Chapter 21: Revelation

On one hand, I felt good that Crystal had actually listened to me and delayed laying down the law unfairly. It was true that having sex with her sister-in-laws would not affect me adversely, but it might have negative aftershocks within her family, so I’d give her that one. And of course, her warnings about the cousins was simply the mother in her coming out. And I had to respect her for that.

I guess what I hadn’t liked was being called down in front of everyone. But that was stretching it a little as well.

“Oh well ... I just need to let it go. I am probably acting a little immature about it,” I thought to myself.

If you noticed, my dad had sat there silently throughout the entire dialogue, which is typical of him. He’ll gnaw on it like an old bone and later tell me what he thinks. That will be interesting, because he usually comes up with a different angle on how to look at it.

Just then, Elaine, Woody’s wife, came over to my table.

“Ryan, I just wanted to be sure you know that the family will be eating up at the house tonight,” Elaine told me. “I’m heading up to get it started now. Want to go with me?”

“I’d love to,” I told her. “But I think I kinda stepped in it earlier when I... ‘helped’ Bonita. I think it kinda upset some of the brothers and Crystal.”

“Ohmygod. Are they on that intergenerational shit again. Woody and I talked to his mom and dad about this last week. We told them about you and how you were not related and not really a part of the second generation. At least by birth,” she seethed. “Looks like I’m going to have to straighten them out again!”

“Mom!” she screamed as she marched back into the camp’s kitchen. “They’re doing it again!”

I just shrugged and headed for the pool. This getting used to so many personalities within a family was a lot tougher than I thought it would be. But I think I loved it.

The four girls who had been on the raft were huddled in the corner of the pool with Peyton, giving her a very detailed account of what happened on the raft. Ashley and Emily were off somewhere with Morgan and Mackenzie, the other pair of twins, doing who knows what.

That left Madison and the three fifteen year olds, Danni, Carla, and Taylor, sitting on the edge of the pool also discussing something. Although, since Madison was doing the majority of the talking, I had little doubt of what the subject was. I also noticed that she was no longer wearing her bikini bottoms.

I dove into the pool and began swimming laps. However, the pool was so short, I evolved into just seeing how many laps I could do underwater without coming up for a breath.

“That’s pretty good,” said fifteen year old Carla, who was Woody and Elaine’s youngest daughter. “Did you really make my sister come out on the raft?”

There was nothing off limits or out-of-bounds for these girls.

“A gentleman never tells,” I said and took off for another lap. When I surfaced, they continued as if I’d never left.

“Well Brit can’t quit talking about it!” claimed Danni. She was also fifteen and Luke and Katie’s oldest. “What did you do?”

“I told you. A gentleman doesn’t go around blabbing to everyone about who he was with and what they may or may not have done!”

“I wish he went to our school!” Taylor sighed. She was also fifteen and Steve and Bonita’s middle child. And like her sister, you could spot her Mexican heritage a mile away.

“Sophomores can’t date seniors!” Carla proclaimed.

“Yes, they can! Remember last year when Melissa Spiranac went to prom with Roger Higginbottoms?” Danni announced.

I began to appreciate Crystal’s warning about the different maturity levels as I continued to listen to their discussions. Before I walked away, they even had me doubting myself about making love to Madison. Maybe I should talk to Crystal about this after all.

I decided to skip supper and so I left the pool area and headed for the foreman’s house. I had no idea where Heather had got to, but I was ready for bed.

I woke up Friday morning to a very wet tongue in my ear.

“Isn’t he just darling!” said Heather as she held a small puppy to my face. “I just love him so. Do you think my mom would let me keep him?”

“Good morning to you, too,” I told her. “And I have no idea if your mom would let you keep it because I’ve never met you mom.”

“Ray said I could have it in a couple of weeks. I’d have to figure out how to get back here to get him. What do you think I should name him?”

“Good grief! This isn’t much better than what I was listening to last night!” I thought to myself as I angrily threw the covers off and headed to the bathroom.

“Come on, sweetheart,” Heather said to the little puppy. “Let’s go see the girls and leave old grumpy-butt to himself!”

After a quick shower, I still felt like a grumpy-butt so I made my way over to the house to see if I could find some breakfast. I saw Heather in the middle of the cousins, happily playing with her puppy, but went by without a word.

In the kitchen, I found Dad and Crystal, Steve and Bonita and all the other sister-in-laws drinking coffee. But the other brothers and Ray were all missing. I began to wonder if I had missed breakfast.

“Pull up a chair, Ryan. Would you like something to eat?” Martha asked me happily as she sat a cup of coffee in front of me.