Chapter 7

By the time Brian and Honey had walked back to the house, Jim and Trixie had returned from their run. Jim and Trixie were walking side by side, but Brian noticed Jim could not keep his eyes off of her chest. Sweat had made its way down her front and through her cleavage. With only a sports bra on, it left little to the imagination. Brian realized that Trixie was older than Honey and given what they had just been doing he did not have any right to criticize Trixie’s attire. In fact, he thought maybe he and Honey should take up running this summer.

When Jim and Trixie spotted the other two, they greeted each other.

“Since tomorrow’s a holiday, Trixie and I are going to go to Wimpy’s and then a movie. I’ve even agreed to go see a chick flick,” said Jim. “Care to join us?”

Honey answered, “I know I’d like to go but I promised Mother I’d be home tonight. She’s in charge of a fundraiser and wants me to help. Have fun.”

Jim looked at his watch and when he realized it was almost four o’clock, he said, “I promised Regan I’d give Jupiter a workout this afternoon. If we want to eat before the movie, I’d better run. I’ll pick you up at six.” He bent over and placed a quick kiss on her upturned lips and then took off jogging up the hill to Manor House.

Trixie turned to go into the house and grab shower. She would have plenty of time to get cleaned up and dry her hair before Jim came back.

Brian turned to Honey. “I promised Moms I’d help her with the garden today and I’ve obviously not done that. I’d better go. I think she wanted to transplant the tomatoes and peppers today.” The kiss he gave Honey was much steamier than the one that Jim had just given Trixie.

When Brian entered the kitchen, Moms was busy making hamburgers for the grill. Brian, Mart and Trixie had bought their parents a gas grill for a combination Mother’s Day/Father’s Day present. Everyone was enjoying it.

“Sorry, Moms, I didn’t help you in the garden today. I can do something tonight if you still need the help?”

Moms didn’t turn around and kept making the hamburger patties. “Mart and your father got the rest of it worked up so I can plant the beans, broccoli and some herbs as well as the tomatoes and peppers. You can help me with that tomorrow after the parade. There will be plenty of time to help weed and put up vegetables all summer.”

“Do you need help with anything else?” he asked.

Moms looked around the kitchen and then poked her head into the family room. “Well, I thought your dad was around here but he must have gone back outside. Would you man the grill and cook the hamburgers? I’ll get the rest of the meal done.”

When the burgers were done, Brian came back into the kitchen. Bobby had helped his mom set the table. Trixie came bounding down the stairs like a whirlwind.

“How do I look, Moms?” she asked excitedly. She pirouetted. Not letting anyone get a word in edgewise she continued, “I hope my hair looks alright. I wanted to blow dry it but with it being so hot I decided to air dry it.” She sat down at her normal place at the table, even though she wouldn’t be eating with the family tonight.

Moms was pleased to see that both Trixie and Brian had been able to work things out with Jim and Honey. They both had seemed so much happier today despite yesterday’s tragedy. “I don’t think you have to worry, dear. Jim will be pleased with what he sees.”

Just then there was a knock on the door and Jim walked through the door. “Sorry, I’m late,” he said. “Mother tried to enlist me with her fundraiser. I think in the end Honey will be volunteering the B.W.G.’s but I was glad to avoid the initial planning.” He bent down and whispered in Trixie’s ear, “I’d much rather do some planning with you.”

As they headed out the door, Trixie’s dad entered the room. He had a serious look on his face and seemed to be giving the evil eye to Jim. Neither Jim nor Trixie could think of anything they had done that would have brought that on.

“I want you home by ten, Trixie,” her dad said rather sternly.

“But, Dad,” she protested, “we don’t have school tomorrow and it’s the first date we’ve gone on in forever.”

“I don’t care. I want you home by ten,” he insisted.

Jim jumped in before Trixie ended up not being able to go at all. “We’ll be home by ten. Even though there’s no school tomorrow, we all want to get up and get in to town for the parade.”

As Trixie and Jim left, Brian and Moms stared at Peter Belden. He never got upset with Trixie. More often than not, he gave into her requests. They both knew how hard she had been working this semester and couldn’t understand Peter’s actions.

Moms called Bobby and Mart to the table and they all sat down to eat. Throughout the meal, their father said very little but kept glancing over at Brian. Mart and Bobby kept the conversation going. Mart had been helping Bobby, Larry and Terry put the finishing touches on their float. They were excited about tomorrow’s activities. By the end of the meal, Brian was feeling decidedly uncomfortable and wasn’t quite sure what he had done.

With the meal finished, Brian joined everyone in helping to clean up the kitchen. He was heading up to his room to get the book he had been trying to read earlier when his dad asked to see him privately in the living room.

“What’s up, Dad?” Brian cautiously asked.

“How are things going with you and Honey?” Brian’s dad asked. “I noticed that she came down this afternoon.”

Brian squirmed a little under his father’s watchful eye. “We’ve started to work things out and have started dating again.”

Peter sat down on one of the sofas as Brian chose to sit in an overstuffed chair. “Well, that makes me feel a little better. I happened to be out in the orchard this afternoon.”

Brian felt heat rise up in his face but said nothing. His dad sat watching his son squirm.

Finally, he said, “I saw the two of you and it didn’t look like you were studying, unless you were studying anatomy for lovers.”

Brian didn’t know what to say. He was mortified that his father had stumbled on to him and Honey in the throes of passion. “I don’t know what to say, Dad,” he finally said. “I certainly didn’t plan for others to observe us.”

Peter treaded lightly with his son. Brian had always been the sensible one but he also was a young adult and Peter remembered how his own hormones raged when he was that age.

“I won’t deny I was a little surprised and concerned by what I saw,” Peter continued.

“It’s not what you think,” Brian interrupted. “We were only doing some experimenting. Nothing really happened.” Brian knew that it wasn’t nothing, it had been very special and personal but he didn’t want to admit that yet to his dad.

“That’s where you’re wrong. Just because you didn’t have intercourse doesn’t mean it’s nothing. What I observed was something that should be reserved for those who are truly in love.”

Brian wanted to tell his dad that he truly was in love, but it was too new to him. He wanted to savor it with Honey first. He had meant to tell her again in the orchard but he had gotten distracted.

“You’re an adult, Brian. I’ve always said that as an adult I would try to mind my own business. I’m concerned. Suppose Honey ended up pregnant. Or it had been Matt Wheeler who stumbled across the two of you. Honey isn’t even seventeen. He could bring statutory rape charges against you and then your entire career plan would be down the drain.”

“Dad, Honey can’t get pregnant if we don’t consummate our relationship,” Brian said. “This is so embarrassing. I never thought I’d be defending my actions to my father. I know you’re concerned and I appreciate it but we’re going to take it slow and not do anything to jeopardize either one of our lives.”

“I hope you’re right. You wouldn’t be the first person who thought they were taking the proper precautions and ended up with an unplanned child,” Peter said.

Brian hesitated, knowing that he could ignite his dad’s ire with the next question. “Is that what happened with you, Dad? I can count.”

His dad looked at him sharply. Then he took a deep breath and said, “No, I normally wouldn’t discuss the intimacies of your mother’s and my relationship but you do deserve to know the truth.” He paused to gather his thoughts then continued. “It was the late sixties and the sexual revolution was well underway. I will admit we didn’t save ourselves for marriage, but we did wait until we were engaged. It was before the advent of home pregnancy tests so you couldn’t instantly find out when you were pregnant. I don’t know for sure if you were conceived outside the banns of marriage but if you were, it wasn’t long before.”

Brian sat there listening but not saying a word.

His dad continued, “I wouldn’t say that you were an unplanned pregnancy. We knew we wanted to have children but we weren’t desperate either. The pill hadn’t been around for that long and many states wouldn’t even allow unwed women to get a prescription until the early seventies. We took some precautions but since our wedding was planned, the closer we got to the date, the less concerned we were about using them. I don’t know how to better explain it without giving you the wrong impression. You were definitely planned in that we knew we wanted to have a lot of children. That you came so early after we were married wasn’t how we originally had intended to start a family. Remember though, even in the late sixties and early seventies with the women’s lib movement, most women were stay-at-home moms. They didn’t wait to start their families.”

When his dad had finished, relief washed over Brian. Ever since he had learned about the birds and the bees and did the math he had wondered about what had happened. He knew his parents were deeply in love but he still had felt some guilt about wondering if they had to get married. “Thanks, Dad, for being honest with me,” he said. “And thanks for caring enough to have this talk. It was uncomfortable and embarrassing but if I am going to choose adult actions, I need to act like an adult. As long as I don’t hurt her, my relationship with Honey is between the two of us. I will promise you this much. I’ll be careful. I hope you won’t treat Honey any differently because of what you saw.”

“I won’t. I love Honey, as well as all of the Bob-Whites, almost as much as I love my kids.”

Brian rose from his chair and when he did so did his father. Brian reached his hand out to shake his dad’s. Peter took the hand in his and then pulled him into hug.

“I wouldn’t have confronted you if I didn’t care so much,” Peter said.

As they walked out of the living room, Brian headed to the door. “I’m going for a walk to clear my head.”

“Don’t be late,” said Moms. “It’ll be dark in a little over an hour.”

When Brian walked out of the house his emotions were in a tangle. He knew he loved Honey and he loved the newness of exploring her body even if it was for the most part all above the waist. He hadn’t lied to his dad. He wasn’t ready to take it any further as much as certain parts of his body would have liked to. He was angry with himself that his dad had witnessed what had taken place earlier. He thought they had gone far enough into the orchard that they would have had some privacy, especially since the only people that had been home had been his parents. He knew he needed to tell Honey but he was afraid she would freak out and never want to be in the same room with his dad again.

He decided to head over to the preserve and walk there. It had always been a source of calm for him. Hopefully, he wouldn’t run into anyone. He would have liked to discuss this with Jim but knew he could never do such a thing. After all it was Jim’s sister that he was dating and with Jim dating Trixie he didn’t think he’d want to hear about it if it had been Jim and Trixie that his dad had discovered.

He walked along the path that led from the stables for several minutes not really seeing where he was going. It was a good thing that this was a well-worn path and one that he knew like the back of his hand. Lost in thought, he didn’t hear anyone approach until arms snaked from behind him and pulled him into a hug.

“Penny for your thoughts,” said Honey. “Something must really be bothering you. I’ve been calling your name since I spotted you by the stables.”

Brian turned around into her comforting embrace. “I needed to do some thinking,” he said.

“It must have been some deep thinking. Are you regretting this afternoon?” she asked tentatively.

Brian took a deep breath. He realized that now was as good of a time as any to let Honey know what happened. She deserved that. “I’m not regretting what we did. I just wish we had chosen a different location.”

Honey looked confused.

He continued, “Dad came out into the orchard this afternoon looking for me. He saw us.”

Honey looked mortified and started to cry. “I’ll never be able to face your father again.”

“Shh,” he said. “It’s all right. Dad was just concerned we were taking things too far. He was just doing his fatherly duty. I tried to explain without going into too much detail that we weren’t acting in the heat of the moment. He promised me he wouldn’t hold it against you.”

Honey sniffed into Brian’s shoulder and said, “I’m still going to die of embarrassment the next time I see him.”

Brian couldn’t resist the urge to kiss away all of Honey’s tears. He gently kissed each closed eyelid savoring the saltiness of the tears he was trying to whisk away. When his lips finally found hers, he tried to give her a simple kiss. Honey had different ideas and probed her tongue into his. Brian pulled back a little.

“You didn’t make any promises to your dad about what you would and wouldn’t do, did you?” Honey asked.

“I didn’t. I just told him that we had discussed things. I tried to be as general as possible. Unless we’re hurting each other, what we do is between the two of us. I need to continue to practice playing second base.”

Despite the gravity of the situation, Honey started to giggle. “I am more than willing to help you with your practice. Did you want to do that now?”

Brian groaned. “I would love to practice with you anytime and just about anywhere as long as we have some privacy but I think we’ve had enough practice for today.”

Honey sighed in disappointment. Brian pulled her back into his arms and then pulled her down onto his lap as he sat on a log next to the trail. “When I was having my little talk with Dad I realized something,” he said.

Honey looked up into his eyes and saw more love than she had ever imagined. “What?” she asked.

“Surprisingly, Dad didn’t give me the lecture about saving yourself for marriage. He did talk about love and respect. I didn’t respond to that because I realized that even though I’ve known I’ve been in love with you for a long time, I have never told you that. I was afraid I’d scare you away, my feelings are so strong.”

Honey held his gaze. “I’ve felt the same way. I know my parents would tell me I’m too young for these kinds of feelings but I know I love you more than anything.”

Brian broke out in a smile. “I love you so much,” he said. “I would never have suggested doing the things we did without being in love with you. I’ve been thinking about it for so long, I hadn’t realized I hadn’t told you.”

Honey tentatively pulled Brian’s head back down to hers and kissed him soundly. She couldn’t help herself when her tongue pushed its way over his lips and into the recesses of his mouth. This time he didn’t stop her. Gently he placed his hands on her cheeks to hold her head close to his as he explored her mouth as well.

Finally, he released her lips and pulled her back into his embrace. “If we don’t stop now, I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop,” he admitted. “My emotions are so wound up.”

Disappointment could be seen on Honey’s face. She was shocked at how addicted she had become to Brian’s body. She also knew that if their relationship were going to last forever, the physical part needed to be only part of it.

“Would a dip in the lake cool you off?” Honey said, teasingly.

“Not tonight. Seeing you in your bathing suit might only fuel the fires,” he replied.

Despite his good intentions, Brian couldn’t resist Honey’s sweet skin. “My good intentions are not winning out tonight,” he admitted. “I promised Moms and Dad I wouldn’t be late but I can’t resist you.”

Honey sighed a happy sigh. Brian looked down for the first time to see what she was wearing. He was pleased to see that she had changed into a button down shirt. Not wanting to get carried away he unbuttoned the top few buttons. He was pleasantly shocked to see her in yet another bra. This one was a black, wispy one that he was pleased to see had a front closure. Her firm breasts were peeking over the top of it without falling out.

“I think we’ve had enough practice for today,” Brian said as he rebuttoned her blouse. “I want to take you on a real date. Do you want to do something after the parade tomorrow?”

“I’d love to do something. I’ll let you surprise me,” Honey said.

The two headed back to the Manor House. When they reached the steps Brian bent down and placed a very appropriate kiss on Honey’s lips. “You’ll be in my dreams,” she said.

“All of the Bob-Whites are meeting here tomorrow morning, right?” Brian asked.

“Yes, I told Mr. Phillips that we would be there early so we can get our assignments. I hope they put us at the end of the parade to direct people to the memorial in the cemetery for the program.”

Brian turned and headed back to Crabapple Farm. He had gone about ten steps when he turned back to wave at Honey. She was still standing on the steps watching him walk into the sunset.

 

 

This website is © 2005-2025 Mal. All rights reserved. All graphics created by Mal and may not be used without permission. Original "man and dog" image by Getty Images.