Soccer Moms Ch. 15

Carol's immediate reaction was one of shock, but she quickly got up and threw her arms around Jen and gave her a big hug. Jen was a bit surprised as Carol and her had been very distant of late. Things has been a bit frosty even before Paul's death and afterwards they had not gotten better. Later when their discussion indirectly touched on the crash that had killed Paul, Jen realized the anxiety Carol must have been under in the airport. But at that moment Jen was shocked herself to find Carol there as well and a little annoyed at her sudden grabbiness.

Her tone showed that when she asked "What are you doing here?"

Jen's tone brought Carol back to the here and now and she realized that this hug was a bit too familiar for the current status. She wasn't even sure why she had hugged Jen like that. She hadn't thought about doing it, it just came by instinct. Carol finally answered "Katie and Melanie are flying in today and I came to pick them up."

"The flights already landed and they should be here soon. But Melanie had called me a couple of weeks ago and asked me to pick her and Katie up and we were going to take Katie to our house for a few days. She asked me to come by myself so we could fit all the luggage and Katie."

Carol was obviously surprised to hear this. "Katie called me and asked me to come get her and bring her and Melanie back to our house. I had even offered to pay for an Uber because I haven't been back here since...you know. But she was very insistent."

Carol the accountant was trying to figure out why the columns weren't adding up. Jen the Paralegal was trying to figure out the girls' motives. "Why get both of us here at the same time with both girls arriving together?" thought Jen. The final piece of the puzzle had finally fit for Jen when two voices said "Hi Mom" simultaneously. Katie and Melanie were standing there holding hands and looking at their mothers.

Seeing them holding hands confirmed Jen's conclusion and Jen's eyes began to water. Melanie took a look at her Mother and said "You've figured it out?" Jen just nodded her head and started to cry. Melanie ran over to her and threw her arms around her mother.

Carol was completely discombobulated. She looked at Katie then at Melanie and Jen, then back to Katie and then back to Melanie and Jen and said "Figured out what Jen?"

"That their getting married."

Carol wheeled back to Katie who looked at her Mom and just shook her head up and down. "Oh Katie that's wonderful." shouted Carol and Katie ran into her own hug. They broke apart and then both girls went to the other girl's Mother and hugged them as well.

Melanie seemed to take charge at this point. "Okay first we have to go get our bags, then we are going to the Food Court because we're starving and there was no food on the plane. Then we need to decide what we're doing next because you both can't be taking both of us back home tonight."

As they ate their dinner Carol had to ask "Jen how did you figure it out before they said anything?"

"Well, we've known that there was a special connection with these two for a few years now"

"And you might not have thought about it, but at the funeral, Melanie sat next to Katie in the family's pew at the church. When I asked her about it she just said that she needed to be there for Katie, but it was like they were already together."

Then they had concocted a story to get us both together at the same spot not really expecting to see each other there. It had to be that they wanted to tell us something and it had to be at the same time so no one got to know ahead of the other. It was either they were getting married, or they were leaving school. When I saw them holding hands, I knew it was marriage."

Katie sat there in awe listening and when Jen finished she said "That was our plan exactly. It's like you were there when we came up with it."

Jen looked back and her and said "Aw sweetheart. One thing you need to know right now is that your future Mother-in-Law is a genius." The four women all laughed at that.

As they finished their dinners, Melanie again took charge and said "Okay there was something else we wanted to talk about as part of this plan. And this is from both of us."

"That's right, so listen up Mom." said Katie.

Melanie looked back and forth between Carol and Jen as she said "We don't want to pry or bring up any bad feelings or open any old wounds. But you two used to be best friends. And we know you never talk to each other anymore. We're not asking you to become best friends again, but we expect you to be something more than just civil with each other. We're going to be family. Katie and I have talked about kids. And whether we adopt or try invetro, we are going to have kids and raise a family and you two are going to be the Grandmothers. So we don't know how it started or who started it, but is there any chance we can end it now and you two can be friends again?"

Carol and Jen looked at each other for what seemed like a long time. Carol looked down but started talking "Jen I'd say that it's been my fault that we've grown apart. I am not really sure why I let it happen (Jen was pretty sure she knew exactly why Carol had done it and why she had let it happen but this was not the time to dredge up old business) but I drifted away from us."

Now Carol looked up and looked at Jen. Carol's eyes were already a little watery as she said "If you can find it in your heart to forgive me, I promise that I will be a better friend and we can rejoice in our daughters' happiness and be one big happy family. If you forgive me, I promise I'll try."

At that point Jen was a little misty eyed as well. She said "Carol, I accept your apology and I know we can be friends again. There is a lot of water under the bridge, but we can start from today and work on being friends. Hopefully we can get it done by the wedding, which we still haven't heard anything about when that will be." Jen said looking at the girls.

Melanie said "We haven't set a date yet, but I think it will probably be right after our soccer time is up."

"That gives us two years Carol, I'm sure we can get this all worked out by then." Jen said and smiled at Carol.

Katie decided to bring things back to ground by pointing out the one remaining detail to be discussed. "Okay so now that's settled, who is going where tonight."

Carol turned to Melanie and said "My daughter is going to get married to one of the kindest, smartest prettiest young women I know." Then she turned to Jen "And I am going to be getting someone very dear to me back into my life again. That is more than enough to keep me happy for a few more days. So you should both go home with Jen but you have to promise me you're both coming to my house for a few days after that. Then we'll figure out the rest of the two weeks from there."

"Deal" said Melanie.

"Deal" said Katie.

"Deal" said Jen.

So they walked out to the parking lot. As they went, Katie asked her mom to give the news to Katie's older sister Abigail.

"Why do you want me to tell her?" Carol asked.

"The way she reacted to you news last year, I'm not sure how she'll react to this news."

"If you want me to I will, but I think she might surprise you."

"Thanks Mom. See you in a couple of days." Katie gave her mom a hug good bye. So did Melanie and even Jen gave her the briefest of hugs. Melanie thought "Well, that's a start."

***************

Carol now began the long drive home. She used the Bluetooth in her car to tell her eldest daughter of her sister's engagement. At first Abigail was hurt that Katie did not call her herself. Then her mother explained why Katie had asked her to call Abigail. That brough a moment of clarity to Abigail.

"Oh. Yeah. Well, I've come a long way since then. I've gotten used to the idea that you have sex with women, I am sure I can get used to my little sister marrying another woman. Besides, Melanie is such a sweet and wonderful person. I'm sure Katie and her will be great together." They continued to talk about the engagement and a host of other things and Carol was already home and in the house for almost an hour before she finally hung up with Abigail.

She called her daughter Brianna next. She did not say anything right away just in case Katie had not reached her yet, but she already knew. When Brianna said that she was not surprised, Carol was surprised again that someone else knew about this before her. Brianna then explained about hearing the two of them in Katie's room the first night of that get together the previous year. They both laughed.

When she was finally off the phone with Brianna, Carol realized she had time for one more call. She called Jessica Williams and told her the happy news.

"Well, that is wonderful although I am not surprised in a way."

"I don't get this. I'm her mother and I was surprised. How come you weren't surprise and my daughter Brianna wasn't surprised?"

"Despite your own history Carol, you're still a product of your own generation. Women getting married was just not something you really thought about until it was actually happening."

"You do have a Masters in Psychology now so I guess I have to listen to you."

"That's right. And come the fall I will be an assistant Professor while I am here working on my Doctorate. I am working in the Department for the summer, but it is not busy. You should come out for a visit."

"A visit?"

"Yes Carol, a visit. And it can include sex if you want but it doesn't have to."

"I think it would be hard for me to be around you for a while and not want to have sex."

"Well, think about it. Maybe you can come out and we'll put it to the test."

When Carol got up the next morning, the first thing she did was to check her social media to see if Katie had put out the word of her engagement. Carol did not want to steal her thunder. But Katie already had so she was able to put out her own information. She called Megan Sims and Elena Menescu to talk to them. Both conversations were very happy talks and Carol was felling happy herself.

Most of her time the next few days was having conversations back and forth over social media and getting things ready for the girls to come.

The plan had become that the girls would stay for a week, then go back to Jen's for the rest of the break and she would take them to the airport. Carol was more than happy not to have to go back there.

Carol was happy to have the girls in the house and they spent a lot of the time talking about the girls' future plans. One thing did cause Carol some disquiet in her mind. Her youngest daughter Katie was the one of her daughter who looked the most like her. Melanie was the spitting image of her mother at the same age. Seeing the two of them together was almost like looking at a younger Carol and Jen.

Carol had spent the last few years convincing herself that the feelings she had developed for Jen Smith were not love. She had only been in love with her husband Paul. Carol began to realize she had a desire to be intimate with woman and Jen Smith had been the right person at the right time for Carol to explore this part of herself. She had not been in love with Jen.

Granted when Jen first started dating Sue McPherson, Carol had reacted like someone who was jealous. But she had decided that it was more the sudden shift in their relationship that had caused her to react so negatively to Jen's decision to date and now live with Sue. Carol didn't like Sue, but then again, neither did Melanie. So it wasn't just her.

Over the years and especially after the death of her own husband, Carol began to get a little more perspective about why Jen might have not really wanted to be alone. And as the years went by and they had less interaction with each other, it simply became easier to accept this construct that Carol had created for herself. That was still her story and she was still going to stick to it.