Don't Stop Believing

"May, are you upset about something?" she asked. "Maybe I'm missing something here. I thought you'd come over to congratulate me and help me plan my wedding. Wait, I know what's going on. You're upset because the older sister is supposed to get married first, right?" I nodded my head woodenly.

"May, I don't HAVE to get married; this isn't the eighteenth century. But I'm going to marry Dell anyway and doing it before the baby is born just seems right. Will you forgive me?" I nodded again. It just didn't seem real.

"May, I'm going to tell you a secret that no one else knows, not even Dell. I'm going to tell you this because you're my sister and I know you won't breathe a word of it to anyone ever. The same way I've kept your secret since we were kids." She was hinting about my liking girls.

"May, Dell and I have been talking about and planning to get married since just after we met. We have our lives planned out. We know how many kids we're going to have and even their names. I fucked that plan up and I'm not sure it was an accident. When we have sex, something happens to me. I just lose it. For the past few months, I've just imagined opening myself up when we have sex. I imagine myself carrying his babies. I think that on some subconscious level, I wanted to get pregnant so I missed more than a few of my pills over the past few months...maybe I just stopped taking them."

I looked at her like she was crazy. I was sure that the wedding was simply a ruse so he could make his escape plan and that he'd be gone before she started to show. I just couldn't imagine a guy like that settling down with my sister. There was also the fact that neither of them would be able to complete the advanced degrees that they needed to assure success in their chosen fields. Over the next few years, they'd have to struggle to make ends meet. I just couldn't imagine him doing that for my short chubby sister.

"So how did he take it when you told him?" I asked. "He was probably pissed."

"Nope, he got right down on one knee and asked me to marry him and spend the rest of our lives together," she beamed. "I hadn't expected that. I guess I'd just wanted him to be okay about the baby. We know lots of couples who have children and aren't married. I pulled him up and fucked the shit out him, I was so happy. If I hadn't already been pregnant, that time would have done it for sure. The next day he gave me the most beautiful engagement ring you've ever seen. It had been his mom's and he'd been planning on giving it to me ever since she'd passed the year before. The only reason he hadn't was because of the plan."

I was sure the wedding would never happen, but it did. I think it was clear to everyone there except me that they really loved each other. I gave it six months.

Over the years, I kept imagining things that would break them up. I figured he'd cheat on her or abuse her. It never happened. In fact, she was always so fucking happy that I'd begun to be jealous of her. So when he called me a couple of nights ago, I was angry from the moment I heard him asking me to come and get her.

First off, I don't dislike my sister, I love her. But I was a bit disappointed to walk into her house and see her standing there without a mark on her. It's not like I wanted to see her all bruised and beaten but it was what I expected. Maybe I've watched too many of those Lifetime movies or something. But now I was angry all over again and it wasn't at him.

I crossed the hall and went into my guest room. "Junie, wake up," I yelled. "Make yourself look decent...for God's sake make yourself SMELL decent. Your kids will be here soon."

"What?" she asked groggily. "Dell, will make their breakfast. Don't worry about it. She turned over and tried to go back to sleep."

"June Cleaver, get out of this bed," I yelled into her ear. Her eyes clicked open immediately.

"Your husband is bringing your kids over to visit you for a while. You have to make yourself look and act like everything is normal and I'm sick. If you look like you've just been lying around crying and..." She opened her mouth to smile and the stench of liquor hit me. I almost got drunk smelling her breath. No wonder she hadn't awakened very easily.

"...Drinking," I continued. "They'll be able to tell that something is wrong."

She got up and got her act together. At noon exactly there was a knock on the door. June opened the door. She opened the door and her kids came running into the room. I watched them through a crack in my bedroom door. The kids looked good. They were clean and happy. Melissa's hair was tied up in what could only be described as a "Daddy do." But he'd tried and it wasn't half bad. Melissa handed June an envelope and my heart tightened in my chest. I was sure it was a list of demands or worse divorce papers. What kind of bastard has his kid give her own mom the divorce papers?

Melissa opened the envelope read it with a puzzled expression on her face and then slid it under my door.

It wasn't divorce papers. It was just a note.

"At about one o'clock please take the kids to the park or for a walk around the block. Please keep them away for at least fifteen minutes."

I began to wonder what he was planning. As the minutes on the clock ticked away, I noticed that she didn't move. At a few minutes after one, she almost ran to the door. She opened it to find him standing there holding a large box. There were several suitcases by his feet. The look on his face was total surprise at seeing her. I was sure that June had stayed in the apartment on purpose.

The look on my sister's face was pure elation as she reached for him. I could tell that he was angry but he kept his face neutral. She pushed the box out of his arms and it landed on the floor spilling its contents. She hugged him and I wondered why he didn't push her away. As the tears started to fall from his eyes, she hugged him even tighter. She was trying to arouse him.

Again I wondered why he didn't push her away and then I saw it. Their kids were in the room. My own sister was using her children as a shield to take advantage of her husband.

I had trouble believing she'd do that. There was only one word I could think of to describe my sister at that moment. The word was "BITCH."

"I miss you so much Honey," she gushed. "Do you miss me?"

"Very much," he said. And God damn it, he wasn't lying. It oozed out of his every pore; the poor bastard. As much as he was angry at her, he loved her something awful. He was also in a lot of pain and Junie was milking the scene for everything she could get.

Then she stooped even lower. "May is feeling a little better, Honey," she smirked. "If you and the kids want me to come..."

"Yeaaaaarrrrrgggghh!" I screamed as loudly as I could. "June, I need my medicine now. The pain is getting worse. Oh Junie, help me, please!" I know I sounded like an old southern woman but it worked.

June came into the room and she was pissed. Even as she glared at me, we heard his voice. "June, I'm going to go grocery shopping. I'll be back to pick the kids up at four." And then he was gone.

"What the fuck are you doing?" she hissed at me angrily. "Do you think I want to stay here forever? Are you so fucking lonely that you want to keep me here?" She turned and walked out of the room slamming the door on her way out. I cracked the door and watched again.

My sister was very angry. She turned on the TV and ignored her kids for the next two hours. With about a half hour to go before Wardell came to pick the kids up, she pulled them over to the couch with her and started talking to them again.

"Melissa, don't you want Mommy to come home?" she asked.

"I guess," said my niece. "But what I really want is a TV like this one. Aunt May has all of the cool channels."

"I'll buy you a TV," hissed June. "But I need you to start telling your Daddy that you want me to come home. I need you to tell him that every time you think about it. You tell him too Todd."

"What?" asked Todd.

"Tell your Daddy you want Mommy home," she said.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because I said so," she spat.

"Okay," he said.

When Wardell came back to get the kids he was smarter. He knocked on the door and immediately moved down the hall out of range. June went to the door and looked around but he was down the hall, halfway to the next apartment.

"Melissa, Todd, we're playing hide and seek. Kiss your mom goodbye and come find me," he said.

"Bye," said Todd running out of the apartment and looking for his dad's disembodied voice. Melissa hugged her mom and then ran out to join them.

A few seconds later I heard Wardell yell, "Boo," and then the sound of the three of them laughing, as June closed the door.

I came out of my room and just looked at her. I wondered what had happened to my sister. What was it that was making her act this way?

"Thanks a lot," she snapped at me on her way back into her room. "What were you supposed to be anyway yelling like that? Were you supposed to be a T-Rex or a fucking pirate?"

"Why did you do that? I could have been on my way home with my family right now. Thanks sis," she said sarcastically.

"I guess I had what was called compassion," I said calmly. "I saw someone who was already in pain, being tormented and I tried to help."

"Why would you do that?" she asked. "Why stick your nose in where it wasn't needed or asked for? As I recall you can't stand the shit out of Dell anyway."

"You know, maybe I was wrong about that. I don't really like men that much in general and I was sure he was only going to hurt you eventually but I'm starting to see this situation a bit differently," I said.

"I don't need you to SEE this situation at all," she said. "You're not in this. It's not your business."

"What happened Junie?" I asked. "What did you do to put your marriage in danger?"

"I don't want to talk about it," she said. She closed the door to her room. I went into the living room and looked through the box and the suitcases. He'd brought her everything she'd need to be comfortable. He'd brought her two suitcases full of clothing. He'd brought her favorite robe and sleepwear. He'd brought all of her feminine items and the book she was reading. He'd brought that stupid fuzzy blanket of hers and even her favorite slippers. There were also a few items that looked like they'd just been picked up from the store.

Later on that evening she tapped at my door. "May, I'm starting. Do you have any pads?" she asked.

"Use your own," I said.

"I didn't bring any," she snapped.

"God damn it June, didn't you even bother to look through all of the stuff he packed for you?" I asked loudly.

"I don't care about any of that shit," she said. "All I want is my husband back."

"June, he packed everything he could think of to make you comfortable and happy," I said. "He even brought your stupid blanket and a box of that fucking raspberry cocoa you love. So you have pads and tampons too."

"I don't suppose he packed his arms in there did he?" she asked. "Because that's what I need the most."

"June, I'm not a psychologist but it just seems to me that antagonizing him and trying to trick him into taking you back isn't the way to get what you want. What you need to do is give him a few days to calm down. And then sit down and talk to him. The two of you love each other. That doesn't go away over-night. Just be patient."

The next morning I was up early. June had been moaning throughout the night and for the life of me I couldn't tell if it was her period or just how much she missed her husband.

I knew that Dell was some kind of low level manager at a manufacturing plant on the outskirts of town. From all of the times over the years that June had bitched about the fact that Dell had lunch from ten to eleven and her lunch was from eleven to twelve and halfway across town, I knew just when to get there.

At ten o' clock on the dot I pulled into a visitor's parking spot at the plant. I walked over to the guard shack and told the guard who I'd come to see. I know what I look like. And I know that men do really stupid things to try to impress me. But this guy took the cake. He must have thought that I was stupid too. He looked across the parking lot and spotted Dell's aging Mustang and then smiled back at me.

"According to my information," he said smiling at me. "He's here."

I went into the plant and asked the first person I saw if he knew where Dell was. "Normally, he'd be in the cafeteria. But he's really out of it today. I'd be willing to bet that he's in the office the managers all share. Go straight down that hallway and turn," he said.

I looked back at him wondering which direction I'd have to turn but he was putting a pair of headphones on and walking away. I went down the hallway and suddenly I understood. There was only one direction you could turn. There was an office a few feet past the bend. I knocked and opened the door.

He was the only person in the room and he had his head down on his desk.

"It's really not that bad," I said.

He looked up and saw me. I saw a lot of things cross his face. I saw worry and confusion more than anything else though.

"Is she okay?" he asked.

"No, she's not," I said.

"I'll get my coat," he said grabbing his keys off of the table.

"I just meant that she missed you," I said. "But if you're really that concerned about her, why don't you want her to come home?"

"Why, so she can continue laughing at me?" he said.

I was confused. "Why would she laugh at you?" I asked.

"Didn't she tell you what this is all about?" he asked.

"No she won't say a word," I said.

"You'll have to ask her," he said.

I hated to do it, but I was tired of being on the outside. I couldn't help them if they wouldn't tell me anything.

"Dell, you owe me a favor," I said. "I'm calling it in. What are you worrying about? I'm family. I won't go out and spread your business in the street."

"But it'll seem like I'm trying to make her look bad," he said. I couldn't believe him. Most people would be worrying about making themselves seem better. He was worried as usual about my sister.

"Just tell me what happened," I sighed. As he told me my eyes widened and I got angry. I was angry at both of them. I was angry at my stupid sister for leaving her kids alone in the house to go to a stupid college party. But I was just as angry at Dell for not realizing that she'd been drugged and raped.

"It really wasn't her fault," I said. "She was stupid for putting herself in the position to let that happen to her, but you have to understand that she's a victim here."

He looked at me as if I'd just fallen off of the stupid tree. "I know that," he said. "I just waited for her to trust me enough to tell me about it. It hurt knowing that the person I loved more than anything else in the world didn't trust me though.

"Then what the hell is this all about?" I asked. If I'd been shocked about the first time what he told me next floored me and clearly him too, as he was in tears before he stopped talking.

"Why the hell would she do that?" I asked. I simply could not believe June's stupidity. "Did you ask her why she did it?"

"There was too much going on after that," he said.

"What else happened?" I asked. He filled me in on everything that had occurred before I'd picked up my niece and nephew from school. All that time I'd believed that I'd picked up the kids so June and Dell could have a little bit of afternoon delight. I sat there shaking my head.

"Dell, you need to talk to her. Don't you at least want to know why it happened?" I asked.

"I already know," he said. "She's tired of me. I don't ring her chimes anymore. Once she got a sample of those young college boys, it was over for us."

I started laughing my ass off until I noticed that he didn't get it. He wasn't laughing. He really believed that what he'd said was true.

"I'm going to try to arrange for the two of you to talk," I said.

"Could you give her this card?" he said. He handed me a business card. I looked at it and it was from a legal aid service.

"Dell, why does she need this?" I asked.

"The guy I spoke to, said that since we don't make a lot of money, we could probably do the divorce ourselves," he said quietly.

"Dell, are you serious?" I asked. He just nodded his head. "But why?" I asked.

"She clearly doesn't want me anymore," he said. "And if anyone knew that I'd taken her back after her gangbang, it would be bad enough. But if they ever found out that I'd taken her back after she cheated on me twice, I wouldn't be able to hold my head up anywhere. I'd have no pride left. I love her, I always will, but if she's so tired of me that she's looking for sex with other men, letting her go is the best possible scenario for both of us."

"Dell, I'm going to call you later," I said. "I want you to answer your fucking phone, okay?" He just nodded. As I left the room, I thought about going home and kicking my sister's stupid ass.

"He said what?" screamed June at me an hour later. "When did you talk to him? He's out of his fucking mind."

I just looked at her. "Junie, men make no sense," I said. "The two of you need to talk. Oh, he wanted me to give you this." I handed her the card and she looked at it strangely.

"Why do I want this?" she asked.

"He said that since you guys don't have a lot of money, maybe you could do one of those do-it-yourself divorces," I told her. She looked at me like I'd done something extremely stupid and then she tore the card in half angrily. She tore the two pieces in half and sat down at my dining room table. For the next ten minutes she wouldn't talk she just kept tearing the card into smaller and smaller pieces. When the pieces were too small for her to tear she swept them all into her hand and dropped them into an ashtray. Then she burned all of the pieces until there was nothing left but ashes. She poured water over the ashes and dissolved them and then poured them down the toilet and flushed it.

As I looked into her eyes, I could see that my sister had become unhinged. "There are no scenarios where Dell and I don't end up together," she said calmly. "And there will be no fucking divorces in this family. I will do whatever I have to do to keep us together." I really didn't like the look in her eyes.

* * * * * *

Dell

The way it all worked out was that both June and I took the afternoon off the following day and met at our house. Her sister was there as well. I guess someone had to keep us from killing each other. It turned out to be really good that she was there too, because she kept things moving.

When I first opened the door, I was alternately angry, hurt, and aroused by her appearance. She'd had her hair styled and it looked really good. She'd also put on makeup and her face was simply beautiful. She had on a plain white blouse that was open down to about the third button. It was just enough to hint at cleavage that she simply didn't have and also show a bit of her bra. The effect was subtle enough that she didn't look slutty, but enticing enough that it kept you looking, hoping that you'd see some tit.

Below that she cheated. She had on a long, tight black skirt that showed off every bit of her voluptuous ass. The skirt was tight enough that you could see her ass jiggle with every step she took. I could tell that she either had on a very tiny thong or she wasn't wearing any panties. Since she was still having her monthly visit, I wondered exactly what she was wearing under the skirt.

I'd intended to be professional and detached but seeing her dressed like that just pissed me off.

"I guess you're trying to get your next husband from the guys you work with huh?" I said and instantly regretted it.

May looked at me like there was something wrong with me. "Dell, are you angry about something?" she asked. "The whole purpose for this meeting is for the two of you to start talking to each other, so if there's something you need to say, get it out."