Family Ties

“She’s awesome,” Erin said to me. “I love her already.”

Christy smiled and turned rosy. “Thanks. You’re pretty awesome too.”

“I’m going to change into something nicer for tonight,” Erin said. “Mom and Susan are talking in her room. They said we’ll leave in about thirty minutes.”

“Thanks, Er,” I said.

“See you in a bit.” She left with a wave.

“Well, what do you think?” I asked Christy after I closed the door.

“Your mother’s so pretty. And I see where you get your vocabulary. Erin is just like her. She’s totally cool too. It’s like we’re sisters already.” Her delight turned to panic. “Not that— I mean, I wasn’t saying— Oh my gosh, I should stop talking now.”

“It’s okay.” I gathered her into my arms. “I know what you meant.”

“Thank you.” She pressed her cheek to my chest and relaxed with a deep sigh. “I really like your family so far, although it’s weird to think I’ve met most of them. I keep waiting for you to introduce more people to me. You know?”

“Yeah,” I chuckled. “We’re a lot more like a normal-sized family than yours.”

“We’re normal,” she protested. “Just normal for Irish Catholics.”

“Fair enough.”

“Susan’s really nice too,” she said after a moment. “You’ve known her a long time, haven’t you?”

“Since I was little, although I don’t really remember her from back then.”

Christy pulled back and looked up at me with a question.

“She and my parents met when I was… three, I guess. About the time Erin was born.”

“Then why don’t you remember her?”

“Well, they sort of… lost track of each other for a while, although it’s a bit more complicated than that. We ‘met’ her again when we started coming to camp. Well, that’s when I met her again. She and my mom reconnected before then. Obviously.”

Christy nodded absently but then had a thought. Her eyes flicked around

as she worked it out.

“What?” I said with a chuckle.

“Your mother. Susan.”

“What about them?”

“They’re…”

“They’re what?” I knew where she was going, but I wanted her to get there on her own.

“Well, you told me your mom has a girlfriend. You said they were apart for a while but then got back together.”

I nodded.

“And I was watching them on the drive. They talked a lot, but they didn’t really say much. I know that sounds dumb, but… they sort of… I dunno…

talked. Like you and I do sometimes. You know, when I just know what you’re thinking from your eyes or the way you hold your mouth.”

“It’s because they’re intimate,” I said after a moment. I wondered if Christy would make the connection about the two of us, but she was too focused on Mom and Susan.

“Exactly! Intimate.” She thought about it for a moment and smiled.

“Wow, that’s so cool. They really…?”

“Love each other,” I finished with a nod.

“And your mom still loves your dad?”

“Very much.”

“What does he think about her? Susan, I mean.”

“That,” I said with a laugh, “is a much longer story. The short version is that he likes her a lot. I don’t know if he loves her—not like Mom—but probably pretty close.”

“So he isn’t jealous?”

“No. Why should he be?”

“But… how does she do it? Love two people at once?”

“Think about it. You love your brothers, don’t you? All of them?”

“Of course. But that’s different.”

“Is it? Is romantic love different than familial love?”

She rolled her eyes. “You and your words. But yes, it is different.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want to… you know… with my brothers.”

“Have sex?”

“Shh! Keep your voice down.”

“These walls are cinder block,” I said with a chuckle. “No one’s gonna hear us.”

“Still…”

“Christy, love is love. And sex isn’t the same thing.” I held up a hand to stop her. “I know, this is the same argument we almost had during the flight.

So let’s not have it now either. Okay?”

She thought about it and nodded.

“In any case, we need to change clothes and get ready for the receiving of friends. But… let me leave you with something to think about. Not an argument. Just… a couple of rhetorical questions. Is that fair?”

“I guess so.”

“Okay, here goes. Do you love everyone you have sex with? And do you have sex with everyone you love?”

“Everyone I have sex with?” she protested. “I’ve had sex with one person!”

“What about all the girls?”

“All the girls? You make it sound like an army! What kind of girl do you think I am?”

“I think you’re a girl who likes sex. And that’s okay. I’m not judging you.”

“Yes you are!”

“Am I? I mean, really? Or do you feel guilty because you were taught that you should only have sex with one person—your husband—and no one else, till death do you part?”

“Don’t throw religion in my face again!”

“Whoa! Calm down. I’m not.” I stopped for a moment and repeated my words in my head. “Okay, maybe I am,” I admitted. “Sorry. But I’m not questioning your faith or anything. I’m just asking: am I judging you, or are you judging yourself?”

She narrowed her eyes dangerously and looked so much like her father that I almost laughed.