better – but she felt that every time she talked with one of them, they were taking some of her love for them away from her – and she didn't feel like she had enough inside her for them, and felt like she had to come over to visit us to get some of our love so she wouldn't feel so empty when she talked to them. Further compounding the problem was that she didn't feel that she was being honest with us for coming over, that she was taking our love and not giving anything back.
Kelly and I looked at each other, and I gestured with my head toward the bedroom. She nodded, and I stood up, then picked up Susan to carry her.
Together, Kelly and I got her into the second bedroom, where I laid her down on the bed, and Kelly lay next to her. As Kelly slowly unfastened her clothing, Susan watched me as I undressed. When I was nude, I moved over to the bed, and helped hold Susan as Kelly managed to peel her clothes off her, then got up to undress herself. When all three of us were naked, Kelly lay down on the bed again, and moved next to Susan, on the side opposite me. Together, we caressed and kissed her as we took turns explaining to her that it was okay, that we understood, and that she wasn't doing anything wrong by coming to us for love – that she was more than welcome to all she wanted. We told her that her dad had talked to us the day before, after the graduation ceremony, and that we had figured out that he was 'confused' about the difference between just having sex, and actually making love – but that we thought he might learn the difference before long.
As we went along, we could see the tension starting to drain out of her, and between our soothing voices and gentle touches, she eventually fell asleep. When she did, Kelly and I went into the den for a bit, to talk.
'Damn him. Putting her through this – makes me want to go over there and kick his ass.', I grumped.
'I know, Dan – I want to kick him, too; but on the other side.'
'The bad part is, he's a pretty nice guy, and a helluva lawyer – he's just got his head up his ass about this.'
'Yeah. I hope he gets his act together, before he pushes her into a breakdown or something.'
'No, that won't happen – I'll read him the riot act before it get too close to anything like that.' I said, wanting to do it right then.
'I know. I think we'd better get back in there, before she misses us, don't you?'
'Yeah. I guess one of us had better stay with her until she's ready to go home – but if she wants to spend the night, she's welcome to do that, too.'
'Damn right!', Kelly agreed.
That settled, we went back into the bedroom, and lay down next to her again – she started to wake up, and Kelly and I both shushed her and told her it was okay. She must have recognized my voice because she turned over and latched onto me before going back to sleep. I held her there, and after a couple of minutes, when I was sure she wasn't going to wake up again, told Kelly 'Go ahead, I'll stay here with her for a while. Check back once or twice, in case I need a break for something.'
She nodded, and got up to leave us alone.
Maybe an hour later, I thought I heard a car, but when nothing happened, decided I was just imagining things.
About the time I started to feel the need for a bathroom break, Kelly came in – wearing just a long T-shirt, to my surprise – and asked if everything was okay. I told her that I did need a few minutes, and she quickly offered to take over for a while. Going slowly and carefully, we managed to swap places, so that Susan wasn't disturbed. Back on my feet again, I headed for the bathroom, then the kitchen for a bottle of water.
When I walked into the den, I was greatly surprised to find Steve and his wife sitting there – but not as surprised, I think, as they were at my lack of attire.
I started to get a robe, and then decided 'hell with it – it's MY house!', before sitting down in a chair, facing them.
I looked at them for several moments before Steve cleared his throat, and said 'Dan, this is my wife, Linda.'
'It's a pleasure to meet you, Linda.', I said.
She hesitated a moment, and said 'A pleasure to meet you, too, Dan.
Steve has spoken well of you, as has Susan.'
After taking a healthy swallow of my water, I said 'It seems that I've walking into the middle of something. Why don't you tell me how you happen to be in my house?'
Steve cleared his throat, and said 'Uh, a little while ago, we got a call from Kelly, telling us that we – us and you and her – needed to talk, about Susan. We asked her what about, and she told us that she thought Susan was getting close to a breakdown, and that it needed to be stopped. Both of us take such talk seriously, of course, and came right over. When she let us in, Kelly was, ah, nude, and when she saw that we weren't comfortable with that, put on a shirt, telling us that your house was much more, er, informal.'
'Yup. My house, I do as I please. But me sitting here with my willie hanging out doesn't have a damn thing to do with the fact that you two – particularly you, Steve – are pushing that poor girl toward the nuthouse.' I didn't know what Jan had said to them, and didn't much care – I wanted to get their attention, FAST.
'What do you mean?', Linda asked, slightly offended.
'I mean that ever since she had what I told Steve was an epiphany, and all of you started sitting down and actually talking to each other, and communicating, you two have been sucking all the love Susan has right out of her.'
'I don't believe it!', Linda said.
I stood up, and said 'No? Then follow me, and see what your daughter looks like when she gets here!'
They stood up, and I led them back to the bedroom where Susan was – I opened the door, and when Linda saw what Susan looked like, she stifled as small gasp, and put her hand over her mouth. Steve only stood there and stared, the pain clear on his face. Kelly just glared at them.
Then I closed the door, and led them back to the living room, where they sat down on the couch, holding each other for a while before turning to me again.
'What happened to her?', Linda asked, on the verge of tears.
'you did.', I answered.
'Now wait just a damn minute…', Steve started – but I cut him off, saying 'Wait just a damn minute yourself, asshole. I meant what I just said – not just to Linda, but you, too. You asked me at the graduation the other day what you could do to help her – and Kelly and I both told you how you could not only help Susan, but yourself and Linda, as well.
Apparently, you didn't listen worth a damn, because you can see for yourself how much help you've been!'
He got a guilty look on his face, and as both of them looked at me, continued in a calmer voice 'I know that both of you love her – but she loves you, too, and it's tearing her up. Not for anything you've done*wrong*, exactly, but for something you haven't gotten right. Linda, has Steve told you what I told him – about what I've taught Susan?'
She nodded, and I went on 'I can only assume that neither one of you really understands it, yet. So I'm going to sit here and explain something to you, and hope that it finally gets through to you – and that when it does, you'll understand what you need to do to take this horrible burden off your daughter, for chrissake!'
Both of them nodded, and gave me their full attention.
'I love Susan. Not like you do, but just as much – the same way that you love each other and love Susan – different, but equally.'
They nodded their understanding, and I went on 'One of the things that I've helped Susan understand is that love, full, honest, total LOVE, is basically an exchange of VALUES. That we love people for the good things we see in them, and we love ourselves for the good things we see inside.'
More nods.
'I've also shown her that we love other people because they love us; that we love them because they see the good in us, and value it, and love us because of it. We love them because of the good – the values – that we see in them; and they love us for the same reason: because of the good – the values – they see in us.'
They were still with me.
'Where the problem comes in is that if the other person doesn't see our values, then they don't love us; or at least, not as much. And when that happens, we don't love them, or as much. So love is a trading of good, of values;
