Close knit family

before, she'd also had whatever support there was to be had from Doug; I figured that she'd need (or want) some time to decide for herself what she wanted for herself and the girls, and who she wanted to share her life with. So rather than try to follow up on the offer implicit in the way she was kissing me, I chickened out and played dumb as I kissed her back. After several seconds, Teresa pulled back from me again, and looked into my face before turning and leading the way back upstairs. When we got to the landing between the basement and the door to utility room at the back of the house, she took a key off a hook on the wall and told me 'That's to the back door of the house, here. I always keep the door between the rest of the house and here closed, so you don't have to worry about leaving the door open if you have to carry things in, or whatever.'

I thanked her, and followed her back to the living room — noticing along the way that she had a nice-looking ass in her own right.

The girls had finished their chores, and were (mostly) patiently waiting for us to get back. I was instructed to resume my position between Donna and Karen, then Wendy parked herself in my lap and pulled my arms around her. Teresa occupied the chair again, and we spent the evening watching television. When it got close to their respective bedtimes, the girls simply went back and got changed before coming in and giving (and getting) a kiss good night. When it was just Teresa and me, she shut the TV off and the two of us sat there talking until it was time for us to go to our respective beds.

That pretty much set the tone for the weeks that followed.

If I had the time and inclination, I was more than welcome to join them for the evening; but they didn't have any problems with it if I needed to work in 'my place', or just wanted to be alone for an evening. Some evenings one or two of the girls would come down; sometimes it was to ask for help with homework (usually math or science), which I would patiently provide. Other times, it was just to spend a quiet evening with just the two of us.

It didn't take long for us to get into a routine where I would join them for breakfast, and usually supper — which prompted the only conflict that Teresa and I had. I wanted to help pay for the groceries I was eating, and she was adamant that I was family, and didn't have to. After a LOT of patient negotiation, I finally got her to accept a small increase in my 'rent'. It wasn't as much as I was willing to give her, but more than she wanted to take.

When Teresa got word from her lawyer that the judge was granting her divorce, she let me take her out to dinner, just the two of us; the girls were informed that it was a 'grown-up' situation, and reluctantly accepted their exclusion. I made it up to them a couple of weeks later by taking just THEM out for pizza, over Teresa's mild protests.

Another aspect of the situation was that as all of us gradually got used to my intermittent presence in the house, we became less and less concerned about any formalities such as how dressed we were. Not that anybody was running around naked or anything; simply that it wasn't anything worth noticing if one of us was wearing only their bathrobe at breakfast, for example.

Naturally enough, there were a few times that I'd catch sight of one of the girls scampering away dressed only in panties — and perhaps a bra. To save embarrassment all the way around, I always pretended not to have noticed anything; but the visions of their nubile young bodies stayed with me.

I'd been working late for a couple of weeks helping with the fabrication of a system that I'd helped design, and finally gotten home at a reasonable hour one afternoon. When Teresa told me over supper that night that they would be going out to do some shopping later, I figured it was the perfect opportunity for me to come upstairs and have myself a nice, hot soak to relieve some of my overused muscles. I acknowledged what she said, and later, after I'd heard her car leave, I got my things together and went upstairs. When I opened the door to the bathroom, I was greeted by the sight of Donna just stepping out of the tub as she dried her hair with a towel. Because her head was tilted down and the towel was blocking her view, she couldn't see me — but I had a clear view of her young body. Her breasts were each perhaps half the size of a baseball. Her small areolas were just a few shades darker than her skin and sported nipples about the size of a pencil eraser; her bust was a delight to see. Her waist and hips were formed by a couple of gentle arcs that made her young form distinctly feminine. Fit and trim, her stomach and belly were as flat as they could be. At the bottom of her pelvis, I saw that she had a small and somewhat narrow strip of hair that was as blond as what was on her head — and still sparse enough for me to make out the slit dividing her full mons. I could only stand there in a mixture of shock, and pleasure at the view I had. I was still standing there when she pulled the towel from her head and saw me. Much to my surprise, it took a couple of seconds before she calmly told me 'Uncle Ted, I'm naked.'

That broke the spell, and I hurriedly turned around and apologized as I made my way back out the door and closed it behind me. Giving up on the idea of a bath, I headed back toward my place. Only when I started down the stairs did I notice that the front of my bathrobe was leading the way; immediately after that, I realized that there was a distinct possibility (even probability) that I'd been in the same state in front of Donna. Embarrassed, I got myself dressed again, and then went upstairs to wait for Teresa to get home; I wanted to tell her what had happened so that she'd know it had been an accident.

I was sitting on the couch when Donna came through on her way to the kitchen. When she came back again, I told her that I was sorry for barging in on her, and said that I'd be sure and knock next time. She just gave me an amused smile before answering 'It's okay, Uncle Ted… I know you didn't do it on purpose. I'm just sorry it bothered you.'

Hearing that, my engineering mind just had to know 'It didn't embarrass you, or anything?'

After a brief laugh, she answered 'Just surprised, is all, not embarrassed. You were married, so I have to figure you already know what girls look like. I think maybe you liked what you saw' -

the allusion that I had been tenting my bathrobe caused me to blush — 'so it actually kinda made me feel good. I don't know that I want it to happen again, but it's okay this time.' before turning and heading back toward her room.

Hearing that I hadn't traumatized her, or caused her any discomfort, made me feel somewhat better. But I was still going to let Teresa hear about it from me. A couple of hours later, when the rest of them got home, Teresa saw the look on my face and sent the girls back to their rooms so that we'd be able to talk. After I told her what had happened, Teresa was amused as she told me 'Don't worry about it, Ted. I expect it embarrassed you more than it did her, and I know that you didn't do it on purpose or anything; it was after you'd gone back downstairs that she said she wanted to take a bath tonight, so you couldn't have known she'd be there. I don't doubt that you got an eye full, but I know you're not going to try to make anything like that happen again, either. Just chalk it up to experience, and try to remember that things like that are probably going to happen if you're sharing a house with four females. I think it'll only bother them if you let it bother you too much.'

Seeing my confusion, she explained 'They like sitting with you, and even on your lap. If you start getting too stressed out by seeing them naked or topless, you might get too particular about letting them sit with you, too — and that would hurt them more than you just seeing them would.

If it happens, it happens; like I said, I know you're not some Peeping Tom or anything.'

I'll admit to being a little surprised by her attitude — but it also comforted me somewhat, too.

When I thought about it later, I realized that she was right about the chance of that, or something similar, happening again. Even if she made a point of telling them to lock the bathroom door, they likely weren't going to remember to do it each and every time. And I cared about all three of them too much to want to hurt them by banishing them from sitting with me just because of my hangups and foibles. After a fair amount of thought and soul-searching, I finally decided to take Teresa's advice as best I could: chalk it up to experience, and not let it worry me. Even so, I still felt a little guilty about how I'd reacted to the sight of Donna's nude form, regardless of how nice it had been.

Over the course of the next few days, the incident eventually left my mind — leaving me free to enjoy the time I spent with the girls in various combinations. When Karen expressed an interest in softball, I went into the back yard to play 'catch' with her for a while, and help her learn to hit a little better; I went to one of Donna's field hockey games and cheered her efforts. Wendy wanted to know if I'd go to the park and play Frisbee with her, and I was glad to do so.

A few more weeks went by, and I was staying home with the girls one Saturday while Teresa got in some overtime at work. I was there less to supervise than to simply be there if anything serious happened, or one of them needed something Parental; all three of them had already accepted me as an authority figure in their lives, despite my minimal exercise of such. Wendy and Karen had gone off to visit friends while Donna stayed in her room