The White Rose Crisis Ch. 05

"Lucy, I –"

"I wanted you in me so badly I was willing to let you do anything you desired," she burst out. "I wouldn't have been able to stop you, physically or mentally." She pressed her lips to my hand again. "But you didn't. You didn't force me down, carry me off, have your way with me like some sex offender. You didn't push me into anything. You didn't try to fuck me. You just..." she couldn't finish the sentence, slowly breaking down into sobs as she planted her head on the table, my hand clutched close to her cheek.

"You showed her love." Auntie Ellie looked from me to Lucy and back as we both stared up at her.

"Children, listen to me. You are my nephew and my daughter, and I love you both so very much. I always will. But what I walked in on was a scene of sexual intimacy that should never have happened. I cannot condone what the two of you did tonight, even in the spirit of what we just heard." She paused and I felt genuine guilt flood me again.

"However," she went on. My hopes lifted. "If what you want, what you truly desire in this life, is to be together tonight, I know I cannot change that. It will happen whether I want it to or not. Will, you know why this is."

"Lucy...my dear, sweet Lucy," Ellie turned to her daughter, pain written across her face. "I didn't know when or how to tell you, if I ever would. I couldn't make up my mind. But you deserve to know, and the 'when' should have been before a night like this. I should have made a decision earlier, the right decision." She pondered for a moment.

"Before that, though, I made another decision while I waited for you both to clean up and join me at this table." Auntie Ellie smoothed out the tablecloth, taking a breath.

"There is a place, about twenty minutes away from this house, where I have made a reservation under your name, Will, bought and paid for forty eight hours. It is a hotel, a quiet one with many rooms. This reservation, this room I have booked, is ongoing; unless the hotel is completely filled and they need the space, they will never give away this room. It will always be there, paid for and waiting to be used. I know the owner." Ellie swallowed, took a moment, then continued, as Lucy and I listened spellbound to her words.

"I swore, a long time ago, on a night like this one, that I would never deny my daughters the kind of love I have felt. And I stand by that now." Auntie Ellie reached out and took mine and Lucy's hands between hers, holding our hands together.

"I can give you twenty four hours," she said. "Maybe a little bit more. If anyone asks, I will protect your whereabouts for that time period. I can give you that, if this love is what you want." A tear formed in her eye now, no doubt as memories flooded back to that night with her own sibling, all those years ago.

"Twenty four hours. If you love each other, then go – go and be together, with my blessing." I stared at Auntie Ellie, gobsmacked at what I was hearing. I turned to Lucy to find the same expression of shock registering on her face. She looked across the table at me as Auntie Ellie released our hands, leaving hers and mine together, and I could see the same thoughts were running through her head.

Do we do this? Can we actually go through with it? Should we be together tonight? I saw Lucy's beautiful blue eyes shine and suddenly, at the same time as it occurred to me, the corners of her mouth turned up in a smile, tears forming fresh in her eyes.

"Auntie Ellie," I said, not taking my eyes off of Lucy. "I can't tell you what this means to me. Words...well, there isn't enough of them." I felt Lucy squeeze my hands, saw her lip quiver as her smile grew.

"You have given me – given us – one of the most precious gifts ever imaginable. Nothing I ever do will repay that." Auntie Ellie nodded in my peripheral, and I could tell she knew I meant every word.

"But," I said. Lucy smiled, and took over.

"Mum, I love Will. I would even go as far as to say that, tonight, I am in love with him." Lucy's thumb rubbed the back of my hand gently as she stared into my eyes, her words mirroring my feelings about her. My true feelings.

"But if I go with him tonight, if he leads me by the hand to this place, to this room, this bed where we can be one...I will never come back." Lucy and I looked at Auntie Ellie and it was her turn to be shocked.

"What we are – is cousins. I may always wish we had taken your offer, but I will never do it." She turned and looked at me again, a slightly sadder smile across her face. "It's not just about the sex."

"She's right," I joined in. "If we slept together now I would be hard pressed to let her go. I don't think I'd let her ever wear clothes again!" Lucy giggled.

"And I know in my heart that I would still want to leave," I went on. "I know this isn't the right time or place, but I have been in love with Meghan for as long as I can remember, in some small corner of my heart all these years." Lucy grinned, happy she had read me correctly. "Lucy is wonderful, but she said it earlier: I don't want to marry her, or father her child. I love her, but this isn't the way." We broke hands, albeit reluctantly on my behalf, and turned back to face Ellie, who's shocked expression had dissolved into a teary smile of pride.

"My God...how on earth did you two do that?" Lucy got up and rushed her, hugging her mother tightly for all she was worth. I watched them quietly from the side, mother and daughter made up, my head spinning from the emotion in the room, until both Auntie Ellie and Lucy reached out and grabbed me, pulling me to them and kissing me on either cheek.

"You are a wonderful boy," Ellie cried happily. "I can't believe we have come to this. I am so proud of you, of both of you." I looked up into her eyes, and she smiled at me.

"If, somehow, you could be together...I would feel blessed to have you as a son-in-law, and a husband for my Lucy." It was the most touching moment I had felt in recent years, but I had something on my mind still. I pulled away slightly, but not letting go of either of them.

"There's still one problem left to solve, though," I said quietly. Ellie's smile vanished and Lucy's turned to one of concern.

"Sarah?" Lucy said. I nodded.

"Oh Will," she hugged me alone, her body no longer a scary, sexually charged weapon, but a warm comfort, almost like coming home. I hugged her back.

"Will, go into the lounge room and tell Lucy everything you told me two nights ago," Ellie said, standing up and moving to make two more mugs of coffee. "The whole story, starting with Taylor and the wedding." Lucy, clinging to me like a virgin wife to her first lover, picked up her mug and led me into the lounge room.

"When I come in I want you to give me everything else you have, everything new that happened since you last left this house, every thought, every feeling, and I promise we will find a way to make your life better." I had never felt more relieved.

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Stay tuned for part 6 – You May Now Kiss The Bride.