Danny couldn't help but think about those people at the restaurant, something felt off between them and Jennifer. She said they were friends, they said they were friends, yet Jennifer didn't really act like it, he's seen her with her friends. While at work, he decided he would go there for lunch and find some answers.
"Welcome... do you have a reservation," the maître d asked.
"Umm no... I was wondering if Chuck and Dorothy were here? I think... I think we might be family. I was talking to them last night."
"You must be Daniel Fullard, yes?"
"I am."
"I was told to look out for you, follow me, please."
Danny was lead back to Dorothy's office and announced in.
"Daniel," she smiled, "could you get Charles and have the room prepared?"
"On it, ma'am," he left quickly.
Dorothy stood up to meet him, a portly woman seemingly pushing near sixty.
"My how you've grown dear, give us a hug, yes?"
"You were waiting for me?"
"We were," she gave him a tight hug, "we were hoping you would come back, although not the next day, but soon enough."
"I just wanted answers. You all and Jennifer claim to be friends, but she seemed off, like she was hiding something."
"Me and my hubby will answer your questions in due time... I mean... not
due
time, but lunch."
"Are you two actually married, you look like you could be related."
She just smiled.
"And honestly I feel like she may have been hiding that maybe you two aren't that close of friends to her and more to my actual mom."
"Yes, your mom and dad to be precise. We
are
friends with Jennifer, or we'd like to think so. Please, Daniel, I don't want to leave Charles out of the conversation."
"I'm sorry Dorothy, I've just had quite the time, I mean... with finding my mom and my dad dying."
"I understand."
"That room is a private dining room and nothing crazy, yeah?"
"Right on the nose, Daniel. Shall we get going, yes?"
She lead him down a hallway to a room with a medium sized conference table.
"Daniel! Good to see you again," Charles smiled, "lunch will be here shortly, have a seat, yes?"
"Yeah... I... you two talk like..."
Dorothy and Charles smiled at each other.
"He's a bright one, yes?"
"I mean... more than looks can run in a family."
Danny sat next to them and started putting pieces together. He was about to speak when food was brought in.
"You were going to say something, Daniel," Charles asked.
"You're not just friends of the family, you are family... Rebecca's family, yeah- I mean yes-ugh," he shook his head.
"What gave it away, dear," Dorothy asked.
"You talk like her, she says things like that."
"At some point you just don't notice it anymore," Charles said.
"I never really noticed it until now. Do you all talk like that, you seem to smart and refined to-"
"My how the pot calls the kettles black," Charles interrupted.
"I know I do it too. I don't know why, I mean...," he smacked himself, "I was only around her like only six months."
"Don't try and stop now, dear," Dorothy laughed.
"Blood runs thick, Daniel," Charles replied.
"My dad never talked like that, and both of you do, did one of you just pick it up, being married for so long? Jennifer doesn't talk like that either."
"It's an odd family trait," Charles said.
"You want to know why Jennifer is standoffish? She discovered something she shouldn't have. It was by accident. Rather a family secret that incest runs about us Corneworths," Dorothy explained.
"Yes, it's something that we keep secret. The poor girl found us getting intimate looking for the bathroom at the family resort. You'd think she'd be over it, especially with what I saw last night. You two are dating, yes? Taking your old mans wife?"
"I think you're right, she did get over it, because she was the one who asked me. I just think that she didn't want me to know that you were Rebecca's family. See... I met her- so incest runs in
the whole
family?"
"To various degrees. Jennifer only knew about us, we're usually such a close knit family that one wouldn't really notice, and of course we don't present like that. Some like us have gotten married, some just date, or explore they're familial crushes and find love elsewhere, like Rebecca did," Dorothy explained.
"It's in the genes," Charles added.
"Is it a bad thing she did that?"
"Heavens no. If some didn't seek out, we'd probably be a bunch of Cronenberg creatures- it's fine. The genes are strong with deep related offspring, than those who are mixed blood," Dorothy explained.
"So... if I get this right... those of us with related parents have stronger genes than- but her and my dad weren't related."
"They weren't, but Rebecca's parents are," Dorothy said.
"What are you telling us? You said you met her, your mother, yes?"
"I did. When my dad died, Jennifer could legally tell me that she wasn't my actual mom. I hired a detective and went looking for her. The thing is... when I found her... fuck it, I can tell you two and I guess not be ashamed... I met her before I knew who she was and we started to connect and we did stuff."
"You fucked," she gave him a knowing look.
"We did. Long story short, I saw pictures and I took some of her hair and it came back she was my mom. Do you know anything about what happened with her and my dad?"
"We do. She threw her life away to be a teenager again, she turned her back on
you,
Daniel, she was a shame of the family, she was excommunicated," he explained.
"Did you excommunicate me, too?"
"No, my good man, you wouldn't be here. We were hoping one day to see you again. It was mostly out of respect for Henry that the family stayed away, so you wouldn't grow up confused and such," he said.
"So you met Rebecca. How did it go," she wondered.
"We had a great connection and it was really strange at first. Only when I found out we were related, that it made some sense. I was pissed at her about it."
"As you should've been," they both said.
"I'm confused about it, she told me everything she knew. She didn't tell me about the incest parts, she did say our connection was genetic-
