Chapter 10- Family for Christmas, pt 1
Over the next month, Thomas traveled back and forth between his home, Anna's, and his mother's. He didn't see Janette, or the rest of the Masquerade mummies, or any of the other ladies he had been seeing as of late. He did, however, send them invitations to his New Year's Eve party. Then, in that time, Thomas picked up the phone and nearly called Margaret at least fifty times. However, as soon as the phone rang he hung up. He wasn't sure why. Fear he reckoned. He spent a lot of time analyzing his feelings and chastising himself for being a coward, but still, every time he picked up the phone with the intention of calling Margaret, he just held onto it and stared at it until he set it back down.
When he wasn't obsessing about Margaret, he spent a fair amount of time with Martin arranging his assets. That is, what wasn't already sheltered in a trust under Margaret's name. He redoubled his efforts in programming his new phone app, TBomb, and he started a new company. Goodspeed Distributors to manage his new apps launch and distribution. Then, he bought all the surrounding properties around his mother's home and started building two new wings the size of two new homes to each side.
When Christmas came he invited the entire family to his beach home for dinner and a slumber party. That is, everyone but his father. Thomas reasoned that if he had wanted to be a part of their family then he wouldn't have left. Besides, he was too busy with his new family anyway.
It was a cold and wintery night, but inside his home, it was warm and intimate with parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and grandchildren all gathered in one location. Thomas's house was bursting at the seams. The men folk sat around the living room with legs stretched out or propped up on the coffee table as they watched the football game playing on the television. The women folk milled around the kitchen and dining room as grandma Henrietta led them in cooking and preparing Christmas dinner while talking about life, children, and husbands. The older children hung out in the Batcave or talked, played on their phones, or watched football with the men folk. The younger children watched a movie in the master bedroom.
Since Franklin divorced Rhea most of his family didn't really do much with Rhea or her kids anymore, and the grandparents were dead. So, that was that. On Rhea's side of the family, there was grandpa Thomas Variette and grandma Henrietta. Then there were Rhea's younger brothers and sisters, Lionel, Mary June, Daniel, and Annalee.
Lionel is forty and married to Bianca who is thirty-five. Together they have three children, Jamin, Raegan, and Christopher. Their ages range from thirteen to nine.
Mary June is thirty-seven and married to George Lowell who is forty-seven. The story with her goes that she was the wild child and after Rhea married she decided she wanted to have sex at fifteen. She met George and a year later she was pregnant and married. After that, Mary June had five more children for a total of six starting with Thelma, then Amanda, Benjamin, Cheryline, Jasper, and Ingrid. Their ages range from twenty-one to eleven.
Daniel is thirty-four and married to Bethany who is thirty-two, and so far they have no children.
Anna Lee, the youngest of Rhea's siblings, is twenty-four and the only one unmarried. She is also the only one currently pregnant.
Lastly, there were Thomas's siblings. Rhea's children. Gretchen is twenty-two years old and married to Jeremy Lukson. Between them, they have two children, twins, Melody and Harmony. Then there is Annalee who is twenty and named after her aunt Anna, Damian who is eighteen, and Scott who is sixteen.
Through the evening food and alcohol flowed freely. Whiskey. Wine. Eggnog. And fortified eggnog. Everyone had a very good time.
Around ten o'clock everyone threw on their coats and pulled on their shoes and they all went for a walk down the beach. Papa and grandma walked down to the water's edge and stared out at the ocean. Rhea and Anna walked down the beach and quietly talked. That left Tomas to walk with Emma. All of the adults separated into married couples for the most part.
As for the kids, Annalee and Thelma were the oldest and led a group of the older kids that included Amanda, Damian, Scott, Benjamin, and Cheryline. Of the younger cousins Jamin and Jasper's group included Raegan, Christopher, and Ingrid.
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Jamin led Jasper, Raegan, Christopher, and Ingrid to a dune and watched all the parents amble away as they went on walks down the beach.
"Are we really going to sit here on this dune and wait for everyone to get back," Jasper asked.
Jamin and Jasper were the oldest in the group being thirteen. Jamin was the outgoing one while Jasper was the quiet one. So, Jasper let Jamin take the lead most of the time even though her cousin was much smaller.
Jamin took after her mother in looks and build, being short and petite. She also had her mother's blonde hair and golden skin, but she had her father's blue eyes. Jasper on the other hand was tall having gotten all of her pubescent growth in one burst. Already she stood 5 feet 10 inches tall, and developed so that many thought she was eighteen.
Following close behind Jamin was her sister Raegan, who held Ingrid's hand, who in turn held Christopher's hand. Raegan and Ingrid were of an age together, both being eleven. Christopher was the youngest being nine.
He may have been nine, but he already knew he loved his cousin Ingrid. He wasn't sure why. Maybe it was only because she was the only girl in the family close to his age that wasn't one of his sisters. Maybe it was her copper red hair, auburn eyes, or her olive skin. Maybe it was the way she always treated him nicely and always held his hand when they were together. Whatever it was, one day, he was going to marry Ingrid.
"No," Jamin replied to Jasper's question as soon as the last of the adults were out of earshot. Then she turned around and scanned her party as she purred, "It's a shame that Scott decided that he rather hang out with Cheryline and the others. It would have made 'playing house' so much more fun!"
"Yeah," Ingrid said excitedly, "Let's go in and 'play house'!"
"Yeah!" Raegan agreed, but then adopted a curious look before asking, "But, we're all girls except for Chris. Who will be our pretend husbands?"
"Chris will," Jamin replied as she walked over and took his hand, and pulled him back toward the house, "We can take turns. We will all be Chris's pretend wives, and we will all show him how good we are, and then we'll have him tell us who is his favorite."
"I don't know," Ingrid replied hesitantly while following along after the others, "This doesn't sound like it's going to be very fun."
"Trust me," Jamin chortled, "It will be very very fun. For us, and for Chris!"
With that, Jamin led her group back inside and into the Batcave where there was a small storage closet that no one seemed to know about.
----(!)----
Thelma took her auburn eyes off of Anna just long enough to take note that the younger kids had gone back inside the house before returning her attention to Anna. She envied Anna. Her aunt was so beautiful. So naturally graceful. And, she had her claws firmly embedded into Thomas!
She knew it was stupid. Falling in love with her cousin was wrong. It was incest! And yet, Thelma would shave her head if the rumors that Anna and Thomas had been having sex since they were twelve weren't true. So, if Anna could do it, then so could she!
"Hey," Annalee, Thomas's younger sister, whispered, "What's on your mind hun?"
"Nothing," Thelma replied. She could never tell her best friend that she had always been in love with her brother. Not when they are also family.
"Okay," Annalee said, sounding doubtful as she followed Thelma's gaze to her mother and Anna.
