My home (for the next few months, anyway) was decently finished, though sparsely furnished or decorated — I had a bed, dresser, a small dining table and couple of chairs, microwave, two-burner stove/oven combo, single basic kitchen sink with some cabinets, small couch, some rough but sturdy shelving on one wall, an old but serviceable recliner, and bathroom with sink, commode, and (small) shower. When she showed me the bathroom, Teresa didn't hesitate to tell me that if I ever wanted to take an actual bath, I was more than welcome to use the one upstairs
— then teasing me about being on my own to find someone to scrub my back.
The place wasn't a fancy hotel room, but it wasn't anywhere near as expensive, either; and I had the benefit of having what I thought of as "family" (my own parents had died in a car accident the winter after I started college) nearby. All in all, I was perfectly satisfied with it, and told Teresa so. She was visibly relieved at hearing that, and moved close to give me another hug before releasing me and saying "I'm glad you're okay with this. I know it's rough, but the rest of us hardly ever came down here, so there wasn't any reason before now for us to think about doing anything with it before. I expect you'll want to fix it up a little; I'm willing to split the cost of materials with you, and I know any or all of the girls would be happy to help."
"Don't worry about the cost. Any fixing up there is, I'll do a little at a time so it doesn't cost too much. If the girls want to, I'd be glad to have the help — I don't know diddly about matching colors and patterns and all that. If I'm not busy with work, any of you is welcome to come down for whatever reason."
Smiling, she warned me "If you say that where the girls can hear you, you may never get rid of them. They've all missed you sooooooo much" — imitating the greeting I'd gotten from Wendy
— "that I can't begin to tell you. And all I've heard since you called has been 'Is Uncle Ted really coming to stay with us?', and they've all been happier than I've seen them for months. They know you aren't going to spoil them or anything, since you didn't do that when they were little; they just like you because you're such a nice guy, and are willing to pay attention to them the way you do."
She hesitated a moment, then told me " I'm glad you're here, too, Ted. Really glad." before giving me another kiss on the lips that quickly matched the last one she'd given me. I put my hands on her hips, but nothing more. Technically, she was still married, and that whole marriage vows thing was always something real important to me. The other thing that occupied my mind was the knowledge that she had only recently gotten out on her own. Sure, she had three kids and a job and all that, but up until just a few months before, she'd also had whatever support there was to be had from Doug; I figured that she'd need (or want) some time to decide for herself what she wanted for herself and the girls, and who she wanted to share her life with. So rather than try to follow up on the offer implicit in the way she was kissing me, I chickened out and played dumb as I kissed her back. After several seconds, Teresa pulled back from me again, and looked into my face before turning and leading the way back upstairs. When we got to the landing between the basement and the door to utility room at the back of the house, she took a key off a hook on the wall and told me "That's to the back door of the house, here. I always keep the door between the rest of the house and here closed, so you don't have to worry about leaving the door open if you have to carry things in, or whatever."
I thanked her, and followed her back to the living room — noticing along the way that she had a nice-looking ass in her own right.
The girls had finished their chores, and were (mostly) patiently waiting for us to get back. I was instructed to resume my position between Donna and Karen, then Wendy parked herself in my lap and pulled my arms around her. Teresa occupied the chair again, and we spent the evening watching television. When it got close to their respective bedtimes, the girls simply went back and got changed before coming in and giving (and getting) a kiss good night. When it was just Teresa and me, she shut the TV off and the two of us sat there talking until it was time for us to go to our respective beds.
That pretty much set the tone for the weeks that followed.
If I had the time and inclination, I was more than welcome to join them for the evening; but they didn't have any problems with it if I needed to work in "my place", or just wanted to be alone for an evening. Some evenings one or two of the girls would come down; sometimes it was to ask for help with homework (usually math or science), which I would patiently provide. Other times, it was just to spend a quiet evening with just the two of us.
It didn't take long for us to get into a routine where I would join them for breakfast, and usually supper — which prompted the only conflict that Teresa and I had. I wanted to help pay for the groceries I was eating, and she was adamant that I was family, and didn't have to. After a LOT of patient negotiation, I finally got her to accept a small increase in my "rent". It wasn't as much as I was willing to give her, but more than she wanted to take.
When Teresa got word from her lawyer that the judge was granting her divorce, she let me take her out to dinner, just the two of us; the girls were informed that it was a "grown-up" situation, and reluctantly accepted their exclusion. I made it up to them a couple of weeks later by taking just THEM out for pizza, over Teresa's mild protests.
Another aspect of the situation was that as all of us gradually got used to my intermittent presence in the house, we became less and less concerned about any formalities such as how dressed we were. Not that anybody was running around naked or anything; simply that it wasn't anything worth noticing if one of us was wearing only their bathrobe at breakfast, for example.
Naturally enough, there were a few times that I'd catch sight of one of the girls scampering away dressed only in panties — and perhaps a bra. To save embarrassment all the way around, I always pretended not to have noticed anything; but the visions of their nubile young bodies stayed with me.
I'd been working late for a couple of weeks helping with the fabrication of a system that I'd helped design, and finally gotten home at a reasonable hour one afternoon. When Teresa told me over supper that night that they would be going out to do some shopping later, I figured it was the perfect opportunity for me to come upstairs and have myself a nice, hot soak to relieve some of my overused muscles. I acknowledged what she said, and later, after I'd heard her car leave, I got my things together and went upstairs. When I opened the door to the bathroom, I was greeted by the sight of Donna just stepping out of the tub as she dried her hair with a towel. Because her head was tilted down and the towel was blocking her view, she couldn't see me — but I had a clear view of her young body. Her breasts were each perhaps half the size of a baseball. Her small areolas were just a few shades darker than her skin and sported nipples about the size of a pencil eraser; her bust was a delight to see. Her waist and hips were formed by a couple of gentle arcs that made her young form distinctly feminine. Fit and trim, her stomach and belly were as flat as they could be. At the bottom of her pelvis, I saw that she had a small and somewhat narrow strip of hair that was as blond as what was on her head — and still sparse enough for me to make out the slit dividing her full mons. I could only stand there in a mixture of shock, and pleasure at the view I had. I was still standing there when she pulled the towel from her head and saw me. Much to my surprise, it took a couple of seconds before she calmly told me "Uncle Ted, I'm naked."