Chapter 25

We all looked at one another and did not understand what she was saying to us.

She tried again, “That man who just left here ... is ‘John McArthur,’ not Daniel. It was Daniel who died in June’s arms, all those years ago. John swapped ... all their credentials and took over the life of Daniel, including, being the f-f-father of all of my children.”

She was sobbing very hard again.

I remarked, “It seems like John and Daniel played the same kinds of tricks on everyone, being twins? Including changing places in their brother’s wife’s lives, when ... what? Some kind of accident happened, killing Daniel, and John saw it as an opportunity, swapping out their identities and figuring nobody was the wiser, getting the lovely Sarah because of it?”

From under her abundant sobbing and weeping, Sarah said, “Yes, Charles ... that sounds like exactly what must have happened. When he got our honeymoons mixed up earlier, I recalled that he had remembered incorrectly before about some other things, so I confronted him, and HE ADMITTED IT — So I hit him, with the first thing I picked up.”

“Oh, My God ... what do I do now, Annie?” Sarah sputtered.

Before Mom could put together a coherent response, I suggested, “Move in with us, Sarah – We all love you!”

“Yes Sarah, Charles is exactly right,” Annie said. “Be with people who love you. Girls, find and pack a couple of suitcases, one with clothes, one with everything else. Charles, come over here and hold Sarah, please? Girls come on — let’s go get her ready to come home with us.”

I went over and comforted her, rubbing her back, the way she does me. While doing this, I said to her, “Don’t worry, Sweet-Lips, Loverboy’s here for you.” That made her laugh, a little.

I saw her look at me, and she moved closer to me, until she started to kiss me, and I was kissing her with equal intensity. I felt her tongue enter my mouth, and I was starting to respond when I heard an ‘Ahem’ from behind me. It was Claire, who was smiling, as she was bringing down a suitcase. She mentioned she locked the place up.

Quietly, looking very embarrassed, Sarah said to me, “I am so sorry Charles – that was so very wrong, but your eyes told me, that you love me, and I was feeling so, so...”

“It’s all right Sarah, I seem to have that effect on you McArthur women.” I smiled at her and added, “Just stay calm.” I turned and saw each of the three of the ladies carrying a suitcase. I got up, holding Sarah by the arm, bringing her to her feet. We all walked to the Land Rover we brought, which held everything ... with room to spare.

As we walked to it, I had Sarah by her waist and I said, “I recommend that you have all your children’s DNA checked. Could it be possible that Kalista was the daughter of June and John, and ‘That’s’ why Daniel, err ... John, insisted that K be a McArthur?”

Sarah spoke and said, “That makes sense Charles, and then Kalista and Claire could be Half-Sisters.”

“Actually, Sarah, the colloquial terminology is ‘three-quarter siblings,’ when a man has a child with two full-sibling sisters ... but they could also be considered paternal half-sisters, also called ‘agnate’ siblings, as opposed to ‘uterine’ siblings, when they have the same mother, but different fathers...”

“ ... Thank you, Charles,” Sarah said interrupting with a silly giggle.

“For what?” I said with her still within the grqsp of my arms.

“For talking to me and taking my mind off my problems.”

“Anything for my Sarah.” I gave her a peck on her nose. It made her giggle even more.

I loaded Sarah up in the front seat of our Land Rover with Annie driving, while the rest of us got in the back. Claire and K told us they turned off the inside lights and secured the house. They each had one of my arms tightly.

Unbelievably, this day was finally coming to an end — a day starting with such promise, and with our futures ahead of us ready to be clearly defined. Now, in the midst of love, chance has reared its ugly head.

Our group of five has never been closer. Somebody once said, ‘It takes a village to raise a child,’ and this has never been truer, then right now.

We got back to our place, and I took the suitcases up to my mother’s room. Annie, seeing this, asked why and I told her, “You and Sarah have become close, and I think she needs that closeness. You can clear out my dad’s closet and move in, Sarah. Hey, why don’t all of you move in to our place?
We could become the McNewmans?”

Annie jumped in, “We can come back tomorrow aqnd get ewverything for all three of you,”

“Charles,” Sarah said. “I want to thank you for everything you have done and are doing for all of us. You are clearly the man of this household, and I hope that everything you want, you get.”

She winked at me — I shuddered in my shoes.

“EVERYBODY CHANGE FOR BED, MEETING DOWNSTAIRS IN FIVE,” I exclaimed.

I went into my room and took off my shoes, and my feet were so happy. I made fists with my feet – something I have been doing since watching the first DIEHARD movie. I changed into a t-shirt and sweats and opened my door to go downstairs. Claire was right there, and she closed the door behind her, “Charles, hold me, and kiss me, please?”

She and I held each other and kissed, it started out as a simple kiss, but quickly turned into much, much, more. Our tongues were playing hockey in each other’s mouths; my hands both went to her lower back, practically on her butt. I heard her say, “You can have me ... if you want?”

That shocked me back to the moment.

“NO, I can’t, Claire! This is wrong – this is so wrong, your mother needs our attention, and I want our first time to be very special — Calm down please, and let’s go downstairs, OK Claire-Bear?”

“OK Xavier,” she said still with that oh, so wicked smile on her face.

We were all there sitting around, just looking at one another. I was sitting in between Claire and Sarah, while Annie and Kalista were buddying up on the love seat. Everyone was in PJs!

“First things first ... Sarah, all the stuff that was rented for today; will they get it, if nobody’s there?” I asked.

“They will go around back and get it all. I heard Daniel, er uh, John ... arrange to have the dance floor taken up and put away,” she replied.

“What’s coming up on the schedule for Charles & Claire in the next couple of days?” I asked.

After looking at her phone, Sarah replied, “Well, you have Cotillion, oh, but I remember you telling Jimmy you wouldn’t be there anymore, so scratch that — so, you have the baseball game that wants you to just stand up in the bleachers and wave to everybody. They will introduce you to the masses, and then we take the $10,000 and run. Then the competition two days after that.”

“Mom doesn’t taking that money, by extension, make us professionals?” I asked.

“Uhm, technically, Yes. Oh, dear ... I see something brewing in your eyes, Charles, don’t I?”

“Yep — Charles & Claire, and Kalista, are going Professional, starting the day after this upcoming competition. ‘Saying Goodbye’ and ‘Lady in Red’ are what we’re practicing in the morning, ‘Putting on the Ritz’ is ‘B,’ and ‘Kiss the Girl’ is ‘C.’”

Sarah got up and gave me a hug, whispering, “Thank you, Chuckie.” She had heard that — oh well.

Annie said, “Everybody to your rooms, bed check in ten.”

The next morning, I woke up to the smells of cooking, syrup and bacon, in particular. I saw Annie and Sarah fixing the food, with Claire and Kalista preparing the table. I caught Kalista’s eye and smiled at her, mouthing ‘I love you’ to her. She placed a plate in position, then mouthed back to me, ‘I know.’

“When we go to get the girls stuff, could we stay long enough for a spa? My back is asking ... not me?” I said.

“Sounds good to me, Loverboy,” Sarah said with a bit of larceny in her voice.

“Mother remember he’s mine, or at least half mine and half Kalista’s,” Claire said, but couldn’t keep from giggling. Kalista did as well.

Sarah replied, “In the immortal words of Kalista Rosemary McArthur, ‘I know how to share.’”

I saw my mother’s head slump a little, and she was tearing up. I went over to her and gave her a hug and asked, “What’s wrong, Honey-Bug?” She looked at me and started to talk, but I cut her off, saying, “You clearly didn’t like Marie, so I adapted; Honey-Bug what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

“I think I am fourth now; you clearly enjoy Sarah more than me?”

Brandishing an Irish brogue, I said to her, “Antoinette Marie Moynihan Newman, why’d you tink I enjoy anyone more tan me own mither. My gosh, your ma standard; me rock a Gibraltar. Without you I’d have niver met any of tese udder fabulous women in tis room right now.”

Dropping the accent, I continued, “I would be working on Merit Badges instead of Paso Doble steps. I would have never found my dance partner, or my soul mate, and I certainly would have never found my Sarah; my beautiful, so sexy, Sarah.”

My mother just thumped me.

“My magnificent, impressive, exceptional, and inspirational Mother, who’s pretty hot, if you ask me ... or you could ask Jimmy.”

“That was one dance we had, Honey – you saw that?” mom said with a slight grin on her face.

“Yes, I did. You two were talking up a storm, and it looked like you both, were enjoying the conversation.”

Snorting, Annie said, “Jimmy was asking me about Sarah that night. He was very taken with her and ... that dress.”

“Not as much as Charles was,” Kalista said with a very loud giggle!

I blushed deeply. “I’m hungry?” I remarked.

We all laughed and sat down and had a truly wonderful breakfast, made with love and tenderness by my ladies.

It took us the rest of that day, to go back to the McArthurs and get everything there was to get. We took both the Land Rover and the twelve-seater, filling them both up. Sarah even took pillows, towels, and sheeting, along with everything out of all the bathrooms. We must have filled about twenty-five or so large trash bags of ‘Stuff’ to bring back to our place.

After we got back to the house, everybody took their bags of ‘stuff’ to their rooms and started unpacking. I helped bring in the bags for everyone, getting kisses for dropping their bags off to each of them.

There was a flurry of activity. I saw Sarah empty a bag of clothes from her closet drawers, both her and Annie, used that bag to collect up all my father’s things. I asked for the shoes. Mom gave me a look, but I ignored it.

Annie offered me the chance to move from my room to Steven’s, pointing out that I was the ‘Man of the House’ and deserved the bigger room as a reward of sorts.

I decided to let Claire have that room, and she gave me a great big kiss, and then went straight to work, moving in with a vengeance. First thing she did was take his posters of Jennifer Love-Hewitt, Marilyn Monroe, and Farrah Fawcett off the wall. Yeah ‘that’ poster; and started putting up some of her own. Funny, Steven ended up with Jessica, a slender girl almost as tall as himself.

Walking into my twin sisters’ ex room, Kalista was doing much the same thing. I asked if I could help, but all I got from her was, “That’s all right Charles, I can do it myself.”

I did take the laundry stuff to the its wash Palace, took bags of my father’s stuff downstairs. I liked his taste in ties, so I carefully took some of them up to my room.

I came back down and decided to try my hand at fixing something to eat for everybody. I found some frozen pizzas so, I read the instructions, heated up the oven, waited the right amount of time, and put them in. I hunted for something else and found some more of those bags of chips we’d had before. I got five glasses out, along with plates, and waited for the timer to go off. I made a pitcher of milk, putting it on the table, and pulled the pizzas out of the oven.

I must have done something right, because I saw all the ladies coming down the stairs, with Claire leading the way. She ran up to me and said, “You did all this, by yourself, Loverboy?”

“I am not totally useless in the kitchen ... I just never got my chance, what with being the baby of the family.”

Annie spoke up, “You were the youngest, yes, but in hindsight, the baby ... was your father.”

That made everybody chuckle, as Kalista and Claire surrounded me, as we sat down to eat.

“How is your back feeling?” Sarah asked.

“I could always use a rub from ‘Magic Hands McArthur?’” I said.

That apparently was the cue for both CC and K to thwack me on my shoulders.

We all ate and talked to each other.

“Charles, we haven’t had a chance to practice our private number in a while; could we do that after we eat?” Claire asked.

“Sure, Claire-Bear,” I said.

That caused a giggle from all the ladies.

Annie got up and said, “You two go practice your ‘private number’ while us girls finish our purge and replace. Come on, these dishes won’t wash themselves.”

After about thirty minutes, we finally got a routine that was going to be provocative enough to show off some steps we had never used before.

“When do we show this to them, Charles?” Claire asked.

“We need to rehearse a little bit more, I want to see their faces when we do this, but we have got to be as good as we usually are, all right?”

“OK, Loverboy – I need to finish moving into my room ... you want to help me?” she asked rather seductively.

I deferred, saying, “I am going to go check on Annie, Claire-Bear.”

I left her, and I know I disappointed her, so I turned back around and gave her a great big kiss. She came out of it smiling and said, “What prompted that, Loverboy?”

“Oh, I just felt the need to ‘Kiss the Girl.’”

“Awww.”

I went to check on Annie and Sarah; they were hanging some stuff on the walls, mostly pictures of people. I noticed that from behind, they looked identical, which gave me an idea.

“Ladies, I think you two should have some matching dresses, for when we go to events as Charles & Claire. You two are so beautiful, that seeing you in matching outfits might just break some hearts while we’re out on tour. With your recent man issues, I’d think the chance to raise some temperatures, might just be too good to pass up?” I wondered.

“That’s an extraordinarily sexist thing to say and see,” Annie said turning around and putting her hands on her hips, thereby, proving my point.

What would Freud say if he were here?

Sarah quickly said, “That’s exactly why we should do it, Annie. Strutting our stuff; and we both got stuff; for the dads who bring their kids to see Michael sing and the kids dance. We should have thought of that, but Charles does certainly appreciate a ... full-figured woman, doesn’t he?”

Sarah chucked Annie in the arm and they both laughed for a very long time.

She added, “The baseball game is the day after tomorrow. We only have to stay about twenty minutes or so, let’s go shopping for some hot new dresses tomorrow, will you kids be OK here without either of us?”

“Sure,” Claire said. “Kalista and I can keep Charles busy ... dancing and stuff.” That sounded too pat to me.

Everyone worked until after 10PM, and then we sat down for a light dinner, and went to bed.

It’s absolutely, amazing how refreshed you feel after a full eight hours of sleep. I woke up the next morning and felt an arm on my chest. Oh, Claire my Claire; what kind of trouble are you getting me into this morning.

I heard a voice say, “Good morning, Loverboy; want a back rub first thing?”

Sarah? In the famous words of a certain animated dog, ‘Ru-roh!’

“Sarah, my wonderful and beautiful future mother-in-law, what the hell are you doing in my bed? How long have you been in here?” I asked.

Because this had happened in the past, not with Sarah, of course, I was now wearing pajama bottoms or sweats to bed ALL the time now.

“Well, Chuckie – Sweet-Lips would like to give her future son-in-law ... a nice back massage, is that OK, Chuckie-boy?” She ran her finger down my nose and kissed it.

“All right, but only if you will stop calling me that? It’s bad enough everybody is calling me Loverboy.”

“I have become something of a morning person over the years, Charles, so I woke up about an hour and a half ago, and quietly got in your bed. Take off your shirt and roll over onto your stomach; put your pillow under your neck and head and raise up a little,” Sarah commanded assertively.

She quickly got into the massage, starting at the bottom of my back. She truly does have ‘magic hands.’ Oooooh! They seem to mould to my back, as she is so very delicate with the way she uses her fingers on the surrounding surfaces.

This was amazing. However, I was worried that someone might come in and draw the wrong conclusion, so I asked her to move it along.

Her hands moved to the muscle where my arm attached to my torso and she was only using her thumb and index finger, but I caught myself groaning, and of course;

“Charles, are you all right in there?” Claire said through the door.

“Come on in, Honey,” Sarah said.

She walked in, and immediately put her hands on her hips, a la ‘Annie’ and said, “Mother, what are, you doing in bed with my boyfriend?”

Her volume had shot up for this statement, bringing everyone into the room. Annie was trying to keep from laughing, while Claire was still looking very pissed at me.

Kalista was the last in, ran out real fast, and brought back the mineral oil.

“I heard someone walking through the halls, you guys. I opened the door and saw Sarah, who came in and we talked for a bit. Then I asked her if she would give me a morning back massage, to help me get through the day. She was obliging me, when Claire burst in, sounding like Sarah and I were doing ... something wrong. Isn’t that right, Sarah?” I turned towards her and winked.

She looked at me, stifling a tear, and said, “That’s it, exactly guys. Really Claire, what did you think Charles and I would be doing together, in his bed, with his mother, girlfriend and soul mate all within earshot? Thank you Kalista, for the oil. Everybody, please leave, Charles has enough stress in his life, so leave us alone for about fifteen minutes, then I’ll get out, so Loverboy can take a shower, OK?”

They all left, and while continuing my massage, I heard Sarah sniffling a little.

“What’s wrong, my dear?” I asked.

“It’s just not fair. I get that dumb-ass jerk for the last twenty-five years, and my daughter is going to get the very best young man I have ever known. Charles, thank you for covering. Your mother was looking at me, and she had a ‘shame on you’ look on her face, until you said what you said.”

She found the place on my back again, and the pop happened, just like the other day. She got up, gave me a little peck on the cheek and walked out of my room, blowing me a kiss.

What am I going to do about her?

After breakfast, finally, we did some dancing. We had put off creating a routine for ‘Saying Goodbye;’ so we got right into it, with Kalista on the player.

It was time to bring out the big guns, so I showed Claire a few of the Waltz Steps that we hadn’t yet learned, specifically the Open and Closed Telemark, Cross Hesitation, and the Open and Closed Wing steps.

For a song that’s only 3:15, I planned to pack it up with steps most eighteen-year-olds would avoid.

With five days until this Final competition, I hope to make our exit from amateur dancing as memorable as our entrance was, back in the day.

Annie and Sarah said goodbye and left to go shopping.

We had a solid framework for this routine, so Claire and Kalista switched, and ‘Lady in Red’ was next on the docket. “Kallie, honey – you ready to learn a few more, very difficult Samba steps?”

“Bring it on, Loverboy,” she said to which Claire chuckled.

I decided to try to teach K a few of the more difficult Samba steps, hoping we might just catch ‘lightning in a bottle’ with our dance. The Rolling Off the Arm step, fell by the wayside, and on to the Argentine Crosses.

After she did that the first time she tried it, Claire said, “Oh my god, K – you are good. That’s a tough looking step.”

“Thank you, Claire ... that means a lot coming from you,” K responded.

I snapped my fingers, “Princess, pay attention – we have three more new steps to learn, OK?”

“Absotively...”

“Posilutely,” We all said together.

“This is the Open Rocks move ... and the Closed Rocks move, Yeah, I knew you could do that; now the Samba Locks — Wow K, that’s incredible. One more set of steps; the Cruzados Walks and Locks; they’re the steps that you really move across the floor while doing.”

“OK, X – take me away,” she said.

“Watch my feet, Princess – you see that, the syncopation changes a little in the middle of the step. Let me show you again, OK – Now try it yourself, we do this with you in front and I follow — Very nice, young lady! Now let’s work it all together into a routine.”

“Remember, this will be an Encore Piece, so the usual rules aren’t in effect. Claire, come on over here and help me show Kallie the Pot Stirrer move, please?”

“Sure thing, Loverboy.”

She came over and we did it a few times, showing K how it can be used in any dance, regardless of rhythm. After Claire and I did it one more time, Kalista stepped in and hit it the first time, like a champ.

We now had plenty of steps learned, to really put together a truly awe-inspiring routine. We spent an hour putting it together, with Claire on the player as needed.

“BREAK!” I said.

Since the moms were gone, we popped some popcorn and watched some TV together, with me sitting in the middle of Claire and Kalista, all holding hands.

As we watched, we all fell asleep.

I woke up and both girls were gone, but I heard a noise in the kitchen, so I followed it, to see the Claire and Kalista from my earlier dreams. Claire was the pregnant one now, and Kalista was helping her to sit down, due to the fact, that Claire was huge.

She saw me and said, “Oh, hi dear. How long have you been awake? Did we wake you? I am so, sorry. Kallie, fix your dance partner a drink before dinner. Of course, I can’t drink anything until after the twins are born. I sure miss my ‘Fuzzy Navel?’”

“What?” I said.

“A Fuzzy Navel, Charles – you are the one who got me started on them, right after we got married. Peach Schnapps and orange juice — delicious! I always thought it was smoother than the Hairy Navel. That vodka seemed to make me think that I was trying to get drunk. My Charles certainly never needed to get me drunk to have his way with me, did you, Charles?” Claire said.

“Here’s your Sex on the Beach, Charles?” Kalista said handing me a drink.

Her eyes, at twenty years old, or however old she is, are still her most striking feature. I took a sip of the drink she handed me, and thought it was OK, considering this is a dream. Oh, she must be a D-cup, Dee-lightful!

I realized I was being rude, and I said, “Thanks Princess; this is really good.” It was really disgusting, but I have been in a number of these situations where you must eat or drink something you would never order, but you still have to be nice.

“Remind me dear, when are you due?” I asked as casually as possible.

“Charles, you git – you know I am due this week! Why do men always ask the stupidest questions?” Claire said.

The beautiful Kalista climbed up on my lap, and started to give me a wonderful kiss, quietly saying, “How is my daddy today, Charles? I missed my daddy. When we dance together, I get so hot for you ... when we rub up against each other, and my nips get hard, I can feel you getting hard up against me and it feels so good.”

“Stop teasing your step-father, Kalista,” Claire said.

“WHAT?

“ ... Charles — Charles, you were asleep,” Kalista said to me, “But, you had a really silly smile on your face.”

I looked over and saw Claire still resting from our original nap, while Kalista was still holding my hand, and she started talking to me in hushed tones.

“Charles, are you OK? You yelled in your sleep. Did you have a dream ... was I in it? Was Claire?” She went from worried to overexcited in a heartbeat.