put a home-made from scratch pumpkin pie in front of them, and it was unbelievable. He stuffed himself so full he could barely move, and he wasn't the only one.
"Oh my, you've outdone yourself this time, dear," John said in sated satisfaction, patting his belly with both paws.
"Thank you, dear," she said with a smile and a nod.
"You should try to impress Kit more often," Jenny teased, then got up and hurried out of the dining room before Hannah could respond.
"We did our part, gentlefurs," Hannah announced as she got up. "Now it's your turn."
"I hope you tivo'd the game for me, Dad!" Jenny called from the living room.
"Of course I did, silly!" John called back as he stood up. "Alright boys, let's clean up."
After the dishes were done and the dining room and kitchen were cleaned, Hannah quite deliberately came and got Kit, and took him into the den. She sat on the computer chair, he sat on a nearby ratty old recliner, and they talked. They talked for over three hours, as Hannah grilled him over everything he'd ever written in his letters, over and over, testing him, pressing him, trying to find out what he thought, what he felt. Kit had expected this, and he answered her honestly and completely. Everything he'd written in those letters was the truth, and that truth shone through as she heard in his voice the same emotion and information he'd conveyed through his letters. He watched her as he answered her questions, watched her eyes. He could see conflict there, and was starting to feel hopeful that he was changing her mind. Hannah's good opinion of him mattered to him, because she was going to be his mother-in-law, and he also wanted to get to know someone like her and not feel like there was hostility between them.
After those three hours, he just couldn't resist trying to breach the subject with her anymore. "I have a confession to make, Hannah," he told her after she asked him for what had to be the tenth time about his plans to buy a house in Austin. He hoped to buy one, but that was going to take a while.
"What is that?"
"Well, I'd have to apologize for Jessie, really. She let something slip to me about you."
"Let me guess," she said, leaning back in her chair. "My past?"
"Some of it," he admitted. "Remember that I'm a history major, so I was able to work the rest of it out myself. I learned about you in college, Hannah. I just couldn't leave without telling you that. I promised you I'd be honest, and I couldn't in good faith leave without being honest about that."
"Well, I appreciate that," she told him. "Is that why you've worked so hard to be nice to me? Because of who I am?"
"Well, it was more along the lines of I could understand your position a little better after I found out," he answered. "It explained a great deal to me. I realized that where you came from was one of the big reasons why you're so protective over Jessie, and I saw that I couldn't really hate you for it."
She gave him a long, searching look. "And you think I'm that transparent?" she asked pointedly, with a touch of hostility in her voice.
"No! Not at all," he said quickly. "It's just–well, hell. I knew I'd mess this up," he sighed. "When I first heard about you from Jessie, I thought you were a little crazy," he admitted. "Especially after you called the cops on Jessie because she wouldn't talk to you on the phone."
Hannah actually looked a little sheepish when he brought that up.
"But then, after Jessie accidentally told me who you were, I realized that everything you do has a reason," he continued. "It wasn't because you were crazy, it was because you had some pretty unpleasant things happen to you, and you just wanted to make sure that what happened to you didn't happen to her. Once I saw that, well, I couldn't really be angry with you. I just saw that I had to show you that I'm on your side. So I started writing you the letters, to show you who I am, prove that I'm not who you think I am. I don't want to be on your bad side, Hannah," he told her sincerely. "Not only because it will make Jessie unhappy, but because I think you've suffered enough.
"I know that I'm not the best choice you'd have made for a husband for Jessie, because of my past and my family, and the fact that my family makes any femme who goes out with me a possible target for the press, for my family, and embroils her in my own problems. That's the last thing I want to have happen, but it's something I can't control, and for that much I apologize. But despite that, I just can't help myself, Hannah. I love Jessie. I love her so much I didn't think it was possible. When I first met her, I was afraid of my family, that they'd make trouble for me because I was going out with someone they didn't approve of, but I overcame that fear enough to ask her out, and to make something of myself so she wouldn't be embarrassed to be seen in public with me. Then, after we started falling in love, Jessie saw my fear and got me over it, got me to the point where I was willing to risk the wrath of my family to live my own life and go after the most beautiful femme in the world. I won't give up on Jessie, don't even ask me to do that, but all I can say is I understand why you object, and I'll do my best to make sure I make her happy and ensure she never experiences the kinds of things that we did when we were kids."
Hannah was silent for a long time. All Kit could do was sit there and wait for her to respond, his heart pounding in his chest the whole time. He'd just been as honest as he could have possibly been. He just told her everything, what he knew, why he wrote the letters, and admitted that keeping Jessie away from his problems may be impossible… but he had to be honest. She deserved to know the full, unclouded truth, and part of that truth was based on what he knew of her.
"I think I need some coffee," she said finally. Kit wasn't quite sure what to make of that; it was the second time she'd answered his honesty with a non-sequitor, dodging giving him an honest answer. "Why don't you go watch some TV? I'll bring out some ice cream for everyone."
Kit was being dismissed, but he was completely confused. Hannah gave no indication what she was thinking or what she had to say about his honesty. He wandered out into the living room and found only John there, who sent him down to the basement. Jessie and Jenny were watching a movie on the huge TV. Jessie patted the couch beside her, and he sat down and leaned far back, putting his paws on his face.
"Wow, she really gave you the third degree, didn't she?" Jenny asked.
"I felt like a prisoner of war," he said sourly, which made Jenny laugh.
"My poor handsome fox," Jessie said compassionately, pulling on him until he was laying with his head in her lap. She tousled and played with his hair as he tried to relax. "What happened?"
"She kept questioning me," he said. "I told her everything she wanted to know, and then she just left all the sudden without giving me any kind of indication of what she though about it."
"Mom's like that," Jenny told him. "If she doesn't want to answer you, or you're winning the argument, she just hangs up on you or kicks you out or something like that. So, if she kicked you out, I think you scored some points on her," Jenny grinned. "I'm glad. My sis found herself a cute guy, so I won't mind looking at your wedding pictures at all."
"Jenny, you're talking about my fiancée," Jessie warned.
"Hey, I can look as long as I don't touch," she said with a grin.
"Are you sure you're from the same family?" Kit asked her.
Jenny laughed. "I know, we're nothing alike, are we?" she said with a grin. "Jessie's all shy and traditional and modest and crap, while I'm a proper child of the new millennium. Not a throwback to the fifties like her."
"Jenny!" Jessie protested.
"No, you're a throwback to an earlier time, Ophelia," Kit said casually.
Jenny growled in her throat, then picked up a Bengals pillow and threw it at him. He just held out a paw and intercepted it, causing it to bounce off his paw and land on the coffee table. Jessie laughed, patting Kit on the shoulder.
"You're one to talk, Desdemona!" Jenny challenged, then she crossed her arms and looked away pointedly. That made Kit laugh. "Sometimes I think I wanna beat Dad with a golf club for giving us those names."
"At least he gave you different names. Every male in my entire family is named Kitstrom Vulpan," Kit told her. "Uncles, cousins, all of them. The only things that are different are our middle names."
Jenny laughed. "I bet that would been fun if you had cousins in your classes," she told him.
"I did. I went to private schools til I was sixteen," he related. "Four of my cousins were the same class as me, since I started school a year early and one of them started a year late."
"Ahh, that explains the math."
"Huh?"
"Well, Jessie told us all about you," she explained. "I couldn't figure out how you graduated at twenty-two when you lost an entire semester when you were hit by the car."
"I started college when I was seventeen," he answered. "And virtually all of my hours from my first major transferred to history when I changed, so I didn't lose a semester taking filler classes to satisfy the new major. I was able to focus on all my major requirement courses in my last year and graduate on time. I was taking seven and eight classes a semester in my last year, but I did it," he chuckled.
"I know that feeling. I take six classes a semester so I can graduate in four years. I'm still trying to decide if I want to go nursing or premed."
"Aren't you in nursing school?"
She nodded. "But all the classes I'm taking right now are for both," she said. "I figured I'd get the common ones done, so if I do decide to switch, I don't lose anything."
"Clever," Kit nodded in approval. "Why don't you go premed?"
"Cause it's expensive," she frowned. "And our folks are already putting Jessie through college. I don't think they could afford it if I wanted to go premed. Hell, I stayed in state so they didn't have to pay so much in tuition."
"That sounded like a dig, Jenny," Jessie said primly.
"A little one," she grinned, holding up her thumb and finger a little apart. "But I don't blame you for bolting, sissy, not one bit. Besides, with you in Texas, it keeps Momzilla too busy worrying about you to make my life hell," she added with a grin.
"Sissy?" kit asked mildly, looking up at Jessie from her lap.
She looked down at him, her cheeks ruffling a little. "That's what we call each other," she explained. "Ever since we were both little girls."
"Hmm, so, I can call you a sissy, eh?"
"Jenny," Jessie said, pointing. Jenny laughed, grabbed the pillow, then threw it to Jessie, who then used it to beat Kit about the head and shoulders. Kit laughed helplessly as he tried to protect himself with his paws and arms, until he ended up on his stomach with his face buried into the couch, arms over his head. Kit was laughing so hard he could barely breathe, kicking his feet against the end of the couch.
"Holy–" Jenny's voice called, then he felt strong paws come down on his lower back. He could tell almost immediately that they weren't Jessie's paws, he knew her touch as surely as he knew his own. Jessie stopped hitting him with the pillow, and he uncovered his head and looked back over his shoulder. Jenny was standing over them, leaning down, her paws on his bare back, bare from where he'd scooted down off Jessie's lap and made his shirt ride up to expose his scars. "Why are they all white?" she asked, a finger tracing the scars in a manner similar to the way Jessie did it, just not as gently.
"The docs aren't sure exactly," he answered. "One of them thinks I had some kind of reaction to the cauterizing scalpel they used when they did the surgeries. Whatever it was, it made my fur grow back in white where they cut into me. Thank God that didn't happen when they operated on my shoulder after I was shot. I have enough identifying marks as it is," he said with a rueful chuckle.
"Yeah, that ear's a dead giveaway," Jenny agreed as her fingers probed his back boldly. "They put a screw in here, didn't they?"
"Two," he nodded. "They're still in there. I have to carry around a medical waver with me when I get on planes," he told her.
"I can feel one of them," she told him, tapping his spine. "Right here."
"That's about where one of them is," he nodded. "From what I was told, the other one's on the other side."
"Strange that they left them in there."
"The doctors felt leaving them in was best," he said.
"Does it ever hurt?"
"Only when I sleep the wrong way, or when I'm hit in the back the wrong way," he answered. "I don't have any pain outside of that."
"Well, that's good," Jenny said, her paws pushing into his back slightly.
"Uh, Jenny. Wanna get your paws off my fiancée now?" Jessie asked in a slightly dangerous tone.
Jenny laughed, removing her paws. "I never took you for the jealous type, sissy," she grinned.
"I have good reason to be jealous. Males like him are once in a lifetime," she said with simple elegance. "I'm not about to let him get away from me."
"You're assuming I want to be stolen, pretty kitty," Kit laughed, wriggling up to a sitting position and kissing her on the cheek. "Why would I even look at another femme when they can't hold a candle to what I already have?"
"Oooh, I've been dissed," Jenny laughed. "Don't I get some sister points here? We do look a little alike."
"I'll take the original, thank you," Kit said, putting his arm around Jessie. That made Jessie laugh, and Jenny give him a scowl. Then she flipped him off, which made Jessie laugh harder.
"Jennifer!" Hannah said hotly as she came down the stairs. "That's no way to behave! Now apologize this instant!"
"Nah, I deserved it, Hannah," Kit laughed. "I was being a jerk."
"That's beside the point. A lady does not act so crudely! There are other ways to punish males for being cheeky," she added. Jenny gave her a surprised look, then laughed.
"Well, Jessie's favorite method of punishment is beating on me with pillows," Kit said with a grin at her.
"It gets the job done," she said without a bit of embarrassment.
"I have some ice cream upstairs if you want it," Hannah told them. "And you need to think of getting some rest, Kit. John told me your flight leaves at five in the morning. You'll have to be there in the dead of night."
"Yeah," he said with a grunt. "I have to be there two hours before the flight leaves. I hope you have all-night taxi service here."
"John's already turned in, he's going to take you," Hannah informed him.
"He doesn't have to do that," he said. "I can take a cab."
"We wouldn't hear of that," she said brusquely. "Now go on upstairs, so I can tidy up down here."
Ben was upstairs at the dining room table, eating a bowl of chocolate ice cream. "Hey," he called as they came in.
"How was your workout?" Jenny asked.
"Freakin' cold," he grunted. "I hate running in the snow."
"How far did you run?" Kit asked curiously.
"I run til I can't go on," he replied. "I'm up to about twelve miles. My coach really pushes endurance. He says if I can hit the hole in the fourth quarter just as hard and strong as I can in the first, I'll really grind out some yardage. I think he's right."
"That's a long walk back once you stop," Kit chuckled.
"I run at school, and it's only four blocks from here," he said. "I have a key to the gate to the football field, the track, and the weight room."
"Ah. Sounds like they trust you guys."
"Not all of them," Ben laughed. "Only two of us have keys and the alarm code to the weight room. We're the ones coach thinks will make it to college, so he goes out of his way for us. He's a cool wolf."
"Well, at least you're well on your way."
"I hope so. Here," he said, holding out a bowl of chocolate ice cream to him.
"Thanks. What kind is this?"
"Breyers," Ben answered. "It's the best."
"Well, I'm partial to Ben and Jerry's myself," Kit chuckled.
"It's really expensive."
"Not in Boston," Kit told him as Jenny and Jessie sat down and took up their own bowls. "They make it up in New England, so it's cheaper up there."
Breyers wasn't bad, Kit decided. They sat around eating ice cream and just chatting, feeling more comfortable since they were all close together in age, and Kit had a pretty good time. He really liked Jessie's family. They were kind, caring, funny, intelligent, and were very open with him… well, everyone but Hannah. They'd seemed to have been genuinely interested in getting to know him, and he enjoyed learning about them. A glance at the clock showed him that it was nearly eight, and since he had to be at the airport at three in the morning, he was looking at a very short sleep if he didn't go to bed soon. "I hate to say it, but I have to think of getting a shower, and getting some sleep," Kit told them, picking up his bowl and standing up. "I have to be up at two if I want to make it to the airport on time."
"Damn, why so early?" Ben asked.
"Because I have to go to work tomorrow," he said.
"Ah. Well, it was really cool to meet you, Kit. I had fun today," Ben said, standing up and offering his paw.
"Yeah, me too. You guys are great," he said. "Jessie's lucky to have such a cool family."
"We'll be in your territory next time," Jenny told him with a laugh, giving him a hug instead of shaking his paw, which earned her a dark look from her sister. "We'll all be at the wedding."
"I'll be glad to have you there," he said honestly. "You'll get to meet our friends and check out our old, run-down apartment," he chuckled. "God, Marty's gonna love you," he laughed.
Jessie exploded into laughter. "Who's Marty?" Jenny asked.
"One of the guys I work with. He's… interesting," he said carefully.
"Cute?"
"Well, he's cute in a way, but let's say that you're not his type," Kit said.
"Ah, he's gay?"
Kit nodded with a chuckle. "He's a riot, though. He's a great guy, you'll really like him."
"Most girls like gay guys. They relate to us better than straight guys," Jenny said with a grin.
"Hey, you mind if I drop you a line here and there?" Ben asked.
"Not at all. Hannah has my phone number, and knows the email address at my job. Feel free to call or write whenever you want."
"I think I'll do that," Ben promised.
"I'll be up in a few minutes, love," Jessie told him.
"You don't have to go to bed this early."
"I do if I want to go with you to the airport tomorrow," she told him. "And not fall asleep in the car."
"And maybe do some other things," Jenny hinted with a grin.
"Mmmmmaybe," Jessie hummed, giving her sister a calm look, which made Jenny burst into laughter.
"I don't think I'm old enough for this conversation," Ben said as he walked into the kitchen, which made all three of them laugh.
Kit couldn't go to bed without saying goodnight. He went back down to the basement, where Hannah was cleaning the coffee table. "Hannah, I'm going to go ahead and get a shower, then head to bed," he told her from the stairs. "I just wanted to thank you for inviting me. I really enjoyed myself."
"Well, I'm glad you did," she told him, putting a pillow down and coming over to him at the stairs. "I'll probably not make it up in time to see you off, so I'll say my goodbyes now."
Then, to his surprise, she put her paw on his shoulder, leaned over, and kissed him on the cheek. "Have a good night, Kit," she told him. "And a good flight home."
"Uh, thanks, Hannah. Have a good night."
If Kit thought he was confused before, he was really confused now… but also a little hopeful. She hadn't been hostile. She hadn't been cold or distant. She'd at least made an attempt to be cordial, and he hoped that maybe, just maybe, she wasn't seeing him as the enemy.
He indulged in a quick shower, and partook in the full body dryer that they had in their bathroom, a single side unit that was built into the wall next to the tub. After remembering what it was like to leave a bathroom with dry fur, he definitely put a portable dryer on the list of things to buy Jessie for Christmas. His hair was still a touch damp when he returned to Jessie's room, and she came in while he was sitting on the bed. "Do you know what your mother did when I went to go say goodnight?" he asked.
"What?"
"She kissed me," he declared.
"She didn't!"
"It wasn't a kiss kiss," he told her. "It was just a peck on the cheek. But still, that floored me. I never saw it coming!"
Jessie laughed, then threw her arms around him and hugged him exuberantly. "I'm so proud of you, my handsome fox!" she squealed.
"What?"
"Mom likes you!" she said. "She'd never kiss someone she hates!"
"Well, like or not, she's still against the wedding," he told her cautioningly.
"Well, yeah, but at least now it's not because she hates you," she told him, letting go of him and pulling her tee shirt off. "Unhook me please," she said, turning around. He unhooked her bra for her, and she pulled it off and took it and her shirt over to the hamper and dropped them in. "Did you pack yet?"
"Nah, but it'll take all of five minutes," he said.
"I'll help you," she said, coming over and taking clean underwear and a shirt out of his carry-on and setting them on the desk, then collecting up his other clothes and began folding them to put them back in. He was staring at her, and she glanced at him curiously as she stuffed the shirt he'd been wearing into the bag. "What?"
"You're sexy when you're doing housework topless," he said with a grin.
She laughed. "Sometimes I forget I'm not wearing clothes around you, my handsome fox," she winked.
"I sure as hell don't mind," he said with sincerity as she packed his cell phone and laptop into his carry-on. "Think you can sweeten the view a little?"
She laughed brightly as she finished, then came over and leaned over in front of him, but didn't give him a chance to ogle her. She kissed him lightly, mischievously, then put a finger under his chin to keep him from looking down at her. "I thought you said we had to behave," she teased.
"I can look," he protested, reaching down and grabbing the waist of her jeans, reaching for the zipper and button, undoing them, then pushing them down, giving her a wicked little smile as he undressed her.
"You're being mean to me, Kit," she complained, but she was smiling.
"I'm being mean to both of us," he chuckled as she stepped out of her jeans and panties and stood naked before him. "I just have to settle for what I can see until you get home on Sunday."
"So do I," she told him, pulling open his towel. They spent long moments, just looking at each other, not touching, then she reached out and put her paws on his shoulders, leaned down, and kissed him quite seriously.
There was a knock at the door, startling them. Kit frantically pulled his towel back around him, but Jessie had nothing within reach to use to cover herself, so she quickly jumped onto the bed and got behind him, using him as a cover… and not a moment too soon. The door opened, and Hannah looked in, no doubt seeing her naked daughter pressing her chest up against his back, Kit reasoned from that expression on her face. "Kit, you left your toothbrush in the bathroom," she announced, holding it in her other paw.
"Oh… thanks, Hannah," he said.
She gave him a long, searching look. "I'll just put it on the desk," she offered, coming in and crossing the room, setting it down. They watched her, Jessie keeping very tight against his back, then watched her go back across the room to the door. She stopped in the doorway and turned around to regard them one more time, her expression constrained, as if she was just itching to yell at them… but she didn't. "I'd better not hear anything out of bounds coming out of this room," she told them as she took hold of the door and began to close it. "So you'd better keep the noise down," she added, then she closed the door.
Jessie gasped, and Kit just laughed. "Am I crazy, or did your mother just give us permission?" Kit asked, looking over his shoulder at her.
"I, I'm not sure," she said uncertainly. "It sounded like it, but she'd never do something like that! I think she was playing with us, or trying to bait us or something."
"Well, it's up to you. I'm the one leaving tomorrow, pretty kitty," he chuckled. "You're the one that'll have to stay for two more days."
Jessie was quiet a moment. "I… I don't know. I thought about it, but that was just a femme's fantasy. But my brother and sister are in the house too, and so are my parents," she said, as Kit heard her modest side take control over her. Then she blew out her breath. "But it's not like we wouldn't be doing anything they don't know we already do," she purred, reaching down and undoing his towel.
"Oho, already giving up all the secrets of our sex life, eh?" he laughed as she kissed his neck.
"My sister is one of my best friends," she said huskily in his ear, as if that was all the explanation she needed to give. "I've never tried being quiet before," she murmured.
"Who's in the room beside yours?"
"Sissy."
"Well, at least it's not your parents," he said a little breathlessly, leaning against her as she kissed his neck.