And Then There Were Three (17 page)

“Her looks are a definite plus daddy, but
it’s more than that. And it’s not just sex either,” I explained. My
dad’s face turned an ashen color at the thought of sex and his
daughter. Male or female sex with me was not a topic of
conversation in relation to his little girl. My parents continue to
drown me in questions and where I was once resistant I am now an
old hat at this point with explaining our relationship. My mother
called my sister Elaina over, so that she could talk some sense
into me. However my mother really didn’t know her oldest daughter
really well. Elaina was five years older than me and when she hit
the magic forty years old, she lost her mind. Fresh off her second
divorce, my sister went nuts in the love department, to prove she
still had it.

Elaina eyed me suspiciously when she entered
my parent’s home. The quick story my mother gave her involved a
dancer who turned me into a lesbian and Mark using subliminal
messages to make me gay. Talk about the loss in translation there!
My mom could always spin a tale from virtually zero information or
cleverly repurpose a story to suit her teaching needs. With all of
this being said it was doubly hard, as I previously mentioned, my
mother looks like my youngest daughter Celeste.

“So you’re a lesbian now? And just how many
beauties have you conquered my gay little sister?” Elaina said in a
mock serious tone. I did my best not to laugh but my dad failed as
he let a snicker escape. My mother gave him an icy stare that
silenced him instantly.

“Elaina, cut it out! Mom, Elaina already knew
about my relationship with Nicole.” I tattled since she wanted to
pretend to be the good daughter.

“Elaina, why didn’t you tell me? We could
have held an intervention. Will you start to dress differently?
Please tell me you will not cut your hair and lose your
femininity.” My mother asked with absolute seriousness.

She was livid that my sister kept this secret
from her and just like that my mother switched gears. We used to
call my mother the hummingbird. She could never keep her focus on
one topic for long. It made growing up and getting away with a lot
of shit easy. My dad was not so easily persuaded but then he
considered us princesses most of our lives.

“I am not the wayward daughter this week,” my
sister objected. Elaina’s short black hair was always styled and
gorgeous. It was as if she went to the beauty shop every single
morning. My mother insisted that because Elaina cut her hair on a
non-full moon day, it would never grow long again. I am not sure to
this day what the lunar calendar has to do with hair growth, other
than for werewolves, but she is insistent this was the reason. I
was lost in this memory when I heard my sister and my parents
speak, “We are ready, let’s go Eva.”

“Uh, let’s go where?” I spluttered looking
around with confusion.

“To your house little sister. The folks want
to grill Mark and your new girl toy, Nicole.” Elaina laughed not
wanting to miss this dramatic event. I shook my head that was
unnecessary and they would see both those individuals at the next
family event. My mother and father were already in my sister’s car.
She was honking the horn by the way. I will never regret breaking
her New Edition N.E. Heartbreak album after this, for sure.

Imagine my shock when I arrived home to find
Mark’s parents in our family room and Nicole giving her
grandmother, Annabelle, the grand tour of the house. Martin and
Abigail Thompson exited the family room to give my parents hugs. I
rushed to Mark and he wrapped his arms around me as I whined.

“So I see we had similar results. Only I have
my annoying sister to serve as comic relief.”

“Aw shit Elaina is here? She already knows
about Nicole,” Mark remarked his expression dour.

“My mom called her but I happily burst her
bubble that she knew about this and didn’t tell my mom. Now we have
a family intervention in our dining room.”

“Maybe if we stay in here they can hash this
out without us,” Mark said a hopeful gleam in his eye. Mr. Thompson
called us both, hopes dashed.

Seriously, you would think we were teens
coming to tell our parents that we were pregnant. Holding hands we
walked in with somber expressions on our face. Nicole and her
grandmother were still M.I.A.

“Shut the door behind you. We want to talk to
you two alone first,” Abigail informed us. Mark shut the door and
we stood with four blazing sets of eyes upon one goofball my
sister, and us.

“What is wrong with your marriage? Have you
been contemplating divorce?” Martin initiated the first round of
questions.

“Dad, there is nothing wrong with our
marriage. Eva and I have a very strong marriage built on an
excellent foundation. We have never in fifteen years contemplated
divorce,” Mark answered.

“Psst, yeah right!” Martin responded
absent-mindedly. “Everyone contemplates divorce by year ten.”

If looks could kill this would have been a
funeral-planning meeting, Abigail gave him a death stare that made
me hide behind my husband. Martin shrank back in his seat done with
his questions.

“Is this some kind of fad or the in thing to
do?” My mother asked next giving my dad a knowing stare that said,
“shut up.”

“No mother this is not a fad or passing
fancy. Mark and I truly love Nicole very much.”

“We know how unusual this relationship sounds
and we are sorry to have to spring it on you all but its how we
feel.” Mark cleared his throat as he felt the daggers being shot at
his face from all sides. I tried to support my husband by speaking
up. “Look we tried to resist and trust me we fought our attraction
to Nicole. In the end we won because she loves us just as
much.”

“Try harder dammit!” Lynette Abernathy has
just entered the building folks.

“It’s not that easy mom, “ Mark said dropping
his head. “We love her too much to let her go. She is apart of this
family now.”

“I blame that reality TV, always trying to
show how weird people live. They make kids think it is cool to be
an outsider,” Martin finally spoke up again. The older adults all
nodded their heads in agreement.

“I am sure if you just spent some time with
Nicole and our family it would be easy to see how amazing she fits
into our life.” I chimed in wishing to be done with this
intervention. I wanted to get to the six-month update, to see if we
had relapsed already.

“What if this doesn’t work out? That poor
girl will go crazy. Who started this mess anyway?” Abigail said
shaking her head in disgust. Mark pointed to me and I shot him a
dirty traitorous look. I pulled away from him and he laughed
grabbing my arm.

“This isn’t funny, son,” my father finally
spoke up. Mark wiped the smile off his face as he wrapped his arms
around me.

“It most certainly is not funny for you dad,
you are correct. But for us it is a bit funny. We thought having to
tell you four might sway us and make us want to end this
relationship. However I can safely speak for us both, that even
with your misgivings, we are going to stay with Nicole. Simply put
she belongs here with her new family and we love her.” Mark replied
as I looked at him lovingly. Nicole burst through the doors
reaching for us as we wrapped her up in a welcoming hug. Mark and I
kissed her tear stained face as our parents looked on. I did note
the dads had a more open mouth expression to the love being
displayed in front of them.

“I love you two so much,” Nicole cried as her
grandmother entered the room.

“We love you too Nicole,” Mark and I cried
back in unison.

Abigail and Lynette directed their attentions
to the older still gorgeous lady walking into the room. This woman
was not what any of us expected. While well into her seventies,
Annabelle Fisher, was a looker. The well-kept woman needed only for
a cane to assist with ambulating, other than that she was stunning.
Long brown hair, swept into a neat ponytail, accentuated her nearly
alabaster skin. A dancer’s body rounded out the woman’s exceptional
appearance. My mother closed my dad’s mouth for him.

“Uh how do you feel about this setup for your
granddaughter,” my mother stammered. She tried to avert her eyes
and not stare directly at the woman but it was hard. Looking from
Nicole to her grandmother as if watching a tennis match struck
everyone in the room, except us three of course.

“I am not too keen on her having the most to
loose in this relationship but it’s not my call. I have already
kicked up my fair share of dirt. I am not sure what the future
holds for this uh relationship but I know my granddaughter will
give a thousand percent to its success,” Annabelle elucidated
before taking a needed seat. The tour had been lengthy.

“What about the children? This has to be
confusing for them, hell it’s confusing for me. Where will everyone
sleep? Oh please do not answer that question,” Mark’s mom, Abigail,
questioned as her expression went from curious to ill rapidly.

“The children have had time to adjust and
they are still managing to grow up healthy and happy,” I
answered.

“It wasn’t easy at first and we tried to
discontinue the relationship but Sabrina saw how much of a toll it
took on our disposition. We were miserable without Nicole.” Mark
added for support.

“I find that when you try to limit someone
from doing something it just makes them want to do it even more. I
already know my granddaughter has unusual appetites when it comes
to relationships and while this remains the strangest setup, who am
I to define her happiness? My happiness was defined for me with a
noose many years ago. So I never got into the business of telling
folks whom they could love, so long as it was between consenting
adults,” Annabelle said with a hitch in her voice that indicated
years of sadness.

“My grandfather was hanged for fathering two
children with my grandmother during the Jim Crow days,” Nicole
explained. The room fell quiet as they thought this over.

“I understand that must have been tough, but
Jim Crow days are over. I need them to end this madness, it doesn’t
make sense.” Leave it to Lynette to find a way to get back to the
topic at hand. Mark’s cell phone alarm sounded and we immediately
went to battle stations. Nicole planted her grandma in the family
room, while she picked Junior up from the middle school. Mark opted
to pick up Celeste while I headed to the high school to get
Sabrina. In a matter of minutes our parents were left in the house
as we collected our children.

Upon our near simultaneous return the
grandparent were treated to our family life. The kids did not
immediately notice their grandparents hovering in the family room
as they issued demands.

“I want chicken for dinner,” Celeste
announced.

“We had chicken last night,” Junior pointed
out. “Nicole, I have a study guide for history class, can you help
me go over the questions?”

Nicole took her place at the dining room
table prepared to help Junior. Mark and Sabrina continued to
monitor Sabrina’s science project on moldy bread, taking out the
specimens to be photographed. I took Celeste in the kitchen with me
while she practiced her spelling words I began to cook. The
grandparents rounded the corner to the kitchen with a look of
absolute awe on their faces. We totally forgot about their presence
as we did what we do almost everyday.

“Are you kids okay?” My mother questioned as
we went about our everyday routine.

“Grandma!” Celeste shouted upon seeing my
mother. She immediately went in for a big hug, her specialty.
Eventually the kids were basking in grandparent affections.

“Why wouldn’t we be okay grandma?” Sabrina
asked as she hugged my mother.

“Well your mom and dad just told us about
this situation with uh Nicole. We wanted to make sure you kids
weren’t traumatized by this nonsense.” My mother explained sweetly.
Junior, Celeste, and Sabrina exchanged looks of confusion.

“Nicole doesn’t traumatize us grandma. Nicole
is nice and my mommy and daddy’s girlfriend. We love Nicole,”
Celeste said to her twin, pushing up her glasses.

“Are you just saying that sweetheart? You
know you can tell grandma anything.”

“I just told you the truth. Grandma I do not
tell stories, unless I have to write one for Ms. Piskatelli’s
class.”

My mother blanched at this statement as
Celeste searched her face for answers.

Sabrina threw up her hands and announced,
“Look grandparents, you do not have to worry. I learned that we
fear what we do not know or understand. Trust us when we say that
we are okay with Nicole being apart of our family. Do not worry we
will not turn to hard drugs or engage in reckless sex to cope. It
is totally okay grandparents.”

Junior stood nearby shaking his head in
agreement, trying hard not to laugh as they both placated the
parents.

“Now am I cooking enough for everyone or do
we need to continue to explain ourselves?” I asked reaching for a
pack of chicken and a pack of hamburger. I was thinking spaghetti
and salad with some chicken on the side for Celeste. The
grandparents decided to stay for dinner, including grandma
Annabelle.

I had Nicole help make the large pot of
spaghetti. We moved around the kitchen as I explained my simple
spaghetti recipe instructions. Nicole cut up green peppers and
onions. Mark entered to grab a bottle of wine for the adults.
Collecting the wine glasses Mark plied Nicole with tender kisses
before sharing the love with me. Our mothers watched on in shocked
horror at the very public display of affection.

Mark poured a small sample of the red wine
tasting it before sliding the glass in my direction. I took a small
sip and allowed the earthy wine to coat my throat. Taking the glass
I placed it to Nicole’s lips as she continued to cut the
vegetables. After taking a sip I plied her with kisses. I only
stopped because of the audible gasp from our mothers.