Chapter 44: All Cards on the Table

A while before Keiko and Lily arrived at the house, a general text was sent out to everyone in the Greenfield family that they were going to all sit down for an important family meeting. It was time, Keiko said, that they all gathered and had an honest talk.

And she included one more person in the general group text as well. The one who had nudged everyone in the direction they had all gone needed to be part of this meeting too.

Everyone was already gathered in the family room when Keiko and Lily came in the door. Rick was in one of the easy chairs, while Marcus and Raven were on the loveseat and Zander, Paula and Bobbi sat on the couch. They all looked a bit awkward, like they had been waiting silently without knowing what to say to each other before Keiko and Lily arrived, and Rick’s eyes went straight to Lily’s the moment she came in the room. Lily met his gaze for a second or two, before she attempted to break the tension by looking around the house and saying, “Wow, it’s just like I remember it!”

“Were you expecting it to change while you were gone?” Marcus teased.

“It kinda did, though, didn’t it?” Zander murmured. No one immediately responded to this, as they silently acknowledged that he was right.

Keiko took the other empty chair, while Marcus and Raven scooched over to let Lily sit next to them. “Thank you all for coming,” Keiko said in a soft voice.

“Ooh, Mom’s starting so politely,” Paula said, pursing her lips. “That can’t be good.”

Ignoring Paula, Keiko went on, “I think it’s time we all had an honest discussion about what’s been going on in this family lately. And I’ve asked Raven to join us, because it seems she’s been the one pulling a lot of the strings that have gotten us to this point.”

Everyone looked at Raven at this. She just shrugged, unashamed. “Just doing my part.”

“That’s one way of putting it,” Zander drawled.

“I want to start,” Keiko continued, “by having us all lay our cards on the table and stop pretending we have any secrets left from each other. Just honesty from here on. And I’ll start.” She took a breath, looking at the floor. “You all know by now that my brother and I used to have a sexual relationship when we were teenagers, and that I used to act in porn films. I’ve also been involved in a ... let’s say not very healthy relationship with my co-anchor for a couple of months now. I just ended that recently.”

Then she glanced up at Rick, indicating that it was his turn next. Rick grimaced uncomfortably, and sighed. “I can’t believe I’m actually going to say this out loud. But yeah, you all know about me and Lily by now. We got drunk and lost our heads, and I suppose I didn’t handle it very well afterwards.”

He glanced up in anticipation of someone saying that was putting it mildly, but no one did. Instead, Lily just got up and laid a gentle hand on his arm. He stared up at her, realizing this was the first time he and Lily had touched since that fateful night, and it was a touch that had nothing but love and understanding in it.

Then Keiko cleared her throat, indicating that Rick had more to say. Rick shifted in further discomfort, and admitted, “And I’ve been carrying on a relationship with my office assistant.”

“Wow, Dad’s a cliche!” Paula teased.

“Paula,” Keiko warned in a stern tone, making her daughter shrink back. “Do you three have anything to say?” Keiko asked the three youngest on the couch.

The three of them looked at each other, discussing with their eyes who was going to speak first. It was Zander who did. “I guess the thing to start with is when Raven started sleeping with me after Spring Break. She said she was helping me move past Jennifer. And then Paula and I had sex the morning after Justin raped her, to help her move past that.”

“And I joined them,” Bobbi trilled with a smirk.

“Yes she did,” Paula drawled. “Our resident perv finally graduated from spying on the family doing kinky stuff to actually doing it herself. And we’ve all been fucking ever since.”

“And Heather, Andie and Lance are all in on it,” Zander put in. Then he glanced at Marcus. “And when big boy over here came home, he jumped aboard too.”

“That’s skipping a bit of the pretext, little bro,” Marcus said.

“We’re all ears,” Lily offered, gesturing around the room.

“Well, long story short, Mina seduced me while we were at school. And then she and Raven explained about how their families practiced incest and were trying to get our family to do the same. They talked me into helping them, and then, well, like Zander said, I came home to all this madness. And yeah, I jumped aboard.”

“And then you fucked Mom,” Lily finished for him.

“And then I fucked Mom,” Marcus nodded.

“Wait, Mina’s family?” Rick cut in, holding up a hand. “Sota and Madeline? The Ishizawa kids?”

“Did we forget to tell you that?” Raven asked with a trace of mischief in her voice.

Rick was quickly putting two and two together as he looked at Lily. “Did you ... while you were there...?” Lily nodded.

“So did I,” Keiko admitted. “Just now.”

Most of the family whipped their heads around to face Keiko. “What?” Rick said.

“My brother and I just had a long overdue reconciliation fuck this morning,” Keiko said. Then she looked up at Lily and added, “And not alone.”

Several mouths dropped open as they stared at Lily, who nodded in confirmation. “Yep,” she said, “Mom ate me to two orgasms while Uncle Sota fucked her. And then I sucked his creampie out of her pussy and snowballed it to her. And it was just as hot as you’re imagining.”

While Zander tried to be inconspicuous about crossing his legs, Bobbi suddenly gripped the couch cushion beneath her as her body went stiff, her eyes fluttered and she let out a quivering breath. “Oh-ho-ho, fuck!”

“Did you just have a mini orgasm just from picturing that?” Raven asked with a grin.

“I so did!” Bobbi gasped.

“Perv,” Paula teased, though she couldn’t hide her own flush of arousal.

“But why don’t we hear a little from the one who’s been setting all these balls rolling,” Keiko prompted, leveling her gaze at Raven. The rest of the family followed her gaze, putting Raven squarely at the center of attention.

Raven sat up taller, giving off the air of someone facing a moment she’d known for a while was coming. “It’s true,” she admitted, “I have been pushing you all to get to where you are now. But everything I’ve done has been for all of you. I saw the way all of you were with each other, broken and dysfunctional, yelling at each other or not talking at all, and I honestly believed that bringing out your incestuous sides would help make things better.”

“Interesting approach,” Rick moaned.

“But hasn’t it been working?” Raven said, just a little defensively. “Let’s look at the twins, for example. Remember how they were just a few months ago? Bickering, angry, calling each other names, barely able to stand each other’s company. Now...?”

“Now they’re in love!” Bobbi beamed as everyone looked at Paula and Zander sitting shoulder to shoulder, looking at each other.

“I think that’s being a bit extreme, Bobbi,” Rick said.

“No, Dad, she’s right,” Zander said, taking Paula’s hand and interlacing their fingers.

“We are in love,” Paula confirmed. And then as if to prove it, the two of them turned their heads toward each other and kissed like the happiest couple anyone had ever seen.

Rick blinked and shook his bewildered head, and looked at Keiko as if to see if she knew about this. “Wait a minute, what?” Rick sputtered. “But you’re ... aren’t you both seeing other people?”

“We told you, Dad, Heather and Lance are both in on it,” Zander said. “They know how we feel about each other, and they’re okay with it.”

“You can be in love with more than one person at a time, Rick,” Raven said. “You of all people ought to know that.”

Rick blushed, and fell appropriately silent.

“Not that I’m arguing with your results, Raven,” Keiko said, “But Rick isn’t wrong in saying that was an interesting approach. I don’t think most people would think of incest as the solution to family dysfunction. Was it just because your own family is incestuous, that you thought ours should be too?”

“That was part of it,” Raven shrugged. “Seeing how this family was with each other, when I compared that with my own family, not to mention the Ishizawas ... wasn’t hard to find the switching point.”

“That’s still risky,” Rick said. “Just because it works for you doesn’t mean—”

“Doesn’t mean it’s for everyone, yeah, I know,” Raven nodded. “My brother said the same thing to me back when I started this plan. Believe me, I’m not so stupid as to think it’s a one-size-fits-all solution for every family. But I honestly thought it was the right thing for this family in particular.”

“But why us?” Bobbi asked.

That seemed to be a good question, because Raven didn’t have a ready answer for it. After a moment’s pause, Raven said, “Well, for one thing I knew about your history with Sota, Keiko, because he’s told us. You see, there’s a theory among some of us in the lifestyle, which I happen to believe in, that an inclination to incest is hereditary. If the parents were into it, there’s a good chance the kids will be too. And since Sota obviously passed on that trait to his family, it seemed a good bet you’d passed it on to yours. Beyond that ... I don’t know, just call it intuition. Something I just sensed in all of you. Something that, I guess only someone who was raised in the lifestyle like me could pick up on.” Then a smirk crossed her face as she turned her attention to Rick. “And hell, that was even before I knew about Rick and Lily!”

“I guess you were more right than you knew,” Lily said, looking at Rick. Rick looked back at her, seeming not to know whether to look loving or embarrassed.

“You all wouldn’t have gotten to where you are now if I hadn’t been,” Raven said. “The only thing I could ever do was give you all a nudge in a certain direction and show you the door. You all were the ones who walked through it.”

“So, the question is, what happens now?” Marcus asked.

“Can’t we just admit that Raven’s plan worked?” Bobbi said.