"I like your tail," I told her. "You look like a palomino." She flushed with embarrassment and looked down at her lap. The dildo stood straight up from her groin. She gave a squeak and jumped up, pulling at the straps to try to get the dildo off.
"Here," I said. "Let me get that." I pushed her hands away and undid the straps. I pulled the harness away from her and grabbed her tail and pulled her back down on the bed next to me. She went, "Oof!" as the butt-plug pressed into her ass.
She hid her face in her hands and hunched her shoulders. I turned toward her and put one hand on her thigh and pulled a hand away from her face with the other.
"What's the matter?" I asked.
"I'm so ashamed!" she said.
"Of what? Of being caught and branded like a prize stallion?" I smiled at her.
She laughed at that. A short barking laugh, and then her face screwed up like she was going to cry.
"Of having you see me like this."
"Like what? Help me out here. I'm missing something."
"Like... like... this!"
"What? Naked? Wearing a tail? Chasing your girlfriend around the house with rape in your eye?"
"Well... Yes!"
"Unhunh. I'm not supposed to catch you having a good time. Is that it?"
"No! But..."
"Ah! So, you were having a good time, weren't you?"
She smiled very faintly and mumbled, "Yes".
"Then I'm very happy for you! You sure looked like you were enjoying yourself. You're allowed, you know. It's OK to have fun. It's OK to be yourself. It's OK to be happy."
She sniffed, but she still sat with her shoulders hunched over and her hands in her lap, balled up into fists. I stroked her back. I could feel the tension in her muscles.
"It's OK. I understand. I really do. You've been trying to be someone you're not for so long that it's hard to be yourself in front of me. That's why I'm going to live with Bambi. And, yes, she lets me call her that as long as I don't abuse the privilege. Has she always been sensitive about that?"
"Oh, yes. She got teased when she was a little girl and she always hated the name. When she got married, she was so happy to be Mrs. Benjamin Reynolds that I think she quit using her real name."
"Well, Mrs. Reynolds is being very good to me. She introduced me to her sons as their new sister, so it's like I'm part of the family. I don't want you to worry about anything, OK?"
"OK."
"I like Jan. I like Jan a lot. Jan told me she loves you." She raised her head and looked at me when I said that. I nodded. "Has she told you that?"
"No." She shook her head.
"When she told me that she loves you I could see it in her eyes, too." She smiled. The first smile I had seen on her face in a long time.
"Yvette? I love you too." She turned her smile to me. Calling her by her name seemed to be the right thing. If I called her 'Mom' it would have triggered a lot of reflex behavior I wanted her to unlearn.
"Kiss me." I told her. She leaned toward me, still smiling, but aiming for my cheek. I pulled her on top of me and locked my legs and arms around her. I kissed her firmly, pressing my lips insistently to hers. I wanted to imprint a new version of me in her mind — not a daughter she did not want, but a friend she could relate to. I kissed her as good as I could, then I started to tickle her. She began to giggle and buck, trying to get loose, but I had a good grip with my legs and she could not shake me off. She thrashed around on the bed, raising us both clear off of the mattress.
"Please!" she begged. "Mercy! Oh, please!" she gasped.
I finally took pity on her and stopped tickling. We lay on the bed, gasping for breath after all the excitement and exertion. I crawled off and stood by the bed, holding her hand. She smiled up at me, a genuine smile of affection. She seemed a completely different person, now.
"C'mon. You look like you could use some lunch." I tugged her hand to get her out of the bed and hauled her back to the kitchen.
Jan was setting the table and Bambi was taking the food out of the microwave. Yvette walked straight to Jan and put her arms around her. Jan's face lit up like she'd just won the lottery.
I hated to interrupt their embrace, but I was afraid to let things go on too long or lunch would have got cold. I cleared my throat and said, "Listen, we'll be going now. You two enjoy your lunch."
Jan said, "You're not eating with us?"
"No," Bambi said. "We're on our way to do some shopping. We just wanted to make sure that you two remembered to eat."
"Well, that was very thoughtful of you." Jan said, "Thank you."
"Yes," Yvette echoed, "Thank you very much. Thank you both." Yvette was starting to look uneasy, with all of us in the same room. She must have felt strange, trying to figure out how to relate to everyone. Bambi must have noticed, too. She hustled us out the door with just a quick smooch all around.
When we were driving off, she asked, "How is Yvette?"
I thought for a moment. "Better. Just 'better'. It's going to take a long time before she gets to 'good'. It's going to be a really long time before she can look at me and not cringe. She's got more baggage than Samsonite. I tried to get her to think of me differently. I want her to be able to look at me without hurting, but that's not going to happen for a while, if ever. It's best if she just forgets about me until she can get her head on straight. Did I say 'straight'?" We both laughed at my feeble joke.
"Out of sight, out of mind?" Bambi asked.
"I'm afraid so. Looks like you're stuck with me."
"Good. I'm sorry about Yvette, but I won't pretend for a second that I am not happy that you will be with me."
"Thanks, Mom."