A mother's love

Chapter 17

He started staying at Brenda's apartment until as late as 2 a.m., most of which time they spent together in bed.

After the perfect night they'd shared Brenda became painfully cognizant of the self-consciousness Brian felt about the scar on his arm when he was naked with her. She hadn't noticed it before because of the constraints that she had placed on him when they'd first started making love. To disabuse him of any fears he had about her being any less attracted to him because of his scar she slowly and gently kissed the length of his arm and was successful in reassuring him of her unconditional love for him. He never evinced self-consciousness about his arm again.

Brian learned no more about Brenda's past. There was little time for talk as every night they immersed themselves in each other's bodies and only separated when compelled to by fatigue. Brian didn't need to be taught anything; Brenda had underestimated him tremendously when she'd assumed that he was in need of extensive granular instruction. Granted the freedom to learn on his own, Brian very quickly developed an intimate understanding of Brenda's body, which, after being in a state of disuse for so long, was going through a period of adjustment as it became accustomed to being an object of desire, a period during which Brian was wholly accommodating of its capriciousness. Apprehending the renaissance she was undergoing, Brian devoted himself to ensuring her renaissance reached its absolute fulfilment, an undertaking Brenda greedily left him to pursue uninterrupted. The imbalance between them that had plagued their relationship from the very beginning had all but disappeared.

There were days when they didn't spend all of their time at her apartment making love, days when Brenda felt a longing to experience more with Brian than just physical pleasure. She'd tell him during their time together in her storeroom of what her plans for how they would spend their time together later that night and Brian would always accept her suggestions without protest. He would go home and cook dinner only for his mother so that he could eat dinner with Brenda later at her apartment, after which they sat together on her sofa and watched films Brenda was sure would appeal to his intellectual maturity, a mixture of foreign films and awards season favourites. She had been right about them having sex for the first time bringing about a transformation in their relationship that was irreversible. Thoughts of maternal love for Brian could not have been further from her mind. She occupied only one place in his life, that of his girlfriend.