13 comments/ 64366 views/ 40 favorites Accident Prone By: MarciaRH Note to the reader: I wanted to write a realistic, romantic mother/son incest story with a strictly PG-13 rating. I'm happy with the results but readers not interested in a story without an explicit sex scene might want to avoid this one and move on to the next offering. I just wanted to be upfront about it and save readers grief. It started the day Rachel Fleming almost blinded herself with drain cleaner. This was just after Michael's 18trh birthday, a Saturday afternoon, and he happened to be in the kitchen only by chance. A minute earlier or later, and Rachel would have suffered serious chemical burns, if not been disfigured. She was a klutz, almost painfully uncoordinated, and Michael had spent a good deal of his teenage years watching out for her. Especially over the last 14 months when there was nobody to perform that chore but him, and to a lesser degree, his 9 year old sister, Effie. Rachel was legally separated, pending a divorce. "Be careful of that," Michael cautioned. Taking a break from lawn mowing and edge trimming, he was standing at the refrigerator contemplating a can of Coke or a glass of Mom's homemade lemonade. He disliked anything dangerous as Liquid Drano anywhere near his mother's grasp, or within spill range. "Why not let me do that," he scolded. "I didn't even know the drain was running slow. Which one is it?" She hesitated, looking uncertainly into the side with the disposal and then at Michael, and then at the instructions on back. Great, he thought caustically, about to pour acid down the drain and you haven't even read the directions. He tightened when she placed the open bottle at the edge of the counter and squat to look at the disposer, as if that would tell her anything. He'd just started forward, saying, "Mom, what are you looking for?" when she raised her head and banged it sharply on the opening, yelping and grabbing her head with one hand and the open door with the other. It was just enough vibration to upset the bottle and send it toppling over. "Mom!" he shouted, too late. Two things happened: Rachel instinctively reached up and hunkered down, her head tilting forward reflexively. One act threatened to cause her terrible injury where the other probably saved her eyesight. Had the bottle simply fallen it would have been far less dangerous a situation. But Rachel's up thrust hand caught the bottle and instead of falling and hitting her back, the bottle lay on its side, gurgling the bulk of its contents onto the back of her head before Michael arrived and batted it into the sink. Rachel was screaming by then, on the verge of panic. Michael slapped up the faucet and grabbed the sprayer and yanked it out to the full extent of the braided steel hose and forced Rachel's head back, shouting at her: "Eyes shut, Mom! Keep your eyes shut! Squeeze them as tight as you can!" He triggered the sprayer and blasted the Drano seeping onto her forehead back into her hair. "Keep your eyes closed!" he commanded, grabbing the bottle of Palmolive liquid and squirting a stream across her forehead. "Scrub your face," he ordered. "Keep your head back while I get this out of your hair." Caring less about his hand, he concentrated the spray on her scalp and ran his fingers through her hair, forcing the Drano out and down her back. He realized what was happening even as she began to squirm from the chemical burning her skin. She was turned away from him and Michael instinctively reached down and grabbed the front of her shirt, spraying water sidewise across the kitchen. Apologizing, he ripped it open and yanked it back over her shoulders, buttons ricocheting off the front of the cabinet and out across the floor. "Michael!" she cried in panic. "Sorry, but you got to get out of this shirt!" He wrenched it down her arms, and flung it away and then sprayed her back and shoulders and then squirted detergent from one side to the other and worked it across her already reddening skin with his bare hand. He directed the spray into her hair sideways, making it run down her front rather than down her injured back. He made sure plenty of water followed the Drano and diluted it into near harmlessness. But he had another worry. "You gotta get out of your jeans, Mom!" "What? Her jeans were sodden and Michael knew exactly what Drano soaked into the material would do to her down there. Squirting the rest of the Palmolive onto her hair, he hit it with the spray and then lathered it until her hair turned white with bubbles. Then he ran his hand down under her bra strap and side to side while directing the spray against her back. He could see where the straps had concentrated the liquid and burned welts into her skin. He ran his hand far enough around both sides to encounter her breasts. She reacted as any mother would. "Michael!" "Sorry!" he exclaimed, laughing despite the circumstances. "I wasn't copping a feel, I swear I wasn't. Stand up. Get those jeans off." He directed the spray across her chest and down across her stomach. She was experiencing this entire thing blind, her face covered with bubbles. It took a moment, but she got the button unhooked and the zipper down and worked the jeans off her hips and down her thighs while Michael followed her progress with the sprayer. The important thing was to keep as much water flowing over her as possible. She would not like what he planned to do next. "Turn around," he told her. "Why?" She was scared and utterly helpless. "You have to take off your panties, Mom." "What?" she cried. "I swear to you, Mom, your modesty is less important right now that what might be happening to you down there. Please don't make this worse than it already is." Frustrated and humiliated, she turned and squirmed out of her panties and let them dropped into her jeans, bunched around her ankles. "I suppose my bra's next?" she spat angrily. Michael laughed mirthlessly. "Please. You know I'm not doing this to embarrass you." He kept his eyes on the back of her head and sprayed water down her front and backside blindly. "The floor," she moaned. "Oh, my God. This is such a mess. Is my face okay, Michael?" Michael told her it was. "Can I rinse the soap off it, at least?" Michael released the trigger and slid the sprayer back into the sink. "Wait," she said dispiritedly. He waited as she fumbled open her bra and clumsily peeled it away and let it drop on the floor. "You were right. My boobs are burning like crazy." She scooped lather from her hair and used it to scrub her chest. "This wouldn't be so bad if I could see, damn it." Michael said nothing, keeping his gaze safely averted. "I'm sorry to be such a horrible pain in the ass, Michael, I really am. Thank you so much." She was near tears, and without thinking, Michael reached out and put his arms around her waist, drawing her tight up against him. "You have no idea how absolutely fucking scared I was." His voice cracked with the strain. She gripped his arms with hers, and squeezed them tightly. "You won't tell your father about this, right?" Michael laughed bitterly. "How about the National Enquirer?" "Oh, they would definitely love this," she retorted. "Psycho Mom in Shocking Drano Striptease!" They both laughed. "I really need to rinse my face and get upstairs to the shower." She groped blindly for the sink and Michael leaned around and guided her hands to the faucet and eased it up. One at a time, she freed her feet from the jeans and then kicked them aside. "Can you put these in the washer for me? I don't know if they can be salvaged, but I'm sure the shirt's a write-off." She splashed water against her face. "How are your eyes?" Michael asked. "I don't think it got near my eyes. Thanks to you, Michael. Oh, God. I handled that so badly, didn't I? I would have run blindly for the shower if you hadn't been here and probably disfigured myself for life. I never even thought of the damned sprayer. I was so shocked when you pulled it out and shot me in the face. I honestly had no idea what it was at first. Did I scream? This could have been so, so much worse, Michael. It really could." In the ease-down from his panic, Michael was beginning to think he'd way overreacted. His left hand showed no reaction to the caustic liquid and he saw no worse on his mother's back than the welts from her bra strap and a slight pinking on her upper back and shoulders. He imagined her scalp had taken the worse of it and he'd been very fast with the sprayer and Palmolive. Had he just stripped his mother naked for his own benefit, rather than hers? It took all his will power to keeps his eyed from straying below her shoulders. He was aware that he'd seen a good portion of her naked peripherally. Michael, for God's sakes, she right here, completely naked! What are you doing? Quickly, he turned and squat to retrieve her discarded clothing, shirt included, and headed toward the laundry room. The faucet shut off and Rachel opened the cabinet over the sink, for a for a hand towel to wipe her face, Michael imagined. She would not be wrapping herself in it, he thought ironically. "I'm so sorry about this mess, Michael. I'll help you clean it up when I come down." Michael snorted. "Will you go shower, already? I'll take care of the mess. You take care of yourself." He opened the washer and dropped her clothes inside. "I'll start the washer until you get in the shower. Make sure you wash your hair really good, Mom. Three or four times at least. I didn't get it all out, I'm sure, and I don't know how long the soap will neutralize it. Thank God it was there." "Thank God you were there," she argued with almost comic intensity. Michael snorted and grabbed the bucket out of the corner, a yellow contraption with wheels that he'd always looked at with a fair sense of disgust, but was now grateful to have. There was a lot of water on the kitchen floor. He listened to his mother pad through it on her way out of the kitchen and then wheeled the contraption out of the washroom. * * * It took the entire length of her long shower for Michael to handle the mess. He'd just wheeled the bucket back into the corner when the water upstairs shut off. He waited a moment to be sure, and then restarted the washer. He'd forgotten until halfway through the first wash-cycle to shut it off, causing him appropriate guilty. Not half as much guilt as he felt for what he'd done to his mom, though. 20/20 hindsight is pretty revealing of human nature, he thought. Maybe a better reveal of someone's motives. He was convinced that everything he'd done in that five-minute catastrophe was motive-driven; specifically, that he'd relished dominating the situation and making Rachel do his bidding. He was pretty sure that ripping her shirt apart had given him an erection. He suspected getting to sleep tonight would be an ordeal. He prayed for the willpower not to replay this over and over in his head for dark purposes. He was surprised a moment later when he turned to discover the object of his anxiety in the washroom doorway, hair wrapped in a towel and her body wrapped in her thick white terrycloth robe. He went to her immediately and hugged her tight. She clung to him, trembling violently. "Are you all right?" he asked, alarmed. "Delayed reaction," she said through clenched teeth. "You should have seen me in the shower. I had the water turned all the way over to hot and couldn't stop shaking." She compulsively drew her arms in against her chest and began to shake so badly that David walked her out to the living room and down on the couch beside her and held her tightly against him. "I caused that stupid accident myself," she said bitterly. "I must have a hidden death wish, I swear I do, Michael. If you hadn't been there..." She shuddered hard enough to dislodge the towel from her hair. They both tried to catch it, which made them both laugh. Then Michael pulled it free to inspect her scalp. "Ouch...that's not from the shower I don't think." He leaned out to look at her forehead, wincing slightly. "You need to get some lotion on this, Mom." She touched the reddened skin just below her hairline. "I saw it in the mirror--and my scalp, or course. My shoulders got it a little bit, and my back I think." She reached up and tapped the location of her bra strap. "This really hurts right here. And right here," she indicated, touching her chest and laughing in embarrassment. "I didn't get it off fast enough, I guess." She turned to look at him, almost timidly. "So how does it feel, having seen your mother completely nude?" Her lips trembled, and her eyes shown with tears. "Sorry. The anxiety, I guess. It could have been so much worse." "But it wasn't," he said, patting her knee. "I'd like to see your back and shoulders, if that's okay?" He cleared his throat. "It would be better if you put on a bra first though. I've had enough of my mother naked for one afternoon." She laughed and let him assist her to her feet. "No mother should ever have to be naked in front of her mostly grown son. That was truly embarrassing, Michael.." Upstairs, he waited in the hallway while Rachel went to her dresser and opened the top drawer and removed a bra and pair of panties. He watched her do this in his mind, and then tried, unsuccessfully, not to watch her disrobing and putting them on. He saw this just as clearly as had he stepped into the open doorway and watched her bend over and slip one foot after the other into her panties and pull them up. He blanked his mind to keep from imagining her donning her bra. "I'm good," she called uneasily. She stood before the vanity mirror with a bottle of aloe-based lotion in her hand. She held it up wordlessly and tilted back her head for Michael to do her forehead. She could have done this herself, he thought, squirting lotion into his palm and then scooping it onto his fingertips. She eyed him with her eyebrows arched questioningly as he dabbed lotion onto the finger-like incursions from her hairline. What scalp he could see through her matted blond hair was bright red, like a bad sunburn. He wondered if they shouldn't go to the hospital. Following his eyes, the same dark blue as her own, she read his thoughts and mirrored them: "It's no worse than a bad sunburn, Michael. It'll be okay." "Turn around," he said softly. "I'll do your back and shoulders." She turned and worked the robe back over her shoulders and let it slide down to her waist, catching it in the crook of her arms. Her bra was a deep, nearly black purple; he tried to remember the color of her bra in the washer and couldn't. He wondered, not so idly, if she wore matching panties under the robe. There was an angry redness above and below her bra strap, though her back and shoulders were no worse than the pink she'd been earlier. She moved her hair safely away and he ran a bead of lotion across her shoulders-she shivered in response-and another short stream down between her shoulder blades. He worked that lotion in first to keep it from running down to her bra strap. "I'm going to lift this." Pulling out the strap-he flinched when she flinched-he ran a bead along the welted skin and gently smoothed it with his fingertips . "Imagine we're on the beach and I'm applying suntan lotion to your back," he said mildly. She laughed and half-looked back over her shoulder, smiling. "That's what I'm imagining, right now." Michael was intensely aware how far from the beach they were, both physically and metaphorically. The tension between them-sexual tension, he might as well come right out and name it-was no less palpable than were he doing this to Ginny, his recent, lamented girlfriend. His corralled erection thumped uncomfortably against his jeans and he was so intensely aware of his mother's bare skin and the fresh smell of her right out of the shower that he began to color embarrassingly. This was driving him crazy. Finished, he lifted her robe and helped her shrug it over her shoulders and then stepped back. Rachel adjusted the front, retied the belt and turned around. "Thank you so much, Michael." She rose up and pecked him on the lips, something she rarely did anymore as she knew it embarrassed him. He grinned sheepishly and handed her the bottle of lotion. "Time to finish the grass," he said uncomfortably. For one long moment, they held eyes and the tension between them was so intense it could practically be seen in the air. She'd been alone in the nearby bed for 14 months now, husband-less and hurting. The breakup had nearly killed her and she'd mostly suffered in silence. During a rare unguarded moment six months ago, she'd let slip that his father was the only man she'd ever slept with. How many nights had she cried herself to sleep since he left, he wondered? Though he missed his father badly, there were times he could blow the man's brains out with a shotgun. How could you cheat on a woman like this? Before something enormously wrong went wrong, Michael kissed her on the cheek and went outside to finish his yard work. * * * Things did, and did not return to normal. Michael forced himself into a, 'I love my mother but she is my mother' mindset, while for a time, while Rachel seemed to become more lost by the day. When sufficient time had passed, however she began to pull herself together and be his mom again and put the incident behind her. Michael was correct about the imaginings. But the sexual undercurrent was no match against the horror of what almost happened to his mom, and his dreams for the following month were plagued by scenarios which played out significantly different, resulting in blindness or severe physical disfigurement because he was outside, or a moment too late in reacting. Rachel had nightmares as well, and more than once Michael and/or Effie ran to her rescue in the dark of night. The real nightmare began one evening in mid-October when Rachel came to him with the news that she and his dad were having dinner Saturday night. Michael was instantly cautious. "What about Cassie?" he asked warily. She was the 20-something redhead his dad was currently dating. Rachel, already pink with embarrassment, reddened further. "I didn't mean that to sound accusatory," Michael cautioned. "I just thought that she and Dad were..." He shrugged, not wanting to embarrass his mom even more. How do you reconcile with a man who has cheated on you with two of your friends, he thought? Two that he knew about, anyway. And with the three additional women during the 16-month separation period, Michael had little respect for his dad when it came to marital fidelity. His immediate reaction was therefore intensely negative, which he tried to conceal. "Your dad put that on hold," Rachel said uncomfortably. Michael hoped his angry reaction didn't show, but knew it had when Rachel flushed bright red and lowered her eyes. He put a hand on her forearm. "I know how much you miss him, Mom. Effie cries herself to sleep practically every night, and you do nothing but toss and turn." Rachel started to protest, but Michael cut her off. "You don't need my permission. You and Dad were together 18 years and have two kids together. You don't just throw away a marriage without looking at it from every possible angle. Dad made a mistake, sure. He's suffered right along with you though-" In the company of his cute little redhead and the other two bimbos, Michael thought grimly. "-and mistakes can be forgiven. I'm grown, but Effie is suffering without her dad." He transferred his hand to Rachel's cheek. "Just make sure he's worth taking back, okay? It wasn't you that caused this damned mess. Remember that, Mom." Tears in her eyes, Rachel nodded and patted Michael's hand on her cheek. "I should marry the son and forget the father," she joked, laughing through her tears. She sniffed and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. "I'm such a mess. I should probably say no. I haven't actually said yes, because I wanted to talk to you first and get your...opinion." She was regaining control of herself. "It is only just dinner. For all I know, I could be handed divorce papers." She winced, and Michael winced right along with her. "I haven't felt this confused since I came home pregnant with you." Accident Prone Michael had to think for a moment how old she was. The night she spoke of was almost 19 years ago. They'd married when she was three months pregnant and she'd delivered Michael a few months after her 16th birthday. Michael was two years old and his mother 18 before they lived together as man and wife, and even then, help was needed paying the rent and putting food on the table while Jack attended school and Rachel worked part time at Walmart. She never got a degree and had lucked into the job she'd spent her entire adult life mastering. Even so, it wasn't enough for her and two kids; Jack carried them with monthly support payments. Michael had to give him that; his dad was no welsh. "My opinion is yes," Michael said grudgingly. "Just go slow and make sure this is in your best interest." She nodded, and then pecked him on the lips again as she'd done that afternoon two months ago. "I have to tell you something. And don't blow me off and make like it's no big deal because it is." She took a steadying breath. "Since your dad left, you've been the man of the household. It hasn't escaped me how much you've put in, keeping this house stable for your sister and me. I haven't said anything because this was a matter of pride with you and I understood that. I've been really proud of you, both as a mother, and as a woman. And there is a difference, Michael." She took another deep breath. "I think we both know how close it came to something bad happening that Saturday afternoon." She waited for some reaction from Michael and he finally nodded. "You took complete control of the situation and showed me what a capable, level-headed person you really are. The woman in me reacted to that. I was very close to succumbing to the intense feelings of vulnerability and need I had. You rescued me, and did so selflessly. I was...I wanted to..." He put his fingertips against her lips, silencing her. "We both now how close it was. You've been alone for 16 months now, and I've been pretty much alone with you. The feelings I have are not exactly paternal anymore either." He laughed, completely flustered. "I don't think this is something we should talk about now. Not with Effie downstairs watching TV. She's caught me out enough times that I know better than to forget about her being around." Rachel laughed nervously. "That would be a bit much, admittedly. It's a bit much for her mother, too. But thank you for letting me get it off my chest. It had to be said before I exploded like a volcano." She kissed him on the cheek and stepped back. "In light of that..." She hesitated, biting her lower lip. "I have to decide what to do if your father wants to make up." Michael regarded her calmly. He knew where this was going, where it had to go from this point. "Don't ask permission to go to bed with your own husband," he said softly. Rachel reddened again. "I'm not. What I want is to promise you that I won't do it unless he's committed to me and the marriage and to his children. Unless he agrees to be my husband again and to be faithful the rest of our life together. It's unfair to you, but it's the fairest thing I can't think of." Michael said in exasperation: "What I think shouldn't be part of any decision about you and Dad." "It shouldn't be, no. But it is, and we both know why. And we both know that we can never go to bed together, no matter what. Right?" Michael nodded. He would not-could not-commit incest with his mother. * * * The four days leading up to the dinner date were hard for them both. Neither said a word, but neither could look the other in the eye for too long, either. It was a toss-up who was more anxious the evening of, Rachel or Michael. "How do I look?" Rachel asked, nervously smoothing the bottom of her knit top against her hips. Michael thought she looked just incredible; 9-year-old Effie gave her a more jaundiced opinion. "It makes you look fat, Mom. I liked the other outfit better." Michael could have dope-slapped her; Rachel eyed him warningly. "I think you're right. This makes me look to hippy, doesn't it?" Michael threw his hands up in frustration. "You don't have any hips! How can it make you look hippy?" Effie smiled at him condescendingly. "I don't know why she's even asking you. You'd send her out in jeans and a sweatshirt, you dork." Michael nearly lost his temper, which only made her smirk. He thought acidly, I'm the man of the house in case you've forgotten and you're not too old to put over my knee and teach some manners to. She looked away quickly, evidently reading his thoughts. He returned his gaze to his mom and assured her: "I think you look great. If you want to go back to the skirt and blouse outfit, I liked that too. Dazzle him with those incredible legs of yours, Mom." Effie giggled, and Mom frowned at him reprovingly. Secretly, he hoped she would switch back to the previous outfit because he disliked how the mauve colored top clung to every curve, particularly sculpting her small but prominent breasts. The loose-fitting, silky blouse tended to hide them. No such luck. Dad arrived at 6 PM and Effie was ecstatic, jumping into her father's arms on the front stoop. Michael was restrained, greeting his dad with a hug and a manly shake of the hands. He was encouraged, noting his dad looked almost as anxious about this dinner date as his mom, who looked on the verge of a panic attack. He was worried though, about the obvious and instantaneous sexual tension that sprang up between the two. He watched in frustration as his mom's color grew high and her breathing and dilated pupils gave her away. Her last look at Michael as Jack shepherded her out the front door was one of apology. He nodded, tacitly saying, Whatever is best for you, Mom. And despite his jealousy, he meant what he thought. * * * Two dinner dates later, including a movie and a visit to a bar afterward, Rachel approached Michael with news that Jack wanted the family to spend a ski weekend in December at Wisp. The stress was obvious in her face. This was a big step up from dinner and a movie, Michael thought----for one, thing, who would sleep where-but he stomped on the neck of his jealousy and approached this as a son supporting his mom's best interest. He knew how hard the last month had been for her. But he also had to be honest. "Don't get mad at me, okay? What I have to say will make you defensive and on the spot. I have to say it anyway, or I'm not living up to my promise to look out for you. And don't tell me that's not my job because we both know it is. You need looking after and as the current man of the house, it's my job to do it. I love you and I need to be your Devil's Advocate. Can we agree on that?" Indeed on the spot, flushed and humiliated, Rachel nodded curtly. Then she took a deep breath and calmed down. "I keep forgetting how much our family dynamic has changed in the last few months. My sense of worth takes a hit every time I remember just how dependent upon you I am. And how much I absolutely rely on you." She was quiet a moment looking at Michael's chest with her arms crossed defensively over hers. "The worst part is I still have this damned, frustrating, maddening desire for you that makes me feel like the poster girl for the Deviant Mothers Society. How can I be so emotionally attached to my own son? It warps my entire thinking process, my whole sense of being." She looked up. "And yet I still have feelings for your father and want him back. What is the matter with me, Michael?" He laughed bitterly. "I'm not your husband. You need a husband, even if he's a fuck up and put you through hell. The question is, can you trust him not to do the same to you again? Does he know you're considering this? Taking him back?" Rachel sighed. "He swears he doesn't want to rush me into anything. Or push me into anything. He agrees I was right to kick him out and file for the divorce. He admits that he had a problem with...infidelity. He broke it off with Cassie in the hopes we'd have a chance at reconciliation. He even acknowledges that you have a right to be involved in this decision as my..." She laughed, embarrassed. "My present provider-replacement. I wonder if he doesn't suspect how close to true that really is." She shifted uncomfortably. "Can I ask you a serious question? I'm not sure I actually can. This is so terribly embarrassing for me." She looked at the door and Michael knew her thoughts were on Effie, and where she was. He walked to the door, checked outside and eased it closed. "Go ahead," he said. The naked innocence in her eyes was unnerving. He watched her shudder and then drop her gaze to the floor. "Would you actually make love to me, Michael? If that was what we decided we both wanted and needed? Knowing that I'm your mother and that I gave birth to you 18 years ago?" "Yes!" Michael answered forcefully. His mom nodded fretfully. "This makes everything so hard. I think sometimes....I should just let you take me to bed and get it over with." She looked up apologetically. "That sounds so bad, I'm sorry." She impulsively stretched up and kissed his lips. "I love you, Michael. I promise you if things go sour with your father and I...shit. I am so stupid." She wiped at her eyes with the heels of her hands. "Why is this so fucking difficult?" Michael said in a whisper: "I want things to work out for you and Dad. I do. I'm not the one with two kids and a mortgage payment to meet every month. You need a husband, Mom, not a Freshman live-in lover. If things work out badly, I'm still here. We can talk about it then. Right now, you need to make sure Dad can be trusted not to hurt you again. Maybe this family weekend will answer that question." He took her by the arms. "I want you to sleep with him if that's what you need to find out. He loves you, I know he does, and that might be what gets you back together again. Just make sure it's what you need, Mom." He drew her into his arms and kissed the top of her head. Rachel wrapped her arms tightly around his waist and Michael tried to ignore her soft breasts flattening against his chest. He promised himself that, should the opportunity ever present itself, he would hold her naked against him and feel them flatten again. * * * Two weeks later they climbed into Jack's SUV and made for the resort on a blustery, promising Friday afternoon. The forecast for Western Maryland was snow, up to 12" in the higher elevations over the next two days. Michael found himself secretly excited about this. He hadn't been skiing since the breakup and looked forward to donning skis again and tearing up the trails. Beside him in the back seat, Effie leaned forward against her seat belt and exclaimed excitedly: "I get to ski the intermediate slopes, right?" Mom and Dad were less than committal on the request. "We'll have to see," Jack said. "You haven't been skiing in a year and a half, sweetie." "None of us have!" Effie objected. Michael frowned at the quick, uncomfortable glance that passed between his parents. Jack obviously had been skiing since the break-up. Not unexpected, Michael thought in retrospect, considering what an aggressive, expert skier Jack was. He'd learned at the age of three and had been a fanatic his whole life. Four years ago, on a weekend away with friends Aaron and Sheila Crawford, Jack and Sheila decided that love of skiing wasn't the only thing they had in common. A flirtation developed, followed by a torrid, year-long extramarital affair. When it ended, Jack took up with Melissa Crewe, a coworker of Rachel's he met at the company Christmas party. Things blew up when Rachel covered for Melissa one afternoon during a doctor's appointment that was actually a liaison with Jack at a cross-town motel. Though Melissa religiously deleted any emails from Jack, she had not counted on the email server failing that afternoon and messages being restored from the back-up server. Rachel was confronted not only with Jack's current infidelity, but a humiliating account of the affair with her best friend Sheila. Furiously humiliated, she called Melissa's cell phone and told her to pass the message to Jack that he needn't come home that night. Melissa sealed her humiliation by laughing about it in the background and inviting Jack to stay with her. Rachel had gone home and cried for a week straight. They arrived at five and checked into the lodge. The arrangements made everyone uncomfortable. They could afford only two rooms, so Michael and Dad would take one, Effie and Mom the other. Effie was at once enthusiastic and critical of this arrangement. She wanted a girls-night with Mom, but she also wanted Mom and Dad together again. Michael was glum about either arrangement, but selfishly preferred this one over his mom and dad sleeping together. That thought just caused him no end of pain. They unpacked and went for dinner in the lodge restaurant. Effie was straining at the bit, wanting to get out there and join the other skiers hitting the slopes. Every minute spent inside was a personal affront to her. "Why do we have to eat?" "Wouldn't it be better to work up an appetite first?" "Can I at least do some snow-tubing?" "You promised I could start on the intermediate slope, right?" "Michael can ski with me!" "I don't need Michael to ski with me if I have to ski the stupid beginner's slope." "I have as much right to talk as anyone. I think it's stupid for Mom and Dad not to be in the same room together." Clearing his throat, Jack said carefully: "We talked about that, sweetie. Your mom and I think that's being presumptuous." Michael snickered when Effie protested, "Shut up, Michael! I know what presumptuous means!" She turned her precocious gaze on Mom and Dad. "You're getting back together, right? Ow, Michael! Damn it!" "Effie Lynn! You do not use that language to your brother." "But he kicked me, Mom!" "You deserved to be kicked, you stupid little putz," Michael growled. "Michael, be nice to your sister. She's 9-years-old. She's guaranteed to say things like that. Effie, we discussed this already. Your dad and I are taking it slow." "Like a freaking glacier," Effie complained irritably. "Will you shut up," Michael growled. "And don't stick your damned tongue out at me. I'll cut the damned thing off the next time." Effie formed a slug and displayed it obstinately. This made Jack laugh, which made Effie laugh, which started Mom laughing, which made Michael roll his eyes and shake his head in disgust. And then start laughing along with the rest of them. It was decided that all would start with the toughest beginners slope to reacquaint everyone with skis and poles and skiers trying to kill everyone in sight. Michael stuck close to Effie, who took after her mother coordination-wise on skis; Dad kept an eye on Mom. Michael was not in the same league as his dad, although he'd inherited Jack's natural talent, if not his overwhelming desire to hit the slopes every chance he got. Michael would never be more than an occasional weekend skier, never taking off to Colorado as his Mom and Dad had some winters. Not that his mother was expert, by any means. Michael often thought she had no business on the intermediate slopes, much less following after his Dad on the expert's. She was not coordinated or confident enough for that. He was relieved when she showed no interest in venturing beyond the beginners slopes that night, though it kept Jack close by. The trouble began afterward, when they returned to the lodge, sore but pumped on adrenalin and Jack suggested he and Mom catch a nightcap in the bar. Michael was instantly and adamantly against it, but didn't say a word. His sister made up for his silence, practically jumping up and down in her excitement and clapping her hands. Michael could have strangled her. Instead, he told his mom via a nod to go with Dad and have a good time, which she did, reluctantly. An hour later, Michael began to worry but Effie threatened to run screaming down the hall that Michael was trying to kill her if he even went near the door. As a second hour crawled by and Michael began to fear the worst, Effie only grinned smugly and insisted they play archery on the the Wii. She was asleep when Jack and Rachel returned, pleasantly drunk and obviously enamored of the empty room next door. Michael sent them away with his blessings, noting Effie asleep in the bed opposite him anyway, which he damn well knew she'd done on purpose. When his parents stole through the connecting room, Rachel giggling drunkenly and Jack with an obvious hard-on for her, physically as well as mentally, Michael went into the bathroom and sat down on the toilet with his head in his hands and cried in frustration. * * * Rachel's eyes were bloodshot, puffy and discomfited at breakfast the next morning. Time on the beginner's slope the night before couldn't account for her stiff movements, and Michael wondered if she had slept at all. She would not meet his gaze, the only confirmation he needed that she'd had total unrestricted sex. He was hard pressed not to show his anger; from her cat and canary look, she was hard pressed not to melt away under the table out of sight. He finally relented as she finished her third black coffee and rubbed her calf with the side of his boot. She paused, fork halfway to her mouth and met his gaze, blinking timidly. He smiled, cocking his head in admission that she probably felt worse about this than he did, and would she please stop doing that. The man beside her had occupied her bed and body for 16 years; what was one more night? He wondered darkly just how many times they had done it. * * * "This is not a good idea," he said. They were at the lifts and Michael was not happy with this decision to skip the intermediate slopes and accompany Jack down an expert's. "You're not up to speed yet, Mom. We should let Dad enjoy himself without worrying about you and I killing ourselves." Rachel shook her head. "I'll be fine. I've skied this slope half a dozen times. I don't need a babysitter, Michael." She eyed him angrily for a moment, and then dropped her eyes sheepishly. "I'll be fine. You should go with your sister and keep an eye on her." "Not a chance," Michael said firmly, shooting Effie a look to keep quiet. "I'm not letting you out of my sight." She eyed him plaintively, but Michael indicated the argument was over, so sighing dramatically, she said, "Fine, whatever" and Michael would gladly have given her the spanking he'd wanted to give Effie. And then he berated himself for begrudging his mother her hard earned happiness. Only, she didn't look very happy, did she? 10 seconds onto the trail and she was in trouble. He watched her blow two easy cuts and even the little coordination she'd exhibited last night was gone. She'd forgotten how to brake and was constantly on the wrong leg at the wrong time. Alarmed, and angry at his father for paying so damned little attention to his struggling wife, Michael tucked and went after her with single-minded intensity. His alarm shot through the roof when she looked back in panic after her worse cut yet and Michael knew it was a tree that would stop her if he didn't. He was beside her five seconds later and jettisoning his poles when she kicked back, right into his arms. He went down and brought her down atop him, digging the side of his skis into the snow, throwing up a flume that covered them both. She emitted a hi-pitched screech as the trees rushed at them at seemingly impossible and unstoppable speed. Michael braced for impact, wrapping her as tightly as possible and putting himself between her and the danger. At the last moment, his skis caught an impacted snow-ridge and it flung them sideways around the first two pines and right between a second and third pair and into a high bank of snow backed by laurel bushes. They came to a jarring halt amid a fierce throwback of snow. Michael could only pant and feel the slam of his heart against his rib cage. He looked down at his mom. He pulled up his goggles and then hers. Accident Prone "Are you okay?" Her bloodshot eyes peered up at him. "I'm so sorry, Michael. I really am." He looked at her confused. "For sleeping with your father last night. It was a mistake. I knew it and I did it anyway. I don't deserve to have you save me a second time like this. I'm so sorry." Michael choked out laughter, relieved. "I forgive you. I'm just so fucking glad you're okay." He looked up and saw a dozen skiers heading in to render assistance. He had only seconds to get this said. "Are you finished with him now?" "I want to be," she said. "I only wish it was that simple." He was unable to ask what that meant because a pair of skiers slid up and planted their poles near their feet. The woman gasped and covered her mouth, eyes wide in shock. It was then Michael spotted the blood soaking through his mother's right pants leg and the 8" long tear in the material. "Get the ski patrol," he said calmly. "Tell them we have a compound fracture and possible arterial bleeding." His mom was unconscious. He yanked off his belt and made a tourniquet around her upper thigh. * * * Michael was not talking to Jack. The son of a bitch had skied unconcernedly to the very bottom before looking back to check on his wife. Michael would have punched him out if not for the presence of Effie. Of course, she sided with Jack. At one point in the hospital waiting room they went toe to toe. "You should have told her no, God damn it!" "It's not my place to tell your mother no. She's a grown woman." "Who was hung-over and hasn't been on a slope in two years, and who couldn't ski worth shit in the first place. You get her smashed and bang her fucking eyes out but you don't take responsibility to insure she's capable of making a rational decision, which she isn't where it comes to you because she wants you back and would do anything to make sure that fucking happens." "Don't you talk to me like that, damn it! I'm still your father and deserve a little respect." He jabbed Michael with a finger which Michael ignored. Effie was on her feet by then telling Michael to back off, and people in the waiting room had looked up from their magazines or spun away from the wide-screen TV or roused out of their doze to watch. Behind the Information desk, the volunteer attendee was calling security. "Earn my respect and I'll give it to you!" Michael spat, purposely pushing against his father's finger. He tried to reign in his anger, before it got away from him and things got really ugly. Effie was making things no better with her belligerent complaining about Michael's behavior. Michael turned on her. "You know what? It is my fault. She had no business on that trail and I knew it and I still let her go. Instead of being a man and living up to my responsibilities, I took the easy way out and gave in to her stubbornness. I could have taken away her poles and not given them back until she promised to ski the intermediate slopes with me. She'd have been pissed, and rightly so, but she wouldn't be in surgery with a hole in her leg the size of a softball." "There was nothing wrong with her skiing!" Effie insisted shrilly. "You caused the stupid accident, not her, trying to play the big bad know it all son. If you had just left her alone we'd be skiing right now, instead of in this stupid hospital waiting to hear if Mom'll lose her leg or not. Why can't you just leave well enough alone?" Jack had just stepped in and told her to hush when a man tapped him on the shoulder and directed his attention to the widescreen TV in the corner. "This is something you should probably look at," the man said apologetically. Angry, Jack did so and Michael and Effie turned to look with him. On screen was a pretty blond reporter in a blue and white parka and a jaunty blue and white ski cap. Behind her was a slope at Wisp and the attention grabbing headline below her read: "Seriously Injured Skier May Lose Leg following Incident On Slopes." The sound was turned down so Michael concentrated on the closed captions scrolling along the bottom, white letters on black. "-victim, whose name has not been released was taken to Garrett County Memorial Hospital in Oakland, Maryland where doctors are trying to save her right leg after a serious compound fracture and significant blood loss. Witnesses say the victim and her husband and teenage son were all skiing the expert trail at Wisp and the son came to his mother's rescue when it became evident she was suffering some loss of control and possibly heading for the tree line at excess speed." The reporter was replaced by a shaky video taken down-slope. A pair of teenage girls slalomed gracefully back and forth across the trail amongst of a scattered group of skiers. In the top left hand corner, Michael spotted himself tucked and speeding after a figure he knew to be his mother. She was off balance on one ski, trying to compensate with her poles and out flung arms, in obvious danger of careening into the tree line at lethal speed. She looked back just as Michael caught her and jettisoned his poles. He was eerily reminded of a plow barreling along the shoulder of a highway as snow flumed up and over their heads from his dug in skis. He grimaced and looked away momentarily as they caromed past the first pair of trees, split a second and third pair and plowed sideways into the snow covered bushes. It was a marker post buried inside the snow bank that had broken his mother's leg. He'd not even felt the impact. "I think you owe your son an apology," the man at Jack's side commented. "My guess is he saved his mother's life this morning." Not awaiting an answer, the man returned to his wife and sat down in the ugly orange seat and watched a repetition of the footage. Michael did as well, this time noting the short conversation between he and his mother, and how damned close he had come to kissing her. From Effie's strangled-looking expression, it was as perfectly obvious to others as it was to him. Jack cleared his throat. "It appears the man is right. I do owe you an apology, Michael." He wisely avoided an arm over Michael's shoulder, shaking his hand instead. Effie stared at him with almost comical intensity, no way forgiving him, evidence of the video be damned. What puzzled him most was how they'd put the report together when he'd not seen or talked to a single reporter, neither at the resort, nor here at the hospital. Were they about to be stampeded, he wondered? To his horror, that's exactly what happened. * * * They saved her leg, but Rachel would walk with a pronounced limp the rest of her life. Michael considered this fair trade for having a leg to limp with. The impact had broken the femur and ripped the ball from her hip socket, requiring extensive surgery on the hip as well as her femur, thigh muscles and blood vessels. She would have bled out without Michael's tourniquet. But the tourniquet had nearly cost her the leg by cutting off blood to her muscles. Michael felt punched out by God himself. He would not leave, no matter what his father did. "Michael, they don't allow family overnight in intensive care." "I don't care," Michael said tiredly. "I can sleep in the Family Conference Room. I already asked." "That's stupid," Effie complained, bleary eyed and falling asleep on her feet. Michael's answering glare was mostly wasted because she chose that moment to yawn deeply and rub her eyes. She'd been obstinate and unforgiving all afternoon and night. Michael was ready to pitch her out the sixth floor window. Even his dad couldn't break through her obstinacy. Michael was at fault no matter what anyone said or showed her to the contrary. The galling part was that he couldn't blame her for it. He was torn in half himself. "Take Effie back to the lodge," he said. "She can't be here, and I'm not leaving." "Who said I can't be here!" she retorted hotly. "Effie, please be quiet. Michael, I understand your concern but if anyone stays with your mom, it should be me. After all," he said with a dejected sigh. "It's my fault she's here in the first place. If I hadn't--" Effie jumped in indignantly: "That's crap, Daddy! Michael-" Michael walked away, fed up. One more word from the belligerent little turd and he'd snap. "Sure...run away! You almost kill Mom and-" "Effie! Shut up!" Michael heard the shock in her voice. "But, Daddy he-" "Saved her life, is what he did! Now come on. We're going back to the lodge." "No!" she complained. "Why does he get to stay?" "We'll be back in the morning, Michael. Call me if there's any change in her condition." Michael entered the ICU and went straight to the nurses station. "I'm staying with my mom tonight. If you want me out of there you'll have to get a guard up here to drag me out." In the end, they agreed he could remain with her for two hours, until shift change, at which time he'd move to the Family Conference Room. Whatever he worked out with the overnight charge nurse was his affair. Inside her glass-walled room, Michael pulled up chair, sat down beside his mom and gently took her left hand in his. Her right leg was encased from hip to knee in a complex metal and canvas brace, elevated via a system of cords and pulleys. She would remain in this brace for the next 6-8 weeks until her femur healed. The hip joint had been repaired using some method he couldn't remember the name of, and didn't require a cast of its own. A fact everyone would come to appreciate when the brace alone made everything Rachel did a back-braking effort. She was in a coma, induced by the doctors, her injuries too much to endure tonight, even on morphine. Michael was fine with that; he wanted her as far aware from reality as medicine could place her. Her nearly translucent, Scandinavian skin rendered her untannable; between the surgery, the narcotics and her injuries, what little wintertime color she had before the accident vanished along with the blood left on the hillside. Monitors pulsed and blipped and otherwise recorded her reduced life force, if not her will to live. She was all Michael lived for right now. It really hurt, knowing she had slept with his dad. No amount of apologies could wipe that away. But forgiveness was not dependent upon remembrance, and Michael would forgive his mother anything, even for loving him. He pressed his forehead against the cold skin of her hand, praying silently. Behind his eyes he kept seeing her shocked face and bloodshot eyes looking up. He could smell the vinegary aftermath of the alcohol on her breath wash over his face. She wasn't aware that half her leg was ripped open and ruptured arteries and veins were pumping away her life blood as she lay there apologizing for her imagined transgressions. He'd almost left, almost thumbed a ride down the mountain after she'd finally shown herself at breakfast, a ragamuffin with bloodshot eyes and a difficult walk that left no doubt what she and his dad had gotten up to in the neighboring room. And her reproachful, defiant, Don't you dare judge me glances over the breakfast table when all he wanted was to self-combust and do away with himself forever. That was the worst. Her need to defend herself against something that was not in any way wrong: reuniting with her husband. She was wrong about it being wrong. So wrong. The hand beneath his forehead twitched. Michael looked up to discover his mom watching him through half-lidded eyes. He rose to call the nurse but Rachel groggily told him no. "You're not supposed to be awake," Michael said. "I'm not supposed to be alive, but I am." Her voice was the softest of whispers. She looked around beneath her half-closed eyelids, not moving her head. "Your father?" "He took Effie back to the lodge. Mom, listen--" "What time is it?" Michael hesitated a moment confused, and then checked his watch. "11:44 PM. Why-?" "Is it the same day?" Perplexed, Michael told her it was. "How long will I be in here?" she asked, almost unintelligibly. "About a week. Maybe more, maybe a little less. They weren't sure." "I love you, Michael," she said. "I love you too, Mom," he said perfunctorily. "But-" "No. I mean, I love you, Michael." Michael looked into her sleepy, drug-muddled eyes. She was smiling, not dreamily, but hopefully, he realized. Leaning very close, he whispered: "I don't care that you're my mother. I don't care that you're 16 years older than me. I don't care that Dad wants you back in his life and Effie wants me out of it-" He nodded, confirming the troublesome news about her daughter. "The only thing that matters is that you get well so I can lay claim to you. You understand me?" She grinned, giggling drunkenly. "I won't remember this in the morning. You know that...?" "I'm counting on it," he said. That eliminated her smile. "Don't you pull away from me Michael. Don't you do that to me." Michael said fiercely. "I will do what's best for you, and damn the consequences. You're in this hospital because I didn't do what was best for you this morning, which was refuse to let you follow Dad onto that trail. When all this over and you've fully recuperated, we can talk about it then. Right now, you are the entire conversation. No ifs, ands or buts." He breathed in, forcing calmness over his thoughts. Embarrassed at the tirade, wanting to infuse a little lightness, he grinned and said: "I will promise you one thing, though." "What's that?" she asked tremulously, trying not to cry. "I intend to paddle your bare behind for your brainless stubbornness this morning." She blinked in confusion, and then grinned, her face pinking in the dim light. "Is that a promise?" "You have my word on it, mother dear." She laughed, continuing to pink. "You might enjoy that more than you think. Your father certainly..." Her face darkened, from embarrassment of another kind. "Sorry. We won't go into that." She sought out his fingers and wrapped them weakly in hers. "I'm glad you're here. Mad at me or not." Michael placed his lips at her ear and whispered: "I count on you not remembering this in the morning." His hand slipped out of hers and entered her hospital gown through the oversize sleeve and settled atop her small left breast. Rachel gasped and the reaction of her heart and blood pressure immediately registered on the surrounding monitors. Before releasing her, Michael whispered: "Forget this too: I plan to put this finger-" He tapped her hardened nipple with the tip of his middle finger. "-up you when you get home and make you wiggle like a wabbit, woman." She squealed exactly like a teenager hearing his words, blushed bright red and slapped his hand through the flimsy gown, protesting "Stop that!" making the charge nurse come in and rudely kick him out. Expectedly, she remembered none of it in the morning. * * * Her hospital stay was 18 days. Four were spent in the ICU at Garrett County Memorial, the balance in and out of the ICU at Adventist Hospital after transfer by air ambulance to get her closer to home. Twice she developed infections in the wound, requiring IV antibiotics and resetting her discharge schedule. On her 7th day inside, the Saturday following the accident, Rachel developed a fever that baffled the doctors and sent everyone into a panic when it spiked at 105 degrees just before midnight and sent Rachel into convulsions. The nurses wrapped her upper body in a "cold suit', a compartmented vest which circulated chilled water to reduce her core temperature. The following day was bad for everyone when she slipped into a coma and didn't awaken for 33 hours. She had no memory of the previous two and a half days. On the nights Michael alternated with his dad, spending the night in her room, he reacquainted Rachel with his hand. She always became flushed and flustered. "The nurse would call the police if she caught you doing that," she chastised. She eased his hand away and out the side of her gown. Michael replaced it, making Rachel sigh in exasperation. She filled his hand so softly. He'd taken to sneaking peeks whenever the opportunity presented itself and he found her beginner-breasts just so adorably fetching. Say what she wanted: they both knew she liked it when he touched her intimately. To date, Michael had kept his hands above her waist. He loved her belly and delighted in teasing her belly button, which just left her so exasperated. On their nights together, they talked quietly about the future and what issues it held. The biggest issue, of course, was Jack. Rachel wanted nothing more to do with him, but so far, refused to discuss their Friday night and Saturday morning together. Michael didn't press her about it. He knew she was traumatized. The other big issue was Effie. She remained steadfastly hostile and Michael worried she'd blurt out something in anger, or go to her father in cold calculating malice. She was particularly spiteful about Michael spending the night in her mother's room and he knew things would blow up once Mom was home and pieces started falling into place. It would get ugly. This preyed on Rachel and interfered with her recovery. On the nights Michael remained at home, things with Effie were unbearable. Rachel forbad him to do anything interdictive. She'd deal with the problem herself, when she got home. Michael wondered how she would do that. Far and away though, Michael's biggest worry was Jack, alone with his mom every other night. It preyed on him 10 times worse than this issue with Effie, a question mark that hung in the air on their nights together, until finally, three nights before her scheduled discharge, Rachel dropped the bomb. "Your dad wants to move back in, Michael." Every muscle in Michael's body locked. It was just after 10 o'clock and they were playing Virtual Strip Poker on his and her Kindle Fires. Michael fumbled and almost dropped his tablet. He looked at her with his heart in his mouth. "What did you say?" "I told him no." Michael's heart took off like a Roman candle. He immediately quashed his exhilaration knowing this wasn't the end of it. "What's the but?" he asked cautiously. "He says I'm unable to care for myself. That I'll need a day-nurse or a home-care companion while you and Effie are at school. He says my hospital bill will be more than $200,000 and we have to start thinking about the expense of me being out of work for another three months while my leg heals and I undergo physical therapy. The doctors won't release me for anything but part-time or light duty work until they're satisfied of my recovery." She paused, closing the cover on the Kindle and setting it on her lap. Michael came and sat on the edge of the mattress and took her hand. "Michael, if your father hadn't kept us on his insurance plan we'd be bankrupt now. Our portion of the bill will be over $40,000. Your dad's insurance sucks, but I don't have any at all. If we don't get back together..." Tears pooled and spilled down her cheeks; she wiped at them angrily. "I don't know how we'll survive, Michael. This will probably bankrupt us, even together. Do you know how much money I have in the bank?" Michael shook his head, ashamed that he didn't know and hadn't thought about any of this before now. "Not even $500, Michael. Your father's support payments cover the mortgage, puts food on the table, puts gasoline in our cars..." She laughed bitterly. "Michael, I don't even make $40,000 a year. Your father has always supported us. My salary paid for clothes, toys, things like these Kindles; anything non-essential. We are your dad's biggest expense and he's been living off his half of the savings to make ends meet. We can't maintain two separate residences anymore." She looked away, tears freely flowing down her cheeks. "I have to tell him yes or we'll lose the house and have to move in with him, Michael. Is that what we want?"