(Note to readers: If you're not already familiar with "The Twins' Tangled Web," better read it first. --Uncle Bert)
The sky darkened and rain began to fall as Jake Sanders left the halfway house for the last time.
Prison had aged him. Though still a handsome man, today he was a bit less so. His once-black curly hair was now shot through with grey, his strong, square shoulders sagged a bit, and the creases around his eyes were noticeably deeper.
Perfect, he thought as the droplets pelted him. Just what I need.
Thanks to good behavior and a successful appeal to the state supreme court, Jake had won parole after only four years, rather than the ten the judge had meted out, punishment for his affair with his twin daughters. Now he was free -- if you can call having to register as a sex offender, frequent parole visits, social isolation and having the best job the state could find you heaving boxes in a grocery store being free.
What he didn't have was a place to stay. He was expected to find a room at a shabby men-only hotel, but four years in one tiny cell was enough; he wasn't about to find another. There was also the little matter of the safe deposit box he'd managed to keep hidden from his now ex-wife Ellen and everyone else. If only the key were where he left it …
A small beige hatchback pulled away from the curb as Jake walked by. He didn’t pay attention to it at first, not until he realized that it hadn't passed him yet. The rain began to come down harder now, and Jake pulled his coat up over his head.
The car pulled ahead and the passenger door opened, inviting him in. Jake, his heart beginning to race, started to trot past when he heard a feminine voice cry, "Dad!"
He stopped in his tracks, peeked into the car's dark interior, and looked into the face of a young woman he'd never seen before. When he'd last seen them, his daughters had rich, shoulder-length strawberry blonde hair, flashing dark blue eyes, full red lips -- never mind what happened, Jake cherished those memories of what he and the twins had done together.
This woman was in her early twenties, but her brunette hair framed her face nicely in a semicircle cut well above her shoulders, and she had wide brown eyes. Yet he knew he'd seen her face before, somewhere.
"Dad, it's Cathy. Get in before we both get soaked!"
Jake tossed the backpack containing his few belongings into the back seat and got in the car.
They spent a quiet, uncomfortable moment before Jake said, "I didn't recognize you. You do know that I'm not supposed to contact you or Kelly--"
"I know, Dad, I know. But I couldn't just stand by while they flung you to the wolves. That's why I changed my hair and put in tinted contact lenses. That's why I went to school in this city, and now I've got an apartment nearby. Come home with me, Dad."
"Cathy, you've got me violating my parole just ten minutes after they let me go!"
"You can't contact Cathy Sanders, but I'm Cathy Monk now. Nobody's following us, Dad. Come on. Where else do you have to go?"
Jake nodded wearily. She had a point.
As the car glided through the rainy evening, Jake had a chance to study his daughter. Now fully mature, it was obvious to him that she still exercised every day, and baggy though the coat was, he could still discern the outline of her breasts, rounder than before, more full. An erection begin to grow, and he immediately switched off that line of thought. No more jail for him.
Cathy's apartment was bright and cheerful, its walls painted a creamy white, and with tasteful art reproductions on the walls. Jake was pleased that she still liked M.C. Escher and the surrealists; that word described all the jumbled feelings in his mind.
And Cathy looked so beautiful in the light! Free of the trench coat, she wore a loose white blouse, a dark skirt, and black pumps. Yet with her shorter, darker hair and eyes, she seemed like a completely new woman. She smiled awkwardly and went into the small kitchen, coming back with a bottle of champagne and two flutes.
"Do the honors, Dad?"
Jake obliged, and they toasted his freedom. Only after that did they embrace at last.
"I'm so sorry, Dad. I'm so sorry for everything that happened."
"It was my fault. I don't want to talk about it just now. Why'd you change your name?"
"Because of that damn tape Mom made of us that last time. Somebody swiped it from the evidence drawer and put it on the Internet."
"Oh, my God. I didn't know."
"Poor Roger was just humiliated at school, and I haven't talked to him in about as long as I haven't seen you."
"And Kelly?"
"She's getting married in a couple of months. She went to Ravendell and majored in accounting. She met a guy at the firm where she works. We keep in touch through e-mail and we see each other a couple of times a year, mostly at Christmas."
"And your mother?"
"We don’t speak. Kelly's the one who talks to them."
Jake and Cathy sipped champagne and talked for several hours, slowly learning to know one another again. The wild, sexual rollercoaster ride that was their love a few long years ago had long since past, and they were two different people now. Yet Jake could not get over how beautiful she was.
