(Author's Note: This will likely be the last part of the Gwen and Henry story, although it is possible I will write an epilogue about their retirement years at some point. I am glad many have enjoyed it and I thank you for the comments and constructive criticism.
This part brings the story full circle to where Jocelyn's parents first appeared in her reminiscences in the story, Officer Jocelyn. This is a few years before the present day of that story. Gwen and Henry are in their early 50s now. Heather is in college and Jocelyn turns 18 this day...)
Jocelyn came home from school happy as a clam! It was both Friday and it was her birthday! It meant she could be out very late that night with her friends because, well, it was Friday and her birthday. When she came through the door, she was surprised to both her mother and father in the kitchen. With her dad being the "homemaker" her entire life, she expected to find him there. But she was a little surprised, not unpleasantly so, to see her mother home from work so early. It was only 3:30 pm.
Jocelyn, just like her sister, Heather, admired her majestic mother immensely--a tall, powerful, authoritative woman with a successful career in business. She had been her role model, idol, even hero to her for her entire life. Jocelyn was not like some of her friends, who seemed to fight with their parents all the time, especially their mothers. She got along with both her parents.
But in her heart, her mom was her clear favorite because she was so smart and accomplished and did not put up with any crap from men, including her father, even though she had to admit that she never saw her dad ever treat her mom disrespectfully. Quite the opposite. He doted on her, did all the cooking and cleaning, kept the house an immaculate refuge for his busy wife, and shockingly seemed to wait on her hand and foot when they were together. He was always working for her, doing whatever she asked or wanted.
It was weird. Jocelyn loved them and admired their relationship--but it was weird. It was weird because it only seemed to be this way in her house, not the homes of any of her friends. In the case of some of her friends, it was clear that the husband was in charge. In others, the two parents seemed to have a more equal relationship. And in still a few others, the wife ran the household and the husbands deferred to them, but they also did whatever they wanted.
But her home was the only one that was clearly dominated by the wife--her mom. Indeed, Jocelyn liked to tell her friends that her mother wore the pants in their parents' relationship, clearly. All money decisions were hers. All important family decisions on vacations and activities had to go through her, even if she outsourced them to her husband for execution. In her own mind and in conversation with her sister, Jocelyn had been known to say that her mother ruled the house with an iron-clad fist!
She didn't really have a problem with that, but wondered why her father didn't chafe at it the way other fathers would. She sometimes chafed at it, after all! But she knew she had grown up in a very happy home. Either because of, or in spite of, her mother's status in the household, she never ever heard her parents fight about anything.
Oh, they sometimes got annoyed with each other--well, really, sometimes her mother got annoyed with her father about some small thing--but she had never heard either raise a voice to the other. And even when those annoyances occurred, they always ended with her mother saying something like, "we will talk about this later when the girls are in bed."
She never heard the results of any of those conversations, though on occasion she thought she heard her father apologizing to her mother behind the closed doors of their bedroom in a pleading tone of voice that she never heard any other time. But always, later, or the next day, her parents showed nothing but pure love, joy, and happiness with each other! She had never worried a moment that her parents might get divorced--also the unfortunate circumstance of a few of her friends.
As she came through the door, she greeted them both.
"Hi Dad--oh, hi Mom! I didn't expect to see you home this early!"
"It's your birthday!" Gwen replied. "I wanted to see you before you went out for the evening, we wanted to give you your presents" -- signaling with her face to Henry to go get them -- "and decided your father needed a little extra supervision today!" she said laughing. Jocelyn heard her father chuckle at that, too, from the dining room.
Henry brought into the kitchen a small handful of presents and set them on the table. "Happy birthday!"
Jocelyn smiled and reached for them but Gwen stopped her for a moment. "Hold up," and she picked quickly through the small pile, "here, save this one for last," she insisted.
Jocelyn then systematically opened the half dozen presents or so, thanking her parents for each, and then finally opened the last one. It was a beautiful diamond bracelet--one that Jocelyn had admired in a jewelry store on a girls night out with her mom and sister a few months ago. She remembered it and quickly thought how she enjoyed those nights with just her mom and Heather, because her mother would inevitably always use them to instruct the girls on big things, whether it was college, personal finance, or what have you.
"Oh, my God! Thank you! Thank you!" she shouted with glee. "It's beautiful! I love it!" She hugged Henry and then Gwen, but Gwen got the stronger hug because she knew it was her mother who authorized the purchase and paid for it. Having learned a lot of business-speak from her corporate mother over the years, her mother wasn't just the CEO of the house, but also the CFO. Her dad was, at best, the facilities manager. Although as she thought about it, he was kind of the CIO, too. He made sure to keep the computers in the house working.
"Again, happy birthday. You deserved it, you worked hard and we're proud of you!"
"So," her mom asked, "what's the plan for the birthday night with your friends?"
Jocelyn knew this was no idle question on her mom's part. She had to answer carefully or risk upsetting her evening plans.
"Tina, Alex, and Sam and I are going out to dinner and then probably to a movie. I will sleep over at Sam's later." She kept to herself that the movie was really a party at Alex's house, because her parents were away for the weekend.
"Sounds good, dear, but remember, do nothing stupid, and if you are in a situation for any reason, and you need us to get you, no questions asked, we will do it."
Jocelyn had her own car, a decent used Honda that she gotten when she was able to drive, but she knew what her mom meant. She had no intention of drinking, at least nothing significant.
"When are you headed out?"
"Oh, not until 7:30 or so."
Inwardly, Gwen groaned a bit at this. It was only 4:00. She had hoped Jocelyn was leaving sooner because it had been some time since she and Henry had had an opportunity to play their domination games and she had hoped to have a long evening subjugating and dominating her slave-husband. Of course, she didn't share that with her daughter. She would still have that long evening, but it would be delayed.
"Sounds good. Well, I need a bit of nap before dinner--how about you dear?" asking her husband.
Henry suspected that this wasn't a real question, but an order to have a nap with his wife. He didn't mind--he was a bit tired.
"Sure, I could use one, too."