Chapter 4

I had to wait a little longer for the next tryst, of course. That was especially true as Dad took his turn with Pamela as soon as Mom and Uncle Travis finished with each other. The look that Dad and Pamela gave Mom and Uncle Travis spoke volumes, even as Aunt Sylvia winked at all of us. The lust in my sister/cousin’s eyes was palpable, as was that in Dad’s, along with the satisfied smirk on Mom’s face after bedding my uncle. She walked a little funny, but that was hardly a bad thing. It was proof that she had her ashes hauled, after all.

I texted Mom one question, though, painful as it was, “If the chalice is supposed to make anything go, more or less, what was wrong with Dad and Jeanette? I just want to know this, because it is jarringly distinct from the rest of our family history here.”

Mom blushed a little and then texted back, “Jeanette was different because she wore an amulet that created a sort of bubble around her. That’s why she’s not still involved with us all. They’re exes thanks to that magical bubble. It’s a Cajun, bayou magic thing. She only slept with your father on those days she forgot to wear said amulet. The only things that can ward off sexual magic are forms of blood, water, or fire magic. The amulet must have been something like that.

“That’s why the news of her being intimate with your Dad somehow ... felt wrong or whatever. It’s really hard to explain. I failed to stipulate that with your father, though. That was my fault, basically. Your father should have asked me about it, perhaps, but he was so used to ‘anything goes’ that no exceptions ever occurred to him.”

Just then, oddly, I heard a knock at the door. Mom rushed to answer it, and speak of the devil ... You guessed it, it was Jeanette Devereaux. She wasn’t wearing the amulet, either, which really shook me up. Her mixed, biracial heritage wasn’t immediately apparent, of course. Her eyes were dark blue, though her hair was jet-black. She had a slight farmer’s tan, that was all. Then again, she was only a quarter-black, anyway.

Well, Lauren rushed to greet her mother, of course, being met with a very loving hug. Then Mom surprised me by rising to speak to her old girlfriend. Instead of a confrontation, Mom simply whispered something to her and the two of them embraced with tears falling down both of their cheeks. Something amazing had truly transpired right then and now. Jeanette had been forgiven.

Dad, meanwhile, came back just in time to see Mom and Jeanette hold each other, after which they pulled him into the group hug that included Lauren. There was nothing risque about this embrace, of course, so pretty soon, the whole family found itself hugging each other as if drawn by a magnet. Well, I noticed that Jeanette had very nice legs, but nothing inappropriate took place.

“We’ve been talking ... about all of us selling our places ... and moving in together, Jeanette. I think that I speak for all of us when I say that we would love it if you joined us in that. What do you think? No more division in our family, no more partition or separation. It’s time to heal and reconcile. No more pain, tears, anger, or sorrow,” Dad suggested, getting a nod from Mom.

“Oh, ma cherie, I have longed to hear such things for so long a time! How about it, Lauren? Want to move in with your father? Both of us would live with him and you would be with the rest of the family. How does that sound?” Jeanette had the decency to ask her daughter, my sister, about the matter, of course.

“Oui, Maman! Oui, Papa!” Lauren broke out into some French for a hot minute.

It was a good hour or two, after supper, in fact (more leftover fish, of course), not to mention a delicious dessert that Aunt Sylvia baked for us, before, well, you get the idea. I was alone in my room (well, the guest room that I used at the moment, though now we were melding into one household). Suddenly, I heard a little rap at the door, very tentative.

I rushed to answer it, being truly curious. It was Pamela, of course. Just out of the corner of my eye, though, I saw Jeanette follow Mom and Dad into their bedroom. The meaning was evident. It was to be a reconciliation threesome. Le ménage à trois. Mom would at last welcome her with open arms into the full embrace of the Antonino tribe, just as she should have long ago.