Brenda & Ian Ch. 02

"What is the matter with you, Ian?" Janet growled. "Don't you realize that you and Brenda are cousins and that will never change? Think of our reputations and how it will hurt the family."

"I never thought that marrying the person that I love and cherish would hurt our family. I would hope that everyone would understand and be happy for us. Obviously, you think otherwise and nothing I say will make any difference." Ian stopped talking and moved closer to Brenda.

"I can't believe you two are actually serious about this," she snapped. "Your father is going to have an absolute fit..."

"Fit about what?" Adrian said from the doorway. He was dressed in a bathrobe and slippers and had a towel wrapped around his neck.

Ian turned at his father's voice and felt his stomach start to churn. In as firm a voice that he could muster, Ian said, "Brenda found out that she's adopted when the will was read. We love each other and we want to get married." There was no turning back now.

Adrian's eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched. Ian thought he saw a vein bulge from his forehead, but he wasn't sure. Adrian thrust his hands into the pockets of the robe and began to pace the floor.

"Let me get this straight," he began, "Brenda's adopted and you want to marry her."

"Yes," Ian answered.

"Did you knock her up?" he asked cruelly. Janet winced. Even she didn't expect that. Brenda looked at him with contempt. Only Ian didn't flinch. He knew what to expect from his father.

"I believe she's been on the pill since she was thirteen," Ian answered politely, "so, no, I don't think she's pregnant."

"So, you're telling me that within a week or two, you've decided to fall in love, play house, and get married."

"Actually, I think it was play house, fall in love, then get married," Ian answered sarcastically. He knew it would irritate his father dramatically, but he didn't care at this point.

"You don't seem to understand how serious this is."

"I take a marriage proposal very seriously," he answered flatly.

"You know what I mean."

"No, I don't. Fill me in."

"Does incest ring a bell?"

"It's not incest."

"How so?"

"We're not blood related."

"That doesn't matter."

"According to the law, it does."

"No one gives a shit about the law!" Adrian thundered. "It's how people perceive you. You two will always be cousins in everyone's eyes."

"Then everyone will have to develop a new perception."

"You will not do this," Adrian said, pointing his finger at Ian. "I won't let you."

"You have no say in this," Ian said quietly, in control.

"I don't have a say in this?" Adrian moved closer to Ian, trying to intimidate him. "Who pays for your schooling and everything you have?"

"Well, I'm on scholarship, but you pay for most of everything else." Ian worked summers to earn money for extras.

"You're being a real smart ass and it's starting to piss me off! You two are not getting married and that's final!" he roared.

"Dad, you don't have a say in this and you can't stop us, so please be reasonable," Ian said.

"Don't push it, Ian," he hissed. He turned to Brenda. "I think it's time for you to go home and forget this stupid notion of marriage. If you had kept your pants on, he wouldn't be in this mess."

Brenda's face went crimson with anger.

"Don't you dare talk to her like that!" Ian said firmly.

Adrian turned back to Ian. "You don't tell me what to do in my house, boy! I still run the show here and if you don't like it, get the hell out!" Ian looked at Brenda as she began to stand up.

"Adrian! That's enough! There's no reason for this talk," Janet exclaimed.

"They are not getting married and that's it. He's not going to talk to me that way and get away with it!"

"Come on, Brenda, let's go," Ian said.

"You wait right there," Adrian commanded.

"What?" Ian asked impatiently, wanting to leave.

Adrian held out his hand. "Give me your keys."

"Adrian, no!" Janet squealed.

"If he wants to leave that bad, he doesn't need keys." He turned back to Ian. "Oh, and by the way, you'll never get a dime from me."

Ian grinned and managed a chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Adrian demanded.

"You just don't get it, do you? I don't give a damn about your money anymore. You think that by cutting me off, I'll suddenly change my mind. I can't believe it." Ian dug into his pocket and pulled out his key chain.

"And the car keys, too." Adrian seethed.

Ian laughed and shook his head. He took off the house keys and the car keys and handed them to this father.

"Adrian, don't do this." Janet cried.

"He's not welcome until he learns respect and stops this idiotic notion of marrying her."

"You're crazy," Brenda said as she stood next to Ian. "I don't know what your problem is, but you need some serious therapy."

"That's enough out of you," Adrian warned.

"Is this how you do your business? If someone doesn't agree with you, you kick them out. Is that it? I pity you. There's something wrong with you."

"Get out of here," he dismissed her.

"Gladly." She walked past him and took Ian's hand.

"Adrian, stop it, stop it! You can't do this to him," Janet pleaded, crying. Adrian ignored her.

Ian and Brenda walked out of the room and went down the hall towards his room.

"You don't need to go in there," Adrian called behind them, "you're not taking anything with you."

Ian stopped and turned around. "I'm getting my books and notes. You may have paid for everything else, but you paid nothing for my schooling. I'm getting my books and notes and you can keep everything else!" Not waiting for a reply, they entered his room. He found three backpacks and filled them with textbooks and notebooks. Arms folded, Adrian waited at the door, Janet sobbing behind him. The only other thing that Ian took was his computer disks. He handed the lightest backpack to Brenda and he hoisted the other two onto his shoulders.

"You ready?" he whispered to Brenda. She nodded. Wordlessly, they brushed past Adrian and headed down the stairs. Brenda looked at Ian as the reached the front door and saw tears streaming down his face. Without looking back, he opened the door. They stepped out and closed the door behind them.

"You bastard!" Janet hissed at Adrian when the door closed.

"He'll be back," he said confidently. Janet strode away quickly, went back to her study and locked the door behind her.

They walked quickly away from the house and didn't look back. The backpacks were heavy against Ian's shoulders, but he barely noticed. His thoughts were filled with rage and disbelief. His figured his father would be upset, but he didn't think he would be that stupid. Like Brenda, he wondered how he became such a success at negotiating oil contracts. When he told Brenda that he might be disowned, he was partly kidding. He really didn't think that it would come to that.

Hands in his pockets and looking straight ahead, he thought that, eventually, they would come to their senses, at least his mother would. He knew that his father could be a different story. After five minutes, he stopped abruptly and dropped the books to the ground. His shoulders ached and they needed a break. Brenda slipped her backpack to the ground and looked at him. Ian stretched his arms behind him and sighed.

"I never thought it would be like this," he said, looking up. "Who would have thought?" He shook his head. Brenda slipped her arms around him and hugged him tight. Ian tried to smile, but couldn't. "Come on," he said, "it's only a few more blocks before we hit Main Street. We'll get a cab from there."

"Okay," Brenda said as she picked up one of the backpacks that Ian had carried.

"Hey, I've got that one," Ian protested as he tried to take it from her.

"No, I've got it," she insisted as she started to walk away from him. Shaking his head, he picked up the other two and followed her.

Once they were back at the house, they took the backpacks upstairs and put them in Ian's room. Ian sat on the bed and looked blankly at the wall. A few seconds later, Brenda sat down next to him and put her hand on his arm.

"Want to talk?" she asked.

"Oh, I don't know," he sighed. "Everything's been pretty much laid out in the open. I guess we can cross two off of our wedding list."

"Please don't say that. Maybe they'll come around."

"You think so? You would have thought I was marrying the devil herself. They just couldn't get past the cousin thing."

"Well, we struggled with that for a while," Brenda replied. "Remember?"

"Yeah, but once we found out about your adoption, we got by that pretty fast."

"Record time, I think," Brenda smiled.

"Yeah," he agreed. "I just can't understand why they're so hung up on it. Our reputations. What will people think? It's so stupid."

"I don't know what to say," Brenda said.

"Neither do I right now. Mom might soften after a bit, but I really pissed off dad. I don't know if I've ever seen him madder. I knew he'd get mad, but that was ridiculous."

"It was like seeing a whole different person. I didn't know him," she added.

"Same here." Ian shrugged his shoulders and then stretched. "It's his loss," he mumbled to himself.

"What?" Brenda asked.

"Nothing," he replied. Ian put his arms around her shoulders and held her close before putting his head against her shoulder and chest. He sighed heavily but made no other sound.

Ian and his father were never close, but he was confused at the fury of his father's actions. He knew that the threat of disinheritance was always there, but he never thought that it would come to that. Although not altogether surprised, it still hurt nonetheless. Ian was sad, but not sad enough to cry. He wasn't going to cry over him anyway. Ian was very thankful to be with Brenda now. She was the only thing that made sense in his life at that moment.

Brenda held him tight and kissed his forehead, hoping to somehow comfort him. His head felt heavy against her, but she didn't complain. She knew how much he needed her at this time. After a few minutes, Ian's growling stomach interrupted the quiet time that they were sharing.

"Are we hungry?" Brenda laughed. Even Ian managed a smile.

"I guess so," he shrugged. He then remembered that they were going to eat at his parent's house until certain events nixed that plan.

"Come on, I'll fix us something," she said as she stood up and extended her hand to him.

"Nah, you don't have to. You've cooked the last few nights. You name the restaurant, my treat." Ian looked up at her.

"You sure?" she asked.

"Of course," he replied, "can't a guy treat his future wife to dinner?"

"I'd be a fool to pass that up. I may never see it happen again," she teased.

"Hey, that's not nice. I'm sure you'll see it at least once or twice more in the next fifty years."

"Whoopie!"

"Well, what do you expect? You're the millionaire in this house," he said, quite amused.

"Are you going to keep talking or do you want to eat?" Brenda demanded, hands on hips.

"Eat."

"Well, shut up and get going!" she commanded.

"Yes, ma'am."

Brenda chose a small Italian restaurant that catered to the university crowd. It wasn't crowded, being late afternoon, so she asked for a dimly lit corner table. The restaurant was quaint and charming, with soft instrumental music playing in the background. The waiter asked if they wanted anything to drink. Ian ordered a carafe of Zinfandel for them.

"Oh, I love a romantic," Brenda cooed.

"I only ordered it to get drunk. Did you want something, too?" he asked innocently.

"God, you're such a brat!" she exclaimed. You sure know how to ruin a moment."

"You wouldn't want me any other way," he said seriously.

"Never."

Brenda's soft eyes flickered through the flame of the candle that separated them. Ian couldn't help but to stare at her, her eyes and smile melting him.

Once they received their meals, they took their time, thoroughly enjoying the food, wine, and each other's company. Exchanging glances, they didn't speak much, but let their eyes do the talking.

When they finished, Ian paid the bill and left a generous tip. Brenda offered to help pay, but Ian insisted. Adrian hadn't said anything about the remainder of the money that he had left Ian when they went to Europe, so Ian decided to use it mainly for school supplies and clothes. Ian still felt a bit uncomfortable with Brenda paying for everything, so anything that he could pay for made him feel better. Brenda understood and didn't make an issue out of it.

Neither felt like going home, so they decided to go to the mall and take in a movie. They decided on a comedy, but it wasn't scheduled to start for an hour and a half. They bought the tickets anyway and decided to stroll the mall to kill time.

They came upon a jewelry store and decided to go in. A sales clerk swooped in like a vulture seeing fresh road kill and asked if she could be of any assistance. Brenda thanked her, but said that they were only browsing and not ready to buy. The clerk moved away and Brenda began looking at the wedding sets.

"You know, I won't be able to afford much," Ian said softly.

"And you know that whatever you give me will be a treasure. I don't care if it's a carat or a simple silver band, it'll be blessed just the same. Whatever you give me will be perfect."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I am. You ought to know me by now. I'm not into diamonds and jewelry. If you can't afford an engagement ring, then I don't need it. Believe me." She leaned over and kissed him.

Ian looked at her closely. She was wearing gold studs and a thin, silver necklace. There were no rings on her fingers or bracelets on her wrists. He tried to remember back to the funeral and he could recall only simple earrings and a single strand of pearls, simple and understated.

"See this, this is perfect," she said, pointing to a set. Ian looked carefully to where she was pointing. It was a three ring set in gold. The engagement ring had a small diamond, perhaps 1/8 carat, but it sparkled beautifully, a really good cut. Each of the wedding bands had a small diamond chip in it. It was a very nice set and it was only $400 for the entire set.

"Do you like it?" Ian asked.

"Yes, it's beautiful," she replied.

Ian asked the clerk to bring the set out of the case so that they could look at it more closely. Brenda looked at Ian apprehensively as the clerk unlocked the case and showed the rings to them. They looked even better close up as Ian peered at them. He took the engagement ring and showed it to Brenda. She held her breath as she looked at it, checking it's cut and how it sparkled in the light.

"Do we need to look further?" Ian asked.

Brenda merely shook her head. She was speechless.

"We'll need all three sized," he said as he took the ring from Brenda and handed it back to the clerk.

Brenda tugged at his arm. "Ian, can you afford this?"

Ian smiled at Brenda and said, "Yes." He didn't add that it was a wedding gift from his father. A bit ironic, he thought. Although he had enough money in his own account to purchase the set, he decided then and there to use his father's money and not feel bad about it. In fact, it made him feel good and he hoped that one day his father would learn that he indirectly purchased their wedding rings.

After the rings were sized and Ian put a down payment towards them, they left the store. Brenda looped her arms though his and leaned against him as they strolled the mall. She wasn't crying, but was fighting to keep the tears from flowing. Every few steps, she hugged him and looked up at him, smiling from ear to ear.

As they approached the cinema, they took a seat on one of the benches nearby. Brenda placed her head on his shoulder and surrendered to her emotions and let the tears flow. Ian looked around at the other people nearby, but no one was paying attention to them. Brenda squeezed his hand and held it to her face, kissing it.

"You make me so happy," she gushed.

"Ah, you say that to all of your boyfriends," Ian replied, smiling.

"Don't make fun," Brenda said. "Every time I try to be serious, you make fun."

"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to." He looked away and saw people starting to line up for the movie, although it was still twenty minutes until the starting time.

"I just like to joke with you," he continued. "Sometimes, it's hard for me to be serious, even though I know I should. I don't know." He looked back at her, her eyes still misty from tears.

"I guess I can live with that," she said softly.

"I sure hope so," he laughed.

They enjoyed the movie thoroughly and relived several scenes on the way home, laughing until their sides hurt. Their laughter, however, turned to silence as the house came into view.

"Shit!" Ian exclaimed as he saw the unmistakable shape of his father's Mercedes in the driveway. "What does he want now?"

Brenda drove past Adrian and parked in front of the garage at the west side of the house. Adrian was leaning against his car waiting for them. Ian and Brenda walked slowly toward him not looking forward to another encounter.

"Well, you finally came back," he said, his voice a bit slurred. "Out having a good ‘ol time, I bet." He pushed away from the car a bit unsteady. "I've come to take you home, boy, where you belong."

Ian looked at him warily, but said nothing.

"Get in the car, son. You're going home now," he ordered.

"I'm staying here, dad," he replied flatly. He could smell alcohol coming from his father. Adrian was not a heavy drinker, but he didn't get drunk easily. Ian sensed that he had drank quite a bit before he came over.

"Staying here?" Adrian questioned, his eyebrow cocked. "You don't seem to understand," Adrian smiled crookedly, "you're coming home whether you like it or not!"

"This is my home now," Ian replied. Brenda looked back and forth between the two, her eyes showing fear.

"Your home is with me and your mother," he hissed, "not playing house with your cousin."

"I think you ought to go home and sober up before something stupid happens," Ian said.

Enraged, Adrian lunged awkwardly forward at Ian and tried to grab his wrist. He had it briefly, but Ian twisted away and pushed his father out of harms way to the right.

Brenda gasped and instinctively tried to pull Ian with her to the house.

"Call the police," he whispered to her as he kept his eye on his father.

Brenda quickly let go, ran to the door, unlocked it, and ran to the phone.

Ian knew that Adrian was no match for him. They were built approximately the same, but Ian was much more athletic and stone sober. Adrian came at him again and Ian pushed him away once more.

"Dad, we can do this all night, but I'm not going with you," Ian said as Adrian looked a him wildly. "Please leave before you get into trouble. I don't want to hurt you."

Brenda came to the doorway with the phone to her ear and watched. She could see that Ian wasn't getting hurt and she was relieved. She just wanted Adrian to go home and leave them alone.

"You hurt me?" Adrian laughed wickedly. "You're soft. You couldn't hurt a flea." Fist closed, he lunged once more at Ian and swung wildly with his left hand.

Brenda screamed as Ian ducked out of the way. Adrian's drunken momentum carried him past his intended target. Ian grabbed his wrist and twisted it behind his back. Adrian flailed, trying to escape Ian's grasp, but his son was too strong for him. Amid cussing and struggling, Ian moved his father forcefully to the Mercedes and held him there.

"You just couldn't leave things alone," Ian said through gritted teeth. Adrian struggled once more and Ian pushed him against the car. "You said to leave and I left. I don't want to come back and I won't come back. This is my home. Get it through your head!" Ian looked to his left and saw the first of two police cruisers pull into the driveway. "See what you've done?" he hissed in his father's ear.