Was it illegal to do what they did on that Saturday morning in December? Was it immoral? Was it just plain wrong to have allowed this to have happened? These were some of questions that both Chuck and Joanie had wrestled with during the next couple of months. Had they let things go too far?

It was now Christmas break for the two of them and although they had many times alone to repeat their adventure, they managed to stay pretty much at arms length throughout the two weeks. The family went up to the mountains like they had for the four years since they had gotten together and Chuck and Joanie seemed to get along just like always, but they each could tell that there was something in the air that kept their conversations to a jesting sort of tone.

Joanie had, in addition to contemplating the answers to these questions, felt a pang of guilt every time she though on that wonderful time down in the basement family room with her step-brother Chuck. The guilty feeling was not for allowing him to seduce her, or vice versa depending on how you look at it, but for not being truthful and telling him how she felt. He had told her that he loved her and all she could do was to walk out of the room. She couldn’t get the words to come out of her mouth and now she wished that she had.

Chuck, on the other hand, felt guilty for expressing his love for the girl and now felt like he had jumped the gun with his declaration. She must not have had the same feeling for him or she would have told him so. He was afraid to bring it up with her now for fear of further rejection so he just kept their conversations light and cheerful, never daring the broach the subject of their time together.

So as time marched on into early spring, just before track workouts and golf practices began, on another Saturday morning, they found themselves home alone once again in a very similar position except it was Joanie coming down the stairs, but this time, she was wearing her night gown and Chuck was watching the TV in his pajamas.

She walked into the room but when she heard the TV on in a low volume, she suddenly stopped in her tracks and froze for fear of being heard. Chuck looked up from the cartoons that he always tried to watch on Saturdays and realized what he had on for clothing. He straightened up and glanced over his shoulder just in time to see his sister turn white and head back towards the stairs.

“Joanie,” he said to her, trying to stop her retreat. “Come on down so we can talk. Don’t you think we let this whole thing go on long enough?”

She stopped and turned slowly back to the sofa where her brother sat. She sheepishly looked down at her hands and what she was wearing then slowly walked over to him and sat down on the other end of the sofa without saying a word.

Chuck looked over at his sister with a longing look in his eyes and finally said, “Joanie, about last December, you know when we…”

“I know, I know what we did,’ she interrupted him bring up the subject. “Did he think that he had to remind me,” she thought to herself.

“Joanie, I’m trying to apologize for forcing you to do it with me,” he blurted out.

A looked of total disbelief came over her face hearing this come out of his mouth. “He wanted to apologize, he didn’t really want to do it at all?” she thought. “Then he really didn’t mean it when he said that he loved me.”

The hurt in her eyes caught him totally off guard as he stammered to regain his posture. She had turned her face down and was looking into her lap and he detected a small tear start to form on her eye lid.

“Oh Joanie, I didn’t mean it really, I…I, ah, only apologized because I thought that you…I mean, I really wanted to…OH SHIT!” he screamed out in frustration.
The tears were rolling down her cheeks now and as he looked over at her, he took her by both hands and as sincerely as he could possible tell her, said, “Joanie, I love you. I’ve loved you from the moment that I met you as a skinny little twelve year-old. I love the way you look. I love the way you laugh and I even love the way you cry.” He let a slight smile from his lips and tilted his head to look her straight in her tear choked eyes.

“I thought by declaring my love for you on that Saturday morning, that you would instantly declare your love for me and we would be so happy together. But when you didn’t, well I though that maybe your feelings were not the same as mine and I…”

“I love you, too,” she said in an almost inaudible voice.

A look of total shock came over his face. His eyes flew open and a huge smile lightened up his face as he asked, “What did you say?”

She smiled as she said, “You heard me. I love you, too. I’ve loved you for a long time but I couldn’t get it out on that morning. I wish that I had, I really do,” she said and leaned close for a tender kiss on the lips.

Chuck’s heart was racing in his chest as he leaned over to take her into his arms and hold her and kiss her and love her once again.