Adam declines Susannah's offer

"I'm sorry Susannah, but I can't do this," Adam said brushing her hand away and getting out of his seat. Susannah's eyes widened in surprise for a second and then dropped to the floor in shame. "I love your daughter too much and wouldn't want to do anything to hurt her. I'm sorry I've been so flirtatious with you over the past few months. It's clearly given you the wrong impression."

"It's ok Adam," Susannah said quietly. "You've done nothing wrong, and I'm pleased you're so faithful to Helen." She turned her head to look Adam in the eye. "But please, whatever you do, don't tell Helen about this."

"Ok," Adam said with a weak nod. He turned to leave the room. "I'd better go and check on Helen."

Adam bounded up the stairs, desperately trying to delete the past few minutes from his mind. As he reached the top he felt a cold breeze flow past him. He stopped and shivered for a moment, almost losing his balance. 'I'll have to find where that draught is coming from,' he thought. 'I swear that estate agent said the insulation in this house was second to none. Bloody liar.'

As Adam reached the centre of the landing, Helen exited the study clutching the spell-book to her chest. She looked a little sheepish and her shoulders were sunken.

"Sorry for taking so long," she apologised.

________________________________________

"And you say he sold it to you for £30?" Susannah asked shuffling her chair a little closer to Helen. Her daughter was carefully flicking through the pages and explaining that the text seemed to be gibberish.

"Yes," Helen said pushing the book in front of Susannah. "He initially suggested that it was the genuine article, but when I pressed him on it, Fabian admitted it was a clever forgery. I just thought it looked nice and could be displayed somewhere in the study."

"Fabian really said that," Susannah asked in surprise, knowing the old man well.

"Mmhmm," Helen confirmed.

Adam watched the mother and daughter examining the book whilst lost in his own thoughts. He couldn't shake what Susannah had done out of his head. She had always been a bit tactile and loved flirting with him, but it had never progressed to anything more than playful banter. She actually grabbed his dick! Would she really have done anything further? What had gotten into her?

Adam looked at Helen and his heart ached at the thought of withholding the truth from her. He had to say something and he couldn't wait any longer. It might damage Helen's relationship with her mother but he couldn't handle the guilt he was feeling.

"Helen can I check something with you in the kitchen?" he said rising from his seat.

"Oh," Helen said, looking up from the book. "Of course. Mum, are you ok to keep looking at the book yourself?"

Susannah just nodded, her eyes still glued to the pages of intricate text.

"What's up?" Helen asked sweetly as they entered the kitchen. Adam quietly closed the door behind them and took Helen's hands in his. For a moment he wondered whether it was really the right thing to say anything now. Susannah was still here and Helen could explode at her. Maybe he should wait before saying anything? Adam looked his girlfriend deeply in the eyes and took a deep breath.