Catering With Benefits (3) - An Appetite for More - 1. Hello Mum

Three Months Earlier

Julia told Jessica and Justin that she had been raped by her brother Brendan when she was only 16 years old. As a result of that rape she fell pregnant and gave birth to a son, named Jared, who was adopted out at birth.

Before coming to the meeting Julia had been determined to just tell her story and leave immediately afterwards; but now that she had unburdened herself of a thirty year old secret she felt freer and closer to Jessica and Justin. A sense of calmness and comfort started to descend over her and she wanted to remain in the company of her two confidants and when asked, she agreed to talk to the son she never really met.

Justin called Jared, spoke for a few minutes then gave the phone to Julia.

“Hello Jared.”

“Hello...er...what should I call you?”

“Julia will be fine.”

“Well Julia, it’s good to hear your voice for the first time. I’m a bit nervous about this. I have a thousand questions in my mind but I don’t know where to start.”

“Same here Jared, but ask me anything you want, I will either answer you honestly, or not at all.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“There are some things I believe should only be said face to face. So how about I ask you about your life?”

“That will be fine.”

“Are you happy Jared?”

“Yes I am Julia, a little confused at the moment, but basically I’m a happy person.”

“Justin tells me you are gay, do you have a partner?”

“Yes I am, and I have a boyfriend, we broke up for a while but just got back together.”

“That’s good, so I guess that’s why you are so happy.”

“Yes, Thomas does make me happy and I love him so much, I just want to be with him all the time.”

“So do you two live together?”

“Yes Julia, last year I bought my own house in Leichhardt and we live there, plus we also have a flatmate. His name’s Andy and is a long term friend of Thomas. We all get on very well and it’s a happy household, even a little crazy sometimes.”

“I’m so pleased for you Jared.”

“So Julia, are you married and do you have any other children?”

“Well I have a partner, her name is Hannah and we have two boys. I am Alex’s birth mother and Hannah to James.”

“So you are gay also?”

“Yep, a family trait I guess.”

“So, can you confirm that Justin’s father, Brendan is also my father?”

“Yes, he is Jared.”

“...and he is also your brother?”

“That’s correct also, and I know what you’re going to ask next, but I would rather leave that explanation until we meet. I’m not trying to avoid it, but it is a traumatic memory and I have already been through it once this evening.”

“Of course Julia, I am keen to know but will respect your wishes and let you do it in your own time.”

“Thank you Jared, as I said I will be honest and eventually tell you all that you want to know.”

“I’m really looking forward to meeting you Julia and I want to tell you all about my family and my life too.”

“And I certainly want to hear it all, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to leave that until we meet. It’s been a very difficult day for me today and I need some rest and time to recover.”

“I understand; how about we swap phone numbers and we can arrange to meet soon.”

“That will be great. Are you ready to write this down?”

“Yes, go ahead.....”

<>

Julia hung up, returned Justin’s phone to him and said, “He sounds like a nice person.”

“He really is Aunt Julia, I’m sure you will like him and he’ll like you too.”

Jessica added, “I’m so pleased you two had the chance to talk tonight. After such a traumatic evening telling us your story, I hope this turns out to be a happy ending for you.”

“Thank you Jessica, but it’s not over yet. Before I meet Jared and tell him how he came to be born I have to tell Hannah and the boys, and that’s going to be more difficult than telling you and Justin. This will come straight out of the blue for them and I just don’t know how they are going to take it.”

“Aunt Julia, the boys are young and will probably accept it. They might even be excited about having another brother. Remember how excited they were when I moved in.”

“You may be right Justin but Hannah might not see it like that. I’ve kept some of my past from her for all these years and that is not right. I’m sure she’ll feel I haven’t been honest with her and might hate me for doing that to her.”

Jessica added “Julia, she is a loving partner to you and when she knows the real reason I’m sure she will forgive you for not having shared such a terrible experience with her until now.”

“Aunt Julia, as excited as I am to have solved this mystery, and discovered I have a brother, I must also apologise to you for being the one who has forced you to this point by insisting that you tell us.”

“Yes Julia, I feel the same way as Justin about this.”

“That’s alright you two. I don’t hold any bad feelings towards you. I just have to deal with this. You could not have anticipated how this would turn out when you started down this road.”

“I really thought at first this would just be between Brendan and me. I had no idea it could involve you, and for that I am truly sorry.”

“That’s OK Jessica, you and Justin were just trying to sort out a family mystery.”

“Thanks for your understanding Julia.”

“I really must be on my way, it’s so late, Hannah will be wondering what’s happened to me and I don’t want to have to explain anything tonight.”

“Sure Aunt Julia, and if I can help in any way when you talk to Alex and James just ask.”

“Thanks Justin. Bye for now.”

“Bye Julia, drive carefully.” concluded Jessica.

***

Jared thought about his mother’s request to tell him the whole story in her own time, so he did not phone her and waited for her to make the approach. He also had to tell his adoptive parents and was so excited he arranged to have dinner with them on his next night off. He told them he had spoken to his birth mother and would soon be meeting her. But he did not tell them about her relationship to his father. He thought it better to wait until he had the whole story before doing that. He let them believe it was just an unplanned pregnancy of a single woman.

***

Justin phoned Jared a few days later to check if he was ok after the night of revelations “Thanks for calling Justin, I was thinking of calling you anyway.”

“Is there something you need to talk about?”

“Most definitely there is. I need to know why everyone is being so tight lipped about my birth. I know we share a father and my mother is your aunt and therefore my parents are siblings. Not a great start in life but I can live with it.”

“So what’s bothering you?”

“I get the distinct feeling there is more than just a brother and sister having sex. It is especially confusing given that my mother is a lesbian. Do you know what I’m saying, Justin?”

“Yes, I understand.”

“So there is more.”

“Yes.”

“So tell me.”

“I can’t tell you any more, that is up to your mother to tell you.”

“Look, you took me down this path, you owe it to me to tell me all you know.”

“It was you that started this, not me.”

“But you were the one that asked for my birth certificate and all that information.”

“Only because you kept pushing me to find out.”

“So, now it’s all my fault.”

“It’s not anyone’s fault, that’s just how it is.”

“Well I’m not happy with how it is. You know something and you’re not telling me. What sort of brother does that make you, certainly not a loving one.”

“Don’t question my motives or my caring, I do love you Jared, as much as any brother would.”

“If you loved me, you would tell me, so I don’t think I love you anymore. I don’t need a brother that keeps secrets from me.”

“Jared, I’ve told you it’s not my place to tell you, so if you can’t accept that, there’s no more I can do for you. I don’t want to continue this conversation, because we’re going to end up enemies and that’s not what I want out of this relationship.”

“Fine then, fuck off!”

Justin’s phone went silent and the screen showed ‘Call Ended’.

Justin was confused and angry. He felt none of this was his fault, he was just trying to honour the wishes of his aunt. Yet, he felt some sort of guilt that he had allowed Jared to push him into getting to the bottom of the mystery surrounding his birth. He thought about calling Jared back, but felt he would not listen when he was in such a mood. He didn’t want to call Julia, as that would only add to her problems. She already had so much to deal with. That left him with three more choices. One was to talk to his closest friend Tristan, but he decided against that as Tristan new nothing about this and he didn’t feel comfortable about breaking a family confidence. He then considered his two remaining options and decided to go with both.

He opened a beer and waited for Craig to come home.

***

Julia took Justin up on his offer to help with the sons by arranging for him to take his cousins out for a meal and a movie. That gave her a free evening at home with Hannah, so she could explain to her. She opened a bottle of Hannah’s favourite wine and the two sat down in the lounge.

“Hannah, I asked Justin to take the boys out tonight so that we could be alone.”

“That’s a sweet thought, but not really necessary, the boys are quite grown up now and have their own interests.”

“No, this is not what you are thinking. I have something very serious to tell you and I want to tell you without the boys around.”

“You don’t see anything wrong with our relationship do you.”

“No, not yet, but....”

“Julia, you are starting to worry me.”

“I’m sorry, but before I start I have to ask you to just listen until I’ve finished. You may be angry with me, but please, please just let me tell you the whole story.”

“Have you been with another woman?”

“Hannah please...”

“I’m sorry, go ahead.” Julia told Hannah the whole story about how she came to be pregnant and how Justin and Jessica had tracked down the truth. Throughout, Hannah just sat quietly and showed no emotion. While Julia was pleased that her partner was listening without interrupting she was also puzzled by the lack of emotion on Hannah’s face. At the conclusion of her explanation she asked Hannah, “Do you want to ask me anything?”

“Have you met this young man yet?”

“No, but I did speak to him on the phone when I was with Justin and Jessica. He seems like a nice kid and we will meet soon, but I wanted to tell you first.”

“That’s good of you.”

“Hannah, I’m worried about your coolness, are you seething, are you going to explode and call me dishonest or something worse?”

“No, I’m just processing it, and trying to imagine what I would’ve done if I were in the same situation. Would I have told you, if I didn’t need to? I just don’t know. That is a terrible secret to have carried around all these years.”

“Oh, Hannah, does that mean you don’t hate me after all?”

“Of course not my love, I’m pleased you have told me now. How could I be angry with you? On the contrary, I think you are very brave to tell me. It must have been difficult to live with that secret all these years.” Hannah reached out to give Julia a hug and added, “What about our boys, how do we handle that?”

“I’m not sure, I was hoping you might help me with that.”

“Of course I will, should we tell them together or each tell our own son?”

“As we are co-parents, and usually don’t treat the boys as anything but full brothers, why would we start now?”

“You’re right, when shall we tell them and how much do we tell them?” asked Hannah.

“I don’t think we can tell them any less than the whole truth. If we try to hide the fact that Jared’s father is my brother that could turn out very messy. After all there are so many others involved. It’s a complex relationship between me, Brendan, Jessica, Justin and Jared. If we leave out anything that will just raise more questions, and we would also have to ask Justin and Jared to be part of the deception. I won’t do that.”

“Yes, I agree and you have my full support. How about we leave it until the weekend and discuss it over a family dinner, including Justin.”

“I think that’s a great suggestion and having Justin here will help, you know how much they love him and have always looked up to him as their big cousin.”

***

The dinner was held and the boys were told all. While at first James was confused and Alex seemed angry, they accepted all they were told with only a few embarrassing questions. The whole event was softened by Justin’s presence and his support for Julia. When Justin asked them how they felt about having another brother, their imaginations started working overtime trying to figure out all the possible relationships.

“So does that mean Jared is our brother, because my mum is his mum,” said Alex. “and he’s also our cousin, like you, because his dad is your dad and my mum’s brother?”

“I guess that’s correct.” replied Justin.

“Hmm, that’s interesting.” observed James.

“Yeah, but I’m a bit pissed off.” said Alex.

“Oh Alex, I’m sorry you feel that way.” said his mother “It was a long time ago and I didn’t really think I would ever have to tell you. I’m so sorry this has upset you so much.”

“No Mum, it’s not that; it’s something else.”

‘What is that?” asked Julia

“Well, I thought I would always be the big brother in the family, and now I’m not.”

“Yeah,” added James “and now I’m one more step away from the throne also.”

“Where did you learn that expression?” asked Alex.

“On the news when one of those English princes was born.”

Julia smiled at her sons and said “You boys make me so proud, the way you deal with life and whatever it throws at you.”

“Thanks Mum.” they chorused.

That then left Julia with only one more person to tell, and that was her first born, Jared.