Jacob left me wondering just how I was going to face Sandra's parents and also wondering just what he was going to be saying to those same grandparents. I was somewhat taken back by the fact that Jacob had actually called me "Mom" and seemed to have meant it.
It isn't every day that your grandchildren's father is a woman and I knew that they had never approved of my desire to become a woman. They never did really like me though to be honest I guess they at least were resigned to the fact that their daughter had chosen me to be the father of their grandchildren. Don't get me wrong Fritz and Marlene were great people, but I'm afraid the divorce and my sex preferences began to be a bit much on the fragile relationship.
I knew basically that Jacob, who was twenty and a sophomore at the local college, wanted me back. I couldn't say that I knew that Josie, Frank, and little Eloise felt the same way. Josie was a year younger than Jacob and was a freshman at the same college. Frank was a freshman at Central High School and was only fifteen. He was the quiet, moody one always having his nose stuck in books and never ever showing any emotion. It made Frank very hard to read or to understand at times. Little Eloise, my darling, gem of a baby was eleven and barely understood what was going on in the family.
Fritz and Marlene did not arrive until all the children were home from their various schools. To say that they were antagonistic would be the understatement of the century. To say that they were much more ready for this showdown than I was made their antagonism seem friendly. They lived in a small town fifty miles or so from us and came without luggage. I knew they weren't planning to stay around any longer than they had to stay.
They got right to the point. The two youngest were going with them as soon as the funeral was over. If the two oldest wanted to go with them or stay with me, it was their business because of their ages, but Fritz and Marlene made it quite obvious that anybody having anything to do with me would not be welcome in their house at any time. And, if Jerry the man had been barely tolerated, Jerry the woman was to be shunned and would never have access to the two youngest until they reached the age of consent and could make up their own minds. Jacob and Josie informed them that they would be living here with me because they were not leaving college and could not afford to live elsewhere. Fritz and Marlene told them to never come near their brother and sister while those two were living in their house. And they had a legal paper to back them up in everything they said, signed, sealed and now delivered.
"Mom, would you take the other kids with you? I want to talk to grandpa and grandma alone, if you don't mind."
"Of course. Kids, let's get some ice cream in the kitchen." Josie beamed at me as she led Frank and Eloise into the kitchen with me following behind and closing the door.
I don't know what Jacob said to them, but when he opened the door to the kitchen only a few minutes later they were both gone and the papers where laying torn into little scraps all over the coffee table.
"What did you have to say to them that they left like that?"
"Can we talk without Frank and Eloise?"
"Yes, of course" I said as I led the way back into the living room and closed the door once again. This time Josie was with us.
"Dad, er Mom, some time ago I had a research paper to do on our family tree. How much do you know about Fritz and Marlene?"
"Not much. Your mother never really talked about them and they never volunteered information about themselves."
"Well, Josie and I talked about what I had found during my research and we decided that if ever the situation that arose today should come up, that information would become our weapon to keep this family together."
"What information?"
"Mom, Fritz and Marlene are not married."
"What the hell are you talking about? Of course they are married. Your mother was their only child."
"Our mother was their only child. That much is true. But they could never be married. Fritz and Marlene are brother and sister. When Fritz got Marlene pregnant with our mother, they ran away from the family that disowned them and they started life fresh hundreds of miles away, only it was as husband and wife instead of brother and sister."
"And how did you use this information?"
"I told them that if they ever tried to take Frank and Eloise again, I would make sure that their family found out where they were and that their church would find out all the nasty, sexy details of their incest. That should shock the church into shunning them totally because Fritz and Marlene are well-respected members who decry any sin as being mortal. They begged me not to say anything to their church and promised that they would never try to split us up again."