Chapter 10: Saturday

“What the hell?” Vern grumbled when the clock radio woke him.

“Morning.” Maria, waking quickly as was her habit, turned the alarm off. “Vern, love, turn over here.” When he had done as she asked, she kissed him good morning, and wrapped herself around him, her leg between his. “We need to talk.”

‘We need to talk‘ was a phrase that never failed to get Vern’s attention – at least when Maria said it. He shook his head and tried to become coherent; not always easy for him first thing in the morning.

“What? What is it?” he asked with growing concern as coherence dawned.

“You awake now?” she asked.

“Yeah, I guess. As good as it gets without coffee.”

“I got up last night to pee. I noticed Andy’s door was open. I looked in and he wasn’t there. I turned on the light and he still wasn’t.” She held him down as he struggled to rise. “Take it easy, it’s all right.” He half-relaxed, at least no longer trying to rise. “I went to Patti’s room and looked in. They were in bed together, asleep.”

Vern relaxed somewhat more. “And?” he asked.

“And I came back to bed and set the alarm.”

“Okay, now what?”

“Well, here’s how I see it. They were out together last night. At Davidson’s. It was late when they got home and I’m pretty sure they were tired. So they went to bed – at least Andy got into his bed. And then he went into her room and went to sleep. I think they’ve been sleeping together for a while. Maybe quite a while.”

“She’s on the pill, right?”

“Sure. What do you think?”

“You may be right. What’s your take on what we do?”

“If they’ve been doing it for a while, we’re not going to stop them short of sending them to different poles of the earth. And I won’t give them up. They’re my – our – kids. I say we talk to them.”

“Sounds good, I’m with you on all of that.” Vern kissed her nose. “Uh ... When we talk, what do we say?”

“Well, I guess we’ve got to listen and see what’s going on.”

“Okay. When?”

“Have I mentioned how much I love you?” Maria unwound herself from him and headed for the bathroom. Vern followed and waited while she used the facilities, then used them himself.

“You gonna get dressed?”

“What for? I’m pretty sure they aren’t. I don’t want to show up in Full Mother Armor.”

“Good thought.”

The two parents went to Patti’s door. Maria put her finger to her lips. Vern nodded and they eased the door open. The two young people were still asleep, Patti wound around Andy much as Maria had been wound around Vern just minutes before.

Maria gestured and Vern went around to Patti’s side of the bed. Maria sat down next to Andy. She ran her hand over his forehead, ruffled his hair. Vern sat behind Patti’s back and leaned to kiss her cheek. Both children roused. Patti saw her mother over Andy’s shoulder. She was naked, her lovely bare breasts visible to her for the first time in quite a while, Patti recalled. Then, she felt a weight behind her and recalled the touch on her cheek. She turned her head and saw her father. He was naked, too.

Andy woke to feel Patti in his arms, and he instinctively hugged her. As his eyes opened, he saw her beloved face, and then beyond her, his father’s naked body. Someone had a hand on his hair, and he turned toward it. It was his mother and she was naked, too.

“Good morning, kids,” she said. “Good morning,” Vern said, “sleep well?”

Somehow this wasn’t the way either of them had imagined this happening. In shock, they remained motionless for a moment, then struggled to untangle themselves.

“Mom? Dad?” Patti said, twisting to look at one, then the other.

“Oh, shit,” murmured Andy.

“Relax, both of you,” Maria said. “Nobody’s too bent out of shape.”

Maria looked across the bed at Vern and gave him an almost imperceptible nod.

Vern looked down at Patti. “Really. Did you sleep well? It was late last night.”

Seriously unsure of herself, Patti replied, “Yeah. Real well.” She glanced over at her mother, reached for her brother. “Until now, anyway,” she concluded with a weak smile.

“Well, I think it’s time for breakfast and a talk,” Vern said.

“You two shower and get dressed, then come down for breakfast.” Maria expanded.

Maria and Vern got up off the bed, Maria reached for Vern’s hand and pulled him close. His arm was around her waist as they walked out the door.

“Jesus! Do you believe that?” Andy asked Patti.

“No, but it’s a lot better than anything I ever expected. Come on, let’s get cleaned up.”

When Andy and Patti walked into the kitchen, Maria was putting a rather festive breakfast on the table – rolls, eggs, sausage. She wore a light robe that ended well above the knees, and Vern was organizing coffee and juice, dressed in similar fashion.

Patti, thinking she’d play it safe, had put on a conservative polo shirt and jeans. Andy had made much the same decision. They sat at the table, clearly unsure of what was going to happen.

Vern sat down after passing out coffee and pouring juice, taking a platter of food from Maria and passing it around.

“Eat up,” he said, “we’ve got plenty of time to talk.” He attacked his food with appetite.

When most of the early rush was over, Maria asked the first question. “Well, how long has it been? How long have you been sleeping together?”

Andy answered, “Couple of months, I guess.”

Vern took his turn. “I don’t suppose there’s any doubt you’ve been having sex?”

Both kids shook their heads, saying nothing.

Maria went on, “Well, okay, that’s clear. And you’re both okay with this? Patti, whose idea was it the first time?”

Patti looked intently at her plate. “I guess we both sort of...”

Andy said, “Yeah. It just sort of happened.”

“And after that?” Maria probed.

Patti’s head lifted and she looked at her mother, “After that? I mean, it was so great, we never wanted to stop.”

“Have either of you had sex with anyone else?” Vern wanted to know. Both denied it with some force.

“Anyway, she’s the only one I want,” Andy confessed. “She’s so wonderful.”

“Who else knows about it?” was Maria’s next question.

The two looked at each other. Patti took the call. “Well, only Kyle and Sally and Rob and Eileen. They just found out this week.”

“We’ll come back to that,” Maria said, filing the information away. “What was it that started it all? Anything particular?”

Both kids were relaxing quite a bit. This didn’t feel like they were in trouble. Anyway, not that much trouble. Andy spoke up in answer to his mother’s question. “Well, we were playing Truth or Dare...”

“Where, at a Friday night?” Vern asked.

“Yeah. Well, we were playing Truth or Dare and somehow we all ended up taking off all our clothes and looking at each other for...” He looked at Patti, “What was it, five minutes?” Patti nodded. “ ... for five minutes.” He looked at Patti again. “She’s just so beautiful ... And then, well, that night...”

Patti offered her viewpoint, “You know, I saw him naked and he looked so wonderful, and he was my brother, and I love him so. And that night after you guys were in bed, I got up and went into his room. And we made love.”

“How was it?” Maria asked.

“Just super. Just the way I knew it would be,” Patti murmured, scooting closer to Andy on the breakfast bench. She looked at both her parents. “It always is. Every time, even if I don’t come.”

“So the other kids in our group know about you. Did they start having sex then, too?” Vern wanted to know.

“No. No, they didn’t,” Patti answered. “And they didn’t know about us then, either. And we haven’t played Truth or Dare since then. I guess we didn’t want things to get out of hand.”

“How did they find out?” Maria wanted to know.

“Sally sort of guessed this week,” Patti responded. “We got busted.” She giggled at the memory of that Monday lunch.

“Okay.” Maria assumed her maternal role, adjusting her robe to reduce the amount of cleavage she displayed. “Here’s how your dad and I feel about this. We know we can’t stop you sleeping together, having sex, whatever. It’s too late for that. And it looks like you’re both happy together, so that’s good, too.

“But there are some things we all have to know and deal with. You both know that screwing your sib is illegal, right?” Both young people nodded. “Do you know that, if this gets out, you could be taken away and put in foster homes?”

Astonished, Andy said, “No Way!“

“She’s right,” Vern replied. “End of our family. We, your mother and I, might go to jail.”

Stunned, Patti and Andy slumped on the bench. “I couldn’t bear that,” Patti said, looking in Andy’s eyes.

“Well, neither could I or your father,” Maria told them, reaching for Vern’s hand and pulling it into her lap. “So here’s what we’re going to do. Now, pay attention!

“First, we need to continue the pretense you’ve set up. You’re pretty good at not looking like lovers in public, so you have to keep that up. You do appear to be brother and sister who like each other, and that’s fine. But we’ve got to make some changes in other ways. Both of you are going to start dating.”

Andy’s head came up. “What? What do you mean?”

Vern watched with amused anticipation as Maria went on. “You are going to date. Andy will ask girls he likes for dates. If Patti gets asked for a date, or if she wants to ask a boy for a date, she’ll date, too. But...” Maria tapped her fingers on the table, “ ... but, you will only be allowed to double date.”