Chapter 69: All Hail Loki

Sunday, December 22, 1985

Jas and I slept late. Well...

Engagements make girls horny. And, sometimes, a nap is called for afterward.

We were up before it was afternoon, anyway. Camille had brunch ready for us. Her word, not ours.

Francis joined us after we’d mostly eaten and said, “Your parents shared some interesting news. We know why you didn’t share it with us last time, but ... we understand it’s fine to discuss with both of you.”

I nodded and said, “No surprises there. Right, honey?”

Jas grinned and said, “I was eighteen before anyone else. I know more than anyone.”

Camille gave a wide smile at that, and said, “That you are aware does not surprise me, but it does please me.”

“And me as well,” Francis said.

“It is ... parents want the best for their children,” Camille said. “That includes materially. And, also, it is...”

She paused, looking for words.

Francis stepped in and said, “I know Camille has shared with you how some of our French relatives feel. That there is reason for caution when Caucasian men come courting. They are not wrong. There can be. We always understood that Steve was not that way since very early in your dating, but they have not seen him as we have.”

Jas and I both nodded.

“This is the same, in reverse. A man who is well off? Some will say the marriage is for reasons other than love, romance, companionship ... those things. Having it on the table blunts that, perhaps. Not in the case where the man is ridiculously wealthy, maybe, but ... still. And, in your case, I doubt this goes back to before you were already thoroughly in love.”

“It doesn’t, really,” Jas said. “We had some big discussions at Northwestern...”

Wasn’t that an understatement!

“And I realized it was more than the accident money, and also that there was more of a plan, but ... yes. We’ve been on the same page for a long time. We just...”

“We understand,” Francis said. “It is good for parents to know their children are doing well. It is also scary. Money gained can be lost, and most teenagers do not manage it well. Years of doing so is persuasive.”

“And we’re fine about the trip money,” Camille said. “It will be used exactly as we had wished. But we greatly thank you for letting your parents know, and for their letting us know. That, too, was the sort of maturity we completely expect from both of you.”

“It was going to get awkward before long,” I said. “A cruise? A month-long trip to the UK? How much more before it seemed silly? And, then, when we said ‘Well, we were always fine’ ... well, if I was in your shoes, I would wonder about those gifts. Besides, the most important gift you have ever given me was your support.”

Camille actually teared up at that. After a bit of sniffling, she said, “I was afraid you were going to say ‘Jasmine,’ and she was never ours to give. We are both very thankful that we gave you our support. You have repaid our trust many, many times over.”

“Not only that,” Francis said, “We have never forgotten that we might not have Jasmine if not for a most timely evasive maneuver.”

Jasmine blushed, and I’m sure I did, too. I had nearly forgotten that, but he was right. Thinking about how the car had looked after the crash, I was entirely too convinced that Jasmine would have been severely injured, or worse, if I had just kept going straight and not reacted.

“Yet, you did give me Jasmine,” I said. “Oh, not that way, but your love created her and your parenting made her the woman she is.”

“Which means a lot to us,” Jasmine said. “It’s daunting, but we think about it, and ... that we will be in that position with our children.”

More sniffling ensued, along with Jasmine and Camille holding each other. Francis and I didn’t cry, but we were both emotional and didn’t hide that.

After a bit, and after blowing her nose, Camille said, “We are, each of us, so very lucky. A young man came over one day, and we thought, ‘Well, this one has some promise.’ Another visit, and we thought, ‘This one definitely has promise.’ Out of that ... a young man we love very much, friendships with some wonderful people who we have also come to love, two other young women we are honored to think of as daughters-in-law-to-be — one of whom we knew, of course, and wondered if she would ever find what she needed to settle her heart — and so much more. No other gift could compare with that. We agree with you: little things are wonderful and can be meaningful, but gifts for the sake of giving do not add much. Thank you for letting us know which things are ‘little’ and which are not.”

“You’re most welcome,” I said. “And, from my perspective, it’s the same. We’ve never hidden that we want a marriage like yours, one where there is even more love decades later than there was at the start. One where we can bring up children to be wonderful adults one day, go off and have their own adventures, and bring good people into our lives.”

“Though adding a few gray hairs along the way,” Jas said, grinning.

“Plenty,” Camille said, with Francis nodding, “But we do not begrudge a single one of them. Experience can be a hard teacher, but it teaches the best lessons.”

I could hardly disagree. They couldn’t know how much experience I actually had, but it had certainly taught a lot of lessons!

We hung out until well into the afternoon, then left for Angie and Paige’s. The four of us would be at Mom and Dad’s tonight. As was perhaps typical, Angie and I would share my bed tonight, with Paige and Jas snuggled up in Angie’s.

There was an interesting piece of subtext there. I had no idea what Mom thought about that, really. It was stretching credulity to believe that Mom hadn’t found out that Jas liked girls, too. Camille, Francis, Tony, or Jean would never have made a point of it, but plenty of people knew Jas and Paige had dated, and some casual remark was hardly impossible or even unlikely. I had a feeling Mom ‘knew’ they had ‘behaved’ at her house, but beyond that? Did she imagine that something could happen? Or think they were merely platonically sharing the bed, given their relationships with me and Angie?

File under ‘questions I didn’t want answered,’ perhaps. If Mom did entertain that possibility, I was fairly sure she would think of it as ‘cheating,’ and explaining that was a conversation I could wait a while for.

Angie and I would also be ‘cheating,’ but that would be the smaller part of Mom’s thoughts, I was pretty sure.

Maybe I was wrong. Mom had had nearly five years to get used to the idea that Angie and me crossing the line was something that hadn’t happened because we knew it wasn’t the right time, not something that hadn’t happened because it was unthinkable. Perhaps she saw it as inevitable and was just thrilled that we’d resisted temptation until we were well and truly adults and were out of the house.

When we were alone, Angie started stripping as usual. Surely Mom knew we’d seen each other in every level of undress? How could she not, realistically?

While tossing clothing around, Angie said, “Way to go, warning me about Monique.”

“I didn’t think I should spoil it.”

“You could’ve nodded to her or something.”

“Still spoiling,” I said, starting to get changed myself.

“She’s really ... head over heels. Which ... I mean ... okay, it’s Ted. The guy could sell sand to the Saudis. We know that. But he’s ... I think he’s honest with her, and I think she’s fixed whatever was broken in him. Paige and I talked and we think some girl broke his heart and either turned out to be — or was, or whatever — gay.”

“Makes sense.”

“We can’t ask. It fits, though. He was vicious, then. I think it was personal and coming from him hurting. He ... um ... well. Ordinarily, I would say it was too little, but ... anyway. At one moment, when we were pretty much out of earshot, he said, ‘I’m sorry for so many things I said. They were inexcusable. Thank you for not ostracizing me.’ I was shocked! I think I said, ‘Thank you for saying that. Just ... be the best person you can be. That’s all I want.’”

“I’m glad,” I said. “He’s ... obviously, he can suck. I’m hoping he got that out of his system for the rest of his life.”

“Paige and I said that if Monique dumps him and says she’s gay, he’ll turn into a serial killer,” she said, giggling. By now she was naked and rummaging in her suitcase, presumably for panties and pajamas.

“Many lives rest upon her relationship choices,” I said, deadpan.

Angie giggled and said, “Okay! I have to tell Paige that one. Too true, maybe!”

I paused and said, “It’s interesting.”

“What?” she said, pulling on panties. “These make things less interesting.”

“Nah. Still totally interesting! Anyway ... Ted was ... it’s not at all like he didn’t date in high school. At the time, it felt like he was doing fine. But... ‘at the time’ was when I was still ... well. Better, certainly, but ... I mean, I knew him from ‘after Candice’ to ‘when things went sideways with Nancy,’ maybe. Relationship expert Steve I was not.”

She giggled.

“Don’t sell yourself short! You got two lesbians in bed during that stretch. That was because they trusted you and maybe already loved you a bit.”

“True enough.”

“So...?”

“Well. He had dates, certainly, but ... I don’t really know if he had a girlfriend. At the time, I thought he was just so driven and overachieving there might not be time. Or ... whatever. But Ted’s no slouch at all. I juggled a girlfriend, plus you, plus Jess, plus ... well. A few others. And, in the end, I was at least as driven and overachieving. Sure, I’ve got fifty-something years on him, but Cammie doesn’t and she juggled a girlfriend and some deep relationships and did the same,” I said.

“You think he was ... socially awkward, maybe?”

“Yeah, kinda. I think maybe, in retrospect, he went from ‘nerd’ to ‘really polished, smooth-talking nerd.’ Which is, broadly, me. But...”

She said, “But your ‘nerd’ wasn’t his ‘nerd,’ and you put ‘learning to be in relationships and be a good partner’ ahead of ‘polished and smooth-talking.’”

“Yeah. Honestly, I think ... maybe he intimidated girls, and maybe they intimidated him right back. Recipe for disaster, if he got hooked up with the wrong girl and she dumped him in the wrong way.”

“Girls never intimidated you,” she said.

I shrugged and said, “I learned during my first life that girls are people first, and you have to keep that in mind. Candice still maybe intimidated me, except she clearly wanted to be with me as much as I wanted to be with her.”

“Two people who needed a life preserver, neither of whom had any idea the other one had problems until it was nearly too late,” she said.

“Pretty much that, yeah. Left to myself, I think I would have dated, but I would have spent far longer in ‘analysis paralysis.’ Getting past that took having a sister.”

“I am amazing!” she said.

Then she hugged me and added, “But I’m only amazing because I have you for a brother. I had the potential, but that’s it.”

“Like we have from the start, we make a pretty damn good team.”

“We do!” I said.

We got through the bathroom quickly, still talking a bit, then snuggled up.

“Oh!” she said. “I have news.”

“You do?” I said.

“Yeah. I found a place. I think.”

“For...?”

“Rings,” she said, giggling. “There was this news piece about this charity for poor people. Here, in Houston. They loan or rent — at low prices — business and party attire, wedding dresses, that sort of thing. Jewelry was mentioned. It’s called ‘Social Climbers’. It’s small, I think, but the article mentions it helping ‘thousands of people’ last year.”

“So we buy them, then donate?”

“That’s my thinking, yeah,” she said. “Even if they have rings, we don’t need their services, but it’s a perfect place to give back.”

“I agree, definitely.”

“I’ve been thinking about it,” she said. “It’s like... ‘give back?’ But I think that’s the right word. We’re giving back for what ... something ... gave us. Kinda like the old tithing to glorify God because God made you. Which ... I can still maybe go with that, a bit, but it’s all wrapped up in God doing this other thing. Whatever ‘God’ is. But, if there’s a God that made me, I figure He was probably at least paying attention if something else gave me a second chance. Maybe not. Maybe it’s sorta like the Greek gods. One is the all-father...”

“Norse,” I said, chuckling.