Chapter 12

"How the heck did that happen?" asked Randy, after a good fifteen seconds of stunned silence.

How that had happened was that, after Lucy had suggested it, Bob had goggled at her in disbelief.

"You can't be serious!"

"Why not?"

"You still want to have anything to do with me?"

"As crazy as you may think it is, I still love you, you dope. I understand how these things can happen, remember? But if we get married, then maybe Sam will stop thinking of herself as the woman of the house and move on."

"What about Mallory and Randy?" he asked, still astonished.

"They'll grow up," she said, "like I did. And I can set rules, like my parents did."

"And you think that will work?" Bob had tried to set rules, and they'd all crumbled.

"What else can we do?" she moaned. "If we treat this like some terrible, awful, horrible thing and take drastic measures, they'll hate us both. To be honest, I don't even know what drastic measures we could take!"

"I am astonished," said Bob, explosively.

Lucy stared at him.

"Does the idea of marrying me repulse you?"

"No! It does not! What astonishes me is that you still feel the way you do. About me, I mean."

"When you love a man for years, and he doesn't do anything to drive you away, you don't stop loving him," she said.

"Forgive me, but I just assumed that having sex with my daughter might be one of those things that sort of drives people away."

"I told you, I understand how that can happen," she said.

"Wow," he said for the final time that day.

"So? What do you think?"

"This isn't the conventional way for this kind of decision to be made," he said.

"Do you want to be conventional, or happy?"

"Happy," he said without a pause. "But let me tell you what I'm thinking. I like this communication thing we have going. I really wish this had happened a lot sooner."

"You wish you'd had sex with them when they were thirteen?"

He opened his mouth to protest and then realized it was a joke. The fact she was able... willing to joke about this made him feel like the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders. Still, he ignored the joke.

"The idea of marrying you, of drawing all of us together under one roof, is amazing. But I want to do it for the right reasons. We've both been burned before, and this has to last. I can't lose you, too."

"I have no plans on dumping you," she said.

"Not now. But this hasn't all been worked out. What if Sam doesn't want to give up being the woman of the house? What if your kids resist the idea, like you did? Whose house would we live in? Neither of ours is really big enough for all five of us. There are lots of things to think about before we make a decision like this."

"I know that," she said. "But think about it. How close have we become over the years even though there was no sexual component to our relationship? No overt sexual component, anyway. Just because we add in that sexual component doesn't change that much."

"It changes everything," said Bob, seriously. "Right now Sam sleeps in my bed, and she likes sleeping in my bed. She's going to resist the hell out of stopping that."

"How do you feel about that?" asked Lucy, her eyes pinned on his.

He felt panic. But they'd already worked through things he thought were impossible to resolve, so he took a ragged breath and told her the truth.

"I love her," he said. "I've always loved her, of course, but there's been a change in what kind of love it is."

"So you don't want to stop? Even if we get married?" Her voice was neutral, and her face was blank.

He ached at the thought of losing what he hadn't even thought was a possibility, and now seemed like a lift ring thrown to him while he was in a stormy sea. But if Sam insisted, and he was weak after the marriage, then that could destroy it too. He thought about asking her to wait until Sam went off to college, but that seemed crass, somehow. Instead, he tried to explain it differently.

"When Brad and Valerie did what they did, I felt abandoned. You did too. And I hated them both. That's faded over time, but I still get angry when I think about it. I felt like there must be something wrong with me for Valerie to simply choose another man. Do you understand that?"

She nodded, but didn't say anything.

"If we get married I'm afraid Sam will feel like that, like I abandoned her for someone else. That would break my heart."

Lucy continued to stare at him for what seemed like a minute, but was really only fifteen or so seconds.

"We've talked about some strange things," she said, softly. "Care to contemplate one more?"

"Okay," he said.

She looked away briefly, but then back into his eyes.

"I don't want you to think I'm kinky, or perverted, but remember when I said I wished I could be with you back before they ran away?"

He nodded.

"I still loved Brad then," she said. She blinked. "I wanted both of you. I think it had to do with my brothers. Or maybe I really am kinky and perverted. The point is I can understand how a man can love two women at the same time, because I wanted to be able to love two men at the same time."

"You're right," said Bob. "That's pretty strange. It almost sounds like you'd be willing to share me with Sam."

"I think ... maybe ... I am," she said, her voice quavering a little. "At least until she gets married and starts her own family."

Bob just stared at her, dumbstruck.

There was more, but that was the bread and butter of the conversation that led to them making the decision to wed each other, and the two families together.

Assuming the children would agree.

But that was a lot more information than either of them was willing to share with the kids. Not just yet, anyway. Maybe the time would come when some bit or piece of information needed to be divulged in the process of resolving some conflict or issue. But for now, neither adult wanted to get into the details of "how the heck that happened."

Instead, Bob gave it an off the cuff shot, in terms of getting a positive response from the children.

"Well, that's a long story. Suffice it to say that everybody present with the exception of Lucy has recently adopted what is sometimes called an alternate lifestyle. Taboo would probably be more nearly correct. And this could have torn us all apart. Lucy and I don't want that to happen. There will need to be some changes, to ensure that this taboo lifestyle doesn't go bad and ruin anybody's life. To that end, we feel it would be better if we all lived together, instead in two separate households."

Lucy, recognizing politi-speak when she heard it, tossed in her own rationalization.

"Plus we've been in love with each other for a long time, but never admitted it to each other or did anything about it. Now seems like a good time to do something about it."

"You love him?" Sam's voice was high. The conflict within her was as plain in her voice and on her face as if it had been painted there.

"We both love him," said Lucy, gently.

"What does that mean?" asked Mallory, who heard the hurt and fear in Sam's voice, and empathized with her best friend.

"It means we both love him," said Lucy. "And we're both going to keep loving him."

"I don't understand," said Sam.

"Why don't you and I go have a little private talk," suggested Lucy.

"Why?" Sam was clearly agitated, now. She anticipated getting the evil step-mother talk, which would start with something like, "Okay, you little bitch. I'm in charge now, and you're going to do what I say!"

"Just trust me, Sam," said Lucy. "Everything will be okay."

"Everything?"

Lucy moved toward the hallway that led to the bedrooms.

"Please, honey. Come with me. Bob can talk to Mal and Randy while I answer your questions."

Casting a worried look at her cousins, Sam moved slowly toward Lucy. The two of them disappeared into the darkness of the hallway.

"I told you she didn't murder him," snorted Randy.

His thought processes, when confronted with both the scene of his mother kissing Bob, and their astonishing announcement, were different than that of the girls. That's not unusual, of course. To him, the scene of the kissing meant that nobody was going to get murdered. Furthermore, it meant that instead of a dissolution of a relationship that might tear the teens apart, it was now quite likely that such tearing apart wasn't going to happen either. That felt good. Even if it meant he had to go back to beating off, instead of sheathing his straining prick in somebody's soft, clasping pussy. That wouldn't be nearly as much fun, but it beat the shit out of never seeing either his sister or Sam again.

"You laugh," said Bob, "but there for a while it was a close thing."

"What happened?" asked Mallory, who was still worried about Sam.

"We talked," said Bob, simply. "And we found out that things weren't as dark as they seemed."

"How could that be?" asked Mallory.

"Do you trust me?" asked Bob.

"Yes," she said, instantly.

"Then just trust me when I say there are things you don't need to know about right now, that have allowed your mother to understand what happened, both between you and me, and you and Randy."

"That's crazy!" said Mal.

"Maybe so," said Bob, shrugging. "But it's also true."

Mallory, for as ditzy as she sometimes seemed, could be sharp as a tack. She paled, and then moved around as if her feet hurt.

"She did it with Uncle Alvin! Didn't she!"

Bob didn't groan, but it was only with effort. Instead, he said nothing. He didn't have to. Mallory went on.

"Two years ago, when we were at a family reunion, Uncle Alvin walked by her in the kitchen and he slapped her right on the ass! She turned around and hit him on the shoulder, but not hard. And she was smiling! They didn't think anybody saw them, but I did, through a doorway. That's what happened, wasn't it? She and Uncle Alvin did things when she was my age!"

"It would be wise if you don't tell her you figured that out," said Bob, sighing. "She's embarrassed about it."

"Wow!" sighed Mallory. "Maybe that's why I did it. Maybe it's in our genes."

Bob smiled inwardly. Mal was definitely Lucy's daughter. They looked alike and thought alike, too.

"She said the same thing, but we decided that wasn't the case," he said, gently.

"So what does this mean?" asked Randy, ever practical.

"It means that she understands how the two of you can feel attracted to each other. And how Sam and I can feel attracted, too."

"What I meant was what's going to happen?" The boy frowned.

"You mean if we get married."

"Yeah. That too."

"It means there will be some rules you have to follow, but nobody is going to make you stop."

"You're kidding!" gasped both teens.

"I am not."

"What about Sam?" asked Mallory. "And you and me?"

"That's negotiable too," said Bob.

"Well fuck me to tears," said Randy.

His sister punched him in the arm, hard.

He didn't even complain.

Lucy chose Samantha's bedroom intentionally, because it was Sam's turf, and would help her feel more secure. She sat on Sam's bed and patted the bedspread next to her. Sam continued standing. She looked like she might bolt at any second.

"I know you love your father," she opened.

Sam nodded, but it was more out of nervous release than in agreement.

"I do too. I've loved him a long time. For years."

"You never said anything," said Sam.

"That's complicated," said Lucy. "Maybe some day we can have a long discussion about that. For now, I need to ask you a question."

"What?"

Lucy looked around.

"I understand you don't spend much time in this bedroom anymore."

Sam flushed, but the worry and fear in her gave her courage. She nodded again, this time in silent agreement.

"If Bob and I got married, would you be willing to spend more time in here?"

Sam blinked. She didn't know what that meant.

"Maybe several nights a week?" asked Lucy, flushing herself.

Sam blinked again. Her mind churned.

"You mean... ?" She was afraid to say it, afraid to put things on the table, where offers might be rejected, demands made.

"I mean share him with me," said Lucy, blushing furiously.

"You're kidding," said Sam, weakly.