Chapter 15

Karen turned down the heat under that goulash and put a lid on the green beans, to keep them warm. She found the children putting out napkins and glasses on the table.

"Something to drink," she said, out loud.

"Champagne seems appropriate," said Mandy.

Karen looked at the girl askance.

"I think not," she said. "First of all, it's not a healthy choice for me. Second, you two are much too young to start drinking. What you've already done is more than enough. And lastly, I don't think your father is in a celebratory mood."

"Yeah," said Amanda, unfazed. "You're probably right. There's some juice in the fridge. I'll get that."

She had just returned when Bob walked into the room. There were some printouts in his hand.

"Let's eat!" he said, sounding to be in a much better mood than the last time he'd spoken.

It only took a few minutes to get everything to the table, and they sat. They held hands and, after a brief, traditional grace Mandy said by rote, they served themselves.

"I've been doing some research," said Bob, picking up the pages he'd set beside his plate.

"I thought we were going to talk after supper," said Mandy.

Bob put the pages back down and fixed a baleful stare on his daughter.

"Amanda Jane Thurlow, if your attitude continues to be that of a spoiled little girl, I'm going to treat you like one. That means I'm going to put you over my lap and spank your bare bottom, and if that happens to take place in front of our guests, that won't bother me even a little bit. Do you understand me?"

Amanda heard the thing in his voice that, in the past, had put dread in her heart.

"Yes, Sir," she said. "I'm sorry."

He acted like nothing had ever happened and picked up the pages again.

"Now, as I said, I've been doing some research. I need to ask you two a question, and it's a very important question. You've been back to school for almost a month. Who knows that the two of you are going together?"

Jack looked at Mandy, who felt it was wiser to let him do the talking for a little while. She knew her father would make good on his threat. Not that she was planning on sassing him again, but still, it was better to just remain silent.

"We haven't exactly advertised it," said Jack.

"What does that mean?" asked Bob. "Who does know you're going together?"

"We only have one class together. That's social studies, and they have assigned seats in there, so we can't sit together. We have different lunch periods too, so we don't really get to see each other very much."

"That doesn't answer my question. Who have you told that Amanda is your girlfriend?"

"Nobody," he said, looking uncomfortable and glancing at Mandy. "As soon as I tell anybody, they're going to want to know what we've done ... and stuff."

"Meaning they'll want to know how far you've gotten with her?" asked Bob.

"Yeah."

"And you don't want to brag?"

"If you do, then that gets around. I don't want her reputation to be bad."

"Well thank goodness for that," said Bob. He looked at his daughter. "How about you?"

"Can I ask why this matters so much?" she asked, carefully.

"Yes," said Bob. "But the reason is moot if you've told a bunch of your girlfriends that the two of you are going together. And if you told any of them you've had sex with him, then we're all screwed."

Mandy looked shocked.

"No! I wouldn't tell them that! Girls can't wait to tell their friends something like that, just like boys do!"

"They also gossip about who is who's boyfriend," said Bob. "That's my concern right now."

"This may be hard for you to understand," said Mandy, "but I'm still not used to even having a boyfriend. As far as I know, the only people who know we like each other is Claudia and Reggie. They were at the sleepover."

"Damn," said Bob. "I forgot about that. We may be screwed."

"Why?" asked Mandy. It just came out naturally.

Bob looked at the papers again.

"I'll tell you what I found out and then you'll understand why it matters."

With that he told them that the subject of step-sibling marriage was a pretty hot topic on the internet, and that there were hundreds of testimonials about step-siblings who had wanted to get married and couldn't, and who wanted to get married and could. The major difference seemed to be in whether they were raised together or their parents got married while they were older. The rule of thumb, in terms of consensus and testimony, seemed to be like this: If you were raised together, the chances were poor, because people got used to thinking of the couple as being brother and sister. This mirrored Mandy's concerns. If one parent adopted the step-child, then marriage between the siblings was almost always impossible. On the other end of the spectrum, if the children were already 18 when the parents married, and didn't live together at all, then marriage was no problem at all. The middle ground, where this family found itself, was a little more complicated. The testimonials of those who had been successful in getting married talked about how, whether they were attracted while they lived together or not, as long as no one saw any attraction, after they turned 18 nobody seemed to make big waves if they wanted to get married.

In other words, if it appeared as if the step-siblings didn't fall in love until after they were 18 and out of the house, then very few people were against the marriage.

The testimonials came from people in different states, and state laws that were quoted conflicted with each other. He had to explain to the kids that marriage law was almost always state law, which was why things varied so much from place to place. But the bottom line was that there were states in which step-siblings could get married.

"Daddy, we already talked about all this a couple of weeks ago," Mandy sighed. "Nothing's changed, really. We can't get married right now. You two can still be together, and we still can't. Not publicly, anyway."

"That's my point," said Bob. "Obviously, Karen and I need to get married. Her being pregnant changes things. But it's not the end of the world for you two either, because there is a way you can be together later, get married, I mean, and still live with us. It just has to appear as if you aren't interested in each other romantically until you turn 18 and get jobs, or go to college or whatever."

"You mean he can't be my boyfriend," said Amanda.

"Not outside the house," said Bob. "That's why Claudia and ... whoever the boy was ... knowing about you two being involved with each other is a problem. They know you two have had sex."

"No they don't," said Mandy. "All they know is we spent one night together."

"And they did too, right?" Bob's voice was neutral.

"Obviously," said Mandy.

"And what do you think they did while they spent the night together?

"Have sex," said Mandy. She froze. "Oh," she sighed.

"Yes," said Bob.

"But Jack and I didn't have sex," said Mandy.

"Maybe Claudia and Ronny didn't either," said Bob. "But you assume they did, and they probably assume the same thing about you two."

Mandy thought for what seemed like a long time before she spoke again.

"It's Reggie, and Claudia broke up with him. They had to because their parents said they either had to get married or break up."

"Okay ... so what?" asked Bob.

"So I'll tell her Jack and I broke up, too."

"And you think she'll believe you?" Bob sounded skeptical.

"Why not? It happens all the time."

"And I can tell Reggie the same thing," said Jack. They'll believe it, because Mandy and I don't hang out at school."

"For what I have in mind, it's vital that none of your friends think you're interested in each other. That's why you can't be boyfriend and girlfriend in public."

"What does that mean about here at home?" asked Mandy.

"I haven't talked this over with Karen, yet," said Bob, "but I think it would be unreasonable, if we're all living in one house, knowing what we know, to try to keep you apart."

"You mean we could sleep together ... any time?" Amanda's eyes got huge.

"I mean Karen and I need to discuss this."

"Does that have to be," Mandy started, "and I mean this with all due respect, Daddy ... after supper?"

Bob wanted to smile, but kept his face calm. He looked at Karen, who was staring at him as if he'd grown a third eye.

"We could talk now and then eat," he said.

"Yes, please!" she said, standing up.

Bob and Karen disappeared towards Bob's bedroom, while the two teens just stared at each other, speechless.

"I just thought of it while I was making the goulash," said Bob, shrugging. "It was the only thing I could think of that had a chance of working out."

"I get it," said Karen. "And the idea of getting married right away is very appealing to me. But Bob ... I had sex with Jack!"

"I know," he said. "Did you ask him to?"

"Well, no, but..."

"But what?"

"When I realized what was happening I did nothing to stop it."

"Then I know exactly how you feel," he said. "That's pretty much what happened to me, too."

She looked relieved, because she felt relieved. Then she frowned.

"We obviously can't get married tomorrow. And neither of our houses is big enough for all of us. Not with a baby coming."

"So, we sell our houses and buy a bigger one. And get married in the meantime."

She went to him and put her arms around him.

"You know I love you," she said.

"I do."

"If I'm not living with you, and sleeping in your bed, that means I'm going to be in my house with my son ... at night ... alone."

"I think I understand your concern," he said. "I will have the same problem."

"So what are we going to do?"

"Get married and get that new house as soon as humanly possible," he said.

"And in the meantime?"

"Do the best we can."

"You're not hearing me, Bob. I didn't stop him because I didn't want to stop him! And even though you're being unbelievably understanding about that, I still feel guilty. I know I'll feel guilty about it if it happens again, too. That's no way to live."

"I hear you perfectly," he said, squeezing her. "I understand your feelings of guilt because I have the same feelings. That's why we need to move as quickly as possible. When they can sleep with each other, that's going to take a lot of heat off of us."

"And you'll keep loving me anyway?" Her eyes were huge.

"If you'll keep loving me," he said. "It's just temporary, until they can do what they're driven to do with each other, instead of us."

"It's not what they're driven to that bothers me," sighed Karen.

"I think that problem will resolve itself when their attention is on each other, instead of us," said Bob. "It's not like we've accepted that an incestuous life style is fine and dandy. We're just trying to get by, here. Maybe thinking about it as a temporary coping mechanism will help reduce the guilt. I don't blame you for what happened. I hope you don't blame me, either. Let's just move forward with things as quickly as possible and get to a place where the temptation isn't as strong."