Substitute Family

'If necessary, I'll move here, we can live here together, no one's ever going to find out, even if mum says something, we just deny it, I bet after all this time, there isn't even any paperwork. 'Me and you, we can make it work.'

What she said had its merits and was maybe feasible, what was causing the problem at the moment was the fact that I couldn't get past the fact that she was my sister and that I'd had sex with her.

'You need to speak to your mum, tell her you are alright and that we are just going to have something to eat and then I'm driving you back,' I told her.

Kerry came straight to the point, the look of determination on her face reminding me of Mary, 'I'm not going back, If you don't want me, then I'll go somewhere else, but I'm not going back.'

I promised that if things could not be worked out, then I would bring her back with me, it was the only way that I could get her into the car to make the journey. The drive back was completed in near silence, only half my mind concentrating on the driving as I tried to sort out my jumbled thoughts.

We had reached the halfway point when I pulled over, 'Can I borrow your phone Kerry, it's important?' She handed it over without any questions as I climbed from the car and wandered some distance from it.

I phoned Cynthia, there were things in my head that I needed to make sense of, truths that were suddenly becoming clearer. We chatted for ten minutes before I said goodbye to her and returned to the car, passing the phone back to Kerry, she didn't even look at it, nor would she look at me as she spoke, her voice sullen, 'You phoned Cynthia didn't you. 'I think that's who you really want, you always seem to go back to her. 'Have you slept with her again?' the last part of her remark sounding accusatory.

'Yes I phoned Cynthia, I needed to ask her something, and no, I haven't slept with her.'

The last part was a lie, but I decided that now wasn't the right time for telling the truth. It was early evening when we finally got back to Lower Yockleton and I parked outside Kerry's cottage. 'I need to speak to Mary on my own, promise me you will stay here in the car and you won't do a disappearing act.'

Kerry dutifully promised but I still wondered if she would be there when I returned, Mary was stood at the door as I walked up the small path, staring at her daughter and wondering why she was still in the car.

'I think we need to talk first,' I said as I followed her inside, I'd never seen her like this, she seemed to be at a loss as to what she should say or do. Sitting at the kitchen table seemed the best idea, it kept some space between us while we made decisions that would affect our lives, perhaps forever.

'What do you want Mary?' Even now it was difficult to call her mum, I was starting to realise that something Cynthia had said was perfectly true.

Her eyes filled with tears, 'I want my son back,' she whispered.

'Even at the expense of losing your daughter?' I asked.

There was no easy way out, whichever way she turned, there would be problems and consequences.

'Would it be easier if I was to just disappear again. 'Kerry will be heartbroken at first, but I'm sure she will eventually get over me,' I asked.

Mary was shaking her head vehemently, 'I've only just found you, I'm not losing you again.'

I never presumed it was going to be easy, but it was going to be nigh on impossible to keep everyone happy, 'There is a way to make things work' I said, her ears pricking up at the promise of any type of a compromise.

'There is no easy way I can call you mum, not after the things we have done, and if you ever forgot and introduced me as your son, people would ask questions.

'So I can only think of one solution if you would accept that'. I told her what I was prepared to do and she nodded her head enthusiastically, 'Does she know?' Does she know she asked?

I shook my head, 'Not yet.'

Going to the car, I asked Kerry to come indoors with me, she looked sad and feared for the worst. With all three of us seated around the table, I explained, 'Mum and I have discussed it, but everything depends on you.

'If I start to call Mary, 'mum', people are going to wonder why and ask questions, especially around here, but folk wouldn't think twice if she said it was because I was her son-in-law'.

It took a Kerry a moment or two for the penny to drop as her face suddenly brightened, her eyes going misty, 'Are you asking what I think?'

I nodded and smiled mischievously, 'I'll even go down on one knee it makes you say yes.'

I thought she was going to topple me out of the chair as she threw herself across the table, her eyes bright as she asked, 'You really mean it?'

I couldn't help but beam, 'Will you marry me, Kerry?'

'Yes, yes, yes' she managed before her lips became permanently attached to mine.

And so, here we are, two years later, Kerry is now 'Mrs Judd', during the week we spend the time in my parent's house, our house really now, and each weekend we drive across to our cottage in the hamlet. It wasn't a big wedding, let's face it, neither of us had a lot of relatives and so we just invited friends. I couldn't see the villa in Spain getting a lot of use, so sold it and we ended up buying the cottage that I had initially rented.

My first idea was that I would drive back and forth each week once I started work, but I think the prospect of me being far away and alone, in close proximity to the delectable Cynthia, was too much for Kerry to allow and so it was decided that we would go back and forth together. It was as though Kerry didn't implicitly trust me, and she had every right to feel like that at the time, I don't know how I manage it, but I'm happy to say that I still manage to keep Cynthia content. She had been there when I needed her the most and I would never ever forget that and anyway, she still has a body to die for.

We see Mary every weekend when we go across and she'll never change, I'm getting to know her more and more and we are now very close. Am I sleeping with my mum? No! my 'mum', tragically died in a car accident several years ago. Am I sleeping with my mother-in-law? Well, I couldn't possibly say, you'd have to ask her, and good luck with that.

After a time, when I seemed to have lost everything, I can honestly say that I am now very happy, it seems funny in a way, but my family, has become my family.