Finest of traditions
⦠While driving to Laura I receive a call that he completed all three âvisitsâ and that everything went smoothly. Shortly after my lawyers call me to let me know that all three share transfers have been finalized; at the moment, I own 49% of the school. Good, almost there.
I park my car outside daddy-dearest house and walk to the front door. I donât see Jackâs car here, so hopefully the fucker is out. I ring the bell, and after a short minute the door opens and I stand face to face with a smiling Laura.
âCarl! How rare for you to come over. Please, come insideâ
I step forward and give her a hug and a kiss on the cheek,n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
âHello Laura, I think we need to talkâ¦â
As I say so, I step inside the house, leaving a puzzled Laura to shut the door.
âWhat is it, dear? You look upset.â
âThatâs because I am, Laura. Are we alone here?â
âYes, Jack is out and will come back in the evening, whatâs the matter?â, asks Laura, obviously puzzled by my demeanor.
âI⦠I think it is best if we sit down for this, Laura.â
âAs you wish, dear. You are making me worried as well. Letâs go to the living room.â
I freeze at her words. There is no way that I can step in there right now without losing my reason.
âHow about your small living room, Laura?â
Laura is more and more perplexed but acquiesces to my whims.
âIf you want, dear.â, she says and moves to her favorite, room, furnished only with a L-shaped sofa, a small scrivener and lots of plants.
We sit down on the sofa and I turn to her.
âLaura, can you promise that whatever I ask, you will tell me the truth?â
My mother in law stiffens at my words and a bit of steel is injected on her voice.
âCarl, I donât lie. Period. I might omit, but never lie.â
Reassured by her answer, (which I know for a fact to have been held true for as long as I know her), I ask,
âDid you know about your husband having sex with Julia?â
My words cause her to freeze and her eyes become round in incredulity.
âCarl! What are you talking about!â
âYou promised, Laura, no lies. Did. You. Know?â
Laura looks at me unable to speak for a minute, then exhales slowly.
âI really donât know how you learned about it after so many years. But please, Carl, let me explainâ¦â
âExplain? Sure⦠go ahead, I really want to hear your explanation!â
My voice is icy cold, as is my expression.
âDear, I wonât examine whether is right or not, but it is something of a family tradition. The father sleeps with the daughters until the day they get married, afterward, only the husband can. As Jack did with Julia, as I did with my fatherâ¦Â Of course, we use alternative⦠means so as to keep our virginity for out husbands. I never expected that you would learn about it. Did Julia tell you?â
I process her words in my mind. According to her, Jack should have stopped fucking his daughter when we married, but obviously he never did. Or perhaps, he restarted after Ella was born, since, courtesy of Mikeâs thoroughness when doing the DNA tests for the girls, I have confirmation that Ella is in fact, mine. The major issue, however, is whether Laura knows that he didnât stop fucking his daughter or not⦠I sigh and exhale, I really want to believe herâ¦
âLaura, Jack never stopped sleeping with my wifeâ, I say.
Julia recoils in horror at my words,
âImpossible! I am sorry Carl, but I cannot believe you. I donât know where you learned about the past, but I will not believe that my husband would do such a thing!â
Sigh, I guess I will have to show her the video. It does not seem however that she is aware of daddy dearest actions.
âLaura, do you know about your husband illegitimate children?â
Her eyes get wide as saucers,
âYou know about that too? What is going on, Carl?â
âSimply put, your husband is still having sex with my wife. Moreover, he is sharing her with his friends, and has the intention to do the same with all his illegitimate daughters⦠and Ellaâ¦â
Laura shots to her feet, fury in her face.
âCarl! I love you like you were my own son, but unless you prove to me that your words are true, I donât want to see you ever again. And if what you are saying is true, I will cut my husbandâs balls off myself!â
I exhale slowly and my body relaxes. Yeah, I believe her. She really has no idea.
I take out my tablet and open the paused video, then pass it to her.
She looks at it curiously, then, recognizing that the scene shown is her own house, she arches an eyebrow toward me,
âCare to explain dear, why do you happen to have a video that seems to be taken from a hidden camera inside my dining room?â
âIsnât it obvious? After finding that my father in law has a dozen illegitimate children whose support and their mothers comes out of my pocket, and in preparation for my divorce, I had to figure out what was going on.â
Laura freezes once again,
âWait, dozen? I only know of two! And what do you mean their support comes out of your pocket?â
I snort,
âOh, come on Laura, with that damn agreement to let Julia handle my finances, Jack gets four to five million per year in donations at my expenses. Is it wrong to consider that I am in fact supporting his harem?â
âWha⦠you are serious, arenât you?â
It seems now it is my turn to be taken aback,
âYou mean, you didnât know?â
Laura looks at me intently, then without speaking taps the tablet and watches the video. I stand up and move outside the room, closing the door behind me. If I hear the damn thing again, I would probably loose my sanity for good...