It was Sunday and we were awaiting the arrival of Jess's brother and sister. Her mother came home around 10 am, freshly showered and in a different outfit than she wore before. She had plenty of her own things at Reggie's as it had been a second home to her for years.
As she came in she smiled sheepishly at Jess and me and went to give Ted a big kiss. He was beaming. It's probably a combination of absence making a heart grow fonder mixed with what Reggie sent him last night.
I realized at that moment that Jess had not gone into too much detail about what her mom and she discussed while I was talking with her dad Friday evening. How detailed do women get about their intimate lives, especially between mother and daughter?
Around 11:30, Jillian and Teddy arrived. Jillian was on the phone with Steve, her husband, talking about something Mia was looking for. Teddy came in after her and seemed annoyed.
"What's up?" Jess asked him.
"Oh, just Steve being oblivious and not being able to find Mia's favorite toy or something. I swear it's like she's talking to someone mentally challenged."
Jess laughed and hugged her brother. He realized he was being distracted and noticed me for the first time.
"So, you must be Darren, the fiancé then?"
"That I am. A pleasure to meet you, Teddy," I said shaking his offered hand.
"I'm sure I'm supposed to put you through the wringer or something as I'm her older brother, but you look fine enough. I'm good."
We laughed and Jillian finally finished her call.
"Oh for fuck's sake that man can be denser than a pile of bricks sometimes. Hi, I'm Jillian."
"Hi, Jillian. I'm Darren."
"Oh yes, I know. 'The Great Darren'. Mom has already given me quite the run down."
"Oh, really?" I said realizing that for whatever she'd been told, it's likely what's going to be discussed today would be bigger.
Hugs were given all around. Made me a bit sad to have been an only child in a pretty emotionless family.
Jess came over and wrapped her hand in mine, looking up at me with a smile. If things went as we hoped, I'd be spending a lot of time with these people.
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"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Teddy asked incredulously.
Conversely, Jillian didn't seem shocked, which was more surprising than Teddy's reaction.
Jess raised her eyebrow at this.
"I knew," Jillian explained. "Early on she wasn't as careful as she thought she was and I was a teenager who was sneaking out myself. So, on more than one occasion, we crossed paths coming home. She didn't see me but I saw her. Once I even saw that it was Reggie she was with. The only thing I didn't know is that you knew, Dad."
"I guess that explains your tense relationship with Mom all these years," Jess said to her older sister.
"Well, how was I to know that Dad knew and was ok with it? I thought she was betraying him. I got numb to it eventually, but yeah, it was hard to reconcile. Things changed a bit later..." she left that last line hanging and I caught a side-eye glance at Teddy. Not sure what that was about.
"Dad, how could you be ok with this? And why are you suddenly telling us now? What changed?" Teddy asked, clearly upset at the news.
"It's not something to easily explain, son. I know you're disappointed in me. But I swear to you, when you love someone more than yourself, it's really not hard to put their needs above your own and then to even come to appreciate their needs, the pleasure they get from having them fulfilled. Knowing that you are part of it by allowing it to happen. Supporting it," Ted told his only son, hoping to help him understand.
"We're telling you, Teddy, because... well, it's something that Jess needs to tell you herself," Betty added.
Jillian and Teddy's heads both turned towards their younger sister.
"I'm a... well... dammit... This is harder than I expected it to be," Jess stumbled in a way I hadn't expected her to.
"We have an open relationship. Similar to your parents," I added in.
"There was an incident on campus with one of my... lovers. He made a scene. A friend of mom's daughter goes to school with me and the gossip got back to mom," Jess finished the story.
"We're so sorry we kept this from you for so long, but I hope you'll understand why. Or at least come to appreciate why we made the choices we did," Betty told her eldest kids.
"Yeah, that's going to take some time, Mom. I'm not mad, just... processing. I mean, holy shit. My mom has a boyfriend. Someone we've known a long time. And I am soooo not in a place to process what that means... in a physical sense," Teddy said, trying to suppress an emotional gag reflex.
"Understood. And thank you for hearing us out. Let's not take away from our time of getting to know Darren and make this be the focus of the whole day, ok?" Betty said like the typical family peacemaker.
"Easy for you to say," Teddy mumbled close enough for me to hear, but the rest of his family missed it.
Betty and Jillian went into the other room to finish preparing lunch and Ted gave his son a look and then headed to his office.
"Soooo, not how I thought today would be going..." Teddy said to no one in particular.
"Dude, it was a shock to me too," Jess said to her brother.
"Yeah but like, you get it easier. You are doing something similar, I guess," he replied with a look that emphasized that he still didn't fully understand.
"Oh, Ted. Come on. You know I was with most of your friends in high school. You're only two years older. You had to know your guys were all banging your slutty little sister."
"Yeah, guess I did. They were smart enough not to brag, but yeah I knew."
"I'm sorry, bro. I like the D. I like the D a whole lot," Jess said, obviously enjoying teasing her brother.
