My Wife’s Kid Sister Takes Her Place

Author’s note: None of the places or characters in this story actually exist, and all characters are canonically eighteen years old or older at the time of depicted events. Although obviously, if you prefer to imagine otherwise within the confines of your own mind, who am I to try to stop you?

I sighed coming through the door, rocking my neck side to side to work out a kink I’d somehow acquired during the drive, grateful to be home. The client meeting had gone even longer than expected, so I was careful to be quiet as I dropped my keys and wallet on the table by the door. I guess I wasn’t quiet enough, however, because no sooner had I toed off my shoes than Julie made an appearance from the bedroom hallway.

“Ben! Good, you’re just in time,” she whispered with a smile. “I just got them down, but they’ll still be awake for kisses goodnight.”

“Thanks, Jules,” I smiled back, hoping it made it to my eyes. It had been a hard six months. A hard two years, really, but even worse after Amanda’s cancer had finally won out. Julie had been a godsend, transferring to do her senior year of high school online and moving in to the guest room so she could take care of the twins while I was at work. Both sets of the girls’ grandparents did as much as they could, of course, but they all had jobs of their own, too. I’d have been completely lost without Julie having stepped up the way she had… but she just looked so much like her sister sometimes, like a tiny blonde Barbie doll, especially when she smiled like that. I tried my best not to let her see how much it hurt.

“I put a plate in the fridge for you, by the way,” she continued, blissfully unaware of the memories her presence brought up for me. “I’m going to go hop in the shower, now that you’re back. I love those girls… but I honestly have no idea how they manage to get so sticky all the time!”

“No problem,” I chuckled as I headed into the kitchen, Julie smiling again before disappearing back around the corner. I transferred my plate into the microwave and set it to humming, then made my way to the girls’ room and stepped inside.

The girls had recently graduated to matching pink big-girl beds on either side of the room, but as expected Ava had abandoned hers the moment Julie had left them, crawling in with Mia instead.

“Daddy!” Ava announced, squirming onto her back and throwing her arms up from under the blanket. Mia had been closer to sleep, rubbing her tiny fists into her eyes as she smiled tiredly up at me.

“Love you girls!” I told then, kneeling at the side of the bed and leaning over to squish them both in a hug and giving them kisses on the cheeks, making them giggle. “It’s bedtime already, but I’m happy I made it home in time to give you kisses before you fell asleep!”

“Stowwy?” Mia asked, looking up at me hopefully.

“Auntie Julie already read to you tonight, you little story-monster!” I told her, briefly tickling her to make her laugh. “It’s too late for more stories tonight, it’s time for sleepy-byes now. But I’ll tell you what- tomorrow I don’t have to work late, like I did tonight, so I promise to read you two stories. How’s that?”

“Tree!” she demanded, holding out her hand and staring at it intently until she managed to get the correct number of fingers sticking up.

“You drive a hard bargain, baby girl,” I laughed. “But okay. Tomorrow I promise to read three stories, as long as you both go to bed now.”

That met with eager agreement, and after one more round of hugs and kisses it was time to leave. I knew better than to waste my time trying to convince Ava back to the other side of the room, and I left them there to cuddle each other to sleep as I closed the door behind me, leaving it open just a crack as always so they wouldn’t be afraid of the dark.

Julie had been transforming herself into quite a little cook, of late. Tonight she’d made a macaroni and cheese casserole, with plenty of veggies and little chunks of hamburger mixed in. I could just imagine the mess it must have been, feeding that to the girls, but any sign of it had already vanished before I’d gotten home. And for me, along with the remainder of the casserole and an extra helping of veggies on the side, she’d made a nice, thick hamburger patty, with visible bits of chopped onion and peppers inside just the way I like them. I raided the fridge for lettuce and tomato, assembled my burger, and closed my eyes in delight as I took my first bite. I was famished, having needed to work through lunch, and ate more quickly than the meal Julie’d made for me deserved, but I was finally feeling mostly human again by the time I was done. I finished loading and started up the dish washer, then went to crash in front of the living room tv, waiting for Julie to reappear.

It had become habit for the two of us to watch tv or movies together once the girls were in bed. Sometimes she needed to do a bit of homework, too, but even then she preferred to do it sitting next to me on the couch when she could. But tonight… tonight was clearly something different.

“I hope you don’t mind…” she said, drawing my eyes to her, and they nearly popped right out of my head as I struggled not to react to what I was seeing. “I thought maybe I’d borrow Mandy’s robe, tonight.”

“No, that’s fine,” I managed to choke out, trying not to stare at the way the soft red satin was hugging her slender curves. “Any of her clothes, and things… they’re yours, if you want them. I should have told you that ages ago, if I’d been thinking.”

“You’ve had a lot on your mind,” she smiled, coming to sit next to me on the couch the way she always did. “What are we watching?” she asked, pulling her legs up under herself, leaning to rest her head on my shoulder.

“Nothing, really.” I shrugged, blindly offering her the remote, averting my eyes. God, those legs! I could feel the blush burning my cheeks, memories flooding back of all the times Amanda had come to me wearing that robe. She’d had another robe, too, a big comfy terry-cloth thing that covered her nearly to her ankles. That was the one she used to wear after taking a shower. This one she had always reserved for when she’d wanted to initiate sex, and just like when Amanda’d been the one wearing it, it reached barely halfway down Julie’s thighs! “You want to pick something?”

“No, you go ahead,” she sighed contentedly. “Just nothing animated, and I’ll be happy.”

I flipped a little and settled on a random cop show, hoping maybe that would help keep my mind from wandering to places I had no business letting it go. It seemed to be working, too. Until it wasn’t.

“You don’t need to try so hard not to look, you know,” Julie giggled maybe ten minutes into or show.

“What?” I gasped. I turned to look at her, and she pulled away from my shoulder enough that she could look me in the eye. But not for long, as she quickly lowered her gaze and started to blush.

“You really think I’d have worn this tonight if I didn’t want you to look?” she asked, smiling shyly as she focused on a point about half way down my chest. “I’ve seen the way you look at me, sometimes, when you think I’m not going to notice.”

“I… God, Jules, I’m sorry, I…” I didn’t know what else to say.

“It’s okay,” she smiled a little wider, reassuringly, as she made herself raise her eyes again. “You don’t have to apologize. I… I like the way you look at me, like that.”

“You do?”

She nodded timidly, lowering her eyes again. “I… think I need to tell you something,” she said, pausing and nervously chewing her lip until she was ready to continue. It was nearly a whisper when she did. “Near the end, once Mandy knew she wasn’t going to be getting better, she made me make her a promise. That I wouldn’t let you just shut yourself away, and let you turn yourself into some sort of hermit, never moving on. She told me to let you grieve, first… but she made me promise, once I decided enough time had gone by, that I’d push you to start dating again. That I’d make you start dating again, if that’s what it took.” She took a deep, steadying breath, and met my eyes again. “It was the last thing she ever asked me for. And I intend to keep that promise. But I will be damned if I’m going to let some other girl have you, when I could be keeping you for myself, instead!”

“You can’t be serious! Jules…” I began, but she ignored me completely, lifting herself up and spinning on one knee, dropping herself solidly into my lap, straddling my hips and slipping her hands around the back of my neck.

“I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life!” she breathed, her beautiful, soft blue eyes dilated wide as she stared into my own from only inches away. “I want this, Ben! And I know you want this too, if you’ll just get out of your own way long enough to let it happen.”

“Jules, we can’t! Just because you had your birthday last week…” I objected, my hands finding her waist through her robe. Just to keep her at a safe distance, I told myself. And I very carefully did not even glance at what that robe might now be revealing, with her knees spread to either side of my hips.

“Exactly!” she interrupted me. “I’m finally legal, now! And you have no idea how hard it’s been, these last few months, forcing myself to wait until I was! Which, I’ll have you remember, means I’m a whole two years older than Mandy was, when you started having sex with her!” She countered.

“That was different!” I said, vigorously shaking my head. “You were… what? Three years old when your sister and I started dating? I’ve known you almost your entire life! I’ve been more like an uncle to you than I have been a brother-in-law.”

“First of all, you being older than me is irrelevant, so let’s get that out of the way right now,” she asserted. “Saying I’m old enough to have sex as long as I only pick boys my own age is like saying you have freedom of speech as long as you only say things the government agrees with. I’m either old enough to have sex, or I’m not. And if I am, then who I choose to have sex with is completely up to me.

“And as for knowing me my whole life…” Her tone softened suddenly, and she brought her hand around from behind my neck to softly stroke my cheek. “Yes, I’ve known you basically forever. Fifteen years of watching you, of seeing what kind of man you are. Watching you and Mandy falling in love, getting married, watching you dote over her when she was pregnant, and falling in love with each other all over again when you had the girls. Watching when you found out she was sick. Watching you hold yourself together for the girls, after she was gone. Fifteen years, Ben. How many girls get fifteen years to vet a boyfriend before choosing to be with him? If Amanda was still here, I’d spend the next decade trying to find a guy of my own who measures up to the example you set of what a man’s supposed to be. But she’s not, and I am. And you need me, Ben. The same as I need you. Not just for the girls- you need me for you, too. You can’t keep going the way you have been. And I’ve already been your good little house-wifey, ever since Mandy died. I cook for you, and clean your house, and take care of your kids… In every way but one, Ben. And it’s time, now. It’s time for us to start giving each other what we both know we want. What we need.”

“This would change everything, Jules.” I told her, lifting my hand to stroke her cheek the same way she was mine. “There would be no going back, and I don’t know that I’m ready. In fact, I’m pretty sure that I’m not. But even if you’re right, about you, and me, and what we both need… even if you’re right about everything, even if you knew this was going to happen, sooner or later… would you really want to do it now? When I look at you, part of me, a big part… can’t help but see Mandy’s ghost. Do you really want to do this, knowing that is hanging over us?”

She took a deep, slow breath, staring into my eyes. “Sometimes, even when you know you aren’t ready for something… I think sometimes you just have to do it anyways, and have faith that you’ll become ready, in the doing of it.” She leaned forward slowly, and kissed me.

Her lips were soft and warm, not at all tentative, but neither was she being insistent. She was just pressing her lips to mine, moving them ever so slightly in invitation to join her, but willing to give me whatever time I might need. Part of me hated myself for what I was letting happen, but the longer I felt her lips on mine, the more weight her arguments seemed to hold. And God help me, I did love her. Maybe not the same way as I had Amanda, at least not yet. But playing with the girls with her, and then curling up on the couch together after we’d put them to bed, were my favourite parts of my day. I couldn’t even imagine trying to survive my life without her, not anymore.

But then she was pulling away, averting her eyes, her lower lip quivering. I’d waited too long, made her think I was never going to respond, made her give up on me. I panicked. In that moment, that fraction of a second, I knew I couldn’t lose her. Not again! Anything but that! I slipped my hand into her hair at the back of her head, still slightly damp from her shower, stopping her from pulling away. Our eyes met, and time seemed to stop. And this time, I kissed her.

She responded eagerly in kind, moaning into my lips as I pulled her tightly to my chest, writhing against me. She trembled as I slipped my tongue into her mouth, clumsy with inexperience as she tried to figure out what to do with her own. But she was a fast learner, enthusiasm easily covering for any lack of technique. She was onto my shirt, then, yanking the tails up out of my pants and fumbling with the buttons. I wanted to rip that robe off her shoulders, to bare her completely! But I forced myself to wait, to not run too far ahead. She was so slender and firm in my arms, so sensuous and sexy, it was all I could do not to flip her right down onto her back on the couch and take her then and there! But doing this the right way was one thing; if I gave in to my lust of the moment and allowed myself to do it wrong, I knew I’d never forgive myself. So I waited, letting her control our pace, and it wasn’t until she’d robbed me of my shirt and was lasciviously running her palms up and down my pecs that I finally permitted myself to undo the sash of her robe.

“God damn, baby!” I said. Or more accurately, maybe I should say I growled; the sight of her was activating parts of my psyche that hadn’t gotten a proper workout in far too long, and my control of them was already tenuous at best.