Chapter 12

At the end of the day, Larissa and her mum met Bob and Mary at one of the most expensive restaurants on the southern edge of town. It seemed like overkill to Larissa, but they chose. And Larissa was chill – she’d had a great day. She’d left their place before dawn with her mum, knowing that they had all day together. Unreal. They talked and talked and caught up on so much between them. Amazing how much there was to talk about between them given so little interaction, but the last night in particular had really packed a punch. That went on through the day.

Then Larissa had started work, and her mum had a good day; not as adventurous as Asha’s day, but some lovely home visits – kids, families, elderly people. A pet dog injured a little in a not-serious accident. The ever-continuous fur-balls. A poorly fed lizard, and then a circus horse. A hobby farm, one where she wrote them up on the spot for some animal care violations, and called the police for that one. Not a happy owner, but she had procedures to follow, no matter how much he hinted that ‘alternative arrangements’ could be discussed. And three wildlife rescues – and no use of the gun, at least, but two of them were road accidents, poetry after her comments the night before. And her mum was now attuned to all the roadkill that she’d just got used to ignoring. Her mum was just as thrilled and amazed at the end of the day: “what you do is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.” Imagine if she spent the day with Johnny-boy, Larissa said to herself, but thanked her anyway.

She’d also dropped into central Melbourne city – a place her mum had only visited a few times in her life, and ran up to do corporate speaking event in her muddy uniform. Her mum sat at the back with Mark and listened to her show in amazement, though parts of it were personally difficult for her to listen to. Her only initial comment was “You were kinder to Bob and Mary last night than I realised.” She got more serious comments later, through the day, as her mum processed what she’d said.

Then they’d dropped into the stripper shop. The same shop assistant remembered her well, and gave her a cheery hello. Her mum was in heaven, and went round the shop picking a whole bunch of different stuff. When she finally got to the counter, the assistant was grinning and laughing. “Well, this is my mum,” Larissa told her. “Are you sure about the party thing?” Yes, very sure. “How many thousands of dollars would it take to make you unsure?” Not sure ... up to the owner. Larissa gave the assistant her phone number and said, “find out”. Then she gave her mum her own personal gift: a choker just like Kemala had worn. “Wear this when they do you, and know that I’m there with you, keeping your heart safe.” Her mum cried and hugged her deeply right there in the shop.

Back on the road, and more talking. And Larissa finally got to ask her about the dirty finger. She smiled and said, “Of course I knew that was coming. I don’t like it, who would? But the surprise was for you, and it worked!” She grinned. “They do that to tell me that I am totally owned by them, and they never do it unless I agree to it in advance and prepare. So, it wasn’t as bad as it looked. But still, I know you didn’t like it.” Larissa agreed, one of only two times she’d been unhappy for her mum. The other was the crack about the mother/daughter thing. She understood the desire, but the way they said it ... no respect. Well not enough anyway. Her mum nodded. “Everything in life is a compromise one way or another. That’s mine, and I can live with it for now.” Larissa nodded. Not a compromise she’d accept at all, but she was in a very different position.

At the end of the day, she got home, and showed her mum around her place. No one else was home, so no introductions. Then Larissa needed a shower and her mum looked at and said, “please?” So they showered together again. While they were in the shower, her mum said, “I heard you mention something about a safe space once. I really think this is my safe space, here with you like this. It’s so amazingly precious!” Larissa cried at that, it was simultaneously lovely and also the saddest thing she’d heard for a while.

Finally, they were at the restaurant, and Bob and Mary greeted them warmly. A relief for Larissa, who’d wondered how they’d feel about her after a day thinking about she said the night before. They had a private room, Larissa noticed. Quite unusual.

At first, conversation was entirely taken up by her mum giving Bob and Mary a dump of all that Larissa had done during the day – she was beyond excited. Suddenly she stopped. “Oh, sorry, my King and Queen. I’m deeply sorry. I’d like to thank you for your love in letting me go with Larissa, and I did have a lovely day, and I’d love to tell you about it, but it was so great I couldn’t help already telling you most of it.”

Larissa watched Mary work through that, and glance at Larissa and decide to be gracious. “Love, we’re so happy you’re so excited, and it’s great that you asked, so please, keep telling us about it!” Well, her mum did, all except the stripper shop and the shower. And some specific things about the corporate speaking, which Bob and Mary were super interested in generally. When her mum finally slowed down, Larissa smiled at them and said that her work was pretty exciting at times, and often had that effect. She’d certainly been blown away when she first started.

Mary hugged her mum, and said, “OK, Thanks for telling us about that. Is it OK if we talk about some other things?” Her mum smiled and said, “Yes, please.”

At this point, Bob got serious. “Larissa, it was good to hear that, and that your work is real, and your comments about wildlife accidents are real, even. Rachelle, thanks for telling us. And your corporate speaking. If, say, I wanted you to talk to my companies, would I talk to you, or to your work?”

“My work, for sure.”

“I thought so. I’ve asked to talk to the CEO.” Larissa gave him Mark’s number, and sent a message to Mark, making sure that he spoke to her first before he talked to Bob.

While she was looking at her phone, she said, “By the way, I will take one phone call tonight, whatever we’re talking about, and I’ll take it outside, and that’s if Layna calls me.”

Bob nodded, understanding. Then he continued, “Now, you handed us some very deep challenges last night. I really didn’t like hearing them, and neither did Mary. We talked about it long into the night. We made some difficult decisions. Before we talk about them, do you still really think it would be that easy?”

“Well, it would be that easy to set you up. It would be hard and drawn out to take you down in court. But taking you down isn’t something that just happens in court, it happens on the streets and social media. So middling hard.”

Bob nodded. “My lawyer agrees with that. He said we’re to thank you for making us confront the issue. I’m not allowed to discuss any details with you. But. Before I go on, you must promise that you will only share any of what follows with Julian, and he can never share any of it anyone.”

Larissa promised.

“Thanks, Mary and I promise you that if we ever play with anyone else again, we will follow our lawyer’s recommended process to the letter. Rachelle, we love you deeply, but even you, you’re going to have to sign some paperwork. I’ve insisted that you have paperwork tomorrow, because how can we go without you? But tonight, we can only love you with hugs and kisses.”

Mary jumped up and hugged her Mum. “Love, I fought that, I even screamed. It makes it like you’re not one of us and I hate that, really hate that. You’re one of us.” She sighed. “But it has to be this way.”

Wow, Larissa thought. But that really made her mum feel good.

“Rachelle,” Bob said, “any questions?”

“No. I understand. I can’t be any trouble for you. I can live with hugs and kisses as long as I need to. I suppose I won’t be able to kiss you in interesting places.” Mary grinned at her.

“Larissa, any questions?”

“No. I mean, thank you for doing that, for taking my concerns for my mum seriously.”

But then she thought. “Oh – no! I do have a question. Mum’s signing something, right? It’s a piece of paper that says ... what? My sister, the first night her and my brother had sex, it was the first time for both of them.” She noticed the look on their faces. “Oh – Jaiden, he’s Julian’s brother, and Asha, his girl. We’re just all so close, it’s all brothers and sisters for us. Anyway, they stood in the middle of the room with their families around them, and made some promises to each other. Not a wedding or anything, just promised to treasure each other. And then, that threesome we copied last night? Before Maria did that with us, I asked her to make some promises with her boy, because he needed them. So it was just six of us, her closest friends, and her sister she loves, we watched the promises, just to be ... well, after that they decided that they might as well just get married, so that’s soon. Anyway, the point is, sometimes you don’t want to get married, but you do want your close friends and family to know that you’ve got something really meaningful going on and make some promises to each other that they know about. So maybe ... you could think about doing that with the three of you, and some of your closest friends?”

That was a total home run with her mum, she could see – right of the park. And Bob and Mary had seen that. Bob and Mary were looking at each other, at first in surprise, and then she could see they needed to talk to each other. She was about to say that she needed the rest room, and tow her mother along, when Mary said, “Rachelle, we love you and we see how you feel about that. Bob and I will talk about it, and we’ll decide together later.”

Her mum could barely speak, but she managed to whisper, “Thank you.”

“Thanks,” Larissa said, “it means a lot to me that you’ll think about that, and much more to Mum.” Her mum finally let go of Mary to come and hug Larissa tightly in appreciation.

“You know, Mary,” Larissa said, “your story with mum, it’s a pretty wonderful romance. The two of you as school friends, desperately wanting each other, and then falling together in your forties with your husband’s approval.” She smiled at her. “It’s really a very sweet story, and you should have more confidence in it with your families. I can understand how you feel about secrecy given that past, but once she came out and lived with you ... then it’s time to talk about the love. Even with your kids.”

Mary was looking at her in surprise. And slowly nodding. “Yes, perhaps you’re right. Hard to explain how strong the desire for secrecy is. And the way our kids and you and Thomas disapproved ... that just painted us into the corner. I understand at least for you, that the secrecy was why you disapproved. We’re trying to learn to think differently. And we know that you totally support us.”

Bob smiled at her. “We’d very much like to express our appreciation to you as well. What you did, so few people in our lives have ever done – tell us something we really didn’t like, simply because of concern for us. I know you said it was for your mum. But it would’ve been super easy for you to just walk away, and wait for us to blow up, and pull your mum out. You’re a remarkable young woman, and we’ve realised, talking about Rachelle, that if you hadn’t already supported her being with us, it would’ve fallen apart. Do you think so, Rachelle?”

She looked almost like he’d hit her, but she whispered, “Yes. I cannot live without my daughter.”

“So, today, we added you to our will. You’re now an equal beneficiary with our children. If only they’d learn from you.”

Fuck. Fucking Hell. Larissa had no idea what to say to that. Who knew how much money they were talking about? Maybe lots, many decades away, though. Still it was a remarkable gesture. “Wow, umm, thanks, that’s amazing, but, well, isn’t that a bit much for one passionate outburst?”

Mary smiled at her. “That was the icing on the cake, Larissa. I thought long and hard about what you said last night, and you’ve been living that for months, trying to support your mum while supporting us, working for us, even against me when I worked against myself. Truly remarkable! But also, did you hear what I said before about your mum being one of us? She’s one of us, so you’re in the will.”

Wow. Of course, it gave her a vested interest in their relationship, but if they knew her well enough they’d know she’d blow it all to hell if that was the right thing to do, money be damned.

While she was trying to process that, Bob said, “We’ll be having a good look at Thomas and deciding about him, but he has to earn it, so you’re not allowed to say anything to him about the will. Though you can encourage him to deserve it, of course, like you’re already doing. We do like both of them very much, which is a good start. Anyway, the only people who this takes money from is our children. You might understand why we’d do that.” Ahh. Right. Larissa smiled tightly at Mary on that one.

Right there, Larissa decided: she’d imagine that it was about a million dollars, and she didn’t want to know anything more. They weren’t going to die for decades, anyway. So if it ever eventuated into anything, long after the consequences of climate change eroded or skewed all current stores of value ... she’d think about it then. In the meantime, she’d live her life doing the right thing. Friends, Family, her man. Their principles. Julian, I’m really missing you right now, she thought. So: be faithful to her friends and family. Including Bob and Mary right in front of her.

“I want you to know that I really appreciate such a strong gesture of good will. I really worried I had blown everything up last night. I mean, with me, I could live, but for mum, that would kill me. And I know that this is endorsement for Mum as much as me, so strong. Mum, isn’t it wonderful!”

Rachelle was crying, she knew. She was still in Mary’s arms, holding her so very right. She whispered, “Yes. So amazing. Thank you, my King and Queen. You know that I’ll never believe I deserved this.”

Larissa thought while Bob and Mary spent some time talking to her mum about that, trying to convince her. She was happy for them to play that game for a few minutes. Though they hadn’t said anything about her mum being in the will ... so who knew what that meant. Well, she mentally earmarked all the money for her mum, if it ever happened. Although she had her own ... complicated. Well, a problem most likely decades away, whatever. But certainly her mum seemed like she was on much more solid ground than she had thought in this relationship.

Then Bob continued. “Also, we’re going to be working on cleaning up our mess. You don’t want to know about that, and if we do it right, you’ll never hear about it. But I do want to make you one promise about that: We will not play Weinstein games.”

“Thank you,” Larissa said, moved. They didn’t have to tell her that, in front of her mum. And if they did, and she found out about it ... no, that was a meaningful promise.

“As part of that, we’re giving you a little fund of your own. If you run into any young women in trouble as a consequence of sexual abuse, maybe like those little sex kittens, and you see that there’s something that should be done for them that is transformative, and it costs some money, then you have it.” Wow fucking Wow, Larissa thought. “We’re still thinking about it, what the limits are, but you’ll do that through our lawyers, not us. All you have to do is explain that you’re not just giving them money, you’re doing something that changes things for them meaningfully. We won’t be looking over your shoulder, but we will ask you to give us a summary every so often of what you’ve done. Is that reasonable? Do you have questions about that?”

“That’s ... amazing. I really don’t know what to say. I mean, a couple of times this year I’ve met a girl in trouble who needed something. A break from her family, for instance. We’ve had to scramble to solve it in our networks. There’s something right about that, specially if it’s in her network. But money ... yeah, I can think when it might be useful. Probably not with those sex kittens, but we’ll see. So, thank you. That’s really something, and if I ever do spend it, I guess I’ll just have to tell them, it’s a gift from an unknown benefactor, and only I’ll ever know that you did it?”

“Well, we assume that you’ll always share everything with Julian. But other than that, yes, totally secret. Even your mum – she knows the arrangement exists, obviously, but don’t talk to her about it, like you don’t talk to us about it. We trust you, above everyone else we’ve ever met, to use it wisely.”

Larissa was still shaking her head. “Wow. I mean, wow. Really, thank you.”

“You earned that. Now, you ready for the big one?” Fuck, that wasn’t the big one? What the fuck? “We listened to what you said about the moral aspect of climate change last night. And it hurt us. And we asked ourselves, why die and leave all this money to our self absorbed children when the world is burning? Well, it’s not quite burning yet, but the problems are coming, we’re sure about that. So we’re putting aside twenty percent of our wealth into a climate change fund.” Fuck. Fuck! “By the way, that’s twenty percent of your inheritance too.”

“Oh, please, just put all mine in there!”

He smiled at her. “Mary said you’d say that. She wins first orgasm.” All three of them were laughing at that. “No, you can’t, but my forfeit is that the percentage in the fund just went up by a quarter of your inheritance anyway.”

Larissa thought about that – she liked that game. She grinned. “Is there any way I can trick you into going around that loop again?”

Bob laughed. “I’m afraid not. Nice try, though!” Bob and Mary were laughing again. “We’re not going to run off and spend all that money in a hurry. We have no idea what we’re going to do with it right now. But we’re going to do it for our grandchildren. Which aren’t far off, we’re sure. Maybe Thomas and Jane will be first? But what we are going to do is two things. We’re going to fund Julian and Layna’s project, dollar for dollar with their VC guy, and we’ll meet with Julian and Layna and talk about how that’s going to work. We’ll be junior funders to him. I promise you that we’re serious about this.”

Whoa. That was really something. Transformative. “Oh wow, thank you so much. That’ll make just so much difference. But before you do, can I tell you what their plan is this year?” Bob was all ears. “They’re going to work on their social media following and their reputation for incisiveness, and build on the work they’re doing in Sale, sympathy for communities screwed by climate change today, by not being allowed to diversify. And they’re going after the Murdoch press. And then in winter, we’re all going north and they’re going after the Nats and the Libs in the coal heartland, on the theme: you screwed us to the coal flag and we’re not happy about it, though they’re also going to get Layna out on the Great Barrier Reef as well.”

Bob thought about that, and grinned. “I knew I liked Julian for a reason. I can see why you told me, but that won’t be a problem for me.”

“Well, that’ll make just so much difference. The money they have is enough to try and make a go of it this year, but twice as much, they can really do good work with that. But be careful around Layna – a lot of their success is because guys lose control of themselves around her.”

Bob grinned. “I’ll keep that in mind. I’ll make sure Mary is with me the first few times.”

“Well, you might have to try harder than that, since Mary swings both ways. Layna is overwhelming for some people when they first meet her.”

That stopped them. “We’ll think about that. If you’re there, you can kick me in the balls.”

Larissa laughed at them. “That’ll be a great introduction to their new sponsor!”

Bob laughed. “OK, the second thing we’re going to do is put a little advisory board together to advise us how to spend our money. It’s not that much money, but enough to make a little difference. We’d like Julian to be on that board. Do you think he’d go for that?”

“Oh, wow. Well, umm, I don’t know. I mean, he’d certainly want to talk to you about it. I know he’d immediately think about conflict of interest with family and so forth, and that he’s already getting funded from the money he’d be deciding how to spend. Julian’s learnt to really think about that stuff this year. I’m just a rescue vet, so I don’t know what he’d say.”

“You’re just a rescue vet?” asked Bob. “I think not. But thanks, that gives us good guidance to think about before talking to him.”

“Thanks for all this, really, you’ve blown my mind. Please tell me that you’re done now?”

Bob smiled. “Well, we will invest with Thomas if he gives us a half reasonable business plan, irrespective of any family thing. But that’s something I’d do anyway – cultivating passionate young men into business like that, and making a profit with them ... I’ve been doing that for years. So that’s not special. And I expect that your Mark, who’s boss of your work, will milk me for all he can get.”

Larissa smiled. “I really like Mark, but you’re right – that’s his job. He’s a great guy, and a good leader. And most of the front-liners like him, which is a big deal. We think he’s got our back. The minister won’t let go of him, I saw that.”

Now she’d surprised Bob. “You met the minister?”

“Oh yes, and it was something that could only happen to us, neither Julian nor I had our shirts on when we met her.”

Yep, mind blown. “You were topless?”

“Oh no, I had my bra. I’ll tell you what happened.” She told them about the night.

Bob was shaking his head. Her mum was amused, Larissa could see. “Well, sure as hell, she’s going to remember both of you clearly.”

“Yep, and it might be useful one day, since Julian occasionally has run ins with the police. At least the senior commanders know him now, and he’s got the energy minister’s number to use as well. Won’t help if he decides to break the law, but it can magically clear up ... miscommunications.”

Bob was shaking his head. “You guys are way better connected than I imagined.”

Larissa grinned. “All we’re doing is pursuing our principles as hard as we can. I’m not sure why crazy stuff happens around us.”

“You’ve referred to your principles before. It seems as though you have something very specific in mind?”

Larissa showed them all the poster on her phone. “We have this poster on our bedroom wall. It’s what we’re about, how we decide things, measure ourselves.” She let them read it.

Her mum read it, and gave her a brilliant smile. Larissa understood. After today, and specially tonight ... anything she did was the best, beyond criticism. Bob and Mary looked at her in surprise. “This is very interesting, and I like your principles.” Mary was nodding. “How did you come to do this?”

Larissa smiled and told them about her angel, and what Dave and Lem did to her on the beach. “You might find it hard to believe but that’s where I was then. Since then, I’ve pursued those principles without compromise, and ... stuff just happens. And here I am. And Julian is completely on board with those too.”

At this point, she got a message from Layna: “Talked to the girls. Messy. Very bad indeed – criminal. You really need a long talk with them ASAP. Ideas?”

She responded immediately. “Can they come up to Melbourne with you all tomorrow? I’ll talk to them in the evening, and figure out how to get them home.”

“I may have to talk to Layna shortly. Anyway, this has been very intense. I feel like we need something lighter to talk about. What are you guys doing for holidays with the borders closed?”

Mary sighed. “Well, we had some ideas.” She talked about their options. “But how can you commit to anything at the moment?”

Larissa got a message back from Layna. “Yes. They’re coming. I’ll talk to you while we’re driving up. They want to know when they’re getting home?”

She sent a message back. “Some time Friday. Don’t know when yet.”

“Sorry, go on,” Larissa said. Mary had paused for that.

“You can talk to her if you need to.”

“Oh, no, it’s sorted. Though I did just spend the first of your money.” She grinned at them. “This time, I’ll explain. Layna wants me to have a talk to those girls as soon as possible. She says it’s not good. I can’t get back down there, so they’re coming up with the techie boys. Blowjobs on the road, no doubt, so I’ll make sure someone lectures them about that. Anyway, I’ll talk to them when they get to Melbourne. Somehow, I’ve got to get them home Friday. Motel, Bus, or something. That’s where the money comes into it. Anyway, go on.”

She could see they approved of that. “Oh yes,” Mary said, “so, holidays. It’s all too hard, so, hell, we’re just going to stay home and do sex. We like that, and we can commit to that.”

“Sounds lovely. Who’s going to enjoy that the most?”

They were grinning at each other. No obvious winner.

“But on that subject,” Mary said, “Last night ... that was fantastic. You really were mind-blowing. I just wanted to thank you again. Julian is a very lucky guy.”

Her mum piped up at this stage with what she’d watched on face time the night before. Then she said, “Well, you better spend some quality time with him tonight!”

Larissa grinned. “He’s not sleeping alone. The third sexiest girl I’ve ever met is sleeping in his bed with him tonight.”

“The third?”

“Oh yes, she was the first until this week. She’s not close to the little sexpots, but no one is. So, third.”

“And who’s this?”

“My sister!”

They laughed. No getting Julian off if he was in bed with his sister. She laughed with them, knowing exactly how wrong they were. Her mum would find out one day.

A bit more small talk, and they were done, though Larissa also clarified what she could share with the family. She got out of the restaurant, hugged Bob and Mary, and then her mum, deeply. Then she got into the car and got on the phone – she had a lot to organise. Or at least, line up. For whatever was coming at her.

On Saturday night, the family were sitting down for dinner and were surprised when Julian and Larissa arrived – they were handfasted together. “Wow,” Sophie said, “What lead to this?”

Julian smiled at her. “Hi Mum. We had such a big week, we really needed to detox today. Larissa, particularly, had a massive week, deeply challenging, and she desperately needed a physical reminder of us, and we’ve done nothing today but love each other. And exercise.”

Larissa smiled at her. “We tied up together when I got home last night, and promised to stay like this for 24 hours, though we’ve had to get untied for changing clothes, but that’s all. I just needed Julian so much after this week.” She smiled at them all. “I’m starting to feel better, more whole. It was just an overwhelming experience. But I want lots of kisses and hugs from my family tonight.”

Julian smiled. “My babe really genuinely earned it this week.” He smiled at her and kissed her.

“How did you exercise like that?”

Larissa smiled. “It’s been fun. Getting into the car, for instance. Or sleeping! But we went to the beach, and ran along the beach. We got lots of attention! And then, we went for a swim.” She laughed, looking at their faces. “Right. No freestyle, though we tried! Nah, we just had to doggy paddle. Really, we were just chilling, which is what we wanted.” Julian sat at the table, and Larissa sat in his lap, and kissed him again. “We even tried what Alix and Willow did, Asha, with their t-shirts, but we just looked too ridiculous for us. But mostly, we’ve just been in bed. Talking. And...”

They laughed. “I want some ‘and’”, Steph said.

“Kissing!” Larissa said.

“Anyway, Mum, how are you feeling?” Julian asked.

“Actually, I’m feeling really good. Like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I’m going to miss my friends, and we’ve sworn to catch up at least monthly, but we probably won’t. But now, I can spend my whole time focused on the seven of you, who I just love. Oh, and James. If I have to.”

When the laughter finished, “Seriously. I wish I’d done this years ago, but we probably couldn’t have afforded it. We will pay off the rest of the mortgage with my payout, so by the end of the year, we’ll be debt free. That’s an amazing feeling. Such freedom.” She looked at James. “We’re really looking forward to it.” She kissed James gently.

“Thank you, Mum!” Larissa said.

“Oh? What for?”

“Kissing! Mum, thanks. Today, kissing is really good for me. With my man. And other people. We were running along the beach, and there was a couple kissing, so I made Julian stop.”

Instantly, all the couples were kissing deeply. When they eventually all stopped, Larissa was crying. “Oh, thanks so much. I knew there’s a reason I love my family so much.”

“You know,” James said, “I really don’t think we mind.” While he was saying that, Asha stood up and came and kissed Larissa deeply.

When she stopped, Larissa was crying more. She smiled through her tears, “Thank you Sister. You’re so lovely.”