Chapter 16

At about two o'clock, Brooke showed up with her parents and they came upstairs and into the Suite that she was sharing with Dee--Aaron had moved his stuff down the hall with Jay for the short term. Dee was just emerging from the bathroom--fully dressed--as the members of the Cavanaugh family entered. They all smiled and greeted one another and engaged in small talk about hometowns, the newness of college life, the difficulties of certain college courses, and what the girls would ultimately like to do with their lives after college.

Brendan Cavanaugh felt uncomfortable using the girls' bathroom there in the Suite and asked Brooke to lead him back downstairs to the communal men's room on the ground floor off the main foyer. When they had left the room, and after the door had closed, giving Dee and Melissa some privacy, Melissa Cavanaugh turned to Dee and smiled with one raised eyebrow and said, "You almost had me fooled yesterday. We don't have a lot of time till Brendan gets back, but we ought to have enough time to get a few things out in the open."

Dee opened her mouth in mild surprise and paused just long enough for Melissa to hold up one hand and continue, "I don't need all the details right now. I just want to be sure that my little girl is okay and that she won't be getting hurt or distracted--emotionally or otherwise--from her studies by the unusual arrangements I picked up on here yesterday. So; what's with the twin beds, when the long term footprints of the bed frames in the carpet indicate a king bed?"

As Dee was framing her answer, Melissa also put in, "And I have cleaned up enough after my husband and son in bathrooms for so many years now that I can recognize all the small indicators of the regular presence of a man in there. Does that make it any easier for you to answer me truthfully?" The older woman was smiling knowingly now, fully confident that she would get something close to the truth out of Dee.

Dee took a deep breath and said, "Mrs. Cavanaugh, as you know, college life is a lot different, and probably a lot more open, than when you attended. I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that what you see for a room arrangement right now is the norm around here. It is not."

Melissa nodded and grinned thinly in a self-congratulatory mode at having read the situation somewhat correctly in her mind. Dee continued.

"While I will not go into details, out of respect for Brooke's privacy and to maintain some of my own, I will tell you that we do have male visitors here regularly--even overnight. Brooke and I, as of recently, have been sharing a king-size bed, but not in the way that might sound on the face of things.

"Also, you can rest assured that whatever is happening will not interfere with her studies. Our group insists on putting academic requirements ahead of everything else. And you don't have to worry that Brooke is becoming sexually oriented in a way that would keep you from eventually having extended family and grandchildren in the conventional sense.

"That's about all I feel comfortable in sharing at the moment. If you need to know anything beyond that, I respectfully ask that you talk to Brooke about any other details. But I would like to make one request about how you do that."

"And what would that be, Dear?" asked Melissa, partly relieved at what she was hearing; and still partly alarmed. Any mother would be at least mildly disturbed at hearing what Dee was saying about the obvious sexual activities that were going on with her daughter and her friends.

"Please wait until the end of the semester before you ask her. And it might be best to ask her when her father is not around. Would you please consider that for the benefit of both of you long term?" Dee asked. "I don't think she will try to deceive you, but I'm reasonably certain that she will be more comfortable about talking to you about it during the holidays and Winter Break; and be more open as well by that time."

Melissa was quiet for a moment as she considered the girl in front of her. "You are remarkably forthright. You are also a bit more mentally mature for someone of your obvious young age than I originally thought. I was sure you were going to try to hand me some sort of bullshit.

"All right; you have given me some of the answers I felt that I needed. I guess I have enough patience to wait till the end of the semester before I ask Brooke for the details of her new, uh, 'Campus Lifestyle.'

Dee reached out a reassuring hand toward the older woman and Melissa took it and squeezed. Dee flinched, having offered her left hand without thinking. Melissa looked at the mildly swollen fingers and the engagement ring and asked, "Oh, are congratulations in order at this time?"

Dee snickered and said, "Hardly! I was given this ring as part of a gag, and my hand got smacked and swollen. Now I can't get this stupid thing off until the swelling on that knuckle goes down." She smiled mischievously as she said, "But I am thinking about leaving it on as horn-dog repellant the next time I go clubbing."

Melissa chuckled along with Dee at that, but surprised Dee by saying, "Honey, I wouldn't count on a ring's presence to be a deterrent. If you knew how many times I've been hit on over the years while wearing my wedding ring set--sometimes even by my husband's so-called friends--you would probably be shocked. It's just something a woman has to learn to deal with."

Downstairs, as Brooke waited for her father to finish in the communal men's room, Sister Kylie, approached her with a mysterious smile and said that someone was out on the front sidewalk asking to speak to Brooke.

When Brooke spotted Trevor as she glanced out the window, she squealed with joy and dashed out the front door and down the steps. As he turned fully toward her, Trevor accepted the hug she gave him and answered with one of his own. That's how Brendan Cavanaugh found them two minutes later when he looked out the front picture window as he was trying to locate his daughter. Rather than head out to interrupt, he simply waited and watched.

"We missed you, you big lug," Brooke told Trevor. Then she added, "I missed you."

"I missed you guys too. I just could not ... well; these folks just mashed all the wrong buttons for me with what they did on Thursday; and in a way that I simply could not tolerate. I calmed down a bit yesterday and I now realize what they were really doing Thursday night.

"But now I am also very sure that I would not have been able to do all that is expected of me as a member of their Society. Some of my own sexual boundaries just won't let me.

"But I still want to stay in touch with all of my former Pledge friends," Trevor had spewed all of his words out in one long train of thought. Then he added with a look at Brooke, "Especially you, Sweetie. I really miss being around you."

Brooke grinned mischievously at him and said, "You miss my bod, huh?"

Trevor held her away from him at arm's length and said with a serious look, "Brooke, I miss everything about you. Not just your body; I miss your smile, your sense of humor ... YOU!"

With that, he pulled her to him and kissed her gently, but passionately. Brooke felt herself melt into his embrace and lost herself in her own return kiss to this good friend and wonderful man in her arms. When they broke contact with their lips finally, Trevor had to grin as he heard Brooke typically utter, "Oh, my!"

Brendan, watching his daughter and the nice-looking boy out front--well, man really--had frowned at first, but now he smiled. It looked like his Baby Girl had landed one already--in only two weeks; that was fast work; and this one looked to be a little more clean cut and mature than that clown, JJ, with whom she had wasted her time and emotions in high school.

The party started at three, and folks mingled and moved about as they made acquaintances with first-time guests. The hors d'oeuvre table was well-stocked and the coolers were filled with bottled and canned drinks. Pitchers for other iced drinks were arrayed for everyone as well. All the food and drinks were maintained and managed by two uniformed girls who were obviously college students hired for the occasion to serve as party staff.

Jay introduced his old girlfriend, Kempi, to everyone. Catherine, the only Pledge without a date for the event, noted that Kempi was a bit nervous, but gave every indication that she would like to try and renew her old high school connection with Jay.

Tylea and Lee stayed together for the event as they had all week long. Tylea showed more of an outgoing style now; gone was the somewhat introverted girl of a couple of weeks before. She and Lee gave every indication that they were glad to be together for a while, but there was nothing developing seriously between them.

Aaron was happy to be able to introduce his brother, Dave, and his sister-in-law, Jamie, to his friends. He was still quite obviously trying to adapt to the presence of Tina, Jamie's little sister--and Aaron's date for the event. He was still a bit uncomfortable with the matchup, but was making every effort to make Tina feel welcome. The young girl was trying to put on the aloof attitude of a mature adult, but she just could not hide the excitement of a female high school senior around all the college guys. Aaron noticed, and was somewhat successful at hiding both his annoyance at her roving eye and his amusement at the girl's obvious excitement.

Catherine noted in her own observation of Tina that the girl should have at least had the decency to respect the fact that she had a date in Aaron, rather than looking around as if she were on the hunt, or even available for an approach from the other guys. Thankfully, it appeared that the elder member Brothers, as well as the male Pledges, respected Aaron enough not to engage in silliness with Tina during the party. They kept their distances, other than simple courtesy during introductions and the expected routine conversation in passing. Guys knew that it was still an unwritten rule that you did not 'snake' a guy's date at a party like this; even a blind date.

Spirits lifted considerably when Brooke and her parents came in--with Brooke pulling Trevor along by the arm. The Pledges flocked around the returning 'prodigal' as they engaged him in welcoming conversation. They held off on more explicit discussions in deference to the presence of Mr. and Mrs. Cavanaugh and other guests. Brooke held tightly to Trevor's arm, to the amusement of her parents and to the pleasant surprise of the Pledges and elder members.

Several of the elder member Brothers came over later, when they could be circumspect, and got assurances from Trevor that he held no grudges about the incidents earlier in the week. But he confirmed that he was not going to be able to continue in his pursuit of becoming a full-fledged member of the Society due to certain sexual limits past which he just could not move comfortably. They all wished him well and indicated that he was always very welcome to attend any of their open events that allowed for non-member attendance.

Catherine had a harder time internally watching Jeremy and his old girlfriend, Tricia, as they moved around and made introductions. The thing that irritated Catherine the most out of all this was just how easily she found herself actually liking Tricia. Even though the girl attended the prestigious Dartmouth, she was very down-to-earth and friendly without any pretense.

It was easy to see that Jeremy was very pleased with Tricia's presence. Tricia's pleasure at seeing Jeremy again was easily manifested in the glowing smiles that she sent his way. Catherine made a promise to herself and a resolution that, from this point forward, she was going to take simple joy in Jeremy's own happiness at Tricia's reemergence as a reality in his life, and quit pining away at something that just wasn't meant to be.

Anyway, the way things were going with her participation in the Sigma Lambda Tau activities, Catherine mused, she just might be too busy to get involved in anything long term with anyone for quite a while.

Ah, well, Jeremy had definitely lit Catherine's fuse for a while there. Now, she resigned herself to move onward and upward. With this decision made, she actually felt a palpable wave of relief come over her.

Dee had been waiting a bit anxiously in the front hall and met Kyle out front upon his arrival, surprising him with a very hot kiss. Then she beamed at him, took his hand, and led him through the house and out back.

Those who had already met Kyle on Friday night greeted him with familiarity. They made him blush a bit as they joked about and commented on the fiancé role he had played the night before. This was commented on humorously with several references to the continued presence of that darned engagement ring that was stuck on Dee's still-swollen finger.

Dee introduced Kyle to the others and he appeared to be able handle himself socially without any of the normally expected unease of a non-college guy among all these collegians. Dee reflected that Kyle's self-confidence, developed over his years as a Soldier, had evidently molded him into someone who could not be intimidated easily--socially, intellectually, or otherwise. Of course, it also helped that he was a few years older than the folks in this crowd and, thus, a bit more mature.

Dee noted that Andi had not yet returned from her short trip home to retrieve Dean. She mingled with the other partygoers, along with Kyle, and enjoyed the beauty of the mild afternoon.

When the music began for the dancing, Dee held back for a few numbers, despite Kyle's interest in dancing with her. She wanted to watch for a bit before diving in. As she did, she noted that the elder member Brothers and Sisters who had taken to the area of the pool deck designated as the dance floor were extremely good.