Chapter 24: Family Ties, Part 2

The months passed, and there were no more incidents where I discovered Eddie and Shana in flagrante, so to speak. In fact, I didn’t even know if they were still playing their games, or if it had just been a ‘phase,’ and that the phase had passed.

It was almost a year after the last time I ‘caught’ them, I guess you’d say, when I arrived home one day to hear some “strange noises” coming from Shana’s room. Like the first time, her door was mostly open, and in the reflection in the mirror on her open closet door, this is what I saw: Shana, narrow, boyish hips, tight round butt, nipples hard on her puffy little breasts, riding up and down on Eddie, and it was obvious that his once-little cock – which appeared to have grown noticeably in the past year – was inside Shana. Shana was bracing her hands on Eddie’s shoulders, a look of concentration on her face as she bounced up and down on him.

Eddie was lying there, on his back, of course. He didn’t move much, mainly because Shana’s hands were pinning his shoulders to the bed. He seemed to be instinctively arching his hips upward to meet Shana’s movements. His expression – what’s the best way to describe it – was “calm,” with his eyes either closed or half-closed.

Shana also seemed to know – instinctively, or perhaps through experimentation – that tilting her hips forward a certain way increased the contact between her clitoris and Eddie’s cock, and that that “felt better,” for some reason.

As I was watching, Shana stopped suddenly, and then her pelvis jerked – once, then a second time, then a third. After what was obviously her orgasm was done, she fell forward to lay on Eddie. Then, she did something I was totally unprepared for. She lifted her head and gently kissed Eddie’s bony little chest. Then she placed her hand on the spot she had just kissed and lay back down on him.

And that was when Eddie put one arm around her shoulders, the other gently around her head – and tenderly kissed the top of her head.

It was beautiful, actually. But it also frightened me, because I realized that we weren’t just dealing with a couple of horny adolescents test-driving their new hormones. There was a lot more going on here.

Of course, I told Ted that night, along with my own interpretation of what was going on.

“Ted, I think they’re in love with each other.”

Ted didn’t have a reply for me.

********

I cornered Caleen the next chance I had and came straight to the point. “Did you know that Shana and Eddie were...” Despite the fact that I had this all planned out, I found myself fumbling for words, “ ... having intercourse?”

Caleen sighed, like she knew this conversation was going to happen but really didn’t want it to.

“Yeah, a week ago I heard some noises – grunts, I guess – inside Eddie’s room. I knocked but I didn’t get any answer, so I opened the door slowly and peeked in, and Shane was on top of Eddie, and they were – doing it.”

At that moment, I felt sorry for Caleen, having to have this conversation, and having to rat on her brother and sister. But I felt I really didn’t have any option.

“Did you say anything?”

“Well – I wasn’t sure exactly how to react, so I just backed out of the room quietly and let them finish ... what they were doing. Then I waited a few minutes and knocked on the door, and one of them said come in, and I went in and I talked with them and asked if they understood what they were doing, and that it’s something that’s usually reserved – I don’t think I said ‘reserved,’ but something like that – for when they’re older, and stuff like that.”

“And... , “ I hesitated here, because my heart was in my throat at the thought of what I had to say next, “ ... did you bring up the matter of pregnancy... ?”

Here, Caleen was more comfortable than I think I ever would have been. “Yeah, I told them that now Shane was having her periods, I told them about condoms, and they already knew about those, and I told them that they really ought to talk with you and Dad about it, but if they couldn’t, they should talk to me and I’d – I’d see what I could do.”

Then she added, uncertainly, “Did I do all right, Mom?”

At that moment, I wanted to take my oldest daughter in my arms and hug her to me and never let her go. But what I did was say, “You did perfectly, Darling. If it were me, I don’t think I could have handled it any better, or maybe even as well. You did perfectly.”

Caleen’s relief was obvious, but then she asked, “So, ... what’re you and Dad gonna do?”

“I wish I knew, Sweetheart, I wish I knew. But your Dad and I will talk, and we’ll figure it out, somehow. And thank you for being such a good big sister.”

********

About a month after Caleen and I talked, Lauren stopped over for a cup of coffee. All right – for a gin-and-tonic. Anyhow, after a few minutes of the usual idle chatter, she mentioned that Shana and Eddie had stopped over at their place (not unusual) and wanted to talk with her about something (not so usual).

“Eddie and Shana stopped by a couple of days ago. Said they wanted to talk with me about something. Or maybe it was about ‘some things.’ Mainly, they had a lot of questions about how Matthew and I... ‘discovered’ each other, and how we knew ... how we knew.”

“Can you tell me any more... ?”

“When they were just about finished, I asked them if I could tell you they came over to talk with me. They said I could, but I kind of got the feeling that I should respect their confidence, their privacy. Maybe, if you want to, you might ask them yourself about what we talked about.”

As always, Lauren knew exactly the right thing to do and say – and not say.

I thanked her for letting me know, we chatted some more (over a second G&T – we shouldn’t have, but ya’ gotta indulge yourself sometimes, right?), and then she went home to try to convince someone else – Matthew, Paul, Jane – anyone! – to cook dinner.

It was the next day that Shana and Eddie and I found ourselves alone in the house. I put out some juice and trail mix for us, and then, sort of casually, I hoped, said,

“Aunt Lauren mentioned that you and she talked about a bunch of stuff Thursday.” And left it there.

Eddie looked at Shana, and there seemed to be some understanding that passed between them. Eddie answered. “Yeah, Shane and me – Shane and I – wanted to know how she and Uncle Matt got together.”

“And did she tell you?”

“Kinda.”

“What made you think of asking her that – now?”

“I dunno. It’s just that she and Uncle Matt just seem to be real happy together – kinda like you and Dad – and we were curious, that’s all.”

“So, Aunt Lauren and Uncle Matt seem happy together?”

Shana added, “Yeah. Like, you know, it’s not like they’re always laughing and making jokes and stuff. But they always seem to be calm and kind of contented, and they have this thing, like they know they’re supposed to be together, y’know? And we just wanted to know how they knew.”

“And was Aunt Lauren able to tell you?”

Eddie replied, “Kinda. But kinda not. She just said that she saw how he was kind and honest, and how good he was to Aunt Jane, and that ... somehow, she knew.”

Then Shana completely blindsided me with her next comment. “And they’re obviously very sexually compatible.”

After I recovered from the surprise of that unexpected observation, I asked her, “And how would you know about sexual compatibility?” (I almost added, “young lady,” but that would have sounded way too, well, parental.)

“From you and Dad.”

“What? How... ?”

They looked at each other, and I’d swear, the two little shits actually smirked!

Shana answered, “Because it’s so obvious – you two are crazy about each other, that’s how.”

I was flabbergasted. They were right, of course, but I just had no idea that they’d managed to put those particular pieces together.

Eddie went on, “That’s the best sex education in the world. We can find out about anatomy and physiology and techniques...”

[Techniques??]

“ ... lotsa places, but seeing two people who are really into each other – that’s awesome!”

Shana added, “Look, we think it’s neat that you and Dad are that way – we’re really lucky.”

And before I could recover from this totally unexpected turn, Eddie announced, “Shane and me gotta get to band practice. Shane and I. Love you, Mom.”

And off they went, leaving me sitting there, well, stupefied. I had no idea they’d even been thinking about these kinds of things, let alone the fact that they had apparently thought about them in such depth. But as I sat there, still pondering the conversation, I was struck by one, very clear realization: that if this was the example that that Ted and I were setting for our children, then we were doing a very fine job indeed.

********

Well, Ted and I talked about it. And we talked. And we talked. And we went to Lauren and Matt and talked with them about it. And as far as we could tell, we established the following:

One, no one was being hurt (yet).

Two, Eddie and Shana had to act responsibly about this, and that meant a thorough discussion of – and insistence on – birth control.

Three, they had to be absolutely discreet – they couldn’t talk to anyone outside our “family” about it, and others must never find out.

Four, ... we didn’t know what four was.

As for the matter of sex between brother and sister – well, as Matthew pointed out, “I’m not sure anyone in this family is going to get too bent-out-of-shape or moralistic about relatives having sex with each other.”

On the other hand, we were all uncomfortable with the fact that they were so young. Not in the sense that they were “too young to be having sex.” But we were all concerned about people so early on in their lives making commitments and closing doors to experiencing a wider array of other people.

So, although we didn’t come up with any “answers,” we did agree that we needed to have this discussion with Shana and Eddie and share our concerns with them.

********

Ted and I had agreed that it would be best to talk to them together – that talking to them separately would quickly be viewed as an attempt to divide-and-conquer, and we didn’t want to start out on that wrong foot. We also agreed that, to start, Ted would talk to Eddie and I would talk with Shana.

I began, to both, “We know that you both care very much for each other, and that you don’t want anything to ever hurt each other. And we know that you’re going to be responsible about birth control. But your Dad and I, and Aunt Lauren and Uncle Matt, too, are concerned that you might be making some serious commitments before you’ve really had a chance to meet other people and learn what they’re like, and to learn more about yourselves and what you want in life and in other people and...” And I kind of stalled out at that point.

Ted picked up, “Like Mom said, we know that your both are smart, and maybe more mature than many of your friends, but ... you really haven’t had the chance to know many people, and to see what they have to offer... “ And then he ran out of talking points.

“Yeah, we know about all these things. We’ve talked a lot about ‘em before.”

Eddie and Shana were sitting side-by-side on the couch, not touching, but not far apart, either. They looked at each other, and apparently agreed that Eddie should talk first.

“I know there’s lots of girls in the world, and a lot of ‘em are nice and stuff.”

Ted interrupted, “How about Robby McCune’s sisters? You know them, and I thought you kind of liked them?”

Eddie responded, “Yeah, they’re nice, and kinda pretty – especially Beth...”

Shana punched him hard in the arm – but not too hard.

“ ... but Shane’s more interesting than all of ‘em.”

That one stopped us. Because “interesting” can be the basis for a very solid relationship.

Then Shana spoke up. “You’ve tried to tell me that kindness and character are the most important things to look for in a person. And I kinda got the same feeling from Aunt Lauren when she was talking about Uncle Matt. And honestly – do you think I’m ever going to meet a boy – or a man – who’s kinder than Eddie? And, like, with character – well, you raised him the same way you did me. Really – do you really think I’m gonna find someone who’s a better person than Eddie?”

All right, maybe they have thought about ... things more than we gave them credit for.

“Well, let your father and I think about it some more. But thank you both for listening to us and for telling us what you’re thinking. You know how much we love you, and we just want to make sure you’re not setting yourselves up for unhappiness or disappointment in the future.”