Chapter 4

Sammy stood there looking at me as I stood frozen in place. Finally, I thought of what I needed to say, “Dad?” Darn it that’s not exactly what I meant to say?

“Yeah. He’s my Dad too. Kind of. They never technically had sex. I was a product of artificial insemination,” Sammy told me.

It was my Dad’s turn to speak up, “I never donated my seed to that program during school. Where are you getting your information?”

Sammy looked at her Mom confused. Then said, “You show up on Ancestry DNA as my parent.”

Principal Summers raised her hand then once she realized what she had done quickly lowered it to her side and said, “I had written in my diary that I had your child through artificial insemination. I was too ashamed of what happened to write down the truth. And I must have left my diary in a box full of books that I told her she could read through.” She turned to my Dad. “I never meant for her to find out that way. And I never meant for Erica to find out either. I didn’t even know she was your daughter. You changed your last name. What’s up with that?”

Very loudly I said, “Somebody needs to explain exactly what’s going on here.”

“Yeah and tell us why you were ashamed of getting pregnant with me? Was I a mistake?” Sammy asked.

Principal Summers rushed over to Sammy and held her in her arms, “Oh baby I was never ashamed of getting pregnant with you. You were ... I mean you are the best thing that ever happened to me. You will never be considered a mistake. Even if you get one of those one-foot mohawks and tattoo your body and become a thug. I’ll always be proud to be your mother.” She looked at her daughter with the same authority that she did to the students at the assembly my first day. “That is not my way of giving you permission to get tattoos or a mohawk.”

Sammy giggled a little, “Okay, Mom I won’t. Maybe a little tattoo. Okay, no tattoo. Yikes.”

Her Mom had given her a very serious look. I wonder what her mom would do if she knew that Sammy already had a tattoo. It was a small one on her butt. I saw her strip out of her clothes during our sleepover. I was shocked to see that she didn’t wear panties.

I looked at my Dad and was surprised to see a smile on his face. But when he saw me looking at him he went all serious and said, “I agree with our daughters. I think an explanation is in order, Carmen.”

“It started when Jin and I were both dating you.” Principal looked at both Sammy and I. “Your mother and I both really liked your Dad. And the three of us decided to date until he figured out which one of us he decided he liked the most. And when that seemed to be going nowhere Jin and I decided that whichever one he got pregnant first would be the one he ended up with.”

“But I was born in January. And Erica was born in March. Either I was born really early or you got pregnant first. Unless Carl dumped you for Jin.” Sammy looked angrily at my Dad.

Principal Summers walked in between the two and said, “He did no such thing. I hadn’t known I was pregnant until after Jin told him she was pregnant. And by that point, I thought that she had actually been the first one pregnant. So I couldn’t say anything against that. It wasn’t until after I went into labor and gave birth to a fully formed baby that I knew the truth.”

“So you were the first one to get pregnant but Jin got to him first and you still lost? Is that why you were ashamed to write the truth in your diary?” Sammy asked.

Principal Summers shrugged, “Basically.”

Sammy looked excited, “This works out perfectly. You’re both single and you can hook up finally.”

“Sammy Carpenter! What have I said about talking about that?” Principal Summers yelled.

“Sorry, Mom. I just got excited.” Sammy said without looking at anyone.

“She said we were both single? But Erica told me that you had plans with your husband this weekend,” Dad said.

She nodded and said, “I do have plans with him. Our divorce is about to be finalized. He just wants to go over the plans to share custody over Sammy and some of our things.”

Sammy looked satisfied but I was upset. And I don’t usually get upset like this. I yelled out, “Share custody over Sammy? She’s old enough to take care of herself. If she wanted she could even move into her own place.”

“That’s not how things go in his family. The women in his family aren’t allowed to move out on their own until they’re twenty-one. To get out of the house they would have to get pregnant and move in with their new spouse. Or their parent that wasn’t born into the family wins the custody battle and lets them leave.” Principal Summers explained.

I wanted to shout out how crazy all this was but I felt the need to comfort my newly discovered half-sister.

“Couldn’t we just tell your ex that Sam is my daughter?” my Dad asked.

Sammy seemed happy when my Dad said that until her Mom spoke, “Not in his family. It would just cause a lot of problems. The best time to do that would be after the divorce and I won custody. That is the best way to handle things. Because I really don’t want her to get knocked up by Clark.”

“Who is Clark?” Dad asked.

“Her boyfriend. He’s also one of her teachers. Don’t look that way, Carl. Before you started dating us you were sleeping with Miss West our history teacher.” Principal Summers said.

After Sammy and her Mom left I turned to my Dad and asked, “I’m not going to find out I have another half-sibling through your former teacher am I?”

He took a moment to think, “I don’t believe so. She left town way before I started seeing Carmen and Jin. And last I heard she never had any children. But I never asked her to her face. But let’s forget about that. Let’s get you ready for your sleep studies program for tonight.”

I wrapped my arms around Carl and kissed him deep and asked, “Can you make love to me here in the living room first?”

It wasn’t long at all before he had my pants down and the rest of my clothes across the room and then he placed my butt on an old stand that used to be for a record player and he entered me. Despite the fact that he had a condom on it still felt so good having him pound me. He had never pounded me like that before. I dug my nails into his back as I was orgasming. I only faintly noticed him trying to pull out of me. I told him he didn’t need to worry. That he had a condom on. If he said something the orgasm I was going through didn’t let me hear him. But as soon as I calmed down I knew why he had tried to pull out of me. And it wasn’t because the condom broke.

I stood up and tried to cover my lower half as I said, “Welcome back Sammy. I didn’t expect you here so soon. When she didn’t move or say anything my mind cleared. I rushed to cover my body. “Oh, my God. This isn’t a dream. You’re really here. What the heck are you doing here?”

She looked shocked as she said, “You did tell me you had an older lover. But this,” she gestured to us, “was only one of my wilder fantasies. I never thought it would turn out to be true.” She smiled half-heartedly then handed me something. “My mom forgot to give this to you. It’s your new schedule. Your sleep studies program was canceled tonight. It won’t be until next week. And don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone what I saw here. Not even my Mom.under one condition though.”

“What is it you want Sam?” Dad asked.

Sammy gave a wild grin, “I’d like to have a picnic or just go to the park and act like a family or at least friends the next time all of us are available.”

“So you’re not going to ask to have him do to you what he was doing to me as your payment?” I asked.