There was also Lily. Were he really quite so awful as the picture built in my head, an idol crumbling stone by stone, could he possibly be so good with Lily? Let alone Gen. An even younger child not even of his blood, yet he was easily able to handle her. It just didn’t add up, like the end decimals of Pi.
I waited for Niles to close the door to his room before venturing out, to avoid another accidental meeting. The soft strains of the Goldberg Variations leaked through the thick wood closing off Lily’s room.
I was going to do it. The knob was already in my hand, attesting, if anything could, to my intention regarding going to bed in my own room. Gen would be okay. She’d slept alone before and there were suddenly two adults to respond to any alarm that might go up during the nocturnal hours.
The sound was seductive. Strange but undeniable. A distant bell in my head but still able to make me drool. Moving careful, I went to the door closing off the room claimed by Niles. The one from which the sound was emanating that had my body rebelling against my will and logic so hard.
The house looked new, but was built in an old style that made it difficult to tell if it was a very clean original or a meticulously built copy. Either way, the keyholes on the doors were of the distinctly Victorian design. An actual hole in the wood of the door allowed for a narrow but clear view into the room beyond.
Light was scarce, the scene only lit by a single table lamp, gorgeous in its well-designed simplicity. Still, it was enough. Niles was laying on the lovely bed, naked from the waist down. His beautiful cock stood at full hardness. I watched for several minutes, my tongue running the circuit round my lips, longing to taste him.
My gaze never leaving his magnificent member, I undid the front of my skirt, finding its way into the front of my panties. My breath caught as the tips of my fingers brushed my tender pussy lips. Keeping as quiet as I could, I watched Niles stroking his cock and touched myself, trying to match his rhythm.
I worked myself to a hasty, muffled orgasm, and as I was mutely convulsing in pleasure, I watched him do the same and listened to his soft groans of bliss.
When my legs had stopped shaking, I hastily slipped down the hall into the bathroom and wrenched the faucet for the cold water, wondering what the hell I was going to do.
Chapter Twelve - Niles
Joy dawned with the morning. Our living situation was unorthodox, but things were already much better than they’d ever been. A fact which made me happier than any other in my life, other than when I’d married Cora and when Lily had been born. I never thought I’d ever fall in love again, but the fates moved in strange ways.
A particular spring accentuating my step, I went to Lily’s room to get her ready for another beautiful day.
It was probably my imagination. That was what logic would dictate, never allowing for any sort of whimsy of flights of fancy. Just what could be seen. The shadow that fell across the empty room was surely from a passing cloud. The shadow of death little more than a human abstraction.
Panic crushed, a million scenarios racing through my mind. Lily had proved herself good with doors, and a baby gate at the top of the stairs was not one of the provisions made by Ann White.
Giggles rang from the lower floor. Ghosts of what might have been. Except there were two sets. Were it only Lily, it would have only been one. Following the sound at speeds I didn’t know I was capable of, I ended up in the luminescent kitchen, made even more so by the vision playing out like a pantomime based on my dreams.
Lily and Gen, back at their coloring books, Emilie busy making crepes at the stove. The relief washing over me made my knees weak.
“Morning, Daddy,” Lily said, without looking up.
I wasn’t sure I could ever stop hugging her. At least not for a while. Eventually, I came back to my senses, lowering her back down into the chair, taking a deep breath and collecting myself.
“What was that about?” Emilie asked, as we did the dishes, out of earshot of the little ones.
“She wasn’t in her room. Lily is really good at opening doors and there are no safety provisions for the stairs.”
“Oh, shoot, I’m so sorry, I know that panic. Are you okay?”
“Getting better. Started as soon as I saw she was alright.”
It was an automatic response, most likely. Just something one did in such situation. At least that was what I assumed as Emilie rubbed the small of my back in a distinctly comforting way.