“God no don’t tell him. It would kill him. He is so proper, just us being stepsiblings is bad enough. Besides, I’m not sure he knows for sure that Dania is his child the subject never came up and I never told him. It is the only secret I have kept from him. So we have to keep all this between us for now. I will help you if you want me to to keep your relationship from dad for the short run only.”
Dania and I looked at each other stunned. Did we just hear that her mom, my father’s step-sister, my new mom, was going to let us continue our relationship and help us keep it from my dad?
“I just have one request” mom said “don’t flaunt it in front of me. I love you kids and all I want is your happiness. I don’t have to like it, but I respect where you are coming from. After all, I’m not so far from that same place. I won’t pry, but be discrete even with me. Maintain the game you two have been playing and I think I can control what dad perceives. Remember he isn’t blind and he is very observant. Break that promise and I will have to end it one way or another. And above all, don’t get pregnant! Deal?”
“Oh mom” said Dania “I love you so much. Thank you … thank you … thank you.”
“Mom” I said, she smiled at me when I called her that “we will do everything in our power to warrant that love, trust and confidence.”
“You will make a fine lawyer some day or a politician” she said and we all hugged each other.
We had a hell of night. All I wanted to do was crash with Dania in my arms. So we all cleaned up and went to bed. Only this time Dania and I went to her room together. As I walked into her room with her, I turned to shut the door and saw mom frowning. Dania and I talked all night about what we were going to do next so we could stay together. As the sun came up, I got an idea that would not only have us living together, alone, without anyone questioning our relationship and meet with my dad’s approval. It was simple really. We would rent an apartment at school instead of spending the money on room and board. The institutional food, we had heard, was terrible and expensive so we could cook for ourselves in our own place. Pleased with our brilliance, we fell asleep, after Dania and I made quiet love on the floor. It was like a new beginning even more so than before.
The following Saturday, mom went to pick dad up at the airport. Earlier in the week, we had discussed our plan with mom and she was willing to support it so long as we rented a two-bedroom apartment. I started making calls to realtors and found there were five or six apartment complexes that would fit our needs and they all currently had vacancies for two-bedroom semi-furnished units. We checked around and decided to ask them to hold a unit for us in the one closest to campus and that we would be there to inspect it two weeks before school started. They agreed so long as we sent a deposit which mom took care of by mail. Part one accomplished.
But life has a funny way of messing you up. When dad arrived at the cabin he looked totaled. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days. Mom whooshed him off to bed and told us to fend for our own dinner that she was going to take care of dad. I asked whether everything would be OK and she said he would be fine, not to worry. Throughout the evening, Dania and I would sneak up to their door and try to hear what they talking about. We got bits and pieces and I heard the name Jake and Miranda (mom’s mother) mentioned a few times so I knew they were discussing them.
About 11:00, when Dania and I were just getting ready to go to bed, mom came down the stairs. She looked distraught and very, very tired.
“Come here kids, we have to talk” she muttered. We all sat down together in the living room.
“Mom, what happened, is everything all right with dad, is he sick or something.”
” No, he is physically just fine but very tired. Something happened on Tuesday and he hasn’t slept since. He was moving one of Jake’s books when it accidentally fell to the ground. Out came this paper. When dad looked at it he had the shock of his life. It was my birth certificate and it said that Miranda and Jake were my mother and father. That means that dad and I are not stepsiblings, like we thought, we are half brother and sister! It’s destroying this wonderful man and I don’t know what to do. I kept asking if he felt any differently about me and he said no if anything he loved me more. I am hoping this will be OK over time but you guys need to be very careful. If he finds out about you at this point it could crush him.”
“We’ll cool it when dad is around and not do anything around the cabin at any time” answered Dania. “I don’t think we want dad to be anything but the happy guy he was last week and if we can make that happen, then all the better. Are we supposed to know?”
“That’s part of his problem” mom said “he wants to tell you and get rid of that big ax of dishonesty hanging over his head but he is having a hard time justifying telling you. It may take a while so play along. I know you guys can handle it. I see the maturity you guys are displaying about yourselves.”
“We’ll take your lead, mom” I said and we agreed to head up to bed. Dania and I slept separately.
The next morning dad and mom were already up when I got downstairs. Dania was still sleeping. I poured some coffee and sat next to dad. We had a pleasant but very superficial conversation, something we weren’t used to. I looked at mom. She nodded so I asked
“Dad, is everything alright?”
“Dan, I’ll explain everything when Dania is awake. I need some time to sort it all out. I’m not sick and everything at the office is fine so not to worry. OK?”
My dad had always been straight with me so I acquiesced and sat in silence for a while in the kitchen drinking my coffee.
A while later, my beautiful Dania came down the steps looking radiant as ever. God did I love that woman. She grabbed a coffee and I motioned for her to come into the great room. Dad and mom were sitting on the sofa, holding hands. Mom was stroking dads head in that loving touch that women do to men. Dad was looking a lot better so we both sat down.
“Kids, I have something to tell you. I will make no excuses for it and mom and I have agreed to hold nothing back. I want you to know that we didn’t know anything about this until this week. What we are going to tell you must not go outside this family do you understand?”
We just nodded.
“OK, On Tuesday I was going through an old book that I got from my father’s estate. I accidentally dropped it and some papers fell out. When I open them one of them was a birth certificate Amanda’s. I found out from this document that some of the family lore I had been told wasn’t completely accurate. Mom agrees and I want to say to you that we love you both very much and we would never wish to hurt you. Mom is my half-sister we share one parent my father.”