Sarah Templeton was now aged fifty-seven but she had been thinking back over her past in recent times because she had decided to attend the funeral of her late and estranged sister, Dorothy. The sisters had initially become estranged twenty years previously when Sarah left her husband Colin and two children to move to another town with her nineteen-year-old lover.
Sarah had been having an affair with the youth for the best part of a year and she eventually walked out on her family, leaving Colin with daughter Catherine, then aged fourteen, and ten-year-old son Mark.
As it happened, Sarah and her lover split up about a year after her walking out and she did ask Colin if she could come back, but by then the unmarried Dorothy had moved in, to both look after the children and to share Colin's bed. Dorothy was actually six years older than Sarah and five years older than Colin.
In time, Colin divorced Sarah and married Dorothy, and the 'new' Templeton family were very happy and Dorothy brought the children up as her own. Colin actually passed away at the young age of fifty-six, and Sarah thought of attending his funeral but decided against it.
Sarah's life did not turn out too bad because after her request to return home had been rejected by Colin she set up what became a successful small business in the town in which she was now living. Her love life was almost exclusively with men younger than her and in some cases, much younger, but she never remarried.
She had had minimal contact with her children, ex-husband, and sister in the twenty years since she moved out, but when she heard that Dorothy had sadly died, aged sixty-three, Sarah thought long and hard about going to her funeral.
Both Catherine and Mark had done well work-wise and Catherine was now married with two children of her own, but Mark was unmarried despite having a few longish term relationships. Mark's longer-term relationships had been with girls of a similar age to him, but he also had a liking for older women and he often bedded women thirty years or even more, older than him.
In fact, he had quite frequently had sex with his auntie/stepmother Dorothy and had done so even when his father was alive, but neither Colin nor Catherine had the slightest inkling about that.
Sarah decided to go to her sister's funeral and booked into a local hotel for the night. She fully intended to keep a low profile and she sat towards the back of the pretty crowded church, Dorothy was a well-liked and respected woman in her town.
Neither of Sarah's children noticed her at first, what with them being at the front, and very few people realised who she was although a couple of women that Sarah vaguely recognised seemed to look at her in disgust.
Sarah did not go to the graveside but stood a little way away, but Catherine got a glimpse of her and, although she had hardly seen her in twenty years, she said to her brother, "What is she doing here?"
Mark looked up and, once he had worked out who it was, replied, "I don't know, but please don't make a scene."
With the burial done, people started to drift away, so Sarah turned and headed for the gate but Catherine hurried after her. Wondering quite what his sister was going to do, Mark followed.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" spat Catherine at her longtime estranged mother.
"I am sorry, I should not have come," responded an upset Sarah.
"Too fucking right you shouldn't have," continued Catherine with her eyes ablaze in rage.
"It's okay, Catherine, leave it," said Mark trying to calm his sister.
"She walked out on us for some young stud," said an indignant Catherine to her brother with Sarah still standing there a bit stunned.
"I know she did but forget it, today is for Dorothy," replied Mark.
"Well, she should not fucking be here," said Catherine as one last salvo before storming off in a rage.
Mark and Sarah looked at each other for a moment until Sarah said, "Hello, Mark, how are you?"
For a moment Mark wondered what he should call her because mum or mother did not seem appropriate even though that was exactly what she was. "Alright, and you?" he replied, having decided not to call her anything.
"Yes, I am alright but your sister is right, I should not be here," she reflected.
"Perhaps not, but I am pleased to see you," said Mark, and Sarah's very attractive face lit up.
"Really? That is so nice of you to say, I am pleased to see you too," replied Sarah, and Mark thought for the first time that this woman who was as good as a stranger to him was actually very attractive.
They looked into each other's eyes, a bit awkwardly, for a moment until Sarah said, "It was nice to see you, I had better go," and she turned and started to walk away.
Mark watched her for a moment and then started to move after her. "Wait, m..." he started but he could not say mum or mother.
Sarah stopped and then turned with a smile, "I think that you had better call me Sarah."
"Yes, yes, Sarah...are you staying in town tonight?" he heard himself ask but he was a bit unsure as to why he was asking.
"Yes, I am in The Bull Hotel," she replied, looking at her son both quizically and excitedly.
"Can we meet for a drink and a talk?" asked the thirty-year-old man, who was talking to a mature woman that he very much fancied; the fact that she was his mother did not really come into it.
"That would be wonderful, but I don't think that your sister would be pleased," replied Sarah.
"Probably not, but there is no need for her to know," responded Mark.
So it was arranged to meet in the bar at the hotel at seven o'clock.
Neither of them knew what to expect or even was sure what they themselves wanted from the meeting but, in normal circumstances, if Sarah was meeting a much younger man she would probably be aiming at bedding him. If Mark was meeting an attractive older woman, he would have the same intentions.
Sarah had changed into a pair of black slacks that rather hugged her rounded buttocks and a white blouse, and she had already had two drinks when Mark arrived. She stood to greet him but they did not embrace or anything because they both, for the moment, felt a bit awkward.
Mark got himself a drink and another for Sarah and they talked for a while, still a bit awkwardly, although they did somehow get onto each other's love lives. Mark knew that twenty years previously, his mother had a liking for much younger men and he discovered during their chat that she still did.
Mark divulged his liking for older women and, as the drinks flowed and with her mind working overtime, Sarah asked, "You didn't um ...you know, with Dorothy, did you?"
Mark, a bit reluctantly, confirmed that he did before adding, "Are you disgusted with me?"
"No, not at all because after what you had told me I was not surprised," answered Sarah and she touched Mark's arm, which was the first physical contact between them.
Sarah did not immediately remove her hand, nor did Mark give any indication that she should, but he now said, "It is a lovely evening, do you fancy going for a little walk?"
"Yes, that would be nice," replied Sarah with a flash of her eyes.
There was a park nearby and they were soon walking through that, their bodies very close together but not actually touching until Mark brushed Sarah's hand with his, and as they smiled at each other, they held hands.
Being so close to such an attractive older woman, whose perfume was also exciting, had got Mark's penis semi-erect in his trousers although he still had at the back of his mind that this woman was his mother.
They were both now much more relaxed, and they smiled a lot and giggled a lot as they walked, just like prospective lovers although still, neither was sure what they wanted to happen.
They had turned left and left again whilst walking and were now heading towards the gate to the park through which they had entered as the light started to fade.
They were still chatting happily and neither was sure how it happened, but they stopped walking and faced each other. The look from both of them was begging the other 'kiss me' and that was what they did.
Their faces came slowly together and the kiss was gentle at first and then lips parted and then tongues were exchanged; this was no normal mother/son kiss and they both knew it. When they parted, they again looked into the other's eyes and Sarah's face lit up. "Well hello, Mark," she breathed.