The Lies Begin - The Family Secrets - Chapter 4

This work is covered by a copyright dated 2010 and is the sole property of the author, Joe Owens, known on the Hubpages writing site by the pen name Dobson. Any use of the text, or plot without consent of the author is prohibited.

 Cy and Elaine DeMarco arrive at their sprawling lake house first, which means they can successfully arrange the house to look like they are still married, concealing their separation from the rest of the family. They receive their own surprise when they realize their Japanese caretaker has moved his elderly mother into the unattached cottage and she will be sharing their time at the refuge.

As their children arrive and realize the cottage is taken, their plans to avoid sharing some of their secrets are dealt an unexpected complication. Now the secrets threaten to reveal themselves ahead of their schedules.

Cyrus followed Jack and Michelle out the door, seeing Donald at the back of the sports utility vehicle the boys drove up from the summer camp, unloading a couple of mountain bikes. He saw the satisfied smile on Donald’s face as the couple passed, still hand in hand on their way to the Martin’s cabin three quarters of a mile away. He did not offer the vehicle because he knew his brother wanted to be alone with the girl and walking would help him stretch out his cramped leg muscles.

“Donald!” Cyrus said as he approached his oldest grandchild.

“Pop! It is so good to see you,” Donald said as he hugged his grandfather.

“Do you need some help?”

“Uh, sure,” Donald said. “I think Jack is going to be busy.”

“Probably for two weeks,” Cyrus said. “She asked if she could stay and ride back with you guys when you go home.”

“Thank God!” Donald said. “I have heard Jack mope and whine for almost a year over her. I was really dreading two weeks here without her to fill his time.”

“Then you have nothing to worry about. So how has your summer been?”

There was a different collection of bags belonging to the two twenty something members of the family, more duffle bags and gym bags with clothes in them. Cyrus could see a large laundry bag and expected there were a few loads of laundry to take care of that the boys skipped in order to get on the road early this morning.

“I cannot complain. We left the afternoon classes ended at school and went to the camp. We left early this morning and I was really pleased with the way it went. I will say I am looking forward to the time here though. It will let me recharge before I go back to finish my degree.

Donald was in the last semester of an MBA program and looking forward to putting six years of school behind him. He had a position waiting for him with his father’s company, something his mother was not terribly excited about, but willing to compromise since Donald and Dan, her ex-husband were still on great terms.

Both of them turned to look down the drive when they heard the sound of roaring engines as well as the crunch of the gravel with two cars making their way up the drive. Sidney and Bart were here and were racing up the drive as both intended to be the first to reach the cottage. Cyrus and Donald watched in amazement as both vehicles slid to a stop and each passenger door flew open with Sidney and Bart seeming to be ejected as they took off in a sprint toward their intended resting place.

“What in the world is that all about?” Cyrus asked.

“Do you think they had words before they fell out?” Donald said, resurrecting an old joke Cyrus loved to use.

“Oh no you don’t!” Bart said as he bumped his younger sister as they ran about the same speed toward the cottage one hundred yards from the driveway.

“Oh yes I do,” Sidney said.

This was not the first time these siblings had competed for something, as they had tried unsuccessfully to claim an attic bedroom after Cy Junior left for college. Cy inherited it from Diane and Bart and Sidney wanted it for their own refuge after Cy vacated the room, but Elaine had decided to reclaim the room for her sewing area.

As they burst in the door of the cottage, Mama Kumiyaski was sitting at the table, preparing vegetables for the evening meal. Sidney and Bart saw her, but ran right on past as they really did not expect anyone to be there. Mama Kumiyaski looked up, but continued what she was doing, knowing the time was quickly approaching for her to begin to cook.

“Who are you?” Sidney asked as she and Bart sloiwly returned to the kitchen with the realization they were not the only ones here.

Mama Kumiyaski laid the knife on the table and stood to face the two of them before offering a quick bow.

“I am Kiasu Kumiyaski, welcome!”

“You’re the gardener’s wife?” Bart asked, receiving a quick punch in the arm from his sister.

“Don’t be an idiot!” Sidney said. “She is too old to be his wife. I’ll bet you are Mr. Kumiyaski’s mother, right?

“Yes,” the woman said.

“Is that your stuff in the bed room?” Bart asked.

“Yes.”

“So you are living here?”Bart asked a bit annoyed at her simple answers.

“Yes. My son said Dono DeMarco told him there was no reason to worry as there was plenty of room at the main house.”

Sidney and Bart looked at each other with the realization that their hope for separation from the rest of the clan had been thwarted. Bart simply turned and walked out of the cottage, mumbling to himself as he made his way back to the van where Cyrus was helping Carrie free the squealing triplets who wanted to get to their grandfather. Carrie looked out the window to see the now familiar look of dejection firmly entrenched in her husband’s face. Since the moment he had known about the downsizing he had been a totally different man. She hoped and had prayed for weeks this time with his family would be the medicine he needed.

Carrie Benson DeMarco had grown up an only child in a suburb of Seattle Washington. She watched all her friends who griped about their siblings at times and loved the experience the rest of their lives and wished she could know what that was like. From the first moment she had been involved in the Demarco family experience she had felt right at home. Diane, Reva, Haley and Sidney had become the sisters she never had while she quickly took her place in this large collection of loving siblings. It was a dream come true for her. The revelation that she had collected her family’s gene that meant triplets had been another wonderful surprise for her. Carrie loved being a mother to three girls that would never know the loneliness she felt.

She worried a bit about Cyrus trying to carry all three girls into the house, but she knew her father in law could not play favorites with the girls and would do his best to accommodate all their wishes. She handed some suit cases to Bart who gave her a look she would have expected from one of her girls who did not get there way.

“Oh for goodness sake, Bart, it is no big deal. You know the girls would not have been happy down there anyway. Sidney and Chuck need the privacy more than we do.”

“Sidney didn’t get it,” Bart groused as he stomped through the gravel toward the main house.

“Who did? Diane, Haley, Cy Junior?” Carrie said looking toward the cottage, but unable to see if another vehicle was parked down there.

Sidney walked back to the car where Chuck stood with his arms crossed, but was not really impatiently waiting, it was just his customary stance. He looked around to see who else was there and wondered why Sidney had the disappointed look on her face. Since she was the last to return he expected she has been the one to claim the cottage.

“No dice! Mr. Kumiyaski’s mother has the cottage. We will have to stay up here.”

Mr., Kumiyaski the gardener?”

“Caretaker,” Sidney corrected him.

“Oh, sorry, wouldn’t want to offend the guy!” Chuck said, making a face like he had committed some unreasonable act.

“You know, I would appreciate you changing your rotten attitude. I told you we would find a way to work around the new job. I won’t be able to fly much more than a few months before the baby comes. Can you work with me on this?”

“We’ll have to talk about it later,” Chuck said as he saw Elaine exit the front door of the house.

“Darling!” Elaine said as she came out to hug her youngest child.

“Hey mom! Boy it’s good to see you.”

“”You too! How’s my baby girl? You look tired honey!”

“I’m fine mom. I just have been going non-stop trying to get everything taken care of before I start working.”

“Well, you are going to take it easy for the time you are here, I will make sure of it. Hello Chuck, glad you made it!”

“Thanks Mrs. Demarco, so am I.”

Brittany Carpenter expressed her dismay as their car rolled up the drive and she saw Chuck carrying in armloads of bags as he followed Sidney and Elaine into the house.

“Oh great! He is already here! Mom, do I have to hug everyone? I don’t want that creep touching me.”

“Brittany, do not make a scene! Let’s just get in the house and get settled, okay!” Diane asked. She cursed under her breath as she saw the other cars and realized her wish for the cottage was not coming true this year.

By now Jack and Michelle had relayed the acceptance of Michelle’s request to her parents and navigated through the good-byes with her family and began to walk back toward the DeMarco place with Michelle’s clothes. Still holding hands, the couple seemed to both have everything they wished for this moment.

“So, what is in the letter,” Jack asked.

“You know I tried to mail that at least one hundred times. I even got to a post office box a few of the times, but I just could not let it go,” Michelle said. “I got some pretty aggravated responses from people behind me at school. I guess most people just go put their mail in and leave.”

“There must have been something pretty important you had to say,” Jack probed.

“You know how I told you this thing we had was just a summer fling? Well, when I left I cried most of the way home. I returned to school and could not get you off my mind. I won’t lie to you Jack, I tried to date other guys, thinking I could find one that would make me forget about you, but I couldn’t. Your face was in my mind every day. When I went to sleep at night I would take this picture out of my drawer and look at it until I went to sleep.”

“Why didn’t you try to contact me?” Jack asked.

“The one big reason we could not be together was still there,” Michelle told him. “We still live on opposite sides of the country.”

“I am willing to change schools,” Jack said.

“So am I!” Michelle declared.

“So you think we are worth making a big change for?”

“Don’t you?” Michelle asked as she turned her head to look at him.

“Definitely!” Jack replied, even as he considered his mother’s reaction to this plan. It had been hard enough for him to get accepted into the same school as his brother, let alone for her to manage to make the tuition payments. Now he was going to suggest transferring to another school where he would have to set all this up again. He was pretty sure he knew what her reaction would be.

“Let’s not announce this right away,” Jack said.

“Okay, Michelle agreed, happy they were going to be together for the next fortnight.

 

“Brittany and Zoe will be glad to have another girl with them this year. They say they are always out numbered.”

“I think it will be fun. My brothers just wanted to play football or basketball the whole time. I never got to do any girl stuff.”

“Does that mean I will have to do girl stuff to spend time with you,” Jack asked tugging playfully at her hand.

“Will you?” Michelle said cocking her head.

“Uh-huh.”

The couple turned when they heard a familiar voice call out to them.

“Want a ride?” It was the Chevy Trailblazer of Cy Junior and the rear window on their side opened to reveal a smiling Zoe looking at them.

“No thanks,” Jack said. “We will walk.”

“You sure?” Reva asked.

“Yep,” Michelle answered this time, wanting to preserve their solitude for a few more minutes. She knew once they joined the collection of the family it was going to be a challenge to find any alone time.

By the time Jack and Michelle ascended the steps of the lake house, only Halie and Trey with their kids were left to arrive. The house was buzzing with multiple conversations as everyone tried to catch up and share some of the events of their lives since the last gathering, which was the Christmas collection at the home place.

“I don’t smell barbecue!” Cy Junior declared as he entered the kitchen to find spotless counters and an empty stove.

Elaine pushed a fake smile as she thought about the first lie she was going to have to tell to hide her separation from Cy Senior.

“Well C.J., we have an offer of some authentic Japanese cooking, so I planned to do the barbecue tomorrow night.”

“What? You mean there is no barbecue?” Diane reacted, just entering the kitchen.

“Okay, how many times am I going to have to say it?” Elaine said.

“It’s no big deal mom, just unusual,” Diane said. “I mean we always have barbecued the first night. You didn’t say anything about Japanese when we talked last. Do we even have the barbecue?”

Elaine was hoping she would be able to avoid the lie, but it seemed Diane was unwilling to accept the explanation she gave.

“I had the barbecue prepared and put it in a cooler, but your father left it sitting in the kitchen.”

“Is his memory getting worse?”Cy Junior asked referring to the pattern of memory loss they all seemed to notice from their father.

“Not really,” Elaine said, having forgotten about this trend. “We just overlooked it in the hustle of getting away.

“Who is cooking?” Reva said as she sat on one of the bar stools.

“I’ll bet it is Mrs. Kumiyaski,” Sidney said when she rounded the corner from the dining room.

“Who is Mrs. Kumiyaski?” Diane and Cy Junior said simultaneously.

“Rachu, I mean Mr. Kumiyaski’s mother. She is staying in the cottage.”

“Oh wow, you mean authentic Japanese,” Cy Junior said.

“Yes,” Elaine replied, relieved the focus was shifting away from the barbecue so she could limit her deception.

Diane turned to see Jack with Michelle and smiled with the same satisfaction Donald had with the prospect of a happier time for Jack.

“So did Pop tell you?” Jack asked.

“Tell me what?”

“Michelle is going to be staying with us for the two weeks. Donald and I will take her home on our way.”

 

Diane worked hard to keep her expression positive, even as she felt a bit of unhappiness at the arrangement being made without her consent.

“Can I speak to you alone,” she said to Jack.

The two of them had to go to the laundry area where Donald was still separating the laundry from their car and was not ready for his mother’s reaction.

“Did you agree to drive Michelle to her home?”

“What?” Donald said looking quickly to Jack, who had a look of “I’m sorry” on his face.

“Look, it all happened before I thought about what it meant,” Jack said.

“You know, I just wanted to come here and have a relaxing week,” Diane said. “I don’t need this!”

“Mom, listen to me. I think there might be something important between Michelle and me. Her family was leaving to go home today. How could I find out?”

“I wish you had asked me first. I don’t know what exactly I would have said, but you could have at least asked.”

“You would have said no,” Jack said. “Just like you have about anything since dad left.”

Diane looked at her second oldest son without a word as she thought about how much truth were in his words. Dan’s absence left her perpetually off balance. With her two oldest sons away she was doing her best to try to take care of the home and the yard with Wes’ help, but here just always seemed too much to do. It was easier to just put off unnecessary extra requirements of her time.

“At least when I am at school I can make my own decisions. Please do not treat me like a child here.”

Diane looked up at Jack’s face, which was quite similar to that of his father. She could see the signs of his willingness to defy her wishes on this matter and knew it was due to the feelings he had for Michelle. It would be a losing battle, so she decided to relent and allow the arrangement to succeed.

“Just ask me next time. I look like I have no idea what is going on.”

Michelle shuffled nervously as she looked in the direction she had seen Jack disappear with his mother a few minutes earlier. Everyone else continued talking; knowing Diane was struggling to be a mother to two children ready to leave her nest. The break up with Dan had not been very nasty which all appreciated, but the effects were just as profound on the family.

Everyone’s attention shifted to the horn blaring outside as Haley and Trey finally made the collection of all expected members of the family complete. Their kids loved the attention of all their family as they received the hugs with squeals of delight. Cyrus smiled as he surveyed the scene of all his family together again and even knowing the truth he would share at the end of their time was not enough to alter his mood. His family was here and that was enough.

 

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