Chapter 56: Fred and Daphne
They were stepbrother and sister only they weren't. Both were over twenty-one when their parents married, in fact he was twenty four and a science teacher and she was twenty three and an English teacher.
They worked in the same school district but at different schools.
They did not know each other.
They hated their parent's new spouse and knew the reason was because they no longer were the apple of their parent's eyes. But neither would admit to crass jealousy so they invented character flaws for their parent's new love, even though they had never met them.
Fred and his Mother Velma clung to each other for six years after their husband abandoned them when Fred was just in intermediate school.
Velma had sworn to become self-sufficient and had become somewhat wealthy in real estate. She had financed and supported Fred through college.
They were as close as a mother and son get.
Yet they had not lived together in five years.
Daphne and Mike managed to make it through the death of their mother and wife. Samantha had become ill when Daphne was only eight years old and died three years later.
The slow and inevitable death of the most important person in their lives had bonded them together as tightly as a father and daughter could be.
They had not lived together in four years.
The kids were living on their own and only visited with their parents on rare occasions although they kept in regular touch.
Fred lived eighty miles from his mother and Daphne lived eighty four miles away from her father.
The small First Felicity Bank had just hired her father Mike as first vice president, coincidentally in the town Velma lived in. When Mike decided to buy a patio home he used Velma as the realtor.
He had come to accept the love of his life was gone and would not return. However it had been more than ten years so he was looking around, not for her replacement but for companionship.
When Daphne went off to college several women had targeted him as their next, he got laid often.
He had changed careers and began to make better money. He was handsome and considerate.
Yet he felt like a sitting duck so he decided to flee and moved to the coastal town as soon as he had secured a job.
Velma knew his loss was very different from hers but was at least as traumatic. She had lived in fear her ex would come back and had moved to the coastal town when Fred graduated from high school.
She empathized with Mike and dropped her saleswoman persona for him. She had not had sex with a man in nearly ten years and was horny for one.
The problem was that she did not trust them.
The first home Velma had shown Mike he had decided would do just fine but became unavailable when the owners decided to reconcile.
Mike and Velma knew then that if he had bought the house they were not likely to meet again.
Both voiced disappointment and frustration but were secretly happy they would need to continue meeting. They had gotten along well from the start.
She began to show him properties that had major drawbacks explaining that was all that had come up for sale. She made a point of showing him the problems and gave him estimates of what it would cost to fix them. She may have exaggerated the problems and the cost a little bit.
He suspected she was exaggerating the problems but praised her for working so hard for him. He began to kiss her cheek at each greeting and farewell.
At least once a week she needed to talk to him about something. She would see him at the bank just before noon and take him out to lunch.
At least once a week he would go to her office after work to go over something. He would take her out to dinner.
She was charmed by his humor and demeanor and she loved that he treated her with respect. She loved when he put his hand on the small of her back when he opened doors for her.
Two months into the process she showed him a home that was just two doors from her own patio home but he found something or other he did not like. She had been hoping he would buy it and was disappointed, feeling like she had been rejected, until she realized he did not know where she lived.
"He had found problems because he did not want our relationship to end," she thought, she hoped.
Velma decided to take a chance and invited him over for dinner. He was very surprised when she left the car on the driveway of the home for sale and walked past one house and into the next.
He saw they would be neighbors
.He helped her prepare dinner, the first man to ever do so. After a very fine dinner he asked to see the property again the next day.
She was so happy she kissed his cheek. His kiss to Velma landed on her lips. She had turned her head as she saw it coming.
He didn't want it to end and she didn't want it to end it so the kiss continued until they were naked in bed.
That night ended up with them just ravishing each other.
She stopped searching for homes for Mike and he had begun to stay the night at her house now and then. They held hands while in public.
A month of long and sometimes tearful talks inter-sped with gentle lovemaking and wild sex later he asked her to marry him.
She went into a long rant on how it would never work between them but she was just arguing with herself. All through her rant he held her hand and never said a word.
"Do you really love me?" She finally asked.
"Yes, more than I could imagine I would love anyone again."
"Promise you would never leave me."
"I can't, I might die first."
"Asshole," she said and kissed him. "When?"
"I need a place to live in this town so tomorrow would be good."
"Asshole," she said and kissed him again.
She knew he had the money to buy anything he wanted anytime he wanted but he had been living at a bed and breakfast for three months. He had been waiting on her.
"Where would such ceremony take place on such short notice?" Velma asked."
Vegas, several people have told me stories about couples going to Vegas and marrying on the spur of the moment. All of those marriages seem to be working well. That and I have always wanted to see the Cirque shows."
"I know those people and all of them are younger than we are."
"So we have a better chance of making it work. Maybe the Blue Man Group show too."
"You would need to add Celine's show to that list."
"Aww, do I have too?"
"Yes you do."
"Well OK, you bully. I will leave you to pack and I will return in ten minutes. I will call Southwest and see if they have a couple of seats.
I love you. I will always be the husband you have wanted."
They kissed and she packed a bag then called her associate Amanda and left her a message that she would be gone for a week.
She was dialing her son's number when Mike ran in and said, "Let's go. Our ride leaves the airport in five minutes."
Mike had called the bank president to tell her he was running away to get married and when he said Vegas she told him there was a plane at the Felicity airport getting ready to take townspeople to Vegas for a concert.
They made it in seven minutes but the plane was still waiting on them.
Velma knew everyone on the plane and she introduced Mike to all as soon as the seat belt sign went off. All her friends enthusiastically approved of their impending marriage and all promised to attend the ceremony before they were asked, even the two women she admired and trusted most.
A good friend told her, "It's about fucking time. Another week of cowardice on your part and I would have gone after him myself."
Before they returned to their seats she knew she had made the right decision.
As the plane was making its approach to Vegas it occurred to Velma she had never agreed to marry him.
"You know, I haven't accepted your marriage proposal."
"Oh no, people will think we got the plane ride for evil purposes. You better not say anything and marry me anyway and avoid a scandal."
"That does seem to be the safest route to take. OK, I'll marry you."
They kissed until the plane pulled up to the gate.They were at their room in Caesar's before they called their children. Both told their parent they could not make it to their wedding.
Mike and Velma understood their children were upset over being 'the last to know' and simply expressed their disappointment to them.
Their children were very hurt they had not been consulted and been given veto power. They had felt it was their duty to protect their parent and had been bypassed.
Daphne cried for nearly an hour. Fred almost did.
Mike and Velma invited them to come to the town and meet their new spouse when they were ready. Neither of the children was ready until Christmas.
Daphne and Fred were polite to each other and their parent's new spouse but all could see it was an act. They left for home the same day.
By then Daphne and Fred could not in good conscience blame their parents, they had lived alone for years and they now lived eighty miles away. Still their resentment remained.
During the short visit Daphne and Fred were very surprised when they learned that they worked in the same school district and lived just ten minutes apart from each other. Each had already resolved to never see the other again.
Velma called her son and spoke to him every week.
Mike called Daphne every week.
Neither came to visit until summer vacation and coincidentally came on the same weekend. They were very surprised to see the other when they met their parents at an Italian restaurant.
"Oh, did you two come together," Velma asked.
"No," was the emphatic response from each.
"I see," was Velma's response.
Fred and Daphne knew she had not liked the tone of their answer at all.
Mike said, "Well at least we are together. Try the shrimp linguini, it is our favorite."
In an effort to keep the peace both ordered it.
During dinner a lot of people came by the table and kissed Velma and Mike with love. They introduced their children to all and all of them welcomed them to the town.
