This is a request story. It could fit into the IR category, romance, or even incest. In the end I chose romance because it's more about two people in love than it is incest or race. Hopefully I met the expectations of the requester.
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My sister and I were born three minutes apart, she was the older. Like most twins we were close, completing the other's sentences, thinking the same thing at the same time, always together as though we were connected at the hip. We had separate rooms but spent most of our existence in one room or the other together. We each had gender specific friends, but they always took second place, if it came down to them or us... it was always us, always each other's best friend.
When we began puberty, it wasn't our parents we showed our pubic fuzz, or the little nubs on her chest, we went to each other. Throughout high school we dated and hung with others, but at the end of the day I was in her room or she was in mine, talking about our date, who we were with, how much fun or how much of a drag our date had been. We respected each other's 'space' but with one another is where we were the most comfortable.
Our parents were what is now known as mixed race, dad was from El Salvador and mom was from Belize, he was much lighter skinned than mom, the result was two light brown babies with wavy black hair. In the city where we grew up there were several black family's we knew of but didn't necessarily hang out with, maybe that's part of the reason Liz and I were so close. Although we both dated white kids in high school, college years were different in that we couldn't be together all the time and with a greater variety of the opposite sex to date we went out with more people of our own race.
You might say that's good, or bad, what we discovered is that there are just as many assholes who are dark skinned as there light skinned, reaching the conclusion what was inside the person was more important than what color they were. Being apart was hard on Liz and me, we texted almost daily, heck, I knew as much about her life hundreds of miles away as I did my own life. We were by no means wealthy, dad was a full-time chauffer and mother taught high school English, both Liz and I worked part time jobs all through our college years. Dad died in our junior year of college and mother retired the year we graduated.
I received a degree in economics and Liz in marketing, with the job market at the lowest it had been in decades we were willing to take a position anywhere we could. We had determined we no longer wanted to be separated, with that thought in mind, we set about looking for a city where there might be a position for both of us. Little did we know the end result would be the opposite of what we already knew culturally and geographically. We were thinking LA, Phoenix, Dallas, maybe California if we got desperate enough, but not Concord, New Hampshire.
Mother was oaky with us being that far away and for our graduation from college she had gifted us her 7 year old 4-Runner and given us $5000 to get started, admonishing me to make sure I took care of my sister. We had both had received favorable reviews for jobs, we packed our meager belongings into the Toyota 4-Runner and drove our young hind ends to Concord, New Hampshire, a very long way from Tempe, AZ. Liz found work with a smaller firm right away, she made enough that we could pay our bills but there was none left over. In a city of 40,000 we figured there would be work available in my degreed field soon.
On the first day of attempting to rent an apartment we ran into difficulties, it wasn't a race issue, far from it, people didn't want to rent to young single people, even if we were siblings. It was always followed with, now if you were married that would be different. You might scream that's discrimination, and it is, but if you don't think people are discriminated against daily, and I'm not referring to just one race or nationality, then you have your head up your ass. Since both our last name was Arroyo, Liz came up with an idea.
"Since they want married, we have the same last name, so let's give them married, at least we can get a place to live. We can go to the mall tonight and get a set of inexpensive wedding bands."
Made sense to me, the credit check was run in my name only and we had an approval for rent by Friday. As diligent as I was sending resume's and filling out job applications, my degree would not be put to use for some months. I had grown up helping my dad and knew the trade well, there were times I would fill in for him if he was ill. He had driven for the Crawford's for over twenty years, they knew me and never had an issue if I filled in. The employment agency contacted me and asked if I was willing to interview for a local chauffer position, after Liz and I discussed it we agreed, what could it hurt to interview.
Mrs. Stein was a widow in her mid-60's, the chauffer she'd had for over 30 years was retiring and she needed someone who knew what they were doing right away, there wasn't time to train anyone.
Following a half hour or more of conversation she told me she would like to hire me as her personal chauffer. When I told her what my degree was in and that I was still pursuing work in that field she told me she understood, she needed someone right away and would like to hire me until such time as I found a position. In her words, she would have someone who knew the trade and I'd have an income.
The pay package was actually quite liberal, I'd be making just under 40 a year to drive an older woman here or there. The part I didn't like was she wanted me available to go out in the evening on occasion, but as she said, that was not often anymore. I told Mrs. Stein I needed to talk with my wife before making a commitment, she indicated the next day would be fine. When Liz asked if I'd accepted the job, I said I'd told Mrs. S that needed to talk with my wife first.
Liz smiled, "Your wife?"
"Isn't that what we decided after the apartment fiasco? We're husband and wife?"
As Liz and I talked it over we reached the conclusion that working for Mrs. Stein was better than no job and I was likely being paid more to drive her than I would be paid in a starting position with a firm.
I told Mrs. Stein I would take the position with one condition. I was not willing to wear the traditional chauffer attire, I would wear a quality suit and tie, but I wasn't going to look like the kept darkie who drives Miss Daisy. She laughed, then smiled and nodded her head in agreement, a suit would be proper, especially in this day and age. My schedule varied, if the Mrs. had appointments in the morning, I started work at 7, if not I started work at 8. If she was going out in the evening, it was considered above and beyond and she included a little extra in the next paycheck, besides, she was never out later than ten.
I adapted quickly, Liz and I still had plenty of time together and we were finally bringing home enough between the two of us to start putting money away, we had about half of what mom had given us and didn't want to touch it if possible. I'd been driving a little over three months when Mrs.S. asked if I was interested in making some addition income. I indicated I was as long as it was legal, I was sent me to pick up a lady and bring her to the house. After a few hours visit Mrs. S. told me to take Vivian home and that she had some things at her house she needed help with, I was to try and accommodate her if possible. There would be no lifting or arduous tasks, she simply needed some assistance.
