97. Decoupled

I let out a relaxed, contented sigh. The house was finally warm again. We had coffee, and fresh food in the fridge. We could finally relax, after being fairly busy for the past hour or so. At least three of us were.

Keira got a load of laundry started in the washer, then she sat in front of the wood stove and got to work building a fire. Now she had a good little blaze roaring in there.

Meanwhile Kelly went outside to clear the driveway of snow. Then she brought in all the mail that had accumulated while we were in Otherworld.

And I took a chance and teleported myself to a quiet spot around back of the grocery store in town. I bought as much food as I could carry, then returned home the same way.

While the three of us were busy, our young charge dumped her belongings upstairs in the guest room then came back down to the living-room and parked herself on the recliner. We all worked while she just stayed put and watched her granddaughters.

With the work over for now, me and the twins were cuddled up together on the sofa. All three of us changed into our comfiest clothes. I had my favourite leggings and oversized top, the twins were both in stretch-pants and t-shirts. Kaitlyn was still in her fae dress and hose, but I knew we'd have to get her some Earth clothes. I decided we'd take care of that tomorrow.

We had no idea what to do with our swords, so they'd all been left ontop of the dresser in our bedroom for now. I figured we could sort out some kind of display for them eventually, put them up on the wall or something.

For now we were happily sipping our coffee and enjoying the peace and quiet, and the warmth of the fire. I'd even made a warm drink for Kaitlyn. She was skeptical at first when I gave her hot chocolate instead of coffee, but she seemed to be enjoying it. She seemed amused with the little marshmallows I'd tossed in.

As we all relaxed, I asked "Anything interesting in the mail?"

Kelly grinned "Yeah, actually. The most interesting thing wasn't for us though. There's a letter from some college, addressed to 'Elise Vale'."

"Oh!" I thought about that for a moment. "Right, they've probably sold their house by now, but either way they'll be moving soon. If she's applying to a college it makes sense she'd use our address."

"Gonna call her?" Keira asked.

I nodded, "Yeah. I guess I should check my messages and email too."

That brought sighs and groans from both twins, as they grumbled about doing the same. Eventually we all left the sofa and went about locating our phones and checking messages.

I had about two dozen emails from my mom, and a handful from my dad under the old email account, then a couple recent ones from a new account under her new name. I could tell by the subject lines of my mom's emails that she and dad must have finally had their talk last month, dad came out to her, and it probably didn't go well.

I skimmed the emails then wound up calling Elise. We spoke for about ten minutes and she gave me a super-condensed version of the story, but we both agreed the three of us needed to talk in person. In the end I invited her and mom to come over, and she said they'd be here around noon. It was a few minutes past ten at that point, so we had a couple hours.

After I told the twins, Kelly glanced at her grandfather and asked "How are we going to explain our little guest here?"

I shrugged, "Just tell them the truth. No point making up some elaborate story."

Kelly and Keira exchanged a look, and both said at once "We'll leave that to you."

Kaitlyn blushed as I rolled my eyes. I looked at the kid and stated "You be on your best behaviour. My human parents are coming to visit and I'm going to have enough stress dealing with them, I don't need any more from you."

The girl bowed her head and replied, "Yes Lady Tegan." There was actually a faint hint of a grin on her face though.

We were all still relaxing in the living-room a couple hours later when I felt my parents drive onto the property. I looked up and watched their car come up the drive. I felt some growing anxiety as they parked, and as the two of them emerged from the car. Mom was driving, and the body language between her and dad didn't look all that close. Dad carried a plastic bag in each hand, but I couldn't tell what it was she was bringing us.

I moved to the door and opened it as they arrived, "Hi mom, hi dad! Come on in out of the cold."

As soon as they were inside I closed the door again. Before anyone else could speak dad held up the two bags and announced, "We brought lunch! I hope you all still like sushi and related goodies?"

That got pretty much everyone moving, and less than five minutes later all of us were comfortable in the living-room enjoying lunch together.

Mom was in the recliner, dad sat on the sofa with Kelly and Keira, me and Kaitlyn were both cross-legged on the floor sitting on cushions. Keira and mom were drinking white wine, dad and Kelly had hard lemonade, me and Kaitlyn had cola.

The food was spread out on the coffee table so everyone could help themselves. Despite being Earth food, it was still pretty darn tasty. Dad got lots of our favourite sushi, and a few of our favourite hot dishes as well.

Elise was in good spirits. She actually seemed excited, and I had a feeling she was ready for me to do some magic for her today. Mom was a lot quieter and maybe a bit withdrawn. She didn't seem happy, and that worried me. She didn't complain though, and she wasn't acting bitchy or angry. Just quiet.

As we started eating, I said "Oh, I guess introductions are in order."

I gestured to the small redhead next to me as I told my folks, "This is Kaitlyn Connolly. She's uh...I don't know how we're going to describe her. Cousin, or little sister to the twins? Something like that. Anyways, maybe just don't ask us a lot of questions about her right now. She's only staying here temporarily."

After that I gave Kaitlyn a bit of a warning look and told her, "These are my mom and my dad..." My voice trailed off as I realized I didn't know how to introduce either of them.

I looked at my folks. "Uh, ok. This is awkward, but I guess it's the reason you're both here. What names should I introduce you two as?"

Mom sighed but said "Hello Kaitlyn. You can call me Susan, or Sue." Then she looked at me and said "I'd prefer to talk with you alone Tegan, after we've eaten."

Dad was all smiles as she said "Hi Kaitlyn. My name's Elise." Then she smiled at me too, "Like your mom said hon, we need to chat later."

Kaitlyn was indeed polite as she replied "Hello Susan, hello Elise. It is a pleasure to meet you both."

After that, the meal felt a little less fun. The food was good, but there really wasn't any conversation. My folks didn't ask about Kaitlyn, and didn't ask how things went in Otherworld. And none of us wanted to ask them how they were, since it was obvious the situation was strained.

Soon enough, or perhaps too soon, we'd all had enough to eat. I looked at my folks and suggested "Why don't the three of us go into the kitchen to talk?"

The twins turned on the TV so they wouldn't be able to overhear, to give me and my parents some added privacy. Kaitlyn wound up on the sofa with her granddaughters and all three settled in to watch a movie or something.

In the kitchen my folks sat down on opposite sides of the table, with me in the middle. I got them both a second drink, and myself another can of soda.

"So what's going on?" I asked nervously.

Elise started, "The house is sold, closing date is this Saturday. I'm already done with work, I used my last eight sick-days so my final day at the office was last Tuesday. Your mom and I moved into a hotel two days ago. The house is empty now, and our lawyer has all the paperwork and keys so he can handle the final proceedings on Saturday."

Mom continued, "I have all my keepsakes and other belongings packed away in a storage unit in town. Everything else has been sold, donated, or disposed of. We're both pretty much ready to move on."

I took a deep breath as that sank in, "Wow. Ok. Like you're ready right now, today?"

Mom hesitated but dad nodded. "I'm ready today, yes. I was hoping I might be able to stay here with you and the twins for a couple weeks, but if you've got Kaitlyn in the guest room, I can go back to the hotel..."

"We have space," I replied. "Kaitlyn's in the guest room, but Keira's room is available."

I looked at mom and asked, "What about you mom?"

She replied "Your father... Elise and I already discussed things. I'll be returning to the hotel regardless."

Elise asked "Where's Keira staying? Is she moving out?"

I blushed, "That's another long story that we can discuss another time."

After taking another deep breath I looked at my dad and said "Ok. You're welcome to stay with us for now. And I'm happy to do what I promised as soon as you're ready. If you've already got your things in the car you may as well go out and get them. Then maybe hang out with the three redheads, while I talk with mom?"

"Ok Tegan," Elise grinned. She got the key-fob from mom then excused herself and left the two of us alone to talk.

I had a sip of my soda then looked at my mom. "So, 'Susan' huh? I haven't had a chance to read all your emails, but I know things aren't going well for you and dad. I'm sorry about that mom."

She grimaced, "It's not your fault, Tegan. It's a wondrous and miraculous gift you're giving us. And Elise was right. I shouldn't have assumed she'd want the same things that I wanted. I should have spoken with her much sooner."

After a moment she added, "Maybe just delete my emails, don't read them. Some of them aren't kind. I'm trying to move beyond that though."

I knew she had to be making some progress if she was using dad's new name and pronouns, even if she obviously wasn't comfortable about it yet.

"So we know what dad wants. What about you mom? What am I going to do for you?"

Mom took a sip of her wine, then started telling me her plans.

She wasn't going to be quite as young as Elise, she'd settled on twenty-five. Her new name would be Susan Shaw. She told me how she'd been looking at real estate out east, that she was planning to move to Cape Breton. She was thinking of maybe buying or starting a Bed and Breakfast out there.

I listened quietly while she enthused for a good twenty minutes about the area and told me all about North Sydney, the small community she planned to call her new home. From the sound of it she'd been doing a lot of research, she'd put a lot of thought into this. Presumably that was all after her discussion with Elise, because everything she was talking about now was strictly about herself, not the two of them.

When she was done, I smiled "It sounds like you're really excited about this mom. It'll be harder to come and visit you, but that won't keep me away. When are you planning on going?"

"The first week of January," she replied. "I'm going to be visiting friends over the holidays. I'll tell them your father's already left to get things set up elsewhere, but I wanted to see people once last time, while I still can."

After one more deep breath I asked, "So you are you and Elise split up now?"

She sighed, "We had a difficult couple weeks Tegan. We've patched things up though, I think? We're still friends, and I'm sure we'll remain friends. But... There's things she wants that she's not prepared to budge on, and there's things that I'm not willing to give up either. And unfortunately some of those things are mutually exclusive."

She added "Neither of us blame you dear. We're both grateful for what you're giving us, and I'm sure Elise and I will continue to see each other. Holiday visits, that sort of thing."

"Ok mom," I tried to smile and look pleased but I'm sure I wasn't fooling anyone. I was sad, I felt guilty, I felt like I'd split them apart. At least they were going to stay friends.

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