Righteous Obsession (74 page)

“Can I help you with anything else?”

“No, I can take it from here, but thanks.”

He started into the living room then stopped.  “Did I
tell you we got a letter from your parents today?  I left it in the foyer.”

“No, you didn’t.  What did they have to say?”

Colin thought for a moment then said, “I guess the
biggest news was the intervention your family had with Nancy and George about
their drinking.”

Alethea looked surprised.  “They actually did it?  I
know mom and dad were talking about doing it when they got home, but I didn’t
think they’d go through with it.  How did it turn out?”

“I guess it must’ve worked because your parents wrote
that Nancy and George agreed to get into treatment.”

“If you recall, both of them were drunk at our wedding
and they were drunk by the time they arrived on Thanksgiving and they kept
right on drinking.”

“I remember,” Colin said darkly.  “I also remember
your parents being pretty upset about it, too.”

“I hope it works out, not for their sakes, but for the
sake of the people who have to be around them.”

“Yeah, then Nancy won’t be drunk and vicious, she’ll
just be plain old vicious!”  Colin said.  “I’m going upstairs.”

“Okay.  I’m going to read their letter before I go to
bed.”

“Don’t be too long,” Colin said.  He ran up the stairs
and went into their bedroom.  He took off his shoes and stretched out on the
bed, folding his arms underneath his head.  He sighed suddenly, thinking about
something that had been in the back of his mind all day.  He had to admit,
after hearing how well Jeff’s therapy was going, he felt disappointed that Jeff
was still keeping him at arm’s length.  In all his ruminations about the
situation, he hadn’t yet hit on a way to thaw the wall of ice that kept them
apart.  He’d hoped with therapy and the lessening of Jeff’s guilt; he would
reach out to him, but that seemed less and less likely with each passing day. 
Colin’s train of thought suddenly exploded when Alethea jumped on the bed and
landed on top of him.  “Whoa!  It’s the attack of the wild woman!”

“Damn straight, Mister!”  Alethea replied.  “And one
who’s incredibly horny, too!”

“A dangerous combination!”  He murmured, sliding his
hands underneath her top.  “But just the way I like them!”  With one fluid
motion he pulled it over her head, revealing her full breasts.  He began
caressing her breasts, licking and sucking on her nipples until they stood out
tightly.

“Oh God!  Oh yes!”  Alethea moaned as she grabbed hold
of his T-shirt and tugged it over his head, getting it tangled with his hair in
the process.  “Damn!”

“Hair’s a pain-in-the-ass sometimes!”  Colin muttered,
untangling the shirt from his hair and tossing it on the floor.  She pushed him
back and began kissing his chest.  He unfastened her shorts, slid his hands
inside and pushed them and her panties down to her knees.  Alethea freed one
slim leg from the tangle and disposed of the remaining barrier.  Colin pulled
her closer to him, running his hands over the soft skin of her ass and up the
insides of her thighs.  “God!  You’re so wet!”

“I’ve been thinking about us making love all day!” 
Alethea whispered.  She rose up and tugged at the buttons on his jeans. 
“Fair’s fair!”

“True,” Colin nodded.

She got his jeans undone and his erection freed
itself.  “Awesome!”  She teased him.

“I’ve had it practically all day so it should be
awesome!”  He joked.  With Alethea’s help he slid out of his jeans and tossed
them aside.  He rolled Alethea on her back and feeling her legs' part, thrust
into her.  She gave a loud scream of pleasure, grabbing his ass and pushing him
to thrust deeper.

“Fuck me really hard, Colin!”  She gasped, wrapping
her legs around him.  He obliged her, thrusting fast, hard and deep.

“Yes!  Yes!”  She cried, thrusting in unison with
him.  One final thrust set off a climax so intense for both of them that Colin
swore later he actually did feel the earth move!  His body jerked and went into
a spasm.  He growled loudly in response to it.  “Oh God!  Colin!”  Alethea
screamed over and over, digging her fingernails into his shoulder and rolling
her head as the intensity of her orgasm rampaged through her.  She felt his
body convulsing one final time then felt his warm cum filling her.  Colin fell
limply on top of her, his chest heaving and his heart racing.  After a few
seconds he rolled off her, but continued to hold her close to him.  “Sorry
about it going so fast, but I’ve missed you so damn much!”

“It was fast, but very satisfying!”  Alethea assured
him.  “It was just what I needed, too!”  She smiled and stretched seductively. 
“Besides, we have the entire night to do whatever we want!”

“I like the sound of that!”  Colin replied, bending to
kiss her.  His cell phone chose that moment to begin ringing stridently as if
it were intentionally trying to disrupt their mood.  He tried to ignore it, but
it kept ringing, signaling his voicemail was full.  Colin made a frustrated
sound and rolled over to answer it, but Alethea stopped him.  “Don’t!”

Colin sighed then shrugged apologetically.  “Sorry, I
can’t!  I keep thinking about what happened the last time I didn’t answer my
phone.”  He grabbed it off the nightstand.  “Hello? Dad? Hold on a minute while
I put you on the speaker.”  He switched his cell to speaker so they could both
hear Peter.

“I’m calling to tell you about your new sibling.”

“Mom had the baby? Do we have a sister or a brother?”
Colin asked.

“We have a very healthy baby daughter. She weighs
eight pounds, one ounce and she’s twenty inches long. We’ve decided to name her
Elissa Rose.”

“That’s wonderful, Peter,” Alethea said. “I’m so happy
for you both! Give Amanda my love and congratulations, please?”

“Tell mom I love her and we’ll be come tomorrow to see
her and Elissa,” Colin added.

“I’ll do that,” Peter assured them.

They arrived at the hospital and found Liam and Alison
were already there. Amanda sat up in bed.  She was smiling radiantly at the
blanketed bundle in her arms.  Peter sat on the edge of the bed with his arms
around her and a big smile on his face.

Colin gave his mom a kiss.  “Good job, Mom!”  He
pushed aside the blanket and peered at the tiny face.  “She isn’t all red and
scrunched-up looking.”

“Would you like to hold her?”

Colin hesitated.  “It’s been a long time, but I think
I remember how.”

“Twenty years,” Peter said then laughed in
recollection, “I remember you wanted to hold Liam the second your mother got
inside the door with him!”

“Just pretend she’s your guitar then you won’t drop
her,” Liam joked.

“Are you sure I didn’t drop him on his head?”  Colin
joked.  He sat down in the rocker, carefully cradling Elissa in his arms. 
“God!  She’s so tiny!”  He remarked to Alethea who was looking over his
shoulder.  “Look at her tiny hands and feet.”

“She’s so pretty!”  Alethea declared, wiggling her
hand gently.

“Yeah!”  Colin laughed.  “Dad will have to chase the
boys off with a baseball bat!”

Amanda rolled her eyes in mock horror.  “Colin, I don’t
even want to think about that!”

Colin gave her a kiss. “We better go and let you rest.
We’ll come back later tonight.”

“Okay, sweetie. We’ll see you later.”

When they came back that night, Debbie was visiting as
well. It was obvious to Colin that she was very excited about being a big
sister to Elissa. It was quite late by the time they arrived home and finally
got to bed, but Colin was unable to fall asleep.  He touched Alethea’s
shoulder.  “Alethea?”  She rolled over and he propped his arm under his head. 
“You know what I’ve been thinking a lot about lately?”

“Jeff,” She replied immediately.

“Yeah,” He admitted in surprise.

“I’ve found myself thinking a lot about him, too,” She
confessed.

“There’s something I need to do.”

“About Jeff?”

“Yes.  I need to get things straightened out with him
because I don’t want to go on with things the way they are now.”

“When do you want to leave for Minneapolis?”  Alethea
asked.

Colin felt somewhat taken aback by her calm acceptance
of his decision.  “I guess I’ll wait until after mom and Elissa get home.”

“I’m so glad you’re taking this step, Colin, because I
agree with you wholeheartedly.”

Neither of them chose to voice their thoughts about
what would happen if Jeff refused to see them.  They both decided to think positively. 
Colin rolled over, put his arm around Alethea and buried his face in her silky
hair.

Liam was standing guard at the front window.  He was
in charge of watching for his father’s car while everybody else got the food
and decorations ready.  “Here they are!”  He yelled.  Everybody gathered behind
him and watched Peter help Amanda out of the car and then disappeared into the
back seat, emerging again with Elissa and placing her in her mother’s arms.  He
reached in again and brought out Elissa’s carrier.  Amanda felt surprised and
touched when she saw everybody.  “What’s going on here?”

“We decided to have a combination welcome home and
debut party for you and Elissa, Mom,” Colin explained.

“That’s so sweet of you all!”  She replied.

Peter set the carrier down on the coffee table and
Amanda carefully laid Elissa in it and covered her with a light blanket.  Liam
bent and peered at her.  “Heck!  She’s asleep again.”

“Well, she was certainly awake early this morning!” 
Peter laughed.  “In fact, you could hear her all over the floor!”  He turned
the winding mechanism on the bottom of the carrier and it started to gently
rock back and forth.

“Whatever is that heavenly smell?”  Amanda asked.

“Belgian waffles, Amanda,” Grandma Beth answered.  “We
thought after two days of hospital food you deserved a treat.”

“So, Mom, did you have meat loaf every other day?” 
Colin teased.

“No, but it sure wasn’t home cooking.”

“Go sit down, Amanda, you shouldn’t be on your feet,”
Grandma Eileen directed.

“I’m fine, Mom, but I am hungry!”

“Is it okay to leave Elissa alone while we eat?” 
Debbie asked.

“Yes.  She’ll probably sleep for a while yet,” Amanda
said, putting her arm around Debbie.

They sat down at the dining room table and Colin said,
“Before we dive into Mrs. Calhoun’s feast, I’d like to propose a toast.”  He
stood and raised his glass of tomato juice.  “To Mom for a job well done and to
Elissa Rose for reminding us of how precious life is.”

“What a lovely compliment, Colin.” Grandma Beth
complimented him

“These are absolutely scrumptious!”  Amanda declared
halfway through her second waffle.  A loud wail suddenly erupted from the
living room.

“Boy!  She does have a good set of lungs!”  Liam
remarked.

Amanda rose from her chair, but Colin stopped her. 
“I’ll get her, Mom.”

“Thanks, Colin.  She’s probably wet, hungry or both.”

Colin gently lifted Elissa up and nestled her against
his shoulder.  He rocked her, rubbing her back soothingly.  “Well, did
everybody disappear and leave you alone?”  He murmured.  He carried her into
his mom.  “I don’t know if she’s hungry, but – she’s definitely wet!”  The wet
area showed up noticeably on his bright red T-shirt.

“Oh, Colin!”  Amanda laughed.

“Here, Colin, give her to me and I’ll get her
changed,” Peter said.

Colin grinned as he carefully handed Elissa over to
his dad.  “Guess I should be grateful it wasn’t worse!”

“You’ll need to change her blanket, too, darling,”
Amanda advised.

“I’ll bring a fresh one down with me, Mandy.”

“When Peter and I decided to be ecologically
responsible and use cloth diapers, we forgot the down side is much more
laundry.”  Amanda explained.

“Do you mind if I come upstairs with you, Dad?”  Colin
asked.

“No, come on.”

They took the baby upstairs and into the nursery. 
Colin watched as his father deftly changed Elissa and smiled.  “Mom always said
you were better than her at changing diapers and it looks as if you haven’t
lost your touch.”

Peter laughed.  “Well, it not bad right now, but once
she starts eating solid food it’s going to be a lot different.”  He put Elissa
over his shoulder, opened the chiffonier and got out another blanket.

“How do you know you’ll be a good father?”  Colin
asked suddenly.

Peter looked at him with a puzzled expression on his
face.  “Well, I don’t think there’s anyway to know definitely.  I’ll tell you,
though, when you first see that tiny, helpless baby something just kicks in and
you know you’d do anything to protect her and keep her safe.”  He looked at
Colin again and suddenly understood.  “You’re worried you might do something
like Jeff did?”