Morally Gray

In a conversation about writers having the responsibility to be good role models - to make their characters moral paragons or at least have someone in the story who can point out what is morally right when the main character makes mistakes - I thought to myself that if writers could ONLY write things that promoted the morally right way to handle things, that could make for some boring books.

Besides, whose definition of morally right would all writers be bound to?

Anyway, a situation was thrown out that some people think that it's wrong to shoot intruders, but that others think that it's okay. I will admit that if I had a gun AND I was certain that someone was on my property to harm me or my children, I would use the gun. I can't be sure if I would actually hit the bad guy or if he/she would live or die, and that's not important here.

What is important is that it was suggested that not shooting an intruder is the morally right thing to do, and that writers have the responsibility to portray that, especially if it's aimed at young adults - basically anyone under 18.

I wrote this, and I liked the way it turned out so much that I decided to post it to my blog in case I ever want to turn it into a full story :-)

Taking as an example the person who shoots someone who came onto their property. I imagine that it could be written the morally right way:

"I heard a noise and knew that I was not alone. It couldn't possibly be my parents because they were out of town for the week. I held my breath so the intruder couldn't hear me and pulled out my cellphone so that I could call 911. I have no way to defend myself - other than the gun in my father's dresser - so I should go hide in my closet until they arrive. Oh no! He's found me! Somebody help!
Cut to next scene: And in tonight's top news, a local teen was murdered while calling 911 for help. Police arrive just moments later, but weren't able to capture the culprit."

OR the scene could really delve into the morality of it by getting into the gray area.

"I heard a noise and since I knew that my parents wouldn't be home for days, I was certain that it wasn't them. More noises told me that someone was in my house - possibly stealing our stuff. I pulled out my cellphone to call the police and told them that there was an intruder in my house and that I was afraid. She assured me that they had someone on their way and then promised to stay on the phone with me, but that I should remain quiet.
I don't care if they steal from us so long as they don't hurt me, but what if they find me and want to rape me? What if they just decide to shoot me to get me out of their way? In panic, I grabbed the gun from my dad's bed-side dresser, and then ran to my room and into my closet. Trying to hide, I did my best not to make a sound. I peered out of the crack in my closet door and saw someone with a ski mask over their face come my way.
Oh my god, I'm going to die!
The closet door opened and I pulled the trigger before I could even think about what I was doing. The police dispatcher was still on the phone with me and asked me what happened. I told her that I had shot the intruder, and she replied by telling me that the police would arrive in approximately 2 minutes, and that in the meantime I should continue to hide in case there's more than one intruder.
I stared at the person I'd shot in horror! I felt numb and terrible, like a monster had settled in the pit of my stomach. I wanted to be sick but I couldn't risk calling any attention to me. The masked intruder groaned and called out my name.
How does he know me? With my heart in my throat, I decided to remove his mask so I could look him in the eye and ask him why he wanted to hurt me. With my heart feeling heavier than it had ever felt before, it dawned on me that I was staring at my boyfriend. I covered my mouth with a hand, but my stomach rebelled anyway. I barely had time to drop to my hands and knees before I vomited everywhere!
As I heaved, the police arrived, crashing into things as they rushed to make sure that I was alright. I sobbed as they pointed their guns at me and then pointed to my boyfriend, screaming. I shot him! I thought he was going to kill me and I shot him!"

It may sound like I am condoning guns and shooting trespassers in my hastily thrown together scenario here, but what I am really doing is saying: If this happened to you, what would you do? Would you make the same choices? Would you make different ones? What if the intruder really was an intruder? As a parent, what would you want your child to do in this situation?

Conform or Break the Rules?

Now that one of my stories - The Hero's Son - is getting closer and closer to being a real book, I am questioning whether or not to publish it as an ebook. The reason WHY is that in the ENTIRE story, there is ONE (and a half) scene that is relatively graphically descriptive sexually. The rest of the book could be considered E for everyone, but that scene firmly puts it in the OT (Older Teen) category. I'm fine with that, but as I reread the scene a couple of time, I realized that it might be a little TOO graphic even for an OT audience.

I got confused because I have read plenty of things rated OT which contained fairly descriptive sex scenes. So I asked for some perspective on a forum dedicated to Young Adult Fiction and GLBTQ. Would this be allowed?

The answer was basically yes and no. Sex is allowed in books aimed at teens, but it needs to be mainly off page OR integral to the story. I consider the scene integral, and since I am not considering using a standard publisher, I don't have to worry about conforming to their standards.

Even so, I'm thinking that for the actual ebook, I might tone the scene down a tad because... well, because parents might read the book and object to the whole thing based on one short scene!

Here's the funny thing in my mind: Parents were divided into two camps: One didn't care about the sex content of what their teens read. Many acknowledged that their teens will purposely read adult books just for the sex scenes, and don't feel the need to censor what they read. The other half of parents were like: no, all sex should be off page - meaning you can say things like: "We kissed and then we went to bed and had sex." But you can't describe the specific details.

As for the teens who answered my question, they were all like: "Why not? If we don't want to read the sex, we'll just skip it."

SO, what I'm getting from this is that as a self published author, I could simply leave the scene as is and put a warning on the book, and then let the reader decide if they want to read it or not. Also, it's a really short and to the point scene, so it's not like I suddenly added 10 pages of hardcore erotica to a YA book. It's not going to be a big deal.

Moving on, as I was researching this topic, I came across a couple of people in other threads that mentioned that there were a few books that contained erotica between teenagers. I was curious because I have written quite a bit of erotica featuring teenagers, so I wanted to know if this was a sub-genre that I could market.

My answer was a resounding no! This contradicted the stated fact that there are some out there, apparently. The reasoning is that for legal reasons, NO ONE wants to publish stories featuring people under the age of 18 having sex. Like erotic, get you horny sex. A self publisher could, but runs the risk of getting into trouble with Amazon or whomever they use to sell their books.

SIGH! I understand that basically no one wants that that one pitbull-like troll who gets off on causing trouble to sue for "offensive" content, but here's what I don't get:

This is America, land of the supposed free, such as freedom of speech and the press - which therefore includes the written word. I can point to quite a few examples of work originally created in Japan that contains fairly graphic pictures of sex (not actually showing penetration, but you can easily see what's going on) that is considered suitable for Older Teens that IS SOLD HERE! Obviously my writing an erotic scene is less offensive than someone drawing pictures of it.

Also, I know that there are plenty of people who understand that all erotica is FANTASY, and actually enjoy reading the "Taboo" stuff. I've had readers ASK me to write fantasies that could pretty much get me thrown in jail if I actually did them in real life! The point of reading and writing about them is to express the forbidden things in a way that harms no one.

So, getting back to the Japanese created works that do contain sex. It was said that the reason it's okay for them to do that is that their culture is not so repressed when it comes to sex. It's considered natural and normal. Not taboo. Personally, having studied the culture quite a bit myself, I think it's actually more like they expect such a high level of politeness and respect from everyone that they know that one of the ways to provide an outlet for the taboo things is to make it part of their literature and television. The people can live it vicariously rather than in person.

Lastly, people mentioned that everything has become over-sexed. That our society has become degenerate because sex is everywhere. That's one of the reasons parents are SO insistent that their teens literature is sex free, because they don't want to encourage their kids to have sex. Period. I think this is a mistake. That by saying: "Avoid sex!" the teen is then bombarded with the sex that sells and has no responsible role models when it comes to sex.

I think that if teens were encouraged to read books that considered sex sacred and something to be done ONLY when they want to for very clear reasons - I don't judge the reasons, I just think the teens should be absolutely clear on WHY they want to do it before doing it. Maybe then girls will stop having sex because they were pressured into it or thought that it might make them popular or get them child-support.

Sad to say, but yes, I have heard plenty of girls equate the risk of getting pregnant as no big deal because the baby daddy would have to take care of them by giving them money. Yeah... Way to discourage unsafe sex...

Not!

The point of all of this is that I have had my head spinning for days. Do I conform to social expectations, OR do I break the rules and go my own way. Past experience - EXTENSIVE past experience - has taught me that going my own way is SO much harder. All it would take is one Prudy Pitbullish Troll to review my book - assuming that I take the sex out and conform - and say that while my book is okay, my blog has "child porn" galore on it! I would then be judged based on repressive moral standards and only those readers who are actually looking for child porn would read my book... and then be disappointed and give me a bad review based on that, sigh...

I'm just struggling right now with this: Do I want to cave in to the (largely imaginary) pressure to fit into society and write according to the rules? OR do I want to continue to push the taboos and pray that no one comes after my ass in the long run?

To be honest, I WANT to be different. To stand out and boldly say that books should not fit in one - or even several - narrowly defined boxes (genres). However, I DON'T want to be labelled as a bad author across the board because I have a wide variety of stories and some of them don't mesh well with the others. AKA be judged on ALL my works based off of ONE that offends someone.

Grr! Now I'm just ranting in circles. Sorry!

Thanks for reading and have a happy day :-)
Roxanne

The Hero's Son - Part VIII

Part VIII

“Son, I–”

“Just hear me out!” Rip insisted when he and R.J. returned from their patrol and found Henry just getting off phone duty. They were now standing in the kitchen with Renee. R.J. couldn't decide if he wanted to stalk away angrily or stay and listen.

“I know I haven't had time to think this through, but I really think it's a good idea!” Rip argued.

“Son, I–”

“Just think about it! Most other kids my age go off to college!” Rip exclaimed.

“Yes, I–”

“It's really not fair since I don't need to go to college. I'm fully trained and will have this job for the rest of my life, but even so, I think it would be a good idea to experience a bit more of the world and get some tougher experience!”

“Stop!” Henry finally shouted. “I agree!”

“No really, it'll be good for me, and R.J.! Wait; what?” Rip stared at his father in confusion.

Renee laughed. “Your father and I had time to talk this over while you were still on patrol, and we decided that you have a point.”

“If you go to another city, you can join their Hero Squad, and then when you are ready, you can come home,” Henry elaborated.

“You mean it!” Rip squealed like he was still a little kid and then hugged his parents exuberantly.

R.J. bit his lip and frowned as he watched them. Considering that they had spent the entire afternoon arguing, he and Rip hadn't had any time at all to talk about this possibility, so R.J. didn't know how he felt about it. Never once had he considered moving anywhere, not even to the house he still owned from before his father died.

R.J. decided to think about it as he changed and showered in the men's locker room. He walked away silently, feeling like he was an outsider. He also felt like starting a fight. Nothing would please him more right now than beating Rip until he passed out!

Rip sighed morosely when he realized that R.J. was no longer in the kitchen with them. “We've been fighting almost all day...” he admitted without intending to.

“What about?” Renee asked curiously. R.J. was usually quiet and most of the time it took a lot to provoke his temper.

“Jenna,” Rip stated. “For some reason, he thinks Jenna and I are getting serious.”

“Then you need to go make sure he stops thinking that!” Renee exclaimed supportively.

Rip sighed heavily. “I know...”

Something in his tone made his parents raise their eyebrows and give him a suspicious look. Henry cleared his throat.

“Um, are you getting serious with Jenna?”

“No! Why would you think that?! She's my best friend, and only my best friend!” Rip growled in frustration as he stalked out of the room.

He nearly stomped all the way to his room, and then showered as quickly as possible. Afterwards, he wrapped a towel around his waist and rushed to answer his phone.

“Hey Jenna,” Rip greeted, flopping onto his bed. He turned slightly onto his side and scratched at an itch on his inner thigh, which made his towel fall open slightly, but he wasn't concerned because if anyone happened to come into his room, he was facing away from the door and they wouldn't see anything important.

In the hall, R.J. heard Rip talking and silently opened the door to their room just enough to hear him clearly. One eye peered through the crack to see if anyone was in the room with him. All he saw was Rip lying on his bed with a towel draped over him. Movement inside the towel made R.J. wonder if Rip was whacking off.

“Do you think we will last all night?” Rip asked. Then he laughed. “Whatever Jenna! You'll see! … … Oh? You doubt my skills? … Ha! Whatever! I bet I'll make you wet yourself!”

“What?!” R.J. demanded angrily, shoving the door open.

Rip turned to look at R.J., and then looked at himself the way his boyfriend must see him. The thought that R.J. assumed that Rip was playing with himself while talking on the phone with Jenna made him blush, he sat up and hastily covered his lap since the door was now wide open.

“R.J.!” Rip's blush got even deeper when he realized that his conversation sounded highly incriminating. “Uh, I'm gonna have to call you back!” He hung up before Jenna could respond.

R.J. forced himself to not start shouting at the top of his lungs. Instead, he growled softly and shut the door. He took a few deep breaths to calm his temper.

“I get it. I always knew that one day you would betray me like I betrayed you. What I don't understand is why you won't just tell me that you'd rather be with Jenna. Do you hope to make this as painful as possible?”

Rip gaped at R.J. in absolute shock. His blood started to boil.

“Now wait just one minute!” Rip stated menacingly. “What do you mean you always knew I'd betray you? What makes you think I could ever do something like that?!”

R.J. shrugged, trying to appear calm and uncaring. “If I can do it, you can. Besides, you're like a book... Actually you're even more transparent than a book because I don't even need to pick you up and open you to read what's inside. You and Jenna have been giggling and secretive all week. I just kept giving you the benefit of the doubt, but I can't ignore it any longer.”

Rip pulled on his hair in frustration and then sighed as deeply as possible. He rolled out of bed – nearly tripping on his towel as it fell to the floor and he decided to just leave it. Actually, in his aggravation, he kicked it across the room. Striding to the bathroom, he grabbed his discarded uniform and then held it up for R.J. to observe. He shook his uniform as if strangling it.

“You see this?!” Rip demanded, causing R.J. to frown and wonder if he had gone crazy. Rip pulled open the velcro on one pocket and retrieved a package before tossing his uniform on the floor. He threw the package at R.J., knowing that he would catch it.

R.J. stared at the package numbly. It was wrapped in shiny blue wrapping paper and had a pretty gold bow on it. He was so taken aback that his anger completely evaporated, replaced by a puzzled frown.

“What's this?” R.J. wondered.

“It's what I planned to give you tonight!” Rip stated emphatically.

“Okay, but what is it?”

“Just open it!” Rip yelled.

R.J. was suddenly afraid of what the box held. It was small, about an inch and a half squared, therefore it couldn't be a gun or ammo or anything useful like that. His hands shook.

“But it's not my birthday,” he protested.

“For three more days!” Rip laughed. “You were adamant that you didn't want a party or anything so Jenna and I have had to be really sneaky about – uh – nevermind...”

R.J. leaned back and tilted his head to the side as he stared at Rip, a frown on his face. “Wait... You mean...”

He looked back down at the present, slowly tearing the wrapping paper off. Inside the box were two matching gold necklaces, and when R.J. held them up, he realized that one had a charm that said RJ and the other said Rip. Both charms were about a half an inch square, which was small but still manly.

Rip was inexplicably embarrassed all of a sudden, which made him mumble. “I wanted to give you the chain from my necklace for your birthday. I wear it all the time and I figured that you would be happy because I love it so much, but then...”

R.J. looked up at him curiously. “Then what?”

“Jenna reminded me that she had given it to me for my 16^th birthday and that you probably wouldn't appreciate me giving you something that she had given me,” Rip confessed.

R.J. bit his lip as he nodded in agreement. Had Rip actually given him that necklace right now, it probably would have pissed him off even more.

“So then – together – we came up with this idea instead: What if I got a necklace for each of us? That way, you could wear one and I could wear the other. We'd match, but it wouldn't necessarily be obvious to everyone that these are a symbol of our commitment... to each other,” Rip finished with a blush.

R.J. noticed that Rip had taken off the much bigger gold necklace that had a charm that said RIP, which was unusual since Rip never took it off. Not even to take a shower. It had never come between them before, despite being a gift from Jenna, but then again, Rip had never tried to hide anything from R.J. before.

“I... I love it,” R.J. admitted. He felt so stupid right now for thinking that Rip was falling in love with Jenna. Or maybe just lust, since R.J. was certain that Rip truly did love him.

Rip walked closer to his boyfriend. “Happy birthday,” he murmured huskily, obviously thinking of ways they could make up from their fight.

R.J. smiled almost shyly, and then took a moment to fasten one of the necklaces around Rip's neck. Rip returned the favor, chuckling as he realized that R.J. had switched them on purpose so that Rip wore the one that said R.J. Either way it would be a symbol of their commitment, but this way, it was a tiny bit more overt.

Rip kissed R.J. softly. “I promise that you never have to worry about Jenna and me.” He frowned as a thought occurred to him. “Also, I had no idea that you still felt bad for what happened when we were just kids. I promise that I will never betray you. If I should ever happen to fall in love with someone else, I'll tell you. That way you don't have to wonder and worry, but honestly, I just don't see that ever happening.”

“I'm sorry I doubted you,” R.J. apologized, giving Rip a kiss in return. His mind was now brimming with ideas on how to make it up to Rip. He pulled Rip closer and gave him a much deeper kiss.

The two of them kissed for a long time. Long enough for R.J.'s clothes to disappear. Eventually, they drifted to their bed – having upgraded the two smaller separate beds into one bigger one at some point. They pulled the blanket over themselves so that they could warm up, both having started to feel cold as the air dried their skin after their respective showers.

A couple of minutes passed in silence, when suddenly the door to their room opened.

“Rip honey, I – Oh! Sorry!” Renee gasped and quickly left their room, shutting the door behind her. In the hallway, she giggled to herself. “I guess they worked things out!”

Rip gasped, mortified over the fact that his mother had walked in on them, but R.J. simply laughed and continued what he was doing.

*****

“I told you that I planned to go hoverboarding with you tonight,” Rip stated with a smug grin. R.J. simply nodded, looking away to cover his embarrassment that he'd jumped to such a terrible conclusion. Rip laughed, willing to forgive his boyfriend and move on. “Bet you can't catch me!”

“Ha!” R.J. shouted, following as Rip raced off. The two of them flew all around the city. R.J. finally caught up to Rip about a half an hour later, grabbing onto him and then steadying both of them as their boards rocked violently.

“I let you catch me,” Rip informed him with a chuckle.

“Whatever!” R.J. muttered, seizing a demanding kiss from his boyfriend.

Rip's cellphone rang, interrupting them. He checked it to find that it was a text that read: Aww! Kissy kissy! He separated from R.J. to look around.

“Hey! Are you ever coming down here? You're going to be late!” Jenna called out from the ground.

She was standing near the beginning of a long line of people waiting to gain entry to an enormous event center. Other people in line looked around for a moment before realizing that she was looking up. They looked up too and saw Rip slowly floating to the ground, followed by R.J.

“It's Richard Plantagenet!” A couple of girls squealed excitedly.

Jenna started jumping up and down. “Don't you dare try to mob him! You'll lose your place in line!”

“Aw damn! It's Rip's girlfriend,” they muttered jealously, using Rip's preferred name because the media had a habit of using it, and therefore so did the people who eagerly kept an eye out for him.

Rip jumped the last foot to the ground next to Jenna, and then leaned over to give her a kiss on the cheek. Whispering into her ear, he said: “Thank you for this.”

She blushed happily and flapped her hand at him as if saying no problem!

Rip and R.J. stood behind her in line, accepting when she handed them each a ticket. R.J. examined the tickets curiously. With a shout of surprise, he threw his arms around Jenna in an impulsive hug, careful not to smack her with the hoverboard he was now holding onto.

“Mistress Apples is my absolute favorite!” R.J. announced.

“Happy birthday!” Jenna and Rip cheered in unison.

Before R.J. could even respond, a pair of girls standing two people in front of them squealed. “Can we get your autograph?” They held out notebooks as they stretched to reach Rip without losing their place in line.

“Oh oh! Us too!” A couple of girls standing behind them in line burst out bubbily. Other girls and women – and even a couple of guys who considered Rip cool because he was now a Hero in his own right – clamored to beg for an autograph as they mostly stayed in line.

“I should've known this would happen,” Rip muttered softly before sighing and taking a notebook. Pulling a monogrammed pen out of his pocket – a gift from a fan that had been sent to him at some point – he signed the page diagonally: Richard Indigo Plantagenet – Rip. Upon further reflection, he added a note above his signature: Good luck always! He handed the notebook back and took another.

A good 20 notebooks later, Rip was beginning to wonder if the doors would ever open to let them in. Suddenly, the doors did open, but not to let the crowd pile in; to let out a handful of security guards surrounding an utterly hot and provocatively dressed man. The man walked along the outside of the ropes that defined the line until he got to Rip.

“Mr. Plantagenet, I'm here on behalf of Mistress Apples. She's totally thrilled that you're here to watch her and would like to invite you back stage.”

“Uh...” Rip said hesitantly. “I'm only here to celebrate my best friend's birthday.” He gestured to R.J.

Utterly hot was prepared for this. “Of course, right this way.” He unfastened the velvet rope for the section and gestured for Rip, R.J., and Jenna to follow him.

“Oh my God!” R.J. whispered in awe. “I think I'm going to die from happiness!”

Rip laughed, graciously capitulating to the hottie's request. R.J. and Jenna followed him as he followed gorgeous. The guards surrounded them, which made it hard for the rest of the crowd to see that all three of the lucky bastards were staring at to-die-for's tight, black-leather-covered ass. They all moaned in appreciation, and then giggled as they realized what they'd done.

They were allowed to meet with Mistress Apples as the event center finally opened it's doors to let the crowd in. She was also wearing very little, but as they studied her, they realized that her outfit covered her better than it appeared to, it's just that the color scheme implied that more was showing that actually was. She was famous as a singer in her early 20s who didn't take crap from anyone. She was tough and did what she wanted no matter what anyone said.

They expected her to be rude and maybe even arrogant, but she was surprisingly open and friendly.

“Ah! Richard Plantagenet!” She squealed and bounced like any other fan girl. “I'm so excited to have you at my concert tonight!”

Even though Rip was a tiny bit used to people treating him like he was a superstar, he was baffled as to why Mistress Apples even knew he existed. True, he was always on the local news, but he didn't think that the rest of the country cared two bits about him.

“Thank you,” he mumbled with a blush.

“Too bad you have your girlfriend with you,” Mistress Apples stated with a suggestive leer.

Rip stammered in embarrassment. “Uh...”

Mistress Apples laughed. “Maybe your friend here... I hear it's your birthday, uh...”

“R.J.,” he replied with a wide-eyed flush of shock. He was not used to people treating him like someone important!

Jenna was trying hard not to bust up laughing as the rock star made both of her friends thoroughly uncomfortable. They actually backed away from her nervously. Any other boy would have taken Mistress Apples up on her offer immediately!

Mistress Apples fiddled with the charm on R.J.'s necklace as an excuse to get closer to him. Then it occurred to her what she held in her hand. She turned her head to look at Rip's neck and an expression of enlightenment lit up her face.

“Oh... I understand now. Too bad for me, I guess,” she stated with a shrug. With a sweeping gesture, she gave them a quick tour of the back stage area. “There's plenty of food and things to drink. Feel free to help yourself. You can watch the show from literally the side of the stage, or you can go to the VIP area right directly in front of the stage.”

She kissed R.J on the cheek, and then kissed Rip. With a laugh, she hugged Jenna. “Sorry, but I'm not into girls!”

Jenna laughed. “I'm not either!”

“But for me you'd make an exception, right?” Mistress Apples asked playfully.

“Sure would!” Jenna replied with another laugh.

“Thought so!” Mistress Apples smirked. “But I can't stay here and play. I've gotta go finish getting my hair done. Only five more minutes till the show!”

More like 11 and a half minutes later, Rip, R.J. and Jenna stood off to the side of the stage as music started playing thunderously. Jenna squealed in excitement.

“Ah! It's my favorite song!”

Mistress Apples made quite a living singing songs of rebellion and standing up for what you believed in. Her catch phrase was that she didn't take crap from anyone! Sure enough, her song – which was a remake from an old song – assured everyone:

“Oh we're not going to take it! No! We ain't gonna take it! We're not going to take it anymore!”

The concert was a blast, and they even got to stay and party after it was over. In Rip and Jenna's original plan, they were going to take R.J. out to grab a bite to eat, and then probably go hoverboarding until the crack of dawn, but this turned out so much better! By the time the party wound down, Mistress Apples felt like she was their new best friend. She put her arms around the three of them and gave them each another smooch on the cheek.

“Hey, I know we probably won't see each other until my next concert in Marion City, but I'll give you my email address... the one I actually check, lol! And... you can call me Tiffannie.”

“I think I've just died and gone to heaven!” Both R.J. and Jenna murmured.

Rip was a bit less of a geeky fan and a bit more smooth. “I'm honored!”

They all exchanged their information, and then it was Jenna who embarrassed herself by yawning loudly. She giggled in an attempt to cover her mortification. Rip nudged her playfully.

“And who was the one that said I couldn't stay awake all night?” He asked, referring to their phone conversation from right after he'd gotten out of the shower.

“Yeah yeah,” she muttered unappreciatively. “I'm still awake!”

Tiffannie laughed. “What? Don't tell me that you Heroes are babies who can't party all night!”

R.J. decided to whisper in her ear, mostly to provoke a reaction from the other partiers, who were slowly dispersing in order to find a bed; presumably for sleep.

“I bet you wouldn't say that if you did what we do all day,” R.J. wagered, making it look like he was flirting with her. She giggled, adding to the wrong impression that they were creating.

“Oh really? Too bad you can't show me...” she replied suggestively.

“We should really go home,” Rip murmured, feeling sleepy himself now. They'd had a long day after all. R.J. smirked at him as if asking: Now who's jealous?! Rip simply shook his head. He knew that R.J. was just pretending to be flirty, and so there was no need for jealousy.

“Let me give you three a ride home,” Tiffannie suggested. “I've always wanted to see the inside of a Hero headquarters!”

They exchanged questioning looks, and then shrugged. “Sure, why not?”

Rip and R.J. grabbed their hoverboards from where they'd stashed them earlier, and then they all followed Tiffannie – their biggest celebrity crush Mistress Apples! – to her big and expensive tour bus. It was like a mini mansion on wheels!

She had her driver drive them to Hero headquarters, and then gushed like a total fangirl once more. “Oh wow! This is so cool!”

She followed Jenna and R.J., linking arms with Rip as they walked. The moment they entered headquarters – using a security access code since it was after midnight and not quite 6AM yet – Josh looked up at them from where he had sat answering phones most of the night.

“Holy sh-” The rest was cut off as he fell out of his chair. He hastily scrambled to his feet. “It's Mistress Apples!”

A couple of Heroes were just getting changed in the locker rooms since it was the end of their shift. Others were getting ready to go on patrol. Still more Heroes were already in the sparring room to get in a bit more practice before morning sparring. They all piled out to see if the excited shout was true.

Renee and Henry appeared from the door to the kitchen. Renee checked the clock and frowned. “You're just getting home now?! I thought you two were in bed hours ago!”

“Mom,” Rip groaned in embarrassment.

Surprisingly, it was Henry who came to his rescue. “Oh leave them alone! They've obviously had fun partying after the concert.”

“Wow...” Rip murmured in shock. “Thanks dad.”

“Ah! Henry Plantagenet!!!” Mistress Apples squealed. “I watched you fight some bad guy when I was just a little girl. You were like 10 feet in front of me! You've been my Hero ever since...” she purred dreamily.

Henry was used to this reaction and simply smiled at her. “Thank you.”

“Mistress Apples! Can you sign my limited edition fan club photograph of you?” Josh asked, producing the item in question from his wallet.

“Sure thing!” She agreed with a kiss on his cheek. Josh just about passed out from the shock of a kiss from her. His hands shook as he took the signed photograph back from her.

After that, Mistress Apples signed something for everyone, expressing how grateful she was for Heroes in general, and how much she appreciated it that they loved her. When she was done, she grinned at her three new friends. They were now all wearing blue and white concert tee shirts that had her name on the front and the dates of all the concerts of her tour on the back.

Taking a permanent marker from the desk, she decided to sign the tee shirts, starting with Jenna. She wrote: Thanks for partying with me all. Night. Long! Tiffannie – aka Mistress Apples. She gave Jenna a kiss on the cheek and then wrote the same thing on R.J.'s shirt and kissed his cheek. She ended with Rip, giggling as she kissed him once on each cheek.

Several of the Heroes thought it was unfair that Rip got two kisses when they hadn't gotten any at all – aside from Josh. They muttered to themselves, glaring at Rip as they vowed to pay him back during morning sparring. Rip chuckled nervously as he sensed death threats being aimed at his back.

Tiffannie linked her arm through Jenna's. “You said that you lived nearby, right? Come on, I'll give you a ride home.”

Jenna nodded and they left.

The TV that had been Josh's only companion for most of his phone duty suddenly caught their attention.

“Here's footage from earlier. Mistress Apples' tour bus was spotted traveling, and we followed it to its destination: Hero Headquarters! Here she is getting out of the bus with none other than Richard Plantagenet and his friends. Oh what's this? This just in, Mistress Apples is getting back on her bus with Rip's longtime girlfriend! I guess young Hero Jenna isn't taking any chances that the superstar is going to steal her man!”

The reporter went on to tell everyone how Rip and company had gotten invited backstage for the concert, and speculated if he had made his first equally famous friend. They seriously wondered why he hadn't gone out partying with the hot young celebrity crowd before, and made bets on whether or not he would do so frequently now that Rip was 18.

“Bah!” Rip exclaimed in disgust. “Why do they always get everything so wrong?!” He tapped R.J. on the arm. “I'm going to bed!”

R.J. nodded, a huge yawn threatening to break his jaw.

Rip kissed his mother on the cheek. “Please don't wake us for anything, not even if the world is about to end! I'm too tired to care...”

Renee laughed. “Go on honey.” She then kissed R.J. on the cheek. “I'm glad your pre-birthday celebration turned out so well.”

“Thanks,” R.J. replied with a smile. He hugged her, and then waved to everyone else as he followed Rip to their room.

Rip groaned once they were alone in their room. “I wish I had energy for a bit of fun...”

“Me too,” R.J. agreed. They didn't even have the energy to get undressed and simply snuggled up in bed for a moment before passing out.

Go To Chapter IX 

In Brist's Time - Chapter 8

Chapter 8

“Would the lady consider coming with us?” The man who looked incredibly like Brist’s friend Randy asked of her. Brist was standing next to Nicholas, who immediately thought of her as a traitor. The whole family was standing approximately 10 feet from the limp body of Lucas, who was still lying in the exact spot where he had fallen. Regan and Raven were each trying to hide behind an older brother.

“Like hell I would!” Brist answered the thief. He thought about her answer a moment.

“Is that a yes or a no?” He asked, honestly not sure.

“Do you honestly think that I would even consider going with you after you shot a member of my family?” Brist said, giving him a duh expression.

“Well, the way I see it, you should come show us how grateful you are that we didn’t shoot you,” he answered somewhat playfully.

“Well, the way I see it, you should go fuck yourself,” Brist said, stunning everyone. So therefore, it was a moment before the bandit could even think of something to say.

“Search everyone for anything valuable and collect it from them,” he ordered his men.

Of the nine men that responded to that command, six collected the horses and three took everything that they could find of value from the members of the Evans family. Brist just happened to be last, and just moments before one of the men searched her for her valuables, Brist had noticed the others trying to take her horse.

“Stop it, you can’t take my horse!” She called out to the men roughly trying to get her horse to cooperate. Just at that moment, the man removing her valuables from her moved to take the broach from her shawl. She slapped his hand away.

“That’s not mine. Leave it alone,” she growled at him.

The man slapped her across the face, and Nicholas would have punched the man for his action, but Brist beat him to it. Not only did Brist punch the man, but when he tried to punch back, all her kickboxing lessons came to the front of her mind. She strategically blocked his attack, thereby leaving him open to the powerful right jab that knocked the man to the ground, out cold.

For probably the hundredth time, Brist mentally thanked Jesse for keeping her butt in all those classes. She had always loved kickboxing, but it was the strength-training that really helped her now. Without it, she'd probably only be able to daze the bandit.

She looked at him laying on the ground with a smirk od satisfaction. His two partners in collecting the loot immediately forgot that they had guns in their belts and ran at Brist with intentions of putting her in her place.

Brist quickly judged that neither of these new opponents had much fighting skill, other than that acquired by getting into a lot of petty fights. Her level of skill in the art of kickboxing, which had won her many state and two national championships, was more than sufficient to combat these two. She blocked the first man’s attempt at a jab and punched him in the gut, which doubled him over, allowing her time to pick up her skirt just high enough to land a kick in the middle of the second opponents chest.

By this time all of the other thieves, except for the two still attempting to control Cream – and the leader – had gathered around the fight to watch. The entire Evans family stood gaping in disbelief at their newest member.

Brist briefly glanced at her first opponent and determined that he had recovered from the punch to the gut. He was now coming up behind her. She still had her skirts held up, and so she kicked him with her back still turned on him, because she figured that he’d never expect it. Whirling around to face him, she jumped slightly, which enabled her to kick him in the jaw, thereby knocking him to the ground, joining the very first attacker in out cold status.

Now, she quickly allowed her skirts to fall back into place, as she was once again facing away from her opponent. However, she knew that he was running to attack her, his tactic was to add speed as power to fuel his attack. She bent over and swept his feet out from under him with one of her legs, causing him to land on his back. He immediately rolled over and returned to his feet, at which time Brist connected a powerful right jab to his jaw, causing him to join his predecessors on the ground in out cold status.

Just then, one of the men watching the fight decided to give it a try, but he was stopped by his leader, who was both upset and amused by the fight he had just witnessed.

“Enough!” He shouted an irrefutable command for his men to stop. “I would ask you again to join our band, for you would help our cause greatly, but I fear that you would simply refuse once more. So instead, I will ask you nicely to surrender the broach, or I will shoot you between the eyes myself,” he frowned, seemingly to discourage further opposition from her, but really, he was upset at himself for allowing things to get to this point. Brist looked at him and saw that indeed his pistol was aimed directly at her head.

“Please, Brist, just give it to him. It is not worth dying for,” Regina begged the woman who had come to mean so much to her in just a short time.

Brist sighed, unpinned the broach, and threw it straight at the man’s head with enough force for it to cause some damage, but the man caught it, wincing slightly at the pain it caused in his hand. The leader motioned for his men to gather their fallen companions, the discarded bags of loot, and get away as quickly as possible. It was easy to see that his mood about the situation was darkening.

“This dumb animal won’t cooperate,” one of the two men who were still trying to subdue Brist’s horse complained. Brist was silently proud as she watched her horse show every bit of defiance that Brist herself had just displayed. The older image of Randy growled, his mood growing ever darker.

“Just shoot the beast!” He ordered.

“No!” Brist commanded. “If you shoot her, I promise I will hunt your ass down and murder you in your sleep!” She inhaled and exhaled, trying to regain her calm. “If you will allow me to calm her, you’ll find it a thousand times easier to control her.”

The very gorgeous man, who looked incredibly like her much nicer friend Randy, contemplated the suggestion a moment, signaling that the horse should not be shot just yet.

“I will allow you to calm your horse, but if she continues to be uncooperative, than I will not hesitate to have her shot,” he answered after what seemed like an eternity.

Brist ran to her beloved horse, enveloping her in a hug. The two men who had been fighting like hell with the horse were amazed by how quickly the mare calmed for her mistress. Brist whispered instructions in Creams ear for her to go with the marauders, and that she shouldn’t worry, for Brist would rescue her as soon as she had the chance. Then, she handed the reins to one of the two men, telling him to be gentle with her horse or she would remove a very vital part of his anatomy. The man must have believed her, for he treated the horse as if it were the Queen of England herself.

By this time, all of the bandits – except for the man leading Cream away, and the leader – had disappeared into the forest. Soon the man and Cream joined them, heading in the direction of what will be the town, Brist noted. As soon as all his men were safely out of sight, the leader rode off, calling “Until we meet again!” over his shoulder.

“David, we’re stranded, what ever shall we do?” Regina asked her husband.

“Well, my dear, we shall just have to walk home,” he answered her, resigned to the prospect.

“But what about Lucas?” She asked fretfully as Nicholas examined him for life signs.

“He’s alive, and if we can stop the flow of blood, he should make it. I think the only reason he’s unconscious is because of how hard he hit the ground,” Nicholas informed everyone. He then proceeded to shake Lucas to try to wake him. Brist was upset by the way Nicholas was handling the situation.

“You shouldn’t do that, you could make his wound worse!” Brist told him, not understanding why he didn’t know as much already.

“Stop, I’m awake,” Lucas moaned.

“Can you walk?” Nicholas asked him as he helped him to his feet. Lucas took a few test steps.

“Apparently, yes,” he commented after he was relatively certain that he wouldn’t fall.

“Thank God you’re alive!” Regina cried, hugging him as tightly as she could.

“Mother, you’re hurting me,” Lucas protested, obviously trying not to wince.

Brist couldn’t believe these people; they had no sense at all! Here was a man who had just been shot – and was still bleeding fairly badly – and they had him up and walking around!

“You should lie down; movement will only make your bleeding worse,” Brist advised.

“If he lies down, then how will he get home?” Nicholas asked.

“Get home? He should get medical attention, and be allowed time for the blood to stop before he goes home,” Brist argued.

“I suppose that in addition to knowing how to fight, you are a doctor too.” Nicholas said sarcastically.

“No, I’m not a doctor,” Brist muttered matter of factly.

“Then how would you know just what needs to be done?” Nicholas asked with a slight sneer at this highly uppity woman.

“I would think it would be common sense,” Brist sneered right back at him.

“Common sense tells me that it would be far more prudent to get him home as quickly as possible so that the doctor can be fetched to remove the bullet before the wound becomes poisoned,” Nicholas stated, his voice escalating until it near approached shouting.

“Well, you yelling at me isn’t doing him any good,” Brist retorted loudly.

“I am not yelling! If I were yelling, you would be shaking in your boots from fright,” Nicholas explained loudly, but not quite as loudly as before.

“That’s enough!” David ordered, exasperated by their bickering.

“Please, don’t fight you two. I’m fine except for a mild, well excruciating, pain in my arm, and a sore backside. It is after all my body, and I say I will be able to walk home just fine,” Lucas insisted.

“Are you certain?” Nicholas asked.

“Quite,” Lucas answered gruffly. Nicholas unconsciously looked to Brist for approval, and she gave it by sighing and motioning for him to lead the way.

“I suppose that if he had any truly serious consequence to his fall, such as internal bleeding, or a concussion, or even cracked or broken bones, then he would probably not be able to walk or move at all,” Brist reasoned, sighing again. Glancing around, she noticed that everyone was looking at Lucas as if to determine if he really was okay or not. David was finally recovering his sense after the various surprises of the day, and decided to take the matter in hand.

“Morgan, run and fetch the doctor. Hopefully, the two of you’ll be able to reach the house shortly after we do,” David ordered his second youngest son.

“Shall I go with him father?” Curtis asked.

“No. The doctor only has one horse, and the three of you will not be able to ride it,” David replied. Morgan began to run in the direction of the doctor, who lived in the same direction as Atlanta, which is where they had been headed to shop.

“Please hurry!” His mother called out anxiously after him.

“Brist, you said that you knew who was the first person to be buried in the family cemetery. Well, I’ve been wondering, is it me?” Lucas asked his relative from the future.

“No, you have nothing to worry about, the first person buried in that cemetery died after a long life,” Brist lied encouragingly. She really had no idea if he’d die since he wasn’t buried in the cemetery at all. She could only assume that it wasn’t right now. Regina sighed and hugged her son once more, gently this time.

“I’d hate to rush a wounded man, but it’s going to rain soon, and I think we had better be heading home,” Jonathan imparted, calling everyone’s attention to the darkening sky. Regina was never one to be afraid of a storm, but she was worried about her wounded son, and a whimper escaped her before she could banish her morbid thoughts.

“Don’t worry, my dear. Everything will be just fine,” David assured his wife. Then simultaneously, as if it had been rehearsed, the entire family took a step in the direction of their house. Just after Jonathan confirmed that they had reached the halfway home point, it began to rain. Nicholas draped his coat over Lucas so that he wouldn’t catch a cold in addition to being shot.

“My dress! It’s ruined!” Raven exclaimed in dismay.

“I’m getting wet,” Regan whined as she clutched her brother Jonathan’s sleeve.

“I’m sorry love, but you’ll just have to put up with it,” he told her.

“Girls, look,” Regina addressed her twins, calling their attention to the way that she had pulled her over-skirt up to form a makeshift umbrella. Mentally, she was thankful for the custom of wearing a few underskirts, or else she would be showing off her hinny to the whole world! The twins copied their mother happily, thankful to keep their hair from getting wet.

Brist had always enjoyed the rain. Her favorite thing to do was to sit out in her tent – which had a clear roof – and watch it rain and storm outside. In Minnesota, there were usually plenty of storms, and they normally weren’t warm like this one was.

She had a habit of always dancing in the rain, as if giving thanks to the rain and storm Gods for not destroying her home in the beautiful display of power. Mother Nature never failed to amaze her. In fact, her love of the storm had piqued her interest in the nature-based religion, Wicca, but she was still a novice and the most she really did was light a candle to honor the sabbats and full moons.

Brist decided to sneak off, figuring that if anyone noticed her doing so, they would think she was going to relieve herself. As soon as she was out of sight, she began to dance. Normally, she would cheer, shout, and generally make a joyful raucous, but she didn’t wish to call her old-fashioned family’s attention to her. The last thing she needed was for them to think she was a witch. You know, the bad kind that everyone tried to hang.

Nicholas had seen her wander off, and did think that she had needed to relieve herself, but when she failed to return after a sufficient period of time, he whispered to his father that Brist had to be lost. He Promised he would find her and make sure that she made her way home safely.

Now, here he was, staring mesmerized at the redheaded woman as she danced in wild abandon in the rain. Her back was to him, and so she hadn’t noticed him as of yet. Nicholas felt his loins tighten and decided he liked the way her hair brushed the top of her rounded bottom when she tilted her head back and cackled.

Cackled? What on earth had possessed him to compare her joyous laughter to that of a… Come to think of it, it did sound like a soft, sweet cackle.

Brist decided that her family had to be far enough away to not hear her if she started to sing, especially since the rain should add extra sound dampeners to mask the sounds she was about to make.

“I’m singing in the rain, just singing in the rain, what a glorious feeling, I’m so happy again!” Brist belted out in an entirely way too cheerful tone of voice, and in her glee – which seemed to intensify with each moment that passed – she decided to do something she hadn’t done since 10th grade, over two years ago.

She had been in gymnastics then, rather than strength-training, and by now she must be badly out of practice. So, holding her breath and praying that she wouldn’t break her neck, she decided to do a couple back flips before she chickened out. But first, before she could do them, she had to hike her skirt up and tie it out of her way. After she completed two back flips successfully, and nary a stumble, she decided to immediately switch to a cartwheel forward flip combination.

Once her feet returned to the ground after finishing her flips, Brist jumped up and down, cheering herself on proudly.

Nicholas was nearly undone at the sight of her naked legs, which were made that much more enticing by the rivets of rain streaming down them. Is there anything that this woman can’t do? He wondered in amazement.

Brist had caught a glimpse of Nicholas while she had been tumbling around and wondered just how long he had been watching her. Also, she wondered just exactly how long he would continue to watch her before he made his presence known. She figured that as a man, he would probably wait until she had caught him. Deciding that it would be inordinately fun to tease him, she opted to do just that in the only way she could think of at the moment.

Brist unknotted her skirt, slipped it off, and tossed it on Regina’s shawl – which she had placed in a relatively dry spot earlier. Her vest and shirt followed it seconds later. Brist paused a few moments, wondering whether or not she should remove her lacy underwear. She eventually shook her head and also decided that she had no desire to have her breasts flopping around and probably getting bruised while she danced, pranced, and flipped in a showy display designed to tease the man who thought he was spying on her undetected. As a result, she re-donned her vest-like bodice, lacing it up tightly.

Nicholas’ breath ceased entirely as he watched, her now literally half naked body enticed him, enhanced by the bright red panties she wore. Her top was mostly covering her, but her cleavage plumped out over the top of it oh so invitingly. He had also gotten a good look at her breasts from his a moment ago, and wished that he could tear her bodice off and see them again.

As for the other garment, her bottoms were tiny, and disappeared into her luscious buttocks. His body protested the lack of oxygen and began to breathe again, but his breath was erratic and came in gasps. Nicholas began to wonder if she was trying to kill him, but decided that she still had no idea he was watching her. If she knew I was here, she'd squeal in maidenly protest, right?

Then again, how could she possibly be innocent and know how to move her body like that? He wondered.

Brist was dancing as if she was making love to the rain. Or rather, as if the rain were making love to her. She touched her body as if her hands were the hands of a lover. He decided that she wasn’t innocent at all, and that she really was just a slut who had come up with an extremely clever plan to worm her way into a decent family. A plan to never have to worry about money or fitting into society. She wasn’t fit to be anything but a mistress!

Does she hope to entice one of my brothers into marriage? Excluding Morgan and Curtis, every one of his brothers were of a marrying age. Well, I am not going to allow that to happen! She will be my mistress, or I will throw her out onto the streets! Just as soon as his parents and the rest of his family left...

By this time, he was so hard with all his thoughts of her as a mistress – and with her dancing as erotically as she was – that he considered making her into his mistress right then and there. But he was stopped by the look on his mother’s face if she should ever find out. Instead, he stomped off to find some relief from the heat in his loins that was near driving him mad.

Wasn’t cold water supposed to banish a man’s erection? Nicholas wondered. Granted the rain was warm, not cold, but it was much, much colder than the heat emanating from his loins. One would think that it would still have the same effect as cold water, but it seemed to add to the sensation, causing him to hide behind the nearest tree. He needed relief now!

Determined to find relief as soon as possible, Nicholas unbuttoned his britches and took himself in hand. Very upset and embarrassed with himself for having to spill his seed without the presence of a woman – something that has never happened to him before – Nicholas vowed that just as soon as his parents left, he would make this woman his mistress, and once he had had his fill of her, he would toss her out on the streets like the beggar she assuredly was.

Finally, he found relief from the plaguing torment that the redheaded woman with the velvety purple eyes was causing him. He re-laced his britches and returned to the spot where he had left Brist. He firmly buried the little voice that told him that he would never tire of this woman in the back of his head.

Once Brist had discovered that her audience had left, she had given up her dance and took up a reclining position under a branch that offered a small amount of shelter. She felt as if she was tanning in a tankini, only instead of sunshine covering her, it was rain.

“Are you out of your ever-loving mind?!” Nicholas asked in a tone that conveyed his near exasperation with this woman.

“No. Why?” Brist asked, amused by his tone. He must have been very affected by her tease.

“By now, it must be at least 15 minutes since I noticed that you were gone, and my mother will start to worry herself sick if I don’t bring you back soon. Yet, here you sit, half naked in the rain!” Nicholas was wondering if the girl truly was daft. That could explain her whole from the future story. “Get up and get dressed, before I drag you back exactly as you are.”

“Oh your mother would just love that! I’d bet that everyone would think that you’d had your way with me. You’d have a wonderful time explaining that!” Brist laughed.

Nicholas’ expression darkened to the point that Brist wondered if he might try to kill her. Not wishing to get into yet another fight today, she decided to obey his command to get dressed. She shrugged, not caring that he watched. His expression changed as if to say that he wished that he could watch her take the rest of her clothes off, not put them on.

Men! Brist thought. That was okay with her though; she enjoyed being looked at by men. Every one of them thought that she would make a great conquest and she loved proving them wrong. Often a man would come up to her while she was on a date with Muskles and she would boldly send them on their way, threatening bodily harm if they should bother her again.

Muskles always said that he never had to worry about her cheating on him since she was always proving that she only had eyes for him. And now, it would seem, she only had eyes for the man that looked just like him, only much better, if that was possible.

Soon, she was dressed, and they had rejoined the family – who had stopped to rest soon after Nicholas had left to retrieve Brist. Every member of the family cringed at their approach and shook their head in dismay, for Nicholas and Brist were arguing very loudly about whether or not it was healthy to be exposed to the rain for an extended period of time. Especially wearing as little clothing as she was wearing. They had been carrying on the same argument since Nicholas had “discovered” Brist.

“Can the two of you hold a conversation without arguing about something?” Jonathan demanded hotly.

“When this woman can speak of something that makes sense, then I will hold a conversation with her. Until then, every word that comes out of her mouth does nothing but provoke an argument,” Nicholas argued.

“I provoke arguments?! As I recall, it was you that started that particular argument,” Brist countered.

“Only because you don’t seem to possess the sense God gave a frog! Notice that they at least have the sense to stay out of the rain, not seek out the best spot to bask in it!” Nicholas said loudly, pointing to the ground where it was true that there was not a frog to be found.

“Frogs are amphibious, and if they aren’t in sight at the moment, it’s not because of the rain,” Brist laughed. His logic lacked over two hundred years of accumulated knowledge that Brist had been taught in school.

“Enough! The two of you will cease to argue while in my presence! If I catch you at it again, I will personally take you both out back and tan your hides!” Regina commanded in her no-nonsense tone of voice. “Am I understood?”

Both of the recipients of her stern warning nodded in acceptance. Satisfied, Regina turned her back to them so that she could ask David to lead them on once more, and while her back was turned, Brist stuck her tongue out at Nicholas, who started towards her as if he were going to strangle her, but then he caught himself and sighed impatiently. Brist – and everyone else who had seen the exchange – began to chuckle. It was obvious that Brist’s mere presence was driving him to near violence.

Regina whirled around to see what was causing her family to chuckle and received a smile of angelic innocence from Brist. Which caused Nicholas to scowl in irritation.

David decided that he had better move things along before the mischievous Brist did something else to provoke his eldest son. So, hiding a grin, David lead the rain-sodden party back to their house, which wasn’t too much farther along.

Nicholas spent the time thinking about what he would do after he had tired of having Brist as a mistress. He decided that he couldn’t possibly be as cruel to her as he had planned, and that instead of throwing her out into the streets, he would set her up in her own house, just as he had with his prior and current mistresses.

Not that there had really been all that many of them. He had two current ones, which he’d had for about a year, and eight prior ones. He had a habit of keeping a woman for about a year and then tiring of her. His first he took on when he turned 21 – he was now 28 – and in the past three years, as he made more frequent trips to France, he had decided to have a mistress there in addition to the one in London. He figured that now that he was going to be spending most of his on land time in Georgia, he may as well have one here too.

Great! Now I’ll have three women I only see every couple of months! He thought to himself sarcastically. A sailor’s life.. he sighed.

While Nicholas had been considering the benefits of having a mistress in every port, along with the draw-back of not seeing them very often, Brist had occupied herself with the twins. They were debating the coldness of the rain. The twins insisted that the rain was cold and dreary, and Brist informed them that she felt it to be warm and wonderful.

“The temperature and pleasantness of the rain is really a matter of one’s opinion,” David pointed out.

“You mean you really think it’s cold?” Brist asked incredulously.

“Actually, I find it rather warm, but you must admit that the twins might find it rather cold,” David answered her with a wink.

“Yes, I suppose that is true.” Brist smiled at the kindly father who was so very different from her own. She’d be willing to bet that he’d never pay one of his daughter’s boyfriends to never see them again. Just now, he was staring at his wife’s behind with an amused look on his face.

“Wife, you look extremely good with your petticoats in view,” David told his beloved wife.

“David!” Regina gasped, both scandalized and blushing from the thought of what they could do the moment they returned home.

“I’m beginning to think that I should forbid you from wearing anything over your petticoats ever again,” he teased.

“You would keep me half naked? Oh the ton would have a riot with that!” Regina exclaimed with a laugh.

“Sounds like a delightful idea to me,” David laughed.

Nicholas looked at Brist as if he were having similar thoughts. Brist thought that she should mind, but honestly couldn’t think of a reason to protest the idea. In fact, if she were in this time period long enough, she just might have to suggest the idea to the gorgeous man herself. Only, instead of the cumbersome petticoats, she would have to wear nothing but the lingerie that she had in her bag.

Go To Chapter 9