Chapter 27: Lola’s Emancipation

We were very lucky.

Three days after revealing her exact whereabouts to her parents, Lola’s mother showed up on our doorstep to talk face-to-face with her daughter and see just how she was actually living.

Lola’s mother, Annie, was also petite and as attractive as her daughter and there was no doubt about heredity. She was lithe, blonde, blue-eyes, on the small side, and a ball of fire. She was patient with us, but I think she thought that we were the front for a South American slave cartel that would soon have her daughter chained up in a brothel before sundown. Fortunately, for us, she arrived about four in the afternoon.

Wendy had just gotten home from her college classes and realized that we all had to be on our best behavior. She welcomed Annie – Mrs. Kemp – and texted all of us about the visitor and warned us to behave in a prim and proper manner when we got home. She noted that Annie seemed very conservative, so no monokinis. Wendy and Tracy, as usual, were dressed to the nines in the various wardrobe items they’d inherited from Penny. They looked like young aspiring lawyers or executives instead of college students, and they certainly didn’t look seventeen.

Lola whirled into the house about five p.m. from the local high school where we’d arranged for her to take classes as she sorted out her emancipation in the state of Tennessee. That legal action had been held up by her parents who had to sign off on her adulthood and distance schooling.

Lola was dressed up nicely, too. She’d just started following Wendy and Tracy as her role models about ‘upscale’ dressing. She was wearing low heels, nice looking slacks, an expensive blouse, and yet carrying a new backpack with her high school books and homework. I’d bought her the backpack and books.

I found out later, that Lola gave her mother a house tour, pointing out rooms, including those under construction, and so on. Fortunately, Lola was a neat person and so was Dakota. Their room was spotless, yet reflected Lola’s living there, including her other school books and the laptop computer I’d also gotten her on her new desk.

I came home early after getting Wendy’s text, getting one of my staff to take the last two road calls that I had that day. The house gradually filled with people wearing their ‘day clothes’ and no one changed into the ultra-casual, semi-nude, outfits as we usually did at the end of the day. Lola certainly didn’t.

Lola explained in a calm way that she was on the ‘Dinner Team’ that week, so planted her mother on a kitchen stool as she, Jill, and Scott worked on preparing the evening meal. That evening, the meal was sauteed shaved beef, homemade mashed potatoes, fresh farm peas, salads that I’d bought in my travels past one of the farm stands, and a fresh baked brownie for dessert. The three of them moved around the kitchen like a finely honed restaurant team. Each wore an apron. Sometimes that would have been all they’d be wearing, but not that night.

Annie’s head was spinning with the circulation of everyone back and forth through the house as people arrived, greeted each other, and did various things – washes, straightening things, a quick vacuuming of public areas, and such. Michael was also in the living room with a decorator working on the measurements for draperies and things for the new bedroom. I tried not to peek at the fabric samples that they had splayed out.

I joined Annie at the kitchen Island and got her a glass of white wine after we’d done introductions. She seemed surprised that I had a ‘real’ job, as she called it. Wendy whipped up some crackers and cheese for everyone. I noted that all those that were under age stuck to soft drinks.

Annie said, “Is it always like this – this busy I mean?”

I nodded, “We have a lot going on and there’s a few people beside me and Lola living here. My fiancées are here, at least most of the time.”

“Fiancées, as in plural?” Annie thought she found the chink in our armor.

I had to be careful here. “Yes, I’m engaged to five women, although two of them are really engaged to two other men. Those two live with their future husbands in this home. I know that sounds unique and scandalous, but it seems to be working for all of us. We love and care about each other, and we care about creating a supportive and kind environment for everyone, too. We want each person to grow and evolve in a positive way. Somehow, we’ve kept frictions to a minimum. Everyone also pulls their weight.”

“Who is here?” Annie asked. She gestured

“Well, you’ve met Wendy, Michael, Jill, Holly, Scott, Dakota, Lauren, Garth, and me. Misty is a principal at a nearby middle school, and she’s normally home by now unless there’s some academic or staff crisis – that happens at least twice a week. Garth doesn’t live here, but usually has dinner with us. He’s a Ph.D. student in computer science and artificial intelligence. There are a few other men and women that are in our circle of friends that come by occasionally, too.” I took pleasure in name dropping Garth’s credentials. I didn’t want Annie to think that her daughter had opted to live with ne’er do wells.

“Errr, what do you do?”

I explained in more detail my job at Retail Solutions, and then pointed out that Wendy, Holly, and Dakota also worked there in various capacities. Tracy jumped in and talked about going to college with Wendy even though they were seventeen, and also working at the Marine Lab as a fledgling biochemist and researcher. Annie was increasingly impressed with the teens. I pointed out what positive role models they were for Lola.

Annie turned to Garth who had also joined us. She got him talking about his doctoral work in the field of artificial intelligence since it had been in the news so much. She seemed duly impressed with what he was researching as part of his doctoral dissertation work in computer science. He came across as a serious and dedicated professional young man.

Annie admitted that she was a ‘simple clerk’ in an insurance agent’s office, and that she’d been doing that for fifteen years – pretty much since weaning Lola. Under questioning, she reluctantly admitted that she and her husband were really focused on her grandchildren and Lola’s two much older sisters and their families that lived nearby in Tennessee. Lola had been a surprise baby, as it turned out.

I gently brought up the issue about Lola living with us and her desire for emancipation so that she could go to school as a regular student and also work as she felt she wanted to rather than on the black market. I extolled the positive – non-sexual – benefits of living in the house.

Annie said, “Why are you doing this? Why have you taken Lola under your wing – given her a room, a computer and stuff, fed her, and so on.” There was an undercurrent that we were taking advantage of her in some manner, including sexually.

I wanted to say ‘because you weren’t’ but I resisted. I said, “We’ve become good friends and I help my friends.” I blushed slightly.

Scott had been standing there. He said, “Matt gave Lauren and me a room rent free so that I can save up for a real engagement ring for Lauren. We’re about halfway there for what we want. I’m helping him by refinishing our bedroom in his house. He’s a great friend and has our best interests at heart.”

Dakota came forward at that point, “I’m the CEO’s assistant at Retail Solutions. We all know that Matt is the glue that holds us all together. Every customer he sees loves him. I think some of them fake problems just so he’ll visit them on a trouble call. Moreover, he’s a software genius and the creator of the backbone systems that all of our new systems run. He’s fantastic as a friend and as a colleague.”

Michael commented about how I had provided his fiancées and him free room and board as he returned early from a cross-country assignment. “There wasn’t even a hesitation by Matt about having us stay here with him since I couldn’t displace the family leasing my condo. He’s a great friend that would give you the shirt off his back if you were cold or needed one.”

Wendy told her story about being a runaway and hiding in my car, only to have me rescue her and help her sort her life out. She talked about helping to renovate and flip my old house and then buying this one to fix up and flip. She told about me becoming her guardian, skipping the details about Penny, and then getting her mother in a sound and non-threatening situation.

She also spoke about how much she wanted to be Lola’s mentor and friend. She went and stood beside Lola and gave her a supportive hug. The closeness of the two teens was strikingly evident.

Tracy said, “Matt and my mother were close friends, and then she got sick and died. He became my guardian and also Wendy’s guardian. We were just sixteen. He helped us through all that anguish and got us on a solid footing and back in college. We just love him to pieces, and I second what Wendy said about wanting to be Lola’s friend and mentor. Everyone in this house – in our group of friends – supports everyone else.

Annie turned to me, “So, you do all this out of the goodness of your heart?”

I shrugged. “I don’t think of it as anything special, but I guess they do. I like helping people and having friends around, and especially living here with me. Probably I’m over-compensating for growing pretty much alone and a geek without many friends. This lifestyle is the antithesis of that.”

She bluntly asked, “What’s Lola’s quid pro quo?”

I shrugged, “Be my friend, help out around the house as she’s doing tonight, for example, and keep learning to be a good citizen.”

“That’s all?”

“That’s all.”

Wendy jumped back in, “Matt is not a predator nor does he traffic young girls to South American brothels, if that’s what you’re thinking. Each person here and in his circle is a better person because of him. We’re here by choice. We can come and go as we please and are expected to be good adults.”

Lola said in a strong and forthright voice to her mother, “After Matt saw what I needed, he gave me four conditions that I had to meet in order to live here. I’ve done them or am doing them. The first was to reestablish contact with you immediately so you knew that I was safe and cared for. The second was that I was never to think that I had to offer sex of any kind in order to be here. The third was that I had to go back to high school right away and finish, preferably in a college-prep course. The last was that I had to be completely open and transparent in my life from then on; no more lies or fake stories about my life, such as I’d been giving out to people as I tried to build my life down here in Florida. I didn’t want people to know that I was a runaway.”

Annie rapidly turned to me, “So, you’re the reason Lola called us a couple of weeks ago?”

I nodded. “It was the right thing to do. I made Wendy do the same thing when she sought refuge with me when she was running away. I tried to put myself in your shoes and think how I’d feel.”

Annie’s eyes got glassy. She said, “Thank you. Yes, it was the right thing to do. I haven’t been the greatest mother to Lola, but I do love her. When we missed her, I was panicked out of my mind. At least when she called I got some sense of her safety and situation.”

“We all think that allowing her to live with us and go to school here in this environ would also be the right thing to do for her. She’s a lot more of an adult than you realize. She is loved here, too.”

“She was living somewhere else with other friends?”

Lola shook her head. “No, mom. I made a hidden encampment in the woods behind a church. I got myself a bootleg job at a restaurant that would pay me ‘off the books’. They probably suspected that I was a runaway, but they were desperate for help. I got good food there and made a little money under the table – enough to buy a few things a girl needs. I met some nice people, too. One of them is one of Matt’s other friends and is around here sometimes. He asked me on a date to party here; that’s how I met Matt and the others. At that time, I was trying to pass for being twenty-two. I lived that way for almost four months. After he got me to confess my status, Matt helped me collect my stuff out of the woods and brought me here the day after the party. I was so ready to give up that way of life.”

Annie held Lola’s hand, “And you really want this? We don’t want to lose you.”

Lola hugged her mom and then replied, “Mom, I belong here. These are my real friends. There’s no life for me back in Tennessee – at that school or competing with my older sisters for your time. I love everyone here – really love. No bullies. Nobody beats me up. This is where I want to be – where I belong. As for losing me, I promise to stay in touch frequently and come and visit, or you can come here as you did. If you think about it, in about two years I’d be leaving for college anyway so this is just me making an earlier departure.”

I interjected, “We’ll make sure she’s ready for college, and that she can attend without running up a huge debt. Of course, your support would be helpful, but we will be sure she gets a good launch. She’s got a lot of role models looking after her and mentoring her.”

Annie sighed and was quiet for a while. Dinner got assembled and served. She watched everyone interact over dinner and afterwards like a hawk sitting in a tree watching some prey on the ground.

Tracy and Lauren had set up the tables outside with all the cutlery and condiments, and even table cloths. Dinner was then served family style. I had Annie beside me and Lola sat beside her. Mostly, we talked about our jobs and school. I did get her talking about Lola’s sister’s families, and that seemed to be an easy topic for her to chat about. It was a normal night, except for our style of dress. Misty did come in late, and got introduced to Annie. She validated that she was a school principal and then blended in with the rest of us.

Lola commented that she was struggling to get back into the groove academically. “I’m having the most trouble with biology and the lab. I just don’t get why everything has such crazy names or what you’d do with all this stuff.”

Tracy was on her from across the table. “Lola, come to where I work after school tomorrow. I work after school at the marine research lab out on City Island. I can help you with the biology, but let me show you what we do with all that stuff. It’s fascinating and I promise that I’ll change your opinion about that subject in one afternoon.”

I knew that Tracy understood what would happen. She’d gone through the same transformation after getting her internship at the Marine Lab. She would practically turn Lola into a biologist. There were so many options for her.

Annie was mostly quiet at the table. I could see that she was thinking and watching. One thing about our group was that there was no hierarchy. Everyone was an adult and got treated that way. Lola, even though she was the youngest, was not a second-class citizen nor talked to in a patronizing manner.

After dinner, as we often did, we applauded Lola, Scott, and Jill to show our appreciation for the meal. Annie was impressed. I excused myself along with Michael. We were the clean-up team that week. Annie watched us smoothly handle the dirty dishes and leave coffee urns for everyone. Within about twenty minutes, the two dishwashers were going and the kitchen was spotless and ready for everyone to lay siege to it for breakfast.

Dakota whispered that she would stay with me overnight, and by implication the others in my beds, so her bed would be available for Lola’s mother. At that point, we all shuffled off to bed on the early side. I just hoped that we’d won the battle for Lola.

Annie was around in the morning after Lola and some of the others got ready to leave for school. Lola was torn about whether to stay with her mother or go to school. Annie told her that she was about to leave to return home, so she urged her to go to the high school for her regular classes. Lola left with Misty, who’d drop her off.