Danny walked in his house, grabbed a bottle of liquor from his bar, poured the contents in a rocks glass and downed it, poured another, texted his secretary that he would be in tomorrow. Danny walked around his empty house, usually it was fine, he was single so of course he lived alone, nor did he entertain much, not wanting any possible girlfriend to know how much money he did have, he wanted a sincere relationship- like he almost had with his mom. He cringed at the thought.
"How could I want the woman who never wanted me‽ Carson was right; this
is
some Oedipus bullshit... lusting after both of my moms‽ And it feels
right
‽ Okay so I didn't know Man-
Rebecca
was my mom, so it's not my fault, now that I know she is, I can get over here.
Sure
Jenn raised me like her own son... but we're not related, so it doesn't count, right," he asked the glass in his hand, "Of course not! Jenn's been a mom to me, she's not
really
my mom... I could... I could marry her if I wanted to!"
Rebecca gathered herself to calm down and make bitter peace that she would most likely never see Danny again, she always feared that the day they met and the day he found out would turn out just how it did.
"I was foolish to think the time we spent together would've made a difference... I'm so fucking stupid," she opened her freezer for a bottle of liquor and drink straight from the bottle, "I poured my heart out," she told it, "I
love
my son, doesn't fucking matter that I want him back, that I miss him and regret
everything I did to end up here
."
She stood in the middle of the living room, looking around her apartment, all she managed to get over the years and can only fathom what Danny's home is like, she took another swig.
"I just wanted a chance to do things right, at least have some sort of relationship... there was more I had to tell him, can't he understand, he has to, we have a... a
thing,
we're too much alike... good or bad. We're alike... if I didn't want him that easy, then, yeah... he could not want me just as easy."
Around seven Jennifer came home from work, she half expected Danny to be there waiting. She had prepared herself the best she could and trusted him to keep his word that if he didn't come by, he would at least call.
"So he found Rebecca, I'm curious how this is gonna go down, if it hasn't yet. Maybe some good may come from it... I wonder what she's been doing? I can't believe I still miss that bitch- sorta," she thought to herself.
Jennifer went in her office and found her copier open, noticing the papers and folder that Carson gave Danny, she picked it all up and started reading it all. She had been curious how they found her, until she saw the D.N.A. test results paper and wondered how he got a hold of her hair. Jennifer looked up with grave concern and quickly called Danny.
"Hey Jenn," he grumbled.
"Danny... baby... I know you said you'd tell me all about it soon, but can we talk about it now," she stuffed the papers inside as she walked through the house.
"Now? I'm... ah dunno," he slurred.
"Yes now, please come over. Wait. Have you been drinking?"
"A little, I guess?"
She cursed under her breath, "you went to see her didn't you?"
"Nooooo."
"Don't lie to me, love. I don't need Carson to figure out you went straight to her from here, you made a copy of the reports and rushed over there."
"Whu... how you know that‽"
"Where's the report Danny?"
"It's... um," she heard him rustling around looking for it, "I got it somewhere."
"I
have
it," she tapped it on a wall, "you left it in my office, honey. I raised you, I know you."
"Shit, okay okay... I'll come and get it."
"No you won't! I'll bring it to you. Sorry to pull rank, but we're talking about this now, I'll be over there soon."
"Yes mother."
"Good. Love you baby."
"Love you mom."
She made a kissing noise before hanging up, grabbed her keys and went to her car.
She pulled up to his house and used her key to get inside, she found him lying on the couch with one empty and one half empty bottle. With a quick kiss on the lips, she sat the folder down and took the bottles and glass to the kitchen.
"That's enough drinking for you," she came back with a full glass and a Gatorade.
"Jenn, hey," he reached for the glass.
"Aht aht,
this
is yours," she handed him the Gatorade.
Danny groaned when he sat up.
"Don't you start, my love, now you promised you would tell me everything... I was going to wait, but I read that and I'm worried about you, so talk."
"How did you know I went to see her?"
"Because I know you. I have a strange feeling you already knew her, too."
"Mom... Jenn... how do you know me so well... what can you tell me about Rebecca, she said you were her best friend."
"She was my best friend, for years. She's why I know you so well; you're just like Becca, more than you know. I started seeing it- me
and Henry
. We hoped that if you didn't know her, that maybe you'd grow out of it, nope... the older you got- the worse you got, let Henry tell it. Like her twin, you reminded us of Becca everyday."
"What happened back then?"
"She didn't tell you?"
"She
did,
but I wanna know about you and dad... how did
this
happen?"
"Trust me, there was nothing malicious," she took a sip, "Henry and Becca were madly in love... nothing would tear them apart- so we thought. Becca stayed after you were born, they argued since you were conceived that she didn't want you, we convinced her to have you and try. Henry told her that after six months if she didn't change her mind, then she could go. He arranged for her to exchange her shares, sign her rights to you over, a solid divorce and she was free."
"She said that."
"We were mad... or I was. She really hurt your dad. I remember yelling at her about it. We argued again when the day came she was going to be free, we fought, I dogwalked her all over that house."
"You beat her up?"
"It was more of a tie, you could say."
"You and Dad?"
"We were friends, more like siblings, really. Becca knew we cared about each other, knew sometimes we had our heart to hearts, I loved him like a brother- was just supposed to be your godmother... you
should
be calling me
Aunt Jenn,
not
mom
. Once when you had colic, and Becca bailed a day or two in, we took care of you, we had a talk where we agreed once she was gone, we would raise you. There was no romance about it, we weren't interested in each other like that. But I guess our love for you spread to each other, all that time spent together. Around when you were nearly two; he came home late from work, put you to bed- I had fallen asleep with you, woke me up with a kiss on the lips, when my eyes opened, there was this ring in my face, all he said was 'marry me', he didn't ask, he told me to. God knows by then we had gotten madly in love. He had it all taken care of in two weeks and we were husband and wife."
"Did you ever see her again?"
"No, but she did call once or twice for money when she had a bit of a drug habit. You know how Henry was, yet he still loved her. Henry even helped get her clean from thousands of miles away. I had no doubt that if she came back, he would take her back, divorce me and remarry her. He denied it and hated when I joked that he'd have sister wives, because I'd never leave and I knew he wouldn't let me. Henry... loved... and hated that you were so much like her."
"Thanks for being my mom."
"It was- is my love for you. Just like with your dad, if you want a relationship with her, I won't stand in your way... she
is
your real mother after all."
"Do you miss her?"
"Sometimes. I can't look at you and not think about her, even some things you've done, she did the exact same thing," she smiled, "the only reason your slightly different is because of our influence, we tried to make sure you didn't make the same mistakes she did. Please Danny, what happened, did you know her before you found out
