Stepmother walks in on lovemaking

Dear Pastor,

I am 17 and writing with tears in my eyes. I am living with my father and his girlfriend. She is 29. My father is 42. My father had promised to send me to America to visit my mother but I did something terribly wrong. He said he would not send me again.

I told my father I would have prefered if he had hit me, but he should allow me to go because I told my schoolmates I would have been away.

I have a boyfriend. He came to see me. I was alone at home. I didn't expect my father's girlfriend to be back from Kingston so soon. My boyfriend knew I was at home and had brought me something to eat. After finished eating, we started to play around. I went into my room, he came behind me and threw me down on the bed.

While we were having sex, my father's girlfriend came home. She knew somebody was there with me because she saw the motorbike. She knocked on the door and saw us. I begged her not to tell my father but she said she could not hide that from him because she didn't expect that from me.

As soon as my father came home, she told him. He called me, right before her, and asked me if I had sex with my boyfriend in his house. I said yes. He told me I should not have done that in his house, so my punishment would be no travelling for the summer.

My boyfriend didn't even have time to pull off the condom. He pulled up his pants and messed up his pants when my father's girlfriend came in. I don't talk to her again, at all, because of what she did. She didn't have to do it, pastor. I hate her for telling my father. This is going to be my worst summer.

W.L

Dear W.L.,

Accept your punishment. You made a mistake. You should have been much more careful. Your father is a good man. He knew denying you the trip to America would be the worst punishment for you to endure.

You hate your father's girlfriend. I suppose, because of her age, you do not like to call her your step-mother. I understand that, but she hasn't done you any wrong. She didn't have to tell your father what she saw, but she chose to tell him. Don't hold that against her at all. Take your punishment. Learn from the big mistake you made.

Perhaps you can ask your father again permission to go to America after a couple weeks have passed. You may even try writing him to express regret at what you did, assuring him it will not happen again. You may break his heart and he may just say yes.

Pastor