Categories > Cartoons > Daria > 15 Years On
15 Years On – Chapter V – Lane Revelations
By Dr. T
Daria reveals some shocking information to the Lanes.
Daria and the other associated characters are owned by its creators, MTV, et al. I am just playing.
*
The next afternoon, Daria and Jane drove over the Lane house with their children. Both were looking forward to playing with their Uncle Trent. They were making the trip, however, because Vincent was also visiting.
When Daria had told Jane the night before that she had a large amount of bad news about her older siblings, Jane had put off learning what that news was. Daria had agreed that this was information that her parents probably needed to know, and that Jane would only want to hear once. Both were glad that Vincent was in town.
Despite being October, the afternoon was mostly sunny and the temperature was in the mid-60s. Daria therefore led Jane and her father out to the gazebo, although Daria wished there was some other private location.
“What’s happened?” Vincent asked once the three were settled in.
“Since Jane and I are getting married, the Bureau ran a deep security check on Jane so that I could keep my highest clearances. Some things came up that, as they have been resolved, do not affect my clearance. Although I didn’t have to be told, I was.” Daria steeled herself. “How long has it been since you’ve had any news about Penny, Wind, Summer, or her family?”
Vincent made a face, but answered. “A long time for all of them. From Penny, at least directly? 2005? For the others, it was early 2007.” He sighed. “I suppose it’s time Jane, and by extension you, learned this, unless Trent told either of you?”
Jane and Daria shook their heads.
Vincent gazed out, rather unfocused. “I still don’t know where Amanda and I went wrong. If one child out of five ends up having severe issues, well, that happens. When four out of five have severe issues, then the parents have to be blamed, especially when the one child without them is the one we’ve had the least influence on.” He nodded at Jane. “All five of you seemed happy, well-adjusted children until you hit thirteen or so. I don’t think that’s why we both ended up spending more and more time away when you hit thirteen, but maybe it was and we didn’t realize it. I don’t know if it was us being away, or that Trent was able to raise you despite his problems, or if you were just a good person. . . .”
“To tell the truth, I think I could gone quite wrong,” Jane admitted. “Obsessing over art and running might not have been enough if I hadn’t met Daria.”
“That could be true, too,” Vincent agreed. “Even though Summer is the oldest, remember she and Wind are ‘Irish twins,’ and so they were in the same grade. Their school work started slumping towards the end of eighth grade, and then of course she got pregnant early in ninth grade and then again at the end of tenth – she would never say who the father or fathers were, and we tried our best to limit who she hung out with after Courtney was born.”
“What happened in 2007?” Daria asked.
“It started back in 2005. Well, I suppose it really started back in the mid-nineties, when Trent and Jane were the only children living in the house.” He frowned. “Even if the older children were elsewhere, they still were unable to function well. We worked hard to keep everything going, hoping that would help.” He held a hand up to stop Jane’s protest. “Jane, be angry at us for partially abandoning you if you want. In many ways, we did and you can certainly resent that. However, we left plenty of money to keep the house going. It was only a few years ago when we learned that Trent was using a lot of that money to support his band. You never should have been short of food or clothes, and that problem over the last payments on the house should never occurred. If we hadn’t had other arrangements for paying the utilities, Trent would probably have spent that, too.”
Jane was more stunned than angry at learning this. Granted, she was very angry, but even more shocked.
“In any event, in 2005 Penny was trying to raise money for one of her projects, Wind was behind on all his alimony, and Summer was in some sort of trouble as well. They wanted us to sell the house and split it three ways to help them.”
“Three ways!” Now Jane was much angrier than shocked.
Vincent nodded. “They threatened to sue us to get possession of the house, although on what grounds they never said. Your mother panicked, and sold the house to Trent for a dollar and costs, with the proviso that she, I, and you could still live here.”
Now Daria was angry. “What! Trent owned the house? I thought we bought it from you and Amanda!” That had happened a few years later.
Vincent looked confused. “No, you bought it from Trent. He was supposed to tell you! Anyway, I understand your mother handled everything both times, so she must have known. He almost lost it four years ago, when he left town on some attempt to have a tour, and forgot to pay the lawn care company, which is why the city tried to have the place condemned as abandoned.”
“That part we knew about,” Daria growled.
“In any case, Penny had already cut herself off from us when Amanda gave the house to Trent, and Summer and Wind did the same after they realized that their stunt with their threats caused us to stop sending them any money.”
Daria had heard enough and so took a deep breath, saying, “There’s no easy way to tell you or Jane this, and I’m not sure how you can break it to Amanda.” Her face hardened, “I’m a little less concerned about Trent than I was a few minutes ago.”
Vincent merely nodded and pulled out a pipe and his pouch of Carter Hall. “If you have anything stronger, you might want to smoke that instead,” Daria told him.
Vincent managed a smile. “I only smoke the expensive blends when I’m with you.”
Daria pulled out a smallish bent meerschaum bulldog and a soft pouch. “I think we’ll both need this.” She passed the tobacco to Vincent.
“Revor? It’s that bad?” Revor Plug was very strong and bitter.
Daria nodded. “First, it’s almost all bad news, very bad actually. What little that isn’t, still isn’t good in some ways.” Daria had pre-shredded most of the Revor Plug, so it hadn’t taken Vincent long to pack his pipe. Daria took the tobacco from him and loaded her own. “The basic bad news about Penny is that she moved from Central America to Columbia in early 2007. She was caught in the cross-fire between the Columbian police and some cartel people and killed in March, 2010. She had Summer listed as her next of kin, but she was in no position to have the body sent home. I made inquiries, and I’ll see if I can have the remains shipped here, if you and Amanda want that.”
Vincent let his lighter go out. “I . . . I don’t know what to say about that. I’ll talk with Amanda.”
Daria nodded. “I’ll get into the why in a moment, but Wind and Summer were both arrested in the summer of 2007, and convicted a few months later, along with Courtney. Adrian got off with a plea bargain that somehow saw him joining the Army. He was killed in Afghanistan in 2010.”
She lit her pipe, and Vincent managed to do the same, despite his shaking hands.
“Did you know that Courtney had three daughters, born in 2002, 2005, and 2007?”
“No!” Vincent frowned. “Courtney would only have been what? Sixteen when the first one was born?”
“A few months short of that, I believe. Did you know the father of Summer’s other two children?”
“Marie and Alice? No.”
“Marie was born in 1992, Alice in 1996. Marie also had a baby in 2007.”
Vincent was obvious confused, but Jane was starting to look horrified. “Both kids born in the late winter or early spring?” she asked.
Daria nodded.
“Please don’t tell me. . . .” Jane couldn’t complete the sentence.
Daria blew out smoke, but had to say it. “A physician who knew one of them, I’m not sure which, noticed that while Marie and Courtney gave birth at different hospitals, both introduced the same man as their baby’s father to some of the nurses, even though he was listed under very different names on the birth certificates, both false as it turned out.”
“Oh, God. . . .”
“Who was it?” Vincent demanded.
“The man who was also the father of Courtney, Adrian, Marie, Alice, and Courtney’s other two daughters,” Daria answered. “He denied it, but once the district attorney’s office ordered DNA testing, he broke down and confessed.”
“WHO!” Vincent demanded.
“Dad!” Jane responded. “Who the hell was the only male that you probably allowed around Summer after Courtney was born?” Seeing no response, Jane stated, “Wind!”
“What!”
“Wind,” Daria agreed. “Granted, he claimed that Summer seduced him back in eighth grade, while she claimed he had. Either way, although they weren’t faithful to each other after high school, they still slept with each other, and with their children. He and probably Adrian had already had oral sex with Alice, even if she was only twelve. He also confessed to having seduced Penny and Trent when they were each thirteen. . . .”
“That’s probably the main reason Trent started sleeping in that tent the spring he turned thirteen,” Jane commented.
Daria merely nodded, adding, “He also admitting to wanting to seduce Jane, but he wasn’t living here when she turned thirteen, and when he did come back, Trent warned him off. The next time he was back, the house was too crowded for him to try, and then of course Jane left for my place. When he came back the next time, that was probably when the gazebo here was broken, he decided that Jane was too old.”
Jane was past disgusted. “I was too old at seventeen? What a degenerate. More likely he knew I’d see through him and kick his ass!”
Daria merely nodded. “Wind, Summer, Marie, and Courtney were all arrested immediately after the DNA evidence came in, and they plea bargained. Adrian was arrested, and somehow convinced the authorities that he should join the army rather than stand trial.” She frowned. “Or perhaps he got out of things purely by turning state’s evidence and realized he had no place else to go. No matter. All the younger children were sent into the foster care system, and, amazingly enough, all except Marie were adopted by 2009. I don’t have any more information on them. Wind was killed in prison in early on. Marie spent three years in juvenile detention centers. Courtney was released at the same time Marie graduated from the juvenile detention equivalent of high school and the two teamed up. They went into the porn industry, and then somehow got to Amsterdam together in 2011, where they split their time as legal prostitutes and porn actresses. Courtney died of a drug overdose in 2013. Summer committed suicide in prison shortly after getting word about Courtney. Marie committed suicide in the Netherlands last November.”
There wasn’t much Jane or Vincent to say, they were both still too shocked.
“Trent, don’t fall asleep behind that bush,” Daria stated firmly.
Jane and Vincent turned and saw that Trent was indeed slumped behind a nearby bush. Jane quickly looked and saw the two children playing near the back of the house, out of earshot.
Slowly, still in a daze, Trent managed to stand and stagger to the gazebo.
“You heard all of that?” Jane demanded.
Trent only nodded.
“Are you sure you want to marry into a family that’s so messed up Jerry Springer wouldn’t have wanted us on at his most outlandish?” Jane asked, still shaken.
Daria took Jane’s hand for a moment and simply said, “Yes.” She dropped Jane’s hand and fished out her wallet. “Vincent, this is a lot for you to deal with, and you can’t by yourself – no one could be expected to. Amanda and Trent will need even more help.” She handed him a business card. “These people are good councilors. Isn’t Amanda supposed to be back here soon?”
“Tuesday, I hope,” Vincent responded.
“Make an appointment for Wednesday for the two of you,” Daria told him. Vincent nodded. “Trent, if I make an appointment for you Monday, will you go?”
“I have a recording date for a new jingle in the afternoon,” Trent responded. “Two o’clock. I suppose I could make it around eleven. . . . But, like, how much. . . .”
“I’ll take care of it,” Daria stated firmly.
Trent sighed. “I can’t say no, I suppose.” He hung his head. “I don’t know what happened, why you didn’t know about the house, but Janey, I am sorry about, you know, when we . . . when I almost cost us the house. That’s when I realized how much damage I was doing. I stopped using the money to support the band.”
“Why did you need to support the band?” Jane demanded.
“I should have stopped before then, but we had just started getting real pay, and even then it wasn’t much. We were only playing for tips at first.” He slumped even more than usual. “Until that repo notice came, I hadn’t realized how much I was taking, and how much I was hurting you. Sorry.”
Jane shook her head; after thirty-five years she was used to Trent and his ways, even if she still rarely understood him or his reasoning. Therefore she hugged her brother.
“Thank you for telling us,” Vincent told Daria. “It was hard to hear, and it will be difficult to deal with, but it’s better that we know the truth.”
Vincent and Daria relit their pipes. Vincent put his arm around Trent’s shoulder, and they followed Daria and Jane as they went hand-in-hand to watch the children play.
*
That night, Daria sat at the vanity in the bedroom, brushing her hair as Jane puttered about aimlessly, as if getting ready for bed. “You’re a bit more agitated than you usually are,” Daria pointed out. “I take it you’re still processing what happened?”
Jane stopped straightening a pile of magazines for the third time and admitted, “I am. Why don’t you come to bed and cuddle me?”
Daria put down the brush and considered Jane’s reflection for a moment. Then she got up and turned down the bed covers. She piled the pillows in the center and got into bed. She leaned back and opened her legs slightly, beckoning Jane.
Both were in loose t-shirts and panties, their usual night ware. Jane turned off the lights, stripped off her shirt and crawled onto the bed. She leaned back and nestled into Daria, her head between her breasts. Daria put her arms around Jane, and Jane wrapped her arms around Daria’s. “Feel better?”
“I guess. I feel a whole lot safer anyway.”
“Want to talk about it?” After a moment of silence, Daria suggested. “Once your parents and Trent go through some counselling, maybe you should, or we could go as well.”
“I might,” Jane agreed. She sighed. “I just can’t believe what happened. I can’t believe I couldn’t see it, well, not the early stuff I guess. I was way too young.”
“Can you forgive yourself for not seeing it?”
“I think so; I just feel so sorry for those kids, especially Courtney and Marie, not to mention Alice. But if I can forgive myself, and can probably forgive Courtney, Marie, certainly Alice, and maybe even Adrian, what about Mom, Dad, Penny, and Trent? Well, I suppose I can see how Mom might have missed it, but Dad? He was home for at least nine months a year before I turned thirteen. And Penny and Trent knew that Wind seduced them, or more likely raped them.”
Daria hugged her a bit more tightly for a moment.
“I know, I know, it’s tough for kids to admit what happened, and Trent at least protected me, but he never told me! Wind could have come back some time when he wasn’t there. By the time you met me, I could have fought him off, but I couldn’t have a year or two earlier, at least not easily. Granted, if Wind did seduce Trent, well, Trent might be totally opened minded but he is pretty straight. It would have really messed with his head, but I’ve thought and I’ve thought and I just don’t remember him saying anything that would have clued me in. Penny was even worse, she just thought of herself. Granted, I know why she adopted that tough-girl persona in high school now, but is it wrong to wish that my older siblings had warned me there was a predator in the house?”
“Was he still in the house then?”
Jane had to admit, “I guess not. He was already out committing serial marriage on top of his serial incest.” After a pause, she asked, “There were worse things you didn’t tell Dad, weren’t there?”
“There were,” Daria admitted. “What was Wind’s day job?”
“He worked as a wedding videographer. . . . oh, shit! He filmed what he did?”
“A lot of it. I won’t go into detail, but he claimed he didn’t distribute it. He also worked nights shooting porn, and let’s say a lot of it was illegal, although not all.”
“Other kids?”
“Other families. Quite a few were nailed once he was arrested. There was a large but closed circle that no one suspected, because none of them were stupid enough to sell or trade on-line or much outside of each other, even if they got together for what they called ‘family fun.’ Fortunately for Adrian, all his video appearances were when he was technically underage, even with Alice he was still under eighteen. He broke the news of the other videos and where Wind and Summer had their hidden stashes. That’s how he managed to get out of the legal system with only an arrest.”
“Just how sick was Wind? Or Summer for that matter?”
“We’ll never know. I think Summer was a willing accomplice, but it looks like Wind was the driving force keeping things going and expanding them.”
“And you really don’t know where Alice or the other kids are?”
“Nope, sealed adoptions. Alice was lucky she was adopted at that age.”
“I hope she never sees porn that has her sisters in it.”
“I hope she got enough counselling that she can deal with what happened to her,” Daria pointed out.
“True.” Jane frowned. “Was Wind associated with the same people Upchuck was?”
“Good question, and one that I asked as well. The answer seems to be ‘not directly.’ Some of the child porn both groups produced was distributed by some of the same people, but the two groups were separate.”
“At least they were all caught. Anything else I should know?”
“Just one thing, and this is something I needed to tell you, even if none of the other things had come up.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m sure all these things came up when I was investigated for the FBI. However, this new security check wasn’t for my job. I was offered a chance to do some high security consulting, and they shared the findings with me after I accepted.”
“Anything you’re allowed to tell me?”
“Yes, and no. No, as in I can’t tell you anything at the moment. However, if you want, you can be given a briefing. If you do, you’ll have to go and sign several confidentiality agreements to get it.”
“Wow, that’s different. Would it be worth it?”
“I think so. I should have that week we come back from the honeymoon off as a regular vacation. Joy is in pre-school in the mornings, but we can extend it into the afternoon one day and I’ll make the arrangements.”
Jane thought about it, and simply said, “Deal.”
*
Daria and Jane’s wedding was a simple affair in most ways, although a bit larger than they had anticipated. They had a relaxing honeymoon in Vienna as well. When they returned, Helen was sorry to leave Joy and TJ, but relieved as well – looking after two young if well-behaved children for eight days with just a little help from her husband was quite stressful enough at her age.
Daria took Jane in for her briefing the Monday after they returned. Daria had warned her about the security, and Jane was a bit unnerved by it. The revelation about what Daria would be doing, and what she might be doing if there was ever a peaceful contact, took her by surprise.
As Daria drove them home afterwards, Jane remarked, “I had some good guesses, but this wasn’t on the list.”
“I can certainly see that,” Daria agreed. “I doubt if much will actually come up any time soon, but it seems like it will at some point. Best we’re ready for it.”
“You know you shouldn’t say things like that. The invasion will probably start before we get home.”
“We’re alien love goddesses,” Daria responded drily. “Well, the alien part might not apply, but the love goddess action starts after the kids go to bed, at least at home.”
Lewd thoughts crowding her mind, Jane was content to leave the discussion at that.
By Dr. T
Daria reveals some shocking information to the Lanes.
Daria and the other associated characters are owned by its creators, MTV, et al. I am just playing.
*
The next afternoon, Daria and Jane drove over the Lane house with their children. Both were looking forward to playing with their Uncle Trent. They were making the trip, however, because Vincent was also visiting.
When Daria had told Jane the night before that she had a large amount of bad news about her older siblings, Jane had put off learning what that news was. Daria had agreed that this was information that her parents probably needed to know, and that Jane would only want to hear once. Both were glad that Vincent was in town.
Despite being October, the afternoon was mostly sunny and the temperature was in the mid-60s. Daria therefore led Jane and her father out to the gazebo, although Daria wished there was some other private location.
“What’s happened?” Vincent asked once the three were settled in.
“Since Jane and I are getting married, the Bureau ran a deep security check on Jane so that I could keep my highest clearances. Some things came up that, as they have been resolved, do not affect my clearance. Although I didn’t have to be told, I was.” Daria steeled herself. “How long has it been since you’ve had any news about Penny, Wind, Summer, or her family?”
Vincent made a face, but answered. “A long time for all of them. From Penny, at least directly? 2005? For the others, it was early 2007.” He sighed. “I suppose it’s time Jane, and by extension you, learned this, unless Trent told either of you?”
Jane and Daria shook their heads.
Vincent gazed out, rather unfocused. “I still don’t know where Amanda and I went wrong. If one child out of five ends up having severe issues, well, that happens. When four out of five have severe issues, then the parents have to be blamed, especially when the one child without them is the one we’ve had the least influence on.” He nodded at Jane. “All five of you seemed happy, well-adjusted children until you hit thirteen or so. I don’t think that’s why we both ended up spending more and more time away when you hit thirteen, but maybe it was and we didn’t realize it. I don’t know if it was us being away, or that Trent was able to raise you despite his problems, or if you were just a good person. . . .”
“To tell the truth, I think I could gone quite wrong,” Jane admitted. “Obsessing over art and running might not have been enough if I hadn’t met Daria.”
“That could be true, too,” Vincent agreed. “Even though Summer is the oldest, remember she and Wind are ‘Irish twins,’ and so they were in the same grade. Their school work started slumping towards the end of eighth grade, and then of course she got pregnant early in ninth grade and then again at the end of tenth – she would never say who the father or fathers were, and we tried our best to limit who she hung out with after Courtney was born.”
“What happened in 2007?” Daria asked.
“It started back in 2005. Well, I suppose it really started back in the mid-nineties, when Trent and Jane were the only children living in the house.” He frowned. “Even if the older children were elsewhere, they still were unable to function well. We worked hard to keep everything going, hoping that would help.” He held a hand up to stop Jane’s protest. “Jane, be angry at us for partially abandoning you if you want. In many ways, we did and you can certainly resent that. However, we left plenty of money to keep the house going. It was only a few years ago when we learned that Trent was using a lot of that money to support his band. You never should have been short of food or clothes, and that problem over the last payments on the house should never occurred. If we hadn’t had other arrangements for paying the utilities, Trent would probably have spent that, too.”
Jane was more stunned than angry at learning this. Granted, she was very angry, but even more shocked.
“In any event, in 2005 Penny was trying to raise money for one of her projects, Wind was behind on all his alimony, and Summer was in some sort of trouble as well. They wanted us to sell the house and split it three ways to help them.”
“Three ways!” Now Jane was much angrier than shocked.
Vincent nodded. “They threatened to sue us to get possession of the house, although on what grounds they never said. Your mother panicked, and sold the house to Trent for a dollar and costs, with the proviso that she, I, and you could still live here.”
Now Daria was angry. “What! Trent owned the house? I thought we bought it from you and Amanda!” That had happened a few years later.
Vincent looked confused. “No, you bought it from Trent. He was supposed to tell you! Anyway, I understand your mother handled everything both times, so she must have known. He almost lost it four years ago, when he left town on some attempt to have a tour, and forgot to pay the lawn care company, which is why the city tried to have the place condemned as abandoned.”
“That part we knew about,” Daria growled.
“In any case, Penny had already cut herself off from us when Amanda gave the house to Trent, and Summer and Wind did the same after they realized that their stunt with their threats caused us to stop sending them any money.”
Daria had heard enough and so took a deep breath, saying, “There’s no easy way to tell you or Jane this, and I’m not sure how you can break it to Amanda.” Her face hardened, “I’m a little less concerned about Trent than I was a few minutes ago.”
Vincent merely nodded and pulled out a pipe and his pouch of Carter Hall. “If you have anything stronger, you might want to smoke that instead,” Daria told him.
Vincent managed a smile. “I only smoke the expensive blends when I’m with you.”
Daria pulled out a smallish bent meerschaum bulldog and a soft pouch. “I think we’ll both need this.” She passed the tobacco to Vincent.
“Revor? It’s that bad?” Revor Plug was very strong and bitter.
Daria nodded. “First, it’s almost all bad news, very bad actually. What little that isn’t, still isn’t good in some ways.” Daria had pre-shredded most of the Revor Plug, so it hadn’t taken Vincent long to pack his pipe. Daria took the tobacco from him and loaded her own. “The basic bad news about Penny is that she moved from Central America to Columbia in early 2007. She was caught in the cross-fire between the Columbian police and some cartel people and killed in March, 2010. She had Summer listed as her next of kin, but she was in no position to have the body sent home. I made inquiries, and I’ll see if I can have the remains shipped here, if you and Amanda want that.”
Vincent let his lighter go out. “I . . . I don’t know what to say about that. I’ll talk with Amanda.”
Daria nodded. “I’ll get into the why in a moment, but Wind and Summer were both arrested in the summer of 2007, and convicted a few months later, along with Courtney. Adrian got off with a plea bargain that somehow saw him joining the Army. He was killed in Afghanistan in 2010.”
She lit her pipe, and Vincent managed to do the same, despite his shaking hands.
“Did you know that Courtney had three daughters, born in 2002, 2005, and 2007?”
“No!” Vincent frowned. “Courtney would only have been what? Sixteen when the first one was born?”
“A few months short of that, I believe. Did you know the father of Summer’s other two children?”
“Marie and Alice? No.”
“Marie was born in 1992, Alice in 1996. Marie also had a baby in 2007.”
Vincent was obvious confused, but Jane was starting to look horrified. “Both kids born in the late winter or early spring?” she asked.
Daria nodded.
“Please don’t tell me. . . .” Jane couldn’t complete the sentence.
Daria blew out smoke, but had to say it. “A physician who knew one of them, I’m not sure which, noticed that while Marie and Courtney gave birth at different hospitals, both introduced the same man as their baby’s father to some of the nurses, even though he was listed under very different names on the birth certificates, both false as it turned out.”
“Oh, God. . . .”
“Who was it?” Vincent demanded.
“The man who was also the father of Courtney, Adrian, Marie, Alice, and Courtney’s other two daughters,” Daria answered. “He denied it, but once the district attorney’s office ordered DNA testing, he broke down and confessed.”
“WHO!” Vincent demanded.
“Dad!” Jane responded. “Who the hell was the only male that you probably allowed around Summer after Courtney was born?” Seeing no response, Jane stated, “Wind!”
“What!”
“Wind,” Daria agreed. “Granted, he claimed that Summer seduced him back in eighth grade, while she claimed he had. Either way, although they weren’t faithful to each other after high school, they still slept with each other, and with their children. He and probably Adrian had already had oral sex with Alice, even if she was only twelve. He also confessed to having seduced Penny and Trent when they were each thirteen. . . .”
“That’s probably the main reason Trent started sleeping in that tent the spring he turned thirteen,” Jane commented.
Daria merely nodded, adding, “He also admitting to wanting to seduce Jane, but he wasn’t living here when she turned thirteen, and when he did come back, Trent warned him off. The next time he was back, the house was too crowded for him to try, and then of course Jane left for my place. When he came back the next time, that was probably when the gazebo here was broken, he decided that Jane was too old.”
Jane was past disgusted. “I was too old at seventeen? What a degenerate. More likely he knew I’d see through him and kick his ass!”
Daria merely nodded. “Wind, Summer, Marie, and Courtney were all arrested immediately after the DNA evidence came in, and they plea bargained. Adrian was arrested, and somehow convinced the authorities that he should join the army rather than stand trial.” She frowned. “Or perhaps he got out of things purely by turning state’s evidence and realized he had no place else to go. No matter. All the younger children were sent into the foster care system, and, amazingly enough, all except Marie were adopted by 2009. I don’t have any more information on them. Wind was killed in prison in early on. Marie spent three years in juvenile detention centers. Courtney was released at the same time Marie graduated from the juvenile detention equivalent of high school and the two teamed up. They went into the porn industry, and then somehow got to Amsterdam together in 2011, where they split their time as legal prostitutes and porn actresses. Courtney died of a drug overdose in 2013. Summer committed suicide in prison shortly after getting word about Courtney. Marie committed suicide in the Netherlands last November.”
There wasn’t much Jane or Vincent to say, they were both still too shocked.
“Trent, don’t fall asleep behind that bush,” Daria stated firmly.
Jane and Vincent turned and saw that Trent was indeed slumped behind a nearby bush. Jane quickly looked and saw the two children playing near the back of the house, out of earshot.
Slowly, still in a daze, Trent managed to stand and stagger to the gazebo.
“You heard all of that?” Jane demanded.
Trent only nodded.
“Are you sure you want to marry into a family that’s so messed up Jerry Springer wouldn’t have wanted us on at his most outlandish?” Jane asked, still shaken.
Daria took Jane’s hand for a moment and simply said, “Yes.” She dropped Jane’s hand and fished out her wallet. “Vincent, this is a lot for you to deal with, and you can’t by yourself – no one could be expected to. Amanda and Trent will need even more help.” She handed him a business card. “These people are good councilors. Isn’t Amanda supposed to be back here soon?”
“Tuesday, I hope,” Vincent responded.
“Make an appointment for Wednesday for the two of you,” Daria told him. Vincent nodded. “Trent, if I make an appointment for you Monday, will you go?”
“I have a recording date for a new jingle in the afternoon,” Trent responded. “Two o’clock. I suppose I could make it around eleven. . . . But, like, how much. . . .”
“I’ll take care of it,” Daria stated firmly.
Trent sighed. “I can’t say no, I suppose.” He hung his head. “I don’t know what happened, why you didn’t know about the house, but Janey, I am sorry about, you know, when we . . . when I almost cost us the house. That’s when I realized how much damage I was doing. I stopped using the money to support the band.”
“Why did you need to support the band?” Jane demanded.
“I should have stopped before then, but we had just started getting real pay, and even then it wasn’t much. We were only playing for tips at first.” He slumped even more than usual. “Until that repo notice came, I hadn’t realized how much I was taking, and how much I was hurting you. Sorry.”
Jane shook her head; after thirty-five years she was used to Trent and his ways, even if she still rarely understood him or his reasoning. Therefore she hugged her brother.
“Thank you for telling us,” Vincent told Daria. “It was hard to hear, and it will be difficult to deal with, but it’s better that we know the truth.”
Vincent and Daria relit their pipes. Vincent put his arm around Trent’s shoulder, and they followed Daria and Jane as they went hand-in-hand to watch the children play.
*
That night, Daria sat at the vanity in the bedroom, brushing her hair as Jane puttered about aimlessly, as if getting ready for bed. “You’re a bit more agitated than you usually are,” Daria pointed out. “I take it you’re still processing what happened?”
Jane stopped straightening a pile of magazines for the third time and admitted, “I am. Why don’t you come to bed and cuddle me?”
Daria put down the brush and considered Jane’s reflection for a moment. Then she got up and turned down the bed covers. She piled the pillows in the center and got into bed. She leaned back and opened her legs slightly, beckoning Jane.
Both were in loose t-shirts and panties, their usual night ware. Jane turned off the lights, stripped off her shirt and crawled onto the bed. She leaned back and nestled into Daria, her head between her breasts. Daria put her arms around Jane, and Jane wrapped her arms around Daria’s. “Feel better?”
“I guess. I feel a whole lot safer anyway.”
“Want to talk about it?” After a moment of silence, Daria suggested. “Once your parents and Trent go through some counselling, maybe you should, or we could go as well.”
“I might,” Jane agreed. She sighed. “I just can’t believe what happened. I can’t believe I couldn’t see it, well, not the early stuff I guess. I was way too young.”
“Can you forgive yourself for not seeing it?”
“I think so; I just feel so sorry for those kids, especially Courtney and Marie, not to mention Alice. But if I can forgive myself, and can probably forgive Courtney, Marie, certainly Alice, and maybe even Adrian, what about Mom, Dad, Penny, and Trent? Well, I suppose I can see how Mom might have missed it, but Dad? He was home for at least nine months a year before I turned thirteen. And Penny and Trent knew that Wind seduced them, or more likely raped them.”
Daria hugged her a bit more tightly for a moment.
“I know, I know, it’s tough for kids to admit what happened, and Trent at least protected me, but he never told me! Wind could have come back some time when he wasn’t there. By the time you met me, I could have fought him off, but I couldn’t have a year or two earlier, at least not easily. Granted, if Wind did seduce Trent, well, Trent might be totally opened minded but he is pretty straight. It would have really messed with his head, but I’ve thought and I’ve thought and I just don’t remember him saying anything that would have clued me in. Penny was even worse, she just thought of herself. Granted, I know why she adopted that tough-girl persona in high school now, but is it wrong to wish that my older siblings had warned me there was a predator in the house?”
“Was he still in the house then?”
Jane had to admit, “I guess not. He was already out committing serial marriage on top of his serial incest.” After a pause, she asked, “There were worse things you didn’t tell Dad, weren’t there?”
“There were,” Daria admitted. “What was Wind’s day job?”
“He worked as a wedding videographer. . . . oh, shit! He filmed what he did?”
“A lot of it. I won’t go into detail, but he claimed he didn’t distribute it. He also worked nights shooting porn, and let’s say a lot of it was illegal, although not all.”
“Other kids?”
“Other families. Quite a few were nailed once he was arrested. There was a large but closed circle that no one suspected, because none of them were stupid enough to sell or trade on-line or much outside of each other, even if they got together for what they called ‘family fun.’ Fortunately for Adrian, all his video appearances were when he was technically underage, even with Alice he was still under eighteen. He broke the news of the other videos and where Wind and Summer had their hidden stashes. That’s how he managed to get out of the legal system with only an arrest.”
“Just how sick was Wind? Or Summer for that matter?”
“We’ll never know. I think Summer was a willing accomplice, but it looks like Wind was the driving force keeping things going and expanding them.”
“And you really don’t know where Alice or the other kids are?”
“Nope, sealed adoptions. Alice was lucky she was adopted at that age.”
“I hope she never sees porn that has her sisters in it.”
“I hope she got enough counselling that she can deal with what happened to her,” Daria pointed out.
“True.” Jane frowned. “Was Wind associated with the same people Upchuck was?”
“Good question, and one that I asked as well. The answer seems to be ‘not directly.’ Some of the child porn both groups produced was distributed by some of the same people, but the two groups were separate.”
“At least they were all caught. Anything else I should know?”
“Just one thing, and this is something I needed to tell you, even if none of the other things had come up.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m sure all these things came up when I was investigated for the FBI. However, this new security check wasn’t for my job. I was offered a chance to do some high security consulting, and they shared the findings with me after I accepted.”
“Anything you’re allowed to tell me?”
“Yes, and no. No, as in I can’t tell you anything at the moment. However, if you want, you can be given a briefing. If you do, you’ll have to go and sign several confidentiality agreements to get it.”
“Wow, that’s different. Would it be worth it?”
“I think so. I should have that week we come back from the honeymoon off as a regular vacation. Joy is in pre-school in the mornings, but we can extend it into the afternoon one day and I’ll make the arrangements.”
Jane thought about it, and simply said, “Deal.”
*
Daria and Jane’s wedding was a simple affair in most ways, although a bit larger than they had anticipated. They had a relaxing honeymoon in Vienna as well. When they returned, Helen was sorry to leave Joy and TJ, but relieved as well – looking after two young if well-behaved children for eight days with just a little help from her husband was quite stressful enough at her age.
Daria took Jane in for her briefing the Monday after they returned. Daria had warned her about the security, and Jane was a bit unnerved by it. The revelation about what Daria would be doing, and what she might be doing if there was ever a peaceful contact, took her by surprise.
As Daria drove them home afterwards, Jane remarked, “I had some good guesses, but this wasn’t on the list.”
“I can certainly see that,” Daria agreed. “I doubt if much will actually come up any time soon, but it seems like it will at some point. Best we’re ready for it.”
“You know you shouldn’t say things like that. The invasion will probably start before we get home.”
“We’re alien love goddesses,” Daria responded drily. “Well, the alien part might not apply, but the love goddess action starts after the kids go to bed, at least at home.”
Lewd thoughts crowding her mind, Jane was content to leave the discussion at that.
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