All in the Family

When I got to the restaurant they were already there. Annie had gotten her hair redone. They trimmed the ends and reapplied her color on the ends. The amazing thing was that instead of magenta her hair was now the same shade of Cobalt blue as my Mustang's paint. Her makeup was incredible. It looked like she wasn't wearing anything but lipstick. There was a light line around her eyes too but it was so understated that it looked like she didn't have any makeup on at all.

She was also wearing a new dress. It was cut tight enough to show off her every curve but still loose enough not to be sluttish. The dark cobalt blue against the rest of her dark hair was barely noticeable from across the room. You had to be close to her to even see the color unless the light was behind her. At first I'd almost thought that she'd cut the color out of her hair.

She'd often told me that she was going to do that someday. She couldn't be the punk girl forever. Everyone has to grow up and become a housewife sooner or later she said. But I always told her that she could be my punk girl for her entire life. Maybe this was her way of trying to say that she'd changed. Maybe she'd found a way to do both. She'd grown up from all of this bullshit that was going on so she'd given up the bright skittles colors. But at the same time she was the same punk girl, but just for me. That's why her color was the same shade as my car. Maybe I was reading too much into it.

I do know that she looked fucking great. She wasn't ever going to be Dawn. She wasn't a blond bombshell, but she was perfect for me.

"Uhm, do you think the two of you can stop staring at each other long enough to order some food, so we can get this meeting started," said Jack, smiling. "Honestly it's good to see the two of you like that. It gives me some hope that we haven't fucked things up so badly that they can't be fixed. In fact why don't we just forget about the meeting and you two go home together."

"Just because you admire the artwork in a museum or are awed with its beauty, it doesn't mean that you should take the pictures off the wall and take them home," I said coldly. "Sometimes, Jack we have to realize that just because we want something, it doesn't make it ours, no matter how much we may want it."

"But I am yours, Justin," said Annie. "Everyone at this table knows it. Maybe everyone in the restaurant does too. The only person around here who doesn't seem to understand that is you."

"That's probably because most of the people in the restaurant don't have all of the facts," I said refusing to look at her any further. "If they did they be wondering why the fuck I'm here instead of sitting down with my lawyer going over our plans for my upcoming divorce."

As I said divorce Annie got pale.

"Let's not wait until we eat," I said. "Start talking, I need to get out of here as quickly as possible."

"Why do you have a date or something?" asked Thom.

"Why yes I do," I said. "Thank you for asking." Annie got even more upset.

"Justin you can't date anyone until we're divorced. Remember your vows," she snapped.

"You mean the ones you shit all over?" I asked. She recoiled from the venom in my voice.

People at tables near us looked over at us. My words were probably a bit louder than I'd intended.

"Okay Justin," said the Judge. "Let's go over the facts. You and Annie clearly love each other. You should have seen your face when you saw her. And she has been miserable ever since you left her. It's all we can do to keep her from running to you at every moment. What is it going to take to get you to drop the divorce? It isn't in anyone's best interests for you two to be separated. We are prepared to do anything you want. Believe it or not Annie has already told us that from now on she's staying as far away from her own family as she can. I swear to you that none of us at this table will ever even stand in the same room alone with her again. I give you further word that none of us will ever speak to her again without you present. What will it take?"

"Nothing," I said.

"You mean that the agreement I've spelled out is sufficient and nothing further than what I've outlined is necessary?" he asked.

"Nope I mean nothing," I said. "As in there is absolutely nothing you can do to prevent this divorce." Annie's face fell and her tears ruined her makeup.

"Justin, be reasonable," said Jack. "Look at my sister, can't you see she's miserable without you. We've agreed that what happened between us was wrong and we're giving it up. Why can't you just forgive and forget?"

"Jack, you piece of shit, don't ever speak to me," I snapped. "You sit there and talk about fucking your sister and forgiving and forgetting like it was something as simple as spilling someone's fucking beer." Everyone around us was looking at me.

"There's no fucking way I can forgive you, any of you three for what you've stolen from me, or Annie for what she gave you. And as for forgetting, the image of the four of you together will be burned in my brain for the rest of my life. So sit down and shut up before I slap the shit out of you."

"Justin, the two of you were meant to be together. Please don't let this tear you two apart," said Thom. "I know that you love that girl. I knew it before she did. From the first time she brought you to meet us, I told myself that I had lost her, because she belonged to you then, body and soul. And as much as you love her, she loves you at least as much, maybe more. After all she isn't the one who's trying to get away from you is she?"

He'd risen to his feet and he sat back down and lowered his voice. "Justin, she really does love you, more than you'll ever know."

"If she loves me so fucking much, why are we here?" I asked. "Oh yeah, we're here because the woman who loves me so much, has hidden the fact that she has a child with her fucking brother for the entire length of our relationship." You could see the shock on some of the face of the people around us.

"We're here because the whole time I've known Annie, she's loved me so much that she couldn't stop trying to turn Chicago into some big city hillbilly palace by fucking her own relatives. We're here because she loves me so much that she's been cheating on me regularly for the entire time we've been together. We all know that if I hadn't caught her, you guys would have sent her home to me, all well fucked again and it would never have ended." Some of the people in the surrounding tables got up and walked away.

"How many times have you come home to me with a load of your brother's watery sperm still in you, Annie? How many times have you given me sloppy seconds or thirds or fourths?"

"Never," said Annie quietly. "I love you too much to do that, Justin."

"Justin, are you perfect?" asked Thom. "My daughter made a mistake. She alone is not responsible for this. Dan, Jack and I are just as liable, but it was only a mistake. She...WE were doing this long before you ever met Annie, so it's not like she started cheating on you after you'd been together for a while. She didn't give you less affection or less sex because she started up again with us and is now not giving you something that you had been getting before. As a matter of fact, you're going to end up getting more now than you ever have. We are all out of Annie's life. It was only a mistake of timing. We should have stopped as soon as you and Annie got serious."

"God damn it Justin, look at her," said Jack. "If you love her that much can't you see that this is tearing her apart? Give her one more chance. It's not the end of the world. It's not like she died. It was a mistake like my father said."

"Why the fuck are you still talking to me Jack?" I asked. "Okay you want to talk. Jack how do you feel about wife swapping? They all got a shocked look on their faces. "You seem to be okay with incest. Gangbangs seem to turn you all on. I'm guessing that if someone had thrown another girl or two in on your party none of you would have run out, so orgies are probably okay too, right."

"What are you talking about?" asked Annie. "Justin, I don't want you with anyone else."

"I'm not talking to you Annie," I said. "I'm talking to Jack. So Jack, how do you feel about wife swapping?"

"Justin I'd do anything to get you and my sister back together, but not that please. Things with Dawn and I are already weak. I don't want to lose her," he said.

"Jack, you've already lost her, "I said. "When was the last time you spoke to her?"

"Last night," he said. The look on his face showed his fear. "Justin, don't joke around."

"I'm not joking," I said. "We are at war. You three took the most precious thing in my life from me. Did you really think I wasn't going to go back after all of you?"

Jack stood up. He stared at me with an expression on his face that told me he didn't know whether to attack me or start crying. The pain of what he'd done to me was beginning to become real now that it affected him.

"Jackie Boy, as of this morning, Dawn knows what you've been doing with your sister. She has already left you and is filing for a divorce as we speak. She's even using my attorney. I'm hoping we get the group discount since I'm paying for it until your settlement is reached."

Jack was speechless.

"But Justin, they didn't take anything from you," said Annie. "I still love you. I told you I'd give all of them up. I'll never see them, any of them again. If anything you took me away from them Honey."

"Annie, I'm sorry but there's nothing left for us. They took something that was beautiful and special and just turned it to shit. I'll never be able to trust you again. Like you all keep saying, I still love you, and I probably always will, but we can never be together again, because without trust, love doesn't mean shit and I'll never be able to trust you again. You may as well just sign the divorce papers and move on with your life because this is unfixable."

Annie collapsed into her chair.

"And I will probably never recover from this, but I'm taking all of you fuckers down with me," I looked at the three men as I said this. I looked at my watch. "Hmmm, only 5:15. Sorry to not eat and run but it's been a productive meeting. I guess we all know where we stand on this now. I have places to go and people to see."

"Justin, before you go, I'd like to set up another meeting for just the two of us," said the Judge. "May I call you tomorrow?"

"Whatever," I said. I turned to go and Jack jumped in front of me.

"I know that you were just telling me that shit about Dawn to upset me, Justin," he said.

"Call her," I smirked.

Jack made another mistake then. He reached out and tried to hit me. I blocked his clumsy punch and delivered my own shot to his gut. He folded over my hand. I grabbed him by his hair with my left hand and slapped him as hard as I could with my right hand. Usually men punch other men. So besides hurting Jack, the slap was meant as an insult. The echo from my slap rang throughout the restaurant. I smiled and nodded at the Judge and then left.

By 7:00 p.m. I was back at the cabin. I'd stopped and gotten a bouquet of flowers for Dawn and candy for Greg. As soon as I walked in the door Greg was behind me. It was almost as if he could smell the candy through the plastic of the bag. The whole house smelled clean and fresh and there was a wonderful smell coming from the kitchen.

"Greg!" screamed Dawn. She stopped in mid bellow with surprise written all over her face. "Justin, I thought you wouldn't be back until much later," she said. Dawn had on a man's shirt that she'd found somewhere in the cabin. Under it, all she wore was a T-shirt and shorts. All I could see was legs and boobs. Too bad Greg was only 5 or he'd have appreciated the show as much as I did. He was much too busy staring through the thin plastic of the bag at the Hershey Bar.

"Sorry," said Dawn. "I'll change now."

"Why, what are you talking about?" I asked.

"Jack hates it when I'm not totally covered up. But I wanted to do some cleaning and cook and I like to be comfortable when I work. It won't happen again," she said.

"Jack must be out of his..." I paused and put my hands over Greg's ears so he wouldn't hear me. "Jack must be out of his fucking mind," I said. "Dawn, you're beautiful, why he wouldn't want to look at you all of the time is a mystery to me."

"Justin, you don't need to be nice to me," she said. "I know I'm a cow. I'm too big and jiggly."

"Dawn, take it from me, there's something wrong with Jack if he didn't like you. There is nothing wrong with you, at all. You've probably read too many of those fashion magazines where every woman who isn't a size zero is considered fat. You aren't even big. You're smaller than average size. And everything else about you is... I shouldn't even be talking about this. But you don't have to change for me. Unless it's because you don't want me constantly staring at you."

"Are those for me?" she asked smiling. "Believe it or not this is the first time anyone has ever brought me flowers."

We had a quiet relaxed dinner and a great evening. Greg drifted off to sleep after his Hershey bar, that he had to eat all of his veggies to get. He fell asleep in Dawn's lap, firmly holding on to her hand. Even in a new house, he was fine since she was with him. He never mentioned Jack and as Dawn told me, he thought that Annie was his aunt who lived out of town. They had really put that little boy in the middle of a really fucked up situation. Dawn was the only real presence in his life.

She smiled and pointed at him. Then she pointed at the bedroom we'd given him. I picked him up and gently put him in his bed. I was amazed at how easily I was becoming attached to him.

Dawn kissed him on his forehead and covered him up. I had to watch myself around her too or this might end badly. She didn't close the door, so I started to but she stopped me.

"He doesn't know this place yet," she said. "He's not quite comfortable here so we should leave the door open so he can hear us." I nodded and stretched my arms over my head. Dawn sat me down on the couch and started massaging my shoulders. "You're really tense, Justin. You must have had some kind of day. Tell me about it."

"Uhm, let's see," I said. "I'll give you the short version. I told the woman I loved and wanted to spend the rest of my life with that there's no chance of us ever being together again, while in my heart I was really hoping that something would happen so I could come up with a way to give her one more chance. I spent all of my time trying to fight off my impulse to run back to her and hold her just one more fucking time. I had to verbally spar with her Uncle the Judge. I can tell that he's going to get upset when I don't cancel the divorce so I have to be prepared to handle him. I told your husband that you know what he's been doing and you've left him. He got really upset and I was forced to beat his ass. I bought you flowers and came back to this cabin to find out that a beautiful woman had turned it from just a shack to fish from into a home in less than 14 hours. You're amazing Dawn. The end."

She blushed and looked away from me. I got the idea that though Jack always told her he loved her, he didn't compliment her very often. I also knew that for some reason Jack seemed to be into very slim women like Annie. I was really confused. If Dawn wasn't his type, why the hell did he marry her?

"Justin, do you really think I'm beautiful?" she asked.

"Beautiful, sexy, sweet, charming, compassionate, loving, the whole nine yards. If both of us weren't going through the worst thing a person can go through, I'd be all over you in a heartbeat," I said yawning. Dawn just looked at me crazily.

"Me?" she said. "I'm sexy?" She looked at me like there was something wrong with me. "With my giant boobs and butt. I look like a porn star or something. No nice man would ever want to marry me. I was so lucky to get Jack."

"No Dawn," I said gently. "Jack was lucky to get you. Most men, nice or not would give their left nut to be with you. Someone's been filling your head with crap." I realized then that I had to get her away from me. It looked like her nipples were about to punch their way through her T-shirt at any second. I wasn't ready to take advantage of her and ruin things between us for something that neither of us was ready for.

"Dawn, you take the bedroom, I'll sleep out here. I have to be up and gone very early in the morning anyway," I said.

"Why do you have to leave again Justin?" she asked.

"Because I have to deal with this and get my divorce started," I said. "And I have a feeling that the judge is going to get nasty. When he does, I don't want to be anywhere near you and Greg. That's why I turn my phone off and drain the battery completely. Even with the phone turned off they can track its signal and figure out where we are. I don't even start charging it until I'm back near the Detroit area."

I'll probably be gone for a couple of days this time, but when I get back my divorce will be started so we'll be able to start sorting yours out and figure out what you'd like your life to be like."

She looked a little sad, but she nodded her head and went into the bedroom. Just as I thought she was gone, she turned and looked over her shoulder and caught me staring at her ass. She came back and kissed me gently on my cheek. As she did one of those big soft breasts pressed its way into my arm. I couldn't help it, I moaned from the contact.

"You really are attracted to me aren't you?" she asked. I just nodded. "Good night Justin," she smiled.

The next morning the Mustang and I were on the road before the sun was up. I was back at my house before 8 a.m. But my friends had beaten me there. "Got the cameras all set up," said Michael Stivic as he opened the door for me. "Some babe with dark brown hair with blue streaks around the bottom dropped by last night. She knocked on the door but she didn't have a key to get in. We didn't let her know that we were here."

"Who else is with you?" I asked.

"Archie and George," he smiled.

"Holy shit," I said. "Both of them?" he smiled again and nodded.

Archie Bunker and George Jefferson were the two biggest men I'd ever seen. Both of them were over six and a half feet tall and close to three hundred pounds. They were part of the reason that our troop never lost a tug of war.

We went over our plans again. At just after nine the Judge called me again. He'd been calling and leaving me messages all night.

"Justin, God damn it. I thought we were going to meet again last night," he said angrily.

"There you go thinking again," I said. "Maybe you should leave the thinking to people who are good at it." Mike was laughing behind me.

"How about if we meet for breakfast," he said. He gave me the address of his hotel and asked me to be there by ten. "We need to wrap this up. So I have a couple of interesting offers for you. I'm sure you'll like one of them." Then he hung up. I checked my iPhone's call log and I'd missed several calls from the Judge. I'd also missed one very angry call from Jack, a call from Thom and 11 calls from Annie.

I told the guys the game was afoot. "Are you sure you want to do this?" asked Mike.

"Trust me Mike; this is the best way to draw this guy out. Just be ready if things go south," I said.

I went outside and started to wash my car. After a few moments the phone rang. It was Annie. "What do you want Annie?" I asked her. "Have you called to tell me that you've signed the divorce papers yet?"

"Of course not," she said. "I never will. I called to ask you where you are. Uncle Dan is waiting for you and he's pissed that you're not here again. He thinks you're playing games with him. Be careful honey, he isn't the kind of guy you want to fuck around with."