My European Summer Vacation Part 2 [8letters]

"I am. 'Golden Opportunity' is my middle name."

Sinead chuckled. "You're so silly. Here's the thing." Sinead shifted so she could look me in the eye. "I don't wait to stay with you in Boston. I know this is really rushing things, but I want to live with you in Boston."

"Live with me?"

"Aye, as me fella. I probably should have waited to bring this up, but I kept thinking about it while you were fucking me. I want to be able to do crazy things with you every night."

"I'll have to talk to my roommate." I barely knew my roommate Doug. He was a friend of a friend of a friend who had a job near where I was going to work. We had gotten the apartment together in May, I had slept there a few nights between when classes ended and I left for Ireland. We hadn't discussed the possibility of girls moving in. He may want me to move out and find a replacement roommate. Which I would be happy to do if it meant I got to live with Sinead.

"Can you call him now?"

"No. I didn't bring my phone with me." Roaming charges would have made carrying my phone cost-prohibitive.

"You can use my phone."

"I don't know his number. Don't worry about it. We'll fly to Boston together, I'll introduce you to Doug and once he has met you, we'll bring up that you want to live with me. What we need to do now is get you a ticket for my flight."

"I've wanted to go to Boston all my life, and now I'm going to do it."

"Why have you wanted to go to Boston?"

"To find my mam." Sinead jumped off of me and sprinted over to her small desk. I admired her long legs, firm ass and strong back. "I'm adopted. My birth mam was a single mother. She never told anyone who my father was." Sinead took an unmarked binder off the top shelf of her desk and opened it on her desk. "When I was about a year old, she turned me over to my grandmam and flew off to Boston. No one has heard from her since. Her cousin Noel and his wife eventually adopted me and I call them Mam and Dad, but they aren't my parents." I stood up and walked towards the desk. Sinead pointed at a 8 1/2 by 11 picture in a clear sleeve that was the first page in the binder. "Here's a picture of my mam with me. Her name is Margaret Murphy."

I recognized the face instantly. I had a similar picture in a similar binder in my backpack. It was my mom.

And that meant Sinead was my half-sister.

"I have lots more pictures of her." She started flipping pages. "Do you think I look like her?" I didn't answer as I was in a state of shock. "I think I have a little of her looks, particularly her nose."

I had just fucked my half-sister.

Sinead kept flipping pages. Occasionally, she said where the picture was taken or who else was in the picture. I said nothing as I had no idea of what to say. My mother kept getting younger in the photos. I recognized a lot of the looks in the photos - here was Mom laughing her laugh, here was Mom upset that someone was taking her picture without her permission, here was Mom with her "smile for the camera" fake smile.

I had just agreed to have my half-sister live with me.

I stood dumbstruck as she went through all of the photos. "So I've always wanted to go to Boston to find her, to tell her that I forgive her, to tell her that I want to be her daughter and her to be my mam." She looked up from the pictures to me. "Finding her is the most important thing in the world to me." Sinead gave me a hard hug. "And I'm finally going to be able to thanks to you."

I didn't hug Sinead back as my mind was in a whirl. Then I had a new thought - Whoa! Whoa! You're jumping to conclusions!

My mom was a great mom and she never would have abandoned me or my sisters. If Sinead was her child, she would have brought her to Boston.

And wouldn't Dad had known if Mom had had a baby before? Seen some telltale signs of a prior pregnancy? I didn't know what. Dad had been very honest about his relationship with Mom when he suggested that I go to Cork, so I'm sure he would have told me if Mom had been a mother prior to my birth.

And come on - Ireland has over 4.5 million citizens. It's implausible that literally the first person I talked to would be my secret half-sister.

Sinead's mom was probably only someone who looked a lot like my mom with the same name. I had already found out that Murphy is the most common name in County Cork. Margaret was probably also a very common first name. Both women looked alike because they both wore the same hair style, which was probably a popular hair style in Cork at the time. Similar looks in pictures taken over a year apart proved nothing.

I was certain that if I found out any facts about Sinead's mom like her birthday, they would prove Sinead's mom wasn't my mom. I couldn't ask Sinead what her mom's birthday was as it would sound weird and she'd ask why I wanted to know. Now that Sinead had told me about her mom, she probably soon tell me more about her. Until then, I wasn't going to worry about it - the odds were prohibitively against her mom and my mom being the same person.

My thoughts were interrupted when Sinead said, "Look, I'm guessing you've done all you want to do in Cork. How would you like to go to my parent's farm? It's an hour bus ride from here. I could show you around where I grew up."

"That sounds great."

That would be great - a chance for me to discretely find out for sure if Sinead's mom and mine were different people.

"I have to warn you that my mam's a prude. We aren't going to be able to sleep together. She's not going to understand my wanting to live with someone I met three days ago. Would you mind if we pretended we're just friends?"

"No, that'd be fine."

"My dad has hinted he would help me out financially if I ever moved away from Cork. But the money would be from my mam as she controls the purse strings. For most of the day tomorrow, my mam will be at a weekly charity event she goes to so I'll be able to introduce you to my dad and ask him for money without her around. I'll show you around the farm and the town, and it will be a lot of fun. When my mam and my brothers get home, we'll have to be civil to them. Don't defend me or get in a fight with them! I'll be the dutiful daughter, have a civil but unpleasant evening with my family and we'll come back here first thing the next morning."

"You're in charge."

"Thanks. I don't feel in charge around my mam or my brothers."

"How many brothers do you have?"

"Three. They're much younger than me. All of them are in secondary school. We fight a lot, but it's not serious - typical sibling tussles. It's my mam that I can't stand. I've always been a disappointment to her. She had wanted a girlie-girl who would wear frilly dresses, play with dolls and be best friends with all of the girls nearby."

"And you weren't that way?"

"Na, na. I didn't want to play with dolls, I wanted to operate farm equipment. I've always gotten along better with boys than girls. When I was thirteen, I kissed a boy for the first time and that opened up a whole new battlefield. We've always butted heads."

"Going to your parent's farm sounds like a great way to see more of Ireland."

"One last thing - I haven't told anyone in Cork that I'm adopted. Being abandoned by your mother is very hard to talk about. So don't mention it to anyone. I only told you because I'll need your help to find my mam in Boston."

* * * *

The next morning when we woke, Sinead wiggled her ass on my cock. I kissed her and ran my hands over her body. As we made out, part of my mind was deciding that it had been ridiculous to have thought we had the same mom. As I ate Sinead out, I wondered at my taking the idea seriously the night before. There was no way, I decided, this hot Irish babe that I was fucking doggie-style could be my half-sister. When we were done, I thought about telling Sinead about this crazy idea I had had the night before, but I didn't know if she would think it was funny.

On the bus ride out to her parents, Sinead called her dad and told him when we would be arriving. He agreed to pick us up, as the farm was a long walk from town.

"When I say I'm going to Boston, the elephant in the room will be my birth mam," said Sinead. "None of my family will approve of me going to look for her. I'm not going to bring it up. Hopefully, they won't bring it up as well."

When we got off the bus, Sinead ran over to her dad and gave him an enthusiastic hug.

"Dad, this is Noel Vaupel."

I shook hands with Sinead's Dad. He was tall and thin with short blond hair that was graying. Strong handshake, no warmth in his smile. He seemed to spend a lot of time looking me over.

"I met him a few days ago. He's a Yank. I showed him around Cork for a wee bit and I offered to show him around our farm. In return, he's offered to let me stay with him in America until I can get established."

We headed towards his car.

"Where you from?" asked Mr. Hayes.

"Boston."

"Many kids named Noel in Boston?"

"No. I'm the only one I know of."

He was quiet after that until Sinead asked for the latest farm news. I listened to them talk.

* * * *

"This is the farm's newest tractor," said Sinead.

It was huge. I climbed up the long ladder up to the cab. I had no idea tractors were this big. Sinead scrambled up behind me. There were two seats in the cab. I sat down in the passenger seat and Sinead sat in the driver's. She told me the specs for the tractor and all of the state-of-the-art features it had. I was amazed.

"Can I take him for a ride?" Sinead called down to her dad.

"Na, na. I need to prepare a field for planting. I'll take you both out."

Sinead sat down on my lap. I wanted to give her hug, but I remembered we were to be just friends.

Mr. Hayes fired up the tractor. The engine roared and the whole tractor throbbed with power. How many pickups could it out pull simultaneously in a tug of war? We backed out of the shed and started down a road that led out to the fields. Mr. Hayes came to a sudden stop.

"Sinead, I left my phone in my office and I'm expecting an important phone call. Would you run and get it for me please?"

"Dad, it's a long way from here to the office."

"I know, darlin'. Please?"

"Okay, Dad".

Sinead hopped off my lap, opened the door and gave me a look that she knew something was up. She climbed down the ladder and jumped to the ground.

As soon as she started running towards the house, Mr. Hayes said, "You're Noel Liam Vaupel, son of Margie Murphy, my cousin."

"I am Noel Liam and my mother's maiden name was Margaret Murphy, but I doubt she was your cousin."

"She is. She named you after me. She used to send me a picture of you once a year with a letter. I still have the last picture of you she sent. You were probably around nine or ten." He rattled off a string of facts to prove that my mom was his cousin - Mom's birthday, my birthday, which toe of Mom's was angled funny because she broke it as a child. "How she's doing?"

"She's dead. Died a year and half ago in an industrial accident."

"I'm sorry to hear that." He looked away for a while. "And you came here to meet her family?"

"I came here to find out about her history. She never said anything about her life in Ireland."

Mr. Hayes nodded and then yanked his head towards the house. "Sinead's your half-sister."

My guts twisted into a ball. I couldn't deny it now.

"You're going to help her live in Boston?"

"Yeah. I'm going to arrange for her to stay at my dad's. He has an empty bedroom now that I'm out of the house." That was the story Sinead and I had agreed on to cover how involved we were.

"Good. She has no future here in Ireland."

"Why did my mom leave Ireland? Why didn't she take Sinead? Why didn't she try to contact Sinead?"

"I can tell you what I know, but you have to make me some promises."

"Okay."

"First, you have to promise to take Sinead to Boston."

"She's already talked to you about money." I had gone for a walk around the farm to give Sinead some time to talk privately with her dad. "She's going to buy her plane ticket today. We'll fly to Boston together when I'm done touring Europe."

"Good enough. Once you get to Boston, tell her what I'm about to tell you. Not a moment sooner."

"Okay."

"And tell her to never come back to Ireland. There's no future for her here. She'll be much happier in Boston."

"That's...harsh. Really?"

"Really. Promise it or I'll tell you nothing."

"I promise." Like I have a choice.

"Swear by all that is holy."

"What?"

"Swear by all that is holy."

Man, he was serious. I held up my right hand. "I swear by all that is holy that I'll take Sinead to Boston, that I'll tell her what you are about to tell me once we are there and no sooner, and that I'll tell her she's to never come back to Ireland. So help me God."

"All right." He let out a big sigh. "I'm Sinead's biological father. When I was nineteen and Margie was fourteen, we were at a family gathering. I've always been good with machinery and animals, but not so good with people. For whatever reason, Margie took a shine to me. We slipped away from the family to do something and the next thing I knew she was kissing me. She was so beautiful, the prettiest girl for kilometers. One thing led to another and we were soon no longer virgins. I knew it was wrong, but I couldn't resist her. After that, we would get together once every week or two. She was on the pill, so we didn't have to worry about her getting pregnant. Each time, I would try to resist her. Each time, she'd smile at me, touch me and then I had to have her. Our affair lasted for three years."

"I graduated from University and got a job on this farm. The farmer's two eldest sons had moved to Dublin. He was afraid his daughter Maeve was going to do to the same. Maeve was the same age as me. The farmer encouraged me to court Maeve and when Maeve agreed to go on a date with me, I told Margie that we were definitely finished. Maeve and I got along well and soon we were engaged."

"I was heading to town one day when I saw Margie walking along the road. A spring rainstorm had caught her by surprise and had soaked her. I decided to give her a lift home. Once she got in my car, it was like old times - I couldn't resist her. She got my blood boiling, then I was between her legs, pounding away. Maeve has never filled me with lust like Margie could."

"I felt bad about cheating on Maeve, but I eventually shook it off as my last fling before married life. But Margie hadn't mentioned she had stopped taking birth control after we broke up. At my wedding reception, she whispered in my ear that she was pregnant with my child."

"It was a nightmare for me. If Maeve found out that I had knocked up my cousin while I was engaged to her, my marriage was over. Margie eventually got so big that it was obvious she was pregnant. Her mam demanded to know who the father was. Margie refused to tell her. Your grandmam is a real hellion..." My grandmother? It was hard for me to remember that this was a story about my mother as it sounded like a completely different person. "...and their fights were the talk of the town. Her mam would scream at Margie loud enough for the neighbors to hear that she had dishonored the whole family. Margie would scream back just as loud that it was none of her damn business. I prayed every night that Margie would keep our secret."

Mr. Hayes swallowed deeply. "One day while Margie was out of the house, your grandmam found some love letters I had written to Margie. Margie had told me that she had destroyed them, but she had instead hid them someplace where she felt her mam would never find them. Your grandmam invited me over to repair something and confronted me with the letters. I confessed everything. When Margie got back, your grandmam told Margie that she knew all. Margie said that she loved me, that she was thrilled to be having my baby and that she would have more of my babies. I had thought their screaming matches had been intense. Their whispered fight that happened afterward was ten times worse."

"Your grandmam forbid me from seeing Margie again." He sighed. "You have to understand that my family was poor and had been for generations. I had married into money and was using my position to help the other members of my family. Margie was threatening to not only ruin my marriage, but to bring down financial ruin on our whole family."

"I don't know what happened between Margie and your grandmam after that. Sinead was born and before she was a year old, Margie turned her over to your grandmam and flew off to Boston. Your grandmam told everyone she would never return and she didn't. Your mam never discussed it in her letters to me. I always destroyed a letter as soon as I read it, but I kept your picture until the next one."

"Maeve took a liking to Sinead - she was a cute baby - and felt that she needed a better home than what your grandmam could provide. She talked your grandmam into letting us adopt her. Maeve has tried to be a good mother to Sinead, but Sinead has never appreciated all that Maeve has done for her. She's always been fascinated with Margie, asking people for stories about Margie and pictures of Margie. She's always made it clear that one day she would go to Boston to find her. For a few years while Sinead was in secondary school, she stopped calling Maeve 'Mam' and called her 'Maeve'. That hurt Maeve badly. I finally convinced Sinead to go back to calling her 'Mam'."

Mr. Hayes sighed. "Still, the damage is done. Sinead and Maeve fight like cats and dogs. Kids need a lot of financial help now days to keep their heads above water, but Maeve refuses to help Sinead. I think I can convince Maeve to help Sinead financially to move to America, but it's going to be a tough sell." His voice took on some extra urgency. "But that doesn't matter. Sinead has to go. She has to leave Ireland. If I can't get money from Maeve, I'll borrow some from friends. Sinead has to get on the plane with you as you promised me."

"She'll be on that plane."

After that, we were quiet. I watched Sinead in the distance jog towards us. Mr. Hayes' story was a huge amount for me to digest. My world had been turned upside down. My mother had not been the person I had thought she was.

"Does anyone else know about you and my mom?"

"Now that your mother's dead, only you, me and your grandmam."

I wasn't surprised. At the same time, I wished there was someone else to talk to. Maybe my grandmother? How could I get some time alone with her?

"My mom stopped sending pictures?"

"She stopped writing. Said that writing to me was hurting her marriage. I never wrote her. I never kept her address. Too dangerous."

Sinead was close enough that I could see the phone in her hand. When she was about thirty feet away, her dad said, "Remember, not a word to Sinead until she's in Boston. By all that is holy."

Sinead opened the door, handed her dad his phone and then sat down on my lap. "Did you have a nice talk while I was gone?" she asked.

"A very pleasant talk," said Mr. Hayes. "You're friend here is quite the gentleman."

Yeah, a gentleman who's fucking your daughter, my half-sister.

* * * *

Sinead borrowed a car and she drove me around. She showed me the primary and secondary schools she attended. We went to the main street of the nearest town and looked at the shops. I was glad she was driving as it gave me an excuse to not hold hands with her. That and we were supposed to be just friends. I paid attention while Sinead talked. Otherwise, I thought about my mother. Our mother.

Cars in Ireland drive on the same side of the road as England, which is the opposite of all sane countries. I thought I was going to die multiple times on the drive. Every time Sinead made a turn, I'd think You're driving on the wrong side of the road! And a car is coming!. Riding in a bus in Ireland hadn't bothered me, but driving in a small car was a white-knuckle ride for me.

As we drove down one street, Sinead pointed out a house. "See that white house la? My grandmam lives there. I lived there until I was adopted."

"Let's go in. I'd like to meet your grandmam."

Sinead shook her head. "If I introduce you to her, she'll know I'm going to Boston to find my mam. We'll have a big row. I don't want to fight with her."

We drove around town a bit more. I got the feeling that Sinead wasn't showing me the town so much as she was saying goodbye to it.

"Time to go back to the farm and have you meet the rest of my family."

When we came into the house, two boys were studying on the dining room table.

"Jamie and Luke," announced Sinead. "I'd like to introduce you to a friend of mine."

They jumped up and came over to meet me. Another boy appeared out of the kitchen.

"This is Noel. Noel, this is Jamie, Luke and Aaron."

We all shook hands while Sinead said, "Noel is from Boston. We met four days ago." Has it really been only four days? "When the summer is over, we're going to go back to Boston together and he's going to help me get situated."

"A Yank, huh?" said Jamie. "You had your heart set on seeing an Irish farm?"

"Has Sinead shown you where she works?" asked Luke. "She's in charge of the nicest jacks in all of Cork."

"She can show you which jack the Lord Mayor's wife uses when she needs to take a dump," added Aaron.

"I've shown him lots of Cork," said Sinead. "But, little brothers, I haven't shown him where I work."

The "little brothers" dig made them wince. Jamie was almost as tall as Sinead, but the other two were clearly shorter. All three of the boys were unusually broad in the shoulders compared to the Irish men I had seen. A little short for a linebacker, but that general build.

The four siblings kept up the constant battle of wits, with the three boys trying to embarrass or make fun of Sinead and Sinead constantly putting them in their place. In all seemed good spirited, but it made me uncomfortable.

A door opened. "That's mam!" said Jamie in a quiet voice. The three boys dived back into their homework.

Mrs. Hayes turned the corner and entered the living room.

"Hello, Mam," said Sinead in an almost formal tone. "I'd like to introduce you to a friend of mine. He's Noel Vaupel and he's from Boston."

Mrs. Hayes strode forward in a regal manner and stuck out a hand, which I shook. Nobody would think she was the biological mother of Sinead as she was short and stout with the manner of an English bulldog.

"I'm very glad to meet you, Noel." We exchanged pleasantries for a bit. "Vaupel is your last name? What brings you to Cork as you're not Irish?"

"I'm seven-eighths Irish."

We made some more small talk, which consisted of Mrs. Hayes making some judgmental statement and me trying to establish that I'm a decent individual.

"Time to make dinner," said Mrs. Hayes. "Coming, Sinead?"

"Aye, Mam."

Once Sinead and Mrs. Hayes were in the kitchen, the boys slackened up on the pace of their studies.

"How many times have you been to a Celtics game?" Luke asked.

"Six."

"Have you ever seen Kobe play?"

"Once." As a loyal Celtics fan, I hated Kobe Bryant with the heat of a thousand suns.

"Isn't he the greatest?" Luke did his best Kobe scowl while making shooting motions. I almost threw up.

"There are other players I like better."

* * * *

For some reason, our simple dinner at a country farm felt very formal. Mr. Hayes sat at one end of the table and Mrs. Hayes sat on the other. I was squeezed in on one side with Luke and Aaron. Sinead was across from me and Mrs. Hayes to my right. Mrs. Hayes asked each boy what he had done in school that day and each boy told what he had done with all the excitement of a six-year-old boy reciting romantic poetry. It was Sinead's turn after the boys had been interrogated and she told Mrs. Hayes about our day with none of her usual enthusiasm.

"Noel, are you and Sinead a couple?" Mrs. Hayes tried to ask it lightly, but I knew that the wrong answer would be very bad.

"We're friends. We met four days ago and Sinead has been kind enough to show me around Cork when her work schedule permitted."

"Today was my first day off," Sinead added, "and I thought Noel would like to see Irish country life."

"Tomorrow when I get back to Cork, I'll head off to somewhere new."

"Where will you go?"

"I don't know. I tend to make decisions at the last moment."

"Not a good habit to pick up, young man."

Mrs. Hayes then launched into a lecture on the sights and cities of Ireland. It was like my most boring History class on steroids. The boys and Mr. Hayes dismissed themselves from the table as they finished their meals, leaving Sinead and me to listen to Mrs. Hayes drone on and on. I kept spacing out, thinking about the bomb Sinead's dad had dropped on me. I still couldn't handle it, so I pushed it aside and tuned back into Mrs. Hayes' drone.

"With that," Mrs. Hayes finally concluded, "you should be able to make a wise choice now about where to go next."

"Thank you very much for the information, Mrs. Hayes. I'll go to Killarney tomorrow." If there's a train going that way when I get to the train station.

"An excellent choice. Are you two spending the night?"

"It's too late to catch the bus back now," said Sinead.

"I'll make sleeping arrangements then. Noel, you'll be sleeping on the couch in the living room. I'll go up and talk with the boys."

Mrs. Hayes stood up and regally marched up the stairs. Sinead and I cleared the dishes from the table and then started loading them into the dishwasher.

"What do you think of my mam?"

"She's...uhm...a bit stern."

Sinead snorted. "A bit? She's got everyone in the house under her thumb."

With an adopted mom like that, I could see why Sinead was obsessed with her birth mom.

"I wonder where I'll wind up," said Sinead. "I normally sleep on the couch."

"You don't have a room?"

"Na, na. Aaron took my room. Till tonight, I've only slept over at Christmas."

I was surprised. It wasn't until I got my apartment that I gave up my bedroom back home. Even now, it was a guest bedroom-slash-junk room that I could sleep in if I wanted to. I loved spending the night with my family whenever I could squeeze it in.

After we had started the dishwasher, I cleaned the kitchen while Sinead watched. I didn't know what else to do. I felt uncomfortable around Sinead for the first time since we met.

"Sinead!" cried Mrs. Hayes from the foot of the stairs.

"We're in the kitchen, Mam."

"Sinead, you're going to be in Aaron's room tonight. He raised quite the ruckus about it. He can be discomforted for one night for the sake of his sister. At times I wonder..."

She trailed off. I glanced at her and saw that she had stopped talking to watch me do my best to clean the top of the old gas stove. It had some nasty spots on it and I was working hard on an ugly brown one. Sinead was leaning against a counter with her arms folded and an amused look on her face.

"What are you doing?" asked Mrs. Hayes.

"Cleaning the stove top," I said. "Sinead and I have already loaded the dishes and I've cleaned the counters."

"Oh my. That's so nice of you."

"It's the least I can do after such a wonderful dinner."

That drew a little blush. "It's nice to know that some young people now days can appreciate what others do for them." She looked at Sinead meaningfully. Sinead colored.

"I think I'll do the evening feedings now, Mam." Turning to me, "Would you like to come along?"

"Sure."

Once we were safely away from the house, Sinead said, "Appreciate! Bah! Sometimes I want to choke her!"

As we fed the animals and made sure they had all they needed for the night, Sinead steadily unwound. Again, I felt uncomfortable. I was glad our cover story of not being a couple gave me an excuse to not hold hands or kiss.

"What do you get from two percent of a cow?" I asked

"I don't know."

"Two-percent milk."

I was rewarded with a small chuckle and a big eye roll.

Back in the house, I went upstairs and played Xbox with Sinead's brothers. Half-brothers actually, same as me. No way Sinead would consider any of them romantically and rightfully so. Sinead made snide comments as she watched us played.

Mrs. Hayes came into the bedroom and announced it was time for bed. I brushed my teeth then changed into a T-shirt, underwear and sweat pants for sleeping on the couch. Mrs. Hayes brought out a pillow and two blankets and soon I was bedded down on the couch. Mrs. Hayes turned off all the lights and went upstairs to turn in.

I laid there turning over the news about Mom. She seduced her cousin at fourteen, tricked him into knocking her up, wanted to have more bastard kids with him, was forced to leave the country by my grandmother and then never contacted the child she left behind. I knew it was true, but I didn't want to believe it.

My mom had never freaked out at the possibility that I might have sex before I was married like so many of my friends' moms did. When I was a junior in high school and had started getting serious with one girl, mom had talked to me about how "no" means "no" and the importance of safe sex. As the girl and I got more serious, my mom had told me to always make sure the girl had enjoyed herself and that I should make her happy before she makes me happy. But nothing she had ever said would have led me to believe that she had thought it was fine to fuck a cousin at fourteen or to trick a cousin into knocking her up. Mom had seemed like an ordinary, typical mom.

How much did any kid know about their parents' sex lives? I'd guess that some of my friends' moms had been wild at fourteen, even though they're quite conservative now. It's not something parents discuss with their kids.

My trip to Europe was kind of Mom's parting gift to me. She had complained many times to management about the lax storage of chemicals and had kept a file at home of the emails she had sent. When she died, Dad had hired a lawyer to sue her company. Dad got a large settlement and he gave me a quarter of it. That was what I was using to pay for this trip and I'll have plenty in the bank when I decide to buy a house. So I had used the money I had gotten from her death to uncover the secret she had spent her life keeping from everyone.

I heard footsteps on the stairs. The couch was ten feet from the bottom of the staircase and I looked up to see Sinead on the stairs. She waved for me to come to her then held her finger in front of her mouth to indicate I had to be quiet. I didn't know what she wanted, but I tossed off the blankets and headed for the stairs.

When I got to the stairs, Sinead vigorously made the quiet sign. I slowly climbed the stairs, making as little noise as possible. Before I got to the top, Sinead slipped off to a bedroom doorway. She again motioned me to join her then made the quiet sign. I stealthily crossed over to her and entered the room. Once I was in, Sinead closed the door slowly so it wouldn't make a sound.

I glanced around the room and it looked like a typical teenage boy's room. Posters of a soccer team and a rock band adorned one wall and a poster of another rock band was on another. No posters of hot babes like I had had, but I decided Mrs. Hayes wouldn't have approved of that. All the flat surfaces were covered with guy stuff. I noticed that the bedding had been stripped off the bed and was on the floor next to it.

Sinead hugged me from behind and kissed my neck. "I've always wanted to sneak a fella into my room," she whispered as she slid one hand under my shirt and the other hand into my underwear and around my cock, "and tonight is my last chance."

The bedding on the floor. The hand around my cock. I quickly put two and two together and realized Sinead wanted to fuck. That'd be wrong. Very, very wrong. She was my half-sister and now that I knew she was my half-sister, there was no way I could fuck her.

"Mam and Dad are right next door, so we'll have to be very quiet."

Jesus, how am I going to get out of this?

Sinead brought her hand down from under my shirt and used it to pull my sweat pants and underwear down to my knees.

I had to stop this. I had to tell her to stop. But I couldn't whisper to her the way I was facing. I turned around to face her and as I did, Sinead pushed my underwear and sweat pants to my ankles.

I tried to think of something to say. Sinead stood up after removing my underwear and sweat pants. I opened my mouth to whisper something but Sinead put her hand behind my neck and pulled my face down to kiss her. She rammed her tongue inside my mouth. She kept the pressure downward on my neck as she bent her own knees. I was leaning too far forward and I had to go to my knees to keep from stumbling.

My mind was moving in super slow motion. I knew I should say or do something to stop this, but Sinead kept moving things along too quickly for me to respond. Sinead pulled up her nightshirt to reveal she was naked too from the waist down. I was lying on my back on the bedding on the floor and Sinead was on top of me.

"It'll be quieter if you let me do all the work," she whispered into my ear. "Just lie there."

I knew I should throw her off of me. But how to do it without waking her parents? I pictured her mom flinging open the door and demanding, "What the hell is going on?"

I felt my cock touch her opening and then Sinead sliding down my shaft. It was too late - I was in her.

"Just lie there," Sinead whispered again.

I could feel my cock sliding out of her as she lifted her body away from mine and sliding back into her as she lowered herself. Whether I was willing or not, she was going to fuck me. And God it felt so good!

Part of me was horrified that I was fucking my half-sister, but part of me still lusted for her as a beautiful, sexy women. The lusting parting of me was winning. I decided to surrender; that the best thing was to get this fuck over with quickly before we got caught, then it would be the last fuck we'd ever have.

Sinead wasn't looking at my face as I was thinking these thoughts. She had her head down by my ear so she could whisper instructions and was focused on using her lower body to fuck me quietly. I thought about grabbing her ass, but decided it best to let her be in complete control. Instead, I ran my hands up and down her thighs as she used them to lift herself off of me then to drop herself back down.

"Don't worry about me," she whispered. "Cum as quickly as you can."

Sinead moved into more of a sitting position, put her hands on my chest and looked down at me. I gave her a big smile. Best to get it over with as quickly as possible. I wished she wasn't wearing a shirt so I could see her tits bounce up and down as we fucked. As it was, I could make out quite a bit of movement.

I closed my eyes. It was so weird to do nothing. I focused on the wonderful feeling of fucking; of being all the way inside of Sinead then almost being all the way out. I was panting, not with exertion but with lust.

I pictured all the times we had fucked - Sinead bent over the couch, Sinead's tits bouncing as we fucked on the couch, Sinead moaning in pleasure as I fucked her on the dining table. She was the best fuck I had ever had and I was going to miss it.

I felt Sinead changing position so I opened my eyes. She had moved her legs so that she was now kneeling on her feet. "Knees hurt," she mouthed. She had to lean on her arms a little more in this position to keep her balance. She kept up the pistoning with her legs. We were both panting hard.

Then I felt it, that marvelous tingling sensation. I balled my body up a little bit as I came into her. Another intense cum, but all my cums were that way with Sinead.

Once I was done cumming, I relaxed. Sinead collapsed on top of me. "God, that was hard work," she whispered. We held each other while our heart rates gradually slowed. "Thanks," she whispered, "for fulfilling a little fantasy of mine."

"Thank you," I whispered back, "for another incredible fuck."

We pulled apart then quietly dressed. Sinead opened the door for me and I slowly, quietly made my way to the stairs and down to the couch.

I have got to get away from her.

I had given in too easily. I shouldn't have done it - fucking my half-sister next door to her parents. I knew that if I stayed around Sinead, I might give in again. I had to go somewhere far, far away.

* * * *

The next morning, we waited at the bus stop for the bus to take us to Cork. We weren't holding hands as we were pretending to be just friends still. On the bus, I would tell Sinead that I was getting away. I reviewed how I was going to say it over and over. I checked my watch - a minute until the bus was due to arrive.

"Sinead!"

I saw an old woman walking quickly towards us.

"Grandmam!" cried Sinead.

Sinead ran over and gave her grandmother a hug. My grandmother too. It was so weird to finally see my mother's mother.

She was shorter than Sinead, but had her general build. She looked older than I expected. Sinead's smile of joy now turned anxious as she got close to me.

"Grandmam, this is my friend Noel Vaupel. He's a Yank."

"So Maeve told me. She said he stayed over last night and he's from Boston."

"Aye. When he goes back to Boston in September, I'm going too. He's going to help me get situated there."

"I see the bus," I said. It was a few blocks away and would be here any moment.

Grandmam took Sinead's hands into hers and looked Sinead in the eye. "When you get to Boston, you're going to look for your mother, aren't you?"

"Aye, Grandmam."

"When you find her, tell her I miss her." Tears came to her eyes. "That I love her, that all is forgiven. Have her call me, will you?"

Sinead hugged her fiercely. "Aye, Grandmam. I'll tell her all that."

The bus was at the stop and the door opened. Sinead pushed me forward.

"Good bye, Grandmam! I'll call you as soon as I find her!"

Then we were in the bus. I walked between the seats towards the back in shock. Should I have told my grandmother that I'm her grandson? That she had two beautiful granddaughters in Boston? That her daughter was dead? I hadn't thought of talking to her until she had said that she loved my mom.

I paused for a moment and Sinead said, "Let's sit in the very back."

I continued walking while trying to pull my thoughts together. If I had told my grandmother that I'm her grandson, then Sinead would have known that I am her half-brother. At the same time, I wouldn't have broken my promise to Mr. Hayes. I sat down in a window seat at the back of the bus, like I had on the way here. I could get out now and tell her. But before I could move, the bus driver closed the door and the bus pulled away.

"Are you okay?" asked Sinead.

"Some indigestion. I think I burned the candle on both ends last night."

Sinead gave me a happy, knowing smile.

We were holding hands again. I felt very uncomfortable. I needed to end this quickly. We were in the far back and no one was close to us. I reviewed my speech one more time, then plunged into it.

"Sinead, I'm leaving for London tonight."

"What?"

"I'm leaving for London tonight. There's an overnight ferry and I'm going to take it." I kept talking so Sinead couldn't protest. "I had planned on touring Ireland for a while, but I know I won't enjoy it. The whole time I'd be seeing these sights I've always wanted to see, I'd be thinking about getting back to Cork and you. And I don't want to stay in Cork as I've seen everything I want to see there."

Sinead was surprised, but not obviously upset.

I asked, "So what would you think of in August quitting work two weeks early then we travel around Ireland together?" I'd be "delayed" and we wind up meeting in Dublin just in time for the flight to Boston. At Boston, I'd tell her I'm her half-brother. No more sex for us.

Sinead pulled out her iPad and started doing something.

She's taking this well.

Sinead continued working on her iPad for a bit and then asked with a hint of smile, "So you want to travel with me around Ireland for two weeks?"

Sinead, it's okay to get upset about my leaving you.

"I can't think of a better guide."

Her smile widened at that. She kept doing whatever she was doing on her iPad. "I haven't seen much of Ireland. I haven't seen much outside of County Cork."

I was starting to get pissed at how well she was taking this. Two days ago, you asked to live with me and now you're willing to let me slip away for months without a fight? Something didn't make sense to me. Had I misjudged her feelings for me?

Sinead asked, "Am I going to need a lot of money when I arrive in Boston?"

An odd question. What did that have to do with us here and now?

"No. You'll be staying with me or my family. You won't need furniture. You won't need money for rent. You're going to need money for an immigration lawyer, but that's about it."

"In that case," said Sinead as she put down her iPad and looked at me, "I can afford to go to London with you. To all of Europe for the rest of the summer."

Oh, shit.

I said, "I'm going to be traveling very cheaply, Sinead. I'm not going to be staying in hotels and eating in restaurants. I'm going to be staying in youth hostels. I'm going to be eating sandwiches and other food from the grocery store. It's not going to be a glamorous trip."

Sinead nodded her head up and down. "That's what I'm counting on. I've developed a budget for the trip and I can only afford it if we travel cheaply. Perhaps in some places, getting a hotel room will be cheaper than both of us staying in a hostel. I may run a little short of money, but I'm hoping you'll have enough that I could borrow from you then pay you back once Dad gives me money before our flight to Boston."

I'm so screwed.

I said, "My great-grandfather Vaupel fought in Europe in World War One. I have his journal. I'm going to follow his route on a bike. I don't know how long that will take. Won't you find that boring?" I was reaching, but I didn't have anything else.

"That sounds fine. I love cycling. It'd be good to see the countryside. I'm still a country girl at heart."

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

This is it. She can't go with me. If she goes with me, she's going to expect to have sex all the time and that would be wrong. I have to tell her I'm her half-brother. She's going to scream and the people on the bus are going to freak out. I'd break my promise to her dad. But I had no choice - I must tell her.

...But maybe, I don't. What if we were to break up during the summer? Surely she'll get sick of traveling on the cheap. Become miserable and then we'll have a fight and break up. Maybe she'll meet some Italian millionaire while we're traveling and dump me for him. Either way, I'll never have to tell her that I'm her half-brother. That's it! I'll just kick this can down the road.

"Sinead, I'd love for you to travel with me. If you're willing to travel like I travel, I'll lend you the money you need to keep traveling with me."

Sinead threw her arms around me, hugged me and kissed me. "Oh my God! This is going to be so wonderful! But we leave tonight?"

"We leave tonight. I already have my ticket for the ferry."

"I've so much to do! I have to give notice at work. I have to clear out the apartment and get it ready to be sublet. Oh my God!"

With that, Sinead worked furiously on her iPad with an occasional break for a phone call. She ignored me, which was fine as I was wrestling with my thoughts. Had I done the right thing? Was having sex with Sinead all that bad? We'd fucked five times already, once after I suspected she was my half-sister and once after I knew. Was that any worse than any other pre-marital affairs?

Who the fuck was I kidding? Of course it was far worse! It was "you could go to jail for a long time" worse. "All my friends and family will disown me" worse. I should tell her the truth and tell her that she can't go with me to London before she makes any irreversible actions.

I faced Sinead to tell her that she couldn't go, but I couldn't get her attention as she was talking on her phone while working on her iPad. As I waited to catch her eye, the urge to tell her that she can't go with me dissipated. In the end, I decided I had missed the window. She was racing down the path of preparing to leave with me tonight and it would be awkward as hell to try to stop her now. I had made the decision to kick the can down the road and right or wrong, I was going to stick with it. We would be lovers touring Europe together, enjoying traveling and each other as much as possible. Hopefully it would blow up some day and I'd dodge the bullet from the gun I had pointed at my own head.

* * * *

When we got to outside of Sinead's apartment, two women about our age were waiting.

"Noel, this is Emma and Lucy," said Sinead.

We shook hands as Sinead unlocked the door.

Emma said, "I'm the one who spotted you heading towards the English Market. I called Sinead and then kept an eye on you until she showed up." Emma gave me a teasing smile. "Now, I kind of regret not offering to show you around myself."

Emma and Lucy were good-looking, though not as good-looking as Sinead. I was happy I wound up with Sinead. No I wasn't - she's my half-sister. Argh!

I pushed the thought aside as I had become quite satisfied with my plan. Travel was stressful and travel on a tight budget was very stressful. Yeah, Sinead and I had hit it off magically so far, but it had been only five days. At some point, I'd make the wrong joke and we'd break up. When we broke up, I'd tell her that her mom was my mom, that Mom was dead and that there wasn't any reason to come to Boston. Sinead would be super-furious at me, so she wouldn't want to come to Boston. In the meantime, we would have fun together and I'd endanger my immortal soul by regularly fucking my half-sister. In the unlikely event we somehow managed to stay together all the way through the summer, I'd face the music in Boston.

In Sinead's apartment, the women discussed what needed to be done and the best way to sell the bigger items. A third women, Katie, showed up. "I've never met a sink-scrubbing stud before," she said after Sinead introduced us. The other girls giggled.

Emma was in the kitchen when she said, "Wow, it is amazingly clean." She looked over at me. "If you cleaned my kitchen as well, I'd give you the same reward."

Much giggling followed the comment. Sinead turned a bit pink as she seemed to ignore the remark.

I helped to move the furniture to one side of the room and swept the floor. Sinead put clothes into a backpack that Katie had brought over and boxed up the rest. Lucy and Emma boxed up Sinead's pictures and knickknacks. Katie emptied out the kitchen shelves. We worked furiously to clean the apartment and to empty it of all but the few big pieces of furniture that Emma would later sell for Sinead. Emma would also arrange to sublet the apartment for the rest of the lease.

At one point, Lucy lay down on the dining room table and said, "Sinead, why don't you lie down like this for a memento picture?"

More giggling broke out.

"Sinead?" I said with some heat.

Sinead came over to me, took my hands and looked me in the face. "Some of the things we did made me so happy that I had to share them with my friends. I'm sorry to have embarrassed you."

What the hell. I wrapped Sinead in my arms. "Well, it's not like Emma, Katie and Lucy will be living next door to us. If it makes you happy, it's okay with me."

Lucy said, "We're jealous of how happy you make her." Emma and Katie nodded.

Emma added, "And how much fun you two are having."

I knew one day the fun would end, but it was nice to celebrate it for now.

* * * *

We made the ferry with a few minutes to spare. Once we were in our cabin, we caught our breath. Sinead pulled out her iPad and started researching sights in London. She would occasionally ask my opinion of various sights.

By the time we got to London, Sinead had put together an agenda. As it was late in the afternoon, we hit a couple of sights and then went to the youth hostel. The hotels in London were so expensive that we were forced to stay at the youth hostel, which had no two-person private rooms available. The next day we had a great day in London. The next morning, I was having a good time, but I was feeling the effects of no sex for two days.

"Let's watch a movie," said Sinead.

"Okay." I was surprised as I thought Sinead would want to do sightseeing.

We caught the first show of the day at a movie theater. Sinead picked out a less-than-stellar movie for us to see.

"Are you sure you want to see this one?"

"Aye," said Sinead with a knowing smile.

Sinead had us sit in the back of the theater. We were alone in the theater when the lights went down. Sinead slipped off her panties from under her skirt, removed her bra, and tucked them into our day pack. We made out like crazy. I fingered her to an orgasm, she sucked me off, I ate her out and she sucked me off again. Once we were sexually sated, we left the theater while the movie was still playing. Sinead said, "That's the most fun I've ever had at the movies."

Sinead's friends will be giggling tonight.

* * * *

We had a great time touring England, went to Paris for a brief time to rent bicycles and then went to Cantigny, France to follow my great-grandfather's campaign. He had been a farm boy in Kansas when he had joined the American Expeditionary Forces in 1917. He had fought from Cantigny to the Argonne Forest. I'd always been fascinated with the AEF campaign and had read about it extensively. It was great to see where he had fought and to picture what it had been like. I had planned out the bike route in exact detail. I had thought Sinead would find the ride boring, but she enjoyed being out in the country with me. Every morning, I'd pack us a picnic lunch. We would ride several hours until we found a secluded spot to pull our bikes into. We'd have a picnic lunch, make love on the thin blanket we had, and nap together. It wasn't the most comfortable way of making love, but it was different and fun. Napping with Sinead in my arms while we were physically and sexually spent made me feel so close to her.

After the Argonne Forest, we returned to Paris. All of our clothes had been worn at least once, so we went to a laundromat as soon as we arrived. I loaded our clothes into the washing machines so Sinead would have the time to finalize our plans for Paris. Except she wasn't doing that - she was staring out into space instead. Once all of the washing machines were running, I sat down next to Sinead and pulled out today's post card.

I hadn't written much before Sinead said, "Noel, do you ever think about what it'll be like when we're in Boston?"

"No."

"No?"

"There's no point thinking about it. It's going to be so different that I can't imagine how it's going to be. I've never had a full-time job before. I know next to nothing about my roommate. I have no idea if he'll agree with you living with me. I'm sure you'll be able to find some under-the-table work, but I want you to get a green card as soon as possible and I have no idea how that's done."

I could tell that was a very unsatisfying answer for Sinead. My plan was that we would go to my apartment from the airport. Hopefully my roommate would be somewhere else for the Labor Day weekend and then I'd tell Sinead there about our mother. After she had absorbed that, I would take her over to Dad's house to introduce her to her new family then she'd stay with them. It was a vague plan and I'd mainly play it by ear.

"Can I write on this post card?" asked Sinead.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because my sisters don't know about you and you writing to them would raise a lot of questions that I don't want to raise."

"They know you're traveling with a wan."

"How would they know that?"

"You're sending them a post card every day."

A lesson in female secret communication methods.

"No, Sinead."

I wrote a bit more then Sinead said, "So who have you told about me?"

"No one."

"You aren't in contact with anyone?"

"Every Monday, I send my dad an email telling him I'm still alive and where I'm at. Every Tuesday, I get an email back from him saying he and the girls are fine. That's the only communicating I'm doing."

"So why don't you tell him about me?"

"Because you're important and I don't tell important news to people by email; I do it in person. My dad is the same way. He's been dating a women for a while and if they got engaged while I was gone, he'd tell me in person when I got back. Unless something happens that requires me to head home right away, everything will wait until I get home."

That made Sinead very unhappy. She sat stiffly with her arms crossed fuming for a while. "You were going to abandon me. Just head off to London and leave me behind."

"I had no idea you were willing to quit your jobs and travel with me. I told you why I decided to go to London when I told you I was going."

"It hurt me. And it still hurts."

"Sinead, when did you decide to travel with me?"

"What?"

"When did you decide to travel with me? I'm guessing you had decided to travel with me if I said yes to you living with me in Boston. Am I right?"

It was Sinead's turn to get defensive. "Well...more or less."

"But you didn't tell me. You knew I was going to leave Cork when we got back from the farm and you hadn't given me any clue that you wanted to come with me."

"I wanted you to ask me."

"Well, I thought it was pointless to ask. And you haven't told your father about me." Sinead called her dad every Wednesday morning around ten. We had had to find a quiet place for her to make each of those calls.

"That's completely different and you know it! I've asked him for money and he'll tell me I don't need it if I have enough money to gallivant around Europe with you!"

Silence followed. Sinead fumed. Bringing up her dad had been a low blow, especially as I had encouraged her to lie to him about our travels together. I didn't want her dad to know I was fucking my half-sister.

"Look," I said. "We had a failure to communicate. Not your fault and not my fault. Nothing for either of us to be angry about."

"Well, I am trying to communicate with you now about what's life going to be like in Boston. I need to start planning. I need to start getting a picture of our life together in my head."

Don't make any promises. Don't make any commitments.

"I can't help you, Sinead."

Much silence followed. I finished my post card. This was our first fight. We hadn't had any serious disagreements up to this point. I wanted to compromise. I wanted to meet her halfway, but I couldn't without either lying to her or telling her the painful truth.

Finally, I couldn't take the silence any more.

"Sinead, you're the most wonderful woman I've known. I've enjoyed every day with you. I'm afraid that because life in Boston will be so different that anything I tell you now won't come true. I don't want to lie to you. I don't want to make you a promise that I can't keep." Sinead had unfolded her arms and I took her hands. "I'll make you a promise that I can keep. Every day that you travel with me, I'll try to make it a great day." Sinead gave me a little smile. "That's an easy promise for me to make because every day with you is a great day."

I stood up and pulled Sinead up with me. I wrapped my arms around her. "You're the most beautiful woman I've ever been with. You're the smartest woman I've ever been with. I respect you more than any woman I've ever been with." That seemed a satisfactory answer because she smiled at me when I looked down at her. We kissed. "Of all the women I've been with, you're the best in bed. And on the couch." Sinead smiled. "And on the dining room table." She giggled. "And the very best in the back of the theater." She laughed.

Sinead hugged me tight. "I'm so crazy about you, I can't stay angry at you."

And so ended our first fight.

* * * *

After Paris, we worked our way North. We discovered that, early in the morning, the bathrooms on train cars are a fine place for a quickie. When we got to Oslo, Norway, we were burnt out on churches and museums and decided to take a multi-day hike through the mountains. We would regularly wander off the trail for some hot sex. After that, "I'm pining for the fjords" was my favorite code phrase for I wanted to fuck, preferably someplace different and fun.

At some point, I figured out why being in charge was so important to Sinead. Some of it was that she was great at researching and planning. Being in charge give her carte blanche to do so. I gave her time to research and plan by doing the shopping, the food prep and the laundry. Some of it was that she hated wasting time. She was up early, dressed quickly and was fast out the door. People who delayed us because they didn't know their job infuriated her. My approach to touring - we'll do the Louvre then decide what to do next - would have driven her crazy. And some of it was that she liked knowing what was going to happen. She was never anal about her plans and in fact enjoyed it when I'd spontaneously send us on a side adventure. Without her being in charge, I wouldn't have seen nearly as much and wouldn't have had nearly as great of a time. I knew that it bothered Sinead that she couldn't plan for what her life would be like in Boston, but there was nothing I could do. Fortunately, she never brought the subject up again.

From Oslo, we went to Sweden and Finland. Russia isn't covered by a Eurail pass, so Saint Petersburg was the only Russian city we went to. We returned to Helsinki and got a private room in a hostel and were in bed together. I was on my back as usual with Sinead's head on my shoulder. She was playing with my chest hairs.

Sinead said, "You're the best flatmate I've ever had."

I chuckled then shook my head. "I'm not your roommate yet."

"You more or less have been. We've spent more time together than I ever spent with a flatmate."

"Well, you're having sex with me and you didn't do that with your roommates."

"I did with one. I've roomed with two wans and a fella. The wans were my first two years at university. We ending up fighting all the time. The fella was during my last year of university. He had been a great boyfriend until I moved in, then things quickly fell apart. I was a little worried that I couldn't live with someone else."

"Sinead, you're easy to be with."

She was. She was almost always in a good mood and ready to laugh. Physical hardships didn't bother her at all. One time we were biking and a sudden rainstorm soaked us both. When we finally got to the next town, she had been more upset with the inaccurate weather forecast than being wet. She was always up for a little adventure and when things didn't work out, she'd laugh and chalk it up to experience. She was easy to talk with. I couldn't imagine a better traveling companion.

"For you" Sinead said. "Thinking it over, I've decided that I'm terrible at negotiating. I want my way and I get pissed when I don't get it. I get that from Maeve."

While we've traveled, Sinead used "Mam" to refer to our mother and "Maeve" to refer to her adoptive mother.

"Having two people like that in a family is an explosive combination."

"Aye, it was. But unlike Maeve, I always get your input first and I get your agreement to the big picture, then I make my plan and I expect you to follow it."

"You're in charge."

"I am. And I like how when you want to change the plan, you don't say that you're going to do something else. You always ask my opinion on doing something else, letting me be in charge again."