That broke the spell, and I hurriedly turned around and apologized as I made my way back out the door and closed it behind me. Giving up on the idea of a bath, I headed back toward my place. Only when I started down the stairs did I notice that the front of my bathrobe was leading the way; immediately after that, I realized that there was a distinct possibility (even probability) that I'd been in the same state in front of Donna. Embarrassed, I got myself dressed again, and then went upstairs to wait for Teresa to get home; I wanted to tell her what had happened so that she'd know it had been an accident.
I was sitting on the couch when Donna came through on her way to the kitchen. When she came back again, I told her that I was sorry for barging in on her, and said that I'd be sure and knock next time. She just gave me an amused smile before answering "It's okay, Uncle Ted… I know you didn't do it on purpose. I'm just sorry it bothered you."
Hearing that, my engineering mind just had to know "It didn't embarrass you, or anything?"
After a brief laugh, she answered "Just surprised, is all, not embarrassed. You were married, so I have to figure you already know what girls look like. I think maybe you liked what you saw" -
the allusion that I had been tenting my bathrobe caused me to blush — "so it actually kinda made me feel good. I don't know that I want it to happen again, but it's okay this time." before turning and heading back toward her room.
Hearing that I hadn't traumatized her, or caused her any discomfort, made me feel somewhat better. But I was still going to let Teresa hear about it from me. A couple of hours later, when the rest of them got home, Teresa saw the look on my face and sent the girls back to their rooms so that we'd be able to talk. After I told her what had happened, Teresa was amused as she told me "Don't worry about it, Ted. I expect it embarrassed you more than it did her, and I know that you didn't do it on purpose or anything; it was after you'd gone back downstairs that she said she wanted to take a bath tonight, so you couldn't have known she'd be there. I don't doubt that you got an eye full, but I know you're not going to try to make anything like that happen again, either. Just chalk it up to experience, and try to remember that things like that are probably going to happen if you're sharing a house with four females. I think it'll only bother them if you let it bother you too much."
Seeing my confusion, she explained "They like sitting with you, and even on your lap. If you start getting too stressed out by seeing them naked or topless, you might get too particular about letting them sit with you, too — and that would hurt them more than you just seeing them would.
If it happens, it happens; like I said, I know you're not some Peeping Tom or anything."
I'll admit to being a little surprised by her attitude — but it also comforted me somewhat, too.
When I thought about it later, I realized that she was right about the chance of that, or something similar, happening again. Even if she made a point of telling them to lock the bathroom door, they likely weren't going to remember to do it each and every time. And I cared about all three of them too much to want to hurt them by banishing them from sitting with me just because of my hangups and foibles. After a fair amount of thought and soul-searching, I finally decided to take Teresa's advice as best I could: chalk it up to experience, and not let it worry me. Even so, I still felt a little guilty about how I'd reacted to the sight of Donna's nude form, regardless of how nice it had been.
Over the course of the next few days, the incident eventually left my mind — leaving me free to enjoy the time I spent with the girls in various combinations. When Karen expressed an interest in softball, I went into the back yard to play "catch" with her for a while, and help her learn to hit a little better; I went to one of Donna's field hockey games and cheered her efforts. Wendy wanted to know if I'd go to the park and play Frisbee with her, and I was glad to do so.
A few more weeks went by, and I was staying home with the girls one Saturday while Teresa got in some overtime at work. I was there less to supervise than to simply be there if anything serious happened, or one of them needed something Parental; all three of them had already accepted me as an authority figure in their lives, despite my minimal exercise of such. Wendy and Karen had gone off to visit friends while Donna stayed in her room to work on some project or other. I was watching sports on TV, and when a commercial came on, I went to make a bathroom break. The door was locked, so I knew that it must be Donna inside, and I simply stood across the hall and waited for her to finish. When the door opened, she was standing there wearing only a very brief pair of panties and nothing else. I looked at her face, and saw that she knew full well what she was doing as she just stood there, all but verbally inviting me to look at her — something that I couldn't HELP but do.
With her standing so much closer, I didn't have any trouble seeing that her developing breasts were smooth and flawless. Even as I was looking at them, I saw as her areolas rose up slightly, and her nipples got visibly longer and harder. The first thing to go through my mind was to wonder if girls had looked that good when I was her age, and if so, how stupid could I have been not to notice? Right on the heels of that was to wonder if the mounds of her breasts were as firm as they looked, and then to wish that I could find out. But I was an adult, and her Uncle Ted, and as tempting as it was, I just couldn't. When I finally dragged my eyes back up to her face, it was plain as could be that she enjoyed letting me look at her, and wasn't the slightest bit nervous or embarrassed about it. Considering how she looked, I couldn't help but think that she had every reason to be as confident as she appeared. After she gave me a pleased smile, she stepped out into the hall and serenely walked back to her room — with my eyes locked on the way her cute butt filled what little bit of cloth there was covering it.
Once I was in the bathroom, I simply had to relieve the pressure in my groin that she'd caused; it took only a couple of minutes for me to find the release that I was after. Only after my penis had shrunk again was I able to tend to my original purpose; when I was done, I washed my hands and went back out to the living room to sit in front of the TV again. My eyes may have been pointed at the screen, but what I saw was Donna's half-nude form.
I had to figure that Donna had done what she had for the express purpose of letting/having me look at her that way; with that came the realization that she wouldn't be saying anything to her mother about it. After all, what possible reason could she give for making a trip to the bathroom wearing only a skimpy pair of panties, knowing full well that I was upstairs and watching TV?
She couldn't say that I'd peeked into her room, either — Teresa knew full well that I always knocked on their bedroom doors just so I didn't see them when they didn't have anything on or interrupt anything they were doing; she'd even told me that the girls actually appreciated my discretion, that way.
Despite the visions of Donna that kept crowding my thoughts, I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to figure things out. What the hell was Donna trying to do, and why was she doing it? Was that just a one-time thing after I'd seen her in the shower? If not, what else might she be up to?
What, if anything, could or should I do about it? Those, and what seemed like a thousand other questions, kept my mind busy until Teresa got home from work.
As the next couple of weeks went by, Donna contrived to let me see her topless a couple more times. Both times, I simply looked her over until she chose to put an end to her little "show". It was approaching supper time one night, and I knocked on the door to her bedroom to let her know that we'd be eating soon. She told me it was okay, and when I opened her door, she was standing there stark naked and facing me. As I told her what I'd come to, she didn't make even the slightest move to turn away or cover herself. Even after I'd finished, she continued to stand there for several seconds before calmly turning around and giving me a clear look at her ass.