my apologies for taking so long to get this chapter out, but life intervenes...
*
The next month was like a wind-driven fog.
As we left the hotel the next morning and began our long journey back to reality, we almost bumped into Rick and Denny as they entered the lobby.
Denny did his best not to look consumed with awkward guilt; Rick looked stunned to see us.
We didn't know it then, but we learned later that after the rehearsal dinner, he'd gone bar-hopping, and after he'd had three or four too many, he propositioned the wrong woman. Turns out she was an off-duty cop and took it somewhat personally. He refused to pay a fine and is waiting on a court date.
Jen helped Meghan clear her things out of Denny's without too much drama, and as she'd predicted, by the end of the first week, Meghan decided she had to find another job. Jenifer told me that once Meghan moved in with her, it was like she collapsed, all the disappointment of her failed engagement suddenly cascading over her.
Jen also told me Denny quickly found himself ostracized at work. Word of his flagrant infidelity spread like wildfire, and in short order, three harassment claims were rumored to be in the offing.
By the end of the second week, he resigned his position, and there were reports that Rick, too, had started floating his resume.
Trips between cities immediately became an every weekend thing; my apartment one weekend, Jen's the next.
No one wanted to talk about the elephant in the room. Jen's apartment was big enough for two people, but not if one of them was living out of boxes. They were going to have do something.
And then there were our parents. They were the only people who still had no idea what had happened, what was really going on, were our parents. So, what did Jen and I tell them?
When should we tell them?
We had a family reunion scheduled for the Fourth of July, and we figured that was as good a time as any. There's always more family than room at the house, so Jen and I got a hotel room together. Dad either wasn't paying attention or flat didn't care. Mom tried arguing with us that she wasn't going to make her children stay in a hotel, then gave up when Jen told her we'd already paid for the room and that as busy as we'd both been, we needed someplace quiet where we could get some rest. That seemed to satisfy our mother's curiosity, at least for the moment, and since there were more than a dozen other family members around, she let it go at that.
The next day was a little different, though.
Mom noticed when Jen and I arrived together, and we caught her watching us a couple of times during the day, noticing that we were paying more attention to each other than usual. Mom's curiosity finally got the better of her when Jen sat in my lap wearing just her bikini, with a towel wrapped around her waist.
Mom waited until family had thinned a bit, and then she cornered us and asked what was going on.
Jen grabbed at my hand and laced her fingers with mine so tight I thought I was going to lose feeling.
"You know Meghan's wedding was supposed to be a few weeks ago," she said.
Mom nodded. "Barbara called me and told me what happened. That was just awful. But what does that have to do with the two of you being all over each other?"
Dad appeared at mom's side as if out of thin air, and his eyes followed the conversation, jumping from our mother back over to us.
"Mom..."
Jen looked at me and began slowly shaking her head as if trying to play it off.
"... we're not 'all over each other.'"
"Yes, you are," she replied. She looked behind her, satisfying herself that no one was within earshot. "And no one's said anything to me, but I promise you other people have noticed that you showed up together and that you can't keep your hands off one another. Now, what's going on between the two of you?"
Jen looked at me and swallowed hard.
"There's this guy that worked with us," she said. "He and Denny are friends..."
"I tried to tell you that nothing good ever comes from office romances," dad said.
Mom swatted at his arm, shushing him.
"Go on, baby. What about Denny's friend?"
Jen nodded. "Anyway, it's debatable which one of them is worse, Denny or Rick. I could never get Rick to leave me alone, and then..."
My sister looked at me, her eyes searching mine, lost and looking for another way, but finding none.
"A little over a year ago," she said, "I showed him Kyhl's picture and told him and anyone else who'd listen that Kyhl was my boyfriend."
Mom's mouth dropped open and she and dad both looked at me.
"And you went along with this?" dad asked.
I shrugged. "Seemed like a good idea at the time."
I looked at Jen and her eyes locked with mine. She was doing everything she could to plead without speaking and doing her best not to look desperate.
"And then I met the guy, Dad, and let me tell you, he's a piece of work. In fact, the night of the rehearsal dinner, he got drunk and got picked up for solicitation."
Mom's mouth fell open again. "He what?"
Dad shook his head.
I nodded and shrugged again. "I kind of thought, really, this would be another pat on the back like when we were in high school."
Dad chuckled and mom covered her mouth with her hand.
"That still doesn't explain..."
Jen looked at mom.
Mom licked her lips, looked at dad, and then back at us.
"That still doesn't explain why the two of you are acting like a couple."
"Well,..." Jen looked up at me as her fingers clenched against mine.
"I mean, you show up holding hands; granted, I don't think anyone thought anything about it. And I saw the two of you kiss a little while ago. And you're sharing a hotel room together..."
"One bed or two?" dad asked.
"One."
Jen looked at me and nodded.
"So you're... you're sharing a bed... together?"
Mom looked for a moment like she was going to hyperventilate. She was putting the pieces together.
"We did it," Jen said, "at first, just for appearances. You know, to make the story credible, so I wouldn't have to deal with Rick."
I nodded and felt Jen's other hand lay on top of our laced fingers.
"But then we started spending a lot more time together," she said, "and we discovered we actually like each other."
I nodded again.
"More than like, really," Jen said. "It's like..."
"It's like we're a pair of gloves that just fit each other right."
Jen looked at me, smiled and nodded.
"But... you're brother and sister." Mom's eyes darted back and forth between us; dad seemed at a loss for words.
I nodded again and kissed Jen on the cheek.
"I love my little sister. More now than I ever have."
Dad looked stunned; mom was still shaking her head in disbelief.
"And I love Kyhl. I don't know what I'd do without him."
"Barbara called," mom said, "and told me about how the wedding fell apart at the last minute."
Jen nodded.
"And... she told me how thankful she and Robert were that the two of you were there for Meghan; that you were both so supportive."
Mom looked at dad and then back at me.
"She told me, too, that she really hoped you and Meghan would get back together. The two of you were such a cute couple."
I nodded and took a deep breath. "It's not quite that simple, Mom."
"Meghan's doing good right now to get out of bed some days, Mom," Jen said. "She's trying to get her feet back under her; she's looking for a new job. Getting into a new relationship or kick-starting an old one are the last things on her mind right now."
Mom and dad looked at each other.
"Forget about Meghan, then," mom said. "Neither of you is likely to attract anyone else if you're cavorting around and..."
Her voice trailed off and she looked over at dad.
"If we're cavorting around?" Jen looked over at me. "And... and what? Holding hands? Kissing? Sharing a hotel room?"
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see dad's jaw muscles twitching, and mom's breath was becoming shallow and ragged.
"Sharing a bed?" Jen asked.
"Jenifer..."
"Holding each other?"
"Jenifer..."
"Feeling our naked bodies pressed together?"
"Jenifer, stop it!"
Our mother spat the words through clenched teeth.
"I don't want to hear you talk like some whore-tramp..."
"Oh, get over yourself, mother," Jen said.
She tugged her hand from mine and stood up, spinning away from us and then turning back around again.
"Do you remember what you told me when Dale and I split up?"
I remembered Jen telling me how pathetic mom's efforts to console her were when her first marriage ended in divorce.
"You told me that all you wanted for me was for me to be happy."
Jen pointed at me.
"You said that's all you and daddy ever really wanted for both of us. And guess what? I'm happy. Every time Kyhl and I are together, I know I'm with someone who knows me and loves me and understands me. And cares for me."
"I know, baby, but..."
"But nothing, mom. And he loves Meghan, too. She's like a sister to me. Kris is like a little sister to me. And he gets it. And he's fine with it.
"He doesn't roll his eyes when she drags me away to go shopping or hands me a spoon to help her kill a pint of ice cream."
"Or a quart."
Jen shot me a look that turned from daggers to a giggle and a warm smile.
"Or a quart," she said, nodding. "And I'm not a slut or a whore or a tramp, mom."
Jen looked over at me.
"Since I started telling people Kyhl was my boyfriend, I think I've been asked out by seven or eight different guys; I've turned them all down."
She looked back at mom.
"It's never been a question in my mind about whether or not to be faithful to my brother. He's the only man I've been with. He's the only man I want to be with. When I crawl into bed with him and into his arms, I feel... whole. And complete."
She looked over at me again and shook her head ever so slightly. There was only so much true confession our parents could handle at one time; they didn't need to know anything beyond me and her. Not now.
"What about children?" mom asked.
Dad started to speak and mom quieted him by grabbing his hand.
"We'd always thought the two of you would give us grandchildren someday."
Jen and I looked at each other. Our mother meant she expected -- hoped -- Jen would give her grand-children with another man and that I'd give her grand-children with another woman.
