Raven and Amanda wrestle with their new family relationship. How is that going to affect their new-found feelings for each other? Does this change anything with David?
Raven saw David at lunch on Tuesday. They ate and talked as usual, but David sensed something had changed. He groaned, thinking it meant the end with Raven.
She didn't come right out and dissuade him, but at last offered a glimmer of hope. "David, how about we get together Saturday afternoon?"
He exhaled, but before he could say anything she continued. "Amanda and I have something we need to tell you."
His face fell and shoulders slumped. So this was it. This was the end.
She reached across the table and touched his face. "Why David. You're pretty emotional for a guy. Are you about to cry?"
"No, I'm not...what the fuck, who am I trying to kid? Yes I am. I'm about to lose the only two girls I've ever loved. I've dreaded this."
"Well, if it's done it won't be us doing the dumping, it will be you yourself. What happens next depends on how you react to what we have to tell you. Meet at the Delta house at two."
Raven cleared her trash from the table and left him there with his head in his hands.
Saturday afternoon David trudged to the Delta house with a sense of impending doom and noted both girls sitting on the front steps. Great. They were going to do it in front of the entire sorority.
The girls arose as he approached and Amanda indicated for him to follow them to her car. Maybe it would be in private, after all.
"Why so glum, David?" Amanda asked as she pulled out of the parking lot beside the Delta house.
"I just wish you'd get it over with and leave me to my misery."
He became alarmed when they stopped at an apparently abandoned road and opened a rusty gate. During the bumpy ride in he said "Will they ever find my body?"
Amanda smiled and Raven laughed "Nothing so dramatic. I thought the same thing the first time Amanda brought me out here. It's just a nice secluded spot."
"It's secluded alright. You could take all my clothes and make me find my way back to campus naked. I'd die of exposure before I ever found my way out of here."
The car stopped and the three got out. David looked around. "What is this place?"
Raven said "It's our Uncle Stan's old place. It hasn't been lived in for years."
"I'll say. Wait. You said OUR Uncle Stan. I don't understand. Who's 'us'?"
Amanda got out the blanket they used, spread it on the grass, and indicated for him to sit. The girls sat on either side of him.
Amanda looked at Raven. "I guess we've tortured him enough. Time to find out."
"It's time to find out what? Dammit."
Raven said "Look at me, David. Look me in the eye. I want your undivided attention."
"You've certainly got that."
"Here's the thing. We didn't know it when we all met at Francisco's, but it turns out Amanda and I are sisters. That's why it's OUR Uncle Stan's place. Apparently he was my Uncle Stan as well as Amanda's."
"What the hell? How can that be?"
"It's a long story, but I'm adopted and Amanda's mom is my birth mother."
"Wait. I thought you told me, Amanda, that everyone in your extended family is fair haired or has red hair. Scandinavian or something."
"And Irish. Yes, but there were circumstances and mom gave birth to twins. The father was not my father. I'll spare the details. The children were both dark complected with black hair and looked nothing like the rest of the family. There was no way to hide it."
"My brother and I were put up for adoption. Uncle Stan and his wife were the only family members who knew."
"You have a brother? Where is he?"
"He's actually my twin. We don't know where he is. We do know that DNA testing indicates my background has a big chunk of Italian, which fits the story. As my twin, my brother should have a similar DNA signature, but we don't have a clue where he is. He has vanished."
David put his hands on his head. "Wait. You mean I've been..."
"Fucking two sisters. Yes."
"We need to know if it makes a difference."
"My head is swimming."
"That's why we came out here. Although the idea of taking your clothes and making you walk back to campus naked is tempting."
Raven laid a hand on his arm. "Amanda and I have had to think this through together. Try to imagine the shock we felt when we found out."
David got up and paced around the blanket. He went down to the stream, picked up some rocks, and tossed them in one by one, each one landing with a 'bloop'. The last one was flat and he tried to skip it but only got three skips.
He turned to see the girls sitting on the blanket watching him and walked back to the blanket, throwing himself down between them.
"This is truly bizarre. First thing, let me ask - does it make any difference to either of you that we've been, umm..."
"Fucking? We talked about it and decided it does not matter to us. Does it matter to you?"
"Okay, so there's no sister complications between you, right?"
The girls nodded.
"This is bizarre."
"You've already said that."
"I know. But here's something else. I don't mind because, as I've told each of you, I feel a connection with you. Now I understand it may be because you're related, so it's natural for me to feel something for each of you."