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"One day a stranger turned up at my school to enrol his children," Kylena whispered with a twinkle in her eyes as she swung back on the couch with her arms around her knees and gazed at John sitting beside her. "He was a huge bulk of a man with a soft American accent. I remember thinking he was about to tell me he was going to enrol his children at Junction Road School, but he didn't."
"It seemed stupid to travel ten miles when there was a school across the road," John said with a chuckle. "Mind you the teacher was a good looker, too."
"Somewhat harassed, if I remember."
"But beautiful just the same." John exclaimed and glanced at his watch. "You know it is after one. I must away to bed."
He reached forward to kiss the waiting soft salty lips. This was usually accompanied by more passionate kissing and light petting before Kylena would wriggle out of his arms, playfully slap his arm, tell him not to be naughty and say goodnight. Tonight, though she stepped back and ran a tongue over her top lip.
"Why don't we slip into the spare room, John," she whispered.
"I don't understand,"
"Come with me," she continued, took his hand and led him to a second tiny downstairs bedroom where a small lamp glowed beside a newly made up double bed. Somewhere, too, soft music filled the air.
"Why have you shifted down here?" John asked with a slightly puzzled look. "I thought you liked your upstairs room."
"Oh I do" came the hoarse, nervous whisper, “But thought the girls might hear."
He glanced up and gasped. Kylena had slipped off her sweater and skirt and was standing by the closed door in a black negligee. With the tiny bedside light shining, the elongated shadows and thin material left nothing for the imagination. Nothing. John just stared at the heaving breasts outlined beneath the translucent material, nipples taut with desire.
"Oh My God. Kylena?" John gasped
He reached out as she stepped into his arms. Her scent smelt irresistible as she hugged him so firmly her breasts squashed into him and blonde hair tickled his neck. Her head turned up, lips met his but this was no polite goodnight kiss. It was bruising and frantic with a tongue-lashing. A soft hand brushed his fly.
"My love," he muttered and lifted the black negligee up. His fingers seemed too large for the soft material but he managed. The garment came over her head, she shook her blonde hair out, gave him a slight shove on the chest so he toppled onto the bed and stepped back.
In front of him stood the most sexually attractive woman he had ever seen. There was a distinct line between her bronzed body and her white breasts, which rose and fell as she breathed. Even the few bruises still evident did not detract from her appearance. Beneath, her flat stomach curved down to well-proportioned thighs and on to the briefest of panties. She smiled at him, tucked her fingers in the elastic top and slipped them off to stand, naked before him.
Overcome with emotion, John reached forward and touched the large and desirable breasts. The woman who was about to become his lover, immediately came forward into his arms so she was above him on the bed. His frantic kiss moved to her nipples while her hands found his fly and yanked the zip it until there was room for her hand to reach inside.
"Oh my God," he moaned and rolled her over beneath him while she flung her arms around his neck and kissed him everywhere within reach. Kylena grabbed at him so fiercely, red fingernails scratched across his back. Her whole body was now quivering as she pulled him into her breasts and spread her legs wide to receive him.
"Kylena," he managed to gasp as his sperm surged forward and exploded within her squirming body. Never, in living memory had he experienced this sheer delight and raw passion before.
"I'm just a shameless little hussy," she whispered and kissed him.
"You certainly are," he replied. "A cheeky one too."
"Why?" she asked in an indignant voice.
"You planned this didn't you?" he teased. "I mean the extra special supper, the percolated coffee, soft music and negligee under your clothes. I never had a chance."
"I did not," she retorted. "Well, perhaps. I got sick of you being a perfect gentleman." She stared at him and her eyes became serious. "I've haven't been with a man since my marriage and you heard all about that. After that experience, I vowed never to let another man touch me unless it was someone I loved."
"I love you, Kylena," John whispered. "I loved you from almost the day you walked in the classroom in bare feet and expectant look.”
Kylena reached up to place both hands on his cheeks. She kissed him passionately on the lips. "Again?” John said in a strange voice.
"Hot blooded male," Kylena retorted. "You were exhausted a moment ago," but she wriggled in close. Once again, time for talking was over.
At the height of their passion neither of them heard the footsteps along the polished hall floor nor the tall girl who stopped and glared at the closed door and listened to the muted moans coming from inside.
*
The faint knock on Kylena's upstairs door at first light on Sunday morning was in complete contrast to the verbal abuse that filled the air when it was opened.
Julie stood there with hands on her hips and eyes like daggers. "I want to know why you're fucking my daddy and don't give me any of this shit about being in love. There's no such thing," she hissed.
The teacher's first reaction was to scream at the girl that it was none of her business and if she was going to use such foul language she'd better get her mouth washed out with soap. Her mouth turned up in a faint grin at the thought. As a child, her grandmother had said that for words as mild as "shut up."
But Julie misinterpreted the grin. "It's not a joke, Miss Delton," she continued in a more reconciliatory tone. "Why are you sleeping with my father?"
"I think we'd better go down to the kitchen, Julie," came the quiet response.
The girl bit on the side of her lip but walked down the stairs and accepted Kylena's invitation to sit at the kitchen table.
"Would you like a lemon drink? I made up a jug last night with fresh lemons from the tree out on the lawn."
Julie nodded. Her outburst had subsided and the glare of anger became tears as the youngster stared at the floor. Kylena filled two glasses with the juice and handed one across to her companion who took it with shaking hands and stared at the floor.
"We call it a pitcher."
"I don't understand," Kylena replied and sat beside the distraught girl.
"It's a pitcher, not a jug," Julie looked up with tears rolling down her cheek. "You say everything wrong here."
"I see," Kylena replied and reached out to take her pupil's hand. She expected a sharp retort but Julie just held on and broke into heart rendering sobs. Within reach along the bench was a box of paper tissues. The teacher pulled a couple out and handed them to the girl. "So tell me what's wrong, Julie," she said with empathy in her voice.
Julie blew her nose and looked up still with eyes awash in tears. "You never answered my question."
"And if I was having an affair with your Dad, do you think it would make any difference to how much he loves you?" The astute question broke through the girl's facade.
"I heard you in the back bedroom last night," she cried.
Kylena flushed. Oh hell. Staying downstairs hadn't helped. "I can't deny it," she whispered. "Would it help if I told you I love your Dad."
"I don't want to lose Daddy," Julie sobbed.
"And why would you lose him?"
"If he loves you, you'll go away together and have babies, I'll get shoved in a boarding school and forgotten. It happened at home with my friends. They spent all year at a boarding school and all vacation at a summer camp. Nobody wanted them."
So that was the trouble. Kylena topped up Julie's glass and placed an arm around the shaking shoulders. "Tell me, has your Dad ever said that would happen?"
The girl shook her head. “No."
"And you don't think I'm good enough for your Dad. If you don't like me..."
"Kylena, it's not that. You are the best teacher I have ever had. You are so kind and helpful. It's not that I don't like you. It's the opposite in fact," She glanced up and wiped her eyes again. "The movies are all wrong, you know."
Kylena frowned but remained silent.
"In the old movies on television a woman who is ill sits up in a fluffy bed looking all beautiful and whispers loving words to her husband. He hugs her and..." She stopped. "In real life it is not like that."
"Movies are just stories and the old ones, especially, are quite unrealistic. This is about your mother isn't it?"
"Yes." Tears appeared again in the girl's eyes. "When I was little like Helen, Mom was so happy and so much fun. Helen was a baby and I'd feed her a bottle and we'd push the baby carriage in the park. Daddy would take Mom's hand and mine then she went wild, Miss Delton and it was more than her just being ill."
"Your Dad told me a little about your mother but what do you remember?"
"She changed and became all haggard. Her hair looked thin and cheeks sagged in...”
"That wasn't her fault, Julie."
"I know but she turned mean inside, too. She'd grumble and growl. Daddy had to do everything with Helen. I tried to help but Mom would holler at me and say I did it all wrong. She even screamed at Daddy. He tried so hard but had to get away. I know he went for long walks across the ranch all by himself. Sometimes I'd run out to him and he'd just tuck his huge arms around me and say it wasn't really Mom being angry. It was the pain inside and she would be better soon." Her mouth shook again. "Once I came home early from school and heard Mom moaning like you were last night but it wasn't Daddy who came out of the bedroom. It was a stranger. Mom screamed at me and the man left. She said if I ever told Daddy I'd get a licking. I was terrified."
*
Julie, at eleven was already tall for her age with a thin body, dangling arms and legs. She was in the kitchen with her tongue between her teeth as she concentrated on cutting the six sandwiches she'd made through the middle.
"Here, let me do it," her mother said and grabbed the knife off her daughter. "If you don't hurry and get these out to your father, he'll be giving you a good wallop."
Julie stepped back and looked defiantly at the scrawny woman. "Daddy never hits me, Mom," she retorted. "Only you do."
Anne Berg swung around and met the angry eyes of her daughter. "Don't you give me lip, young lady," she retorted with her opened hand raised but hesitated and swallowed. “I’m sorry, Julie. I know you put a lot of effort into cutting your daddy's lunch. I would have done it but..."
"But what, Mom? You never do anything for Daddy any more. Nothing. He spends hours and hours working on the ranch and when he comes in for supper, you are not even here. Where are you all the time, Mom?"
"That's not true," Anne snapped. "John told me I should meet more people in town."
"Not men friends," Julie screamed.
Anne Berg's face turned to anger. She grabbed Julie's shoulders and glared into the upturned eyes. “Who told you that? "she hissed.
"Nobody." The youngster pouted. “But I've got eyes, Mom. That man last night. God, you must think I'm dumb."
Anne stopped and her white arms shook. The anger in her eyes changed to alarm. "You haven't told Daddy?" she whispered.
"No but he knows."
Julie grabbled her father's lunch box, ran out the door and slammed it behind her. All she wanted to do was to get away.
*
Three fields away, John reached the end of the strip he was ploughing and stopped the tractor. He noticed Julie running up the lane so turned the engine off and climbed down. He'd been working almost non-stop since six-thirty and felt exhausted, grubby and hungry.
"Hi Sweetheart," he called as Julie reached the gate. "Right on time, as usual. I hope you put lots of milk and sugar in my coffee."
"I did, Daddy," Julie sniffed and handed the tin lunch box over. Her eyes were still red from the tears and a dirty smug across her cheek where she'd attempted to wipe the tears away only added to her look of despair.
John stopped and rubbed his stubble. “What’s wrong, Julie?" he asked in a tender voice.
"Just Mom."
John stared at his daughter for a moment, placed his lunch on the tractor seat and picked Julie up into his arms. " There's more, isn't there? '
Julie nodded. "Mom's changed, Daddy."
John sighed. "I'm afraid your mom is ill, Julie," he said. "When people are ill they do things they wouldn't normally do. She has cancer. Have you heard of that?"
Julie nodded. "Big lumps that grow in the wrong place."
"Yes," John replied. "I don't think Mom will get better so we have to look after her and ignore the times she does the wrong thing."
The youngster looked at her father and nodded with a solemn expression across her face. "So what do we do, Daddy?"
"We carry on," John said. "Grandma is here to help so we aren't alone."
"No Daddy," Julie responded. “We aren't alone."
*
Kylena felt her eyes smart as John's daughter continued her story.
"In one way Mom did improved," Julie added " No men ever came back, her trips to town stopped but she never got better. She became so thin and bad tempered until in the end she was moved to a hospice. Daddy visited every day but I didn't want to go near. The one time I did go she was like a shrivelled up old lady."
"I see and you knew your Dad was hurting?"
"Yes, and I don't want it to happen again, Miss Delton."
"If that is what is worrying you, I can promise I'll never hurt your father, Julie. I know he loves you and Helen and that is forever. I also know he would never, ever leave you or send you away."
"But next year I have to go to a boarding school, anyway. Margaret Johnston is at one across in Hawkes Bay, two hundred miles away. She’s only allowed home once every six weeks."
"I'll talk to your Dad and I'm sure we can solve that problem," Kylena said. "You can enrol at Feilding High School."
"And how is that different?"
"It's a state boarding school and girls can choose to just stay five days. You come home every weekend. I know they'll be taking enrolments for next year soon. If your Dad agrees, I can get all the information you need. Three of our last year's Year 8s are there now. It's a good school."
"And will I have to wear a uniform?"
Kylena nodded. "Most New Zealand high schools have a uniform. The Feilding one is a nice maroon colour."
"I don't mind that. “Julie gave a limp smile. "I like it here, Miss Delton but everything is so different. I want to be just me, not someone who speaks funny. To me, I don't speak funny. You do."
"I guess I do but I think something your Dad said is true."
"And what's that?"
"It's what you are inside that counts, the person you are. It doesn't matter if you are American or New Zealander, whether you are white, black or brown or even the language you speak."
"I know," Julie whispered. "Don't tell Daddy but I get so lonely here. Sure, I know there's Melanie but she rattles on. I love the school but I wish there were more girls around my own age. I miss my friends and feel so alone. Everyone thinks I'm a bragger."
"And that is why every morning at half past eight, all the juniors gather around your desk to tell you what they did the night before. They used to rush in and talk to me but they all go to you, now." She smiled. "Except Helen who comes rushing up to me to talk about everything she has done with you. And poor little Daniel last week. Remember what he did when he tripped over and skinned his knees and elbows?"
"He was a mess, wasn't he?" Julie smiled. "Blood everywhere and him screaming his head off."
"But he ran to you for help. You patched him up and put sticking plaster..."
"Band aids, Miss Delton. We call them band aids and that's even printed on the box."
"Yes, you’re correct," The teacher smiled. "We're using more and more American words now. Anyhow, you fixed him up and even went and rang his mother."
"You were busy with that visitor."
"I know, but do you think the children would go near you if you weren't their friend?"
"I suppose not."
"They may not all be your age, but they are all your friends and we are all proud of you. Even the parents have said how much they enjoy having your bright, happy face around. "It's so peaceful at the school now with those horrible boys gone and that new American girl in the senior class. Deanna is always talking about her.' That was what Mrs. Teale said only last week and you know what an old bite she is."
"I feel sorry for Deanna. She has a hard life."
"Exactly and you've made it better for her." Kylena hesitated. "So do you really mind if your Dad and I go out together?"
Julie shook her head. "Will you have a baby now?" The eyes, now dry glanced up.
"Oh Julie," Kylena was almost in tears. "I don't think so. I'm so sorry about last night but believe me when I say I would never want to hurt you or Helen."
"I think I'll believe you," the youngster replied.
The pair had been concentrating on their conversation so much they never heard the footfall on the floor tiles until the last moment. Both swung around to see John standing there with a smile on his face.
"Dad," Julie cried and leaped up and into his arms. Her tears returned. "I love you Daddy," she cried. “But I've been so mean."
"No she hasn't," Kylena defended when she noticed his quizzical gaze. "We've just been talking, that's all."
"Oh have you?" John drawled. "Is there anything I should know?"
"Just girl talk, Dad," Julie responded, kissed her father's cheek and slipped out towards the door. "It's nothing you men would understand."
"What was that all about?" John chuckled after his daughter left.
"She was in the hall last night and heard us," Kylena confessed.
"Oh hell," John responded.
"I think it will be okay, though," John," Kylena responded. "We had a long talk and I tried to explain." She gave a slight giggle. "She's convinced I'm going to have a baby, though."
"Oh hell," John muttered for a second time.
*
"You can help me carry the pies in," Kylena smiled at Helen who came rushing out to meet the white Honda that pulled to a halt under the carport.
Helen's eyes glowed when she saw the hot steaming pumpkin pie. "You're the only one except Grandma who knows how to cook American food. How do you do it, Miss Delton?
"Recipes off the internet, Helen," Kylena confessed and never told about her failed attempts to get things right. "I've never tried many of these things before but I know you and your daddy like them."
"We sure do," Helen laughed. "That's one of the things I miss." She glanced up at her teacher. "I'm not allowed to tell you but Julie has a surprise for you."
"Has she now then you'd better say no more, had you?"
"She spent ages on it."
Kylena smiled and walked through into the kitchen to where a sheepish twelve-year-old was waiting. Without a word, Julie handed her a beautifully wrapped box of, what she guessed were chocolates.
"Why thank you, Julie but it's not my birthday yet. What’s this for?" the teacher responded.
"An apology, Kylena," Julie whispered. She glared at Helen as if she knew her little sister had said something.
The parcel did contain a small box of chocolates but of more delight was the beautiful home made card that accompanied it. On the cover inside a border of delicate flowers was a coloured photograph of a large colonial type house with a younger Julie on the front porch holding a toddler in her arms.
"You with Helen back home in New York State?" Kylena asked.
"Yes," Julie said in a solemn voice and waited while Kylena opened the card to see a modern photo of John, Fiona and the girls, as she knew them, standing in front of the house they were now inside.
This is our home now, read the note in neat curly writing. I want you to be part of it. I'm so sorry for being nasty to you. You are the best thing that has happened to my Dad and me. Love Julie
"Oh Julie, it's lovely but it wasn't necessary.”
"Daddy used a time delay so he could be in the shot, too," Helen bubbled out.
"I acted like a fool during the weekend," Julie continued.
"No you didn't," Kylena replied. "You were protecting your Dad and I think that was very mature of you." She reached out and hugged her young companion. "I wasn't going to say anything but I have a surprise for you, too but not until early tomorrow morning."
Julie wrinkled her brow. "How early?"
" Can you be at school by quarter to eight?"
"She'll be snoring then, " Helen cut in.
"Hush up, little sister," Julie retorted. "I'll be there but what is it all about?"
"Now, if I told you it wouldn't be a surprise, now would it?"
Julie grinned and nodded.
"Can I come, too?" little sister interjected once again.
"If you want to, Helen." Kylena answered and turned to find two tanned arms around her and a smiling face looking into hers.
"Girl secrets?" John said and kissed Kylena on the cheek.
"No," she answered. "That little thing-a-me I mentioned has all worked out."
"Has it?" John laughed. "I'm amazed."
"Dad!" Julie retorted. She was curious.
*