Chapter 27

Day 29, Monday continued

I ushered Hailey in before me; mere politeness rather than an attempt to use her as cannon fodder.

"I'm back and I've got Hailey with me."

My call saw two girls hurry out and Hailey was embraced enthusiastically while she tried to ask if Rosalee was okay. As Rosalee responded I asked Anna if Ma had briefed Doug at all yet.

"Dad's caught up with a plumbing problem at one of the stores and won't be home for a while. I don't know if that is good or bad. He'd be helpful with Rosalee's problem but if he hears the rest he might not be interested."

I had to trust Anna knew her father best; well at least after Ma.

"Brent's home though so you might watch it over dinner. Ma is discrete; Brent is likely to tell all his drinking buddies first chance."

"So I'm back to just being your boyfriend?"

Hailey and Rosalee looked at the pair of us with some sorrow or envy in their eyes.

"My disgraced boyfriend, until Brent goes out or upstairs and then you can be our disgraced boyfriend again."

"How about the sleepover? Your mother said anything about that being okay?"

Anna looked at me as if I was a stranger then realised I was teasing and thumped me. "You had me thinking you were serious!"

"Let's see Ma. I've got some news and it's easier to tell it once."

"Hello Hailey. Welcome to my nightmare."

"Hello Mrs. Jamieson. Is it really that bad?"

"No, but it is complicated and involves strongly held beliefs and short tempers and even some careless decisions."

I added to Ma's litany. "It also involves a pile of clothes on a front lawn. Sorry love, I really think your father expects a whole lot of grovelling from you at the very least. Is it likely he's just trying to make a point and will let you go back?"

If he was going to hurt Rosalee I didn't want her to go back. I could speak with him, warn him of the consequences of stepping the least bit out of line himself but I knew he wouldn't take any notice of me, both due to my age and to the fact that I was the offending party in his (quite justifiable) view.

I had no quarrel with him being angry at me for making love to his daughter. It would be hypocritical of me to allow Doug his righteous anger and then condemn Mr. Lafayette.

But taking it out on his daughter was a different matter. Had Doug been violent towards Anna, I wouldn't have stood idle or merely tried to ward his blows. Instead it would have been a quick rabbit punch to his kidney that would have doubled him over in relatively harmless pain. Mr. Lafayette needed someone he would listen to; someone with the authority to make him realise violence would only breed more problems.

Of course, Rosalee was worried that people would steal all her clothes.

"Love, look at the area you live in. People give their clothes to the charity and recycle stores; they don't shop there. Your clothes are going to be safe. We'll pick them up in a while."

I really would prefer Doug to be the face of outraged support for Mr. Lafayette's daughter. It was discretion rather than cowardice since my own appearance would only inflame the situation.

"But where am I going to go?"

"We'll organise something. If necessary there is the motel."

Now I was giving Ma information she didn't need to have. Had she picked up "the" rather than "a"?

"We've got a guest room free. Rosalee could stay with us, couldn't she Ma?"

"Let's see if we can't smooth things over with her family first. That would be best."

Even Rosalee agreed with that though she appeared to be as doubtful of it happening as I.

To avoid the issue for a little longer Ma began to serve dinner. "Have you eaten Hailey?"

"No. Mom has got mine at home."

"Well you may as well have a bite here with us. Doug is going to get something for himself so there is plenty."

"Thank you." Hailey would deal with a second meal later; it would be easier not being the only one not eating.

If Brent was surprised at guests on a Monday night, he said nothing. I guess with a couple of attractive girls to look at he had no reason to object. Matters were a little strained though as the topics we wished to discuss were not for Brent's ears and, so, much of the conversation dwelt on what he was doing.

At least the food was delicious though Rosalee's appetite suffered from her expulsion and she had to leave half her plate untouched.

Brent went upstairs when he had finished and we cleared up and moved into the Family Room. I let Hailey share the lounge with Rosalee between her and Anna and watched as Ma considered how the three girls had so resembled Anna, Rosalee and myself earlier.

She turned the TV on as background noise so Brent would have trouble overhearing us.

"When I heard what the four of you had been up to I was amazed and then I thought it wasn't that much different from all the 'Free Love' messages that were being spread in the Sixties. Oh, I'm not old enough to have been involved or even to have been conscious of what was really being said at the time but when people began producing documentaries in the seventies and eighties they kept on about it. I never really knew anyone who was a part of it personally."

"I don't think that really applies Ma. We're not interested in other people."

"Especially Stephanie," Rosalee appended to Anna's comment and looked at me with a mock glare. I was pleased to see she wasn't entirely bound up by her father's attitude.

"Don't blame me. I said flat out I wasn't available."

"Well so did I!" responded Anna.

"Available, not that you weren't interested," charged Rosalee.

"Stephanie?" asked Ma.

"A girl who tried to hit on us."

"Roger and you?"

"And she would probably have asked Rosalee and Hailey if they'd been interested. We weren't interested despite Rosy's pedantic nature and that was that. At least it shows we were not just looking for sex though, doesn't it?"

"I guess so Anna. I'm more worried why she thought you might be interested in other girls."

"We think it's because of how we three react to each other now. You know how your eyes get wider when Dad comes home?"

"They do?"

"They do," I confirmed.

"Okay," said Ma. "I am going to say that I accept you all have something. What to call it, how it is going to turn out, in the short term or long, I don't have the foggiest but I won't object to it in principle. That said, I have to consider how you, as high school students, need to behave. I know I have no say over Rosalee and Hailey but if you two are -- let's say 'dating' for now. If you are dating Roger and/or Anna then whatever restrictions Doug and I apply to them will affect you. You might consider why we feel they are necessary and adopt them between yourselves anyway."

Rosy and Hailey nodded. Ma was likely to be far more lenient than their own parents.

"Well then. I won't say don't have sex. I feel that it would be pointless trying to make that sort of rule when you ignored it before. Instead I'll ask you to make sure you are safe. I'd rather you were here where you've got privacy than somewhere that puts you in danger. You want to say something Roger?"

"Just that, while we were possibly reckless I've always made sure there was no actual danger other than being caught."

"You were caught last night and Rosalee is suffering for it. I think that shows that you weren't exactly safe."

I had to concede Ma was right. Being caught had been a trivial problem; I had only assessed the danger in terms of how it affected my job. I should, if I cared for my three loves, have more seriously considered how being caught would affect them!

Ma noticed my thoughtful look.

"Now that doesn't mean you turn up here and spend the whole weekend in bed, or hopping in and out of each other's beds. You are young! Be active; do other things. Go on dates, and not always as the four of you.

"Anna, I've thought about your request and I think it is important for you and Roger to continue to have your own space for now. I've got to talk to your father; we've spoken today about you two but I have to let him know about Rosalee and Hailey as well. You needn't worry about him saying anything to anyone or reacting badly, well no more than this morning and I don't think that was unreasonable."

This time Anna and I nodded.

"If it is necessary, Rosalee can stay here tonight. I won't make any promises dear but don't worry that you're going to be left with nowhere to sleep for the present. It might not be practical as a long term option for any number of reasons but we will deal with those if and when they arise. However that too isn't an open license for any of you. Okay?"

Even Hailey added her okay to the chorus.

"So I guess the first thing we need to do is to see whether you and your parents can be reconciled. Any suggestions?"

"It was the neighbour's story that upset Rosalee's father. If we can counter that he might reconsider."

"Okay Roger. How do you suggest we could do that?"

Ma used the crisis as a means of judging us. Would we lie for each other (and was that a good or bad thing)? How responsible would we prove? Could we reach consensus or were there serious power issues with me controlling the other three?

Acknowledging that we were an unusual group was one thing; seeing if it was a healthy relationship was another. Ma cared about her own daughter first, as she should. If Anna was safe and happy then she could consider her responsibilities towards me and, after that, Rosalee and Hailey. I could accept that; we four had similar priorities ourselves.

"The first point raised was that Rosalee was with me in the park. If we inform Mr. Lafayette that Rosalee was with both Anna and me we should be able to convince him that, at worst, I was kissing Anna."

"Were you?" Ma started her interrogation.

"Well, sort of. Once properly I think."

"And did you kiss Rosalee?"

"Yeah. A couple of times."

"How about anything else?"

"No. I held Anna, hugged her. That was all."

Ma looked at me incredulously. Anna responded.

"I was the one there with Rosalee Ma. Remember!"

"I remember now. I find it hard to get my head around it."

"Well, Roger and Rosalee had alre..."

"No. I don't need the details and I certainly don't want them. Knowing you all get together does not mean I need vivid images."

"Sorry Ma."

"Was that all that would have upset your father, Rosalee? Kissing Roger doesn't seem that much and it sounds like there wasn't anything else the neighbour could have honestly reported."

"When Roger and Anna were leaving I did the striptease, remember?"

"I hadn't. Okay. What would he have seen?"

"I turned around I guess and then leaned against the window."

"Nothing more?"

"No. Mom called out to me and I had to get dressed in a hurry."

"Well then, let's try acting it out; it's a technique we used to use in conflict resolution when I was in college way back. I'll play Rosalee's parent. Which one is likely to answer the phone?"

"Probably my mother, now."

"And would she pass the phone over to your father?"

"If he hasn't been drinking. If he's gotten worked up over me he quite possibly could have been."

"Right. Roger, you are me. I'll be Rosalee's mother. You others feel free to make suggestion about what I would really say if you think I'm off the mark. Ring, ring. Hello?"

"Mrs. Lafayette, it's Elsie Jamieson here, Anna's mother. I've got Rosalee here; she turned up after school rather upset, saying she'd gotten into trouble over something but it was all a misunderstanding."

"A misunderstanding! Did she tell you what she was doing with that boy you've got living with you?"

"With Roger? He's the sweetest, most innocent, not to mention handso..."

"You're not being serious enough!"

"Sorry Ma. Er, Rosalee has told me what you believe happened. Something about being caught with Roger in a park?"

"My neighbour walked in on them alone together in the park after dark. He interrupted them fooling around."

"But they weren't alone together. You know that Anna and Roger both went to dinner at Hailey's house don't you? Anna told me she was with them the whole time when they escorted Rosalee home. I rather doubt that he would have been doing anything improper with your daughter that evening when I'm embarrassed to say he was found with my daughter in compromising circumstances the very next morning."

Ma called time out. "You think that a wise argument? It could lead to Anna's reputation being tarnished."

"I have a reputation?"

"Currently a good one. I hope."

"No, I couldn't believe anyone cared enough about what I did to give me a reputation, good or bad. Besides, I don't think this would matter to anyone I know. If I was fugh ... sleeping with anyone and everyone then I'd get a phone number graffiti rep but if I had a single boyfriend then everyone would assume we were doing something anyway. To be caught almost doing something or almost caught actually doing something would be quite normal."

"You'd discuss these things?"

Even Rosalee and Hailey nodded that these were topics of conversation with close friends.

"Okay, where were we then? You'd just told me that you'd caught Roger and Anna having sex."

"No, I said in compromising circumstances. Anna had slept with me, not slept with me, at least then."

"I stand corrected and a little relieved. Okay then, how would Mr. Lafayette interpret that?"

"He'd think you walked in on them while they were hard at it."

"And thank you Rosalee for that vivid imagery."

"Sorry."

Anna hugged her. "Don't worry love. That's one of the things I find attractive about you."

I silently agreed.

"Okay, you make the 'compromising situation' and I go 'What?' so how do you clarify my misunderstanding?"

"She felt she needed to have a cuddle and they fell asleep."

"And you believe her?"

"In this matter yes because she could have lied about things she knew I would disapprove of and didn't."

"What sort of things?"

Anna coached me; I answered "That doesn't matter now. What I'm concerned about is your daughter is suffering because you were prepared to listen to your neighbour and not her."

"Did she tell you about showing herself to anyone who could walk by?" I suspect Ma was also using the role play to say things she would felt she couldn't express without making it harder for the girls to confide in her in future.

"She said your neighbour told you something about seeing her naked in her bedroom. If it was my daughter I might tell her to be more careful about closing her curtains and wonder how often my neighbour has been keeping an eye on her window."

"Nasty Roger!" said Hailey.

"He said she was flaunting herself."

"And has Rosalee ever done anything similar before? Why are you so willing to accept another's word without giving her at least the benefit of the doubt?"

"I guess I would give in at that stage if it was me," said Ma. "I don't know about your parents Rosalee. That was very well argued Roger."

"I guess I've been thinking of ways of explaining what happened ... not that I'd ever do that to you or Doug."

"Yes. Well. I doubt I could come up with anything better without serious further thought and I believe now is an opportune time to call your home since your father has had time to calm down and consider the consequences of what he has done."

Rosalee smiled at Ma. "Thank you for doing this for me."

"You're welcome Rosalee. You want to enter the number for me please?"

She passed Rosalee the handset and waited while Rosalee dialled her home number. Rosalee handed it over and we sat quietly listening to Ma working her way through the script.

Rosalee's father actually answered and nothing went quite the way we had intended. Ma got a little flustered at one point and explained it to us after she had finalised the call with an unsatisfactory "Well if that's how you feel, I'll be around shortly to pick up the clothing I believe you've put out for her. Is there anything else she should collect? Her school things perhaps? Oh that's not necessary. If you gave her a few minutes I'm sure she could do that for herself. No? Well then..."

"No go?" asked Anna, not really expecting a reply. "What went wrong?"

"Nothing to start with other than none of my comments seemed to sway him in the least. He dropped a bombshell on me that I wished you'd considered though. Apparently you keep a diary Rosalee?"

"He read it!?"

"I don't think I need to answer that."

"What did it say Rosy love?"

"Not much really. Only a few words to jog my memory. I can't believe he read it."

"Rosy," said Hailey. "He threw your clothes out."

"And your school books as well," added Ma. "I hope you don't have any homework you need to hand up; it might get blown away."

"Damn, what am I going to do about school?"

Hailey, attending the same convent-based school was aware of the situation. "The semester is paid for in advance so you get to finish the year. Next year might be different."

"And that comes under things to be worried about later," I pointed out.

"What did he say about my diary?"

"First he read out an entry for a Saturday. Something like 'I was an idiot but in the end everything was perfect.' I think that was it."

"I meant the day. I was thinking of dinner when I wrote it."

"Well he also had entries that he linked to the other times you were out with Roger. Things like 'I'm a woman for real now. Wonderful, I love him.' That sort of thing. He said you'd drawn a heart with 'RT' inscribed."

Rosalee was a little embarrassed. "Well I do! I only meant that I knew I'd been mistaken about before and knew the difference and it was wonderful!"

"We know," Hailey confessed, actually admitting her part to Ma.

Ma picked up the phone again and called Doug. He was still detained. Normally the manager of the store could have managed the plumbers as well but he had two days off with his own personal crisis.

"I'll have to take you over to get your things Rosalee. I don't think it is advisable for Roger to take you by himself."

"I agree." Ma was worried for me; I didn't want to see Mr. Lafayette hurt, however pleasing that might be.

"I'll help you load the car but I think I'd better go home after that if you don't mind."

"Certainly Hailey," Ma acknowledged.

Rosalee's father hadn't thrown Rosalee's school work out. Knowing an adult was coming to collect her things, he'd made an effort to look a little more rational -- if tossing your sixteen year old daughter out onto the street can be considered rational by any definition

Rosalee's clothes were in one relatively neat set of piles, her school bag then divided the path to their front door from stacks of books and folders. It was as though they had built a wall to keep Rosalee and her supporters away.

"Roger, there is nothing heavy. Would you just stay by the car and try to stack things in as best you can please."

Ma didn't want me actually on the property.

They cleared the school things first. I restacked them at the back of the trunk. Next came Rosalee's clothes; so many of them, items I'd never seen including outfits that she couldn't have fitted into for a couple of years. It seems her father had simply thrown out anything in her drawers and wardrobe.

Underneath it all was her diary, the pages torn out and scattered. For Rosalee it was a potent symbol. Her life had been recorded in there for the past two and a half years; little notes that told a simple story. Now they were so much scrap and her father had said to her "All you were is gone" in one of the most damaging ways.

Anna and Ma were by the car and we all turned at Rosalee's anguished cry.

"No!"

Rosalee was on her knees, grabbing at the fragments of paper as the light breeze lifted them from where they had been hidden. Hailey knelt and between them they had most of the litter gathered up before the rest of us could join them.

Rosalee was weeping and accepted the scraps Hailey had gathered. Hailey wrapped her arms around Rosalee and held her tightly. She rubbed her hand over the back of Rosalee's head.

"Hush Rosy love. It will be okay." She kissed Rosalee's cheek as Anna and then I knelt beside them.

Ma glared at the house and at the closed curtain that still moved in the window. She grabbed another pile of clothes.

"Come on, let's get these packed away and get out of here. Hailey, would you take Rosalee to the car please?"

"I'll be all right," said Rosalee and with Hailey and my help she stood. A piece of paper fell from her hand and she just looked down at it; stunned until Anna bent and retrieved it.

"Come on Rosy love. Forget the rest. Just come and sit with me in the car."

Anna and I watched them move off and then helped Ma. They piled my arms with clothes and I just dumped them in the back, completely filling it. Anna had more on her lap in the back next to Rosalee and Ma put the remainder on my lap in the front.

"You okay Rosalee?"

"I guess. Thank you for everything Mrs. Jamieson."

"You're under my roof, you'd better get used to calling me Ma. You too Hailey."

"Thank you Ma."

There was no time to say anything before we were at Hailey's and she had to leave. With the piles of clothes Anna and I stayed where we were so Rosalee said goodbye on our behalves before Hailey got out of the car.

It was a quite open kiss, not erotic in an X-rated movie sense but very much so as a romantic, two-people-in-love kiss. Ma was the only public they actually had but I could see she wasn't unmoved by the sight.

"If you're going to school tomorrow I'll come over early and we can go together."

"Thanks. I'd better. You know, it's an 'if you don't brush your teeth then the terrorists have won' sort of thing. I'm going to get good grades so I can get a scholarship and won't need them any more."

"You've got us," said Hailey.

"And you know we love you," added Anna.

"Thank you."

Hailey waved from the doorstep and Ma drove off as she walked through the door.

Doug was not upset so much as confused and disturbed. He kept looking at me as though this was all my fault. I guess he had some justification.

It was after 11 and Anna had settled Rosalee in bed with her -- and with her mother's blessing -- almost as soon as we had gotten home.

I had an invitation to visit but I knew Ma would disapprove if I did more than call in and kiss them goodnight. She had reacted with such generosity and understanding that I wasn't going to deliberately strain matters.

She and I had unloaded the car into the guest room as quickly as possible and we were both tired from all the stairs by the time we were finished. Brent had looked at us but other than asking "What's up?" and being told Rosalee was staying over he didn't offer to help. Jerk!

We ended up in the kitchen, drinking coffee while we waited for Doug to turn up. Ma was incensed at Rosalee's treatment and couldn't understand how I could be so calm.

"Rosalee is safe, her father won't hurt her though he might decide to try. If I got upset I might be tempted to do something and that wouldn't solve anything now. I read a quote once that said 'Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent' but I think that is wrong. It's often the first tool the incompetent use and perhaps the last of the desperate. I'm not desperate and I hope I'm not incompetent -- that sounds more like Rosalee's father. Instead I think competent people restrict violence to where it can be applied like a surgeon's knife. The problem is knowing the tumour from the healthy tissue.

"Mr. Lafayette is a tumour but he's not much different from many others in society. He's not the raging malignancy but rather the ugly growth that is otherwise a benign nuisance. Some might make the effort to get rid of such things but it can be better to just ignore them and deal with the things that really matter."

"That is quite profound Roger."

"Yeah, well I guess I read a little Philosophy when I'm not reading History." I also spout off too much! It may have been my philosophy but it shouldn't have been Roger's.

A little while later Doug walked in weary from his long and stressed day and found the problems hadn't finished.

The day had started with his sixteen year old daughter in bed with his seventeen year old foster son -- or so he thought.

Ignoring his problems at work he now kept looking at me while Ma informed him that,

• Not only had I admitted actually having sex with Anna, I was also having sex with Rosalee and with Hailey.

• Not only was I having sex with Rosalee but, because her father had become aware of the fact, she had become yet another house guest.

• Not only was Rosalee a house guest for an indeterminate period but she also -- like Hailey -- happened to be lover's with, once again, Doug's sixteen year old daughter.

And...

• Not only had his daughter spent the last night in bed with one of her lovers, she was doing the same with another of them as Ma spoke.

I hoped Doug had good medical cover as his blood pressure must have kept on climbing as she spoke.

"Anna is having sex with two girls as well as with Roger and you bring one of them into the house after her father kicks her out!?"

"What would you have me do? Besides, they're in love."

"I thought she said she is in love with Roger?"

"Perhaps I should have said the four of them are in love."

Doug looked at Ma now, wondering if it was all a giant practical joke.

"Ridiculous!"

"I agree. It is sheer madness but I also think it is quite real if just as impractical."

Doug glared at me again. I had wisely stayed quiet.

"Oh go on! You can talk. I'm not going to knock you around."

"Thank you." I still let Ma talk for me.

"Don't bother thanking me. I just don't see how throttling you and ending up in jail is going to make things better."

"That at least shows you're not incompetent dear."

"What?" Doug looked at Ma.

"You aren't using violence to solve your problems, unlike Rosalee's father."

Doug could understand that the topic seemed to have changed but not why. The mysteries of a woman's mind perhaps.

"So where do we go from here?" he asked.

"To bed I think and Rosalee will go off to school with Hailey in the morning. After that I guess we take things one step at a time."

"I meant about Anna and Roger and, I suppose, the others."

"I'd say the damage is well and truly done and we have to recognise the situation that exists. That doesn't mean there are no rules -- we've already discussed some of them and you and I can work out what we feel is appropriate. All three will have their own rooms but, provided their behaviour is satisfactory and precautions are taken, some visitation is to be permitted."

"I don't like it but I don't like Anna sneaking around either. You had better look after them though. I can't see how you can love three girls at the same time; having sex is easy but cheating on a girl normally means you don't love her."

"We don't cheat. We know about each other and share our love," I replied.

"It's all rather Sixties Doug. I find that the best way to think about it when necessary, otherwise I try not to think about it at all. And on that note I will go to bed."

We all got up.

"I am sorry things have gone weird and thank you for being the sane ones around the place today," I offered.

"But not sorry for starting this mess in the first place?" Doug responded with less heat than he might have exhibited.

"I can't be sorry for finding someone I can love who loves me back. I can't even feel bad about finding three someones. I am doing what I can not to add any more to the list."

"Well thank you for that at least Roger. Goodnight and go to bed -- your own! You've got school tomorrow."

"I will."

Day 30, Tuesday - just

I was only out of the shower and in bed for a quarter of an hour when I heard my phone buzzing in silent vibration mode. It might not actually make the buzzing sound but hard plastic bouncing up and down on the top of the bedside cupboard created quite a local racket.

Since this number was not generally available I was on alert right away.

"Yes?"

"A heads up. Your third is walking the streets in your direction with a couple of packs."

I thought quickly. "She safe out there?"

"I'm watching. It's not on the J.D. but I guess you should be marked down as a marriage counsellor."