Chapter 13
Jessica looked over her daughters' shoulder as she typed on the computer.
"What are you up to?" she asked curiously.
Charlotte startled and began clicking pages closed, "Nothing!"
Jessica frowned, placing her hand over the mouse and re-opening the pages, "Oh," her face fell.
"I was just looking," Charlotte rushed, "Because I thought maybe… it might make things easier if…"
"If you could be… un-adopted?" Jessica finished.
Charlotte shrugged.
"Honey," Jessica sat beside her daughter, "Is that really what you want?"
Charlotte looked at her with wide eyes, "I don't know, mom…"
Jessica sighed sadly, "Sweetheart, the day your adoption came through was one of the best days of my life. I loved you so much. I was in such an unhappy marriage and you were the one thing that made me happy. I made a commitment to raise you and take care of you. To love you. I just… I'm so proud to be your mother, Charlotte."
Charlotte watched the tears in her mom's eyes, "Mom…" she touched Jessica's face lightly, "You're always going to be my mom. And I'm proud to be your daughter… I really am. I'm just so worried about you getting into trouble, mom. If not Mary, it could always be someone else, right?"
"That's true," Jessica supposed sadly, "But we just have to deal with those things as they come. Or… not."
"What do you mean?" Charlotte frowned.
"I mean… I know this relationship comes with a lot of commitments… and you're right, one of those is that we could always be under be threat of someone finding out… and if that's too much – "
"No," Charlotte shook her head, "No, no, mom that's not what I'm saying. I don't care what I have to deal with as long as I can be with you."
Jessica smiled, kissing Charlotte's lips briefly, "If you're sure," she murmured.
"I'm sure," Charlotte replied firmly.
"You know what?" Jessica pushed Charlotte aside gently and started clicking on the computer, "We're going to book a holiday."
"A holiday?" Charlotte tilted her head, "Where?"
"Anywhere!" Jessica exclaimed, "Where we can be alone and walk down the street being… us. Together. A normal couple. Just for a little while."
Charlotte grinned, "Cool! When can we go? Soon? Please?"
Jessica laughed at her daughters excitement, "How about this weekend?"
"I'm going to pack!" Charlotte ran off to their room.
Jessica chuckled and followed her.
Jessica couldn't help smiling as Charlotte sat on the hotel bed, cross-legged, playing on her laptop.
"We come all this way and you lug that thing around with you?" she chuckled.
Charlotte smiled sheepishly, "Yeah, yeah, I know."
Jessica crawled onto the bed, "What are you looking at anyway?"
"Nothing!" Charlotte hit the lid closed quickly.
Jessica sighed, ""So, have you thought more about… what you were looking at the other day?" she asked tentatively.
"Oh, that," Charlotte shook her head, "No, I decided I always want you to be my mom."
Jessica smiled, "Glad to hear you say that, sweetheart," then she frowned, "So, what were you looking at on this thing?" she quickly grabbed her daughters' laptop.
"No, no," Charlotte fought to grab it back but her mom had already opened it.
"Oh," Jessica smirked, "What, I'm not enough for you?"
Charlotte blushed, "I was just looking," she mumbled.
Jessica laughed, "Don't be so embarrassed, baby. Everyone looks at porn sometimes."
Charlotte nibbled on her lip, "Everybody? Even you?"
"Ah, well…" Jessica giggled, "Maybe once or twice," she grinned.
"Really?" Charlotte tilted her head, "That's hot."
Jessica rolled her eyes, switching her gaze back to the laptop screen, "I might have even looked at sites… or well, they might have been magazines back in my day, with these…particular tastes."
Charlotte blushed, "Oh, mom, don't look at that," she took back her laptop and placed it aside.
Jessica licked her lips unconsciously, "So, do you like that kind of thing then?" she wondered curiously.
Charlotte shrugged, averting her eyes.
Jessica placed a hand on Charlotte's cheek, "Hey, you can tell me anything, remember?"
Charlotte nodded, "Um. Yeah, I guess I do like…some of that stuff. Not the super intense stuff but some…"
"Mm, me too," Jessica admitted, "I mean, I never used to… with… well, anyway, let's not talk about him, but with you…"
Charlotte tilted her head, "With me…what?"
Jessica bit her lip, becoming the embarrassed one now, "I don't know. You always let me take control and I never knew how much I would like that… but I do. I really do, so maybe," she leant her mouth close to Charlotte's ear, "I'd like to tie you up."
Charlotte gulped, "Really?" she squeaked.
Jessica kissed her cheek, "If you like."
Charlotte nibbled on her lip, "I'd like," she mumbled.
Jessica grinned, "Cool, but for now, I'm starved. Would you like to go on a dinner date with me, Charlie?"
Charlotte's eyes lit up, "I'd love that!"
Charlotte startled a little when Jessica took her hand as they walked down a busy street, trying to pick a restaurant to eat at. Then she wrapped her fingers around her mom's tightly.
Jessica chuckled, "You know, even when you were little you would always hold my hand so tightly," she remembered, "You'd squeeze my hand and say hold tighter, mommy," she smiled.
"Because you make me feel so safe," Charlotte bit her lip, "Guess I've always been a mommy's girl, huh?" she blushed slightly.
"Always," Jessica smiled before pressing her lips to Charlotte's quickly, "Mm, it's very nice not to have to hide this."
"Yeah, it is," Charlotte agreed quietly, "What do you feel like eating?"
"Hmm, how about Italian?" Jessica stopped outside a small Italian restaurant.
Charlotte nodded, "Perfect," she pulled her mom through the doors and the two quickly got a table, "I'll be right back."
Jessica frowned, "Where are you going?"
"Just give me two minutes, okay?" Charlotte grinned, "And order me a lemonade, please!"
Jessica shrugged, "Okay, okay. But you better not be standing me up on our first date."
"I'm not, I promise," Charlotte kissed her quickly.
She returned a few minutes later, hand behind her back.
"So, since it's our first date and all… I wanted to do things properly," Charlotte smiled sheepishly as she presented a small teddy bear with a few cheap flowers, "It was the best I could do at a little shop down the street."
Jessica beamed as she took the teddy bear, "Oh, Charlie, it's perfect," she kissed her lips, lingering briefly before kissing them again, "You're such a sweetheart."
Charlotte grinned, "You deserve the best."
"So do you," Jessica placed her hands over Charlotte's, "I love you so much," she raised their hands to her mouth and peppered them with kisses, making Charlotte giggle.
"Sorry to interrupt," the waitress smiled sheepishly, "Were you ready to order?"
Charlotte looked down at her menu, "Could I have a Hawaiian pizza please?"
"And could I please get a Carbonara?" Jessica handed over her menu.
"Of course," the waitress took their menu's, "Anything to drink?"
Charlotte looked across at her mom, "How about some wine?"
Jessica nodded, "Sure, your finest bottle of pinot noir, please."
The waitress nodded, "Sure, just to let you know the highest bottle we have is quite pricey – "
"That's fine," Jessica smiled, "Special occasion."
"Oh! Anniversary?" the waitress asked.
Jessica laughed, "Actually, it's our first official date."
"Oh, I'm sorry," the waitress laughed, "You just seem… well, you seem like you've been together for a while."
Charlotte grinned.
Jessica smiled politely, "Well, I suppose we have but we just hadn't had the time to go out… like this."
"Well, then I'll leave you to it," the waitress smiled and walked away.
"We're like a proper couple," Charlotte exclaimed.
Jessica laughed at her daughters' excitement, "Of course we are," she placed a hand on Charlotte's cheek, "Always have been. We don't need anyone else to validate that."
Charlotte nodded, "Yeah, I know. It's just nice to be out like this," she nuzzled her cheek into her mom's hand, "To not have to hide the most wonderful part of my life."
Jessica's thumb swept under Charlotte's eye, "I know exactly what you mean," she whispered.
Jessica pulled Charlotte into her side as they left the restaurant.
"Now what do you want to do?" she asked, kissing the side of Charlotte's head, "Do you want to go back to the hotel or go for a walk? Desert?"
Charlotte smiled, "How about we just walk a while?"
Jessica raised an eyebrow at her daughters' less than straight steps, "Are you sure you can?"
"What?" Charlotte looked at her.
"I think maybe someone had a little much to drink," Jessica teased gently.
Charlotte blushed, "I did not!"
Jessica giggled, "Lightweight," she nudged her gently.
"You got that fancy wine!" Charlotte laughed, "I'm not so used to it, it's very strong. Maybe you were just trying to get me drunk."
Jessica feigned offense, "Me?" she chortled, "Never. You know, I've never seen you drunk."
Charlotte smiled, "I like to stay in control."
Jessica smirked, "Not according to those sites you were looking at earlier," she whispered in her daughters ear.
Charlotte blushed deeply, "Mommm," she whined.
Jessica laughed lightly and suddenly grabbed Charlotte's arm pulling her into a nearby alleyway. She pinned Charlotte's arms above her head.
"How's this?" she purred.
Charlotte was caught off guard but stared into her mom's eyes, "Totally hot," she answered.
Jessica's smirked, "Mm, now just imagine if we weren't in the middle of the street," she whispered, "But in our hotel room… and I had you all to myself. Did I happen to mention when I snuck out earlier I found some handcuff's?" she winked.
Charlotte bit the corner of her lip, "You're trying to seduce me," she said quietly.
Jessica licked her lips, "Trying?" she quirked an eyebrow as she traced a single finger over Charlotte's blouse, stopping at the hem at her jeans.
"Succeeding," Charlotte admitted, "You know, I can't resist you."
Jessica nipped her ear, "I know," she chuckled.
Charlotte closed the gap between them, pushing her lips against Jessica's hard and feeling Jessica's body lean into her own, backing her into the wall. Now not only were her hands pinned but so was her body. Jessica's bit her daughters' lip and entered her tongue into Charlotte's mouth strongly. Their tongue's tangled with one another, fighting for dominance for only a moment before Charlotte gave her mom what she wanted. She kissed back for as long as she could before she had to break away to breathe.
"You're so fucking sexy," Charlotte murmured.
Jessica licked her lips again, "You're sexier," she whispered, "How about we get back to the hotel room?"