Mom and I Year's End Ch. 02

Alissa blushed, but shyly nodded.

I said, "We can work all that out, later. I do want to warn you that my uncle Don isn't aware of the incest, just my parents' past as swingers. He already doesn't approve of the swinging, so I really doubt he'd be okay with the incest, so we're not going to tell him or give him reason to suspect. I've never brought up with him that I have a lover on campus, so just admit to being a classmate, okay?"

~~~~~

We managed to eat Debra's chicken dinner before Dad, Jess and Uncle Don arrived, then took seats in the living room.

Dad brought the birth certificate for Melanie Sarah Rosetti and confirmed that it lined up with the birth date the authorities had assigned Wendy after she was found.

After confirming that Dad and Don had donated sperm at the same fertility clinic where she had been conceived, Alissa said, "So, it's almost certain that one of you is my dad. Is there any way to be sure which one, without waiting weeks for a DNA test?"

Uncle Don asked Alissa, "You're Derek's age, right, Alissa? When exactly is your birthday?"

"May 9th, 1996," she answered.

"So, you were conceived 9 months before that, about August of '95?"

"Yeah, sounds right."

"Well, that also happens to be when I started college, but I didn't donate sperm until just before Christmas, to get some extra money for gifts. That means I couldn't possibly have provided the sperm that created you, without a time machine."

Dad nodded and said, "I guess that leaves me as the probable dad. I stopped donating semen in 1993, but I know the clinic froze the samples, so mine could easily have been available in '95. We'll still need the DNA test to confirm, but I feel fairly confident in saying, 'Welcome to the family' to both of you. How much longer are you going to be in town, Alissa?"

She answered, "I'm driving back to Annapolis tonight."

"That's three and a half hours, isn't it?" Dad asked.

"In good traffic, I might trim it to three. Now, I'm wishing I had reserved a hotel. This has turned into so much more than meeting Aunt Wendy for the first time."

"If you would rather stay the night, I'm sure I won't be the only person offering you a place to sleep. It might mean an air mattress or a couch..."

Jess said, "C'mon, Dad. We still have two beds at Mom's house. We weren't planning to break them down until after New Year's. Alissa and I can stay there together, or she could be by herself if that makes her more comfortable."

Debra added, "And we have two empty bedrooms here, too. Nobody needs to sleep on a couch."

Alissa said, "I'd like that, Jess. Or should I call you Sis?"

"Whatever you're comfortable with. You're going though a similar adjustment to what I did in finding a new dad, brother and uncle through DNA results that were just meant to check whether Tommy and I were related, except now we're both adjusting to having a new sister and aunt as well. It will take time to figure out these new relationships."

Wendy said, "It all still feels a little unreal, y'know? I mean, I took that DNA test mainly to learn where my ancestors came from. I didn't want to get my hopes up that I'd actually find any blood relatives, only to find that I'd already met several of you as Angie's friends through my relationship to Jake. Part of me still thinks this is all just a dream and I'm gonna wake up and cry when I realize it isn't real. Not to diminish my foster families or my place in the McDougall family today, but blood does matter."

Don said, "I'm curious. What is your place in the McDougall family? Am I wrong in sensing that you, Jake and Debra are a romantic triad, just like Stan, Marcy and Jilly are?"

Wendy said, "It's a recent development, but you're not wrong, Don. My relationship to Jake started while I was fostered by his adoptive family. We fell in love, but didn't become intimate while we were still living under the same roof. That didn't happen until after we were both 18 and I had moved out. Even then, we hid our relationship from Jake's adoptive parents, because they thought of us as brother and sister and would have objected."

"I can imagine," Don said. "Isn't it incest?"

"Jake and I would only have been illegal if the McDougalls had adopted me, but they didn't. There's nothing illegal about foster siblings, once they're of age. No biological risk, certainly. It's just seen as somewhat taboo, like step-siblings, so we kept it quiet. Eventually, Jake met Debra and married her and they had their daughters. Jake and I continued seeing each other from time to time, even more in the past few years. Today, I'd be referred to as his 'side chick', but it was always more than that for us, while I never found a guy I loved more than him. Then, just in the past month, Debra has revealed that she not only was aware of our affair for most of their marriage, but she is now willing to explore being a threesome. My job is as an apartment building manager, so I actually work out of my apartment in that building, which would make it hard for me to move in here. I might have to change jobs."

Don said, "Well, if it helps you decide on whether to keep that job, our mom made provision for you in her will, along with confessing what she'd done. You have an inheritance coming to you. We just need the DNA test to prove that you're our sister, since we can't test against Mom and Dad directly. Then we can get the probate updated. It's still invested in that real estate trust, isn't it, Stan? What's the latest balance?"

Dad laughed. "God, another coincidence. Wendy, Don is referring to OMR Holdings. OMR stands for Oliver and Miranda Rosetti. Our parents."

"The company that owns the apartment building I manage?"

"One and the same. OMR owns three apartment buildings that Dad built before he died and is enclosed in the trust Mom set up for her three children. In addition to the birth certificate, your birth footprints were included with the will. Between the footprints and your DNA test, we should be able to prove that you're Melanie Sarah Rosetti and either amend or dissolve the trust."

Don said, "She actually owns more of the trust than we do, doesn't she?"

"60% of the total assets. You see, Wendy, in the five years since Mom died, dividends from OMR have been paid straight to Don and me, but your after-tax share has been invested by the trust, to the point that the investments represent 40% of the trust's assets. Combined with your third of OMR, that totals 60%. In fact, this last quarter was the first time your share of the trust exceeded OMR's valuation. If you wanted, you could buy Don and me out completely, although I think it might be smarter to just buy enough of our OMR shares to give yourself voting control and leave us more as silent partners, so you don't take a huge tax hit in selling the investments. Altogether, your share is $2.4 million."

Calculating quickly, I thought, 'If the trust generated $1.6 million after taxes for Wendy in just five years, it must have done the same for Dad and Uncle Don. No wonder Dad didn't blink at buying the new house.'

"I'm a millionaire heiress?" Wendy asked, shaking her head. "I can't believe I've basically been working for myself for the last 10 years, either."

Dad said, "Actually, you were working for Mom until she died, then ownership of the corporation moved to the new trust. I have no reason to believe that Mom knew you were her daughter or even had anything to do with hiring you, since the same trustee has been acting as CEO since Dad died, back in 2001. Although I knew from Angie that you managed an apartment building, I actually didn't connect you to that building until I got the latest trust report earlier today, where you're mentioned by name. Yours has been by far the most profitable of the three buildings and the trustee is recommending you be promoted to Chief Operating Officer, to oversee all three properties, allowing the trustee to reduce his involvement. But I think it makes much more sense to make you CEO, instead, once we confirm your DNA, of course."

"Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence." Wendy asked, "So, do I have to officially become Melanie Rosetti again, to inherit?"

"I'm no legal expert, so we'll have to find out what might be involved. I do remember that a Social Security number had to be requested under Melanie's name and tax returns have been filed on your behalf by the trust. It might be necessary to legally merge the two identities and refile the taxes for the past five years, which would result in some more taxes due. I'm sure you could exit whatever that process will be with any name you want to have, though."

"I'll have to think about that. I wasn't given a middle name by social services, so maybe I'll take Rosetti for my middle name, rather than abandon Sanders or hyphenate."

Jessica said, "Tommy and I both plan to hyphenate ours to Tirman-Rosetti when we get married, to reflect having grown up with each other's correct last name. Also, we realized that if I update my birth certificate, he has to do it, too, so we don't both have Stan Rosetti listed as our father when we apply for our marriage license. We're just waiting for Stan's DNA test to come back, so I can proceed. Tommy's already started the process for his, using his matches to his grandfather and Jake."

Alissa asked, "What about me? Can I add Rosetti to my name?"

Dad answered, "You're basically in the same position as Jess, except her birth certificate lists Sam Tirman as her father instead of me. Does yours indicate a sperm donor or your second mom?"

"The original just says 'unknown', with Mama Maureen on the amended one for her adoption of me. No offense."

"None taken. If you aren't amending the birth certificate, you just have a voluntary name change, rather than Wendy having two separate birth certificates and tax IDs that might need to be merged."

Alissa said, "I'm Alissa Marshall Gould now, after both moms, without a hyphen, so I might change to Alissa Rosetti Marshall-dash-Gould to reflect all three of you. God, I need to call my moms with the news! Excuse me."

Don said, "I've got to call Laurie, too, but I left my phone in the car. I'll be right back."

Alissa got up and crossed over to the entry way to make her call, while Don went out to his car.

I asked, "So, Aunt Wendy, how are you feeling? It's a lot to absorb all at once, isn't it?"

"That's an understatement. I feel adrift right now. I've wondered my whole life about who my family was and why I was abandoned. I imagined the worst and now I find out that I was both working for them and knew them? It's even more of a surprise than Alissa emailing me to say we are a match."

Debra said, "If you're feeling adrift, let being a McDougall be your anchor, honey."

Jake said, "You mentioned not being adopted by the McDougalls earlier. Do you regret that they didn't?"

Wendy thought for three seconds, then answered, "No, I think things have turned out the way they were intended. Would you and I have dared getting involved when we were 18, if it had been illegal for us, instead of merely taboo? Would we have drifted apart, otherwise? Would I have even done a DNA test, without you doing one first or been here tonight to have Derek recognize the Giambetti name?"

Quietly, she added, "All I need to decide now is whether tolerating everyone else's incest recently means I should commit my own, with Derek, Stan and Jess. Had Alissa made contact with me even a week later, I might have partnered with any of you at the club, then had a mess to explain later on."

Pat asked, "Does this draw us closer to merging our two families?"

Dad said, "Let's not talk about that while Alissa or Don might hear us. The secrets have slipped out too many times already."

"Of course, Stan. Sorry."

"Alissa actually put it together earlier, Dad," I said.

"What the fuck?" he hissed. "How did that happen, Derek?"

"Maybe a combination of how I calmly reacted to the prospect that we committed incest together and how Wendy said she needed to avoid you at the club, without saying you were off limits altogether. I was talking with Alissa about how she's not related to Tommy and said that we'd all love her like family anyway. Her response was to ask if that meant we'd all commit incest with her, too. When I didn't have an answer right away and nobody else reacted, she put the pieces together."

"You've got to work on your denials, son. This isn't the first time that silence in response to that kind of question was your tell and honesty can't always work. I get that she's already in the same boat with us, but telling her it's more than just you and her in that boat isn't that safe. How did she react?"

"She seems to be okay," I answered. "She agreed it was our secret, not just mine, and before Don proved he couldn't be her father, she hoped we were brother and sister, so we'd be equally incestuous, even though being cousins would be better for us, since that's legal. She and I do need to cool it on campus without drawing too much attention before people realize we're related. If it comes out after graduation, we'll just say we stopped once we knew. Whether or not we actually have."

We heard Don come back into the house, so broke off from any further discussion. Alissa must have also ended her call, as she and Don came back into the living room at the same time.

Don said, "Laurie and my girls welcome you both into the family and hope to meet you sometime soon. I've got to get back, though, since I promised the girls we'd go to a coffee shop tonight that has WiFi, since the Winslows don't. They're in serious Internet withdrawals, since their tablets don't have cellular capability."

Dad asked, "How about dinner at our place on Saturday night, so Laurie and your girls can meet them? Jilly will have the night off, too. You're not leaving until Monday, right?"

As Don nodded, Alissa said, "I'll be back in Annapolis by then. It will have to be another time."

Jessica asked, "Is there any way you could stay longer? Or come back? Maybe have your moms drive down tomorrow to bring you clothes, and stay a couple nights themselves, so they could meet us, too? You could all stay at my mom's house, since it's empty."

"I can ask," she answered, before taking her cell phone out and dialing it. "Hi again, Mom. Do you and Mama have plans for this weekend before New Year's Eve? ... The Rosettis want to have a dinner to welcome Wendy and me to the family on Saturday night, but I didn't pack anything to stay that long. I was wondering if you could drive down tomorrow after work and stay until Sunday morning? ... We could stay at Jessica's mom's house, which is vacant right now. It's where I'm going to sleep tonight. Then we could drive back Sunday morning to still make Grandpa Marshall's party."

She paused, then said, "Okay, I'll text you the addresses. See you tomorrow night." After hanging up, Alissa added, "They'll be coming down after work tomorrow."

Don made a similar call to Laurie to confirm dinner, then said his goodbyes.

Just after Don was out the door, I turned to Alissa and asked, "How did your moms react to the news?"

Alissa answered, "Well, I told them your name months ago, so they realized the incest immediately. They accept that we couldn't have known and they expect us to stop. Is there anyone else in your family who knows we've been hooking up?"

I thought about it and answered, "Nobody who isn't aware of the other incest. The bigger issue is the folks on campus who know, which appears to be just about everyone thanks to your roommate Claire's gossip."

"I would rather keep the news that we're related from spreading on campus. I'm sure not telling Claire," Alissa said. "We'll have to fake an argument to explain why we've stopped having sex, then stay away from each other the rest of the semester. If we get together at all before graduation, it will have to be while I'm here in Newport News, either tonight or maybe again over Spring Break."

"We were planning to stop being lovers after graduation. Would it make more sense to stop for real?" I asked. "It might be safest."

"That was the plan when we were just classmates, Derek. I was looking for something noncommittal because I had to be prepared to walk away when we graduated, thinking we'd probably never see each other again. I've kept emotional distance so I could say goodbye," she said.

"I've noticed."

"I'm sorry if I've been cold. But, I don't need or want to say goodbye forever to my brother, sister or father, now that I've found you. I want us all to be in each other's lives as much as possible. When we are together, I'm still going to be attracted to you, so a hug and a peck on the cheek aren't going to cut it, now that I know that Angie's okay with sharing you and you're all okay with the incest. So, we'll just have to build up the story that we've stopped, while being extra careful."

Dad said, "Careful isn't something we've quite mastered, Alissa. Or you wouldn't know that Derek had committed incest with anyone but you."

Alissa faced Dad and said, "Derek did the right thing, in my opinion - he trusted me. It was that trust that made him hesitate to lie to me. At least, that's how I read his face. You're implying that this isn't the first time he's admitted to incest, but has his trust ever been misplaced?"

"Good point," Dad admitted. "I just worry that one day it will be."

"But the attraction is too strong for you all to stop?" she asked.

"The attraction and the love. I loved Jess as if she was my daughter long before I knew she was and when I reunited with Jilly last month, I couldn't deny that I was attracted to Jess, too. So, when she approached her mom and I about having sex with me, it was impossible for me to say no, then it stayed that way after I found out she really is my daughter."

With a mischievous grin, Alissa asked, "And will it be the same with me?"

Dad answered, "Maybe. Give me time to know you better, okay? I'm not trying to play favorites between Jess and you, I promise. I've known her all her life and we just met. Even in the swinging world, I like to get to know someone new for a while before we partner up. Knowing Marcy and Jilly, you will probably wind up in their beds before mine, if you're bisexual."

"I've only been with one woman before, but liked it a lot."

Jessica asked, "Did you enjoy it enough to be with two more tonight? Angie and I, together with Derek at my old house?"

"A foursome? Do you do that often?" Alissa asked.

Jessica smiled and said, "Four is how many can sleep snugly together in a King. Any more than that and we have to get floor mats out. With seven of us at the Rosetti house, it's usually two pairs in the queen beds upstairs and a trio in the master bedroom's king at night."

"The McDougalls aren't part of your group?"

Jessica answered, "Not in an official sense. Understand, all of this incest bloomed over just the past month or so and we only became aware that the McDougalls were also involved in incest on Friday. We're still mostly separate at this point, with Pat and Debra crossing over a little bit in the past few days and Angie doing the same in the other direction. But, we haven't worked out a gathering of both groups, yet, and might not, beyond the allowable non-incest pairings at my mom's club. We really do need to be careful not to draw too much attention to ourselves that people get suspicious. You haven't given me an answer about tonight, though. Do you want Derek and Angie to come over?"

"Yes, please," Alissa answered.

~~~~~

Angie and I did a quick stop at a grocery store for some drinks and breakfast foods, since we had already cleared and turned off Jilly's refrigerator a few days before. We figured we'd need to turn it back on for Alissa and her mothers to stay there for the next three nights.