Steven
With a brief scowl, my other incredible long lost aunt looked down at Mum as I restrained her with a basic Jujitsu hold, then at me before inspecting the other three with the same expression. She was a dark, mysterious and commanding woman and the only thing that distracted me from her strong, irresistible beauty were the sparklingly dark eyes of the Burchell family parasite assessing me. I was shaken by how they made Marie's eyes look normal, vaguely wondering how that could be, considering my recently late grandmother's advanced age.
"Do you think you could let me go now,
sweetie
pie?"
Mum irritably grated.
I did so, both of us as suddenly embarrassed as the other three were as I helped her up. She yanked her hand away and shot me a dirty look before jerking at her clothing and clearing her throat.
"Yes, well..." Ashleigh tolerantly said as she strolled further into the room, "Unless you all
prefer
the floor, I suggest we sit. So far, this little family reunion isn't going like-"
"Oh, is
that
what this is?" Mum demanded.
Ashleigh looked around at Mum with an expression that could best be described as 'firm'. They both stared right at each other, right in the eyes and neither woman backed down, or succumbed to the other.
Finally, my most mysterious and sexy aunt replied, "Yes. It's a family reunion, Kathleen, just like I said. If that's not good enough, I suggest you sit and listen. Okay?"
Mum didn't like that one bit, her Jedi stare being rebuffed, and her expression failed to hide her surprise and dismay. Along with the rest of us, she slowly resumed her seat, her wary eyes on Ashleigh.
Sheila sat, massaging her throat and goggling at her older sister while young Kathleen did the same. But she caught my eye and our gazes stayed on one another, something inside becoming excited until Gina also looked and I diverted my attention back to Ashleigh as she began speaking again.
"I'd planned to come in on a smile and a very nice little speech. Well, so much for that. Thanks. In any case," she sighed, crossing her long legs, "I'm very appreciative that you all came. I somehow knew you would."
She paused here, looking over her two sisters, then turning her eyes to me.
"Steven. Obviously, your mother and Sheila know who I am. Do you?"
I nodded, trying to keep my eyes off that bra and said, "Yes."
Turning her eyes to my cousin, she said, "And Kathleen... Do you know who I am?"
Their eyes met and the wide eyed young woman only shook her head, looking very impressed anyway while Gina paid rapt attention beside her.
With a warm smile just for her, she explained, "I'm your Aunt Ashleigh. Sheila's older sister."
"That's enough of that!" my other mother spoke up as though she were dressing down the PTA.
"I beg your pardon?" Ashleigh toned.
"You know damned well what I mean."
The eldest Burchell sister held a brief, icy stare with the youngest before flicking her eyes to me and back, saying, "You're one to talk, aren't you?"
That took the wind out of Mum's sails while young Kathleen and Gina looked on with confusion. Sheila was paying close attention as Ashleigh turned back to her estranged niece with the same smile as before.
"Well, I'm very glad to have met you, Kathleen."
"Same here, Auntie Ashleigh," the little piece of meat sincerely answered.
"And Ms. Gina Green. Surprised, but pleased to make your acquaintance."
"Likewise," Gina replied, ever so slightly uncomfortable at my aunt's greeting.
Casting her parasitic eyes on my other aunt, she paused and greeted, "Sheila, it's been a long time. How are you?"
The beauty nodded slightly and managed a little smile that I somehow knew was sincere as she replied.
"I've been getting by. Right now, I'm more surprised than anything."
"I've missed you," Ashleigh said, turning to Mum and adding, "Both of you."
Mum rolled her eyes and picked up her purse from the floor at the foot of her chair. Unperturbed, Ashleigh went on, addressing my cousin and I as Mum began rummaging.
"As I've indicated, I'm the eldest of the three Burchell women who your grandmother Marie gave birth to. I left home when I was very young and, by the time I was able to return, that home was no more. Our father was dead, our mother... unapproachable... and my two sisters gone to who knew where. It took a long time to find them and, in turn, both of you and I'm very happy to have the family back together again."
Mum had found what she was looking for in her purse, a nail file, and had crossed her legs to commence the maintenance of her nails when she looked up at her older sister's words.
"You can't be serious."
"Would you be here if I weren't? I wanted us all together so we could meet and be a family. I know I'm not the only one here who's been missing that over the long years."
"Speak for yourself and our whore of a sister," Mum casually said as she got down to business with her file. "I actually stuck around to raise my-"
"Kathleen, shut up," Ashleigh testily instructed. "Would you please just shut the fuck
up
?"
"That's not a very nice way to talk to your dearest little sister at your own family reu-"
"Mum..." I interrupted, loud enough for her and, unfortunately, the rest of the room to hear.
She looked around at me, her busy little hands paused as she stared.
"Come off it, will ya?" I asked at a much lower volume, not looking her in the eye.
After an intolerable several seconds, during which time nobody spoke, she turned around and silently went back to filing her nails. As though this was a signal for Ashleigh, she went on in her previous tone while I looked at the carpet and listened, worried how Mum would react to my little outburst later on, not to mention how I'd had to use my Jujitsu on her just prior.
"I apologize for the clandestine approach I took in getting you all here, but it was the only way I could be somewhat sure that you
would
all show up, an innate curiosity being one of the things we Burchells all share. That and some other unique traits. Yes, as some of you know more than others, this is a very unique family, all the more reason for this reunion. Now, at this point I'd like to stop and ask if anyone has anything they'd like to say, but I suppose I might just as well ask Kathleen first as last.
"How very kind of you,
Mistress
." Mum retorted. "And yes, I do have a question. How long have you been spying on us?"
"A fair question from my quick witted sister. First off, I haven't been
spying
on you. As I've said, once I did finally feel able to return home, everything was long lost and I had no idea where you and Sheila were so, unless I intended to go the rest of my life without what family
was
left, I had to get looking. Unfortunately, I wasn't trained for such a thing and my finances weren't abundant enough for the time and resources the search demanded. Once they were, I hired professional investigators to follow your long cold trails and, let me tell you, what trails they were."
She took a break to sip at her glass, Mum taking the opportunity while still filing her nails.
"None of this answers my question."
"Keep your panties on, I'm getting to that. Sheila, you were the hardest to find. Not only did you change location often, but you left so little behind to lead my investigators to your next landing pad. Kathleen, you were easier in that respect, but you did your share of moving around the country to the extent that, when I did finally find my wandering sisters, I kept my investigators on. It was to ensure that I'd never lose either of you like that again, and I did have them take a closer look at you both. Nothing invasive, nothing you wouldn't tell a casual acquaintance, just surface things that you wouldn't blame me for being curious about."
"When did you find me?" Sheila asked, her voice neither loud nor low, tone carrying no hint of how she felt about what her older sister had been saying thus far.
"Five years ago, after you moved to the UK and stayed. I found Kathleen nine years ago after she settled in Vancouver."
"Why didn't you contact me then?" Sheila inquired further with the same casual poker face as before.
"Because the time wasn't right. It would have been for you, but by then you'd already given birth to Kathleen and she was of no age to join us until recently. At the same time, Ms. Mouth was married to a successful man, living in a nice home while raising her son, Steven, also too young to join us until now."
"(Ahem) Excuse me," I spoke up, suddenly glad of the liquor in my system and the ratio of control it gave my mother's other son.
"Yes, Steven."
"I don't see what you're talking about. All kinds of people have relatives while they're growing up. I had relatives on my father's side that I saw and heard from off and on, and there always seemed to be timing for them."