Price of Past Miracles Ch. 03

Charles and Diana and Tom and Lynda were relieved an hour later when they heard Jonnie's Camaro pull up in front of the Richards' home in Brentwood again. They walked to the window and saw Barbie climbing out of the driver's seat, Jonnie stumbling out of the passenger seat and both of them helping Megan and Brad out of the backseat. They all turned toward the door as it opened.

Jonnie North entered behind Megan and he looked right at her mother. "If you guys had told Meggie that she and Brad shared the same father years ago, it could've been me you caught her in bed with instead of Brad! Damn it… it shoulda been ME!!!" he shouted drunkenly at her.

Barbie grabbed his arm and hissed, "Shut up, Jonnie. Now is not the time to bring that up!" She led him over to one of the couches and sat down with him.

Megan and Brad indicated to their parents to sit down on the other couch across from them. When the adults were seated, they stood in front of them as Brad started to speak.

"OK… we realize that Megan and I never gave you any indication that we had these feelings for each other. And we realize that if any of you had suspected it, you would've told us right away. Which led us to wonder why we felt the need to keep these feelings hidden… and wondered if it was our subconscious minds trying to tell us that there was something wrong! That these feelings were wrong… And if so, why were we so drawn to each other in the first place?!!"

Brad looked at the man he hoped would be able to give them some answers. "Uncle Charles… can you shed any light on this? Are we just sick, or what?!!"

Charles frowned. "No, you aren't sick! This is something that just evolved from a weird twist of fate! But as for your subconscious feelings… I can't just give you guys pat answers on that. You two will have to search your own souls for those. But I can tell you kids that just because you acted on your feelings, it does not make you sick or twisted. Everyone… I don't care how respectable they may seem… everyone has some kind of twisted fantasies. And for a lot of people, incestuous thoughts are a real turn-on for them… especially if they have a family full of attractive siblings.

"Brad, have you ever realized how pretty your sister DiDi is?" Brad nodded. "Have you ever accidentally seen her naked?" Brad blushed and nodded. "Did it affect a certain part of your body in a way that made you uncomfortable?" Brad put his hand over his eyes and nodded yet again. "Would you have gone after DiDi like you did Megan?"

"NO!!!" Brad shouted. "No Way! She's my sister…"

Charles raised his eyebrows at him. "See? Even though you knew she was your sister and you would never do anything like that, you still couldn't help the way your body reacted to her. But with Megan… she's just a pretty girl that you've known all your life and grown up with her and you guys are very close friends. I'll bet you got those feelings for Megan when her body blossomed when you guys were about thirteen… is that right?" Brad nodded again.

"When you danced with her that night, you let your guard slip and Megan saw how you were feeling about her in your eyes… that's when she started to have the same feelings for you. But, as for why you felt you had to hold back those feelings… I can't answer for you. You will have to figure that out for yourself. And Brad… you showed a lot of maturity and responsibility with your restraint, and that's a testament to your good character. Don't let this situation in any way make you feel like you did anything wrong or that you're a bad person. The only way that could happen is if you two can't let go now that you know the truth."

Charles looked into his daughter's eyes. "Megan, sweetie… do you have anything in particular about this that's most troubling to you?"

Megan frowned and looked down. "Oh, Daddy… Barbie made me realize tonight that I've known all along that Jonnie had feelings for me, too. And I've always liked Jonnie… and I'd kept it in the back of my mind that if I could never get Brad to notice me that I would've turned to Jonnie. So… why was I so fixated on Brad?"

Charles frowned and shook his head. "This is a question I may not be able to help answer for you, sweetie, but I'll try. Can you tell me what it was about Brad that attracted you to him in the first place? Was it more emotional or physical?"

Megan frowned hard as she tried to concentrate. "It was more… emotional," she answered softly as she looked up at Brad. "You made me feel safe. You were always looking out for me. I knew you'd never let anything happen to me." She looked back at her father. "Kind of like how you always made me feel when I was a little girl, Daddy, when you'd come into my room at night after I'd had a bad dream and hold me until I fell asleep again."

Charles smiled at her and took her hand and then he looked serious again. "And what about Jonnie? How does he make you feel?"

Megan turned and looked back at Jonnie North, his intense aqua eyes piercing through her and making her nerves tingle. She swallowed and turned back around to face her father. "Nervous and… breathless. Sometimes he'd be horsing around with me in the pool and when he'd grab me and try to dunk me, his hands on me and the look in his eyes made me breathe funny. My skin tingles when he touches me… it makes me… nervous!"

Jonnie closed his eyes and groaned as his head flopped back on the couch. "Damn, Megan… I didn't mean to scare you! I just… couldn't stay away from you! I wanted to touch you and… be near you! I would never let anything happen to you, either!"

Charles looked over at Jonnie and saw the desperation on the young man's face as he stared at his daughter and he smiled inwardly.That's actually a good sign, Jonnie… Charles looked back up at Megan. "Sweetie… do you find Jonnie physically attractive?"

She closed her eyes as she saw an image of Jonnie's strong body in nothing but his wet swimming trunks plastered to his hard, round butt and the large bulge in the front. Water was dripping down his firmly muscled, nearly hairless chest and his deep aqua eyes were staring at her from his handsome face. His muscles flexed as he reached up to slick his dark, wet hair back from his face. She shivered as she felt the tingles coursing through her body… the tingles that made her feel nervous around him. She opened her eyes and stared at her father nervously. "Yes," she whispered.

Brad snorted, "Damn it, Meg… are you saying you didn't find ME physically attractive?!!"

Megan looked up at him with her eyes flashing. "How can you say that, Brad, after the way I responded to you when we made love?!!"

Charles stood up and moved between them. "All right… we don't need to know the details! That's over with now! What we need to figure out now is how to get you two past that and the only way we can do that is to try to help you figure out why it happened! And I think I'm on to something here… at least as far as Megan is concerned."

He turned to his daughter and put his hands on her shoulders. "Sweetie… I think the reason you gravitated toward Brad instead of Jonnie is because Brad reminded you of me. Lots of young girls when they first fall in love tend to pick a guy who reminds them of their father. The reason Jonnie makes you so nervous is because you seem to have a strong physical attraction to him and those feelings can be very frightening to a young woman.

"Part of the reason your mother and I knew we'd found our soul mate again was because our physical attraction to each other was instantaneous. Our bodies knew before our hearts did that we were meant for each other! But we were thirty years old then… you're not quite eighteen yet, and you just didn't know how to handle your body's reaction to Jonnie's nearness.

"Brad made you feel safe, and because your heart told you you could trust him, it allowed your body to relax and be open to how good he made you feel. But sweetie, I'm now going to ask you a similar question to what I asked Brad before… Would it make you uncomfortable to know that Charlie had the same reaction to seeing you naked that Brad did when he saw DiDi?" Megan nodded her head quickly.

"Not having the knowledge that you and Brad share the same DNA is the only factor that allowed you and he to act on your feelings. Now that you know, you two have to be conscious that your bodies will still probably react to each other in ways that will make you two feel like you still love and want each other. And it's not because you're sick or twisted… it's simply a natural physical response that's been enhanced because you two were actually intimate."

Charles closed his eyes and frowned before he continued and then he glanced back and forth at both of them. "I can only assume from what has been said and what your mother saw, Megan, that what happened between the two of you… was good… that you were… good together. It would've been a lot easier for the two of you if it had been bad! You wouldn't still be as attracted to each other and it would be a lot easier to let go… but that's not how it worked out."

Charles moved away from them and paced back and forth. "I can only guess that the reason you two were so good together is because… well, I don't know how else to put this… it's in your genes! I don't mean to embarrass you kids, but Megan, sweetie… your Mama is very good in bed! And Brad… well… your Mom and Dad can't keep their hands off of each other just like Aunt Dee and me!"

Brad and Megan rolled their eyes and then Megan looked at her mother. "Yeah, Dad… I know! But Mama's not just good in bed! You don't know how many times I've had to sneak away from catching you two having sex! In the pool… in the kitchen… on the couch late at night! God… you two are like a having a live sexual instruction manual!"

Charles, Brad and Megan turned around when they heard Barbie and Jonnie snorting behind them. "What's so funny, guys?" Charles asked them.

Jonnie grinned as he said, "You don't know how many times I've caught my Mom and Dad doin' it over the years, too! It's a wonder they only had me and Crystal! And the things I've heard them say to each other and the way my Mom screams sometimes… Good God… it's downright embarrassing!"

Barbie laughed. "No kidding! Rickie and I have learned some really interesting Spanish phrases from listening to our Mom and Dad having sex! They like to talk dirty to each other in Spanish! They think Rickie and I have never bothered to learn, but Abuelo Ernesto and Abuela Maria have been teaching us Spanish all our lives!"

Brad looked around at his parents still seated on the couch next to each other holding hands and he smiled wryly and shook his head as he looked at his father. "I learned everything about how to make love to a woman from watching and listening to you, Dad." Then he turned and looked at Megan. "I wanted to make our first time as good for you as I could… and I didn't hurt you, did I, Meg?"

"No, Brad… it was wonderful…"

Jonnie North growled loudly, "GODDAMN IT, YOU TWO… SHUT UP!!! I don't want to hear any more about that! I still wanna beat the shit outta you, Brad Seldon!" he shouted as he stood up from the couch.

At that moment, the front door opened as Charlie Richards and Lily Wilson arrived. They stopped abruptly when they heard Jonnie yelling at Brad. Charlie frowned and looked around. "OK… what's going on here? What have we missed?"

Jonnie's head swung around to look at them as he said sarcastically, "Oh, nothin' much, Charlie! We just found out today that Megan is Brad's half-sister and he's fucked her… Ain't that somethin'?!!"

Charlie closed his gray blue eyes and frowned for a moment and then opened them and stared straight at his twin sister.Oh, my God… I never realized she's only MY half-sister, too… "Meggie… I had no idea you had feelings like that for Brad! If I'd known, I'd have told you…"

Charles walked over to his son. "You knew, Charlie? You knew that Uncle Tom was Megan's biological father? How did you find out?"

Charlie exhaled heavily. "I was looking through our family records trying to find my last physical report from the doctor to give to the school so I could sign up to play football my freshman year. I found a copy of one of Meggie's physicals, too, and I happened to notice that we had different blood types. I didn't think that sounded right, so I asked my biology teacher how that could happen. She told me it was virtually impossible but that the only way it could is that the two eggs would've had to be fertilized by sperm from two different donors. I was still confused and she didn't want to answer me when I asked her to explain further. She finally told me EXACTLY how it would've had to happen.

"Well… knowing how close you and Mom have been with Uncle Tom and Aunt Lynda all these years, I sort of figured it out. Especially when I asked Brad what his blood type was and he told me he was O positive… like Meggie."

Charlie then narrowly eyed his father and asked jokingly, "So Dad… did you actually watch Mom get screwed by Uncle Tom?"

Diana and Lynda gasped as Charles reached out and grabbed his son by the back of the neck and shook him slightly as he gritted, "That's not how it happened and it's none of your business, young man! Don't you ever ask a question like that again!" He released Charlie and looked around at all of the kids, who were eyeing the adults speculatively; he knew they were all wondering how on earth they could've done what they did.

Charles backed up far enough to be able to look at all of the young adults. "All right, you guys… I know this has been a somewhat shocking revelation but you need to understand that this was a one-time act of desperation. It never happened again because we got what we'd prayed for that night… And even if we hadn't, it still would've never happened again because it would've been a clear sign that what we did was wrong. But because we WERE blessed with you kids, we will never feel that what happened that night was wrong… Do you understand?!!!" he asked sincerely as he eyed his children and each one of their friends.

They all lowered their heads as they nodded slowly; then Charles asked the other kids for a favor. "Look… this is something that we never shared with your parents, so we'd appreciate it if you let us explain it to them. OK?" They all nodded their agreements, so Charles ended with, "Thank you. We'll try to get them over here tonight and explain that you all found out accidentally and that we felt we needed to tell them as well."

**********

Jon and Barbara North, Rick and Dawn Estevez and Larry and Maria Wilson were all seated in the Richards' living room having desserts and drinks when Charles and Tom told them about the decision they'd made that fateful New Years' Eve in 1956. Their friends all noticed how uncomfortable and embarrassed the two men seemed to be admitting that they'd actually gone through with such an act.

The Estevezes and the Wilsons glanced at each other sheepishly and Dawn spoke up to try to relieve some of their friends' apparent guilt. "Charles, Tom… you should never feel that we'd judge you for this. You did it for the best of intentions and we're all very happy that it worked out for you! Isn't that right, everybody?" she asked brightly as she glanced around at all the others and noticed that even Jon and Barbara readily agreed.Hmm… I wonder what those two have been up to?!!

"That's very nice of you to say and I hope you will all still feel the same when we tell you this next part," Tom said quietly and then sighed heavily as he began to explain the situation between Brad and Megan. He and Charles glanced at each other when they noticed how everyone else's eyes widened slightly and then they all frowned with sympathy as they glanced around at their worried friends.

Barbara looked at Diana and said softly, "Oh God, Diana… that must've been an awful feeling! I'm so sorry now that I never said anything to you when Jonnie told me how upset he was that Brad was trying to keep him away from Megan! I just thought this was something that the kids would have to work out between themselves! If I'd just said something… you could've stopped it! I'm so sorry… I kept telling Jonnie that if he felt that strongly about Megan then he owed it to himself and her to let her know! I really wish now that he'd listened to me!"

Diana looked at her good friend and frowned as she smiled sadly. "It's OK, Barb. You had no way of knowing how differently things might've worked out. Besides… Meggie admitted herself that she knew Jonnie had feelings for her, but she was scared of him because she's so physically attracted to him. I'm hoping now that she'll relax and not see Jonnie as a threat and that he can help her get over Brad."

Charles snorted an ironic laugh as he looked at Jonnie's parents. "But we'd better hope Megan doesn't get too comfortable with him too soon! I saw the way your boy was looking at my daughter and the way she looked when she described how nervous she felt around him… If those two do end up together… Lord have mercy…" was all he could think to mumble as he closed his eyes and shook his head slowly.I think Jonnie and my little girl will probably put me and her Mama to shame…

Then Lynda Seldon spoke up for the first time since all of their friends had arrived. "Has anyone else thought it strange that most of our kids seem to have always thought of each other as family and that the only two who actually were related were the only ones who developed feelings like that for each other? I had always kind of hoped that Brad would end up falling for either Lily or Barbie, but now…"

Dawn smiled softly at her as she interrupted. "Well Lynda, don't give up hope too soon. I happen to know my daughter is nuts over Brad, and I'm also hoping this thing won't come between her and Megan. Because if I know my Barbie, she's going to do everything she can to help Brad get over this! So, we may need to keep an eye on those two… I wouldn't put it past my daughter to dowhatever it takes!"

Rick looked at his wife with an alarmed expression as he exclaimed, "Are you saying my little girl is no longer innocent?!! Has she actually told you that?!!"

Dawn patted his arm and spoke soothingly. "No, honey! I just know how much she loves Brad and she's dreamed about him for years. She told me about those dreams when she started waking up wondering why her body felt so strange when she saw herself doing things with Brad that she's caught me and you at over the years! Unfortunately, she's inherited both of our libidos! I'm impressed that she's made it this long without losing her virginity… even though I put her on birth control last year."

"YOU DID WHAT?!!!" Rick roared at his wife as his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

Dawn and most of the other adults chuckled quietly at the shocked expression on her husband's face. "Now Rick… don't get upset. This was my idea, not Barbie's. I knew she wouldn't automatically assume that just because she was prepared, she could jump into sex with just anyone. You know our daughter is a good girl… I just wanted her to be prepared in case Brad ever did finally notice how she felt about him. He was the one boy I was most worried about because I know Barbie will never be able to resist him if he ever makes a move on her."

Rick stood up and pointed at Tom as he exclaimed nervously, "You keep your son away from my little girl, Seldon!!!" There was a moment of stunned silence and then everyone else burst into laughter. "That's not a joke you guys!" Rick exclaimed through the gales of laughter. Then Dawn stood up and kissed him quickly and hugged him as she continued to laugh until he was hugging her back and laughing as well.

**********

"Now, what the hell do you think they've found that could be so funny about all this?!!" Brad exclaimed as he stared toward the back of Megan and Charlie's house as they, along with Jonnie, Barbie and Lily all sat around the pool listening to their parents roar with laughter.